Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
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