Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
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 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.