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Various

SKETCHES OF SUCCESSFUL
New Hampshire Men

Illustrated with Steel Portraits.

MANCHESTER:

JOHN B. CLARKE.

1882.


Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1882, by
JOHN B. CLARKE,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.

This volume contains portraits and biographical sketches of eighty-eight New Hampshire men whose deserved success in their several callings has made them conspicuous in the professional, business, and political world. It should be the first of a series,—the beginning of a work so extensive as to include similar presentations in regard to all the prominent men of our state, when it would exceed in value and interest to New Hampshire people all other publications of a biographical nature. The glory of our state centers in and is reflected from her great men and noble women, whose history should be familiar to all who by birth or association are interested in her fame and welfare, and especially to those in whose hands rests her future, and who may need the strengthening influence of their example. To this end this volume will contribute. Its preparation has occupied a long time, and involved much labor and expense. My connection with it has been that of a publisher, whose duties I have endeavored to discharge faithfully and acceptably. All else is to be credited to others. The sketches are printed in the order in which they were furnished.

JOHN B. CLARKE.

Manchester, N. H., July, 1882.

CONTENTS.

Page

Adams, Charles, Jr. 278

Adams, Phinehas 166

Amory, William 151

Balch, Charles E. 113

Barnard, Daniel 304

Bartlett, Charles H. 33

Barton, Levi Winter 50

Blair, Henry William 285

Bracewell, John 199

Briggs, James F. 294

Bryant, Napoleon B. 187

Buffum, David Hanson 276

Carpenter, Josiah 43

Chandler, George Byron 185

Chandler, William E. 255

Cheney, Gilman 215

Cheney, Person C. 162

Clark, Joseph Bond 179

Clarke, John B. 311

Clarke, William C. 261

Cogswell, Francis 177

Cogswell, George 204

Cogswell, Thomas 160

Cogswell, William 137

Colby, Anthony 251

Crosby, Asa and Sons 243

Cumner, Nathaniel Wentworth 297

Currier, Moody 35

Daniell, Warren F. 237

Dearborn, Cornelius Van Ness 195

Dunlap, Archibald Harris 264

Edgerly, Martin V. B. 130

French, John C. 157

George, John Hatch 98

Gilman, Virgil C. 148

Goodell, David H. 233

Goodwin, Ichabod 133

Graves, Josiah G. 235

Griffin, Simon G. 58

Hall, Daniel 229

Harriman, Walter 74

Hayes, Albert H. 202

Head, Natt 223

Jewell, David Lyman 63

Kent, Henry O. 21

Kimball, John 89

Marsh, Charles 184

Martin, Benjamin Franklin 269

Maxfield, Rufus A. 289

McDuffee, John 153

Means, William Gordon 103

Miner, Alonzo A. 16

Moulton, John Carroll 114

Murphy, Charles M. 67

Nesmith, George W. 180

Norcross, Amasa 37

Parker, John M. 31

Peabody, Charles A. 209

Pillsbury, George Alfred 39

Pillsbury, Oliver 191

Pierce, Thomas P. 127

Pike, Chester 123

Potter, Chandler E. 302

Prescott, Benjamin F. 281

Richards, Dexter 271

Riddle, William P. 307

Rollins, Edward Ashton 143

Rollins, Edward H. 217

Sargent, Jonathan Everett 93

Sawyer, Charles H. 249

Sawyer, Jonathan 240

Shaw, Albert M. 267

Sherburne, Henry C. 69

Smyth, Frederick 106

Spalding, Edward 81

Spalding, George Burley 291

Stark, George 9

Sulloway, Alvah W. 119

Tilton, Charles Elliott 110

Tuttle, Hiram A. 14

Wallace, Rodney 56

Wallingford, Zimri S. 70

Weston, James A. 85

Wheeler, Samuel Metcalf 79

White, Jeremiah W. 140

White, Nathaniel 172

Wilder, Marshall P. 25

Williams, Charles 47

Geo. Stark

GEN. GEORGE STARK.

BY H. W. HERRICK.

In the remarkable development of railroad traffic in this country within the last fifty years, many prominent men of our state identified with this interest have achieved an enviable success. A leading position among these representative men will be accorded to General George Stark, who, within the last forty years, has been associated with the successful organization and management of several of the most wealthy and influential of these corporations. Beginning at an early age with some of the first of these enterprises in New England, he has been identified with their history; and he has also had, within the last five years, a controlling hand in the resuscitation and extension of the great Northern Pacific line, that will soon span the continent from the great lakes to the Pacific ocean. This successful business career has been honorably distinguished, inasmuch as it has, in all its phases, recognized the sound business principles that govern supply and demand in the legitimate carrying-trade. As the leading medium between the producer and consumer, the railroad interest thrives only with the prosperity and good will of both; and in this, its legitimate sphere, seeks neither to control production or traffic, except in those reciprocal relations which contribute to the public good.

The influences attending the early life of Gen. Stark favored the development of the qualities of character that have made his business career marked and successful. His father, Frederick G. Stark, was the son of John, the third of the children of Major-General John Stark, the hero of Bennington, the latter being, therefore, the third in ancestral order removed from the subject of this sketch. George Stark was born at Manchester, N. H., April 9, 1823, a few months after the death of his illustrious military ancestor. His father at this time occupied the old manor-house formerly owned by Judge Blodget, originator of the famous Blodget canal. This time-honored structure has been destroyed by the demand of modern improvements, and its site, at the entrance of the canal around Amoskeag Falls, is now only marked by the ruins of the sheds connected with it. The locks and canals, in connection with like works on the Merrimack river, were owned by the Union Locks and Canal Company, and Frederick G. Stark occupied the position of general superintendent and manager. He was also proprietor of a general-supply store for river-men and the population adjacent, and was, moreover, land surveyor for the neighboring country. He also held the position of general magistrate, and was, withal, the most influential man of the vicinity, leading in all commercial enterprise and traffic. He died in 1861.

The early days of young Stark were favored with the oversight and directing influence of an excellent mother,—a lady of genial, kindly character, rare mental qualities, and showing a benevolent and christian solicitude both for her own family and general society in the neighborhood. She died in 1856. Of the four children, Juliet (Mrs. Henry C. Gillis) died in 1840; Emma (Mrs. J. G. Cilley) died in 1859; William, the youngest, well remembered as possessing rare literary abilities, and known as author and poet, died in 1873.

At the age of nine years George was taken from the schools of the Amoskeag district, and for the succeeding four years studied in the academies of Pembroke and Milford. His mental culture in these advanced schools was chiefly in the line of mathematics, yet natural aptitude and diligence supplied in after life many deficiencies in education. At the close of his school-days in Pembroke and Milford George returned to Manchester, in 1836, finding the scenes of his childhood transformed from their previous quiet to a busy preparation, by engineers and laborers, for the new city of Manchester. The young school-boy was placed as assistant with the chief engineer and surveyor, Uriah A. Boyden, and worked one season on the preliminary surveys for the canal, factories, and streets of the embryo city. During this season, and a few years succeeding, when not employed on surveys, he attended the academies of Bedford, Sanbornton, and the high school at Lowell, Mass.,—the last being then under the charge of Moody Currier, Esq. In the autumn of 1836, at the early age of fourteen, he was employed with the staff of engineers engaged in the locating surveys of the Nashua & Lowell Railroad. This line, only fifteen miles in length, was two years in process of building, giving an amusing contrast to the long routes now located and built in one season. The years 1839 and 1840 were spent in alternate seasons of field work with the engineers and study at the academies.

Upon the completion of the Nashua & Lowell road, the enterprising business men of Concord had ready for the engineers the work of further locating the line from Nashua to Concord. This extension of thirty-six miles was commenced in 1841, and our young surveyor, then only seventeen years old, was complimented with the post of assistant engineer, and given the charge of portions of the line, both in the surveys and laying the track. At the close of this service he was employed for a time on the preliminary surveys of the Northern Railroad.

In 1843, Stark was invited by the Land and Water Power Company of Manchester to enter its service, make surveys, and superintend the building of the lower canal. This work was finished in the same year in which it was begun. The following season we find him engaged on surveys for the Vermont Central, and subsequently on the Old Colony Railroad, where he first served as assistant, and afterwards as resident engineer, in which position he remained until the completion of the work in 1845. From this period to the year 1847 he was in the service of his old friend and employer, Mr. Boyden, engaged on surveys and drawings for mill-work. At the close of his engagement with Mr. Boyden, Stark returned to Manchester and spent a good part of the season in making surveys and drawing a map of the compact part of the city, with reference to drainage. He also made a survey, accompanied with a report, upon the feasibility of supplying the city with water from Massabesic lake.

The success of the new lines of railroad in New Hampshire stimulated interest in this form of investment, and several new roads and extensions were projected. The Nashua & Wilton and Stony Brook lines were the first lateral roads built, as feeders to the trunk roads of the Merrimack valley, and Stark was appointed chief engineer of both. On the completion of these lines, the Boston, Concord, & Montreal road, which had been built from Concord to Sanbornton, was extended northward, and the post of chief engineer was offered to Stark. His health failing in the summer of 1849, while engaged in this work, he left business cares and spent several months in recuperation, accepting, in the autumn of the same year, the situation of treasurer and assistant superintendent of the Nashua & Lowell Railroad, then under the management of Judge Charles F. Gove. This position was held until the early part of 1852, when he received the high compliment of an appointment as superintendent of the Hudson River Railroad. He had been in this position but little more than a year when an urgent offer was made to him to take the office vacated by the resignation of Judge Gove, the superintendent of the Nashua & Lowell Railroad and its branches. This position, being more congenial than that of the New York road, was accepted, and he entered upon the duties of his new situation at once.

In 1857, four years after his appointment to the last mentioned office, he was offered the post of managing agent of the Boston & Lowell road and its branches, in connection with the Nashua & Lowell line. The magnitude of the operations of these two roads, with their auxiliary lines, was very great, and in their management required executive ability of the first order. The responsibilities of the position were onerous, and involved the appointment of superintendents, subordinate officers, and foremen, determining a code of regulations for their guidance, the adjustment of time-tables, tariff-rates, and fares, the purchase of supplies, and many other cares incident to the working of a complex and extended carrying-trade. The manner in which these duties were discharged was attested by the smooth working of the organization in its details, and the satisfactory results to the stockholders. In this period of service, which included about eighteen years, the great depot on Causeway street, Boston, was erected under the general management and supervision of Gen. Stark. In its first inception, this magnificent building, with its approaches, was intended to furnish terminal facilities for two or more roads. A contract to that effect was completed with the Massachusetts Central road. Negotiations were also entered into with the Eastern Railroad Company for a joint occupancy of the building, and a proposal was obtained from that company to pay fifty thousand dollars annual rental, besides bearing a proportionate share of the running expenses. Stark submitted this proposal to his associates, recommending its acceptance; but it was declined, on the ground of inadequate compensation, the president of the Boston & Lowell and Nashua & Lowell roads saying, in his written reply to Stark:—

"While the income is certainly important to us, we have built the station for our own accommodation, with our eyes open, and I think our directors won't flinch from our position and divide with them, unless they pay well for it."

The unsuccessful termination of this negotiation, and the want of accord in other matters of general policy between Stark and some of the then prominent directors of his roads, embarrassed him in his duties, and he resigned the position of general manager in March, 1875, but retained his seat in the board of directors until the following year. During his business connection with the combined roads of the Merrimack lower valley, the influence of Gen. Stark in developing great public business interests is recognized by all familiar with the subject. The far-reaching and comprehensive plans for a direct through line connecting Boston with the West, realized in 1863 by connection of the lines of the Merrimack valley, Vermont Central, Ogdensburg, and other roads, were the direct result of Stark's labors and influence; and he was manager, for several years, of the line from Boston to Ogdensburg.

Upon leaving his position as general manager of the Boston & Lowell and connecting lines, Stark was chosen, in the spring of the same year (1875), by the bondholders of the Northern Pacific Railroad, as one of a committee of six to re-organize and resuscitate that enterprise, left in its well remembered dilapidated condition by the financial panic of 1873. After carefully investigating the condition of affairs and the actual and prospective resources of the road, a plan of re-organization was submitted by the committee, accepted by the bondholders, and the road taken out of the hands of the receiver. In September following, a board of new officers was chosen, in which we find the name of Gen. Stark as vice-president and director. To these positions he had an annual re-election until by resignation he severed his connection with the corporation in 1879. The magnitude of the Northern Pacific road and its branches is well known to the public; to detail its operations and resources would require too much space here, even if presented in the most condensed form. Intended ultimately to connect the great northern lakes with the Pacific coast, its entire length, when completed, will exceed two thousand miles,—as long as the combined length of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific roads. At the time of the election of Gen. Stark to its management about five hundred and fifty miles of the track were operated; at the present time nearly a thousand miles of track are laid, including over a hundred miles on the Pacific coast. After retiring from active service in the Northern Pacific road, Gen. Stark established, in connection with his son, J. F. Stark, a banking-house in New York city.

Though most of his business connections have been in the railroad interest, Gen. Stark has found time for attention to duties in other directions. In 1857 he was commissioned, by Gov. Haile of New Hampshire, as brigadier-general of the third brigade of New Hampshire militia. In 1860 he accepted the post of colonel commanding of the Governor's Horse-Guards, an organization comprising the elite of the military men of the State. In 1861, in the capacity of brigadier-general, he received orders from Governor Goodwin to proceed to Portsmouth and take charge of the organization of troops, at the opening of the rebellion. The promptness and efficiency with which this service was performed is still fresh in the memory of the public, and the state owes the management of this recruiting station much of the credit attached to New Hampshire for promptly responding to the call of the general government. At one time fifteen hundred troops were at this station, waiting orders from the war department.

Gen. Stark has not been prominent in political life, or identified with the intrigues and contests of political partisanship. The political affinities of his ancestors were with the Democratic party, and he has been identified with it, yet promptly breaking the restraints of strictly party lines at the call of patriotism, as at the opening of the late civil war. In the four years succeeding 1856 he represented the first ward of Nashua in the state legislature, and in 1860 and 1861 was the candidate of the Democratic party for governor. While at this period party spirit was embittered and active, and the Republicans largely in the ascendant, the conservative and popular character of their leader gave the Democrats a handsome gain in the popular vote.

The qualities of character that contribute to success in large fields of commercial enterprise are sometimes difficult to define, while their influence is apparent and is seen and felt by all. A prominent trait is great deliberation in reaching decisions, yet firmness in maintaining them. Sagacious insight of character in choosing agents and subordinates, while holding them to a strict accountability, is also a quality of executive merit. We see this last trait in a marked degree in the small sums represented in the items, "damages" and "gratuities," in all reports of the railroad management of Gen. Stark. Every employe, from the highest to the lowest position, on roads under his superintendence, had printed instructions of duties, to which he was required to assent. Under no circumstances were men retained in important posts who used intoxicating liquors, and no cafe or restaurant connected with the stations was allowed to keep alcoholic drinks for sale.

In personnel Gen. Stark is characterized by a quiet, deliberate, yet courteous manner that is not disturbed by the varied conditions and incidents of business life. This trait of an habitual mental equipoise is a peculiarity that impresses itself prominently on an observer. He has a natural, unrestrained manner in conversation, and social qualities that are freely manifested in company with tested and worthy friends. As a writer of business documents and reports he manifests power, method, and perspicuity, and his manuscript shows a careful arrangement, neatness and precision of chirography quite remarkable in one of his extensive business experience. At the age of fifty-eight he is yet in the full tide and vigor of business life. His family residence at Nashua, though showing no taste for ostentation or display, is an elegant structure in the villa style, furnished with every comfort and convenience, and adorned with works of art.

Gen. Stark was married, in 1845, to Elizabeth A. Parker, daughter of Daniel Parker, of Bedford, N. H. She died in 1846. In 1848 he was united by marriage to Mary G. Bowers, daughter of Col. Joseph Bowers, of Chelmsford, Mass. His two children are John F. and Emma G. Stark.

HON. HIRAM A. TUTTLE.

BY JOHN WHEELER, M. D.

Hon. Hiram A. Tuttle was born in Barnstead, October 16, 1837, being the elder of a family of two sons. His father, George Tuttle, and his grandfather, Col. John Tuttle, were also natives of the same town. His great-grandfather, John Tuttle, settled in Barnstead in 1776, coming there from that locality in Dover known as "Back River," where a part of the Tuttle family had resided since the settlement there of their emigrant ancestor, John Tuttle, who came from England before 1641.

His mother, Judith Mason Davis, is a descendant from Samuel Davis, a soldier of the Revolution, and one of the primeval settlers of Barnstead. Brave soldiers of the Davis family from four generations have represented that town in the four great wars in which the country has been engaged.

When Mr. Tuttle was nine years of age he moved, with his father's family, to the adjoining town of Pittsfield, where he attended the public schools and Pittsfield Academy, while the latter was under the charge, successively, of I. F. Folsom, Lewis W. Clark, and Prof. Dyer H. Sanborn.

After having been engaged in several vocations, in all of which he showed industry and faithfulness, at the age of seventeen years he became connected with the clothing establishment of Lincoln & Shaw, of Concord, where he remained several years. The ability and zeal which he exhibited while there won for him the confidence and respect of his employers, who established him in the management of a branch store in Pittsfield, of which he soon became the proprietor. His business increased gradually at first, and then rapidly till his establishment had gained an extensive patronage, and ranked among the largest clothing-houses in the State. It is so favorably remembered by former residents and patrons that orders are received for goods from distant states and territories. Mr. Tuttle has also been interested in real estate. He has built many dwelling-houses, including a fine residence for himself, and the best business buildings in the village. In many ways he has promoted the growth, social and business interests, and general prosperity of his adopted town. He is a trustee of the savings bank, a director of the national bank, and a trustee of the academy in Pittsfield.

Hiram A. Tuttle

When he had attained his majority, in 1859, he expressed his intention of casting his first vote with the Republicans, although all his relatives belonged to the Democratic party. The Democrats of Pittsfield had been victorious and powerful since the days of Jackson, under such distinguished leaders as Moses Norris, Jr., Charles H. Butters, and Lewis W. Clark, all being able lawyers, impressive public speakers, and having popular manners. Mr. Norris, a native of the town, represented it repeatedly in the legislature, was speaker of the house twice, a councilor, representative in congress four years, and was elected to the United States senate for six years while residing here. The ability and courteous manners of Mr. Clark (now Judge Lewis W. Clark) made him no less popular than Mr. Norris, with all classes, during the shorter time he was in business life in town. Seeing in young Tuttle qualities that might make him troublesome if opposed to them, but useful if in accord with their party, the Democrats used their most eminent persuasive powers to induce him to cleave to the party of all his kindred and vote with the hitherto victorious; but he obeyed his convictions and remained true to the Republican party. In 1860 the Republicans, though so long hopelessly beaten, made a sharp contest. When the day of election came, Mr. Clark was elected moderator, having been a most acceptable presiding officer for several years. The election of town clerk was made the test of the strength of the two parties. After a very exciting ballot, Mr. Tuttle was elected town clerk and the Democrats were beaten for the first time in thirty-three years. Although Pittsfield has a Democratic majority under normal circumstances, Mr. Tuttle has received the support of a large majority of its votes at times when his name has been presented for position. In 1873 and 1874 he was representative to the legislature. In 1876 he received an appointment, with the rank of colonel, on the staff of Governor Cheney, and with the governor and staff visited the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. He was elected a member of the executive council from the second district in 1878, and was re-elected in 1879, under the new constitution, for the term of two years.

Mr. Tuttle has been very successful in all that he has undertaken; but his thrift has never made him arrogant or indifferent. He has cheerfully shared with others the results of the good fortune that Providence has granted him. He is an agreeable and companionable gentleman in all the honorable relations of life. As a citizen, neighbor, and friend, he is held in the highest estimation. He has furnished employment for many, and has been kind to the poor, very respectful to the aged, charitable to the erring, and a sympathizing helper of the embarrassed and unfortunate. Few men have more or firmer personal friends whose friendship is founded on kindness and substantial favors received. He gives with remarkable generosity to all charitable objects presented to him, and is very hospitable in his pleasant home. Mr. Tuttle accepts the Christian religion, and worships with the Congregational church. While he contributes very liberally for the support of the denomination of his choice, he does not withhold a helping hand from the other religious sects in his town. In his domestic relations he has been very fortunate. He married, in 1859, Miss Mary C. French, the only child of John L. French, Esq., formerly cashier of the Pittsfield bank. Their only child,—Hattie French Tuttle,—born January 17, 1861, is a member of the junior class in Wellesley College.

REV. ALONZO A. MINER, D. D.

BY REV. GEORGE H. EMERSON, D. D.

The subject of this sketch owes his name to the grace of one of England's greatest kings. In the wars between England and France, to which belongs the renown of Cressy and Poictiers, the English sovereigns accepted such assistance in munitions and men as their subjects could proffer. Henry Bullman of Mendippe Hills, Somersetshire, was a miner. He fitted out a company of one hundred, armed with battle-axes, many of them laborers in his mines, and presented the same to Edward III. for his use in Continental conquest. In his gratitude Edward conferred upon him a coat of arms and gave him the name of "Miner." This honored subject, and the first of the name of Miner, died in 1359. From him descended Thomas Miner, who came to Boston with the elder Winthrop in 1630. Charles Miner, of the fifth generation from Thomas, was a Revolutionary soldier. At the close of the war he removed from Connecticut to New Hampshire.

A descendant of King Edward's friend, seventh in descent from Thomas, the grandson of Charles, Alonzo Ames Miner was the son of Benajah Ames and Amanda (Cary) Miner,—an only son and the second of five children. He was born at Lempster, Sullivan county, N. H., Aug. 17, 1814.

Grace Miner, granddaughter of Thomas, above named, married Samuel Grant, Jr., of Windsor, Conn., April 11, 1688. From that union descended Ulysses S. Grant, ex-President of the United States.

The subject of this sketch inherited neither fortune nor even health. Mental powers, a constitutional integrity, and a lack of the lower ambitions came as his only birthright. All else is his by conquest. Till the years of late boyhood he was an invalid. His opportunities for education in the village school were very intermittent. His feeble health and a grave uncertainty as to his ever reaching mature manhood constantly broke in upon the systematic training of the school. He filled out the school studies in the invalid's chair at home. None predicted for him length of days. Even the cautious physician made thirty years the utmost limit of life allotted him. He, however, supplemented his broken studies with academic training at Hopkinton, Lebanon, and Franklin, N. H., and at Cavendish, Vt. Beginning public life as a school-teacher at the age of sixteen, he took charge of the village school, alternating this labor with his studies at the academies. His pupilage at Cavendish was soon followed by promotion. Mr. John Garvin was the principal. He was a very zealous Calvinist. Young Miner was a no less zealous Universalist. It was at a time when sectarian lines were sharply drawn. It was then a custom with zealous Calvinists to regard Universalists, not simply as unsound in doctrine, but also as wicked in life and conduct! But Mr. Garvin saw something in the young pupil that dispelled the prejudice. He took him into partnership in the management of the school in 1834. In this position young Miner served a year.

A. A. Miner

In 1835, certain gentlemen of Unity, proposing to establish an academy at that village, saw in Mr. Miner, now near his majority, their man. He accepted their proposition. The school, named the "Scientific and Military Academy," was for both sexes, with military training for boys. Four years of his principalship were successful beyond expectation. In some of the terms the number of scholars reached one hundred and fifty. August 24, 1836, he was married to Maria S. Perley of Lempster, who entered the school as preceptress. She has ever been his faithful and devoted helpmeet.

Not a few of those who have strong sympathy with Dr. Miner's theological belief are persuaded that there was something providential in his call to the ministry of the Universalist church,—the service he has rendered that body being so great, in several regards so exceptional. He does not appear to have been converted to Universalism. He literally was a "born Universalist." While anxious friends assigned but a narrow limit to so frail a constitution, the invalid felt that his place was to be in the ministry of the Universalist church. Of this he made no secret. It became a matter of course that on reaching maturity he would become a preacher of the faith he so deeply cherished.

The success of the Unity school might have fixed another in the profession of teaching. It had no weight in diverting Mr. Miner from what he deemed a higher call. Several of his patrons solicited him to begin his ministry in Unity in connection with his school duties. He complied. In February, 1838, he preached his first sermon in Chester, Vt. In the following May he began a regular ministry, preaching half of the time in Unity, and devoting the other half to a circuit which included about twenty of the neighboring villages. After six months of this twofold labor he resigned his principalship; but he was persuaded to remain yet another year,—all the time filling his appointments on Sunday. At the New Hampshire convention of Universalists, held at Nashua, June, 1839, he was ordained to the sacred office. In the November succeeding he was called to the pastorate of the Universalist church at Methuen, Mass. Such was the success of his new labors that a reputation for very exceptional gifts as an orator, logician, and preacher, spread. It was seen that his call to a larger and more exacting field of duty was but a question of early time.

In the city of Lowell, the Rev. Abel C. Thomas had met with extraordinary success as pastor of the Second Universalist church. After a pastorate of little less than three years he resigned to accept a call to Brooklyn, N. Y. Certain of his parishioners said to him, in the hearing of the writer of this sketch, that his withdrawal would be a calamity to the Lowell parish. Grateful for this tribute he replied: "Put into the pulpit the man I will name, and I pledge you that the church shall go on prospering and to prosper." There was a pause and all ears were both curious and anxious. Mr. Thomas added: "That man is A. A. Miner." A unanimous call of the committee and of the congregation was extended. On the first Sunday of July 1842, the Rev. A. A. Miner preached his introductory sermon as pastor of the Lowell Second Universalist parish. The prediction of Mr. Thomas proved true. In a pastorate of six years Mr. Miner greatly strengthened, materially and spiritually, the church to which he ministered. In cordial co-operation with the pastor of the First Universalist church,—at first Rev. Thomas B. Thayer, and afterwards Rev. E. G. Brooks,—he labored with eminent success. The citizens soon discovered that the new minister was of "many-sided talents." Then began that drain upon his strength, branching off, according to his specialties, into as many channels, whereby he has been, perhaps, as thoroughly and as variously "utilized" as any man of this period. Then began trusts, official positions on school boards, charity boards, and every other conceivable board, the faithful performance of any one of which would have made an average reputation,—all discharged by one person, and he never having a thoroughly healthy day, presents simply a marvel.

During an early year of his Lowell ministry, a crisis came in the career of the Universalist church; and Lowell happened to be its turning point. There was a Universalist paper published at Lowell, the Star of Bethlehem. It was edited by the Universalist pastors. A third parish had been founded, and the Rev. H. G. Smith became its pastor. He was associated with Messrs. Miner and Brooks in the management of the paper, each contributing over his own signature. About the year 1842 the Unitarian ministry was suddenly rent by one of its ministers, in ability, magnetism, and rhetorical skill without a peer among his brethren,—the Rev. Theodore Parker. He had adopted German rationalism in regard to the Bible and Christianity, and by the boldness of his utterances and the felicity of his manner was rapidly forming that radical wing which to-day appears to dominate in the Unitarian body. Such a leading was not likely to be restricted to any one sect. Was it to enter and change the character of the Universalist movement? The Rev. Mr. Smith showed that he was thoroughly imbued with the new doctrine; and he was rapidly making converts among the younger members of his ministerial fraternity. Rev. Messrs. Miner and Brooks, fully persuaded that the new idea was a false one, thought that they foresaw that its free acceptance by the Universalist ministry and people would at an early day endanger the stability of their church. They met the issue without reserve and with no regard to consequences personal to themselves. In the pulpit and in the paper they vigorously protested against the course of Mr. Smith. An anxious discussion followed, and it spread. It was taken into the ecclesiastical body, the Boston Association, where a resolution deprecating and protesting against the "deistical innovation" was passed by a strong majority. This was in 1847. A few years later the writer of this inquired of the Rev. Thomas Whittemore in regard to that rationalistic excitement. His answer was, "Miner and Brooks took it in hand at Lowell and the Association killed it." This episode apparently weakened the Universalist cause in Lowell. The writer is one of the large number who have no doubt that the promptness and thoroughness of the Lowell pastors averted a calamity.

May 1, 1848, Mr. Miner was called to the pastorate of the School-street church, Boston. Having the entire confidence of his renowned senior, the Rev. Hosea Ballou, he rapidly worked disaffection out of the parish, thoroughly organized it, got the more than confidence of its leading members; and he has carried it forward to the present day with a degree of high success seldom paralleled in any denomination. In the early part of the year 1851 his people decided to enlarge the edifice. The closing of services while the reconstruction was in progress gave Mr. Miner an opportunity to recruit his wasted strength by European travel. In June, 1852, Rev. Hosea Ballou died full of honors. Another call upon his administrative ability as president of Tufts College led to the settlement of associate pastors. But, apart from these interludes, Dr. Miner has been the sole pastor since the death of Mr. Ballou.

In the movement to found Tufts College, of the very small number of devoted friends, Dr. Miner has not occupied a second place. Subscribing himself liberally, a few of his parishioners felt the contagion of example and made generous pledges. The Rev. Otis A. Skinner, D. D., was the first agent for collecting funds, and with heroic perseverance in this pioneer work he raised the larger part of $100,000,—the minimum upon which the work could begin. This, however, was but a beginning. The assets to-day are not far from one million dollars. The influence of Dr. Miner in reaching this result has been pre-eminent. The corner-stone was laid in 1853. Mr. Miner giving the address. On the death of its first president, Rev. Hosea Ballou, 2d, D. D., Mr. Miner was constrained to accept the presidency. He was inaugurated, July 9, 1862. Previous to this, the principal trust, he had served the college as trustee, secretary, and treasurer. It was largely by his devices that the money was raised to meet the current expenses during the infancy and the poverty of the institution.

In 1863 Harvard College conferred upon him the honorary S. T. D. He had received the honorary A. M. from Tufts in 1861; and that of LL. D. was conferred by Tufts in 1875. His presidency continued till 1875, at which date he acceded to the urgent call of his parish, and resigned the presidency of the college and took the sole pastorate of his church, which, in 1872, had dedicated the large and costly temple at the corner of Columbus avenue and Clarendon street, in which it has worshiped from that date to the present. Again his labor was effective. Out of the pulpit as well as in it, giving his heart and energy to its interests, the old parish entered upon a new era of prosperity. A pastor does well who holds to himself one generation. Dr. Miner now has under his influence a third generation, and the "spell" is not weakened. In the period of his pastorates, he has conducted more than one thousand eight hundred funeral services, and solemnized more than two thousand five hundred weddings.

On removing to Boston, in 1848, Mr. Miner found himself in the center of new calls upon his "many-sided" talents. He was seen to be financier, organizer, popular leader, platform orator. Thence "missions" multiplied and increased. The limits of this sketch permit but the baldest statement of his labors, all of which he has rendered with singular skill. Of course he was put upon the school board of the city. Then the state made demands, and he is now serving a second term of eight years on the state board of education. At a dinner given in his honor on occasion of his departure for a short period to California, the then Gov. Washburn bore testimony to the inventiveness and far-reaching wisdom with which he was aiding to advance the educational interests of the commonwealth. He has been six years chairman of the board of visitors of the state normal art school. He has served as one of the overseers of Harvard College. He is one of the "hundred orators," having delivered the Fourth of July oration in Boston in 1855. Add to such duties constant lecturing before lyceums, temperance meetings, and peace societies, his frequent addresses at academic commencements, and membership of various associations which we have not space to mention,—how so many offices can be discharged, and all with acknowledged fidelity, is a question that perplexes. In the way of duty he has made enemies. But neither friends nor foes ever accused him of seeking any of these high responsibilities. In every instance the position sought the man. His pre-eminent gift has seemed to the writer to consist in speaking to a point and with a view to a particular effect. When he appeared before the legislative committee to plead for a state grant to Tufts College, the committee unanimously reported in favor,—one of the members adding that the eloquence with which the claim had been urged had convinced the committee that it was a claim. The late Samuel Burbank of Lowell gave the writer this incident: Dr. Miner had occasion to address a meeting of stockholders of an insurance company whose affairs had got into a bad way. When he was through, the late Samuel Lawrence, turning to Mr. Burbank, said: "That is the Universalist minister,—well, if he will abandon his pulpit he may have charge of any of our manufactories at any salary he may ask."

Like his faith, Dr. Miner's interest in the temperance reform is a "born conviction." From his youth to his present hour, he has never wavered in his belief that the drinking curse is the giant evil. In the pulpit, the lyceum, the caucus, on the platform, he has labored to create and enforce law to resist the ever threatening danger. In politics he makes it the chief state issue, and in 1878 was the candidate of the Prohibition party for governor of Massachusetts. In 1867 he led before the legislative committee the protest against the repeal of the prohibitory law, in opposition to the efforts of Gov. Andrew. His speech on that occasion has become an arsenal of facts pertaining to the ethics and the practicability of the statute. Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, D. D., said to the writer of this: "Your Dr. Miner has made a great speech,—a very great one: it will never be answered." For ten years he has been the president of the Temperance Alliance. In token of his great service before the legislature, the Alliance presented him a costly Dore Bible. He also had another "token" in the shape of threatened violence and the defacement of his house. This was meant as dishonor. Dishonor? Could the apostle articulate his thought, for what titles Jerusalem could have conferred would he exchange the "forty stripes save one?"

But in all these varied toils, his church and faith have had the uppermost place. By instinct and habit an extemporaneous speaker, the one field he has least worked is that of literature with the pen. An occasional article for the church periodicals and a Sunday-school manual have at times occupied him. But most of his published works were spoken, and taken down by reporters. He is one of some half-dozen Boston preachers who are favorites with the reporters of the Boston dailies. "Old Forts Taken," his latest publication, was the rhetoric of his "off hand" speaking, save as the transcript of the reporter may have been revised. But, whether laboring by speech or pen, he has never permitted any duty or position to hold other than a second place beside his duties to the church of his love.

In the movement which has transformed the once scattered societies of his denomination into a compact, organized, and working church, no one has rendered a more effective service. Of its first Home Mission he is literally the pioneer. No one more faithfully represents the controversial and aggressive spirit of the doctrines of his Church; but no one has done more to make that church effective for practical righteousness and Christian worship. He has now reached the decline, not of his powers, nor of his zeal, nor of his work, but only of his years. May the evening of his days be as serene and pleasant as his youth and maturity have been industrious, faithful, and true.

Henry O. Kent

COL. HENRY O. KENT.

BY H. H. METCALF.

Among the best known of the representative men of New Hampshire, Col. Henry O. Kent of Lancaster is conceded a prominent position. The Kent family is of English origin, the first of the name in this country being among the settlers of old Newbury, Mass., in 1635. John Kent, a scion of this stock, died in 1780, at Cape Ann, Mass., aged eighty years. His son, Jacob, born at Chebacco (now Essex), Mass., in 1726, settled in Plaistow in this state. In 1760, a regiment commanded by Col. John Goffe was raised in New Hampshire for the invasion of Canada, one company of which was officered by John Hazen, captain; Jacob Kent (above named), first lieutenant; and Timothy Beadle, second lieutenant. This regiment marched to Number Four (Charlestown), cutting a road through the forest to the Green Mountains, and thence to Crown Point on Lake Champlain, where they took water transportation. After a successful campaign they returned through the wilderness, via the Newbury meadows or the "Cohos country," with the fertility of which region Lieut.-Col. Jacob Bayley, Capt. Hazen, and Lieutenants Kent and Beadle were so favorably impressed that they determined to return and found a settlement. The project was soon carried out, Bayley and Kent locating on the western, and Hazen and Beadle on the eastern, side of the river, from which settlements sprang the towns of Newbury and Haverhill. Jacob Kent died at Newbury, in 1812, at the age of eighty-six years. He was a noted man in his section, commander of the first company of militia in the towns of Newbury and Haverhill "in our province of New Hampshire," as says his commission, signed in 1764 by Benning Wentworth, which, with his sword, borne in two wars, is now in Col. Kent's possession. During the Revolution, while burdened with the cares of the infant settlement, he was an earnest actor in the scenes which gave us our independence. He was colonel of the forces in his vicinity, and on the advance of Burgoyne started with his regiment for the field, and was present with it at the capitulation at Saratoga. The original homestead is still in the family, Col. Jacob Kent—a gentleman through a long life well known in the political, military, and social circles of Vermont—being the present owner.

Jacob Kent, first named, left three sons,—Jacob, John, and Joseph. John Kent, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, settled in the town of Lyman, where he died in 1842, leaving four sons and one daughter. The father of Col. Kent—Richard Peabody Kent—was one of these sons, his mother, Tabitha Peabody, being a daughter of Lieutenant Richard Peabody of the Revolutionary army. He is still in active business in Lancaster, where he settled and engaged in mercantile pursuits in 1828. During this long career his affairs have been transacted with scrupulous integrity, exactitude, and honor. Though never in public life, he has always taken a deep interest in the material and educational welfare of the community. On the maternal side the ancestry of Col. Kent is traced to Richard Mann, "a planter in the family of Elder Brewster," who was one of the colony of the Mayflower. From him descended that John Mann, born December 25, 1743, who was the first permanent settler of the town of Orford, N. H., October, 1765. To him were born fifteen children, of whom Solomon Mann was well known in the state. Emily, second daughter of Solomon Mann, married Henry Oakes, an active and well known business man at Waterford and Fairlee, Vt. To Henry and Emily (Mann) Oakes were born three daughters and a son. One of the daughters, Emily Mann Oakes, was married to Richard P. Kent at Littleton, June 5, 1832. To this union there were born three children—sons—Henry Oakes, Edward Richard, and Charles Nelson.

Henry Oakes Kent was born in Lancaster, February 7, 1834. He attended the district school and Lancaster Academy, and graduated from Norwich Military University in the class of 1854, receiving later the degree of A. M. He studied law with Hon Jacob Benton, and was admitted to the bar at Lancaster in May, 1858. Soon after, he became the proprietor of the Coos Republican, and assumed the editorial and business management of that paper, his strong interest in political affairs and the fortunes of the Republican party, with which he was actively indentified, impelling him to this step, in taking which he relinquished the prospect of a successful and distinguished career at the bar. In the management of the Republican, both financial and editorial, he displayed rare skill and ability. His leading articles were always strong, vigorous, earnest, and secured for his paper, notwithstanding its remote location from the Capital, an influential position among the party journals of the state. It is safe to say that from the time when he assumed its management until 1870, when he sold it,—a period of twelve years,—no paper in the state rendered more efficient support to the party with which it was allied, or advocated more heartily all measures tending to advance the material prosperity of the section in which it was located, than did the Coos Republican under the direction of Col. Kent.

Since 1870 he has attended to a large and growing general office business, to which he had previously given more or less attention, and also to the interests of the Savings Bank for the County of Coos, for which institution he secured the charter in 1868, and of which he is and has been a trustee and the treasurer. He is also an owner and manager of the Lancaster paper-mill; is treasurer of the Pleasant Valley Starch Company, and is president of the Lancaster and Kilkenny Railroad Company, a corporation organized to develop the resources of the adjoining forest town of Kilkenny. The encouragement of local enterprise and industry has, indeed, always been one of his characteristics.

As has been indicated, Col. Kent entered political life as a Republican, and was an active advocate of the cause and policy of that party, with pen and voice, until after the election of Gen. Grant to the presidency. In 1855, when but twenty-one years of age, he was chosen assistant clerk of the house of representatives, and re-elected the following year. In 1857 he was chosen clerk of the house, discharging the duties of that office, for three successive years, with a readiness and efficiency which have never been excelled by any incumbent. In those days the previous question was not in vogue, and roll-calls were frequent. So familiar did Col. Kent become with the roll, which embraced over three hundred names, that he called it from memory, and it is related that, having called the roll nineteen times in one day, it became so impressed upon his mind that he called it over at night in his sleep, after retiring at the Eagle. In 1862 he was chosen a representative from Lancaster, and served with marked ability, his previous experience as clerk admirably fitting him for the discharge of legislative duties. He served that year as chairman of the committee on military affairs; a position of great importance, considering the fact that we were then in the midst of the war period. His next appearance in the legislature was in 1868, when he served as chairman of the committee on railroads, and again in 1869, when he was at the head of the finance committee. During each year of his legislative service he occupied a prominent position among the leaders of his party in the house, displaying marked ability in debate, and energy and industry in the committee-room.

In 1858 a commission was appointed, by the states of Maine and New Hampshire, "to ascertain, survey, and mark" the boundary between them. The line had been established in 1784, and revised in 1825, when Ichabod Bartlett and John W. Weeks were the commissioners on the part of New Hampshire. The duty of representing this state upon the commission of 1858 was assigned to Col. Kent, and the work was performed during the autumn of that year, through the wilderness, from the Crown Monument, as far south as the towns of Fryeburg and Conway. Col. Kent's connection with this work is perpetuated in the mountain bearing his name, on the northeastern frontier, laid down on the state map of 1860, and in subsequent surveys. In 1864 he was one of the presidential electors of this state, and from 1866 to 1868 inclusive, he was one of the bank commissioners.

At the outbreak of the rebellion Col. Kent volunteered in aid of the Union cause. He was ordered to Concord by Gov. Goodwin, commissioned assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of colonel, and assigned to duty in the recruiting service. Raising a company in a few days at Lancaster, he was ordered to Portsmouth, where he aided to organize and send out the Second Regiment and to fit the garrison at Fort Constitution. He continued on duty as assistant adjutant-general (the only one ever appointed in New Hampshire) until after the earlier regiments had left the state; but when a call was issued for three additional regiments from New Hampshire, in the fall of 1862, he was commissioned colonel of the Seventeenth, which was raised mainly by his personal efforts and upon the strength of his name, and organized and thoroughly drilled and disciplined under his command. Under the exigencies of the service, however, and by orders received from the secretary of war, the regiment was consolidated with the Second, whose ranks had become heavily depleted, the men being transferred and the officers necessarily mustered out, the governor in "general orders," regretting the necessity for this action and complimenting the Seventeenth for its high discipline and soldierly demeanor. As it was, few men, if any, in the state, did more than Col. Kent to promote the efficiency of the service, and to maintain the reputation of New Hampshire for prompt and patriotic effort in the Union cause,—a cause which he sustained by pen and voice and active personal effort throughout the entire struggle. He has been connected with the Grand Army of the Republic since its organization, is past commander of his Post, and is a frequent and popular speaker at the Veterans' reunions and on Memorial-day occasions.

Col. Kent was an active member of the organization known as the "Governor's Horse-Guards," which was formed for parade on the occasion of the annual inauguration of the governor, in which he held the office of major in 1860, and rode as colonel in 1863, 1864, and 1865.

In his association with, and labor for, the Republican party, Col. Kent was actuated by his opposition to the institution of slavery, which he regarded as prejudicial to the republic. He maintained his convictions earnestly, yet candidly, in his paper and on the stump. But after the war and the downfall of slavery, he favored the burial of past issues and sectional bitterness, and the restoration of fraternal relations, as essential to the general prosperity of the country. Regarding the policy of the administration as inimical to such result, he was unable to sustain it. He therefore disposed of his paper, which as a party organ he could not conscientiously carry to the opposition, and engaged in the development and organization of the Liberal movement, which resulted in the Cincinnati convention and the nomination of Horace Greeley for president in 1872. He participated in that convention, and was a member of the National and chairman of the State Liberal Republican committee in 1872 and 1873. In 1873 the Liberals ran an independent state ticket, but united with the Democracy on a common platform in 1874. The resolutions of the Liberal convention, announcing such purpose, were presented in the Democratic convention by Col. Kent, whose appearance and announcement elicited strong demonstrations of enthusiasm in that body. The campaign thus opened, ended in the election of a Democratic governor and legislature,—a result to which the earnest labors of Col. Kent largely contributed. In recognition of his efficient services, as well as acknowledged ability, he was accorded the Democratic congressional nomination in the third district in 1875, and again in 1877 and 1878. In each of the attendant canvasses, he spoke continuously, and ran largely ahead of his party vote, especially in his own town and vicinity. In all subsequent campaigns Col. Kent has heartily devoted his energies to the furtherance of Democratic principles, and has been active upon the stump in New Hampshire and outside the state, and always with numerous calls and large audiences.

Col. Kent is now fully engaged in the direction of his business concerns, which furnish an ample field for his energies and talent; yet he has in no degree abated his interest in public and political affairs. As has been said, he has given earnest encouragement to all enterprises calculated to promote the material welfare and prosperity of his section. In the advancement of educational interests he has also been earnestly engaged. He is a trustee and chairman of the executive committee of the corporation of Lancaster Academy, and is also a trustee of Norwich University, and president of the "Associated Alumni and Past Cadets" of that institution. In 1875 he addressed the Associated Alumni at their reunion, and in 1876, by request, delivered an address at commencement which for its eloquence and patriotic sentiments secured hearty and general commendation. He was, last year, one of the corporators of the Yorktown Centennial Association, named by the legislature of Virginia. He has long been prominent in the Masonic order, having passed the chair in North Star Lodge at Lancaster, and frequently been district deputy grand master. In 1868 and 1869 he was grand commander of the order of Knights Templars and appendant orders for the jurisdiction of New Hampshire. In 1880 he was made the recipient of a past masters badge of solid gold, from the Masons of his section.

Col. Kent was married, in Boston, January 11, 1859, to Berenice A. Rowell. They have two children, a daughter,—Berenice Emily,—born October 31, 1866, and a son,—Henry Percy,—born March 8, 1870. His religious associations are with the Episcopal church, and he is, with his family, a regular attendant upon the service of St. Paul's at Lancaster.

Of fine presence, genial and courteous manners, and strong personal magnetism, public spirited, generous, and obliging, his popularity in his section is great, as is evidenced by the large vote which he always receives when his name is upon the ticket, in his own town. Still young, endowed with strong mental powers, well known as a writer and public speaker, ambitious and courageous, it is fair to presume that he will yet attain still greater prominence and usefulness in public and private life.

Marshall P. Wilder PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITES STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

Portrait taken at the age of seventy.

MARSHALL P. WILDER, PH. D.

BY JOHN WARD DEAN, A. M.,

Librarian of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society.

There are few men in our community whose lives afford as striking an example of what can be achieved by concentration of power and unconquerable perseverance as does that of Col. Wilder. The bare enumeration of the important positions he has held, and still holds, and the self-sacrificing labors he has performed is abundant evidence of the extraordinary talent and ability, and the personal power and influence, which have enabled him to take a front rank as a benefactor to mankind.

Marshall Pinckney Wilder, whose christian names were given in honor of Chief-Justice Marshall and General Pinckney, eminent statesmen at the time he was born, was the oldest son of Samuel Locke Wilder, Esq., of Rindge, N. H., and was born in that town, September 22, 1798. His father, a nephew of the Rev. Samuel Locke, D.D., president of Harvard College, for whom he was named, was thirteen years a representative in the New Hampshire legislature, a member of the Congregational church in Rindge and held important town offices there. His mother, Anna, daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Crombie) Sherwin, (married May 2, 1797,) a lady of great moral worth, was, as her son is, a warm admirer of the beauties of nature.

The Wilders are an ancient English family, which the "Book of the Wilders," published a few years ago, traces to Nicholas Wilder, a military chieftain in the army of the Earl of Richmond at the battle of Bosworth, 1485. There is strong presumptive evidence that the American family is an offshoot from this. President Chadbourne in his life of Col. Wilder, and the author of the "Book of the Wilders," give reasons for this opinion. The paternal ancestors of Col. Wilder in this country performed meritorious services in the Indian wars, in the American revolution, and in Shays' rebellion. His grandfather was one of the seven delegates from the county of Worcester, in the Massachusetts convention of 1788, for ratifying the constitution of the United States, who voted in favor of it. Isaac Goodwin, Esq., in the Worcester Magazine, Vol. II. page 45, bears this testimony: "Of all the ancient Lancaster families, there is no one that has sustained so many important offices as that of Wilder."

At the age of four Marshall was sent to school, and at twelve he entered New Ipswich Academy, his father desiring to give him a collegiate education, with reference to a profession. When he reached the age of sixteen, his father gave him the choice, either to qualify himself for a farmer, or for a merchant, or to fit for college. He chose to be a farmer; and to this choice may we attribute in no small degree the mental and physical energy which has distinguished so many years of his life. But the business of his father increased so much that he was taken into the store. He here acquired such habits of industry that at the age of twenty-one he became a partner, and was appointed postmaster of Rindge.

In 1825, he sought a wider field of action and removed to Boston. Here he began business under the firm name of Wilder & Payson, in Union street, then as Wilder & Smith, in North Market street, and next in his own name, at No. 3, Central wharf. In 1837 he became a partner in the commission house of Parker, Blanchard, & Wilder, Water street, next Parker, Wilder, & Parker, Pearl street, and now Parker, Wilder, & Co., Winthrop square. Mr. Wilder is the oldest commission merchant in domestic fabrics in active business in Boston. He has passed through various crises of commercial embarrassments, and yet he has never failed to meet his obligations. He was an original director in the Hamilton, now Hamilton National, Bank, and in the National Insurance Company. The latter trust he has held over forty years, and he is now in his fiftieth year in the former. He has been a director in the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company for nearly forty years, and also a director in other similar institutions.

But trade and the acquisition of wealth have not been the all-engrossing pursuits of his life. His inherent love of rural pursuits led him, in 1832, to purchase a house in Dorchester originally built by Gov. Increase Sumner, where, after devoting a proper time to business, he gave his leisure to horticulture and agriculture. He spared no expense, he rested from no efforts, to instill into the public mind a love of an employment so honorable and useful. He cultivated his own grounds, imported seeds, plants, and trees, and endeavored by his example to encourage labor and elevate the rank of the husbandman. His garden, green-houses, and a forest of fruit-trees occupied the time he could spare from business, and here he has prosecuted his favorite investigations, year after year, for half a century, to the present day.

Soon after the Massachusetts Horticultural Society was formed, Mr. Wilder was associated with the late Gen. Henry A. S. Dearborn, its first president, and from that time till now has been one of its most efficient members, having two years since delivered the oration on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary. One of the most important acts of this society was the purchase of Mount Auburn for a cemetery and an ornamental garden. On the separation of the cemetery from the society, in 1835, through Mr. Wilder's influence, committees were appointed by the two corporations, Judge Story being chairman of the cemetery committee, and Mr. Wilder of the society committee. The situation was fraught with great difficulties; but Mr. Wilder's conservative course, everywhere acknowledged, overcame them all, and enabled the society to erect an elegant hall in School street, and afterwards the splendid building it now occupies in Tremont street, the most magnificent horticultural hall in the world. In 1840 he was chosen president, and held the office for eight successive years. During his presidency the hall in School street was erected, and two triennial festivals were held in Faneuil Hall, which are particularly worthy of notice. The first was opened September 11, 1845, and the second on the fiftieth anniversary of his birth, September 22, 1848, when he retired from the office of president, and the society voted him a silver pitcher valued at one hundred and fifty dollars, and caused his portrait to be placed in its hall. As president of this association he headed a circular for a convention of fruit-growers, which was held in New York, October 10, 1848, when the American Pomological Society was formed. He was chosen its first president, and he still holds that office, being in his thirty-third year of service. Its biennial meetings have been held in New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Boston, Rochester, St. Louis, Richmond, Chicago, and Baltimore. On these occasions President Wilder has made appropriate addresses. The last meeting was held September, 1881, at Boston, where he presided with his usual vigor and propriety, at the advanced age of eighty-three.

In February, 1849, the Norfolk Agricultural Society was formed. Mr. Wilder was chosen president, and the Hon. Charles Francis Adams, vice-president. Before this society, his first address on agricultural education was delivered. This was the first general effort in that cause in this country. He was president twenty years, and on his retirement he was constituted honorary president, and a resolution was passed recognizing his eminent ability and usefulness in promoting the arts of horticulture and agriculture, and his personal excellence in every department of life. He next directed his efforts to establishing the Massachusetts board of agriculture, organized, as the Massachusetts Central Board of Agriculture, at a meeting of delegates of agricultural societies in the state, September, 1851, in response to a circular issued by him as president, of the Norfolk Agricultural Society. He was elected president, and held the office till 1852, when it became a department of the state, and he is now the senior member of that board. In 1858 the Massachusetts School of Agriculture was incorporated, and he was chosen president; but before the school was opened congress granted land to the several states for agricultural colleges, and in 1865 the legislature incorporated the Massachusetts Agricultural College. He was named the first trustee. In 1871 the first class was graduated, and in 1878 he had the honor of conferring the degree of Bachelor of Science on twenty young gentlemen graduates. He delivered addresses on both occasions. In 1852, through his instrumentality, the United States Agricultural Society was organized at Washington. This society, of which he was president for the first six years, exercised a beneficial influence till the breaking out of the late civil war. He is a member of many horticultural and agricultural societies in this and foreign lands.

Col. Wilder, at an early age, took an interest in military affairs. At sixteen he was enrolled in the New Hampshire militia, and at twenty-one he was commissioned adjutant. He organized and equipped the Rindge Light Infantry, and was chosen its captain. At twenty-five he was elected lieutenant-colonel, and at twenty-six was commissioned as colonel of the Twelfth Regiment.

Soon after his removal to Boston he joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. In 1856 he was chosen commander of the corps, having four times previously declined nominations. He entered into correspondence with Prince Albert, commander of the Royal Artillery Company of London, founded in 1537, of which this corps, chartered in 1638, is the only offspring. This correspondence established a friendly intercourse between the two companies. In June, 1857, Prince Albert was chosen a special honorary member of our company, and twenty-one years later, in 1878, Col. Wilder, who then celebrated the fiftieth or golden anniversary of his own membership, nominated the Prince of Wales, the present commander of the London company, as an honorary member. They are the only two honorary members that have been elected by the company, and both were commanders of the Honorable Artillery Company of London when chosen. The late elegantly illustrated history of the London company contains a portrait of Col. Wilder as he appeared in full uniform on that occasion.

In 1839, he was induced to serve for a single term in the Massachusetts legislature as a representative for the town of Dorchester. In 1849 he was elected a member of Gov. Briggs's council, and the year following, a member of the senate and its president. In 1860, he was the member for New England of the national committee of the "Constitutional Union party," and attended, as chairman of the Massachusetts delegation, the National convention in Baltimore, where John Bell and Edward Everett were nominated for president and vice-president of the United States.

He was initiated in Charity Lodge No. 18, in Troy, N. H., at the age of twenty-five, exalted to the Royal Arch Chapter, Cheshire No. 4, and knighted in the Boston Encampment. He was deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and was one of the six thousand Masons who signed, Dec. 31, 1831, the celebrated "Declaration of the Freemasons of Boston and Vicinity;" and at the fiftieth anniversary of that event, just celebrated in Boston, Mr. Wilder responded for the survivors, six of the signers being present. He has received all the Masonic degrees, including the 33d, or highest and last honor of the fraternity. At the World's Masonic convention, in 1867, at Paris, he was the only delegate from the United States who spoke at the banquet.

On the 7th of November, 1849, a festival of the Sons of New Hampshire was celebrated in Boston. The Hon. Daniel Webster presided, and Mr. Wilder was the first vice-president. Fifteen hundred sons of the Granite State were present. The association again met on the 29th of October, 1852, to participate in the obsequies of Mr. Webster at Faneuil Hall. On this occasion the legislature and other citizens of New Hampshire were received at the Lowell depot, and addressed by Mr. Wilder in behalf of the sons of that state resident in Boston.

The Sons celebrated their second festival Nov. 2, 1853, at which Mr. Wilder occupied the chair as president, and delivered one of his most eloquent speeches. They assembled again June 20, 1861, to receive and welcome the New Hampshire regiment of volunteers and escort them to Music Hall, where Mr. Wilder addressed them in a patriotic speech on their departure for the field of battle.

The two hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the settlement of Dorchester was celebrated on the 4th of July, 1855. The oration was by Edward Everett; Mr. Wilder presided and delivered an able address. On the central tablet of the great pavilion was this inscription: "Marshall P. Wilder, President of the Day. Blessed is he that turneth the waste places into a garden, and maketh the wilderness to blossom as a rose."

In January, 1868, he was solicited to take the office of president of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, vacated by the death of Gov. Andrew. He was unanimously elected, and is now serving the fourteenth year of his presidency. At every annual meeting he has delivered an appropriate address. In his first address he urged the importance of procuring a suitable building for the society. In 1870, he said: "The time has now arrived when absolute necessity, public sentiment, and personal obligations demand that this work be done and done quickly." Feeling himself pledged by this address, he, as chairman of the committee then appointed, devoted three months entirely to the object of soliciting funds, during which time more than forty thousand dollars was generously contributed by friends of the association; and thus the handsome edifice. No. 18 Somerset street, was procured. This building was dedicated to the use of the society, March 18, 1871. He has since obtained donations amounting to upwards of twelve thousand dollars, as a fund for paying the salary of the librarian.

In 1859, he presided at the first public meeting called in Boston in regard to the collocation of institutions on the Back Bay lands, where the splendid edifices of the Boston Society of Natural History and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology now stand. Of the latter institution he has been a vice-president, and the chairman of its Society of Arts.

He was one of the twelve representative men appointed to receive the Prince of Wales in 1860, at the banquet given him in Boston; also one of the commissioners in behalf of the Universal Exposition in Paris, 1867, when he was placed at the head of the committee on horticulture and the cultivation and products of the vine, the report of which was published by act of congress.

In 1869, he made a trip to the South for the purpose of examining its resources; and in 1870, with a large party, he visited California. The result of Mr. Wilder's observations have been given to the public in a lecture before the Massachusetts state board of agriculture, which was repeated before the Boston Mercantile Library Association, the Amherst and the Massachusetts Agricultural colleges, Dartmouth College, the Horticultural Society, and the merchants of Philadelphia, and bodies in other places.

His published speeches and writings now amount to over eighty in number. A list to the year 1873 is printed in the "Cyclopedia of American Literature." Dartmouth College, as a testimonial to his services in science and literature, conferred upon him, in the year 1877, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

The Hon. Paul A. Chadbourne, LL. D., late president of Williams College, in a recent memoir of Mr. Wilder remarks: "The interest which Col. Wilder has always manifested in the progress of education, as well as the value and felicitous style of his numerous writings, would lead one to infer at once that his varied knowledge and culture are the results of college education. But he is only another illustrious example of the men who, with only small indebtedness to schools, have proved to the world that real men can make themselves known as such without the aid of the college, as we have abundantly learned that the college can never make a man of one who has not in him the elements of noble manhood before he enters its halls."

In 1820, Mr. Wilder married Miss Tryphosa Jewett, daughter of Dr. Stephen Jewett, of Rindge, a lady of great personal attractions. She died on a visit to that town, July 21, 1831, leaving four children. On the 29th of August, 1833, Mr. Wilder was united to Miss Abigail, daughter of Capt. David Baker, of Franklin, Mass., a lady of education, accomplishments, and piety, who died of consumption April 4, 1854, leaving five children. He was married a third time on the 8th of September, 1855, to her sister, Miss Julia Baker, who was admirably qualified to console him and make his dwelling cheerful, and who has two sons, both living. No man has been more blessed in domestic life. We know not where there would be a more pleasing picture of peace and contentment exhibited than is found in this happy family. In all his pursuits and avocations, Mr. Wilder seems to have realized and practiced that grand principle which has such a bearing and influence on the whole course of life,—the philosophy of habit, a power almost omnipotent for good or evil. His leisure hours he devotes to his pen, which already has filled several large volumes with descriptions and delineations of fruits and flowers proved under his own inspection.

The life of Col. Wilder is a striking instance of what an individual may accomplish by industry, indomitable perseverance, and the concentration of the intellectual powers on grand objects. Without these, no talent, no mere good fortune could have placed him in the high position he has attained as a public benefactor. He has been pre-eminent in the establishment and development of institutions. Few gentlemen have been called upon so often, and upon such various occasions, to take the chair at public meetings or preside over constituted societies. Few have acquitted themselves so happily, whether dignity of presence, amenity of address, fluency of speech, or dispatch of business be taken into consideration. As a presiding officer he seems "to the manner born." His personal influence has been able to magnetize a half-dying body into new and active life. This strong personal characteristic is especially remarked among his friends. No one can approach him in doubt, in despondency, or in embarrassment, and leave him without a higher hope, a stronger courage and a manlier faith in himself. The energy which has impelled him to labor still exists.

In closing this sketch, we may remark that a complimentary banquet was given him, September 22, 1878, on the eightieth anniversary of his birth. On this occasion the Rev. James H. Means, D. D., his pastor for nearly thirty years, the Hon. Charles L. Flint, secretary of the board of agriculture, the Hon. John Phelps Putnam, judge of the Massachusetts superior court, and others paid tributes to the high moral character, the benevolent disposition, and the eminent services of the honored guest of the evening.

Judge Putnam closed as follows: "Our dear old friend, we greet you. On this auspicious occasion we wish you many returns of your natal day. Serus in cœlum redeas,—late may you return to the heavens. And when that day comes, on which, in the onward march of life you shall fall by the way-side, may you fall as falls the golden fruit in this autumn time,—

'Sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.'"

John M. Parker

HON. JOHN M. PARKER.

BY WM. H. STINSON.

Among the many worthy sons of the old Granite State who by their business enterprise, executive ability, and genial manners have won a position on her honored roll, appears the name of John McGaw Parker, who was born in Goffstown, September 17, 1824, the eldest son of William Parker by his second marriage, one of the early settlers of the town. His mother, Hannah Adams, of Derry, was a most estimable lady, whose christian influence over her family of three children was most enobling. She was a descendant from that honored and illustrious family whose representatives were called to the executive head of our nation. She died February 26, 1869, having reached the age of four score years. We trace the ancestry of his father to Josiah Parker, who came from England to Cambridge, Mass., prior to 1700. His son, Rev. Thomas Parker, was the first settled pastor at Dracut, Mass., where he died in 1765. A son of his settled in Litchfield, this state, from whose family sprung the father of the subject of this sketch.

During his early youth, young Parker received such training and advantages as were offered by the district school, united with the best of home influences. At the age of eleven years he was placed in the academy at Hopkinton, by his father, who was desirous of giving his son the benefit of a business education; the following year he entered old Derry academy at Derry, where his education was completed.

Displaying much aptitude for business, his father, who was engaged in the lumbering and the mercantile trade, as well as farming, placed him in his store as clerk; the succeeding year he was clerk in a store at Concord, but the next year, 1839, he returned to his home, taking charge of the business of his father, who was in failing health, and who died on the 9th of August following, at the age of sixty-four years.

His father's death necessitated changes in home affairs, and in March, 1840, he entered the store of William Whittle, at Goffstown, where he remained until twenty-one years of age; he then returned once more to his home and went into the mercantile trade at his father's old stand. This was in 1843; he continued the same until 1847, when he formed a partnership with his younger brother, David A., under the firm name of J. M. & D. A. Parker, which union continues at the present time. In addition to the mercantile and agricultural interests, they have engaged extensively in the wood and lumber business, and as the "lumber kings" in their section of the state their business has grown and developed into one of no inconsiderable magnitude, requiring the investment of a large capital which has accumulated through their indomitable energy and business sagacity, backed by a judgment of such soundness as years of experience can but give. The building of the N. H. Central Railroad, now the Manchester & North Weare road, chartered in 1848, added greatly to their business facilities for the transportation of their wood, bark, and lumber, which enterprise received their earnest encouragement.

On the 30th of November, 1854, he married Letitia C., second daughter of the late Capt. Charles Stinson, of Dunbarton, who was born March 9, 1835. Their married life has been a truly happy one, and such a kindly home as all members of the household will ever revert to with the fondest of recollections. They have three children: Charles Stinson, born November 3, 1855; Henry Woodman, born February 26, 1859; Frank Adams, born June 1, 1866. The two former, Charles and Henry, inheriting their father's traits of character for business, are merchants at Goffstown village, while Frank is pursuing his studies at Gilmanton Academy.

Since the organization of the Republican party, Mr. Parker has ever been a zealous advocate of its principles, and his abilities have been recognized most honorably by his political party in their public preferments. In 1855 he was elected a commissioner for his county, and re-elected in 1856; and a member of the state senate in 1858 and 1859. Among his associates in this body were Hon. Walter Harriman, Hon. John G. Sinclair, Hon. Austin F. Pike, and Hon. John D. Lyman. He represented his town in the legislature in 1869. In 1876, without consultation and greatly to his surprise, he was selected as the nominee, by his party, for councilor from his district, and owing to his popularity received a majority of the suffrages at the election following, in the face of a Democratic majority of six hundred in the district the year previous; and was re-elected in 1877. At the institution of the state board of equalization, in 1879, he was commissioned by the court as one of the five members; re-appointed in 1881, and selected as president of the board.

When the Guaranty Savings Bank of Manchester was organized, in 1879, he was elected its president, a position still retained; and is also a member of the board of directors of the Merchants National Bank of the same city.

Mr. Parker filled the position of postmaster at the Goffstown office during a period of four years; and he has a wide reputation in all the surrounding towns as one of the most successful auctioneers, where his services are ever in demand. Being possessed of a judicious and candid mind, he is often called to act in the capacity of referee, where his mature judgment has assisted in the friendly adjustment of disputed and antagonistic questions which threatened the peace and harmony of families, neighborhoods, and towns.

His business prosperity enables him to exercise a liberal spirit towards objects and institutions that tend towards worthy ends; and he is certainly one of the most industrious of men, whether attending to the demands of the farm, the store, the lumber interests, selling of estates, or to the almost countless calls from his public and minor private duties that come crowding to his immediate notice. In all matters of a public nature he has ever taken an active interest, especially in the growth of enterprise in his native town.

Mr. Parker's love for social life allows the years to sit lightly. Of a happy, open disposition, ever approachable, at his delightful residence at Parker's station, Goffstown, presided over by his amiable and generous-hearted wife, a cordial welcome is assured all who enter his hospitable doors.

Chas. H. Bartlett.

HON. CHARLES H. BARTLETT.

Charles Henry Bartlett was born in Sunapee, N. H., October 15, 1833. He is the fourth son of John and Sarah J. (Sanborn) Bartlett, and is a lineal descendant, in the eighth generation, of Richard Bartlett, who came from England to Newbury, Mass., in the ship "Mary and John," in 1634.

The original orthography of the name was Barttelot, which is still preserved by the family in England, whose ancestral home in Stopham, Sussex county, has remained in possession of the family for nearly a thousand years, and the present occupant, Hon. Walter B. Barttelot, is the member of parliament from that county.

In the same ancestral line is found the name of Hon. Josiah Bartlett, who, as a delegate in the continental congress from New Hampshire, was the first man to vote "yea" on the passage of the declaration of independence, July 4, 1776, and the second to affix his signature thereto. All the Bartletts whose names appear in the annals of our state trace their lineage to the same ancestry.

Mr. Bartlett has four brothers,—Joseph S., who resides in Claremont, and Solomon, John Z. and George H., who reside in Sunapee; and two sisters,—Mrs. Thomas P. Smith and Mrs. John Felch. His parents are still living, at the advanced age of eighty-two years, in the enjoyment of an ample competency, the fruits of a long life of earnest and cheerful labor, and the practice of a stern, self-denying economy, the characteristic of the best type of our New England husbandry.

Mr. Bartlett's early life was mainly spent upon his father's farm, laboring through the summer season and attending school during the winter. He early developed a decided taste for literary pursuits, and from childhood devoted a liberal share of his leisure moments to the perusal of such books as were accessible to him. He also contributed liberally to the current literature of the day, and showed remarkable facility in both prose and poetic composition. He received his academic education at the academies at Washington and New London, after which he commenced the study of law in the office of Metcalf & Barton at Newport. He studied subsequently with George & Foster at Concord, and with Morrison & Stanley at Manchester, being admitted to the bar of Hillsborough county, from the office of the latter, in 1858. In that year he began the practice of his profession at Wentworth, N. H., and in 1863 removed to Manchester, where he has since resided. For some two years he was law partner with the late Hon. James U. Parker, the partnership terminating with the retirement of the latter from active business. In June, 1867, he was appointed, by Judge Clark, clerk of the United States district court for the New Hampshire district, since which time he has not actively practiced his profession, but has devoted himself to the duties of his office, which became very onerous and responsible upon the passage of the bankrupt law, about the time of his appointment. The holding of this office under the government of the United States has disqualified him from accepting any office under the state government. He was clerk of the New Hampshire senate from 1861 to 1865, Gov. Smyth's private secretary in 1865 and 1866, treasurer of the state reform school in 1866 and 1867. In the same year he was unanimously chosen city solicitor, but declined a re-election, owing to his appointment as clerk of the district court. In 1872 he was elected, as the nominee of the Republican party, mayor of the city, and served till February 18, 1873, when he resigned in accordance with the policy of the national government at that time, which forbade United States officials from holding state or municipal offices. His cheerful co-operation with the administration in this matter, though at the sacrifice of a most conspicuous public position, was handsomely recognized by President Grant, through Attorney-General Williams. His last official act as mayor was to order the city treasurer to pay the amount due him for salary to the Firemen's Relief Association. Mr. Bartlett has been a trustee of the Merrimack River Savings Bank from 1865 to the present time, and a trustee of the People's Savings Bank from its organization in 1874. He is also a director in the Merchants National Bank. He was the master of Washington Lodge of Freemasons from April, 1872, to April, 1874, and now holds the position of United States commissioner, to which he was appointed in 1872. The only positions of trust he has held since his appointment as clerk of the United States court, are as a member of the last constitutional convention, and chairman of the commission appointed by the governor and council to investigate the affairs of the New Hampshire Insane Asylum.

Mr. Bartlett married, December 8, 1858, at Sunapee, Miss Hannah M. Eastman, of Croydon, N. H., by whom he had one son, Charles Leslie, who died at the age of four years, and one daughter, Carrie Bell, a member of the Manchester high school.

Clarke's "History of Manchester," from which the foregoing facts are gathered, closes its biographical sketch of Mr. Bartlett as follows: "Mr. Bartlett has a keen, well balanced mind, whose faculties are always at his command. He thinks readily, but acts cautiously, and seldom makes a mistake. Hence he has been financially successful in almost everything he has undertaken. He is one of the most practical lawyers in the State, and was for several years in charge of the law department of the Mirror, giving general satisfaction, and his withdrawal, when his business compelled it, was a source of much regret to the readers of that paper."

In 1881, Dartmouth College conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts.

Moody Currier

HON. MOODY CURRIER, LL. D.

Forty years ago, when Manchester, now the metropolis of New Hampshire, was little more than a wasting waterfall and an unpeopled plain, a few young men who had the sagacity to see, the courage to grapple with, and the strength to control the possibilities of the location, made it their home. One of these was Moody Currier, who was then seeking for a spot in which a willing hand and a busy brain could carve out a successful career. His boyhood had been spent upon a farm, where he supported himself by work during the day, and gratified his desire for knowledge by studying by the light of pitch-knots in the evening. In this manner he fitted himself to enter Hopkinton Academy, and by similar methods worked his way into and through Dartmouth College, where he graduated with high honors in 1834. During his collegiate course he earned enough by teaching and other work in the vacations to pay his expenses, but his graduation found him without funds, and, as the readiest way to lay the foundation of his fortune, he taught school at Concord one term and the Hopkinton Academy one year, and then accepted an invitation to take charge of the high school at Lowell, Mass., where he remained until 1841. Meantime he had read law, and in the spring of that year came to Manchester, was admitted to the bar, and formed a partnership with Hon. George W. Morrison for the practice of his profession, which continued for two years, when it was dissolved, and he pursued his business independently until 1848. During this time he had acquired a large and lucrative practice, and while attending to the interests of his clients had established a reputation as one of the safest and most sagacious financiers in the young city, which led the founders of the Amoskeag bank, when that institution was organized, to elect him its cashier. He accepted the position, and from that time has been prominently identified with many of the largest and most successful moneyed corporations in the city and state. He was cashier of the Amoskeag bank until it was re-organized as a national bank, when he was elected its president, which position he still occupies. He has been treasurer of the Amoskeag Savings Bank since its foundation, in 1852, a director of the People's Savings Bank and of the Manchester Mills since their organization. He was a director of the Blodget Edge Tool Company, and a director and treasurer of the Amoskeag Axe Company, during the existence of those corporations. He was treasurer of the Concord Railroad in 1871 and 1872; has been treasurer of the Concord & Portsmouth Railroad since 1856, president of the Eastern Railroad in New Hampshire since 1877, treasurer of the New England Loan Company since 1874, and a director of the Manchester Gas-Light Company since 1862; and has held many other places of responsibility,—in all of which his prudence, foresight, and good judgment have grasped the opportunities which have eluded so many, avoided the whirlpools in which so many have been ingulfed, and secured for stockholders and depositors regular and satisfactory dividends.

While thus adding to the fortunes of others, he has not been unmindful of his own, and is one of the wealthy men of the state, able to command whatever money will buy, and to give liberally to any cause that commends itself to his judgment. But while it has been the business of Mr. Currier to manage vast moneyed concerns, the demands of his calling have not been permitted to choke out his love of books and study. The literary tastes, and habits of close and tireless application, which inspired the boy to struggle for and obtain a liberal education, survive in the man, and have made him a persistent student until he is one of the most accomplished scholars in the state.

While a teacher at Concord, he edited a literary journal in that city, and after coming to Manchester published and edited, for several years, a weekly newspaper. Since he became a banker he has spent much of his leisure in his well filled library, finding his recreation in adding to his knowledge of the classics, mastering the problems of exact science, and exploring the fields of belles-lettres. He has written, for his own amusement, many poems of much merit, a volume of which was published for circulation among his friends in 1879, and he is a master of the art of expression in terse and polished prose. His scholarly attainments were recognized by Bates College in 1880, which conferred upon him the degree of LL.D.

As a citizen, Mr. Currier occupies a high place in the city with whose material growth he has been so largely identified. He is an earnest advocate of whatever tends to her advancement, a judicious counselor, and a liberal giver. He was one of the founders of her city library, to which he has made large donations, that, with one of her public fountains, attest alike his generosity and his judgment; and there have been few projects for her improvement which have not found in him a strong and ready helper.

Prior to 1852 he acted with the Democratic party, which elected him clerk of the state senate in 1843, 1844, but the agitation of the slavery question enlisted him in the ranks of the Free-soil forces, and from the organization of the Republican party he has been one of its most earnest and effective supporters. In 1856 and 1857 he was a member of the senate, being its president the latter year; and in 1860 and 1861, was a member of the governor's council, and chairman of the committee for raising and equipping the troops necessary to fill the state's quota in the war of the rebellion. In this position his business ability and methods were of great service, and to him, at least as much as to any other one man, is due the creditable reputation which the state won in that trying period.

In 1876 he was one of the presidential electors who cast the vote of New Hampshire for Hayes and Wheeler, and in 1879, had he permitted his friends to use his name, would have been a prominent candidate for the governorship in the state convention that year, as he was in the primary meetings.

Mr. Currier has been married three times. He has no children living. He resides in an elegant home in Manchester, in which are reflected his cultivated tastes and ample fortune. Though able to look back upon a long career, he is in the enjoyment of excellent health and the full strength of his manhood, and while carrying the business burdens that would crush most men, finds leisure to enjoy the fruits of his industry, frugality, and judgment.

A. Norcross

HON. AMASA NORCROSS.

Amasa Norcross, A. M., of Fitchburg, Mass., was born in Rindge, N. H., January 26, 1824. His father, Daniel Norcross, was a farmer in New Hampshire, and was the grandson of Jeremiah Norcross, the immigrant ancestor of the family, who arrived in this country in the year 1642, and settled at Watertown, Mass. Daniel Norcross was a man of sterling integrity, a large land-holder, and the incumbent of many offices of honor and trust. His wife, nee Mary Jones, was also a native of New Hampshire.

Amasa Norcross received an excellent academic education, first in the academy of his native town, and subsequently in a similar institution at New Ipswich, N. H. Selecting the profession of law for the life exercise of his talents and energies, in 1844 he became a student in the office of the Hon. Nathaniel Wood of Fitchburg, and in 1847 was admitted to the bar. Since that time he has pursued his professional labors in the city where he now resides. He is to-day the senior member of the Fitchburg bar, and for many years he has been a recognized leader of the legal fraternity in that section of the state.

In 1858, 1859, and 1862, Mr. Norcross was a member of the Massachusetts house of representatives, having been elected thereto on the Republican ticket. In 1858 he was a member of the committee of probate and chancery, of which Governor Andrew, then a member of the house, was chairman; and in 1859 and 1862 he was a member of the judiciary committee. In August of the last-named year, he was appointed, by President Lincoln, United States assessor for the ninth congressional district of Massachusetts. The district was large, comprising seventy-two townships. He filled the office with signal ability and satisfaction for ten years, and until the office of assessor was abolished by act of congress. In 1862 the authorities of Dartmouth College conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts.

In the session of 1859, Mr. Norcross was appointed a member of the joint committee of the senate and house of representatives to examine and amend the report of the commissioners appointed to codify the laws of the state. He gave to this work his entire attention for several months, when report was made by the committee to the adjourned session of the legislature, held in the autumn of that year. Upon this committee were several distinguished lawyers, among whom were Gen. Caleb Cushing and Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. In 1874 he was a member of the Massachusetts senate and chairman of the judiciary committee of that body. He was also chairman of the committee on federal relations. To him was assigned the honor of drafting the report which recommended rescinding the resolutions of censure upon Charles Sumner which had been passed by the legislature of Massachusetts. Previous efforts to relieve that distinguished statesman from that burden had failed; this succeeded. The rescinding resolutions reached Senator Sumner at Washington a few days before his death, and doubtless contributed materially to soothe his last hours.

In the fall of 1876, Mr. Norcross was elected representative to congress on the Republican ticket, over his political opponent, S. O. Lamb of Greenfield. In 1878 he was elected a second time, over the candidates of two political parties. He has been an active member of the Republican party since its organization, and is now serving his third term in congress, having been again re-elected in 1880. In the several conventions resulting in his nomination and election, he was always supported by the better elements in his party.

Local affairs have always received a proportionate share of Mr. Norcross's attention. On the organization of the city government of Fitchburg, in 1873, he received the honor of first election to the mayoralty of the new city. He was re-elected the following year. In the administration of its affairs his executive ability was marked. Necessary public improvements were effected, and all bear tokens of his excellent judgment and skill. With financial and other public organizations he has been, for many years, prominently identified. He is a director in the Rollstone National Bank of Fitchburg, in the Worcester North Savings Institution, and in the Fitchburg Fire Insurance Company.

The interest of Mr. Norcross in benevolent and educational institutions has been deep and constant, and he has done much for their advancement. He took an active part in organizing the Fitchburg Benevolent Union, was its first president, and he is now one of its life members. For fifteen years he has been a trustee of the Lawrence Academy at Groton, Mass. By act of the legislature of Massachusetts he was made one of the original members of the corporation known as the Cushing Academy, located at Ashburnham, and by the same act was designated as the member authorized to call the first meeting of the trustees, of which board he is still a member. He has contributed largely to the organizing and building up of this now flourishing academy. For more than thirty years the labors of Mr. Norcross connected with his large legal practice have been arduous and continuous.

In June, 1852, he was married to S. Augusta, daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca Wallis, of Ashby, Mass. She died March 4, 1869.

Geo. A. Pillsbury

HON. GEORGE ALFRED PILLSBURY.

BY FRANK H. CARLETON.

New Hampshire is a small state, yet her sons and daughters are scattered far and wide. They have not only built up a prosperous and influential commonwealth at home, furnishing a talent and genius too great to be circumscribed by territorial lines, but they have greatly aided in laying the foundations and building up the newer sections of our country. Let any person pass through the mighty West, and thence to the great Northwest which to-day is doing vastly more than any section to supply the world with bread, and he will be surprised to find the great number of sons of New Hampshire who have attained reputation, position, and influence. In the highest ranks of commerce, at the bar, and from the pulpit, they wield a great influence. Their names are too numerous to be enumerated, yet it is to but few that the distinction is given of being distinguished in two states, and these as far apart as Minnesota and New Hampshire. To this small but honored class belongs the subject of this brief sketch, George Alfred Pillsbury, one of a family whose name suggests high qualities.

The family history has been traced as far back as Joshua Pillsbury, who settled a grant of land at what is now Newburyport, Mass., in the year 1640,—a grant which for over two hundred and forty years has been in the possession of the Pillsbury family. Following him, next came in the line of descent Caleb Pillsbury, who was born January 26, 1717, for several years and at the time of his decease a member of the Massachusetts provincial legislature. Caleb Pillsbury left a son Micajah, who was born in Amesbury, Mass., May 22, 1763, and married Sarah Sargent. The result of this union was four daughters, and four sons—Stephen, Joseph, John, and Moses. With this family Micajah Pillsbury removed to Sutton, N. H., where he remained until his death, in 1802, occupying various positions of town trust. His wife survived him several years. Of these sons, Stephen Pillsbury was a Baptist clergyman, who died in Londonderry. The other brothers, including John Pillsbury, the father of the subject of this sketch, were all magistrates of the town of Sutton. The youngest sister married Nathan Andrews, a gentleman well known in the annals of Sutton.

John Pillsbury was born in 1789. He was prominent in the town affairs of Sutton, being a selectman for several years, and representing the town in the state legislature. He was also a captain in the militia in those days of the fife and drum, when a commission had a significance. On April 2, 1811, he married Susan Wadleigh, daughter of Benjamin Wadleigh, a settler in Sutton in 1771. Benjamin Wadleigh was a descendant of Robert Wadleigh of Exeter, a member of the provincial legislature of Massachusetts. On the maternal side the ancestry was good. The maternal grandmother was the daughter of Ebenezer Kezar, who, it is related, concealed the girl whom he afterwards married, under a pile of boards, at the time Mrs. Duston was captured, in 1697. He was identified with the early history of Sutton in many ways.

As we have said, John and Susan Pillsbury were the father and mother of the subject of these lines. They were a hardy, vigorous, and exemplary parent stock. To them were born five children, to wit: Simon Wadleigh Pillsbury, born June 22, 1812; George Alfred, August 29, 1816; Dolly W., September 6, 1818; John Sargent, July 29, 1827; and Benjamin Franklin, March 29, 1831. All of the children received the common-school education of those days; but Simon W., whose natural fondness for study distinguished him as a young man, gave his attention to special branches of study, particularly mathematics, in which he became known as one of the best in the state. He delivered the first public lecture in Sutton on the subject of temperance. But too much study wore down his health, and he died in 1836, cutting short a promising future.

Of the other brothers, John Sargent is too well known to need mention. When a boy of sixteen he became a clerk for his brother, George Alfred, at Warner, N. H. In 1848 he formed a business partnership with Walter Harriman in Warner, neither of these two men in those days dreaming that in the future one would be the governor of a state on the Atlantic seaboard, and the other of one on the banks of the great Mississippi. In 1854 John S. settled in Minnesota, at the Falls of St. Anthony, around which has grown up the beautiful city of Minneapolis, with a population of sixty thousand. He shortly entered into the hardware trade, in which he built up the largest business in the state, acquiring a fortune, serving for a dozen years or more as state senator, and finally being elected governor for three successive terms of two years each, being the only governor of Minnesota accorded a third term. His entire administration, which ceased in January, 1882, was a remarkable one, characterized by many acts of wisdom, chief among which was the adjustment of the dishonored state bonds issued at an early day for railroad purposes.

The remaining brother, Benjamin F. Pillsbury, remained in Sutton until 1878, where he filled many places of trust, being elected selectman, treasurer, and state representative. In 1878 he removed to Granite Falls in western Minnesota, where he is extensively engaged in the real estate, grain, and lumber business, and is reckoned one of the leading citizens of his section.

But we have been drawn somewhat from the subject of this article. As we have stated, George Alfred Pillsbury was born in Sutton, N. H., August 29, 1816. He received a thorough common-school education in the rudimentary branches. Of a very quick and active temperament, he very early in life had a strong determination to enter business for himself. At the age of eighteen he became a clerk to a Boston merchant. After a year's experience there, he returned to Sutton and entered into the manufacture of stoves and sheet-iron ware, in company with a cousin, John C. Pillsbury. He continued in this business until February 1840, when he went to Warner into the store of John H. Pearson, where he remained until the following July, when he purchased the business on his own account, and continued in it for some eight years. In the spring of 1848 he entered into a wholesale dry-goods house in Boston, and in 1849 again returned to Warner and engaged in business there until the spring of 1851, when he sold out his interest and went out of mercantile business entirely. During his residence in Warner he was postmaster from 1844 to 1849, was selectman in 1847 and 1849, town treasurer in 1849, and a representative to the general court in 1850 and 1851. He was also selected as chairman of the committee appointed to build the Merrimack county jail in Concord, in 1851-52, with the general superintendence of the construction of the work, which was most faithfully done.

In November, 1851, Mr. Pillsbury was appointed purchasing agent of the Concord Railroad, and commenced his duties in the following December, having in the meantime moved his family to Concord. For nearly twenty-four years he occupied this position, and discharged its duties with rare business ability, showing wise judgment in all his purchases, which amounted to more than three million dollars, and settling more cases of claims against the corporation for alleged injuries to persons and property than all the other officers of the road. He had great quickness of perception and promptness in action, two wonderful business qualities, which, when rightly used, always bring success.

During his residence of twenty-seven years in Concord, he gradually acquired a position which all may envy. Various positions of trust, both in public matters and as a private adviser, were discharged by him most faithfully. He was one of the committee appointed by the Union school-district to build the high school and several other school buildings. He was also interested in the erection of several of the handsome business blocks and fine residences in the city.

In the year 1864, Mr. Pillsbury, with others, established the First National Bank of Concord. From the first he was one of the directors, and in 1866 became its president, which position he held until his departure from the state. He was also more instrumental than any other person in organizing the National Savings Bank in 1867. Of the savings bank he was the first president, and held the position until 1874, when he resigned. During Mr. Pillsbury's management of the First National Bank, it became, in proportion to its capital stock, the strongest bank in the state. Up to December, 1873, when the treasurer was discovered to be a defaulter to a large amount, the savings bank was one of the most successful in the state; but this defalcation, with the general crash in business, required its closing up. Its total deposits up to the time mentioned exceeded three million dollars. The bank finally paid its depositors nearly dollar for dollar and interest, notwithstanding the large defalcation by its treasurer.

Mr. Pillsbury was elected a representative to the general court from ward five, in 1871 and 1872, and was appointed chairman of the committee on the apportionment of public taxes during the session of the legislature in 1872. For several years Mr. Pillsbury was a member of the city councils of Concord, and his intimate knowledge of public affairs led the people to twice elect him as mayor, a position the duties of which he discharged with that rare ability which had characterized all his other affairs; and it was during this time that he decided, after much consideration, and with deep reluctance, to leave Concord and move to Minneapolis, Minn., where he had already acquired large interests. When this resolution was made public, it drew forth strong and wide-spread protests from the citizens and neighbors whom he had served so long, for they felt the state could illy afford to lose such a man. But of this we will speak later.

During his residence in Concord he was identified with all measures to promote the public good. Both by his business judgment and his ready purse did he aid the benevolent and religious organizations. He was actively engaged in establishing the Centennial Home of Concord, for the aged, making large contributions and serving at a trustee. He was also a generous giver to the Orphans' Home at Franklin, and was a trustee from the time of its foundation until he left the state. In 1876 he was appointed, by the city councils, chairman of a committee of three to appraise all the real estate of the city for taxation purposes. Several objects attest his generosity and public spirit, among which might be mentioned the gift to the city of the fine bell in the tower of the Board of Trade building, and the handsome organ in the First Baptist church,—a joint gift from himself and his son, Hon. Charles A. Pillsbury, of Minneapolis. He also made several large contributions towards building and endowing the academy at New London.

Upon his preparing to leave Concord for the West, in the spring of 1878, expressions of regret came to him from all sources. Complimentary resolutions were unanimously adopted by both branches of the city government, and by the First National Bank, the latter testifying most emphatically to his integrity and superior business qualities. The First Baptist church, of which he was an active member during his residence in Concord, and its society also passed similar resolutions. The Webster club, composed of some fifty of the leading citizens, also adopted resolutions regretting deeply his departure. A private testimonial signed by over three hundred of the leading citizens of all branches of business, all the members of the city government, all the banking officers and professional men, was presented, and on the eve of his departure an elegant bronze statue was presented to himself and wife by members of the First Baptist church. In church affairs and acts of private charity he had always shown a strong interest, which drew him friends from all classes of people.

Coming to Minneapolis he was at once recognized, and from the moment he established himself there he took an assured position. He at once entered actively into the milling business (in which he had long been interested) in the firm of C. A. Pillsbury & Co., composed of himself, his brother, Gov. J. S. Pillsbury, and his two sons, Hon. C. A. Pillsbury and Fred C. Pillsbury,—to-day the largest producers of flour in the world, operating five large flouring-mills with a capacity of seven thousand five hundred barrels per day. The business of this firm, while selling a large amount of flour in the United States, has been gradually directed to the European trade, supplying the foreign markets with the very best brands of breadstuffs. To-day there is not a European market in which their flour is not sold extensively and given the highest quotations.

Mr. Pillsbury, much against his wishes, has been crowded again into public life in Minnesota, and only a few weeks since, while on a trip to the Pacific coast, in company with President Villard, to look after the interests of the Northern Pacific Railroad, he was elected a member of the city council of Minneapolis. He is also president of the Board of Trade, vice-president of the Northwestern National Bank, president of the Minneapolis Free Dispensary, and president of the Minnesota Baptist State Association.

Despite his years, Mr. Pillsbury has all the activity and impulses of a man of forty. He is a great friend of young men, aiding them not only by advice but in a practical manner, and, without seeking popularity, finding himself beloved by all. In the city of his adoption he has built himself a handsome residence with spacious grounds. His love for his old home manifests itself in all his tastes, and in his residence he has wrought in the beautiful New Hampshire granite brought from his old home in Concord.

In 1841, Mr. Pillsbury married Margaret S. Carleton, a lady beloved by all, who has always busied herself in acts of goodness and benevolence. No one has ever known her but to love her. From this marriage three children were born, two sons and a daughter,—Charles A., born October 3, 1842; Mary Adda, born April 25, 1848; and Fred C., born August 27, 1852. Mary Adda died May 11, 1849. Charles A. graduated at Dartmouth College in 1863; has been an active and successful business man in Minneapolis for the past twelve years, for the last four years has been a member of the state senate, and is a man greatly respected by all. Fred C. is a practical business man, possessed of sound judgment, and is rapidly making his way in the world.

It is needless to speak of the qualities which have given a gentleman like George A. Pillsbury the position and influence of which we have spoken. They are apparent to all. Starting with integrity and great strength of purpose, possessed of a keen perception, a shrewd judge of men, and an impressive bearing, he has attained an eminence which all may admire. Well may New Hampshire point with pride to such a man.

Josiah Carpenter

JOSIAH CARPENTER ESQ.

BY H. H. METCALF.

The men who make and whose lives illustrate the material prosperity and progress of a nation or people are those, as a rule, whose life and labor have been devoted in the main to the financial, commercial, and business interests of the country. Politicians, stump-orators, and office-holders of long continuance in place and power, may attain greater celebrity or a wider transient popularity, and move more effectually for the time being the tide of public sentiment; yet the influence which moves the deep and silent yet strong and resistless currents which make for the substantial progress and development of the race, is that which is exercised by the active, energetic, and persistent man of business, whose ready and thorough conception of the demands of industry, trade, and finance, and whose prompt action at their behest, make him not only the master of his own fortune, but, to a great extent, that of others. Of this class of men the subject of this sketch is a prominent representative in this state.

Josiah Carpenter was born in the town of Chichester, May 31, 1829. His ancestry goes back in direct line to William Carpenter, who in the year 1638, at the age of sixty-two years, embarked with his son William, aged thirty-three, and his wife, Abigail, and their four children, for America, sailing in the ship "Bevis," from the port of Southampton, England, and making their home at Weymouth, Mass. From Joseph, one of the four children named, the line of descent runs through Benjamin, born January 15, 1657, John, born March 25, 1691, and John, born January 4, 1728, to Josiah, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and for whom he was named. The senior Josiah Carpenter was born in Stafford, Conn., October 6, 1762, being one of a family of five sons and two daughters. Himself and three of his brothers served in the patriot army in the war of the Revolution, one of the brothers being killed while on sentinel duty at Roxbury Neck. He graduated with the highest honors from Dartmouth College in the class of 1787, studied for the ministry, and, November 2, 1791, was ordained and installed pastor of the First Congregational church in Chichester, which pastorate he retained for a period of nearly forty years, establishing and maintaining a reputation for geniality, benevolence, and hospitality which gained for him the affectionate regard and esteem of his people. Throughout his entire career as a citizen and a minister of the gospel, he labored earnestly and diligently to advance every undertaking which had for its object the public good, or the advancement of the cause of religious truth, as he understood it. He married, April 13, 1790, Hannah Morrill, of Canterbury; and their children were Nancy, David Morrill, John Thurston, Clarissa, Hannah, and Oliver, none of whom are now living.

The second child—David Morrill Carpenter—was born in Chichester, November 16, 1793, and, after receiving a good academic education, commenced active life in his native town in the capacity of a country merchant, which business he followed with much success for many years; but subsequently turned his attention to agriculture, becoming the owner of an extensive farm, which he cultivated for several years in a most successful manner. Notwithstanding the constant demands of his private occupation, which, as his success demonstrated, were never neglected, a great portion of his time during the period of his active life was always claimed by the public duties imposed by his fellow-citizens. Almost continually for twenty-five years he held one or more town offices, being several years chosen as the representative of his town in the state legislature, the duties of which position he discharged with ability and fidelity. He served as a member of the board of commissioners for Merrimack county, and was also, for more than thirty years, one of the trustees of the Merrimack County Savings Bank of Concord; he was also for a long time a director of the Mechanics Bank of that city; and was almost invariably in attendance upon the weekly meetings of the boards of the respective institutions. January 13, 1818, he was united in marriage with Mary, daughter of Jonathan Chesley Perkins, of Wells, Maine, who married Hannah Dennett, of Portsmouth, December 6, 1787, and shortly removed with his young wife to the town of Loudon in this state, adjoining Chichester, which was then almost a wilderness, where he cleared up a large farm, became a prosperous and influential citizen of the town, and reared a family of six children, of whom Mary, above mentioned, was the fourth. The children of David M. and Mary (Perkins) Carpenter were Charles H., Josiah, the subject of this sketch, Clara A., Sarah L., and Frank P., besides two daughters, who died in early life. In 1850, Mr. Carpenter removed to the town of Epsom, where he purchased a large farm, in the management of which his son Josiah was associated with him, upon which he remained until he retired from active business, in 1858, in which year he removed to Concord, where he resided until his death, December 9, 1873, seven years subsequent to the death of his wife, who departed this life, November 4, 1866, at the age of sixty-eight years. A man of wide influence, universally exerted for good, he lived beloved and died respected. He had been a soldier in the war of 1812, enlisting at the outbreak of hostilities, although but a boy at the time; yet, like his father, who had served in the Revolution, he would never accept from the government the pension to which he was legally entitled.

Charles H., the eldest son and child of David M. Carpenter, resides in the town of Chichester, where he has always had his residence, and where he has won a reputation, not only as one of the successful farmers, but most prominent citizens, of the town and of the county. His farming property embraces more than a thousand acres of land. He is also quite extensively engaged as a dealer in real estate and lumber. Clara A., the eldest surviving daughter, is the wife of Samuel C. Merrill, a prosperous flour manufacturer and flour and grain dealer, of Paterson, N. J., formerly a well known wholesale merchant of Manchester. Sarah L. married Prof. James W. Webster, of Maiden, Mass., a teacher of experience and ability, now and for many years past principal of the Hancock school, Boston, formerly a successful teacher in Concord. Frank P., the youngest son, is a member of the enterprising and well known firm of Drake & Carpenter of Manchester, who are extensively engaged in the wholesale flour and grain trade.

The subject of this sketch,—Josiah, the second son of David Morrill Carpenter,—although engaged to some extent in boyhood in assisting his father upon the farm, secured an academical education at Pembroke and Pittsfield academies, and at the New Hampshire Conference Seminary at Sanbornton Bridge (now Tilton). Very early in life he manifested an aptitude for business, and engaged for some time in youth in the purchase and sale of live stock, not only in this section but at the Southwest. Returning home from Kentucky about the time his father removed to Epsom, he engaged with him in extensive farming operations in that town. He received, soon after, an appointment as deputy-sheriff for the county of Merrimack, and also for the counties of Belknap and Hillsborough, which position he held for several years, and in which he transacted a large amount of business. For three or four years previous to his father's removal to Concord, the entire management of the farm was substantially in his hands, which, together with his official business and individual enterprises in different directions, gave ample scope for his energy and capacity.

In 1858 the farm in Epsom was sold, and, his father having removed to Concord, Mr. Carpenter, in April of that year, established his residence in the town of Pittsfield, having been tendered and accepted the cashiership of the Pittsfield bank. He discharged the duties of that position so satisfactorily that upon its conversion to a national bank, in 1864, he was continued as cashier and also made a member of the board of directors. He continued his residence in Pittsfield until the spring of 1877, remaining all the while in management of the bank's affairs, while at the same time engaging in various lines of business in his own behalf. Nor did he fail to devote attention to public affairs. Never a politician, but always a stanch Democrat, he took no little interest in the success of his party, as well as the welfare of the town and community. He was frequently intrusted with official responsibilities by his fellow-citizens of Pittsfield, and represented them in the legislature in 1862 and 1863.

In the fall of 1863, his health having become impaired from overwork, he went South to spend the winter, upon the advice of his physicians, going first to New Orleans, whence he made a trip up the river, where he had a fine opportunity for viewing the operations of the army in that quarter, the time being soon after Gen. Butler's occupancy of the city. Later in the season he visited Cuba, where he remained some time, returning in the spring greatly invigorated, and with improved general health. He was elected treasurer of Merrimack county in 1872, and again the following year, receiving at each election a support considerably in excess of his party vote. Long prominent in the councils of his party in his section of the state, he has served also, at different times, as a member of the Democratic state committee.

In March, 1877, desiring a more extensive field of business operation, Mr. Carpenter resigned his position as cashier of the Pittsfield National Bank and removed to the city of Manchester, where, with characteristic vigor and enterprise, he immediately set about the work of procuring a charter for and organizing the Second National Bank of Manchester, of which institution he has been a director and cashier since its organization. The national bank being well established, he assisted in securing a charter for and organizing the Mechanics Savings Bank, of which he has been from the first a trustee and the treasurer. Both these institutions, under his skillful supervision, have attained a prosperous and flourishing condition. Aside from his general banking operations, he has in Manchester, as elsewhere, dealt extensively in notes, bonds, and real estate, and has been, for the past few years, quite largely engaged in building. In company with ex-Gov. Smyth, he is proprietor of Smyth and Carpenter's block, on Elm street, the northern half of which has recently been completed. This block is four stories high and basement; has a frontage, on Elm street, of two hundred feet, a depth of one hundred feet; contains ten stores on the first floor, with offices and tenements above; and is, beyond question, the largest brick block in the state in the ownership of any single firm.

Mr. Carpenter has always manifested an interest in educational affairs, and has been specially interested in the establishment and prosperity of the Holderness School for Boys, located at Holderness in this state, under the auspices of the Episcopalian denomination, with which he is associated. He has been one of the trustees of this school from the inception of the enterprise, and is also the treasurer. He devoted much time and personal care to the work of remodeling the buildings at the outset, and, since then, to their enlargement as the growth and success of the school has demanded.

September 1, 1858, Mr. Carpenter was united in marriage with Georgianna Butters Drake, born January 15, 1836, a lady of fine mental capacity and attainments, endowed with the graces and virtues essential to true womanhood, and at home alike in the social as well as the domestic circle. She was the only daughter and eldest child of the late Col. James Drake of Pittsfield, a prominent citizen of that town, well known in public life, who filled various responsible offices, including that of state senator, and who died April 7, 1870. He was a descendant of the celebrated Sir Francis Drake, the English explorer and naval commander who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, and attained the rank of vice-admiral of the British navy. The family were among the earliest settlers of New England, and trace their ancestry more than six hundred years. The elder brother of Mrs. Carpenter—Frank J. Drake—is the partner of Mr. Carpenter's younger brother—Frank P.—in the firm of Drake & Carpenter, heretofore mentioned, while her younger brother—Nathaniel S.—is in business at Pittsfield.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter,—-a daughter, Georgia Ella, born October 13, 1859, an accomplished young lady who resides with her parents, and a son who died in infancy. Their residence is a fine brick mansion, among the most substantial in the city, on north Elm street, at the corner of Sagamore.

Mr. Carpenter is now in the prime of life, though his business career has already been more extended and successful than that of most men of similar vocation who have been engaged a lifetime therein. Filling various positions of trust and responsibility, public and corporate, with the greatest acceptability; of sound judgment, strong will, quick perception and a practical, well balanced mind, and unquestioned integrity of action; enjoying the general confidence of the public, and in a special degree that of those persons obliged or accustomed to seek advice or assistance from others, in matters of business,—his success may indeed be regarded as far greater than that of those ordinarily known as fortunate business men, while there yet remains, in the ordinary course of life, ample time for farther successes and greater achievements.

Chas. Williams

HON. CHARLES WILLIAMS.

BY O. C. MOORE.

It has long seemed to the writer that the successful organizer of modern industry deserved a high place in public estimation. The qualities usually found in such a person constitute as rare a combination as can be found in any department of human activity. Those qualities are industry, probity, intelligence, judgment, and executive ability. These virtues will always be found to lie at the foundation of a well ordered and prosperous state. When to these are added enterprise and energy, there is little wanting either to the successful individual or to the growing community. It is to this class of men that New England owes much of its pre-eminence to-day. What the pioneer settlers did to smooth the path for their successors; what the forefathers of the Revolution contributed to establish a new government and place it upon a self-supporting basis,—the men who established the industrial enterprises of New England have done for their posterity and the perpetuity of republican institutions. If New England should be stripped to-morrow of her mills, shops, and foundries, and the wealth and institutions that they in turn have created, New England would be but little more than an obscure and unenterprising hill country, with a diminishing population and lessening influence. She would have a noble and inspiring history, but her glory would be departed.

Hon. Charles Williams, the subject of this sketch, belongs to the untitled American nobility of organizers of industry. He comes of an old industrial stock, and can trace his lineage back, through six generations of workers, to a stalwart ancestor in old Wales. The Williamses formed a large part of the population of Wales, "somewhat like the O's of Ireland and the Mac's of Scotland." It is an interesting fact that the ancestor of Oliver Cromwell, in the fourth remove, was a Williams, known as Morgan ap Williams, of Glamorganshire, Wales, a gentleman of property, who married a sister of Lord Thomas Cromwell, afterwards Earl of Essex. Carlyle speaks of the Protector as "Cromwell alias Williams." The "Encyclopedia Americana" states positively that the genealogy of Cromwell is traced to Richard Williams, who assumed the name of Cromwell from his maternal uncle, Thomas Cromwell, secretary of state to Henry VIII.

However this may be, Richard Williams, the sixth remove in a direct line from the subject of this sketch, came to America from Glamorganshire, Wales, in 1632, and settled in Taunton, Mass. Among his descendants were Hon. John Mason Williams, a distinguished jurist of Massachusetts; Gen. Seth Williams, of Augusta, Me., a graduate of West Point, and a distinguished officer in the Mexican war; Hon. Ruel Williams, of Augusta, Me.; and Hon. Lemuel Williams, a member of congress from Massachusetts. It is a coincidence of note that the occupation of the subject of this sketch, as well as that of his lineal descendants, follows the distinctive characteristic of the Welch ancestry. Glamorganshire is famous for its iron and coal mines, and its iron-works are on the most extensive scale, it having sixty blast furnaces, some of which give employment to six thousand men.

The direct descent from Richard Williams of Taunton is as follows: Benjamin Williams, settled in Easton, Mass.; Josiah Williams, settled at Bridgewater, Mass. Seth Williams, the great-grandfather of Mr. Williams, was born at Bridgewater, May 21, 1722. At the age of eighteen he went to Easton, Mass., and took up one thousand acres of government land. He married Susannah Forbes, of Bridgewater, and built the homestead now standing in Easton. Edward Williams, his son, married Sarah Lothrop, of Bridgewater, in 1772, still retaining the "homestead," where Lieut. Seth Williams, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born January 29, 1776. He was a tanner by trade, and took part in the war of 1812. He married Sarah Mitchael, daughter of Colonel Mitchael, of Bridgewater, Mass., an active man in the Revolutionary war, and for many years a member of the legislature from Easton. They were married in 1800, and lived near the "homestead." They had eight children, Charles, the present subject, being the third son, born at Easton, August 1, 1816.

The first seventeen years of his life were spent on the farm, receiving such rudimentary education as could be obtained at a district school. At the age of eighteen he apprenticed himself to Gen. Shepherd Leach, proprietor of the "Easton Iron-Works," for the term of four years, to learn the foundry business, with a compensation of twenty-five dollars for the first year, fifty dollars for the second, seventy-five dollars for the third, and one hundred and twenty-five dollars for the fourth. By the death of Gen. Leach the contract was surrendered; but young Williams still continued in the employ of his successor, Mr. Lincoln Drake, until the panic of 1837. In this stagnation of business at the East, he determined to go West, and purchased several hundred acres of land near Springfield, Ill. The now flourishing capital of the state was then represented by a few dwelling-houses, one church, and a small hotel. This "New West" could then boast of no railroads, and the difficulty of getting produce to market, which was mainly by flat-boats down the Mississippi, offered but little attraction to farming, and he returned East. For two years he was employed in the foundry at North Chelmsford, Mass., and the subsequent three years in the Amoskeag foundry at Manchester, N. H.

Mr. Williams came to Nashua in 1845, at the age of twenty-nine, endowed with good health, correct habits, and an honorable ambition. In company with his elder brother, Seth, they established the foundry business, under the firm name of S. & C. Williams, erecting a building eighty by one hundred feet, and the business commenced. It was in the same year that two other important and still flourishing industries were begun in Nashua,—the manufacture of shuttles and bobbins by J. & E. Baldwin, and the manufacture of mortise-locks and doorknobs by L. W. Noyes and David Baldwin. This was the day of small beginnings, and only twenty-five hands were employed in the foundry for several years. The business grew steadily, however, and everything seemed propitious. On the second of July, 1849, a fire broke out in the works, and, in spite of all exertions, the entire property was consumed, including all the patterns. The total loss was estimated at forty thousand dollars. It was a staggering blow, as these young men had no insurance. Men of less courage and energy would have succumbed to such a misfortune; but on the very day of the fire the work of rebuilding was begun, and pushed with rapidity, a brick structure taking the place of the wood one destroyed. The partnership of S. & C. Williams was dissolved in 1859, and the business has since been continued by Charles. His brother Seth has been extensively employed in similar business. The business of the Williams foundry in Nashua has steadily increased, and was never more extensive than to-day. The pay-roll shows one hundred and twenty-five hands employed.

Strict attention to business, unyielding integrity, and thorough mastery of his calling have been Mr. Williams's secret of success. He was one of five who organized the Second National Bank, and has since held the position of vice-president of the bank. Mr. Williams was elected a member of the common council soon after the organization of the city, in 1853, but from that time until 1876 he neither sought nor held any political office. In this centennial year, however, his party turned instinctively towards him as its most available candidate for mayor, and at the nominating caucus he received an almost unanimous nomination. The nomination was ratified, and Mr. Williams became the centennial mayor of Nashua. His administration was characterized by the same prudence, fidelity, and success that have crowned his business career. He was nominated for re-election, and the nomination was ratified at the polls by an increased vote and a largely increased majority. One of the social events of Mr. Williams's term of service was the visit of President Hayes and his cabinet to the city, and at the mayor's residence, which was elaborately decorated for the occasion, Mrs. Hayes held a public reception, which was attended by a great throng of people from the city and the surrounding towns.

In his domestic relations Mr. Williams has been one of the most fortunate and happiest of men. In 1846 he married Eliza A. Weston, a cultivated christian woman, and a devoted wife and mother, daughter of Capt. Sutheric Weston, of Antrim, N. H.; both are members of the First Congregational church, Nashua, Rev. Frederick Alvord, pastor. Three children have blessed the union. Seth Weston Williams, born April 15, 1849, a graduate of Yale College, class of 1873, and of Bellevue Medical College, New York. After travel and study in Europe he returned to his native land, and had just entered on the practice of his profession, with the brightest prospects of usefulness and eminence, holding a responsible appointment in Bellevue Hospital, when, on a visit to Portland, he was attacked with congestion of the brain, which terminated his promising career at the age of thirty. The other children are Charles Alden Williams, born August 18, 1851, married October 26, 1881, Kate N. Piper; he was graduated from the scientific department at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., under Dr. William Taylor, in 1870, and further pursued the same course of study at the school of Technology in Boston, Mass., and will succeed his father in business; and Mrs. Marian Williams-Viets, born March 4, 1854, married, November 8, 1878, Herbert Allen Viets, of Troy, New York.

Feeling in himself the want of an early education, Mr. Williams spared no pains in bestowing superior advantages upon his children, all of whom received a liberal education. In 1873 he planned a year's travel abroad with his family, but the critical condition of business in the country at that time prevented his leaving home. The plan was carried out, however, under the care of Dr. Seth Williams, the trip covering the tour of the Continent, and of the Orient as far east as Damascus.

HON. LEVI WINTER BARTON.

BY REV. J. W. ADAMS.

Ancestral excellence is an invaluable legacy. As a rule, "blood will tell," and the marked physical, mental, and moral traits of a prominent family are likely to re-appear in many successive generations. And, added to this hereditary wealth, comes the inspiration of a noble example, suggesting the possibility and the desirability of worthy, helpful living. The subject of this sketch was fortunate in this regard. In the garnered wealth of a vigorous, talented, and virtuous ancestry, he has "a goodly heritage."

From an abundance of reliable data, we extract only so much from the genealogical record as is necessary to the integrity of the direct lines from a very distant past to the present.

Levi W. Barton's parents were Bezaleel Barton, 2d, and Hannah (Powers) Barton. Let us glance at the maternal ancestry.

The family of Power (or Le Poer, as formerly written) was of Norman extraction, and settled in England at the conquest of that kingdom by the Normans, under William, duke of Normandy, in the person of Power, or Le Poer, who is recorded in "Battle Abbey" as one of the commanders at the battle of Hastings, in 1066. Soon after, Sir John Le Poer resided in Poershayse, Devonshire, England.

In 1172, one of his descendants, Sir Roger Le Poer, went with Earl Stougbon in his invasion and partial conquest of Ireland, where he greatly distinguished himself, and received large grants of land. He was the ancestor of a succession of distinguished men, among whom were Sir Nicholas Le Poer, who had a summons to parliament, in 1375, as Baron Le Poer, and Sir Richard, Sir Peter, Sir Eustace, and Sir Arnold Le Poer. The barony, descending by writ to heirs, female as well as male, is now held by the Marquis of Waterford. The Earl of Lynn, for a term of one hundred years, and the Marquis of Waterford, were of that descent, through Lady Catharine Poer. The family was also a distinguished one in England, from the Norman conquest down. In 1187, Richard Poer of this line, high sheriff of Gloucestershire, Eng., was killed defending the "Lord's Day;" and Sir Henry Le Poer distinguished himself greatly as a commander under the Duke of Wellington. This remarkable family has outlived the dynasties of the Conqueror, the Plantaganets, the Tudors, and the Stuarts, and flourishes yet. Since the time of Queen Elizabeth, they have returned to their early orthography of Power; and finally, in America, have added the "s," making it Powers.

Walter Powers, the ancestor of all the Powers families of Croydon, N. H., was born in 1639. He came to Salem, Mass., in 1654. He married, January 11, 1660, Trial, daughter of Deacon Ralph Shepherd. They moved to Nashoba, and he died there in 1708. The town, in 1715, was incorporated by the name of Littleton (Mass.).

L. W. Barton

Of the nine children of Walter and Trial Powers, the eldest, William, was born in 1661, and married, 1688, Mary Bank.

Of the nine children of William and Mary (Bank) Powers, William, 2d, was b. 1691, in Nashoba, and m., 1713, Lydia Perham.

Of the four children of William, 2d, and Lydia (Perham) Powers, Lemuel was b. in 1714, and m. Thankful Leland, of Grafton, Mass., daughter of Capt. James Leland. All except the eldest of their children settled in Croydon. N. H.; and two of his sons served Croydon as soldiers in the Revolution. Although not an "original grantee of Croydon," he owned "proprietors' rights" at an early day, and often attended "proprietors'" meetings at the inn of his brother-in-law, Lieut. Phinehas Leland, as moderator. He died in Northbridge, Mass., 1792.

Of the ten children of Lieut. Lemuel and Thankful (Leland) Powers, Ezekiel was b. in Grafton, Mass., March 16, 1745, and m., Jan. 28, 1767, Hannah Hall of Uxbridge, Mass., who was daughter of Lieut. Edward and Lydia (Brown) Hall. Levi W. Barton was her great-grandson. They came to Croydon in 1767. He was a prominent citizen, and held here many offices of trust. He was a man of industry and indomitable energy. He d. in Croydon, Nov. 11, 1808. His widow d. Oct. 21, 1835.

Of the seven children of Ezekiel and Hannah (Hall) Powers, Ezekiel, 2d (the first male child born in Croydon), was b. May 2, 1771. He m. Susannah Rice, Jan. 18, 1790.

Of the six children of Ezekiel, 2d, and Susannah (Rice) Powers, Hannah (mother of Levi W.) was b. Feb. 20, 1795, and m. Bezaleel Barton.

Edward Hall (the earliest ancestor of Lieut. Edward Hall, who settled in Croydon about 1774) was at Duxbury, Mass., in 1637, and d. at Rehoboth, Nov. 27, 1671. The direct line by generations is: 1st, Edward; 2d, Benjamin; 3d, Edward; 4th, Lieut. Edward, b. in Wrentham, Mass., July 18, 1727; went with his father in 1740 to Uxbridge, where he held commissions under the king of Great Britain. He m., Aug. 17, 1747, Lydia Brown. About 1774 they came to Croydon, N. H., where he was moderator, March, 1775, tax-collector and constable, 1778, and selectman, 1784, 1785, and 1786. He d. in Croydon, Dec. 28, 1807. His widow d. Aug. 10, 1819. 5th, Hannah, b. Oct. 1, 1749, who m. Ezekiel Powers and settled in Croydon. At this point the Hall unites with the Powers genealogy, and the last-named persons were great-grandparents of Levi W. Barton.

The Bartons are of English descent. Without undertaking to be precise as to the details of kinship, we are able to identify the following as among their earliest ancestry in New England. Marmaduke Barton was in Salem, Mass., as early as 1638. Edward was in Salem in 1640. Rufus fled from the persecution of the Dutch at Manhattan, N. Y., and settled in Portsmouth, R. I., in 1640, and died 1648.

Mrs. Eliza Barton testified in an important case at Piscataqua, N. H., in 1656. Edward, undoubtedly the one living in Salem in 1640, and husband of Eliza Barton, came to Exeter, N. H., in 1657, and died at Cape Porpoise, Jan., 1671. Benjamin Barton of Warwick, son of Rufus Barton, m., June 9, 1669, Susannah Everton. Edward Barton, son of Edward of Exeter, took the freeman's oath in 1674. Doctor John Barton (probably son of Doctor James Barton) m., April 20, 1676, Lydia Roberts of Salem, Mass.

James Barton, b. in 1643, came to Boston, Mass., before 1670. He d. in Weston, Mass., in 1729. Samuel Barton (probably son of Doctor James Barton) was b. in 1666. He testified in a witch case (in favor of the witch, be it said to his credit) in Salem, Mass., in 1691. Stephen Barton was at Bristol (then in Mass.) in 1690. Col. William Barton, b. in Providence, in 1747,—who with a small body of men crossed Narragansett bay on the night of July 20, 1777, passed, unnoticed, three British vessels, landed, reached the quarters of the English general, Prescott, and captured him, and for which, history informs us, he received from congress the gift of a sword, a commission as colonel, and a tract of land in Vermont,—was a descendant of Samuel Barton and Hannah his wife, ancestors of the Bartons of Croydon. They were living in Framingham, Mass., as early as 1690, and moved to Oxford, Mass., in 1716, where his will was proved Sept. 23, 1738. Of their eight children, Samuel was b. in Framingham, Oct. 8, 1691; and in., May 23, 1715, Elizabeth Bellows.

Of the children of Samuel and Elizabeth (Bellows) Barton, Bezaleel was b. July 20, 1722, and m., April 30, 1747, Phebe Carlton, a lady noted for her beauty.

Of the children of Bezaleel and Phebe (Carlton) Barton, were Phebe (one of whose grand-daughters was the wife of Dr. Judson), Bezaleel, Benjamin, and Peter who was b. at Sutton. Mass., Sept. 3, 1763, and went with his parents to Royalston. Mass., in 1764, where he m. Hepsibeth Baker, Nov. 12, 1789. Bezaleel Barton and his sons, Bezaleel, Benjamin, and Peter, served Royalston as soldiers in the Revolution. Bezaleel, senior, was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill.

Peter and Hepsibeth (Baker) Barton came to Croydon, N. H., in 1793, where he resided until 1824, when he removed to Sunapee, where he d. Sept. 24, 1825. He was chosen selectman of Croydon from 1801 to 1805, inclusive. He shared largely the confidence of the public, and was noted for his strict integrity. Of his thirteen children born in Croydon, Bezaleel, 2d, was b. July, 1794, and m. Hannah Powers, daughter of Ezekiel Powers, at which point the Barton and Powers genealogies unite.

Of the children of Bezaleel Barton, 2d, and Hannah (Powers) Barton, Levi Winter was b. March 1, 1818.

The father, a man of marked social qualities, and frank and genial in his bearing, died before the son had reached his majority, and previous to this business had taken the father from home, so that most of the responsibilities of the family rested upon the mother. But it is no idle pun upon her maiden name to say that she was a power in that household. She exercised a healthful and unchallenged discipline. Her intuitive vision saw every material necessity of the family; her unsurpassed executive capacity was equal to every demand; and, what is quite as essential to the formation of a symmetrical character, her moral and religious precepts and example compelled a recognition of the claims of God and man. The sick and the poor of her neighborhood were often greatly indebted to her for the wisdom of her counsels, the abundance of her alms-deeds, and the warmth of her sympathy. Universally venerated and esteemed, she died in Croydon, Sept. 14, 1881, aged 86 years.

Inheriting the best qualities of such an ancestry, molded and inspired by such a mother, and in boyhood acquiring his fiber in the severe but practical school of tireless industry, rigid economy, and heroic self-denial and self-reliance, we might anticipate for Mr. Barton a character and a career which would place him among the best and foremost citizens of his state, and entitle him to an important chapter in its history. We hazard nothing when we say that he has made that anticipation a reality, and that he has afforded us another conspicuous example of what the humblest may achieve under the fostering genius of republican institutions.

His district-school education, often interrupted by demands upon his manual labor, consisted of ten brief winter terms. At eighteen he assumed the responsibility of his own education and support. He had no money, but he had what is better, courage and muscle. He went to work. His books were always near by, so that, whenever there was a leisure moment, "the horny hands of toil" would grasp and his hungry mind would feast upon them. He would brook no discouragements. No hours were allowed to run to waste. Often on rainy days he would call on his old friend, John Cooper, Esq., to receive instruction. These efforts, supplemented by a term under Dr. Miner of Boston, qualified him to teach in the common schools. But for awile he devoted himself chiefly to farming.

At twenty-one he married Miss Mary A. Pike, one of Newport's worthiest young ladies. She died the next year, leaving an infant son, Col. Ira McL. Barton, now deceased. The death of his wife was a severe blow to one in whose nature the domestic element is so marked. With the light of his home gone out, and with his life-plan destroyed, he seemed almost paralyzed for a time. But the bent steel of his intense personality was sure to react. The second year after this bereavement he entered Kimball Union Academy, to pursue a classical course under that distinguished teacher, Dr. Cyrus Richards. Having but one hundred dollars when he entered, he was compelled to teach winters and to toil with his hands during the summer vacations; but his uncompromising zeal carried him successfully through the three years' course. We cannot repress our admiration for the young man whom neither bereavement nor poverty could crush, but who, in spite of the most disheartening circumstances, earns the right to stand in the front rank with his most brilliant competitors. This he did.

In the same spirit, and still relying upon his own exertions for means, he entered Dartmouth College in 1844, and honorably graduated in 1848. His oration, on graduation, was highly commended by the public journals of the day. At the commencement and close of the terms, he would make the journeys to and from college, twenty-one miles, on foot. During his senior year he studied law with Hon. Daniel Blaisdell of Hanover.

After graduating, Mr. Barton taught five terms in the Canaan Academy, and at the same time was a law student with Judge Kittredge. During this period he was appointed postmaster of Canaan. In the early part of 1851 he left Canaan, and completed his legal studies with Messrs. Metcalf & Corbin of Newport, and was there admitted to the bar in the July following. In 1854 he formed a law partnership with Hon. Ralph Metcalf, which continued until Mr. Metcalf was elected governor. He then became the law partner of Shepherd L. Bowers, Esq., with whom he was associated until 1859. Notwithstanding his extensive law practice, Mr. Barton has been engaged, to a considerable extent, in building, farming, stock-raising, and fruit-growing. No man with equal means has contributed more to the growth and permanent improvement of the village of Newport. None Have done more by their own personal industry to convert rough fields into attractive streets, luxuriant gardens, and pleasant homes. Taught from childhood to cultivate the soil, he has, all along through his busy life, found his highest enjoyment in turning aside from the turmoil of professional labors to the more genial occupation of agricultural pursuits.

As evidence of his superior legal abilities, and of the public esteem in which he is held, we point to the following record: He was register of deeds for Sullivan county from 1855 to 1857, inclusive; county solicitor from 1859 to 1864; representative to the state legislature in 1863, 1864, 1875, 1876, and 1877; and state senator in 1867 and 1868. During all these seven years of service in both houses, he was a member of the judiciary committee, and for five years its chairman. In 1866 he was chairman of the board of commissioners appointed to audit the war debt of the state. In 1876 he was a member of the convention which revised the state constitution; and was chosen Republican elector of president and vice-president of the United States. Gov. Harriman appointed him bank commissioner, but he declined the office. Gov. Prescott appointed him, in 1877, one of the commissioners to revise and codify the statutes of New Hampshire.

His many friends have fondly hoped to see him elected to congress. It is conceded that his abilities and his fidelity to important public trusts reveal his eminent fitness for such a position. But local divisions, for which he is in no way responsible, have thus far prevented his nomination. His name has come twice before the nominating conventions, and each time with a very flattering vote.

When Mr. Barton commenced the practice of law in Newport, he found there able rivals for the honors of the profession, whose reputations were well established. I cannot better express the truth than to use the language of a writer who, speaking of this period of his life, says:—

"The field seemed to be fully and ably occupied, but from the outset his success was assured. It immediately became apparent that he would bring to the discharge of the duties of his new position the same energy and devotion to principle which had hitherto characterized his actions. From that time to the present, he has enjoyed the confidence of the public. As counselor, he is cautious and careful, dissuading from, rather than urging on, litigation. As an advocate, he is eloquent, zealous, bold, and persistent. His faithfulness and devotion to the interests of his clients have often been a subject of remark."

Mr. Barton's legislative experience began in 1863, that intensely feverish period of the rebellion. The Democratic party was represented by its ablest orators and most skillful parliamentarians. They were artful, bitter, and desperate. The majority could not afford to waste or misapply its resources. Competent leadership was essential to the utilization of the Republican strength. Fortunately this was found. It came from the ranks of the "raw recruits." Wary and watchful, alert and forcible, Mr. Barton promptly and successfully met the assaults of the opposition, and sometimes "carried the war into Africa." The house soon acknowledged his leadership,—a leadership which he maintained at the subsequent sessions. The soldiers will never forget his fearless advocacy of the measure allowing them to vote in the field. This cost him his re-appointment as solicitor; but he was not the man to sacrifice so sacred a principle for the loaves and fishes of office. In 1875 and 1876 he occupied the responsible position of chairman of the Republican legislative caucus. In the sessions of 1876 and 1877, the Manchester Mirror, Independent Stateman, and other papers spoke in the highest terms of his service, giving him the credit of punctual attendance, praiseworthy diligence, and of ably championing the best measures that were enacted, and pointing him out as a probable candidate for the national congress. His long and able legislative experience has never been stained by political corruption, or by the betrayal of any moral question. John Cooper, Esq., in the Granite Monthly of May, 1879, has truthfully said: "Through all these years of political life he presents a record without a blemish."

Mr. Barton is a man of well proportioned, commanding physique, and is well preserved by temperate living and total abstinence from all intoxicants and narcotics. He is also a man of fluent and agreeable speech, of fine conversational powers, and is the inspiration of every social circle which he enters. At home as well as abroad, in private as well as in public life, he is the invariable advocate of every moral and social reform. He is an honor to the Masonic fraternity, whose principles he worthily represents. He is the warm and helpful friend of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which he belongs; but he has an unaffected contempt for all sectarian narrowness. His sense of justice is intuitive, his sympathy quick, and in its exercise he regards neither state nor condition. The destitute and forsaken always find in him a true friend. From boyhood he has been an avowed and uncompromising opposer of slavery, and of whatever oppresses the masses, whether white or black. If he sometimes asserts and maintains his opinions with earnestness and warmth, he never does so with malice. In the advocacy of what he deems to be just, he is never turned aside by motives of self-interest.

In 1852 he married Miss Lizzie F. Jewett, of Hollis,—a cultured, christian lady. Her amiability, good sense, and force of character render her every way worthy of her distinguished husband. Their "silver wedding" was observed in 1877, and was honored by a large circle of friends. Besides other tokens of appreciation bestowed at that time, Hon. Edmund Burke presented, in behalf of the donors, an elegant silver service.

Their children are Herbert J., Florence F., Natt L., and Jesse M. The eldest son, Herbert J. Barton, was born September 27, 1853. He prepared for college at Tilton, and graduated at Dartmouth in the class of 1876. He has taught with great success in Providence, R. I., also for two years as principal in the Newport high school, and, still later, as principal in the high school of Waukegan, Ill. In 1881 he was admitted to the bar of Illinois at Chicago, and is now associated in practice with his father. He married, August 21, 1877, Miss Sarah L. Dodge, daughter of Leander F. Dodge of Newport, a very intelligent and worthy young lady. The son has many of the elements which have contributed to the father's success, and we expect his native state will hear from him. Florence F. graduated from the Newport high school in 1881, and is a young lady of fine promise.

In conclusion we remark, Mr. Barton stands well at home. Conscious of his personal integrity and of the worthiness of his aims, his well earned honors clustering thickly upon him, beloved by his family and community, and cheered by the favor of Providence, he may with great propriety congratulate himself that he has not lived in vain. And as his physical and intellectual forces seem not in the least abated, we may fondly hope that his fellow-citizens may for many years to come enjoy the benefits of his practical wisdom and patriotic devotion; and that his posterity may as nobly sustain the name of Barton as he has the names of those from whom he descended.

HON. RODNEY WALLACE.

Rodney Wallace, of Fitchburg, Mass., was born in New Ipswich, N. H., December 21, 1823. He is the son of David and Roxanna Wallace, who spent the latter years of life at Rindge in the same state.

Whether the family is of English or Scotch origin is extremely difficult to decide. If the orthography of the last century is correct, then it is English; if not, Scotch. The point possesses more genealogical than real importance. People are free to change their names as they list, and have always exercised that privilege; and under either garb the name has been borne by noble and distinguished men in the Old World.

The first of this family who came to this country settled in Ipswich, Mass. Benoni Wallis removed from this place to Lunenburg, Mass., and there married, on the 2d of July, 1755, Rebecca Brown, of Lynn. They continued to reside in Lunenburg until her death, August 25, 1790. He died March 15, 1792. David Wallis, son of Benoni, was born October 10, 1760. He married Susannah Conn, and died in Ashburnham, January 14, 1842. David Wallace, son of David and Susannah (Conn) Wallis, was born in Ashburnham, July 14, 1797. He married, July 8, 1821, Roxanna Gowen, of New Ipswich, and removed to Rindge in 1846, where he died May 29, 1857. She died in Fitchburg, February 27, 1876. In the exercise of his own right and discretion, he restored what he doubtless held to be the original spelling of his name, and always wrote it Wallace.

Rodney Wallace, when twelve years of age, went from home to work upon a farm for the sum of forty dollars for the first year, with the privilege of attending school eight weeks in the winter; and from this time until arriving at the age of twenty he worked for wages, attending school from eight to ten weeks in the winter. His education was thus acquired, during the few winter months, in the common country schools of that time. From the age of twenty until his removal to Fitchburg, he was employed and intrusted with business for the late Dr. Stephen Jewett, of Rindge, N. H.

In 1853 he removed to Fitchburg and became a member of the firm of Shepley & Wallace, wholesale dealers in books, stationery, etc., which firm, under this name and the name of R. Wallace & Co., became one of the best known firms in this line of business in New England. After several years of successful management of that business, he withdrew from the firm, engaged in the manufacture of paper, and connected himself with several other manufacturing interests in Fitchburg. In whatever interest Mr. Wallace has been engaged, he has not only been fortunate in its pecuniary issues, but also in the speedy command of the confidence and respect of his associates. True moral principle has been united with unquestioned probity, business tact, and liberal, intelligent management, and he is held in high estimation, both as a citizen and as a friend. His usefulness has been approved by long, earnest, and efficient service; and his liberality, by unostentatious but generous donations to the support of many laudable undertakings.

Rodney Wallace

In 1865, Mr. Wallace entered into the business of manufacturing paper with three other gentlemen, under the name of the Fitchburg Paper Company. One by one these gentlemen sold their respective interests to Mr. Wallace, and in 1868 he became sole owner of the entire property. From that time until the present day he has carried on the business under the old firm name of the Fitchburg Paper Company. He has, since he became sole owner, made large additions of land to the property, rebuilt the original mill and filled it with the most improved machinery, erected a new mill with the latest improvements of every kind, and built additional store-houses, etc., until he has increased the producing capacity from two thousand five hundred pounds per day, to sixteen thousand pounds of hanging, card, and glazing paper per day of twenty-four hours. The mills, the ample store-houses, the out-buildings and dwelling-houses make up a little village, wanting nothing but distance from the city to claim a name of its own.

For the direction of several monetary and corporate interests his services have been frequently sought. He has been president and director of the Fitchburg Gas-Light Company since 1864; a director of the Fitchburg National Bank since 1866; partner in the Fitchburg Woolen Mill Company, with the Hon. Wm. H. Vose and Hon. Rufus S. Frost, since 1867; a director of the Putnam Machine Company since 1864; and has just been chosen director of the Parkhill Manufacturing Company, recently organized for the manufacture of ginghams. For several years he has been a trustee of the Fitchburg Savings Bank, a director of the Fitchburg Mutual Fire Insurance Company, president of the Fitchburg Board of Trade (four years), a director of the Fitchburg Railroad Company, and a trustee of Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

Though thoroughly patriotic and keenly alive to the importance of current issues, the magnitude of the private and corporate interests committed to his care would not permit the alienation of close personal attention from them to political matters, and whatever offices he has held have sought him, instead of his seeking them.

He was a selectman in the years 1864, 1865, and 1867, and a representative to the general court in 1874, but declined a re-election the following year, on account of ill health. He was a member of the governor's council in 1880 and 1881, and has just been re-elected to serve in the same position the present year.

Mr. Wallace was married, on the 1st of December, 1853, to Sophia, youngest daughter of Thomas Ingalls, Esq., of Rindge. She died June 20, 1871, leaving two sons. The eldest, Herbert I., born February 17, 1856, is a graduate of Harvard College, class of 1877; and the younger, George R., obtained his education in the Fitchburg high school, and a two years' special course in the Institute of Technology, Boston. They are both now with their father. Mr. Wallace married, for his second wife, Sophia F. Bailey, of Woodstock, Vt., on the 28th day of December, 1876.

GEN. SIMON G. GRIFFIN.

BY REV. A. B. CRAWFORD.

Gen. Griffin was born in Nelson, N. H., on the 9th of August, 1824. His ancestors, as far back as they can be traced, were prominent men in the communities where they lived, gifted with more than ordinary intellect and force of character.

His grandfather, Samuel Griffin, Esq., came from Methuen, Mass., soon after the Revolutionary war, married a daughter of Rev. Jacob Foster, at that time the settled minister at "Packersfield," now Nelson, and took up his residence in that town. His superior abilities soon brought him forward to fill responsible positions, and for many years he represented the town in the legislature, and held the highest town offices. Both he and the General's maternal grandfather, Nehemiah Wright, were patriot soldiers in the Revolutionary army, and both were present at the battle of Bunker Hill.

His father, Nathan Griffin, was equally gifted with the earlier progenitors of the race; but, losing his health in the prime of his manhood, the care of rearing the family of seven children fell upon the mother. Her maiden name was Sally Wright,—one of the loveliest of her sex, both in person and character,—and the General owes much to her wise counsels and careful training. She died recently, at the age of ninety-four, in the full possession of her mental faculties.

When but six years of age, in consequence of the illness of his father, the boy was sent to live for some years with his uncle, Gen. Samuel Griffin, of Roxbury, N. H. He, too, had a decided talent for military affairs, had been a volunteer in the war of 1812, was prominent in the state militia, and was fond of repeating the military histories and descriptions of battles and campaigns that he had read, thus producing a deep and lasting impression on the mind of the lad. But never, after he was seven years old, could the boy be spared from work on the farm to attend school during summer. Ten or twelve weeks each winter at the district school was all the "schooling" he ever had; but his leisure hours were spent in reading and study, and, in spite of his want of advantages, at eighteen years of age he began to teach with marked success. He had also read much history, and the lives of the great military chieftains of ancient and modern times; and thus by inheritance, and by his early training and reading, he had become unconsciously fitted for the special work before him, and had cultivated the patriotic spirit and ability for military affairs which have won for him an honorable place among the distinguished soldiers of our state, and made him, as confessed on all sides, one of the best volunteer officers in the war of the rebellion.

Continuing his studies while teaching winters and working on the farm summers, he mastered all the higher English branches usually taught in colleges, studied Latin and French, and went through a large amount of miscellaneous reading. In 1850 he married Ursula J., daughter of Jason Harris, Esq., of Nelson; but soon after the birth of a son, the following year, both mother and son died. Returning to his former occupation of teaching, he took up the study of law, and while thus engaged represented his native town two years in the legislature, serving the second term as chairman of the committee on education.

S. G. Griffin Brig. & Brevet Maj. Genl. U.S.A.

He was admitted to the bar in 1860, and had just begun the practice of his profession at Concord when the war broke out. Throwing aside his law-books, he took up the study of military tactics, joined a company then forming at Concord, under the first call for troops,—volunteering as a private, but when it came to organization was chosen captain,—and finding the quota of New Hampshire full under the first call, immediately volunteered, with a large number of his men, for three years or the war, under the second call. Recruiting his company to the maximum, he joined the Second Regiment at Portsmouth, was mustered into the United States service in June, 1861, and commanded his company at the first battle of Bull Run, handling it with coolness and bravery, although it was under a sharp fire, and lost twelve men, killed and wounded. It was the celebrated "Goodwin Rifles," Co. B, 2d N. H. Vols., armed with Sharp's rifles, by the exertions of Capt. Griffin and his friends,—the only company sent from the state armed with breech-loaders.

In 1861 he was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel of the 6th N. H. Vols., and joined that regiment at its rendezvous in Keene. The regiment was assigned to Burnside's expedition to North Carolina, and landed at Hatteras island in January, 1862. In March it removed to Roanoke island, and on the 7th of April, Lieut.-Col. Griffin was sent in command of an expedition, composed of six hundred men with five gunboats, to break up a rebel rendezvous near Elizabeth City, N. C. Landing at daybreak the next morning, he attacked and broke up the camp, capturing seventy-four prisoners, three hundred and fifty stands of arms, and a quantity of ammunition. On the 19th of April, at the battle of Camden, N. C., he commanded his regiment, which formed the reserve. At the critical moment he moved it forward in line of battle, within short musket range, halted the line, gave the command to fire, and the regiment poured in a volley with wonderful coolness and precision. The enemy broke and fled, and the battle was won.

On the 22d of April, 1862, he was commissioned colonel of the regiment. Assigned to Reno's division, which was sent to aid Pope in Virginia, he commanded his regiment at the second Bull Run, where it was ordered, with its brigade, to attack the enemy in a piece of wood. Forcing their way for some distance, they received a murderous fire in front and from the left flank and rear. Thinking it must be friends firing into them by mistake, Col. Griffin took the colors and waved them in that direction, but the fire only came the sharper; and finding himself nearly surrounded by an immense force, and deserted by the other regiments, he gave the order to retreat, and brought off the remnant of his men, bearing the colors himself.

At the battles of Chantilly and South Mountain he commanded his regiment; and at Antietam, after one attempt to carry the bridge in front of Burnside had been made and failed, Col. Griffin was ordered to make the assault with his own regiment and the Second Maryland. The charge was gallantly made, but the approaches were difficult, the enemy's fire destructive, and the column was checked; but re-enforcements were brought up, and the bridge was carried, and the Sixth New Hampshire, with Col. Griffin at its head, was the first to plant its colors on the heights beyond. For gallantry in this action he was recommended for promotion to brigadier-general. At Fredericksburg he commanded his regiment, which again suffered severely in the assault on the heights. Soon after that battle he obtained a leave of absence, and was married to Margaret R. Lamson, of Keene, N. H., with whom he is still living, and by whom he has two sons.

Early in the year 1863, the ninth corps was transferred to the department of Ohio, and Col. Griffin was placed in command of the second brigade, second division, serving in Kentucky. From there the first and second divisions were sent to aid Grant at Vicksburg; and, upon the fall of that city, Sherman moved upon Jackson, Miss., the capital of the state, driving Johnston before him. While approaching the town, Col. Griffin was at one time in command of the advanced line, consisting of three brigades, when a sharp attack was made by the enemy, at three o'clock in the morning, with a view to breaking our lines by surprise, but was repulsed with considerable loss. Returning to Kentucky, he took command of the second division, and marched over the Cumberland mountains, joining Gen. Burnside at Knoxville. Several regiments of the corps had been left in Kentucky, and Col. Griffin was sent to conduct them forward to Knoxville. Before they had started on the march, however, Kentucky itself was threatened with raids, in consequence of our defeat at Chickamauga, and Col. Griffin and his troops were retained for the defense of that state. While on that duty his regiment re-enlisted for three years, or the war; and in January, 1864, he was ordered with it to Covington, Ky., where they were remustered into the United States service, and immediately proceeded to New Hampshire on their thirty days' furlough, granted by the terms of re-enlistment.

In the spring of 1864, the ninth corps re-assembled at Annapolis, under Gen. Burnside, and Col. Griffin was assigned to the command of the second brigade, second division. On the 5th of May the corps joined the army of the Potomac, on the Rapidan, and at two o'clock on the morning of the 6th, Col. Griffin was sent with his brigade to attack the enemy, and later in the day made a brilliant charge in repelling an attack made on the second corps. At Spottsylvania Court-House, May 12, Gen. Hancock made the assault at four o'clock in the morning. Griffin occupied the right of the ninth corps, on the left of Hancock, though some distance from him, with orders to support that officer. Promptly at four o'clock Griffin advanced with his brigade in line of battle, and made directly for the point of attack indicated by the sound of Hancock's guns. As he approached, he galloped forward to see just where to make the connection. Passing out of a wood into an open field, he found Hancock's troops wild with excitement over their success, but with organizations completely broken up by the charge they had made. Looking across a valley to a slope beyond, he saw a large force of rebels advancing rapidly to make a counter attack. Hastening back to his command, he brought it forward into position just in time to take that advancing column in front and flank with a destructive fire. Other brigades came up and formed on his left, and for five hours a terrific fire was kept up, and the furious onslaught of three Confederate divisions was repulsed. The loss on each side was fearful, but Hancock's corps, and possibly the army, was saved from being swept away, and a victory was won. By this gallant act Col. Griffin "won his star," being made a brigadier-general of volunteers by President Lincoln, on the recommendation of Generals Burnside and Grant, and confirmed by the senate without debate, reference, or a dissenting vote.

On the 18th he made a reconnoissance with his brigade, and handled it with coolness and skill in the fights of North Anna, Tolopotomy Creek, Bethesda Church, and Cold Harbor. On the arrival of the army in front of Petersburg, June 15, he was placed in command of two brigades, and made a skillful attack on the enemy's advanced lines at daylight next morning, capturing one thousand prisoners, fifteen hundred stands of arms, four pieces of artillery, with caissons, horses, and ammunition, and opening the way into Petersburg had supports been ready in time. At the battle of the "Mine" he commanded his brigade, and did every thing that could be done in his place to insure success; also at the Weldon Railroad, Poplar Grove Church, and Hatcher's Run.

At the final breaking of the lines in front of Petersburg, on the 2d of April, 1865, after charging the enemy's picket line and capturing two hundred and forty-nine prisoners during the night previous, he formed his brigade near Fort Sedgwick, in column by regiments, with three companies of pioneers in front armed only with axes to cut away the abatis. Just at daybreak, at a preconcerted signal, in connection with Gen. Hartranft on his right and Col. Curtin on his left, he led his column to the charge. Nothing could exceed the coolness and intrepidity with which officers and men pressed forward under a terrific fire of grape, canister, and musketry; for our artillery had opened and given the enemy warning. Tearing away the abatis, they dashed over the parapet, seized the guns, captured hundreds of prisoners, and held the line. The loss was frightful, but the backbone of the rebellion was broken; and when the news of the assault reached Richmond, on that Sunday morning, Jefferson Davis crept out of church and stole away, a fugitive; and Petersburg and Richmond were occupied by our troops next morning. For gallantry in that action Gen. Griffin was brevetted a major-general of volunteers, and succeeded to the command of the second division, ninth corps, holding that position till the close of the war, with the exception of a short time while he was president of an examining board of officers at Washington. He joined in pursuit of the rebel forces, and his division formed a part of the column that encompassed Lee and compelled him to surrender. Returning with the army and encamping at Alexandria, he led his division in the Grand Review, on the 23d of May; and when the last regiment of his command had been mustered out, he also, in August, 1865, was mustered out of the service of the United States.

Gen. Griffin's service had been a most honorable one. Brave, able, and patriotic, he was always in demand at the front, and his service was of the most arduous kind. He took an active part in twenty-two great battles, besides being engaged in numberless smaller fights and skirmishes, and his troops were never under fire, or made a march of any importance, except with him to lead them. Yet he never received a scratch, although he had seven ball-holes through his clothes, and had two horses killed and five wounded under him in action; and he never lost a day's duty from sickness,—the result, no doubt, of temperate habits. As an example of the severity of his service in Grant's campaign of 1864, he left Alexandria with six regiments, reporting twenty-seven hundred fighting men. At the close of the campaign he had lost three thousand men, killed and wounded,—three hundred more than his whole number,—new regiments having been assigned to him, and the older ones filled up with recruits.

At the close of the war the government appointed him a field officer in one of the regiments in the regular army; but he had no desire for the life of a soldier when his country no longer needed his services, and he declined the offer. In 1866, 1867, and 1868, he represented Keene in the New Hampshire state legislature, serving the last two years as speaker of the house, which position he filled with marked ability, showing rare talent as a presiding officer. In January, 1866, he presided over the Republican state convention; and Dartmouth College that year conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts, causa honoris. In 1871 he was nominated for congress by the Republicans of the third district, but the opposition carried the state that year, and, although making a good run, he was defeated by a few votes. Renominated in 1873, he was again defeated by a small majority.

The habits of study so diligently cultivated by Gen. Griffin in youth have never been laid aside, but are still kept up in the midst of an active and busy life, he being engaged in large enterprises in the South and West. As a public speaker he is able, graceful, and convincing, and his work always shows thorough preparation, correct taste, and sound judgment. In a book of Garfield's speeches, with a short sketch of his life, published by a firm in St. Louis, a few memorial addresses, selected as the best delivered in the country, are inserted as a supplement, and Gen. Griffin's, delivered at Keene, and the same day at Marlborough, is found among them.

In his home, where he is cordially seconded by Mrs. Griffin, there is a tender and affectionate union of the members, a courteous hospitality, a library rich in choice books which are read and known, and all the comforts and enjoyments of a true New England home; and from that home abundant good works go out that make for the well-being of a community.

D. L. Jewell

COL. DAVID LYMAN JEWELL.

BY J. N. McCLINTOCK.

The chief industry of the flourishing village of Suncook is the manufacture of cotton cloth. The China, the Webster, and the Pembroke mills are three great establishments under one management, built on the banks of the Suncook river, and operated principally by its power, where this class of goods is made. About these mills, which give steady employment to over fifteen hundred operatives, has grown up a substantial village, with fine public buildings, spacious stores, elegant private residences, and long blocks of neat tenement-houses, inhabited by a liberal and public-spirited class of citizens, and governed by a wise and judicious policy which renders this community comfortable, attractive, and law-abiding. The man to whose clear head and skillful hand is intrusted the management of this great corporation, of such vital importance to the village of Suncook, is a genial gentleman of forty-five, Col. David L. Jewell, a brief outline of whose life it is my purpose to sketch.

David Lyman Jewell, son of Bradbury and Lucinda (Chapman) Jewell, was born in Tamworth, N. H., January 26, 1837. In the midst of the grandest scenery of New England, under the shadows of the Ossipee mountains, and in view of bold Chocorua, our friend was ushered to this earthly pilgrimage. Colonel Jewell is a descendant of Mark Jewell, who was born in the mirth of Devonshire, England, in the year 1724, and died in Sandwich, N. H., the 19th of February, 1787. He descended from the same original stock as Bishop John Jewell of Devonshire.

Mark Jewell came to this country in 1743, married, and located in Durham this state; he was the father of three sons, Mark, Jr., Bradbury, and John. Mark. Jr., was the first white man that settled in Tamworth, in 1772, on what is now called "Stevenson's Hill," removing soon after to "Birch Intervale," as known at the present time. He married Ruth Vittum, of Sandwich, in 1776; they were the parents of sixteen children. He was prominent in all town affairs, and sometimes preached, and was familiarly called among his fellow-townsmen "Elder" or "Priest" Jewell. Bradbury, son of Elder Jewell, married Mary Chapman in 1806, by whom he had two sons, Bradbury and David.

Bradbury Jewell, a pupil of Samuel Hidden, was a teacher of considerable note, and his memory is tenderly cherished to-day by many of his pupils throughout the state. While engaged in teaching he pursued a course of medical studies, and in 1839, having completed them, collected his worldly goods and removed to Newmarket, a place presenting a larger field for practice. There he commenced in earnest his chosen profession; but, being of a delicate constitution, the exposure incident to a physician's life soon told upon his limited strength; he was taken sick, and died "ere the sun of his life had reached its meridian," leaving his widow, with two little children, in indigent circumstances, to combat with a cold and selfish world. A wealthy merchant of the place, having no children, wished to adopt young David, offering to give him a college education and leave him heir to his worldly possessions; but with a mother's love for her offspring Mrs. Jewell refused the offer, and resolved to rear and educate her children as well as her limited means would allow. Being a woman of undaunted spirit, she opened a boarding-house for factory operatives, when factory girls were the intelligent daughters of New England farmers, who regarded this new industry a most favorable opportunity for honorable employment.

Having brothers in Massachusetts, and thinking to better sustain herself and children, Mrs. Jewell removed to Newton Upper Falls, Mass., following the same occupation there. In that village young Jewell first attended school, the teacher of which was a former pupil of his father. To render his mother more substantial assistance than he could afford her by doing irksome chores, he went to work in the factory when but nine years of age, receiving for a day's work, from quarter of five in the morning until half past seven in the evening, the very munificent sum of sixteen cents a day, or one dollar a week. He worked nine months and attended school three, every year, until he was nearly thirteen years of age, when the close confinement was found detrimental to his health, and he was taken from the mill and placed on a farm. The next three years he passed in healthful, happy, out-door work. Returning home from the farm strong, robust, and vigorous, he re-entered the mill, where he was variously occupied, becoming familiar with the operations of the numerous machines in each department, but more particularly those pertaining to the carding-room, where his step-father, Thomas Truesdell, was an overseer, learning as he pursued his work, gradually and insensibly, things that to-day are of incalculable benefit for the business in which he is now engaged. He little thought, however, when moving his stool from place to place in order to facilitate his labor, he would some day be at the head of similar works many times greater in magnitude than those in which he was then employed. His inherited mechanical taste developed by his life among machinery, and when he was seventeen years of age he gladly entered a machine-shop. Here his ready perception of form rendered his work attractive and his improvement rapid.

Before completing his apprenticeship he felt keenly the want of a better education, and determined to obtain it. His exchequer was very low, but having the confidence of friends he readily obtained a loan, and in the spring of 1855 he entered the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Mass. The principal, after a casual examination, said: "Well, you don't know much, do you?" Being quick at repartee young Jewell replied: "No, sir; if I did, I would not be here." This brief sip at the fountain of knowledge only increased his thirst for more, and in September of the same year he entered the state normal school at Bridgewater, Mass., under the regime of Marshall Conant, a life-long friend and counselor. Mr. Jewell from the first was a favorite among his classmates,—courteous, genial, pleasant in disposition, something careless withal; physically vigorous, and always the first at athletic sports when relieved from study. Mathematics, of which he was very fond, and natural philosophy were his favorite branches of study, and free-hand drawing his delight, as slates, book-covers, and albums attested. While in school he made rapid advancement in knowledge, and graduated in the spring of 1857, having acquired, as his diploma reads, "a very creditable degree of knowledge of the several branches taught therein. Besides these attainments, Mr. Jewell possesses a tact and skill for rapid sketching and delineation which give life to his blackboard illustrations."

To show the forethought possessed by him in a marked degree, before graduating he had secured a school to teach in New Jersey, and the day after the closing exercises were over he started for his new field of labor. He taught with great success in New Jersey and also in New York, some three years. One school of which he was principal numbered three hundred scholars, and employed five assistant teachers, most of whom were his seniors in years. Like his father, he gained an enviable reputation as a teacher, and his credentials speak of him in the highest terms, as a competent, faithful, and pleasing instructor, and a most excellent disciplinarian. One superintendent of schools remarks: "He was the best teacher that has been employed in the town for thirty years."

While engaged in teaching, Mr. Jewell pursued a course of study in engineering and surveying, and finally determined to follow engineering as a profession. He gave up school-teaching, left the "foreign shores of Jersey" and entered the office of R. Morris Copeland and C. W. Folsom, of Boston. His first work was the resurvey of Cambridgeport. He afterwards worked in Dorchester and on Narragansett bay. But this new occupation had just been engaged in when "the shot heard round the world" was fired on Sumter, and the tocsin of war sounded the alarm. Surveying, like all other business, came to a stand-still; the compass was changed for a musket, distances measured by the steady tramp of the soldiery, and the weary flagman became the lonely sentinel.

About this time the owners of the Pembroke mill and property connected therewith, in Pembroke and Allenstown, N. H., decided to increase their business by building a new mill twice the capacity of the one then owned by them. Knowing Mr. Jewell to be a good draughtsman, having employed him during the construction of the Pembroke mill, they again engaged him for like duties. Consulting with their then resident agent, he prepared the required working plans and drawings for the Webster mill. The work on the building was soon under way and rapidly pushed to completion. While thus engaged the agent at Newton died, and the immediate care of the mills was given to Mr. Jewell until (as the treasurer said) he could find the right man.

Finishing his work at Suncook, and having conducted the affairs of the company at Newton in a very satisfactory manner, the treasurer tendered him the agency of the mills. In accepting the position, his career as agent began where, fifteen years before, he commenced the work that fitted him so thoroughly for the successful management of the same. The mills were in a bad condition, the machinery old, and "run down," and the owners impatient and anxious. Nothing daunted, however, Mr. Jewell entered heartily into the business, making such changes that at the time he tendered his resignation he had doubled the production, and greatly improved the quality of the goods manufactured. Looms built more than fifty years ago, and improved by Mr. Jewell, are still running and producing nearly as many yards per day, and of as good quality, as those made at the present time. These mills were run throughout the war, paying for cotton as high as one dollar a pound, and selling the cloth for thirty-five cents a yard. Mr. Jewell was very anxious to enlist during the exciting times of war, but was prevailed upon by the owners to continue in charge of their works, and by the entreaties of his wife, who was hopelessly ill, to remain at her side.

The treasurer and part owner of the mills at Newton Upper Falls was also treasurer and large owner of the mills at Suncook. In 1865 the Suncook company agitated the subject of enlarging their works by the addition of another mill, and in 1867 active operations were commenced upon the China mill, which was, when completed, the largest works of the kind contained under one roof in the state. Mr. Jewell again fulfilled the office of engineer and draughtsman. The company's agent at Suncook, wishing to devote his time exclusively to the construction of the new mill, desired that Mr. Jewell come from Newton several days each week to look after the manufacturing in the two mills. Thus for more than two years he acted as agent at Newton, also as superintendent of the Webster and Pembroke mills.

In 1870, before the China mill had fairly commenced operations, the agent resigned his position. Mr. Jewell, having at Newton proved diligent, faithful, and capable, was appointed in his stead. Resigning his position at Newton he removed with his family to Suncook, and assumed the management of the triumvirate corporation, June 1, 1870. Again he was obliged to go through nearly the same routine as at Newton. The machinery, however, was more modern, but had been neglected, supplies scantily distributed, and the power was inadequate to the demand. With indomitable perseverance he has remedied the defects, by providing reservoirs, more thoroughly utilizing the water power, adding new and valuable improvements, putting in powerful steam apparatus capable of running during the most severe drought. He has increased the annual product from twelve million yards in 1874 to twenty-seven million yards in 1880, with substantially the same machinery, showing what tireless perseverance and devotion to duty can accomplish.

Mr. Jewell is one of the directors in the China Savings Bank, Suncook. He is also a member of the New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association, and of the New Hampshire club. Mr. Jewell was honored by being appointed aide-de-camp, with the rank of colonel, on Governor Head's staff, and smilingly speaks of turning out officially more times than any one of the other members. He is a member of the Governor Head Staff Association, an active member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, a member of the Amoskeag Veterans of Manchester, a member of the New Hampshire Veterans' Association, and an honorary member of the old Twelfth New Hampshire regiment. He was elected captain of the Jewell Rifles, named in his honor, but graciously declined, and was made an honorary member. The Masonic fraternity also claims him, being an active member of the "Jewell" Lodge, Suncook, also named in his honor, and of the Trinity Royal Arch Chapter, Horace Chase Council R. and S. M., and Mount Horeb Commandry, Concord, N. H. He is a member of the Supreme Council, having taken all the Scottish rites up to the 33d degree, and is an active member of the Massachusetts Consistory S[**asterism][** Masonic symbol?] P[**asterism] R[**asterism] S[**asterism] 32d degree, Boston, and a member of the Connecticut River Valley Association.

Colonel Jewell is a public-spirited citizen. To him Suncook is largely indebted for its material advancement since his residence in this community. Three times have his presence of mind and mechanical skill been the means of saving the village from entire destruction by fire. To him is the place indebted for its very effective water-works to guard against fires in the future.

In happy combination with the great executive ability of the subject of our sketch, are a fine literary taste and decided artistic talent. The former has opportunity for gratification in a library rich in standard works, and the latter is attested by the exterior architectural decorations and interior embellishments that beautify his home. In private life, Col. Jewell is genial, affable and approachable. In religious thought he affiliates with the Congregationalists; but the Sabbath is to him a day of rest.

Mr. Jewell married, in August, 1860, Mary A. Grover, daughter of Ephraim Grover, of Newton, Mass. She died October 16, 1862. He was married the second time, May 31, 1865, to Ella Louise Sumner, daughter of Lewis Sumner, of Needham, Mass.

Mr. Jewell has kept aloof from politics, but is a good Republican; and, should he be the standard-bearer of the party in any future contest, he could probably lead his forces to victory.

Chas. M. Murphy

HON. CHARLES M. MURPHY.

BY JOHN B. STEVENS, JR.

We live in days when the success of men apparently born to lives of grinding toil is a pregnant sign of the times. Such opportunities are now open to him who has a good order of ability, with high health and spirits, who has all his wits about him, and feels the circulation of his blood and the motions of his heart, that the lack of early advantages forms no barrier to success. A striking illustration of the truth of these statements is exhibited in the following sketch.

Charles M. Murphy, son of John and Mary M. (Meader) Murphy, was born in Alton, Belknap county, N. H., November 3, 1835. In 1842 his parents moved to Barnstead, N. H., and settled upon the Tasker farm at the south end of the town. Here the child grew in stature, and filled out and braced his frame by hard manual labor.

Scanty record is left of these years of severe work and continuous struggle; but there is little doubt that the discipline developed an indomitable will and sturdy self-reliance—which alone enable poor men's children to grapple with the world—that under more favorable circumstances might never have shown their full capacity of force and tenacity.

Again, it is widely believed—and nowhere more strongly than in opulent cities and busy marts—that a boy is better bred on a farm, in close contact with the ground, than elsewhere. He is quite as likely to be generous, brave, humane, honest, and straightforward, as his city-born contemporary; while, as to self-dependence, strength, and stamina, he ordinarily has a great advantage over his rival.

He attended the district school, during the winter terms, until of an age suitable to leave the parental care, when he enjoyed for two terms the advantages of the academy at Norwich, Vt. At school it appears that he was diligent and ambitious, and, from his great physical strength and natural cheerfulness of temperament, very active in all athletic exercises. Then began the severe and practical duties of life; and, being the oldest of four boys, for some years he assisted his father in educating and advancing the interests of his brothers. John E. Murphy became a prominent dentist, practicing in Pittsfield, N. H., and Marblehead, Mass., and died at the early age of thirty-five. Frank Murphy, M. D., a graduate of Dartmouth College, practiced his profession in Strafford and Northwood; but died in the very flush and promise of life, at the age of twenty-nine. Albert Warren Murphy, D. D. S., a graduate of the Philadelphia Dental College, after one year's practice in Boston, removed, in 1872, to Paris, France, where his professional labors brought him both credit and profit. At the expiration of two years, an active interest in Spanish affairs and a desire to test the business advantages of the country led him to Spain. He soon settled in Madrid, and in 1879 was appointed dentist to the royal court.

Relieved from his generous labors at home, the subject of our sketch was married, at the age of twenty-two, to Sabrina T. Clark, daughter of Isaac Clark, Esq., of Barnstead, N. H., and for six months tried independent farming; but, though fully aware what a life full of joy and beauty and inspiration is that of the country, and not destitute of a natural taste for rural pursuits, at the expiration of the time named he surrendered his acres to his father, and with less than one hundred and fifty dollars moved to Dover and began the study of dentistry with Dr. Jefferson Smith. To this business he brought the same will power and ability to prolong the hours of labor which marked his early life, and in two years was pronounced competent to practice in his new calling. Dr. Smith soon died, and the recently emancipated student not only succeeded very largely to his practice, but enlarged and built upon it till a reputation and an income were secured which made travel and study easy and profitable. For eighteen years this patient, hopeful man labored and experimented, adding each season to his knowledge and skill, losing hardly a day except while studying for his degree at the Boston Dental College. In 1878, as the result of long and careful study of the business interests of the country, he withdrew entirely from his profession and embarked his all in the precarious occupation of a broker. Here his coolness, sagacity, and equableness of temper found their proper field, and such a measure of success has followed as falls to the lot of few men not bred from youth amid the fluctuations of the stock market. In his new occupation he is indefatigable in procuring information, and alike keen in discerning new traits in men and shrewd in contrasting them with those which are more common and better known.

Very naturally the subject of our sketch took a lively interest in political affairs upon becoming of age. A strong and devoted Republican, in his adopted city his influence in local politics has been felt for years. He was a member of the state house of representatives in 1871 and 1873; attached to the staff of Gov. Straw; appointed and confirmed as consul to Moscow—honor declined; a member of the Chicago convention in 1880, where he stoutly supported Blaine so long as a ray of hope remained; president of the Dover Five Cent Savings Bank—from a state of torpor and weakness it has grown under his guiding hand into activity and strength; elected mayor of the city of Dover in 1880, and recently chosen for another term; recipient of the honorary degree of A. B. from Lewis College in 1881. Through all his mature life, Col. Murphy has been a busy man.

But the energetic and successful are not exempt from the sorrows common to humanity. Three children, who, if spared, might put off to a distant day the weariness that inevitably comes with advancing years, died while young; and finally the partner of all his vicissitudes bade him a final adieu. His second wife, Mrs. Eliza T. Hanson, widow of the late John T. Hanson, of Dover, dispenses a gracious hospitality in the spacious and richly furnished Cushing-street mansion.

In closing we may add, Col. Murphy combines qualities which are generally found apart,—a love for work amounting to dedication, and a readiness to assist the unfortunate which seems ingrained. His abode is full of cheerfulness. No one comes there who does not receive a hearty welcome; no one departs without feeling as if leaving a home.

Hy. C. Sherburne

HENRY C. SHERBURNE.

Henry Clay Sherburne, son of Reuben R. and Sally (Rackleyft Staples) Sherburne, was born in Charlestown, Mass., December 9, 1830. His father was a native of Pelham and his mother of Newmarket; so, although born outside the limits of the state, he is wholly of New Hampshire lineage. His early education, obtained in the public schools of Boston, terminated when he was fifteen years of age, at which time he entered the employ of Holbrook & Tappan, hardware dealers, in whose store he remained three years.

At the age of eighteen years he gained his first experience in railroad business, serving as a clerk in the freight department of the Boston & Lowell Railroad, under his father, who was agent of the upper roads doing business with that corporation. Accepting a clerkship in the office of the Concord Railroad, he removed to Concord in 1851. After a year's service with the Concord Railroad, he entered the employ of the Concord & Claremont Railroad, where he remained until 1865, a period of thirteen years.

In July, 1865, after the adjournment of the legislature of that year, of which he was a member from ward five, Concord, he removed to Boston, entering into the business of railroad supplies in partnership with his brother, Charles W. Sherburne. He remained there until March, 1880, when he was elected president and a director of the Northern Railroad.

During his residence in Boston, in 1876, he was elected president of the New York & Boston Despatch Express Company, which position he still holds. In the summer of 1880 he was elected president and a director of the Concord & Claremont and Sullivan railroads, and subsequently a director of the Concord Railroad. In September, 1881, he was chosen general manager of the Boston, Lowell, and Concord railroads, under the business contracts between those roads. In 1878 he was sole trustee of the Hinkley Locomotive-Works, upon the failure of that company, and operated the works for about two years.

He is now a resident of ward four, Concord. He has a wife, and one son—Henry A. Sherburne, eleven years of age.

ZIMRI S. WALLINGFORD.

BY HON. JOSHUA G. HALL.

Famous as the small farming towns of New Hampshire have been in producing men eminent in the learned professions, they have not been less prolific in furnishing young men who have achieved distinction and borne great sway in what are recognized as the more practical business pursuits. Inventors, constructors, skilled artisans, the men who have taken the lead in developing our manufacturing interests and bringing toward perfection intricate processes, those who have increased the volume of trade at home and abroad, and have become merchant princes, have come, as a rule, from the plain farm-houses and common schools of our thousand hillsides. The stern virtues, the rigid frugality, and the unflagging industry always insisted on in the home life, supplemented by the limited but intensely practical learning gained in the district school, have furnished successive generations of young men compact, firm, and robust in their whole make-up, strong of body, clear and vigorous of mind, the whole impress and mold of their moral natures in harmony with right doing. These men have been a permeating force for good through all classes of our population, and towers of strength in our national life. The life of the subject of this sketch is a well rounded example of such young men.

Zimri Scates Wallingford, the son of Samuel and Sallie (Wooster) Wallingford, was born in Milton, in the county of Strafford, October 7, 1816.

Nicholas Wallington, who came, when a boy, in the ship "Confidence," of London, to Boston in the year 1638, settled in Newbury, Mass., where he married, August 30, 1654, Sarah, daughter of Henry and Bridget Travis, who was born in 1636. He was captured on a sea-voyage, and never returned; and his estate was settled in 1684. With his children (of whom he had eight), the surname became Wallingford.

John Wallingford, son of the emigrant Nicholas, born in 1659, married Mary, daughter of Judge John and Mary Tuttle, of Dover, N. H.; but he lived in that part of Rowley, Mass., now known as Bradford. He had seven children; one of these was Hon. Thomas Wallingford, of that part of ancient Dover afterwards Somersworth, and now known as Rollinsford, who was one of the wealthiest and most eminent men of the province, associate justice of the supreme court from 1748 until his death, which took place at Portsmouth, August 4, 1771. The eldest son of John Wallingford, and grandson of the emigrant, was John Wallingford, born December 14, 1688, settled in Rochester, N. H., and became an extensive land-owner. His will, dated October 7, 1761, was proved January 17, 1762. His son, Peter Wallingford, who inherited the homestead and other land in Rochester (then including Milton), made his will April 18, 1771, which was proved August 24, 1773. His son, David Wallingford, settled upon the lands in Milton, then a wilderness. He died in 1815, being the father of Samuel Wallingford, who was father of Zimri S.

Z. S. Wallingford

Upon his mother's side, Mr. Wallingford is descended from Rev. William Worcester, the first minister of the church in Salisbury, Mass., and ancestor of the eminent New England family of that name or its equivalent, Wooster. Lydia Wooster, great-aunt of Mr. Wallingford, was the wife of Gen. John Sullivan of Durham, major-general in the army of the Revolution, and the first governor of the state of New Hampshire; she was mother of Hon. George Sullivan of Exeter, who was attorney-general of this state for thirty years.

In 1825 the father of Mr. Wallingford died, leaving his widow with four children, of which this son, then nine years of age, was the eldest. At the age of twelve he commenced learning the trade of a country blacksmith. When he had wrought for his master as his boyish strength would allow for two years, he determined not to be content with being simply a blacksmith, and entered the machine-shop of the Great Falls Manufacturing Company at Great Falls, N. H., and served a full apprenticeship at machine-building there, in Maryland, Virginia, and in the city of Philadelphia.

August 27, 1840, Mr. Wallingford married Alta L. G. Hilliard, daughter of Rev. Joseph Hilliard, pastor of the Congregational church in Berwick, Maine, from 1796 to 1827. Their children have been (1) John O. Wallingford, who was sergeant-major, and became lieutenant in the Fifteenth N. H. volunteers, in the war of the rebellion; was severely wounded in the assault on Port Hudson; and was afterwards captain in the Eighteenth N. H., an officer of great merit, whose death at his home in Dover, March 23, 1872, was the result of disease contracted in his war service. (2) Mary C., now wife of Sidney A., Phillips Esq., counselor-at-law in Framingham, Mass.; (3) Julia, residing with her parents.

In 1844, Mr. Wallingford entered the employ of the Cocheco Manufacturing Company, Dover, N. H., as master machine-builder, and remained in that capacity until 1849. During that period, Mr. Wallingford and a partner, by contract, constructed new machinery, cards, looms, dressing-frames, and nearly everything necessary for the re-equipment of the mills. The then new and large mill at Salmon Falls was also supplied with the new machinery necessary, in the same manner.

In 1849 he became superintendent of the company's mills, under the then agent, Captain Moses Paul, and upon the death of that gentleman, was, on the first day of August, 1860, appointed agent of the company. He has continued to fill that office to the present time. Taking into account the great social and public influence, as well as the recognized ability with which his predecessor had for many years administered the affairs of the Cocheco company, the magnitude of its operations, the force and grasp of mind necessary to carry on its affairs successfully, it was evident to all familiar with the situation upon the death of Captain Paul, that no ordinary man could occupy the place with credit to himself, or to the respect of the public, or the satisfaction of the corporation.

Fully conscious of the responsibility assumed, and full of the determination which an ardent nature is capable of, not only to maintain the reputation of his company but to extend its operations and raise the standard of its manufactured goods, it is not overstating the fact to say that in the last twenty years few manufacturing companies have made greater strides in the extent of their works, in the quality of their goods, or their reputation in the great markets, than has the Cocheco under the management of Mr. Wallingford. Always strong financially, its wheels have never, during that time, been idle in any season of panic or monetary depression. Honorable, and ever generous to all its employes, its machinery has never stopped for a day at the demand of any organized strike. The pride, as well as the main business interest of Dover, Mr. Wallingford has always made his company popular with the people; its word proverbially is as good as its bond. The importance of the work is seen in the fact that the mills were, when Mr. Wallingford took charge, of a so-called capacity of fifty-seven thousand spindles; it is now one hundred and twenty thousand; and the reputation of the goods is world-wide. Twelve hundred operatives are on the books of his charge.

To a stranger to the home life of Dover these results seem the great life-work of Mr. Wallingford; but such an one, in making up his estimate, will fail to do justice to some of the elements of character which have, by skillful adaptation, contributed to so great success. To one so observing, the marked traits of the individual are lost sight of in the results of his career. To those only who are personally familiar with the individual are the real elements of success apparent. Of course, without the strong common sense and good judgment which we sum up as "business sagacity," Mr. Wallingford's successes would have been failures; but, to one familiar with his daily life for a score of years, it is apparent that the crowning excellence of his life, and the power which has supplemented his mental force and rounded out his life, have been his stern moral sense.

Perhaps the most noticeable trait in his character from childhood has been his love of justice and right, and his hatred of wrong and injustice in all its forms. Under such a man, no employe, no matter how humble his position, could be deprived of his just consideration; no interest of his corporation could be allowed to ask from the public authorities any indulgence or advantage not fairly to be accorded to the smallest tax-payer. Had he gone no farther than to insist on this exact counterpoise of right and interest, as between employer and employe, and between the interest represented by him and the public interest, his course would have stood out in marked contrast with the conduct of too many clothed with the brief authority of corporate power. Had this strict observance of the relative rights of all concerned been as nicely regarded by associated capital generally as it has been by the Cocheco company under the management of Mr. Wallingford and his lamented predecessor, no "brotherhood" for the protection of labor, no "strikes" organized and pushed to bring too exacting employers to their senses and to an observance of the common rights of humanity, would have had an existence, and none would have had occasion to view with jealous eye the apprehended encroachment of corporate power on private right. But while so insisting on justice in everything, no man has a kindlier vein of character, or a warmer sympathy for deserving objects of charity. Impulsive, naturally, no distressed individual or deserving cause appeals to him in vain, or long awaits the open hand of a cheerful giver.

To a man so endowed by nature, so grounded in right principles, and so delighting in the exercise of a warm christian charity, we may naturally expect the result that we see in this man's life,—success in his undertakings, the high regard of all who know him, and the kindliest relations between the community at large and the important private interests represented by him in his official capacity.

Fifty years ago, when the subject of this sketch, a mere child, was leaving his widowed mother's side to learn his trade, the public mind was just beginning to be aroused from its long lethargy to a consideration of the abolition of slavery in the United States. The sleep of men over the subject had been long, and their consciences seem hardly to have suffered a disturbing dream. Church as well as state was a participator in the system, and with unbecoming haste rose up to put beyond its fellowship and pale the first agitators of emancipation. Garrison had just been released, through the kindness of Arthur Tappan, from an imprisonment of forty-nine days in Baltimore jail, for saying in a newspaper that the taking of a cargo of negro slaves from Baltimore to New Orleans was an act of "domestic piracy," and was issuing the first number of the Liberator, taking for his motto, "My country is the world, my countrymen are all mankind;" and declaring, "I am in earnest, I will not equivocate, I will not excuse, I will not retreat a single inch, I will be heard."

The agitation of the abolition of slavery, which was to end only with emancipation, had thus begun. The discussion found its way into the public prints, and among the thinking circles of all rural New England. The blacksmith's apprentice read what the newspapers had to say, and listened to the neighborhood discussions on the great question. His sense of justice and humanity was aroused, and he adopted the motto and declaration of purpose as announced by Garrison; and from early youth till the time when Lincoln's proclamation assured the full success of the object aimed at, Mr. Wallingford was the earnest friend of the slave and the active promoter of all schemes looking to his emancipation. With Garrison, Phillips, Parker, Douglas, Rogers, and the other leading anti-slavery men, he was a hearty co-worker, and for years on terms of warm personal friendship.

During the winter of 1849-50, Hon. Jeremiah Clemens of Alabama made a speech in the United States senate, in which he claimed that northern mechanics and laborers stood upon a level with southern slaves, and that the lot of the latter was in fact envious when compared with that of the former classes. This speech at once called out from Hon. John P. Hale, then a member of the senate, a reply in keeping with the demands of the occasion and with the great powers of Mr. Hale as an orator. Soon after, a meeting of the mechanics of Dover was held, at which Mr. Wallingford presided, and at which resolutions expressing the feelings of the meeting toward Mr. Clemens's speech were passed, and a copy furnished to that gentleman by Mr. Wallingford. Upon the receipt of these resolutions, Senator Clemens published in the New York Herald a letter addressed to Mr. Wallingford, propounding ten questions. These questions were framed, evidently, with the design, not so much of getting information about the actual condition of the workingmen of the free states as to draw from Mr. Wallingford some material that could be turned to the disadvantage of the system of free labor. Mr. Wallingford replied through the press, February 6, 1850, in a letter which at once answered the impulsive and haughty "owner of men," and triumphantly vindicated our system of free labor. For directness of reply, density, and clearness of style, few published letters have equaled it. It must have afforded Mr. Clemens material for reflection, and it is not known that he afterwards assailed the workingmen of the nation.

From the formation of the Republican party, Mr. Wallingford has been one of its active supporters. Though no man has been more decided in his political convictions, or more frank in giving expression to them, no one has been more tolerant of the opinions of others, or more scrupulous in his methods of political warfare. Despising the tricks of the mere partisan, and abhorring politics as a trade, he has always been content to rest the success of his party on an open, free discussion of the issues involved. Not deeming it consistent with his obligations to his company to spend his time in the public service, he has refused to accede to the repeated propositions of his political friends to support him for important official positions; but he was a member of the constitutional constitution of 1876, and presidential elector for 1876, casting his vote for Hayes and Wheeler. He is and has been for years, president of the Savings Bank for the County of Strafford, a director of the Strafford National Bank, president of the Dover Library Association, and a director in the Dover & Winnipesaukee Railroad. In his religious belief Mr. Wallingford is a Unitarian, and an active member of the Unitarian society in Dover.

GENERAL WALTER HARRIMAN.

BY REV. S. C. BEANE.

The name of no New Hampshire man of the present generation is more broadly known than that of Walter Harriman. His distinguished services to the state, both in the legislature and in the executive chair; his honorable service as an officer of the Union army; the important trusts he has held at the hands of one and another of our national administrations; and, not least, his brilliant gifts as an orator, which have made him always welcome to the lyceum platform and have caused him to be widely and eagerly sought for in every important election campaign for many years,—combine to make him one of the most conspicuous men in our commonwealth.

The Harriman family is of English origin. Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, a man of eminence in the church, was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1590. He graduated at the University of Cambridge, in 1610. Becoming a dissenter from the Church of England, after twenty-five years of faithful service, his ministerial functions were suspended. He says of himself: "For refusing to read that accursed book that allowed sports on God's holy Sabbath, I was suspended, and by it and other sad signs driven, with many of my hearers, into New England." This stanch Puritan arrived on these shores in 1638. In his devoted flock there was an orphan lad, sixteen years of age, named Leonard Harriman, and from this youthful adventurer the subject of our sketch descended, being of the seventh generation. Rogers selected for his colony an unoccupied tract of country between Salem and Newburyport, Mass., to which he gave the name of Rowley, that being the name of the parish in Yorkshire to which he had long ministered.

The oldest son of Leonard Harriman was massacred, with ninety of his comrades,—"the flower of Essex county,"—in King Philip's war, September 18, 1675, at Bloody Brook. The great-grandfather of Walter Harriman saw eight years of hard service in the French and Revolutionary wars. His grandfather settled in the wilds of Warner, at the foot of the Mink hills, but lost his life, by an accident, at the early age of twenty-eight. His father, the late Benjamin E. Harriman, was a man of character and influence through an honorable life. He reared a large family at the ancestral home in Warner, where the subject of our sketch, being the third son, was born April 8, 1817.

Muscle and intellect and the heroic virtues can have no better nursery than the rugged farm-life of New England, and the Warner homestead was a challenge and stimulus to the qualities that were needed in the future man of affairs. This child of the third generation that had occupied the same house and tilled the same soil, grew up with a stalwart physical organization and a fine loyalty to his native town, a deep interest in its rude history and traditions, and a sympathy with the common people, which in turn made him a favorite with all. To this day there is to him no spot, save his present home, to be compared with his birthplace, and there are no people so interesting and endeared as his old neighbors in the rugged hill-town. He has recently written a history of Warner, which is regarded as "one of the most systematic, comprehensive, and generally interesting works of the kind yet given to the public in the state." The Harriman home still remains in the possession of the family, and, though the ex-governor now resides in Concord, he spends many a day in every year amidst the old familiar scenes. His "schooling" was obtained at the Harriman district school, and at the academy in the adjoining town of Hopkinton.

Walter Harriman

When hardly more than a boy, he made a successful trial of the excellent self-discipline of school-teaching, and at different times taught in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. While in the latter state, at the age of twenty-two, he became deeply interested in the principles of Liberal Christianity (the form of religious faith which he has steadfastly held to this day), and occasionally wrote sermons, which were well received from the pulpit, and some of which found their way into print. It was certain from his early youth that nature designed him for a public speaker, the rare oratorical gifts which afterwards distinguished him having shown themselves gradually and prophetically in the district school-house and the village academy. This tentative experience in preaching, undertaken of his own motion and without conferring with flesh and blood, resulted in his settlement, in 1841, over the Universalist church in Harvard, Mass., where he remained in active service four years. Returning now to Warner, and soon leaving the pulpit altogether, he became the senior partner in trade with John S. Pillsbury, late governor of Minnesota,—probably the only instance in our history where two young business partners in a retired country town have afterwards become the chief executives of different states.

In 1849, Mr. Harriman was elected by his townsmen to the New Hampshire house of representatives, where he almost immediately became prominent as a leader in debate on the Democratic side. Of his record as a party man little need to be said, except that from first to last, and whatever his affiliations, he has shown great independence in espousing measures and principles which commended themselves to his judgment and conscience, even when it put him in a minority with his political associates. In his first legislative term, on the question of commuting the death sentence of a woman who was sentenced to be hung for murder, he not only advocated such commutation, but was a leader in the movement for the abolition of capital punishment altogether, to which purpose he has ever since stood committed. In the legislature of 1850, he was the leading advocate of the homestead exemption law, at which time a resolution was adopted, submitting the question to the people. The voters of the state gave their approval at the next March election, and in the following June the act was consummated. No legislature has dared to repeal it, and the foresight and courage of its authors and earliest advocates have been so approved by thirty years of experience that it is doubtful if a single citizen can be found to-day who would desire to undo their work.

It was no accident or trifling smartness that could give a man prominence in those two legislatures of a third of a century ago. Among the men of marked ability, now deceased, who held seats in those years, were Horton D. Walker, Samuel H. Ayer, Lemuel N. Pattee, Edmund Parker, Samuel Lee, John Preston, William Haile, Richard Jenness, William P. Weeks, Thomas E. Sawyer, Wm. H. Y. Hackett, Nathaniel B. Baker, Charles F. Gove, Thomas M. Edwards, Josiah Quincy, and scores of others, now living, of equal merit. In this galaxy of brilliant minds, it is no exaggeration to say that, young as he was, Mr. Harriman was an honored peer in legislative duty and debate. Besides the two years named, he represented Warner again in the house in 1858, when he was his party's candidate for speaker. He also represented district No. 8 in the state senate in 1859 and 1860. In 1853 and 1854 he held the responsible office of state treasurer. Appointed in 1856, by the President of the United States, on a board of commissioners (with ex-Congressman James H. Relfe of Missouri, and Col. Wm. Spencer of Ohio), to classify and appraise Indian lands in Kansas, he spent a year of official service in that inviting territory, then turbulent with ruffianism. Border raids, burnings, and murder were daily occurrences. But the duties of this office were faithfully attended to, and no breath of complaint was overheard against the delicate work of this board.

During the reign of that un-American political heresy, popularly called Know-Nothingism, in 1854, 1855, and 1856, Mr. Harriman was its firm and unyielding enemy. In a discussion of this question with Hon. Cyrus Barton at Loudon Center, Mr. Harriman had closed his first speech, and Mr. Barton had just begun a reply, when he dropped dead on the platform,—a tragedy which lingers sadly in the memory of his friendly antagonist of that day.

The outbreak of the civil war began an era in the life of every public man in the nation. It projected issues which made party allegiance a secondary affair. It sent many honest and earnest men across the party lines, while some of our best citizens simply took their stand for the time being outside all political folds, independent, and ready for whatever calls the exigencies of the country might give forth. In that fateful spring of 1861, Mr. Harriman became the editor and one of the proprietors of the Weekly Union at Manchester, which heartily espoused the war policy of Mr. Lincoln's administration for the preservation of the republic, and thus found himself the leader and spokesman of what were known as the "War Democrats." He was placed in nomination as a candidate for governor of the state, at a large mass convention of this class of voters, held at Manchester in February, 1863, and this movement resulted in defeating a choice by the people and throwing the election into the legislature.

No man uttered braver or more eloquent words for the Union cause than Mr. Harriman, and his tongue and pen were an important element in the rousing of the citizens of New Hampshire to the graver duties of the hour. In August, 1862, he was made colonel of the Eleventh New Hampshire regiment of volunteers. He led this regiment to the field, and was at its head most of the time until the close of the war, except the four months, from May to September, 1864, when he was an inmate of Confederate prisons. With some other captured Union officers, he was, for seven weeks of this time, imprisoned in that part of Charleston, S. C, which was most exposed to the fire of the Union guns from Morris island, but providentially, though that part of the doomed city was destroyed, no harm came to him from the guns of his fellow-loyalists.

The first set battle in which the Eleventh Regiment bore a part was that of Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, when, with unflinching courage, Col. Harriman and his men faced the dreadful carnage of that long day before Marye's Height, less than three months after their arrival in the field. The loss of the regiment in this engagement was terrific. Passing over much (for want of space) that is thrilling and praiseworthy, we find the Eleventh under their colonel, at the front, in the battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864, when they made a daring and stubborn onset on the Confederate intrenchments, carrying before them two successive lines of the enemy's works. But among the five thousand Union men that were captured in that bloody engagement, the commander of the Eleventh N. H. was included. Col. Harriman and the survivors of his charge were present at the final grapple of the war before Petersburg, and on the 3d day of April, 1865, he led a brigade of nine large regiments (a force three times as great as the whole American army at Bunker Hill) into that fated city, on the heels of Lee's fleeing command. The war was now virtually ended, the surrender of Lee at Appomattox followed six days afterwards, and the Eleventh Regiment, of proud and honorable record, was mustered out of service in the following June. Their commander was appointed Brigadier-General U. S. V., by brevet, "for gallant conduct during the war," to date from March 13, 1865.

On his arrival home, at the close of the war, Gen. Harriman was elected to the office of secretary of state, by the legislature then in session, and he at once entered upon the duties of the office, which he held two years, and until his promotion to the gubernatorial chair. In the large Republican convention, consisting of six hundred and seventy-five delegates, and held at Concord in January, 1867, he was nominated, on the first ballot, as candidate for governor of the state. One of the most salient and memorable incidents connected with this period was the joint canvass made, by amicable arrangement, between Gen. Harriman and the Hon. John G. Sinclair, the Democratic candidate. Such canvasses are not uncommon in the West and South; but in New England, and with two men of such forensic ability as these distinguished nominees possessed, it was an event fraught with great popular interest, and which drew forth, possibly, the most earnest and eloquent discussions of questions to which a New England people has ever listened. Many flattering notices were given of these discussions. There were thirteen in all. Commenting on one of the number, a leading newspaper said of Gen. Harriman: "Soaring above all petty personal allusions, he held the audience as if spell-bound, and made all his hearers, for the time being, lovers of the whole country,—of the Union, of liberty, and independence throughout the world. He spoke not as a politician, but as a patriot, a statesman, a philanthropist, and his noble sentiments had such power of conviction that it was impossible to ward off the results by argument." His election followed by a decisive majority.

The campaign of 1868 occurred at a time when a strong reaction was setting against the Republican party throughout the country. Fresh candidates for the presidency were about to be nominated; the impeachment of Andrew Johnson was in progress; military rule had been established in the South; utter financial ruin was hotly foretold; and the dominant party was suffering crushing reverses in many of the leading states. To add to the discouragements of this party in New Hampshire, when the municipal elections came on in December, Portsmouth and Manchester rolled up adverse majorities, and the tide was tending strongly in one direction. Encouraged by such promising signs, the Democratic party held its state convention at the early day of the 14th of November. Their old and tried war-horse, John G. Sinclair, was again put upon the track, and his election was, by the party, deemed a foregone conclusion. A long and fierce contest ensued. Gov. Harriman met his fellow-citizens, face to face, in every section of the state. He addressed immense meetings, holding one every secular day for six weeks, and failing to meet no appointment on account of weariness, storms, or any other cause. He was triumphantly re-elected, obtaining a larger vote than any candidate for office had ever before received in New Hampshire.

Of Gov. Harriman's administration of the affairs of the state, in its principal features, with the exacting duties and the keen prudence required of the chief executive in those days of large indebtedness, unbalanced accounts, and new legislation to meet the new and unprecedented demands, his constituents seem to have been hearty and unanimous in their approval. Their feelings may be summed up and expressed in the words of the Boston Journal, when it said: "The administration of Gov. Harriman will take rank among the best that New Hampshire has ever had."

General Harriman was appointed naval officer of the port of Boston, by President Grant, in April, 1869, which office he accepted after the expiration of his gubernatorial term in June following. He was re-appointed in 1873, for a term of four years. The affairs of this office were conducted in such manner as to preclude any word of criticism.

Gen. Harriman has engaged in political canvasses repeatedly in most of the northern states, and in 1872 he participated extensively in the state campaign in North Carolina. In this latter canvass, the key-note of the national campaign was pitched, and the result of the desperate contest there in August made the re-election of Gen. Grant in November a certainty.

Thousands have warmly testified to the rare oratorical powers of the subject of this sketch, the Meriden (Conn.) Recorder being one of the number. That paper says of him: "As a platform speaker, we never heard his equal. His delivery is fine, his logic clear as crystal, his manner easy and natural, and his physical force tremendous. With a voice clear and distinct as a trumpet, of immense compass, volume, and power, his influence over an audience is complete. He affects nothing, but proceeds at once to the work in hand, and from the very outset carries his hearers with him, rising, at times, with the inspiration of his theme, to the loftiest flights of eloquence."

Gov. Harriman has been twice married; first, in 1841, to Miss Apphia K., daughter of Capt. Stephen Hoyt, of Warner, who died two years afterwards; and again in 1844, to his present wife, Miss Almira R. Andrews. By the latter marriage he has had three children. Georgia, the only daughter, is the wife of Joseph R. Leeson, an enterprising importer of Boston. Walter Channing, the oldest son, married Miss Mabel Perkins, of Portsmouth. He is a promising and successful lawyer, living at Exeter, and solicitor of Rockingham county. The younger son, Benjamin E. having prepared himself for the medical profession at some of the best schools in the land, took his degree at Dartmouth College in 1877, and began practice in Manchester. But his health soon failing, after patient and determined efforts for its recovery, and after attempting in another place to resume his professional work, he died at his father's home in Concord, in May, 1880, lamented, not only by his own family, but by a large circle of devoted and enthusiastic friends. His wife, so early bereaved, was Miss Jessie B., only daughter of the late Col. Isaac W. Farmer, of Manchester. A biographical paper read before the N. H. Medical Society, by Dr. A. H. Crosby (a physician of wide reputation), and printed, portrays the character of Dr. Harriman in generous outline, and fine and tender tinting, and from it we know that he was a young man of high integrity, large capacities for friendship, and superior equipment for his life-work. There are two grandsons to represent the family, one in the home of each of the governor's surviving children.

The home of Gov. Harriman in Concord, where he has now lived since 1872, is a delightful one, and no one enjoys it with more satisfaction than he himself. A great traveler, by the necessities of his public career, he has a mastering fondness for quiet domestic life, and never are his rich stores of experience, his knowledge of men, and his fine sense of humor with its exhaustless fund of material, more ready at his command than of an evening in his own house. He writes for various of the standard publications of New England, and no time hangs wearisome on his mind. He wears the honorary degree of A. M., conferred by Dartmouth College in 1867. A good citizen and neighbor, a delightful companion, free and familiar and sympathetic with all persons, his intellectual power now at high noon, and never better able to serve his time than now, it would seem that many years of useful activity are before him ere the restful evening descends.

Sam M Wheeler

HON. SAMUEL METCALF WHEELER.

Hon. Samuel Metcalf Wheeler was born in Newport, N. H., May 11, 1823. He was the only son—having one sister—of Albira and Melinda (Metcalf) Wheeler, who came of families of remarkably vigorous constitution and decided longevity; and from his ancestry, doubtless, Mr. Wheeler inherits the intellectual and physical ability which has made him so careful in breadth of study, and so successful as a legal adviser at the bar and in legislative debate and action.

Mr. Wheeler's early education was obtained in the seminary at Claremont, N. H., the military academy at Windsor, Vt., at Newbury Seminary, Vt., and in private instruction in the languages.

In 1844 he entered upon the study of law in the office of Walker & Slade, at Royalton, Vt.; seven months later he entered that of Tracy & Converse at Woodstock, Vt., where he remained two years and a half; and for some months afterwards he read law with Hon. Ralph Metcalf, an ex-governor of New Hampshire, from whose office he was admitted to the bar in 1847. He commenced practice in Newport, where he remained about a year. The next four or five years he practiced in Fisherville, and in 1853 he removed to Dover, where he at once entered upon a large and successful practice, and where he still remains. At first he was in business connection with John H. Wiggin. Esq., which lasted for two years. Subsequently, in 1858, he associated with himself Hon. Joshua G. Hall, then commencing practice, and the law firm of "Wheeler & Hall" continued for eight years. Since that time. Mr. Wheeler, while having the assistance made necessary by his practice, has remained without a partner.

As a lawyer, Mr. Wheeler has long been recognized as a leader. His natural abilities, strengthened and brightened by patient study, which has made him familiar with the law and precedents, and his learning, supplemented by the power to see all the features of a case and a conscientious devotion to the interest of his client, make him a safe adviser. His particular success, however, has undoubtedly been in the trial of jury causes, where his extensive study, quickness of perception, tact, and forensic ability, and a habit of thought which grasps particulars into a whole, tending to one strong impression upon listeners, have been the elements which have made him very strong.

Mr. Wheeler was from the first one of the pillars of Republican strength in Strafford county; and when the party in Dover has needed some one to represent it with conspicuous ability it has very often called upon him. He represented that city in the legislature in 1864, 1865, 1868, 1869, and 1870, and in 1876 was a member of the constitutional convention of New Hampshire. In the house, he was on the judiciary committee in 1864, and its chairman in 1865, also chairman of the finance committee in 1868; and in the constitutional convention was chairman of one of the four only leading committees, vis., that on the bill of rights.

In 1869 he was chosen speaker of the house, receiving nearly all the votes of his party in caucus, and much beyond his party vote in the house. He was rechosen in 1870, again receiving more than the vote of his party. As a member of the house, he was always recognized as a leader whose counsel it was safe to follow and whose opposition was generally fatal; and, as speaker, he was distinguished for his dignity, courtesy, and knowledge of parliamentary law. He was several times the leading Republican candidate for congress in the first district, and the peculiar methods by which other men were put into the place which the people demanded he should fill have disgraced and weakened the party in that section ever since.

In the year 1866, Mr. Wheeler received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Dartmouth College. He was president of the Dover National Bank from 1858 to 1874.

Mr. Wheeler married, December 31, 1848, Priscilla E., daughter of Joseph W. and Phebe (Wheeler) Clement, of Franklin, N. H. They have but one child,—Helen Maud,—born March 27, 1858. Mr. Wheeler is still in the prime of successful practice in Dover.

Edward Spalding

HON. EDWARD SPALDING, M. D.

The subject of this sketch, born at Amherst, N. H., September 15, 1813, was the son of Dr. Matthias Spalding, who was of the fifth generation in direct descent from Edward Spalding, who came to New England about 1632, and settled first at Braintree, Mass., removing a few years later to Chelmsford, Mass., of which he was one of the earliest proprietors. Col. Simeon Spalding married, for his second wife, Mrs. Abigail Wilson, whose maiden name was Johnson, the fourth generation in descent from Edward Johnson of Woburn, who came from Kent county, England. Matthias Spalding was one of the youngest of her children, born at Chelmsford, June 25, 1769, and graduated at Harvard College in 1798. Adopting the medical profession, he went abroad to perfect his education by attending lectures in London. Having a natural aptitude for the practice of medicine and surgery, with this superior training, he was soon distinguished for his successful treatment of disease, and his services were widely sought.

In 1806, after the settlement of Matthias Spalding at Amherst, he married Rebecca Wentworth, daughter of Hon. Joshua Atherton, and sister of Charles H. Atherton, an eminent lawyer and father of Hon. Charles G. Atherton, late United States senator. Mrs. Spalding was a woman of a refined nature and elegant manners. Of eight children, Edward was the first son and the fourth child. Favored in his parentage, he was also favored in the circumstances and companionships of his early life. The society of Amherst embraced a number of families of superior talents and education. Among the children of these families he was an active, manly, and generous boy, fond of fishing and athletic sports, and popular with his schoolmates.

When eleven years of age he was sent to Chelmsford, to be under the instruction of Rev. Abiel Abbott. At thirteen, he was one of a company of Amherst lads who became students at Pinkerton Academy, in Derry, then in charge of Abel F. Hildreth, a celebrated master in those days. While preparing for college, he was associated with Jarvis Gregg, Stephen Chase, James F. Joy, and James McCollom, who were subsequently distinguished as scholars, becoming tutors in the college at Hanover, after graduation. In college young Spalding made good use of his opportunities, and counted among his friends and classmates at Dartmouth Rev. F. A. Adams, Ph. D., Prof. Joseph C. Bodwell, D. D., Hon. J. F. Joy, LL. D., John Lord, LL. D., Judge Fowler of Concord, and Rev. E. Quincy S. Waldron, president of Borromeo College, Md.

In the autumn following his graduation, in 1833, young Spalding went to Lexington, Ky., hoping to obtain employment as a teacher. The effort to establish a private classical school in Lexington, though widely advertised, was not successful. The patronage did not answer to the promises of the ambitious prospectus, and, after a trial of a few weeks, the enterprise was abandoned as unremunerative. The West was not to be the scene of Dr. Spalding's life, nor teaching his employment.

Mr. Spalding returned to New England in the spring of 1834, and commenced the study of medicine in the office of his father at Amherst. He attended three courses of lectures in the Harvard Medical School at Boston, and was graduated at that institution in the summer of 1837. Having spent a few months riding with his father, and observing his treatment of the sick, he decided to enter on what seemed a promising field for a physician at Nashua. Accepting an invitation from the elder Dr. Eldredge, he became a partner with him in practice. After this partnership was dissolved the business increased, and he gained for himself an extensive and valuable patronage. He enjoyed the confidence of a large circle of families, and his success as a physician had given him an enviable reputation. In the meantime he had been called to assume responsibilities of a fiduciary nature, involving such care and labor as seriously to interfere with his professional engagements. The transition to these new employments was the natural sequence of the excellent judgment and rare capacity for business which he manifested. The accuracy and promptitude with which his accounts were rendered to the probate, and the just consideration for the feelings and interests of all persons concerned in the settlement of the estates committed to his trust, brought such a pressure of occupation that he was compelled to relinquish his profession.

He had now been in practice twenty-five years, and satisfactory as his services as a physician had been to the community, he was yet to perform an imperative and valuable service by his judicious management of important trusts and his earnest co-operation in the direction and enlargement of new enterprises. In addition to his engagements in the settlement of large estates, he became interested in banking, manufacturing, and railroads, holding various offices of labor and responsibility in these institutions and corporations. He was for several years treasurer of the Nashua Savings Bank and subsequently its president. He was one of the original projectors of the "Pennichuck Water-Works," of which company he is president. A director in both of the large cotton manufacturing companies which have contributed so much to the prosperity of the city, he has also fulfilled similar duties in other corporations elsewhere. For a time a director, he has become the president, of the Indian Head National Bank.

In municipal and town offices he has performed important duties, taking a lively interest in the progress of popular education. He has been a member of the school committee a large portion of the time that he has lived in Nashua, and is now chairman of the board of education. A member of the New Hampshire Historical Society, his encouragement and assistance are gratefully acknowledged by several gentlemen who have been engaged in the preparation and publication of genealogical and town histories. He has also been actively engaged in building up the city library, of which he has been a trustee from the beginning of the enterprise.

Never seeking political preferment, and personally disinclined to the strife for political distinctions, he was elected mayor of the city in 1864, and served as delegate to the Baltimore convention in the same year. He was a member of the state convention for the revision of the constitution in 1876, and councilor for two years during the administration of his Excellency Governor Prescott, 1878 and 1879.

In 1866 he was elected a trustee of Dartmouth College, a position which he still retains, and in which he has contributed to the substantial prosperity of the institution by frequent, unobtrusive gifts, and the steady service of a loyal and judicious mind. He has also represented Dartmouth College as a trustee of the College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts during the whole period of its existence as a department of instruction.

On the 23d of June, 1842, Dr. Spalding was united in marriage with Dora Everett, second daughter of Joseph and Mary Appleton Barrett, of New Ipswich, a family associated favorably with the history of the town so widely known by the character and achievements of its sons. By this marriage Dr. Spalding had three children, of whom two daughters are living; the second child, a son. Edward Atherton, died November 10, 1863, aged eleven years and two months. With this exception, the life of Dr. Spalding has been singularly exempt from afflictive changes. Happy in the circle of his kindred and the connections formed by marriage, his home has been a welcome resort to the youth of both families, while the older generation was tenderly cared for by the thoughtful and continued ministrations of this son and his companion.

As might be inferred from what has been said of the general esteem in which Dr. Spalding is held, he has many personal friends among men of thoughtful and scholarly habits. Himself a student, and thoroughly awake to whatever affects the nation's welfare, he has been a careful reader of current history. He has marked the progress of the various moral and political questions that agitate the minds of the people and shape the legislation of the country, with deep concern that the issues might be favorable to the principles of truth and righteousness. A sincere believer in the teachings of our Divine Lord, he has recognized as a Christian the claims of the country, as well as the claims of the city where he dwells. A liberal and constant contributor to the institutions which are organized to extend the knowledge of Christ throughout the world, he is known as the patron and advocate of missions at home and abroad. For many years he has been the president of the New Hampshire Bible Society. He has cheerfully borne his full proportion of the expenses incident to the maintenance of the local institutions of public worship and religious instruction in the church and society with which he is connected. When the meeting-house of the First Congregational church was burned, he at once proposed to his friend, Mr. Isaac Spalding, that they two should each give ten thousand dollars towards the cost of rebuilding,—a proposition to which Mr. Spalding promptly assented, thus insuring the immediate erection of the commodious and pleasant edifice which that church now owns.

With such a variety of offices and engrossing employments still demanding his attention, we should anticipate that the duties would become burdensome, and the skillful hand lose something of its cunning; but the Doctor is still vigorous and works easily. This continued capacity for labor is doubtless owing to the natural endowments of a man who has nurtured his forces by avoiding excesses on the one hand, and on the other by carefully husbanding his strength. He has not only arranged his business on system, but he has resolutely reserved to himself, annually, seasons of almost absolute rest. Retaining his early fondness for fishing, for a few weeks in every year he has resorted to the mountain streams and inland lakes of northern New England for his favorite recreation. In these excursions he has sought the head waters of most of our rivers, and become acquainted with the grand and beautiful scenery of the mountain region. He has learned the haunts and habits of all the fish to be found in our streams, and of the birds that frequent our forests. By this method has he renewed his youth, while, with others of congenial tastes, he has made his knowledge tributary to the public good, by joint efforts to restore the migratory fishes to the waters of the state, from which, by artificial obstructions, they have been shut out. The board of fish and game commissioners for New Hampshire, of which Dr. Spalding is chairman, is an outgrowth of this joint endeavor that promises to enlarge the piscatory resources of the state.

With this record of the number and variety of trusts which are still in his hands, and the appointments that he must meet daily, and from week to week, it is evident that the Doctor is still capable of continuous labor. His grateful testimony addressed to his classmates is, "I have enjoyed almost uninterrupted health, and a degree of happiness and prosperity far beyond the common lot." The sources of his good fortune are not to be sought in extraordinary gifts or peculiar helps. Beginning life with a sound mind and sound body, he has cherished both by regular habits and studious industry. By fidelity and painstaking in business, by generous and considerate treatment of others, by using his influence and property in befriending the needy and helping young men struggling with adverse circumstances, by cherishing the friendship of good men in all classes of society, and in daily recognition of his need of guidance and wisdom from God,—he has escaped the envy and conflicts which beset a selfish and ambitious career. Happy in his employments, and enjoying the good that followed his exertions, men have witnessed his advancement with pleasure and sought to do him honor. His life illustrates the value of those personal excellences which all may cultivate, and shows the readiness of mankind to recognize their worth. To such as are seeking to do right and serve their generation, the example is encouraging, and assures us that energy, integrity, and beneficence are not without rewards.

Yours truly James A. Weston

HON. JAMES A. WESTON.

By H. H. Metcalf.

Much has been written in praise of Manchester, the foremost city of the state in size and importance, in the extent and variety of its manufacturing establishments and in the energy, activity, and public spirit of its citizens. It has been called, also, the "city of governors," and four of the nine living ex-chief-magistrates of the state have their residence within its borders; while still another, residing in the immediate vicinity, is reckoned as substantially a Manchester man. Yet, after all, but one native of Manchester has ever held the office of governor of New Hampshire. What is far more remarkable is the fact, that of twenty men who have been chosen mayor of Manchester, one alone was born within its limits. He and Manchester's only native born governor are one and the same,—the subject of this sketch,—a man who, from the work he has accomplished, as well as from the distinction he has received at the hands of his fellow-citizens, has long been accorded a conspicuous position among the representative men of his city and state.

James Adams Weston was born in Manchester, August 27, 1827. He is a descendant of the seventh generation from John Weston, of Buckinghamshire, England, who aided in establishing the colony at Weymouth (then Wiscasset), Mass., where he went into mercantile business, being among the first to engage in the colonial trade. Returning to England a few years subsequently, he suddenly died there; but in 1644, John Weston, a young son of the deceased, made his way to America, where he joined some of his kindred who had emigrated in the mean time. He finally settled in Reading, Mass., and was the progenitor of the family of which James A. Weston is a representative.[1]

In 1803, Amos Weston, a descendant of John, removed from Reading, with his family, and settled in Manchester, then Derryfield. He was a farmer by occupation, and located in the southeastern part of the town. This Amos Weston was a man of character and influence, and was a member of the committee, chosen in March, 1810, to petition the legislature to change the name of Derryfield to Manchester. A son of the above, Amos Weston, Jr., removed with his parents to Derryfield, and located upon land adjoining that of his father, clearing up from the wilderness the farm since well known in Manchester as the "Weston place." He married Betsy, a daughter of Col. Robert Wilson, of Londonderry, a leading citizen of the town, whose father, James Wilson, came from Londonderry, Ireland, more than one hundred and fifty years ago, and settled at the place now known as Wilson's Crossing. Amos Weston, Jr., was a man of strong mind and sound judgment, and was much in the public service. He officiated as town clerk five years; as selectman, fifteen years, being eleven years chairman of the board; was three times the representative from Manchester in the legislature; and a member of the constitutional convention of 1850. From his union with Betsy Wilson—an estimable and exemplary woman—five children resulted. Of these, the youngest, James A. Weston, is the sole survivor.

Like most sons of New Hampshire farmers, Mr. Weston passed a considerable portion of his time in youth in tilling the soil; but secured a substantial education at the district school and the Manchester and Piscataquog academies. With a strong aptitude for mathematics, he soon determined to apply himself to the study of civil engineering, with a view to making that his avocation in life, teaching school winters in the meantime. So rapidly did he prepare himself for his chosen occupation that at the age of nineteen years he was appointed assistant civil engineer of the Concord Railroad, and immediately (in 1846) commenced work in superintending the laying of the second track of that road. In 1849 he was promoted to the position of chief engineer, which he held for a long series of years. For several years, also, he discharged the duties of road master and master of transportation of the Concord and Manchester & Lawrence railroads. As chief engineer of the Concord & Portsmouth Railroad, he superintended the construction of a considerable portion of the line, as he subsequently did that of the Suncook Valley Railroad. As a civil engineer, he occupies a place in the front rank in his profession in New England; and his services have been in demand far beyond his ability to respond, in making surveys for proposed railways, water-works, etc. Prominent among the public works with which he has been connected in this capacity, may be mentioned the Concord water-works, supplying the capital city with water from Penacook lake, for which he made the survey, and whose construction he superintended.

In his political convictions and associations, Mr. Weston has been a Democrat from youth. Never a machine politician, or even a zealous partisan, though a devoted supporter of the principles and policy of his party, he has won and held the personal respect of both friends and opponents in political affairs; so that, when a candidate for public office (which he has never been except at the urgent solicitation of those who regarded his candidacy essential to party success), he has never failed of strong popular support, measurably exceeding that of his party strength alone. In 1861 he was persuaded to accept the Democratic nomination for mayor of the city. Previous to this time Manchester had almost universally been regarded as a Republican or Whig city. The year previous to Mr. Weston's nomination the Republican candidate had been elected by nearly four hundred and fifty majority. He was defeated, however, by a majority of about two hundred and fifty; while the following year he came within eighteen votes of defeating the opposing candidate, ex-Mayor Theodore T. Abbot, who received on a former occasion a larger vote than had ever been cast for any other candidate.

Again, in 1867, Mr. Weston was pressed into service by his party associates in the city, as a mayoralty candidate against Hon. Joseph B. Clark, then mayor, and Republican candidate for re-election. This canvass resulted in his election by a majority of two hundred and seventy-two, and by a larger vote than had ever been received by any previous candidate except that for Mayor Abbot, in 1855. At the next election the Republicans made a strong and determined effort to regain their ascendency in the city; but, although they had carried the city for Gen. Grant for president, at the election but a few weeks previous, by about six hundred majority, the ward returns at the municipal election gave Mayor Weston a majority of seven votes over his Republican opponent, Hon. Isaac W. Smith. The "revising" process was resorted to, however, and the latter declared elected by twenty-three majority. In 1869, Mr. Weston defeated Mayor Smith by a good majority, and was re-elected the following year.

Naturally enough, Mayor Weston's remarkable success as the standard-bearer of his party in the city of Manchester, and the increased popularity he had secured by wise and efficient administration of municipal affairs in that large and prosperous community, suggested him to the Democracy of the state at large as a most fit and available candidate for the gubernatorial nomination; and at the state convention, in January, 1871, he was made the nominee of the party for governor. The election resulted in no choice of governor by the people, though Mr. Weston received a decided plurality of the votes cast, and was chosen governor by the legislature in June following,—the Republicans thus losing control of the state government for the first time since their advent to power in 1855. Determined to retrieve their fallen fortunes, the Republican leaders, in 1872, brought to the front, as their standard-bearer and gubernatorial nominee, Hon. Ezekiel A. Straw, agent of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, a man of great resources and unparalleled influence in manufacturing circles, not only in Manchester, but throughout the state. His defeat of Gov. Weston in the following canvass was a matter of no surprise to either party; and his re-election the subsequent year naturally resulted. The Democracy, however, insisted on continuing Mr. Weston as their candidate; and in 1874 he secured a handsome plurality, and was again elected governor by the legislature. In December previous he had received the unusual distinction of a fourth election as mayor of his city, being chosen by a majority much larger than he had ever before received, reaching some six hundred votes. Although there was great partisan excitement in the state during Mr. Weston's second administration, his official integrity and thorough devotion to the welfare of the state were conceded even by his most determined political opponents; and no man holds in fuller measure the respect and esteem of the people, regardless of party, than does James A. Weston, the only living Democrat who ever occupied that position.

In the prosperity of his native city, in every material direction, Mr. Weston has manifested a deep and abiding interest, and no man has labored more zealously or efficiently for the promotion thereof. In illustration may be cited the fact that to his efforts, individual and official, more than those of any other man, the city is indebted for the projection and completion of its superior water-works, by which an ample supply of pure water is secured from Lake Massabesic. Various sources of supply had long been considered, but he had been, from the first, an advocate of the Massabesic project, and his influence had done much to secure its favorable consideration. In 1871, while mayor of the city, he had the satisfaction of seeing definite action determined upon in that direction. Having been actively engaged in securing the necessary legislation, and becoming ex officio a member of the board of commissioners established to carry out the work, he devoted his efforts heartily to its inauguration, and no day of his life, probably, ever brought him more sincere gratification than that which witnessed the completion of this important work,—a source of daily blessing to the people of his city, and of just pride to those under whose advice and direction it was projected and executed, among whom he is properly regarded most prominent. He is still a member of the board of water commissioners; is chairman of the board of trustees of the Manchester cemetery fund, a member of the committee on cemeteries, and has long served as its clerk and treasurer.

Gov. Weston served as chairman of the New Hampshire centennial commission, was appointed by congress a member of the centennial board of finance, and his efforts contributed largely to the excellence of the New Hampshire exhibit and the general success of the exposition. He also served as chairman of the building committee of the Manchester soldiers' monument, and has recently been appointed a member of the state board of health, established under the act of the last legislature.

With all his public and professional work, Gov. Weston has been for several years actively and prominently connected with important business interests. He was for some time one of the trustees of the Amoskeag Savings Bank, and some three years since was chosen president of the City National Bank, which was changed to the Merchants National Bank in October, 1880, at whose head he still remains. He was also the prime mover in the organization of the Guaranty Savings Bank of Manchester, which commenced business in December, 1879, of which he is clerk and treasurer, as well as one of the trustees. This institution, under his administration, has been almost unprecedentedly prosperous, and is one of the most solid financial establishments in the city and state. He is treasurer of the Suncook Valley Railroad, and a director and clerk of the Manchester horse railroad, a corporation in whose establishment he was actively engaged. He has been chairman of the finance committee of the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company from its organization until the present time; vice-president also until the resignation of the presidency by Gov. Straw, in January, 1880, since when he has been president. This flourishing corporation—the only one of the kind in the state, whose capital stock is about to be increased to half a million dollars, and which already ranks with the most prosperous in the country—owes its success, in no small degree, to Gov. Weston's sound judgment and careful management. When, in August, 1880, after protracted litigation, the supreme court appointed trustees for the bondholders of the Manchester & Keene Railroad, who assumed control of the road, Gov. Weston was selected as chairman of the board by which the road has since been operated.

In 1871, Gov. Weston received from Dartmouth College the honorary degree of Master of Arts. He has long been a member of the Masonic order, has taken all the degrees conferred in the Manchester bodies, and is now serving his eighteenth term as treasurer of Trinity Commandry, Knights Templar. For ten years past he has been a member of the well known military organization, the Amoskeag Veterans. His religious associations are with the Franklin-street Congregational church, of which society he has long been an active member and treasurer. His residence has been in his native city from his birth until the present time, with the exception of seven years at Concord, from 1849 to 1856.

February 23, 1854, he married Anna S., daughter of Mitchel Gilmore, Esq., of Concord, a cultivated lady of strong domestic tastes, by whom he has an interesting family of five surviving children,—the eldest born, a son (Herman), having died at the age of four and a half years,—Grace Helen, born July 1, 1860; James Henry, July 17, 1868; Edwin Bell, March 15, 1871; Annie Mabel, September 26, 1870; Charles Albert, November 1, 1878. Their home, at the corner of Maple and Myrtle streets, is a spacious yet modest and tasty dwelling, the abode of domestic comfort and social enjoyment.

Other men in New Hampshire have attained greater wealth and more varied public honors; but when all the elements of substantial success are considered, there are none, certainly, who outrank the subject of this sketch. Cautious, sagacious, and methodical; with a well balanced mind, and executive ability of a high order; scrupulously exact in the performance of every duty and the discharge of every trust, public or private; uniformly courteous in his intercourse with others, and mindful of every obligation to society and humanity,—the ample measure of success he has attained, and the general esteem in which he is held, are but the legitimate outcome of his life and conduct.

John Kimball

HON. JOHN KIMBALL.

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.

6. John Kimball, son of Joseph and Sarah (Smith) Kimball, was born in Exeter, November 20, 1767; married Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Moulton, of Kensington, November 21, 1793; moved to Canterbury, February 17, 1794, and settled on their homestead near Shaker Village, where they resided nearly sixty years. They were the parents of nine children. His wife died April 30, 1853. He died February 26, 1861, reaching the good old age of more than ninety-three years. He was well known throughout central New Hampshire, and did a large business in buying wool.

7. Benjamin Kimball, son of John and Sarah (Moulton) Kimball, was born in Canterbury, December 27, 1794; married Ruth Ames, daughter of David Ames, February 1, 1820, and settled in Boscawen in the spring of 1824, on the farm known as the Frost place, High street. In 1830 he removed to the village of Fisherville, where he died July 21, 1834. He was an active and influential business man. In 1831 he erected the dam across the Contoocook river, and the brick grist-mills standing near the stone factory. He took an active part in all that was essential to the general and religious welfare of the town. In March preceding his death he was elected to represent the town in the legislature, but his health was so impaired that he was not able to take his seat.

8. John Kimball, the subject of this sketch, the son of Benjamin and Ruth (Ames) Kimball, was born in Canterbury, April 13, 1821. In infancy he was taken by his parents to Boscawen, where in early youth he had the educational advantages which the district schools of the town afforded. He enjoyed the privilege of attending the Concord Academy only one year, after which he was apprenticed with a relative to learn the trade of constructing mills and machinery. On attaining his majority, in 1842, his first work was to rebuild the grist-mill near Boscawen Plain. Afterward he followed the same business in Suncook, Manchester, Lowell, and Lawrence. In 1848 he was employed by the directors of the Concord Railroad to take charge of the new machine and car shops then building at Concord. He was appointed master mechanic of the Concord Railroad in 1850, and retained the position eight years, when he relinquished mechanical labor for other pursuits. As a mechanic, Mr. Kimball inherited a great natural aptitude, and has few superiors. His sound judgment and skill were in constant requisition in the responsible office in the railroad service he held for so many years; and the experience and training there acquired have been of great value to the city and state when his services have been demanded by his fellow-citizens.

In 1856, Mr. Kimball was elected to the common council of the city of Concord. In 1857 he was re-elected, and was chosen president of that body. In 1858 he was elected a member of the state legislature; and was re-elected in 1859, serving as chairman of the committee on state-prison. From the year 1859 to the year 1862, Mr. Kimball served the city of Concord as collector of taxes and city marshal. In 1862 he was appointed, by President Lincoln, collector of internal revenue for the second district of New Hampshire, including the counties of Merrimack and Hillsborough, and held the office for seven years, collecting and paying over to the treasurer of the United States nearly seven millions of dollars.

In 1872, Mr. Kimball was elected mayor of Concord, and was re-elected to this honorable and responsible office in 1873, 1874, and 1875. Immediately after Mr. Kimball assumed the duties of this office a severe freshet either carried away or rendered impassable five of the seven bridges spanning the Merrimack and Contoocook rivers. The work of rebuilding these structures devolved immediately upon him, as superintendent of roads and bridges. The Federal bridge and the bridge at Fisherville, both of iron, are monuments of his progressive ideas. During his administration the system of water supply from Long pond was carried on to successful completion, and the purest of water has since been at the command of every citizen. This work required a large sum of money, which was so carefully expended that no one has felt the burden save as a blessing. The fire department was invested with new dignity by the city government during those years. The firemen had their demands for appropriate buildings fully satisfied, and are proud, as is the whole city, of the beautiful central fire station and other buildings of the department, which compare favorably with any in the country.

Aside from his mechanical skill, Mr. Kimball long since won the enviable reputation of an able and successful financier. In 1870, upon the organization of the Merrimack County Savings Bank, he was elected its treasurer, and has held the office ever since. To him, for many years, have been intrusted the settlement of estates, the management of trust funds, and the care of the property of widows and orphans. As treasurer of the New Hampshire Bible Society and Orphans' Home, he has given to those institutions the benefit of his financial experience.

For the benefit of the city of Concord, the mechanical skill and financial ability of Mr. Kimball were fully exercised. During his term of office as mayor he was one of the water commissioners, ex officio, and president of the board in 1875. He was subsequently appointed a water commissioner, in 1877, for a term of three years; re-appointed in 1880, and has been president of the board since his first appointment. Upon the death of Hon. Nathaniel White, Mr. Kimball was elected president of the Concord Gas-Light Company, having held the office of director for several years. What little credit is due a member of the constitutional convention of 1876 is his. He represented the fifth ward in Concord, and served the convention acceptably as chairman of its finance committee.

The demand for a new state-prison, in union with the philanthropic ideas of the age, culminated, in the year 1877, in an act of the legislature providing for a new state-prison, and granting for the purpose a very moderate appropriation, hedged in by every possible safeguard. The governor, Benjamin F. Prescott, with the advice of his council, immediately upon the passage of the law appointed three commissioners to carry into effect the provisions of the act. Mr. Kimball was chosen chairman of the board. Upon these commissioners has devolved the duty of constructing the massive pile of buildings known as the new state-prison, commodious for the officers, humane and comfortable for the inmates, acceptable to the authorities and the people, and within the limits of the appropriation. In the autumn of 1880 the structure was appropriately dedicated to its future uses, by fitting ceremony. Col. John H. George, of Concord, delivered the address, and in closing said:—

"It is a matter of further and warm congratulation that its erection has been intrusted to a competent commission; that good judgment and intelligent investigation have characterized the plan; that no corrupt jobbery has polluted its construction; and that for every dollar expended a fair and honest result has been obtained. And in this connection it is but just to say that the fitness and labors of the chairman of the board especially should receive public recognition. To the successful performance of the duties of his office he brought unusual mechanical skill and large experience in the construction of public works."

In 1880, when the Manchester & Keene Railroad was placed in the hands of the court, Mr. Kimball was appointed, by Chief-Justice Doe, one of the trustees. In November, 1880, Mr. Kimball was chosen a senator from district number ten, and upon the organization of the legislature in June, 1881, he was elected to the office of president of the senate, in importance the second office in the state. As presiding officer, he is dignified, courteous, and impartial. He carried to the position a fund of information, a wealth of experience, controlled by sound judgment, and strong convictions.

Politically, Mr. Kimball is a Republican. For fifteen years, since 1863, he has been treasurer of the Republican state committee. With him right takes precedence of policy. It takes no finesse to know on what side he is to be found. In his dealings he is upright, has confidence in himself and in his own judgment, and it is hard to swerve him. He is frank and free in his general intercourse, bluff and often brusque in manner, but never discourteous. He is a man of large and progressive views, and actuated by the most conscientious motives. His character for integrity is without blemish, and as firmly established as the granite hills.

In 1843 he joined the church at his old home in Boscawen, and ever since has affiliated with the Congregationalists. For many years he has been a member of the South Congregational church of Concord. He is eminently a man of affairs,—of acts, not words. His reading is of a scientific character, varied by genealogical and historical research.

In person, Mr. Kimball is of commanding presence and muscular figure, inclined to be spare, but of apparently great physical powers. In private life he is a devoted friend, a kind neighbor, an esteemed citizen, and a charitable, tolerant, self-reliant man.

In early manhood, May 27, 1846, Mr. Kimball was joined in marriage to Maria H. Phillips, of Rupert, Vermont. Their only child, Clara Maria Kimball, born March 20, 1848, was married June 4, 1873, to Augustine R. Ayers, a successful merchant of Concord. Five children—Ruth Ames, John Kimball, Helen McGregor, Joseph Sherburne,[2] and Josiah Phillips—have been born to them.

J. E. Sargent

JONATHAN EVERETT SARGENT, LL.D

by J. N. McCLINTOCK.

Judge Sargent, now of Concord, has been well known throughout the state for more than a quarter of a century. Besides an extensive legislative acquaintance, he has, as judge of the different courts and as chief-justice of the state, held terms of court in every shire town and half-shire town in every county in the state. He has been emphatically the architect of his own fortune, and by his energy and perseverance has reached the highest post of honor in his profession in his native state. He is genial and social with his friends; he loves a joke, and belongs to that small class of men "who never grow old." He loves his home, his family, and his books. No man enjoys the study of history and of poetry, of philosophy and of fiction, better than he, while law and theology come in for a share of attention,—a kind neighbor, a respected citizen, a ripe scholar, a wise legislator, an upright judge, an honest man.

In the year 1781, Peter Sargent, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, moved from Hopkinton. N. H., to New London, at that time equally well known as Heidleburg. This locality had been known by this latter name for nearly a quarter of a century. It was granted by the Masonian proprietors, July 7, 1773, to Jonas Minot and others, as the "Addition of Alexandria." It was first settled in 1775, and was incorporated as a town by the legislature, June 25, 1779. Peter Sargent, who thus moved into the town two years after its incorporation, was one of ten brothers, all born in Amesbury, Mass., who settled as follows: Amasa, Ezekiel, Thomas, and Moses always lived at Amesbury; James settled in Methuen, Mass.; Peter, Nathan, and Stephen came to Hopkinton, N. H., and settled there; and Abner and Ebenezer came to Warner, N. H., and settled there. These ten brothers, with four sisters, were the children of Deacon Stephen Sargent, of Amesbury, Mass.

[Christopher Sargent, an older brother of Deacon Stephen, graduated at Harvard, entered the ministry, and was the first settled minister of Methuen, Mass. His eldest son, Nathaniel Peaslee Sargent, graduated at Harvard, practiced law at Haverhill, and was for many years a judge of the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts, and was chief justice of the state in 1790 and 1791, when he died aged sixty.]

Deacon Stephen Sargent was the son of Thomas, 2d, who was the son of Thomas, 1st, who was the son of William Sargent. Stephen married Judith Ordway, of West Newbury, Mass., September 26, 1730; was chosen deacon of the Second Congregational church in Amesbury, May 10, 1757; and died October 2, 1773.

William Sargent was born in England about 1602, and was the son of Richard Sargent, an officer in the royal navy. It is believed he came to Virginia at an early day, with William Barnes, John Hoyt, and others. He married Judith Perkins for his first wife, who died about 1633, when he, with several daughters, was one of the twelve men who commenced the settlement of Ipswich, Mass., that year. He soon after went to Newbury and helped form a settlement there; and about 1638 he, with several others, commenced a settlement at Hampton. He soon after, about 1640, removed to Salisbury, and was one of the eighteen original proprietors, or commoners, who settled in New Salisbury, since known as Amesbury. His second wife's name was Elizabeth, by whom he had two sons, Thomas and William. He had several lots of land assigned him at different times; was one of the selectmen of the town in 1667. He died in 1675, aged seventy-three.

Peter Sargent married Ruth Nichols, of Amesbury or Newbury, Mass., and came to Hopkinton, N. H., in 1763 or 1764, where they lived some eighteen years, and raised a large family, and when he went to New London took them all with him. His children were Anthony, Abigail, Ruth, Judith, Peter, Ebenezer, Amasa, John, Molly, Ezekiel, Stephen, William, and Lois. These all came from Hopkinton to New London in 1781, except Lois, who was born subsequently in New London.

Ebenezer, the father of the judge, was born in Hopkinton, April 3, 1768, and was, of course, thirteen years old when he came to New London with his father's family. After becoming of age he procured him a farm, and, on the 25th of November, 1792, he married Prudence Chase, of Wendell (now Sunapee), the daughter of John and Ruth (Hills) Chase. They had ten children, as follows: Anna, Rebekah, Ruth, Seth Freeman, Aaron Lealand, Sylvanus Thayer, Lois, Laura, Jonathan Kittredge, and Jonathan Everett. Jonathan Kittredge died young, the other nine lived to mature age, and five of them, three sons and two daughters, still survive. The parents always lived upon a farm, securing what was then considered as a competence, and both died in New London, having lived together more than sixty-five years.

The following, then, is the order of descent:—

1. Richard Sargent, of England. 2. William, son of Richard, born in 1602. 3. Thomas, son of William, born in April, 1643. 4. Thomas, Jr., son of Thomas, born in November, 1676. 5. Stephen, son of Thomas. Jr., born in September, 1710. 6. Peter, son of Stephen, born about 1740. 7. Ebenezer, son of Peter, born in April, 1768.

8. Jonathan Everett Sargent, was born at New London, October 23, 1816. He lived at home, working upon the farm until he was seventeen years of age, and, being the youngest child, his father had arranged for him to live at home and take care of his parents, and have the farm at their decease. The son, however, had little love for the farm, and, as soon as the care and support of his parents could be provided for in another way, he arranged with his father that he was to have the remaining four years of his time till twenty-one, was to clothe himself, and pay his own bills, and call for nothing more from his father. He fitted for college at Hopkinton Academy, and at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, and in 1836 entered Dartmouth College, having paid his way by teaching school winters and laboring in vacations. By teaching school every winter and two fall terms in Canaan Academy during his college course, he earned enough to pay all his expenses in college with the exception of $200, which he borrowed of his father, and repaid the same, with interest, within two years. Though out of college two terms, besides winters in teaching, and another term on account of sickness, yet he was always ready at each examination to be examined with his class. He was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and graduated, in 1840, among the first in his class.

Mr. Sargent had long before this made up his mind to turn his attention to the law as a profession, and he accordingly began the study of the law at once with Hon. William P. Weeks, of Canaan, and remained with him till the spring of 1841, when he was advised by his physician to go South for his health. He went first to Washington, soon after to Alexandria, D. C., where he taught a high school, then to Maryland, where he remained a year in a family school, when, having regained his health, he returned to New Hampshire in September, 1842. He had, upon his arrival in Washington, entered his name as a law student in the office of Hon. David A. Hall of that city, and continued the study of the law under his direction, while engaged in teaching, and he was admitted to the bar in the courts of the District of Columbia in April, 1842, only about twenty months after leaving college. By the rule of that court any one might be admitted upon examination, without regard to the length of time he had studied; and he was examined in open court by Chief-Justice Cranch and his associates upon the bench, and was admitted.

After returning home, he continued his legal studies with Mr. Weeks until the July law term, in Sullivan county, in 1843, when he was admitted to the bar in the superior court of judicature in this state. He then went into company with Mr. Weeks at Canaan, where he remained till 1847, when he removed to Wentworth and opened an office there. He had been appointed solicitor for Grafton county in November, 1844, while at Canaan, and he at once commenced a lucrative business at Wentworth; was re-appointed solicitor in 1849 for five years more, thus holding the office for ten years, to 1854, performing the duties to the entire acceptance of the county and the people. He declined a re-appointment.

In 1851 he was first elected a member of the legislature from Wentworth, and served as chairman of the committee on incorporations. The next year he was re-elected, and was made chairman of the judiciary committee; and in 1853 he was again a member, and was nominated with great unanimity and elected speaker of the house of representatives. He served with ability and impartiality and to the general acceptance of the members. The next winter a new man was to be selected as a candidate for senator in his district, and he was nominated, and was elected in March, in a close district, by about three hundred majority. He was elected president of the senate in 1854. He was renominated in the spring of 1855, but the Know-Nothing movement that year carried everything before it, and he was defeated, with nearly all the other Democratic nominees in the state.

On April 2, 1855, he was appointed a circuit justice of the court of common pleas for the state. But in June of that year the old courts were abolished, mainly upon political grounds, and new ones organized, and new judges appointed. Judge Sargent received a request from Gov. Metcalf that he would accept the second place on the bench of the new court of common pleas. This offer had not been expected, but upon consultation with friends it was accepted, and Judge Sargent was appointed an associate justice of the court of common pleas. He acted as judge of the new court of common pleas for four years, until 1859, when, by a statute of that year, that court was abolished, and one new judge was to be added to the supreme judicial court, making the number of supreme judges six instead of five, as before. Judge Sargent was immediately appointed to that place on the supreme bench. He was then the youngest member of the court in age, as well as in the date of his commission. He remained upon the bench of that court just fifteen years, from 1859 to 1874. In March, 1873, upon the death of Chief-Justice Bellows, Judge Sargent was appointed chief-justice of the state, which place he held until August, 1874, when the court was again overturned to make room for the appointees of the prevailing political party. Chief-Justice Sargent, at the time of his appointment as chief-justice, had become the oldest judge upon the bench, both in age and date of commission. His written opinions are contained in the sixteen volumes of the New Hampshire Reports, from the 39th to the 54th, inclusive, numbering about three hundred in all. Many of these are leading opinions upon various subjects, and show great learning and research.

After the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the attempt to make Kansas a slave state, Judge Sargent acted with the Republican party.

Upon leaving the bench, in August, 1874, he was solicited to go into the practice of the law in Concord with William M. Chase, Esq., whose late partner, the Hon. Anson S. Marshall, had recently been suddenly removed by death. Judge Sargent accepted this offer, and thus at once stepped into an extensive and lucrative practice. This arrangement was made for five years.

In 1876 he was elected a member of the constitutional convention of this state. In this convention he acted a prominent part. He was made chairman of the judiciary committee, the same place held by Judge Levi Woodbury in the convention of 1850. He took an active part in the debates and discussions of that body, and wielded an influence probably second to no one in the convention. He was also elected, by his ward in Concord, a member of the house of representatives for the years 1877 and 1878.

Early in 1877 steps were taken for a revision of the statutes, and Judge Sargent was appointed chairman of a committee, with Hon. L. W. Barton of Newport, and Judge J. S. Wiggin of Exeter, to revise and codify the statutes of the state. Their work was completed and the statutes enacted by the legislature, to take effect the first of January, 1879. The volume was prepared and printed by the committee before the day appointed. It is the largest volume of statutes ever printed in the state, and it is believed not to be inferior to any other in any important particular.

In the fall of 1878, Judge Sargent was invited by a committee of the citizens of New London to prepare a centennial address, to be delivered on the one hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town. He at once accepted the invitation and set about the work, and on the 25th day of June, 1879, he delivered his address, and the occasion was distinguished by a larger collection of people, probably, than ever met in the town upon any former occasion. The address was published in the Granite Monthly, in the numbers for July, August, and September, 1879, and has been favorably noticed as a work of great labor and research.

Dartmouth College conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts, in course, three years after graduation; also, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, at its centennial commencement, in 1869. In compliance with a request from a committee of the trustees, he prepared and delivered at the commencement of 1880 at Dartmouth College a memorial address upon the late Hon. Joel Parker, formerly chief-justice of this state and afterwards professor of law in Harvard College. This duty Judge Sargent performed in a manner creditable to himself and satisfactory to the friends of the late Judge Parker. His address has been printed with other similar addresses in memory of other deceased judges, graduates of Dartmouth, by other distinguished sons of the college.

In 1864 he was elected grand master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons for the state of New Hampshire, and was re-elected the next year. After this he declined a re-election. He has for many years been an active member of the New Hampshire Historical Society, and for the last five or six years has been one of its vice-presidents. For some years past he has been connected with the National State Capital Bank as one of its directors. The Loan and Trust Savings Bank at Concord commenced business August 1, 1872, and in the nine years since then its deposits have increased to over a million and a quarter of dollars. Judge Sargent has been president of this bank, and one of its investment committee since its commencement, and has given his personal attention to its affairs. In 1876 the New Hampshire Centennial Home for the Aged was organized and incorporated, and January 1, 1879, a home was opened in Concord. Judge Sargent has been president of this institution four years, and has taken a deep interest in its prosperity and success.

About the 1st of September, 1879, at the end of five years from the commencement of his partnership in business, he retired from the practice of law. Since he commenced the practice of the law, in 1843, his residence has been as follows: In Canaan four years, to 1847; in Wentworth twenty-two years, to 1869; and in Concord since. The judge has acquired a competency, has one of the finest residences in the city, and is enjoying life with his friends and his books.

Judge Sargent married, first, Maria C. Jones, of Enfield, daughter of John Jones, Esq., November 29, 1843, by whom he had two children. John Jones Sargent, the elder, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1866, and died in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, October 3, 1870, just as he was ready to commence the practice of the law. The second, Everett Foster, died young. For his second wife, he married Louisa Jennie Paige, daughter of Dea. James K. Paige, of Wentworth, September 5, 1853, by whom he has had three children,—Maria Louise, Annie Lawrie, and George Lincoln. The second died young; the eldest and youngest survive.

Judge Sargent is a leading member of the South Congregational church in Concord, and, while decided in his own opinions, he is liberal and tolerant in judging of the faith, and charitable in judging of the conduct, of others. As a lawyer, he was always faithful and true to his clients, a wise counselor and an able advocate. As a legislator, he has been conservative and safe. As a judge, he always studied to get at the right of the case, to hold the scales of justice evenly, to rule the law plainly, and to get the questions of fact, and the evidence as it bore upon them, clearly and distinctly before the jury. Any one who attended the courts where he presided as a judge could see at once that he was patient and painstaking, industrious and persevering, vigilant and discriminating, impartial and fearless; and any one who reads his written opinions will see that they exhibit great research, learning, and ability.

JOHN HATCH GEORGE.

BY H. H. METCALF.

The man who makes his way to the front rank at the bar and in politics, and holds his position without dispute for more than a quarter of a century, must be a person of ability, energy, and sagacity. Especially is this true in New Hampshire, which, from the earliest period of our national history, has produced some of the ablest lawyers and the keenest politicians known to the country. Such a man is Col. John Hatch George, of Concord, whose name has long been a household word at every Democratic fireside in the state, and whose eminent legal position is recognized throughout New England.

Born in Concord, where he has ever since resided, November 20, 1824, Col. George is now fifty-seven years of age. His parents were John and Mary (Hatch) George, the former a prominent, respected, and energetic citizen, who, though a native of Hopkinton, located in Concord in early manhood; the latter, a daughter of Samuel Hatch, a leading citizen of the town of Greenland, among whose grandchildren are included the Hon. Albert R. Hatch and John S. H. Frink, Esq., both also known as eminent lawyers and leading Democrats.

Gaining his preliminary education in the excellent public schools of his native town and in the old Concord Academy, Col. George entered Dartmouth College in 1840, being then fifteen years of age, where he diligently pursued his studies for about three years, until the death of his father compelled his return home and the non-completion of his college course. The faculty subsequently conferred upon him his graduating degree, which was followed by that of Master of Arts. Among his classmates at Dartmouth were several who became prominent at the bar and in public life, including the late Hon. Harvey Jewell, and Hons. A. A. Ranney and Horatio G. Parker, of Boston, and the present governor of this state, Hon. Charles H. Bell.

If young George was unfortunate in the loss of his father, and in the failure to complete the college course consequent thereon, he was especially fortunate in being favored with the kindly regard of that brilliant son of New Hampshire, Gen. Franklin Pierce, who, as a friend of the family, had become conversant with his qualities and characteristics, and readily discerned the line of action best calculated for the development and successful exercise of his powers. Fortunate as he was, however, in the enjoyment of the friendship of Gen. Pierce at this time, it may safely be assumed that he never would have been the recipient of such favor had he not given evidence of the possession of abilities above the common order. The really great lawyer has a lofty regard for his profession, and will never be found influencing any one to enter upon its pursuit who is not likely to honor the profession and bring credit to himself. When, therefore, upon the invitation of Gen. Pierce, young George entered upon the study of the law in the office of the former,—as he did soon after leaving college, and at the time when that distinguished man was in active practice,—it was under circumstances every way propitious to that ultimate success creditable alike to each. During his three years of legal study under such tutelage, he made that rapid progress which characterizes the advance of the ambitious and enthusiastic young man, well equipped, mentally and physically, for the work in hand, thoroughly in love therewith, guided by wise counsel and inspired by brilliant example; and when, in 1846, he was admitted to the bar, and entered upon the practice of his profession in his native city, it was with unusual thoroughness of preparation.

John H. George

At the opening of his professional career, Col. George was again particularly fortunate. Gen. Charles H. Peaslee had long ranked among the most careful lawyers of the state, and had acquired an extensive practice. He was a warm friend of Gen. Pierce, professionally and politically, and, like him, an intimate friend of the George family. Entering largely into public life, its engrossing duties withdrew his attention more and more from professional engagements, rendering desirable a partnership alliance with some active and competent young man. Such alliance was offered to and promptly accepted by young George, who thus auspiciously commenced his professional career.

The limits of this sketch will not permit a detailed account of the progress and success of its subject; but it may be stated, that from his entrance upon legal practice to the present time all his energies and faculties have been heartily devoted to the labors and duties of his profession, in whose performance he has won a high measure of fame, as well as a fair amount of that substantial reward which the world largely regards as the prime object of human effort. His connection with Gen. Peaslee continued about five years, and was followed by a professional alliance of a similar character with Sidney Webster, Esq., then a young lawyer of fine abilities and brilliant promise, who has since become distinguished in legal and diplomatic circles. This partnership continued till Mr. Webster left Concord to become private secretary to Gen. Pierce, upon the accession of the latter to the presidency in 1853. Soon afterward, Col. George formed partnership relations with Hon. William L. Foster, who subsequently became and long remained a judge of the supreme court of the state, and with them Hon. Charles P. Sanborn was also for a time associated. Since the recent resignation of Judge Foster, his connection with Col. George has been resumed.

Not only in behalf of an extensive private clientage have the professional services of Col. George been employed, but for many years, also, in behalf of the public,—he having been appointed solicitor for Merrimack county in 1849, and re-appointed in 1854, discharging the duties of the office until 1856, when he was removed for partisan reasons, the Republican party signalizing its ascendency by a clean sweep of all Democratic officials. From 1853 to 1858, he was U. S. attorney for the district of New Hampshire, appointed by President Pierce.

There are, undoubtedly, many men at the bar, in this and other states, as well grounded in legal principles as Col. George, and even more familiar with the text-books, who have fallen far short of the success he has attained. It is one thing to be able to state abstract legal principles, and quite another correctly to apply those principles to the facts in any given case. It has ever been the habit of Col. George, in the conduct of a cause, to thoroughly familiarize himself with all the facts and circumstances connected therewith. The mastery of the cause itself leaves little difficulty in the determination of the law bearing thereon, and is the strongest guaranty of success in its management before a jury; and it is in the conduct of jury causes that Col. George has won the greater measure of his success. Gifted with great perceptive powers and a ready knowledge of men, and familiar as he ever is with the cause in hand, in all its bearings, he is never taken at a disadvantage, no matter how able or alert the opposing counsel. In handling witnesses, and especially in cross-examination, he has shown unusual tact and ability. He reads the mind of a witness almost intuitively, and understands how to bring out the essential facts even from the most reluctant, and to do so in the manner best calculated to make the desired impression upon the minds of the jury. As an advocate, he is equaled by few and excelled by none of our New Hampshire lawyers; yet his power in this regard consists in the systematic, logical, and intensely earnest presentation of all the facts which go to make up and strengthen his cause, and to destroy or weaken that of his opponents, rather than in the oratory which abounds in eloquently rounded periods and impassioned appeals. In this connection may well be quoted the words of one who, knowing Col. George from youth, has written of him as follows:—

"Intense earnestness, and a faculty of an immediate and powerful concentration of all his mental faculties on any subject which interested him, were the predominant peculiarities of the early manhood of Mr. George. When he came to the bar, he manifested a power of felicitous language, and a largeness of vocabulary, which were rarely to be seen even in the most practiced speakers. He never prepared beforehand the words of his spoken utterances, either at the bar, in the committee-room, or on the stump. Whatever he could see and understand at all, he saw and understood clearly. The strength of his feelings, the enormous power and range of his vocabulary, added to this clearness of vision, made mere verbal preparation unnecessary for him. His speaking was made up of a clear perception of the turning-point of his case, and then of pungent epigram, sparkling paradox, rattling attack, vivid repartee, hearty humor, and, when occasion called for, of a fearlessness of denunciation of what he believed to be wrong or unjust or unfair, which made him, even at the outset of his brilliant career, a dangerous antagonist for the most practiced and powerful members of the New Hampshire bar."

Though not retiring from general practice, Col. George has devoted his attention largely to railroad law for many years past, having accepted, in 1867, the position of solicitor for the Boston & Lowell Railroad, and established an office in Boston for the transaction of business in connection with that position. For nearly twenty years previous to that date he had served as clerk and counsel of the Concord Railroad corporation, and had already become familiar with the law of railways and their general relations to the public. To-day there is no higher living authority upon railroad law in New England than Col. George,—no man who understands more thoroughly or can state more clearly the respective rights, duties, and obligations of railroad corporations and the people, in relation to each other, a general understanding of which is becoming more and more essential to the fullest measure of our national prosperity. His public addresses upon the subject, his arguments before legislative committees, courts, and juries, are models of clearness and cogency, admirable in construction and convincing in effect.

Notwithstanding his uninterrupted devotion to the law, Col. George is no less generally known in politics than at the bar. Well grounded in the faith of the Democratic party in his youthful years, his intimate association with Pierce, Peaslee, and other distinguished leaders of that organization in his early manhood served to intensify his feelings and convictions in that regard, so he has ever been a ready and zealous exponent of Democratic principles and a champion of the Democratic cause, contributing his services without stint in conventions, in committee work, and upon the stump, doing able and brilliant service in the latter direction in all parts of the state, and in almost every campaign for the past thirty-five years. He long since came to be regarded as one of the most powerful and effective political debaters in the state. His efforts upon the stump are characterized by the same earnestness, the same sledge-hammer logic, and the same comprehensive array of facts, as at the bar. His mode of warfare, political as well as legal, is of the Napoleonic order. He never assumes the defensive, and if placed in such position by any combination of circumstances he soon transforms it into one of active aggression.

From 1851 to 1853, inclusive, Col. George served as chairman of the Democratic state committee, and again in 1856. In 1852 he was also selected as the New Hampshire member of the Democratic national committee, and he was especially active in the campaign, both in the state and the country at large, which resulted in the election of his friend, Gen. Pierce, to the presidency. His service upon the national committee continued until 1860. He was a member of the Democratic national convention in 1856, and chairman of the state delegation in the national convention at Cincinnati, in 1880. At the state convention of his party, in September of that year, he presided, delivering, upon assuming the chair, one of the ablest addresses ever heard upon a similar occasion.

His party having been in the minority in New Hampshire for the past twenty-five years, he has been comparatively little in public office. Aside from the non-partisan positions heretofore mentioned, he was for three years—in 1847, 1848, and again in 1850—clerk of the state senate. In 1853 he was chosen a member of the legislature, but resigned his seat to accept the office of United States attorney. In this connection it may be mentioned that in 1855 he was tendered, by President Pierce, the office of secretary of the territory of Minnesota, which he at first was inclined to accept, but, after deliberation, determined to forego the chances for political promotion ordinarily involved in an appointment of that character, and remain with his friends and his law practice in his own state. In 1850, Col. George received the Democratic nomination for congress in the second district, and again in 1863, when he made a vigorous canvass, and was defeated by a very close vote. In 1866 he received the votes of the Democratic members of the legislature as their candidate for United States senator. Had he deserted his party and allied himself with the majority when the Republicans came into ascendency, he might readily have commanded the highest honors in the gift of the state, as others less able than himself have done; but his position in the honest regard of the people, irrespective of party, is far higher to-day for having remained true to his convictions and steadfast and active in their maintenance.

His military title comes from his service as chief of the staff of Gov. Dinsmoor from 1848 to 1850. He was also for several years commander in the brilliant and popular organization known as the "Governor's Horse-Guards." As a popular orator, outside the domain of law and politics, Col. George also takes high rank. His oration upon Daniel Webster, at the recent centennial celebration of the birth of that most illustrious son of New Hampshire, under the auspices of the Webster club of Concord, is surpassed in power and felicity of expression by none which the event anywhere called forth.

Col. George was united in marriage, in September, 1849, with Miss Susan Ann Brigham, daughter of Capt. Levi Brigham, of Boston, who died May 10, 1862, leaving five children, three sons and two daughters. In July, 1864, he married Miss Salvadora Meade Graham, daughter of Col. James D. Graham of the United States engineers, by whom he has one child, a daughter. His eldest son, John Paul, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1878, entered the Harvard Law School, and is now a student-at-law in the office of George & Foster. His second son, Charles Peaslee, graduated in June, 1881, at the naval school at Annapolis, and is now a midshipman in the U. S. navy. His third son, Benjamin Pierce, is a member of the sophomore class in Dartmouth College. His eldest daughter, Jane Appleton, is the wife of Mr. Henry E. Bacon, and resides in Portland, Me.; his second daughter, Anne Brigham, is at home; while the youngest daughter, Charlotte Graham, is at school in Washington, D. C.

The family residence of Col. George is the old paternal mansion on North Main street, in Concord, wherein he was born. He has also an excellent farm a few miles out of the city, in Hopkinton, where he makes his summer home, and where, in his little leisure from professional labor, he indulges a fondness for rural pursuits, and especially for the breeding and care of domestic animals, which was one of the characteristics of his boyhood. Incidental as this may be, his farm is known as one of the most highly cultivated in the section where it is located, and his horses and Jersey cattle are the admiration of all lovers of good stock.

As a citizen, Col. George is public-spirited, and freely devotes his time and energies to the furtherance of every movement and the advocacy of every measure which he believes calculated to promote the material or educational welfare of the community. No man in Concord has done more than he to advance the prosperity of the city in every essential regard. The efficiency of the public schools has ever been an object of deep interest to him; and as a private citizen, as a member of building committees, and in the board of education, he has given his services freely in perfecting the admirably equipped public-school system, which is far from the least of the attractions which render our capital city one of the most desirable places of residence in New England.

The general extension of the railway system of the state, to which most that has been accomplished in the development of its material resources for the last twenty-five years is due, has ever found an enthusiastic supporter in Col. George, who has been and still is directly connected with several railroad enterprises in different sections, which have proved of great local and general advantage.

Few men have more or warmer friends than Col. George. A man of positive opinions, frankly and honestly declared, he commands the sincere respect of those with whom he comes in contact in all the relations of life, private, social, public, and professional. Formidable as an opponent, he is nevertheless fair and honorable, as he is true and faithful as a friend and ally. He is a prominent member of the Masonic order, having attained the rank of sovereign grand inspector-general of the 33d degree, and a member of the "Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States."

This brief sketch can perhaps be no more appropriately concluded than in the following language of the gentleman (Sidney Webster, Esq.,) heretofore quoted:

"Years of incessant toil, while they have diminished somewhat the energetic temperament and the exuberant animal spirits of Col. George's youth, and have naturally softened his once blunt and almost brusque manner in debate, have not diminished the real force and strength of his genuine character, for character is just what Col. George has always had. As the ripples of his experience spread over a wider and wider area, he may have less and less confidence in the infallibility of any man's opinions, and less belief in the importance to society of any one man's action; but Col. George has reached and passed his half century with his mental faculties and his moral faculties improving and strengthening, year by year. New Hampshire has to-day very few among her living sons better equipped to do triumphant battle for her in the high places of the world."

Wm G Means

WILLIAM GORDON MEANS.

William Gordon Means, for sixteen years clerk and paymaster of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, and afterwards treasurer of the Manchester Locomotive-Works, was born at Amherst, Hillsborough county, April 27, 1815. He is of the third generation in descent from Col. Robert Means, who came to New Hampshire from Stewartstown, Ireland, in 1766, and commenced business at Merrimack, with Dea. Jacob McGaw, who emigrated to this country about the same year. This partnership, which had prospered, was dissolved when Amherst became the shire town, and Col. Means opened a store there, in which he prosecuted a successful business. A man of great energy, he was prominent in the affairs of the town; elected its representative at the general court three times, also a member of the senate three years, and councilor for Hillsborough county, his name is identified with the most important measures of that period.

Col. Means had a large family. Several of the daughters were married to gentlemen who subsequently attained great distinction in the learned professions. Of the sons, Robert became a lawyer, and David McGregor, who bore the name of his mother (a daughter of Rev. David McGregor of Londonderry), succeeded his father as a merchant. He married Catherine, daughter of Hon. Joshua Atherton, who is described as a woman of vigorous understanding and positive convictions, ready in conversation, and of sprightly and pleasing manners. By this marriage, David McG. Means had three sons and six daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third son and the fourth child, receiving the name of his uncle, Hon. William Gordon, at that time a lawyer of great promise in Amherst.

Among his schoolmates, William G. Means is remembered as a quick-witted boy, fond of adventure, and overflowing with fun. The schools in Amherst at that date did not furnish advantages of a high order. Aside from the training of the household, the youth had no superior privileges, except a few terms at Pinkerton Academy, Derry, then under the care of Abel F. Hildreth, an eminent teacher. For parts of three years he attended this school, in company with his brother James, Edward and Alfred Spalding, E. D. Boylston, and other students from Amherst.

In the autumn of 1830, Mr. Means went to Boston, and entered the store of Daniel McGregor, then a dealer in dry goods,—finding employment, after an apprenticeship of four or five years, in the house of Robert Appleton & Co. By the commercial crisis of 1837, like hundreds of young men similarly situated, he was thrown out of employment, and returned to his home in Amherst. These years of service in Boston were not without their valuable uses, though a new direction was soon to be given to his capacity for business. He saw the perils that beset the career of the tradesman, and learned the wisdom of that conservatism which underlies the avenues of success in mercantile pursuits. While living in Boston, he became interested in the lady who was subsequently to share his fortunes and build his house.

In March, 1838, Mr. Means became clerk of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company at Manchester, taking charge of the books and pay-rolls of the land and water-power department, then under the direction of Robert Read, Esq. The city had no existence except in the plans of the projectors. There was not a mill on the east side of the river, not a building except the scattered farm-houses; the canal had been laid out, a site for a cotton mill set off, but nothing was finished. It was during this constructive period of the city's history that he was occupied with the oversight of workmen, the execution of land sales, and the varied duties of the Amoskeag counting-room, thus gathering the knowledge and experience which qualified him for the important agencies that have since engrossed his time.

In 1854, desiring a more independent position, he resigned his place in the Amoskeag company, and united with O. W. Bailey, Aretas Blood, and Joseph M. Stone in organizing a company for building railway engines. By the act of incorporation, they took the name of "Manchester Locomotive-Works." Without adequate capital, and with adverse times, the projectors of the enterprise had a weary struggle before them. Having no reputation as builders, and with limited capacity for production, it was not easy to obtain patronage; but with the pluck and persistence which deserved success, the proprietors determined to make only first-class engines. At the end of ten years they had gained a position which commanded wide confidence, and they then began to divide profits. Since that time, with occasional interruptions, the business has steadily increased, so that, in the number, size, and weight of the engines now constructed, the product of a month often exceeds in value the entire product of some previous years.

In 1858, Mr. Means was elected treasurer of the Salmon Falls Manufacturing Company. The mills of this company were in the eastern portion of the state, and for convenience of access he removed his family to Andover, Mass., still retaining his place as treasurer of the locomotive-works, and having an office for the business of both companies in Boston. Under his management the condition of the Salmon Falls company was much improved. The capital stock of the company was, by cash payment to its stockholders, reduced from $1,000,000 to $600,000. New mills were erected, and the productive capacity of the concern enlarged by one-fourth, without any assessments or sacrifices on the part of the stockholders,—a result which illustrates beyond dispute the good judgment and skill of the management. Mr. Means resigned the treasurership September 1, 1877.

On the 26th day of February, 1840, Mr. Means was married to Martha Allen, daughter of Bethuel and Martha (Bent) Allen, of Newton, Mass. They have had eight children, of whom six are now living,—four sons and two daughters. The sons, as they have reached manhood, have found employment in the corporations with which the father is connected.

In politics, Mr. Means has been Whig and Republican. Conversant with the affairs of government, and a careful observer of public men, he has manifested a generous appreciation of the good qualities of those with whom he did not agree. Loving justice, and abhorring the wrongs by which any class of his fellow-men suffered injury, he strongly adhered to the principles and steadfastly upheld the policy of the party with which he voted. In 1854 he was elected representative from ward three in Manchester, and served one term in the house at Concord. Having removed from ward three, he was not returned a second time.

In religion, Mr. Means has firmly held to the evangelical system of doctrine. In early manhood he made profession of his faith by uniting with the Congregational church in his native town; transferring his membership to the Hanover-street church in Manchester, and thence to the South church in Andover, with successive chances of residence. In all of these places he has proved a stanch friend of the ministry and a liberal supporter of Christian institutions. A man of clear convictions and of marked independence of character, he has not stood aloof from the community, but, cherishing a hearty respect for human nature, he has taken an active part in the popular movements in behalf of education and local improvements. To the appeals for charitable aid, whether coming from individuals or churches or institutions of learning, the response has been cordial. The establishment of the Means prizes at Phillips Academy illustrates his discriminating beneficence. In times of difficulty and depression he has been helpful in bearing burdens, making good deficiencies, and quietly upholding the cause he had espoused. For a few years past the family have spent the winter season in Boston; but, whether in city or country, the man is unchanged. He is still interested in the welfare of the church and the state, thoughtful of his friends and former associates, considerate of neighbors, and bestowing sympathy and assistance where they are needed, seeks to keep alive the ancient virtues of New England life, and maintain the best standards of service and citizenship.

EX-GOVERNOR FREDERICK SMYTH.

Frederick Smyth was born March 19, 1819, in Candia, Rockingham county, N. H. His ancestors were farmers, men and women of thrift and intelligence. He was trained in the hardest kind of farm labor, receiving, in addition, such education as the good common schools of that town could give, supplemented by a brief course at Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass. With a view to further education, he taught school several winters, and in 1839 found employment at the store of George Porter, Esq., in Manchester. Elm street was then a sandy and uninviting thoroughfare, with only one other store. At the end of the year Mr. Smyth's employer persuaded him to give up the idea of a college education and adopt a mercantile life. He soon became a partner in the business, which was successfully carried on until 1849, in which year he was elected city clerk,—the beginning of a long official career, local and national.

In 1852, Mr. Smyth was elected mayor, the city then containing a population of fifteen thousand. Mayor Smyth's first message contained many practical suggestions; for instance, that the police or school committee be empowered to take vagrant children from the streets and put them in school; that proper sidewalks be constructed and maintained; and that a special committee be appointed to confer with the corporations in regard to the introduction of pure water. In May of that year he set trees on Elm street, the commons, and about land owned by the city. To this matter the mayor gave his personal attention, and not only at that time but every year since, with few exceptions, has inspected the trees and given notice to the proper authorities of any lack. This thorough attention to detail, and desire for doing the work belonging to his office personally and not by proxy, was characteristic of Mayor Smyth. In March, 1853, he was re-elected by an increased majority, and the year was marked by the annexation of parts of Bedford and Goffstown to Manchester, and by the rebuilding of the Amoskeag Falls bridge.

The subject of lighting the streets with gas was first introduced to the attention of the city councils at that time, and a few lamps experimentally established. The free public library was also urged,—a recommendation then somewhat in advance of the popular sentiment. It was, however, advocated by the late Hon. Samuel D. Bell and some others, and was finally carried through both branches of the city government without serious opposition. It has resulted in the establishment of a library of which any city might be proud, and a building for its accommodation costing, with the recent annex, nearly forty thousand dollars. A special vote of the trustees at that time recorded their appreciation of Mayor Smyth's effective exertions in the matter. Having been a third time elected mayor and with still increased majority, the annual message of 1854 set forth the working plan of the library, proposed a change of city charter to allow the consolidation of school-districts, and again urged the imperative need of a supply of pure water. At the close of this term of office he declined a re-election, but was soon appointed, by the governor, chairman of a committee to locate and build a house of "reformation for juvenile offenders." His associates in this work were the late Hon. Matthew Harvey, ex-governor, and judge of the United States circuit court, and Hon. Hosea Eaton.

Frederick Smyth GOVERNOR OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 1865-66

The first report of the commissioners was a vindication of the humane policy of the state, containing a sketch of what had been done in this and other countries for the reform of young offenders, with a full report of progress made. In May, 1858, the house was dedicated to its purpose with appropriate ceremonies, and the commissioners were complimented by Gov. Haile for the fidelity with which the task was accomplished. While engaged in the supervision of this work, Mr. Smyth represented ward three in Manchester in the legislature of 1857 and 1858. He was made treasurer of the reform school and of the N. H. Agricultural Society, holding the latter office during ten years of its greatest usefulness. It was in this time, Judge Nesmith being president, that Daniel Webster spoke at one of the annual fairs in Manchester to the farmers of his native state, and Edward Everett made one of those matchless speeches which lives in perennial beauty like the landscape it describes. Mr. Smyth was at the same time a director of the U. S. Agricultural Society, manager of the fairs held by that association at Louisville, Richmond, Chicago, and Cincinnati, and vice-president of the American Pomological Society. Such varied activities having brought him favorably to the attention of people throughout the state, he received some votes in the convention which nominated the Hon. Ichabod Goodwin for governor. The next year Mr. Smyth was made president of the convention. In 1860 he was appointed, by Secretary Chase, an agent to receive subscriptions to the national loan, and being cashier and principal business manager of the Merrimack River Bank and of the savings bank, he invested largely for them in government bonds. The bank of discount soon after became known as the "First National Bank."

In 1861, Mr. Smyth was appointed by government a commissioner to the International Exhibition at London, and was then made one of the jurors. The favorable exhibit made by the textile fabrics of Manchester was in no small degree owing to the care with which he looked after their disposal. His appointment gave him unusual facilities for study and observation in the highest circles of London and England, and he was also accredited from the various associated bodies with which he was connected at home to the Royal Agricultural Society. Upon these and kindred topics he wrote some interesting letters, which were published in the N. H. Journal of Agriculture. He also took a trip on the Continent, accompanied by C. L. Flint, Esq., secretary of the Massachusetts board of agriculture. The gathering proportions of the war at home, however, led him to cut short his travels, and he arrived at New York, via London, in September. He now gave his time to the care of the banks, encouraging subscriptions to the national loans, and taking active part in measures calculated to strengthen faith in the administration.

In May, 1863, a fair was held in Smyth's Hall in aid of the sanitary commission, at which nearly four thousand dollars were raised. Mr. Smyth gave the use of the hall and his personal efforts as chairman of the committee, sparing no pains to make the occasion successful; and his enthusiasm and zeal stimulated that of others. After the battle of Gettysburg and of the Wilderness, he went to the front and gave efficient aid in caring for the sick and wounded. One result of exposure to the burning sun and malaria of the battle-field was the first serious illness of his life. In that same year, when the importance of good municipal government was felt to be superior to partisan considerations, at the solicitation of men prominent in both parties, Mr. Smyth allowed his name to be used as a candidate for mayor the fourth time. He was elected practically without opposition, and his election had the desired effect, to give confidence to all classes and stability to the financial standing of the city.

It has been noticed that he was thought of before this as a possible candidate for governor, and the feeling had so strengthened that in 1865 he was nominated for that office, his chief competitor in the convention being the late Hon. Onslow Stearns. The nomination proved a very popular one, and after an active canvass he was elected by a majority of over six thousand, the highest given to any man for twenty-four years. Such support was very gratifying to the governor-elect; but, nevertheless, he felt that he had undertaken no light task. The state debt, which heretofore in times of peace seldom exceeded a few thousands, had now arisen to millions. Moreover, loans must be made in competition with other states and with the general government. State bonds were hard to sell at any price, and all the time expenditures were going on. In less than three months from Governor Smyth's inaugural message he had raised, by personal solicitation, largely from banks at Manchester, over one million of dollars, and the credit of the state, strained but not impaired by its patriotic efforts, was firmly re-established. Much time in this year was occupied in the reception and discharge of returning soldiers, and from June until Christmas day, when the last regiment was mustered out, the state echoed to the tread of the home-coming veterans.

Governor Smyth's correspondence at this time reveals great care taken for the needs of the men, for inmates of military hospitals, or for companies unnecessarily detained in camp. In this busy period he found time to make brief practical speeches at Portsmouth, Milford, and various other places, each of them calculated to draw attention to the resources and credit of New Hampshire, and to foster a healthy confidence in our ability to overcome every difficulty. He also delivered in Concord the annual address before the New England Agricultural Society, the late Govs. Andrew of Massachusetts and Buckingham of Connecticut, with other N. E. governors, being present, and highly commending the address. This year Governor Smyth was made one of the corporators of the national asylums for disabled soldiers, and served on the committee whose duty it was to arrange the working details, with Gen. Grant, Admiral Farragut, Gen. Butler, Surg.-Gen. Barnes, Hon. H. J. Raymond, ex-Gov. Todd, and Admiral Davis.

In 1866 he was unanimously nominated for re-election as governor, and, as before, chosen by a handsome majority. Some events of the second year are of much interest. The appointment of Dr. Bouton as state historian, resulting in the preservation and publication of the Provincial Records, was a peculiarly fitting act; laws in regard to the river fisheries were carried into effect; and initial steps taken toward the foundation of the Agricultural College, of which Gov. Smyth is at this date a trustee and the treasurer. The financial and executive report of the two years' work is very concisely given in the valedictory address of June 6, 1867. On two occasions the governor spoke briefly at the annual dinner of the sons of New England, at Delmonico's in New York, and was very warmly received. Some of the most influential and respectable papers of the state advocated his nomination for a third term; he, however, definitely declined the honor in a letter to the Statesman. He was a delegate at large to the Republican national convention which renominated Gen. Grant, and was also a member of the last constitutional convention of New Hampshire. In 1866 he was chosen, by vote of congress, one of the managers of the military asylums for six years, other members of the board being Hon. R. J. Oglesby of Illinois, Gen. B. F. Butler, Hon. L. B. Gunekel of Ohio, Jay Cooke of Philadelphia, and Gen. Martindale of New York, with the President, Secretary of War, and Chief-Justice, ex officiis, any one of whom had authority to admit to the Homes on application being made in due form. The proper discharge of these duties involved a vast amount of correspondence, much travel, and constant care. Gov. Smyth was re-elected for a second six years' term in 1872, and was vice-president of the board. In 1878, the house being Democratic and the senate nearly a tie, Gen. Shields was proposed as his successor, but failed of an election. Two years later, however, the Democracy were able to unite on a successor.

Since the close of his term as governor, he has delivered addresses on several occasions,—one before the Vermont State Agricultural Society, another at the dedication of a soldiers' monument at Washington, N. H., and, later, the "Oration to the Unknown Dead," delivered on "Decoration Day" before Louis Bell Post No. 3, G. A. R., in 1880; and in 1881, an address on a similar occasion, at Rochester, N. H.

In 1878 he was appointed, by President Hayes, honorary commissioner to the International Exposition at Paris. Accompanied by Mrs. Smyth, he left New York, April 24, in the steamer Russia, for Liverpool. Visiting London and some English cities by the way, they reached Paris at the grand opening. Soon after they left Marseilles for Alexandria, Egypt, and from thence made a tour of the Holy Land, via Cairo, Ismailia, and the Suez canal, afterward journeying to the Levant, stopping at Constantinople, Smyrna, Athens, and other points of interest. They were received with uniform courtesy and attention by officials at the U. S. legations, and particularly spoke of the interest manifested in their welfare by Ministers Noyes at Paris, Maynard in Constantinople, Reed at Athens, Consul-General Fairman at Cairo. Nearly everywhere they seem to have found friends to smooth the roughness of the traveler's path; and on their return to Paris, which they did by way of Rome, Switzerland, and most of the continental cities, it was regarded as an exceptional piece of good fortune to be present at the memorial celebration in honor of M. Thiers. Ex.-Gov. Smyth was there also received as a member of the Stanley club. While thus absent, he wrote a series of interesting letters, which were published in the Mirror and American, and read with pleasure by a large circle of acquaintances. Since returning from the East he and Mrs. Smyth have made an extended trip into Mexico, touching at Cuba by the way. Their experience in that land of the sun appears to have been equally pleasant with that in other places.

The ex-governor, frequently if not always accompanied by his wife, has visited almost every nook and corner of our own land except, possibly, Alaska, and is therefore well qualified to make comparisons. This long and varied experience in affairs, in acquaintance with men, and in travel, has made him a very interesting man in conversation whenever he chooses to indulge in the reminiscences of a not distant past. His house abounds in tokens of travel, curious and rare bits from many lands, and he has entertained there, from time to time, many distinguished guests. Before local associations and to personal friends he has given some familiar and delightful talks on what he has seen in these vacations of a busy life. He also pays the penalty of success in other ways, which, if flattering, are not always agreeable. His advice is daily sought, not only, as is natural, in financial and political matters, but on matters more remote from his habits of thought. But, whatever it may be, he gives cheerfully, and no man more readily lends a hand to those who are trying to help themselves.

Offices of trust also flock to one who has proved himself capable of taking good care of his own affairs, and among appointments which he holds at this date, not before named, are: 'director of the Concord, Suncook Valley, and Boston & Acton railroads; director and treasurer of the Manchester Horse-Railroad; vice-president of the New England Agricultural Society; president and director of the Northern Telegraph Company; treasurer of the Elliot hospital; cashier and manager of the First National Bank of Manchester; trustee and treasurer of the Merrimack River Savings Bank: vice-president of the American Pomological Society. In 1866 the faculty of Dartmouth College conferred on him the degree of A. B.

CHARLES ELLIOTT TILTON.

Charles Elliott Tilton, son of Hon. Samuel Tilton, was born in Sanbornton, September 14, 1827, and in that part set off and incorporated as the town of Tilton. He received his early education in the common schools, and at the age of fifteen was put under the instruction of Prof. Dyer H. Sanborn of Sanbornton Academy. Later he was admitted into the Norwich University (a military school), where he remained three years.

When war was declared with Mexico, Gen. Ransom, the president of the university, was commissioned to raise a regiment, and induced nearly every student to enlist, offering young Tilton the command of a company, which honor, through the influence of his father, was declined. About this date he left home, going to New York, where he remained with his brother a short time.

He then sailed for the West Indies and South America in pursuit of a fortune. At this point a business career was inaugurated which for thirty years called for untiring labor. He visited all the islands, prospected the Orinoco and Amazon rivers to their head waters, went overland to Caracas and La Guayra, thence to Maracaybo, St. Martha, Carthagena, and Chagres. Here he heard of gold discoveries in California, and proceeded at once to San Francisco via Panama. A hasty survey of the outlook satisfied him that "merchandising" rather than digging for gold afforded better chances for success, and on this foundation determined to build his fortune. In 1850 he went to Oregon, and in the succeeding year formed a copartnership with W. S. Ladd. Esq., for general mercantile pursuits, which continued until 1859. That his operations were diversified and on a large scale, the public prints of that era are ample evidence. He was interested in establishing a line of vessels to run between Oregon and China, one of which, the "C. E. Tilton," had made the quickest passage from New York to Oregon on record to the present time. She was subsequently sold to the Japanese government and by them converted into a man of war, and was finally sunk in an encounter with the U. S. ship "Powhattan." In 1859 the banking-house of Ladd & Tilton, Portland, was organized, so favorably known and generally advertised during the settlement of the presidential vote of that state in 1876. He remained a partner in this institution twenty-one years, retiring in 1880.

In all this period Mr. Tilton was interested in many other enterprises on the Pacific coast and frontier. Among these may be mentioned the navigation of the Columbia and Willamette rivers. He was one of five who controlled what has developed into the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, with a capital of $24,000,000. He had an interest in the banking firm of Ladd & Bush, Salem, in the First National Bank of Portland, and First National Bank of Walla Walla, W. T. At the same time he was largely engaged in transportation across the plains. He fully understood the requirements for merchandise in Utah, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. He furnished and dispatched large trains from San Bernardino, Cal., to Utah, and from St. Joseph, Mo., to Colorado, and from there to Montana, giving his personal attention to them all. This was no pastime twenty years ago. A country largely held by hostile Indians had to be traversed, and few trains reached their destination unmolested. Desperate encounters frequently occurred, resulting in more or less loss to life and property, and once ending in the capture of an entire train by the "Red Devils." Other obstacles had to be met, incident to such undertakings, like storms, swollen rivers, and break-downs, which would have seemed insuperable to any one of less force of character. Realizing what the great West might be, he purchased land in all the territories, which investments have proved advantageous. He engaged in many other transactions which his keen perceptions led him to believe would be remunerative, so that, in fact, there were but few enterprises of importance connected with the growth and development of the Pacific slope, whether pertaining to its finance, internal improvements, or its foreign and domestic commerce, in which the cool and sagacious subject of this sketch was not a participator.

C. W. Tilton.

To organize and direct successfully such varied and extended operations, outlined here only in part, required a mind strong in perception and purpose. A union of these qualities, with that adventurous spirit which led the youth of eighteen to the sources of the Orinoco and the pampas of the Amazon in pursuit of wealth, constituted a mental alliance which could well measure the possibilities of a new country and avail himself of their fulfillment.

In all this time Mr. Tilton enjoyed excellent health and immunity from serious accident. After living amidst the steaming malaria of tropical lagoons, sleeping by the side of his mustang on the plains, blockaded by the storms of the Sierras, assailed by the hostile Apaches, he returns to his native hills unscathed, with a sound constitution and the early purpose of his will fully accomplished.

Mr. Tilton's munificence has manifested itself most liberally to his townsmen within two years. In that time he has erected and conveyed to them a town hall finished in an elegant and substantial manner. It contains a market and town office, a store and post-office, all commodiously arranged, no expense being spared which would add to convenience. They return to the treasury a handsome rental. The hall proper is easily approached, is finished in hard wood, as is all the interior of the building. It is artistically frescoed in water-colors and gilt, lighted with gas, has a stage fitted with drop-curtains, changes of scenery, a beautiful proscenium, proper furniture, a Steinway piano, all after the most approved styles. The building, with its appointments, is the admiration of visitors and the pride of towns-people. He has placed an iron bridge, the present season, from Main street to Island Park, costing over eighteen hundred dollars. The public are allowed at all times to use and occupy this delightful resort. Its airy summerhouse, built after an European model, surrounded by works of art, is unmatched in loveliness. For remodeling one of the village churches he contributed more than three thousand dollars; and donated five hundred towards an iron bridge between Tilton and Northfield, which act results in two by the towns named. He expended a large sum in the purchase of land and improving it for a public park near by the village, and, including the gift of the fine town hall, January 4, 1881, must have appropriated forty thousand dollars for the pleasure and benefit of his townsmen. During this period he has paid thousands of dollars for improvements on his own premises, giving employment to a large force of laborers and mechanics.

Mr. Tilton's elegant and spacious residence is situated on an eminence commanding a magnificent prospect, and overlooks the village that bears his name. When built, a few years since, it was deemed one of the best in central New Hampshire. In the last two years it has been materially improved, while large additions have been constructed, consisting of an extensive conservatory and aviary on the one side of the main building, and a spacious drawing-room on the other; it is unequaled in its appointments, perhaps, in New England. It is twenty-eight feet by thirty-eight feet in area, and twenty-two feet in height. Seven thousand five hundred feet of mahogany were used to complete it. To the height of four feet the most elaborate work in wainscoting is produced, while pilasters in the same wood, ornate in their design, extend from the floor on either side and meet in the ceiling above. This arrangement in finish running at right angles leaves the walls and surface overhead checked into panels, either square or oblong, each of which is filled with an individual conception of the artist, but collectively form a general design. An exquisitely designed gablet holds the porcelain tiled fire front, its three sides partly filled with French plate mirrors, and a Swiss styled hooding covers the apex which contains the clock. Carpets and rugs, drapery and furniture, mirrors and chandeliers, were manufactured for the room. We know the owner is averse to anything that attracts attention to himself. The public on proper occasions have had the pleasure of seeing these premises; and what we have here recited has been gathered from sources that have been open to all.

Mr. Tilton is cordial and pleasant in his intercourse with his neighbors and acquaintances, and in feelings and tastes one of the people. The steel portrait is an excellent one. He is in the prime of manhood and intellect.

Through life, so far, he seems to have been conscious that his capacity was for business and not politics. He has never sought or held public office, and says he never will. The frequent mention of his name in political circles and sometimes in the press, in such connection, is not inspired by him.

He comes back to a common welcome after thirty years of incessant labor, from amidst surroundings, which, if detailed, would seem stranger than fiction.

Mr. Tilton was married December 29, and sailed in the "Gallia" from New York for Liverpool, January 4, 1882. We understand it is the intention of the happy pair, if Providence permits, to stay abroad as long as pleasure or profit can be derived from their trip.

Chas. E. Balch

COL. CHARLES E. BALCH.

Charles Edward Balch was born in Francestown in 1834, and is the son of Mason and Hannah Balch, his mother being a daughter of Joshua Holt, of Greenfield. His boyhood was spent upon a farm, and his education was obtained in the common schools and Francestown Academy. When eighteen years of age he began life for himself as a book-keeper in the dry-goods store of Barton & Co., in Manchester, and two years later had so established himself in the confidence of the managers of the Manchester Savings Bank that he was called to a clerkship in that institution. In this position his industry, courtesy, and excellent judgment won good opinions from all with whom he came in contact, and when the Manchester National Bank was organized, in 1865, he was chosen its cashier, and has filled this responsible position ever since. He has also been a trustee of the Manchester Savings Bank since 1862, is a member of its investing committee, treasurer of the Manchester Gas-Light Company, a director and member of the finance committee of the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company, and a trustee of many large estates. In all these positions, Mr. Balch has proved himself a sagacious, careful, and safe financier. The banks to which he has given the most of his time and energies reflect in their strength and uniform success his honesty, reliability, and prudence; and those whose funds have been intrusted to his management have always found their confidence justified by steady and satisfactory returns.

Mr. Balch is, moreover, a man whose private character is above suspicion, a citizen whose public duties are never left to others, a friend whose fealty is never doubted, and an acquaintance whose courtesy, candor, and affability command universal respect and good will. He has been too modest to ask, and too busy to accept, political honors; but his influence has been potent in advancing the party to which he belongs, and in shaping the policy of the city in which he resides. In affairs of state and city, as in business matters, he makes little noise; but his work tells, and his convictions of duty bring substantial results. He was commissioned a colonel of the state militia in 1879, and served on Gov. Head's staff for two years.

In July, 1867, Mr. Balch married Miss Emeline R. Brooks, daughter of Rev. Nahum Brooks, then of Bath, Me., but now of Manchester, who presides over and dispenses the hospitalities of his pleasant home.

HON. JOHN CARROLL MOULTON.

BY COL. THOMAS J. WHIPPLE.

The ancestors of Hon. John C. Moulton were among the fifty-six inhabitants from the county of Norfolk, England, who first settled in the town of Hampton, then Winnicumet, in the year 1638. The names of John Molton and Thomas Molton appear in a partial list of these original settlers, which may be found in "Belknap's History of New Hampshire." Vol. I. p. 37.

General Jonathan Moulton was a descendant of this family, and the great-grandfather of John C. Moulton. He was born in Hampton, N. H., June 30, 1726, and died at Hampton, in the year 1788, at the age of sixty-two. He was a large proprietor in lands, and several flourishing towns in the interior of this state owe their early settlement to his exertions and influence. This fact is mentioned in "Farmer & Moore's Gazetteer," published in 1823. When he was thirty-seven years old, the town of Moultonborough was granted to him and sixty-one others, by the Masonian proprietors, November 17, 1763. He was already noted for the distinguished service which he had rendered in the Indian wars, which ended with the Ossipee tribe, along the northerly borders of Moultonborough, in 1763. Many of his adventures during this bloody period have been preserved and transmitted to the present time; enough, indeed, to fill a large space in this brief sketch. It may be well to preserve one of these incidents in this record:—

An octogenarian in the vicinity of Moultonborough relates that, during the Indian wars, Colonel, afterward General, Jonathan Moulton went out with a scouting party from Dover. After numerous adventures, they met with and attacked a party of six Indians, near a place now known as Clark's Landing, on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee, all of whom fell in the skirmish which ensued, with one exception. The colonel had a large dog with him, which, after the affray was over, he placed upon the track of the escaped Indian. The dog ran on the shore a short distance, and then struck off on to the ice. The party followed, and as they approached the entrance of what is now Green bay they saw in the distance that the dog had the Indian down upon the ice; and when they got to the spot the Indian was dead,—killed by the dog.

The active services of the general in these border wars had made him, at an early age, well and favorably known to the leading men of that day. His numerous raids and scouts, in the region occupied by the Ossipee tribes, had made him well acquainted with the then wilderness, and with the adjacent country upon the western shores of the lake, and no doubt secured to him the land grant which he obtained, in common with many of his companions in arms. He was rightly placed at the head of the grantees, by the Masonian proprietors, and the town of Moultonborough, which was named after him, perpetuates the memory of his rugged virtues and of his enterprising character. His descendants have been inhabitants of Moultonborough and of Center Harbor to the present time. After obtaining this grant, the general devoted much of the remainder of his life in promoting the settlement and the development of this new territory. Among other things in this direction, he obtained from Gov. Wentworth the grant of land now known as the town of New Hampton, which was formerly a part of Moultonborough gore, and then called "Moultonborough Addition." The following amusing account of the way in which Gen. Moulton secured this last grant appears in "Fogg's Gazetteer," and is to be found in other histories of those early times:—

John C. Coulton.

"In 1703, Gen. Jonathan Moulton, of Hampton, having an ox weighing one thousand four hundred pounds, fattened for the purpose, hoisted a flag upon his horns, and drove him to Portsmouth as a present to Gov. Wentworth. The general refused any compensation for the ox, but said he would like a charter of a small gore of land he had discovered adjoining the town of Moultonborough, of which he was one of the principal proprietors. The governor granted this simple request of General Moulton, and he called it New Hampton, in honor of his native town. This small gore of land contained nineteen thousand four hundred and twenty-two acres, a part of which now constitutes Center Harbor."

Thus it appears that General Moulton, by his energy and enterprise, largely contributed to the formation of three towns,—one named New Hampton, by him; another named Moultonborough, for him; and the third, Center Harbor, was carved from a part of his grant called "Moultonborough Addition."

The following is the genealogical order:—

1. Gen. Jonathan Moulton, born in Hampton, N. H., June 30, 1726. Jan. 7, 1749, he married Abigail Smith. He died in 1788.

2. Benning Moulton, son of Jonathan Moulton and Abigail (Smith) Moulton, born May 21, 1761. He married Sally Lovett, Nov. 7, 1782. He settled in Center Harbor in 1783, and there died Dec. 23, 1834.

3. Jonathan Smith Moulton, son of Benning Moulton and Sally (Lovett) Moulton, born at Center Harbor, Dec. 14, 1785. He married Deborah Neal. He died Nov. 15, 1855.

4. John Carroll Moulton, son of Jonathan Smith Moulton and Deborah (Neal) Moulton, born in Center Harbor, Dec. 24, 1810. In addition to the ordinary opportunities of the district school, in his native town, he attended Holmes Academy at Plymouth, N. H., where for several terms he pursued his studies under the instruction of the late Samuel Burns, who ranked among the foremost teachers of his time. To perfect himself in mathematical studies, for which he showed an early and natural aptitude, he placed himself under the tuition of Master Dudley Leavitt, the noted "almanac-maker," who, for many years, opened an annual term of high school in Meredith, where he taught all the advanced branches of mathematics to pupils, who in that day flocked from every part of the country to place themselves at the feet of this great mathematical Gamaliel. These studies he ardently pursued far beyond the limits of the ordinary academical course, and they seem to have impressed upon him a permanent proficiency often called for and manifested in the various large business transactions with which he has been connected for so many years. During the intervals of schools he assisted his father—who was in trade and a large farmer—as clerk and general assistant in his extensive business. In 1831, at about the age twenty, he opened a store and commenced trade at Sandwich. N. H., where he remained about a year, when he returned, and resumed the same business at Center Harbor.

July 15, 1833, he married Nellie B. Senter. He then opened a hotel in what has since grown to be one of the famous boarding-houses at Center Harbor, and, with the aid of his brilliant and accomplished wife, united the duties of landlord and merchant, which employments he continued there for several years. In 1836, Lake Village, N. H., began to attract attention as a place of large prospective business, and Mr. Moulton left Center Harbor, and opened a store at that place. He also engaged in manufacturing, and continued in these employments for several years.

In 1841 he removed to Laconia, then known the world over as Meredith Bridge, and took charge of the Belknap Hotel. This being the only stage house of that lively place, it was usually inundated with the stream of public travel peculiar to those times. He continued this business about two years, when he opened a bookstore and an apothecary-shop in a building which stood on the site now occupied by the post-office and the national bank. He was soon after appointed postmaster,—in the latter part of Tyler's administration; was re-appointed by President Polk, through whose term he held the office, which he continued to do a short time during the term of President Taylor, when, being a life-long Democrat, he was removed. He was re-appointed by President Pierce, and also by President Buchanan, during whose terms he held the office, which he continued to do a short time under President Lincoln, when he was superseded by the appointment of a Republican. Thus he held the office of postmaster during part of the terms of three Republican, and the full terms of three Democratic administrations, making his term of office about sixteen years in all. The duties of his long term of service were performed in a manner universally acceptable and satisfactory to the public.

In 1848 the Boston, Concord, & Montreal Railroad was built and completed from Concord to Plymouth. In anticipation of this event the firm of Charles Ranlet & Co. built large and extensive car-works at Laconia, which they designed particularly for the construction of freight-cars. The firm commenced and carried on the business until the decease of the senior partner, in 1860, when the works were suspended. In 1861, Mr. Moulton became a partner, and by his great energy and business capacity has developed a large business, which employs some two hundred men, most of whom are skilled workmen. The monthly pay-roll is about eight thousand dollars. The works have been repeatedly enlarged, and several extensive buildings erected, to accommodate the increase of business. For several years, passenger-cars of the finest style and finish, as well as freight-cars, have been built at their works, and their annual gross earnings are to be reckoned at several hundred thousand dollars. In February, 1881, these car-shops, with most of their machinery and contents, were burned to the ground, only some of the out-buildings being saved. Before the ruins were done smoking, lumber began to be hauled upon the ground, and in thirty days from the fire cars were being built in new shops which had been erected on the old foundations. Mr. Moulton was then over seventy years of age, and was well able to retire from business, with an ample competence, to the quiet repose which most men desire as the closing blessing of an active and arduous life.

In 1871 and 1872 he was chosen senator from district number six, and performed his official duties with his accustomed promptness and fidelity, and to the satisfaction of his constituents. He was also elected councilor for district number two in 1874. In 1876 he was one of the delegates to the Democratic national convention held at St. Louis, which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for the presidency, and in the ensuing presidential campaign was one of the candidates on the Democratic ticket for elector.

In 1865, rapid growth of the manufacturing, commercial, and other business interests at Laconia and Lake Village suggested to him the great need of added financial facilities. To meet these demands, it was necessary to procure a charter from the government to establish a national bank at Laconia. Almost insurmountable obstacles to success in this enterprise were encountered, and finally overcome. The charter was procured, and the bank established, largely by the active and persistent labor of the subject of this sketch. Upon the organization of the Laconia National Bank, he was chosen its first president, and has continuously and acceptably held the position to the present time. It may well be said, that the impartiality with which the accommodations of this bank have been extended to promote all hopeful enterprises has done much to advance the growth and prosperity of the place.

For several years, Mr. Moulton was a stockholder in the Gilford Hosiery Corporation at Laconia. In 1868 he became sole owner of the entire stock and property. He has steadily continued its successful operation, with an annual product of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, until now. The factory employs about one hundred and fifty hands, mostly females, at the mill, and gives employment to many households in the surrounding country. Mr. Moulton and Benjamin K. Thurston are joint owners of the extensive flouring and grain mill of Laconia. He is also a large owner of the stock in the Laconia Gas-light Company, and has done much to place this important pioneer enterprise upon the solid basis it now holds among the public improvements of this growing town.

Mr. Moulton is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is one of the charter members of Winnipisseogee Lodge No. 7, which was established at Laconia in 1842, and is now one of the Uniformed Patriarchs of the order.

His domestic and family relations are as follows:—

July 15, 1833, he married Nellie B. Senter, of Center Harbor, who was the daughter of Samuel M. Senter. Her ancestor, Col. Joseph Senter, and Ebenezer Chamberlain were the first settlers in that town in 1765 and 1767. She died Nov. 18, 1860, at Laconia. Five children were born to them, of whom three survive.

Edwin Carroll Moulton was born May 25, 1834, and died Nov. 13, 1867. He married Augusta Ranlet, of Laconia, daughter of Charles Ranlet; and their only child, Nelly Augusta Moulton, still survives. He was an active business man, full of promise, and many friends still cherish his memory.

Samuel Moore Senter Moulton was born Aug. 1, 1837, and resides at Laconia. May 2, 1861, he enlisted, and served in the New Hampshire volunteers. July 26, 1861, he enlisted in the regular army of the United States, and served three years during the rebellion, with the mounted troops. Since the war he is employed as book-keeper, clerk, and paymaster in the car factories above referred to. He was one of the selectmen of Laconia for the years 1868 and 1869; and was representative of the town to the legislature for the years 1876 and 1877. He married Martha B. Thurston, daughter of Benjamin E. Thurston, who is well known. He served as representative to the legislature from the town of Moultonborough in Carroll county, for the years 1867 and 1868, after which he removed to, and now resides in, Laconia, which town he represented in the legislature in 1881. He was also high sheriff of Belknap county in the years 1874 and 1875.

William Hale Moulton was born July 20, 1844, died March 10, 1849.

Horatio Francis Moulton was born Jan. 24, 1848. During the war he was three years in the United States navy. He was one of the naval cadets, and intended to pass his life in the United States service, but was prevented by pulmonary disease. He married Ella S. Melcher, of Springfield, Mass., daughter of William Melcher, and has a family of three young children. He is superintendent of the Gilford Hosiery Company, and has been so for many years.

Ida Lettice Moulton, was born June 4, 1850. She married Joshua B. Holden, of Boston, Mass., and they have a young family of four children.

Mr. Moulton married his second wife, Sarah A. McDougal, Aug. 18, 1866. Her many virtues and useful charities have endeared her to a large circle of warm friends.

The lives of men who are absorbed in the exacting duties of many diversified and burdensome pursuits are not crowded with incidents which interest remote posterity; but the successful and many-sided enterprises of such men exert a wide and beneficial influence in their day and generation. Such a man is Mr. Moulton. He has always been an open-handed, public-spirited citizen. To him, and to two or three others, we owe the building of the finest church in Laconia and the support of a liberal ministry. Long after he has passed away, the town of his adoption will continue to exhibit many evidences of his liberal contributions to whatever tended to promote the growth of the town, the prosperity of its business, or the public welfare.

A. W. Sulloway

HON. ALVAH W. SULLOWAY.

By H. H. Metcalf.

From an industrial, as well as a political standpoint, the town of Franklin has long occupied a prominent position in the state. Highly favored by nature with the facilities most conducive to the development of manufacturing industry, there has grown up within its limits, or been attracted thereto from other localities, a large class of citizens possessing the enterprise, energy, and sagacity requisite to the most advantageous use of those facilities. There are, indeed, few among our New England towns of corresponding size, which include among their inhabitants a larger number of active and successful business men, or whose progress has been signalized during the last quarter of a century by a more substantial industrial development.

Alvah W. Sulloway is one of the best-known, most practical, energetic, and public-spirited among the enterprising business men of this prosperous and progressive town. While the state of Massachusetts has drawn from our midst a large proportion of the men whose labors have brought the prosperity and distinction which that proud old commonwealth enjoys, she has given New Hampshire in return some of her own sons, whose efforts have contributed in no small degree to advance the honor and welfare of the state of their adoption. Among these is the subject of this sketch. Born in Framingham, Mass., Dec. 25, 1838, Mr. Sulloway is now in his forty-fourth year. He is the only son and eldest child of Israel W. and Adeline (Richardson) Sulloway, to whom three daughters were also born, two of whom are living, one unmarried, and the other the wife of Herbert Bailey, Esq., a prominent manufacturer of the town of Claremont. Israel W. Sulloway is a native of Boston, and sprang from revolutionary ancestry on both the paternal and the maternal side, his mother being a Woodbury of Salem, daughter of Capt. Israel Woodbury, who served in the patriot army throughout the war for independence. He engaged in manufacturing service in youth, and was for some time an overseer in the Saxonville woolen mill. When his son Alvah was about ten years of age, he removed to the town of Enfield in this state, where he engaged in the manufacture of yarn hosiery. Here he introduced the process of manufacturing the celebrated Shaker socks by machinery, being the first manufacturer to engage in the enterprise, where he established a prosperous business, which he carried on about sixteen years, when he sold out to his son-in-law, Mr. Bailey, and retired from active life, locating at Waltham, Mass., where he still resides. In his father's mill at Enfield, Alvah W. Sulloway gained that practical knowledge of the business in which he has since been engaged, which constituted the sure foundation of the success he has attained therein. He secured a good academical education at Canaan, Barre, Vt., and the Green Mountain Liberal Institute at South Woodstock; but spent a considerable portion of his time between the age of ten and twenty-one years in active labor in the mill, thoroughly familiarizing himself with the various processes in hosiery manufacture, and the general conduct of business in that important line of industry.

Upon attaining his majority, with that ambitious and independent spirit which so generally characterizes the youth of New England, and to which the development and prosperity of all sections of our country are so largely due, Mr. Sulloway determined to go into business for himself. His purpose received the ready sanction and encouragement of his father, and after due deliberation he formed a partnership with Walter Aiken of Franklin, in the manufacture of hosiery. The partnership continued for about four years, when it was dissolved by mutual consent, and another firm was organized, which put in operation a new mill. This firm consisted of Mr. Sulloway and Frank H. Daniell of Franklin, who carried on business together until 1869, when Mr. Daniell withdrew, and Mr. Sulloway has since been sole proprietor. The mill is situated upon the lower power of the Winnipesaukee, opposite the mills of the Winnipiseogee Paper Company, the power being used in common by the two establishments. The building is of brick, three stories high, with basement, contains four sets of woolen machinery, with about seventy-five knitting-machines, and furnishes employment for about ninety operatives, besides a large number of women in the vicinity, and surrounding towns, whose labor is required in finishing the work which the machines leave incomplete. The goods manufactured are the Shaker socks, or half-hose, of which about three hundred dozen pairs are produced daily, giving an annual product of about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The monthly pay-roll averages about two thousand five hundred dollars, aside from the amount paid for outside labor.

Mr. Sulloway is a business man in the true sense of the term, and as such he has been thus far eminently successful. But while devoting his energies and ability to the development of his own business interests, and thereby indirectly conferring large benefit upon the community in which he moves, he has never failed to contribute, by direct personal effort, to the advancement of all measures of public utility and material progress; and to his labor and encouragement, personally and pecuniarily, as much as to any other among its many enterprising and public-spirited citizens, the town of Franklin is indebted for the advanced position which it holds, when regarded from a business, social, or educational standpoint. He was a prime mover in the organization of the Franklin National Bank, which went into operation in November, 1879, and has been president of the institution from the start. He has also been a trustee of the Franklin Savings Bank ever since its establishment, and for several years past a member of the committee of investment. In 1880 he was chosen a member of the board of directors of the Northern Railroad, which position he still holds.

In politics, Mr. Sulloway is an ardent Democrat, an earnest and enthusiastic worker in the party cause; and his labors in this direction have been largely instrumental in bringing his party into ascendency in Franklin, which was for many years one of the hardest-contested political battle grounds in the state, numbering, as it does, among its citizens several of the most active leaders of the two great parties. In 1871, although the town was then decidedly Republican, he was chosen a member of the state legislature from Franklin, and was re-elected the following year. In 1874, and again in 1875, he was elected to the same position. In the legislature, as everywhere else, he proved himself a thoroughly practical man, devoting himself actively to business, and leaving speech-making to those inclined to talk rather than work. In 1871, he served on the committee on elections; in 1872, upon railroads; in 1874 was chairman of the committee on manufactures, where his close acquaintance with manufacturing interests fitted him for most efficient service; and in 1875 was again a member of the elections committee. In 1874, when the Democratic party managers set to work systematically to win a victory in the state, Mr. Sulloway was nominated for railroad commissioner upon the ticket headed by James A. Weston for governor. Although there was no choice by the people in the election that year, the Democracy won a substantial victory, in that they secured a majority in the legislature, and the election of their candidates for governor and railroad commissioner followed at the hands of that body. To this triumph of his party in the state, the energetic labor of Mr. Sulloway in the general conduct of the campaign contributed in no small degree. As a member of the board of railroad commissioners for the term of three years, the last year as chairman of the board, he rendered the state efficient service, carrying into his official labors, so far as they extended, the same practical sagacity and judgment exercised in his own private business.

In January, 1877, Mr. Sulloway was nominated by the Democracy of the second district as their candidate for congress, against Major James F. Briggs of Manchester, the Republican nominee. The district was strongly Republican, and that party had a popular candidate in the field; yet Mr. Sulloway, with no expectation of an election, made a vigorous canvass, and ran largely ahead of his ticket. He was also the candidate of his party in the district at the next election, and again in 1880, making lively work for his successful opponent, Major Briggs, on each occasion. He has been an active member of the Democratic state committee for more than ten years past, and for the greater portion of the time a member of the executive committee of that body, having direct charge of the campaign work. He was a member of the New Hampshire delegation in the national convention at St. Louis in 1876, which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for the presidency, and was an enthusiastic supporter of the great New York reformer, not only in convention, but also in the subsequent campaign in which he was actively engaged as a member of the Democratic national committee from this state. In 1880 he was again a delegate to the national convention of his party, at Cincinnati, where Gen. Hancock was nominated, and was again elected as the New Hampshire member of the national committee, holding the position until the present time.

In religion, Mr. Sulloway is an adherent of the liberal faith. He was reared a Universalist, and is now an active member of the Unitarian society in Franklin, a young but flourishing organization which is already taking active measures for the erection of a fine church edifice. In this organization, as in business and politics, Mr. Sulloway is an earnest worker, and his labor and encouragement have contributed materially to its success. He is a trustee of this society, and, with Governor Bell, a vice-president of the New Hampshire Unitarian Association. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Unitarian Educational Society, under whose auspices the liberal educational institution known as Proctor Academy, at Andover, is conducted.

In 1866, Mr. Sulloway was united in marriage with Miss Susan K. Daniell, an accomplished daughter of the late J. F. Daniell, a member of the noted paper-making firm of Peabody & Daniell, and a sister of the Hon. Warren F. and Frank H. Daniell. They have two children, a daughter and son,—the eldest, Alice, born August 5, 1871, and Richard Woodbury, born February 15, 1876. Their home is a fine modern residence, erected in 1877, beautifully located in a bend of the Winnipesaukee river, surrounded by handsome grounds, with all its appointments conducive to the comfort of the family and the host of friends who share their generous hospitality.

Mr. Sulloway is a man of keen perceptive powers and ready judgement, so that he is enabled to form conclusions upon all practical questions presented with more than ordinary promptness and accuracy. His opinion in all matters of public interest and concern in the community in which he resides is as frequently sought and carries as great weight as that of any other man, to say the least, and the same also may be said of his advice in private business affairs. He is frank and outspoken at all times, and never hesitates to say just what he thinks when called upon to express himself in any direction. He has many warm friends, and enjoys a full measure of popularity in social as well as in public and business circles. He was a moving spirit in the organization of the "New Hampshire Club," an association formed by New Hampshire men doing business in Boston, for social entertainment, and has been a leading member of the same from the start. Endowed with an active mind and healthy and vigorous bodily powers, he has great capacity for labor, and will, unquestionably, accomplish even more substantial results in the future than have already attended his efforts.

Chester Pike

CHESTER PIKE.

The subject of this sketch was born July 30, 1829, in the town of Cornish, N. H. Mr. Pike may be said to be possessed of prescriptive rights in the township of his nativity and residence, for, planted of others, it was by blood of his blood nurtured into permanence and prosperity.

As the traits of the parent re-appear in the qualities of the child, so the annals of the stock from whence he sprang mingle inseparably with the chronicles of this many-hilled town by the Connecticut. His great-grandfather and great-grandmother Chase were the first white persons to settle in Cornish, and in every mention of early citizens will be found the names of Pike, Bryant, and Chase, whose blood blends with his. The friendship arising from nearness of residence and a common industry, which from the first had bound these families together, was soon strengthened and made permanent by the stronger tie of intermarriage.

In 1827, Eben Pike, who was the eldest son of Ebenezer and Mary Marcy Pike, of Cornish, was united in marriage with the daughter of Capt. Sylvanus Bryant and Sarah Chase Bryant, of the same place. This lady, on her mother's side, was a cousin to the statesman, Salmon P. Chase, who for many years represented Ohio in the senate of the United States, and at the time of his death, as chief-justice of the supreme court, wore with undiminished honor and dignity the mantle of the great Marshall.

The earliest fruit of this union was Chester Pike, whose life we are now tracing. A later son, John B. Pike, a mail-route agent between Boston and St. Albans, an efficient officer and courteous gentleman, is now a resident of Lebanon, in this state. The oldest son still resides in his native town and not far from the spot where his grandparents first settled, in the broad, picturesque valley of the Connecticut, hard by the village of Windsor, and under the shadows of Ascutney. To one so located, the relics of the past are objects of enduring interest. The very hills and valleys must awaken memories of the olden time and kindle associations of the ancestral home, which will perpetuate the virtues and the aspirations of the dead. He can but experience something of the feeling of the descendants of the old families of England, who live upon their ancient estates, and saunter in the halls of old castles, or under the shadows of gnarled trees that were planted centuries ago by the founders of their line, whose ashes long since mingled with, and became a part of, their inalienable homesteads. The remembrance of the brave fathers and fair mothers who lived in the heroic past is their richest inheritance.

In his earlier years, obedient to the custom of the fathers, Mr. Pike attended the district school. This institution, original to New England, discharges a function in the training of the young which, to our mind, some of the methods and more ambitious inventions of modern educators fail to fulfill. In the district school, if properly taught, are secured habits of faithfulness and diligence, and a permanent knowledge of elementary branches, which are of daily practical use in the life of the people. There, too, the silly conceits and factitious distinctions of society are broken down, as children see that success is achieved by brains, not money; by industry, not social standing. In this, sometimes rough but general intercourse of youth, democratic ways and independence of thought are acquired, and the seeds of a true manhood and womanhood are planted. Our system of public schools is in harmony with the organism of the state, and in them our children imbibe a spirit of obedience to wholesome, legitimate authority, and so become conservative of public discipline and order. Men learn to rule by learning to obey. It was here that Mr. Pike laid the foundations of character.

Later, he was for a time a scholar in the academy at Hartland, Vt. After a season of study there, he matriculated in that long-time famous and still existing center of pro-collegiate education, the Kimball Union Academy at Meriden, N. H. The principal, at that time, was the Rev. Cyrus Richards, and under his guidance several terms were passed in the acquisition of the more abstruse learning of the books. But the months drift by, and at the age of fifteen Mr. Pike graduates from the schools and passes on to the sterner duties of manhood and of life. The winter months of the six ensuing years are filled up with the active work of the pedagogue, and the summer seasons in constant, laborious work upon the home farm.

During this period he was ripening the lessons of his pupilage and maturing plans for the future. At the age of twenty-one, Mr. Pike, though he still spent his winters for some years in teaching, became a trader in cattle and a merchant in the products of the soil. By his enterprise in this, his chosen vocation, he reached the position of a foremost man of a notable class among the farmers of New England. Familiar from youth with the harvest capabilities of the rich levels and the sun-warmed hills of Sullivan county, and gifted with a quick sense to perceive the wants of modern markets, he has, by unusual energy and sagacity, fitted means to ends, and, with a Midas-touch, turned his agrarian resources into gold. His success teaches the lesson that the New England farm has no less potential wealth at present than in times past, if skill but holds the handles of the plow. Let the modern farmer cling to the old homestead and the paternal acres, and take counsel with the progressive science of soil-enrichment; let him employ the same skill in the cultivation of his farm and the management of his stock, let him use the same enterprise in utilizing markets, and the same economy in the disposition of his funds, which are necessary in other employments,—and his success is sure.

We would here quote from a leading paper of the state a few lines pertinent to our narrative:—

"Capt. Chester Pike, of Cornish, has one of the largest, if not the largest, farm in the state. It contains about one thousand acres of land, divided into wood, mowing, tillage, and pasture land; forty acres in corn, and seventy acres in wheat, rye, oats, barley, and potatoes. Last season he raised six thousand eight hundred baskets of corn. He has one hundred and thirty head of cattle, three hundred sheep, thirty-seven horses, and forty hogs, and raises hay enough to keep his stock through the season, or about three hundred tons. Capt. Pike's farm lies in the town of Cornish, on the east bank of the Connecticut river, immediately opposite the farm of the Hon. William M. Evarts, late secretary of state, situated in Windsor. Vt., which is of about equal dimensions, and, in fact, the largest farm in Vermont. Mr. Evarts raises about the same amount of stock, hay, and produce as Capt. Pike. On both of these farms may be found all the modern appliances, such as mowing and reaping machines, seeders for sowing grain, two-horse cultivators for hoeing corn, most of the work being done by machinery, the same as upon the largest farms of the West."

Any man might be proud of such a record, but it is only a part of the truth. In single seasons, Mr. Pike often buys, for resale, from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five tons of poultry, and between two and three hundred thousand pounds of wool. Besides the above, he has for many years purchased annually, for the Boston market, in the interest of the firm of Lamson, Dudley, & Pike, of which he is a member, great numbers of cattle and sheep. During the thirty years, Mr. Pike has found an outlet for that restless energy and enterprise which these pursuits and the occupation of farming and stock-growing cannot exhaust, in an extensive lumber business. All this, it should be borne in mind, is in addition to the extensive cultivation and stock-growing on his own farm.

Notwithstanding the variety and extent of his purely business transactions, Mr. Pike has also found leisure to fill with efficiency many stations in the public service. At one period of his career, during several successive years he was selectman of Cornish. This led the way to other offices. He who had discharged with faithfulness and skill the responsibilities in the town, was deemed worthy to be honored with higher duties, and Mr. Pike found himself, in 1859, 1860, and 1861, the incumbent of the office of county commissioner for Sullivan county. At the end of his third term, his fellow-townsmen withdrew him from the commissionship, which he had ably filled, and made him their representative to the general court for 1862, and again for 1863. He made an intelligent and active legislator, and soon became familiar with the business of the house. The estimate which was put upon his services and standing in the house is seen in the fact that in his first year he served on the committee on manufactures, and, in his second year, was made chairman of the committee on banks, which at the time was one of the most difficult and responsible positions in the house. If Mr. Pike did not often attempt to influence legislation by debate, he had what Wirt attributes to Jefferson, "the out-of-door talent of chamber consultation," and used it with good effect. The years 1862 and 1863 were two of the most anxious and trying years of the civil war, and perplexing propositions were brought before the legislature for solution. There were sharp antagonisms and earnest debates among the strong men of those sessions; questions of jurisdiction and policy touching the national defense and the rights of states, new to legislation and embittered by party rancor, became the subjects of action; the frequent calls for men and money to meet the demand which the prolonged and sanguinary conflict made upon the state gave to the legislation of the period unprecedented interest and importance. Through it all, no man was more active, more true, or more patriotic, than Capt. Pike.

In 1863, the subject of our sketch was appointed provost-marshal of the third New Hampshire district, and during that and the two succeeding years, when the war-cloud hung heavy and dark on the southern horizon, he discharged the duties of this delicate and difficult office with unusual ability, and received from Mr. Frye, the provost-marshal-general, the highest possible commendation for the integrity and success with which he administered the affairs of his department of the public service. Associated with him in this branch of the military organization, were some of the foremost men of the state: Hon. Francis A. Faulkner, an able lawyer of Keene, was commissioner, and Dixi Crosby, the distinguished head of the Dartmouth Medical College, was surgeon of the board of enrollment; Senator H. W. Blair, Hon. Ossian Ray, and Col. Nelson Converse of Marlborough were the deputy-marshals, and Judge W. H. H. Allen of Newport, C. C. Kimball, Esq., of Charlestown, and Henry C. Henderson, Esq., of Keene, were clerks of the board. To have conducted the office in a way to secure the respect and co-operation of such a body of men is in itself a distinguished honor.

In 1866, Mr. Pike received the nomination for councilor of the fourth councilor district, but declined, and was subsequently appointed United States collector of internal revenue. His administration of the duties of this position was deservedly popular with the department at Washington, and with the people at home, and he remained in it till the districts of the state were consolidated. In 1876 he was a delegate from Cornish in the constitutional convention, receiving every vote cast by his fellow-townsmen.

In addition to these public offices, Mr. Pike has been a director in the Claremont National Bank for fifteen years, and an active member and officer of the Sullivan County, the Connecticut River, the New Hampshire State, and the New England agricultural societies. To have earned and to have enjoyed the popular favor in a republic and in so many and varied places of honorable trust, is to have passed the crucial test of fitness for public life.

Few men of positive character and recognized ability, if in exalted positions, are so fortunate, in this age, as to escape criticism; but it will be acknowledged that in all the state and national trusts held by the subject of our sketch, he has so borne himself as to win the approval of the authorities, the good will of the people, and the respect of his friends.

In 1862, Mr. Pike was united in marriage to Amanda M. Fay, the daughter of Hon. Levi Chamberlain Fay, of Windsor, Vt., a lady of attractive manners and varied accomplishments. Mrs. Pike has been a most loyal wife in all the relations of life, and the beloved mother of four children,—three sons and a daughter,—of whom but one survives, Chester Fay Pike, a lad of twelve years.

In the above narrative, we have done little more than to set down in order the events in the life of a quiet citizen of one of the country towns of our state; but, when we consider how much this gentleman has accomplished and that he is only now at the meridian of life, we realize that his is no ordinary career, and that New England does not furnish a long catalogue of men who have so well illustrated the genius of our institutions, and the possibilities of a sagacious mind that has a fixed purpose to succeed in the race of life. The man who does difficult work and wins the love of friends deserves to be honored of all. In all the relations of public and private life Mr. Pike,—

"By nature honest, by experience wise, Healthy by temperance and exercise,"

has acted well his part, and so honored his state, and made a name which his descendants will cherish in the years to come.

Thos. P. Pierce

COL. THOMAS P. PIERCE.

BY HON. JOHN H. GOODALE.

Most of the success and thrift which during the past thirty years have attended the manufacturing interests of New Hampshire are due to the untiring industry and intelligent foresight of that class of self-reliant, progressive business men who, starting in life with ordinary advantages, have had the nerve to seize and the capacity to improve the opportunities within their reach. Prominent among this class of enterprising and valuable citizens of this state is the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this page,—Hon. Thomas P. Pierce.

Col. Pierce was born in Chelsea, Mass., on the 30th of August, 1820. He came from Revolutionary stock on both the father's and mother's side. After limited training in the public schools, he learned the trade of carriage and ornamental painting in Boston.

In 1840, the subject of this sketch came to Manchester, which was then springing into existence as a manufacturing village, under the auspices of the Amoskeag Land and Water Company. Three years previous the first improvements were begun, and it was now a bustling town of six hundred families, gathered from every section of northern New England. With much of the rush and recklessness of a newly grown community, there were then germs of that energy which has since made Manchester an eminently prosperous city. Young Pierce, not yet of age, worked as a journeyman at his trade, and by his unvarying courtesy and cheerful spirit was a favorite among his associates. He was an active member of the famous Stark Guards,—a military organization of which Hon. George W. Morrison and Walter French, Esq., were successively in command.

There is no more exhaustive test of a young man's stamina than life in a rapidly growing manufacturing village. One literally goes in and out in the presence of the enemies' pickets, though they may not be intentional enemies. The temptation to excess is constant and persistent. Often the most brilliant and sagacious fall victims. It is to the credit of Thomas P. Pierce that he passed the ordeal unscathed. In the summer of 1842 it was his good fortune to marry Miss Asenath R. McPherson, the daughter of a farmer in the adjoining town of Bedford.

The war with Mexico began in 1846. When it was decided that an army under Gen. Scott should be raised to march to the city of Mexico, it was ordered that a regiment of infantry should be raised in New England. Mr. Pierce at once volunteered as a private, and was soon after commissioned, by President Polk, as second lieutenant of one of the companies of the New England regiment. The command of this regiment was first assigned to Franklin Pierce; but on his promotion to the command of a brigade it was given to Truman B. Ransom, a brave and accomplished officer from Vermont.

Early in the summer the brigade under Gen. Pierce was ordered to proceed to the eastern coast of Mexico, and to land in the vicinity of Vera Cruz, to be ready to co-operate with the main army under Gen. Scott in the march to the Mexican capital. The troops disembarked on the 28th of June,—a most unfavorable season of the year. The heat was so intense on the lowlands that to march between nine o'clock in the morning and four in the afternoon was impossible. With the exception of a few of the officers, the entire force was made up of new recruits. It occupied two weeks to secure mules for army transportation. On the 14th of July the movement toward the city of Mexico began, and, on reaching the foothills, every bridge and fortified pass was strongly guarded by hostile Mexicans. There was constant skirmishing, and the enemy, from the cliffs and thickets, made annoying and sometimes dangerous attacks. The climate, the difficulties of marching, and hardships of a military life in a strange country bore heavily on the inexperienced soldiery. Amid these perplexities, the tact, the genial spirit, and untiring attention to the wants of his comrades won for Lieut. Pierce a high regard and strong personal attachment. In the sharp conflicts which occurred on reaching the table-lands, Lieut. Pierce took an active part. At the battle of Contreras, fought August 19, he was personally complimented by Col. Ransom for bravery,—himself soon after a martyr to his personal valor.

Reaching the higher lands, Gen. Scott found the flower of the Mexican army entrenched among the cliffs of Churubusco. To leave the enemy in the rear was to hazard everything; and in the dangerous task of dislodging and utterly routing them the New England regiment bore a conspicuous part. In his report of the battle, Gen. Scott placed the name of Lieut. Pierce on the list of those recommended for promotion on account of gallant and meritorious conduct. The storming of Chepultepec soon followed, in which the New England regiment had literally to cross a succession of ridges and ravines, exposed to a deadly fire from the enemy among the crags. The assault was successful, and the surrender of the Mexican capital immediately followed. In this action, and in the details of patrol service during the winter, while the city was occupied by the American army, Lieut. Pierce was officially commended for the vigilant discharge of his duties.

The campaign in Mexico, with its varied experiences, had, without doubt, a marked and favorable effect upon the subject of this sketch. The novelty of climate and productions, the grandeur of the scenery, and the immense natural resources of that region were not lost upon him. But of still greater value was the experience gained from association with men of large attainments, positive ideas, strong will, and comprehensive views. The majority of the army officers in that campaign were of this character; and the young soldier, at the close of the war, returned home in March, 1848, with higher aims and a better and truer estimate of the duties and responsibilities of life.

Col. Pierce again engaged in business at his trade, in Manchester, which, in the meantime, had been incorporated a city. In 1849 he became a member of the city government; and in the same year was appointed a member of Gov. Dinsmoor's staff. Upon the inauguration of Gen. Franklin Pierce as president, in March, 1853, he was appointed postmaster at Manchester. This position, in the largest and most prosperous city of the state, was one of unusual labor and responsibility. Col. Pierce filled the office for eight years, and to the entire satisfaction of the citizens of all parties.

On the breaking out of the rebellion, in 1861, Col. Pierce was selected by Gov. Goodwin as commander of the Second New Hampshire regiment, of the three months' troops. Having satisfactorily discharged his duties, he retired after the term of enlistment was changed to three years. The next year, September, 1862, unexpected difficulties having arisen, Gov. Berry telegraphed to Col. Pierce to take command of the Twelfth New Hampshire regiment, then completing its organization at Concord. How well he accomplished the duty assigned him was expressed in a statement, signed by the officers of the regiment, at the time of his withdrawal, in the following words:—

"Your generous and patriotic course in assuming temporary command of the regiment during a period of great excitement and confusion, thereby saving it from dissolution and the state from disgrace, merits our admiration and sincere thanks."

In 1866, Col. Pierce removed to Nashua, for the purpose of engaging in the manufacture of card-board and glazed paper. Since then he has been an active member and one of the directors of the Nashua Card and Glazed-Paper Company,—one of the most successful business enterprises in the state, and which, in the variety and excellence of its products, is not surpassed by any corporation of its kind in the country. Col. Pierce is also a director of the Contoocook Valley Paper Company in Henniker, a director of the Second National Bank and president of the Mechanics Savings Bank at Nashua.

In 1874, Col. Pierce was elected a member of the New Hampshire state senate, the only candidate of his party ever elected from that district; and in 1875 and 1876 he was sheriff of Hillsborough county. While unwavering in his attachment to, and support of, the Democratic party, he is not rabid in his policy or partisan in his associations. When President Hayes visited Nashua, in 1877, he was selected by the city government as chairman of the committee of arrangements; and no citizen took a more efficient part in securing a proper observance of the obsequies of President Garfield. He and his family are attendants of the Universalist church.

In his social and domestic relations, Col. Pierce has been fortunate. Of his two children, the eldest, Mrs. Julia M., wife of William N. Johnson, resides at West Henniker, where her husband is a paper manufacturer; his son, Mr. Frank Pierce, is associated with him in business.

A few years since, having purchased the homestead of the late Gen. J. G. Foster, he built a spacious and elegant residence. Situated on an acclivity on the north side of the Nashua river, surrounded by ample grounds and stately trees, it is a home of rare attractions. Col. Pierce is still in the prime of active life, and his past record, as well as his present position, is a guarantee that he will ably and faithfully meet the responsibilities of the future.

COL. MARTIN V. B. EDGERLY.

BY H. H. METCALF.

In these days of varying fortune in business life, and in this country especially, where property is accumulated or lost more readily and frequently than in any other land, the beneficent nature of the institution of life assurance has come to be very generally appreciated. This institution, which, so far as its general establishment is concerned, is peculiarly an American one, is indeed a natural outgrowth of our social and business system, and is coming to be more fully recognized, from year to year, in one form or another, as the only medium through which men in general business, or most of the avocations of life, may make substantially sure provision for the support of their families or those depending upon them, in case of their own removal by death before acquiring a competency, or after the loss of the same through business reverses or adventitious circumstances. The man who stands before the public as a leading representative of an institution of such importance becomes properly a person of note in the business community; and when he is endowed with those powers and qualities of mind which naturally bring him into prominence in social and political circles and the general activities of life, he may well be classed among those who are esteemed representative men of the times in the state and section wherein he resides, and which is the field of his active labor. Such a man is the subject of this sketch.

Martin Van Buren Edgerly is a native of the town of Barnstead,—a town, by the way, which has sent out its productions into the world in the form of able, energetic men,—men of strong minds in strong bodies, who have made their mark in the world, and stand at the front in the various fields of activity in which they have engaged. In the domain of law, of theology, of politics, and of general business, the sons of Barnstead hold high rank, as is abundantly demonstrated by reference to the names of Lewis W. Clark, Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, John G. Sinclair, and John P. Newell. Mr. Edgerly was the fifth of nine children—five sons and four daughters—of Samuel J. and Eliza (Bickford) Edgerly, born September 26, 1833. Samuel J. Edgerly was a man of far more than ordinary intelligence and mental activity, who, but for the misfortune of disease, which impaired his physical powers in early life;, would have become unquestionably a leading spirit in public affairs. As it was, he was recognized by all with whom he came in contact in life as a man of strong mind and decided character. He was a descendant, upon the maternal side, and was named in honor of that Col. Samuel Johnson who was one of the early settlers of the town of Northwood, and of whom it is said, in sketching the history of that town, that upon the first night of his abode within its limits he slept upon the ground between two rocks, with a quilt or piece of canvas for covering.

M. V. B. Edgerly

When a lad of twelve years, Col. Edgerly removed with his parents to Manchester. He attended the public schools for a time, but at an early age entered the service of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, being engaged at first in the mills and afterwards in the machine-shop; but, after several years, becoming dissatisfied with the dull routine of mechanical labor, and desirous of testing his powers in the field of business, in October, 1856, at the age of twenty-three, he embarked in trade as a joint proprietor of a drug-store with Mr. Lewis H. Parker. He was thus engaged but a short time, however, removing the following year to the town of Pittsfield, where he soon established himself in the insurance business, taking the agency of various companies, fire and life. This, it may be truly said, was the actual starting point in his career. He found in this business a field of labor congenial to his tastes, and peculiarly adapted to the development and exercise of the distinctive powers of mind and body with which he is endowed; and he entered into his work with heart and soul. He was not long in discovering the special line of effort to which he was best adapted, and which gave the best promise of substantial success in response to such effort; nor were the managers of the business in question long in ascertaining, from the character of the work already accomplished, the direction in which their own advantage lay; and so it came about in a short time, that after a visit to the company's office in Springfield, made upon the solicitation of the president, Col. Edgerly became exclusively the agent of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, relinquishing all other agencies, and devoting his entire efforts to the interests of the company.

So thorough and satisfactory was the work which he accomplished, that a year later he was given the general agency of the company for the state of New Hampshire, with headquarters at Manchester, to which city he removed with his family, when, in 1863, he was given charge of the business for Vermont and northern New York in addition to this state. Under his efficient management and supervision the business of the company increased to a remarkable degree in the entire territory of which he had control, until the net annual receipts in premiums upon new policies, in New Hampshire alone, had risen from substantially nothing in 1859, when he first commenced work, to nearly seventy-five thousand dollars in 1866, representing the proceeds from the issue of a thousand policies, covering an aggregate insurance of more than a million and a half of dollars. This remarkable success was due, not simply to the work of personal solicitation, in which line Col. Edgerly has no superiors, but more especially to the keen discernment and ready knowledge of men with which he is endowed, enabling him to select proper agents and judiciously supervise their work.

In 1868 he accepted the position of superintendent of the company's agencies throughout the country. For two years he labored as none but a physically robust and mentally active man can, establishing agencies and working up the business of the company throughout the West, while retaining and directing his own special work in the East. This double labor was too arduous, even for a man of his powers, and in 1870 he resigned the position of superintendent, and confined his work to his former field in New Hampshire, Vermont, and northern New York. In September, 1874, however, he was induced to accept charge of the company's agency in Boston, in addition to his other duties, and since that date he has divided his time and labor between the two positions, efficiently directing the work of both, and largely increasing the business at the Boston office. In January last he was made a member of the board of directors of the company which he has so long and faithfully served, and which owes its prosperity, in no small degree, to his intelligent efforts.

Col. Edgerly has been a Democrat from youth, and has ever manifested a lively interest in political affairs, although he has had neither the time nor inclination to enter, to any extent, upon the duties of public position, even had it been in the power of his party to confer the same. He has, however, in such time as he was able to command, done a great deal of party work in different campaigns; and in 1874 was elected a member of the board of aldermen, although his ward was strongly Republican at the time, thus demonstrating his personal popularity and the esteem in which he is held in the community where he resides. He has frequently served as a member of the Democratic state committee, and as treasurer of the same, and a member of the executive committee; also, as chairman of the Democratic city committee in Manchester. He was a delegate from New Hampshire to the Democratic national convention at Baltimore, in 1872, which nominated Horace Greeley for the presidency, and was the New Hampshire member of the Democratic national committee from 1872 to 1876. Again, in 1880, he was chosen a delegate-at-large to the national convention of his party. In 1871 he was appointed, by Gov. Weston, chief of staff; and in 1873 and 1874 he held the position of commander of the Amoskeag Veterans, of which organization he has long been an active and popular member. In 1874 he was appointed, by President Grant, an alternate commissioner to represent New Hampshire at the centennial exposition and celebration in Philadelphia.

Actively and closely as he has been engaged in his chosen line of business, Col. Edgerly has lent his aid and judgment to some extent to the encouragement and direction of other business enterprises. He has been many years a trustee of the Merrimack River Savings Bank and a director of the Suncook Valley Railroad, of which latter enterprise he was among the active promoters. He was also, for a time, a director of the City National Bank. In his religious associations he is an Episcopalian, and is an active member and officer of Grace church in Manchester. He is also a member of the Odd Fellows and Masonic bodies in the city of his residence.

March 7, 1854, Col. Edgerly was united in marriage with Miss Alvina Barney of Danbury, by whom he has had three children, two of whom are now living, a son and daughter,—Clinton Johnson, born December 16, 1857, and Mabel Clayton, born October 18, 1859.

Col. Edgerly is a man of fine personal appearance, genial manners, and a ready appreciation of the demands of friendship and society, as well as those of business. There are few men of greater personal popularity in his city or state, and none who command more fully the confidence of those with whom they are brought into relationship, whether in business or in social life. Yet under fifty years of age, he has, it may naturally be assumed, many years of successful effort yet before him, and many more in which to enjoy the substantial reward of his labor.

ICHABOD GOODWIN. GOVERNOR OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 1859-60.

HON. ICHABOD GOODWIN.

BY FRANK GOODWIN.

Mr. Goodwin is the eldest son of Samuel Goodwin and Nancy Thompson Gerrish, and was born in that part of Berwick which is now North Berwick, in the state of Maine. He is descended, on both father's and mother's side, from families of very great colonial importance. The great-grandfather of Mr. Goodwin, Capt. Ichabod Goodwin, is said, by the writer of the genealogy of the Berwick Goodwins, in the Historical Magazine, to have been the most remarkable man who ever lived in that town. He distinguished himself at the battle of Ticonderoga, and we learn from the London Magazine that he was especially mentioned in Maj.-Gen. Abercrombie's report to Secretary Pitt.

On his father's side, his ancestors figured conspicuously in the wars before the Revolution, and up to the period of the Revolution were of the families upon whom devolved the magisterial work and honor of the times. On his mother's side he is likewise descended from families which for a century, and up to the time of the Revolution, performed a large share of the duties of public office; and some of the most conspicuous names in the colonial history of Maine and New Hampshire are to be counted among his maternal ancestors.

To mention the names of Champernoun, Waldron, and Elliot, none more familiar to those informed upon colonial history, is but to recall the persons from whom, on the maternal side, he is lineally descended, or with whom his maternal ancestors were closely allied by ties of family connection. The ante-revolutionary importance of the people from whom he comes is well illustrated by the fact that the name of his maternal grandfather, Joseph Gerrish, stands first on the triennial catalogue of Harvard College in the list of graduates of the year 1752, a class which numbered a Quincy among its graduating members. The significance of this fact, as bearing upon the status of his mother's family at that time, is, that the names of the members of the classes of that day are published in the triennial catalogue of Harvard in the order of the social importance of the families to which the members respectively belonged.

At the time of Mr. Goodwin's birth, which was just before the beginning of the present century, the state of things which the Revolution had brought about had had ample time to crystallize. Whether it was through the great changes that under the new order of things had taken place in the political, social, and commercial affairs of the country, or whether from those inherent causes under the operation of which families conspicuous and influential in one period drop out of notice and are lost to the eye of the historian, the annalist, and perhaps even of the town chronicler, Mr. Goodwin's family, at the time of his birth, were simply plain farming people, highly respected within the limits of the little country town in which they lived, but no longer among the noted, or influential, or wealthy people of Maine. The country had, by the close of the last century, taken a considerable stride onward in prosperity as well as in numerical growth, and the bustle and hum of industry, pouring itself into new channels of prosperity, had passed by many of the families which in the earlier era had been the foremost in developing the resources of the country, in leading the yeomanry in war, in presiding over the tribunals, and sitting in council as civic magistrates.

Mr. Goodwin's academic education consisted of several years of study at the academy at South Berwick, an institution having at that time a good deal of local importance, and then, as now, the only school in the vicinity of his birthplace where a fitting for college could be obtained. Shortly after leaving that academy he entered the counting-house of Samuel Lord, Esq., then a very prominent merchant and ship-owner of Portsmouth, N. H., and he became a member of Mr. Lord's family. He here displayed qualities which had been quite conspicuous in his earlier boyhood,—those of energy and assiduity and a very marked capacity for affairs. These qualities, which at the early age of twelve had made him quite a competent and satisfactory manager of the farm of his widowed step-grandmother, who was the grandmother of Mr. Lord, showed later in his conduct as a clerk in the commercial business of the then very thriving shipping port of Portsmouth. Mr. Lord, finding that Mr. Goodwin's business abilities were more comprehensive than the mere duties of a clerk required, placed him as a supercargo in charge of the business of what was then the largest ship owned in the port, the "Elizabeth Wilson." In the present days of railroads, sea-going steamers, oceanic cables, and the commercial complement of these foreign correspondents or agents, it may seem a trivial sign of a young man's capacities to name the fact of his being made the business manager of a ship, especially as ships then went in regard to size; but it is the introduction of these very modern appliances for conducting business which has rendered the responsibility of the delegated management of this species of property comparatively easy. In the days of Mr. Goodwin's early voyaging, the whole discretion as to the conduct of the ship's affairs was vested in the supercargo, except in the brief period of her being in the home port, when the owner resumed his authority and control. In foreign places, among strangers, beyond the reach of opportunity for consultation with his owner, the young man must rely upon himself; must decide upon what voyage his ship shall go, and must be ready to account to his principal upon his return for the results of a prosperous enterprise or a disastrous adventure. It was not long before Mr. Goodwin had learned enough of seamanship to enable him to add to the duties of the supercargo the further business of navigating his ship, so that for several years he was both ship-master and business manager, offices then, as now, rarely combined in one person; for the ship-master is to-day chiefly the navigator and head seaman of his ship, while the business, involving the chartering and the rest, is attended to by a merchant in the port of destination, who is in ready communication with the owner, both by the fast-going mail of the steamship and the quicker method of the ocean cable. Mr. Goodwin's sea life lasted for about twelve years. During that time he had been so far successful as to become a part owner, and to be enabled to begin business at home.

In the year 1832 he established himself as a merchant at Portsmouth. Portsmouth has been his home ever since that time; and there he for many years conducted an extensive mercantile business, his chief business interests lying in the direction of the foreign carrying-trade. Upon leaving the sea he soon became foremost in matters that were of public concern. He was one of the early projectors of the railroad interests of New England; and, until within a few years, he has taken a large part in all the enterprises of public import in the vicinity of his home, including, besides railroads, the enterprises of manufacturing and banking; and he has been vested always with a large share of the local trusts, both public and private, which devolve upon the public-spirited and trusted citizen. He has of late years been inclined to withdraw from these responsibilities; but of those which he still retains, the presidency of the Howard Benevolent Society, a position he has held for over thirty years, and the presidency of the Portsmouth Bridge Company may be mentioned. He has, however, within the last two years, assumed the presidency of the First National Bank of Portsmouth, in which he is largely interested as a stockholder, and in which institution he had been a director from its incorporation as a state bank. He was for many years and at different periods a director in the Eastern Railroad Company, and was the first president of the Eastern Railroad in New Hampshire, which position he held for twenty-five years. He was also of the first board of direction of the Portland, Saco, & Portsmouth Railroad Company, and was the president of that corporation from the year 1847 to the year 1871. But it is unnecessary to mention all the public trusts of a corporate nature which have been confided to his care. His chief claim to public esteem, and that which will secure to him its most enduring recognition, is derived from his services as the first "war governor" of New Hampshire.

Upon Mr. Goodwin's settling as a business man in Portsmouth, he did not confine his energies to his private business and to corporate enterprises, but soon acquired a large interest and influence as a member of the Whig party. He served in the legislature of New Hampshire, as a member of that party, in the years 1838, 1843, 1844, 1850, 1854, and 1856. He was also a delegate-at-large from that state to the conventions at which Clay, Taylor, and Scott were nominated by the Whigs for the presidency, and was a vice-president at the first two named conventions; and he has twice served in the constitutional conventions of New Hampshire. He was the candidate of the Whigs for congress at several elections before the state was divided into congressional districts. New Hampshire was in those days one of the most powerful strongholds of the Democratic party in the country; and a Whig nomination for any office, determined by the suffrages of the whole state, was merely a tribute of esteem by that party to one of its most honored members. Upon the establishment of congressional districts, Mr. Goodwin received a unanimous nomination of the Whig party for congress at the first convention held in his district. This nomination bid fair to be followed by an election, but the circumstances of his private business prevented his acceptance of the candidateship. In the great political convulsions which preceded the war of the rebellion, the power of the Democratic party in New Hampshire began to decline, while the ties which through years of almost steady defeat in the state at large had been sufficient to hold together the Whig party, now came to be loosened, and out of the decadence of the former and the extinction of the latter party there was built up the Republican party, which gained the supremacy in the state, and which has ever since, with a brief exception, maintained that supremacy. Mr. Goodwin, while in full sympathy with the cause of the Union, which he believed the politicians of the South were striving to dismember, yet felt that perhaps the impending crisis could be arrested through the means of the old political organizations; and he remained steadfast to the organization of the Whig party until he saw that its usefulness, both as a state and as a national party, was gone. He was the last candidate of the Whigs for the office of governor of New Hampshire, and received in the whole state the meager amount of about two thousand votes. This lesson did not require to be repeated. He immediately did all in his power to aid in the establishment of the Republican party in this state; for, although the old-time issues between the Democrats and Whigs had gone by, and new questions had arisen involving the very integrity of the nation, he did not regard the Democratic party as one capable of solving or disposed to solve those questions in a patriotic and statesmanlike way. He was chosen the governor of New Hampshire, as the Republican candidate, in the year 1859, and was re-elected in the following year, his second term of office having expired on June 5, 1861.

The military spirit of the people of New Hampshire had become dormant, and the militia system of the state had fallen pretty much to decay long before the election of Mr. Goodwin to the office of governor. A slight revival of that spirit, perhaps, is marked by the organization in his honor, in January, 1860, of the "Governor's Horse-Guards,"—a regiment of cavalry in brilliant uniform, designed to do escort duty to the governor,—as well as by a field muster of several voluntary organizations of troops which went into camp at Nashua in the same year. But when the call of President Lincoln for troops was made, in the spring of 1861, the very foundation of a military system required to be formed. The legislature was not in session, and would not convene, except under a special call, until the following June. There were no funds in the treasury which could be devoted to the expense of the organization and equipment of troops, as all the available funds were needed to meet the ordinary state expenditures. The great confidence of the people of New Hampshire in the wisdom and integrity of Mr. Goodwin found in this emergency full expression. Without requiring time to convene the legislature so as to obtain the security of the state for the loan, the banking institutions and citizens of the state tendered him the sum of $680,000, for the purpose of enabling him to raise and equip for the field New Hampshire's quota of troops. This offer he gladly accepted; and averting delay in the proceedings by refraining from convening the legislature, he, upon his own responsibility, proceeded to organize and equip troops for the field; and in less than two months he had dispatched to the army, near Washington, two well equipped and well officered regiments. Of this sum of $680,000, only about $100,000 was expended. On the assembling of the legislature, that body unanimously passed the "enabling act," under which all of his proceedings as governor were ratified, and the state made to assume the responsibility.

During the period of this gubernatorial service, there was a reconstruction of the bench of the highest judicial tribunal of the state; and during that time nearly every position upon that court was filled by his appointment. It is sufficient to say that the exalted rank which that tribunal has ever held among the courts of last resort of the states of the nation, suffered no diminution from his appointments to its bench, such was the good sense and discernment of Mr. Goodwin in making the selections, although himself not versed in the law.

"Waite's History of New Hampshire in the Rebellion" says of him:—