Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
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.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A genealogy of the Weston families in America, prepared under the
direction and patronage of Gov. Weston, is nearly ready for publication.
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