Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
Portland, and First National Bank of Walla Walla, W. T. At the same time
he was largely engaged in transportation across the plains. He fully
understood the requirements for merchandise in Utah, Montana, Wyoming,
and Colorado. He furnished and dispatched large trains from San
Bernardino, Cal., to Utah, and from St. Joseph, Mo., to Colorado, and
from there to Montana, giving his personal attention to them all. This
was no pastime twenty years ago. A country largely held by hostile
Indians had to be traversed, and few trains reached their destination
unmolested. Desperate encounters frequently occurred, resulting in more
or less loss to life and property, and once ending in the capture of an
entire train by the "Red Devils." Other obstacles had to be met,
incident to such undertakings, like storms, swollen rivers, and
break-downs, which would have seemed insuperable to any one of less
force of character. Realizing what the great West might be, he purchased
land in all the territories, which investments have proved advantageous.
He engaged in many other transactions which his keen perceptions led him
to believe would be remunerative, so that, in fact, there were but few
enterprises of importance connected with the growth and development of
the Pacific slope, whether pertaining to its finance, internal
improvements, or its foreign and domestic commerce, in which the cool
and sagacious subject of this sketch was not a participator.
To organize and direct successfully such varied and extended operations,
outlined here only in part, required a mind strong in perception and
purpose. A union of these qualities, with that adventurous spirit which
led the youth of eighteen to the sources of the Orinoco and the pampas
of the Amazon in pursuit of wealth, constituted a mental alliance which
could well measure the possibilities of a new country and avail himself
of their fulfillment.
In all this time Mr. Tilton enjoyed excellent health and immunity from
serious accident. After living amidst the steaming malaria of tropical
lagoons, sleeping by the side of his mustang on the plains, blockaded by
the storms of the Sierras, assailed by the hostile Apaches, he returns
to his native hills unscathed, with a sound constitution and the early
purpose of his will fully accomplished.
Mr. Tilton's munificence has manifested itself most liberally to his
townsmen within two years. In that time he has erected and conveyed to
them a town hall finished in an elegant and substantial manner. It
contains a market and town office, a store and post-office, all
commodiously arranged, no expense being spared which would add to
convenience. They return to the treasury a handsome rental. The hall
proper is easily approached, is finished in hard wood, as is all the
interior of the building. It is artistically frescoed in water-colors
and gilt, lighted with gas, has a stage fitted with drop-curtains,
changes of scenery, a beautiful proscenium, proper furniture, a Steinway
piano, all after the most approved styles. The building, with its
appointments, is the admiration of visitors and the pride of
towns-people. He has placed an iron bridge, the present season, from
Main street to Island Park, costing over eighteen hundred dollars. The
public are allowed at all times to use and occupy this delightful
resort. Its airy summerhouse, built after an European model, surrounded
by works of art, is unmatched in loveliness. For remodeling one of the
village churches he contributed more than three thousand dollars; and
donated five hundred towards an iron bridge between Tilton and
Northfield, which act results in two by the towns named. He expended a
large sum in the purchase of land and improving it for a public park
near by the village, and, including the gift of the fine town hall,
January 4, 1881, must have appropriated forty thousand dollars for the
pleasure and benefit of his townsmen. During this period he has paid
thousands of dollars for improvements on his own premises, giving
employment to a large force of laborers and mechanics.
Mr. Tilton's elegant and spacious residence is situated on an eminence
commanding a magnificent prospect, and overlooks the village that bears
his name. When built, a few years since, it was deemed one of the best
in central New Hampshire. In the last two years it has been materially
improved, while large additions have been constructed, consisting of an
extensive conservatory and aviary on the one side of the main building,
and a spacious drawing-room on the other; it is unequaled in its
appointments, perhaps, in New England. It is twenty-eight feet by
thirty-eight feet in area, and twenty-two feet in height. Seven thousand
five hundred feet of mahogany were used to complete it. To the height of
four feet the most elaborate work in wainscoting is produced, while
pilasters in the same wood, ornate in their design, extend from the
floor on either side and meet in the ceiling above. This arrangement in
finish running at right angles leaves the walls and surface overhead
checked into panels, either square or oblong, each of which is filled
with an individual conception of the artist, but collectively form a
general design. An exquisitely designed gablet holds the porcelain tiled
fire front, its three sides partly filled with French plate mirrors, and
a Swiss styled hooding covers the apex which contains the clock. Carpets
and rugs, drapery and furniture, mirrors and chandeliers, were
manufactured for the room. We know the owner is averse to anything that
attracts attention to himself. The public on proper occasions have had
the pleasure of seeing these premises; and what we have here recited has
been gathered from sources that have been open to all.
Mr. Tilton is cordial and pleasant in his intercourse with his neighbors
and acquaintances, and in feelings and tastes one of the people. The
steel portrait is an excellent one. He is in the prime of manhood and
intellect.
Through life, so far, he seems to have been conscious that his capacity
was for business and not politics. He has never sought or held public
office, and says he never will. The frequent mention of his name in
political circles and sometimes in the press, in such connection, is not
inspired by him.
He comes back to a common welcome after thirty years of incessant labor,
from amidst surroundings, which, if detailed, would seem stranger than
fiction.
Mr. Tilton was married December 29, and sailed in the "Gallia" from New
York for Liverpool, January 4, 1882. We understand it is the intention
of the happy pair, if Providence permits, to stay abroad as long as
pleasure or profit can be derived from their trip.
COL. CHARLES E. BALCH.
Charles Edward Balch was born in Francestown in 1834, and is the son of
Mason and Hannah Balch, his mother being a daughter of Joshua Holt, of
Greenfield. His boyhood was spent upon a farm, and his education was
obtained in the common schools and Francestown Academy. When eighteen
years of age he began life for himself as a book-keeper in the dry-goods
store of Barton & Co., in Manchester, and two years later had so
established himself in the confidence of the managers of the Manchester
Savings Bank that he was called to a clerkship in that institution. In
this position his industry, courtesy, and excellent judgment won good
opinions from all with whom he came in contact, and when the Manchester
National Bank was organized, in 1865, he was chosen its cashier, and has
filled this responsible position ever since. He has also been a trustee
of the Manchester Savings Bank since 1862, is a member of its investing
committee, treasurer of the Manchester Gas-Light Company, a director and
member of the finance committee of the New Hampshire Fire Insurance
Company, and a trustee of many large estates. In all these positions,
Mr. Balch has proved himself a sagacious, careful, and safe financier.
The banks to which he has given the most of his time and energies
reflect in their strength and uniform success his honesty, reliability,
and prudence; and those whose funds have been intrusted to his
management have always found their confidence justified by steady and
satisfactory returns.
Mr. Balch is, moreover, a man whose private character is above
suspicion, a citizen whose public duties are never left to others, a
friend whose fealty is never doubted, and an acquaintance whose
courtesy, candor, and affability command universal respect and good
will. He has been too modest to ask, and too busy to accept, political
honors; but his influence has been potent in advancing the party to
which he belongs, and in shaping the policy of the city in which he
resides. In affairs of state and city, as in business matters, he makes
little noise; but his work tells, and his convictions of duty bring
substantial results. He was commissioned a colonel of the state militia
in 1879, and served on Gov. Head's staff for two years.
In July, 1867, Mr. Balch married Miss Emeline R. Brooks, daughter of
Rev. Nahum Brooks, then of Bath, Me., but now of Manchester, who
presides over and dispenses the hospitalities of his pleasant home.
HON. JOHN CARROLL MOULTON.
BY COL. THOMAS J. WHIPPLE.
The ancestors of Hon. JOHN C. MOULTON were among the fifty-six
inhabitants from the county of Norfolk, England, who first settled in
the town of Hampton, then Winnicumet, in the year 1638. The names of
John Molton and Thomas Molton appear in a partial list of these original
settlers, which may be found in "Belknap's History of New Hampshire."
Vol. I. p. 37.
General Jonathan Moulton was a descendant of this family, and the
great-grandfather of John C. Moulton. He was born in Hampton, N. H.,
June 30, 1726, and died at Hampton, in the year 1788, at the age of
sixty-two. He was a large proprietor in lands, and several flourishing
towns in the interior of this state owe their early settlement to his
exertions and influence. This fact is mentioned in "Farmer & Moore's
Gazetteer," published in 1823. When he was thirty-seven years old, the
town of Moultonborough was granted to him and sixty-one others, by the
Masonian proprietors, November 17, 1763. He was already noted for the
distinguished service which he had rendered in the Indian wars, which
ended with the Ossipee tribe, along the northerly borders of
Moultonborough, in 1763. Many of his adventures during this bloody
period have been preserved and transmitted to the present time; enough,
indeed, to fill a large space in this brief sketch. It may be well to
preserve one of these incidents in this record:--
An octogenarian in the vicinity of Moultonborough relates that, during
the Indian wars, Colonel, afterward General, Jonathan Moulton went out
with a scouting party from Dover. After numerous adventures, they met
with and attacked a party of six Indians, near a place now known as
Clark's Landing, on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee, all of whom fell in
the skirmish which ensued, with one exception. The colonel had a large
dog with him, which, after the affray was over, he placed upon the track
of the escaped Indian. The dog ran on the shore a short distance, and
then struck off on to the ice. The party followed, and as they
approached the entrance of what is now Green bay they saw in the
distance that the dog had the Indian down upon the ice; and when they
got to the spot the Indian was dead,--killed by the dog.
The active services of the general in these border wars had made him, at
an early age, well and favorably known to the leading men of that day.
His numerous raids and scouts, in the region occupied by the Ossipee
tribes, had made him well acquainted with the then wilderness, and with