Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men

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

Illustration note

[Illustration: 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