Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
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.'. P.'. R.'. S.'. 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.
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.
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.