Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
productive pursuits of life,--we may not only be justly proud that the
material strength of the country has been fully equal to the burden, but
that it has been borne so quietly and so willingly." This office was
administered wisely and well, by Mr. Rollins, till March 8, 1869, when
President Grant assumed the reins of government. Failing health then
admonished him to retire from the distracting cares of the office of
commissioner. At the time of its resignation, as many of his subordinate
officials as could come together adopted resolutions of respect and
confidence in honor of their head. The first resolution expresses the
opinions of the whole country, including cabinet officers and senators,
as well as their own. It is thus written:--
"_Resolved_, that the integrity, fidelity, ability, and untiring
devotion to the duties of his office which Mr. Rollins has
exhibited, have inspired in us feelings of profound respect for
his sterling qualities as a man and an officer; and that we
especially admire the genial disposition which he has uniformly
manifested toward us, amid all the cares and perplexities of a
difficult and a burdensome office, held, much of the time, under
peculiarly trying circumstances."
The remaining resolutions are cumulative of these expressions of
confidence and esteem. No testimony could be more honorable to a well
spent official life.
The religious life of Mr. Rollins, from boyhood to age, has been as
strongly marked as his official career. He believes in doing, not in
seeming; in practice, not in profession. He can speak as well as work
for the truth. When the pastor needs help, he addresses the people. When
the poor of the church or congregation need aid, he heads and carries
the subscription paper. He has never lived in a place where he has not
taught a Bible class; and worthy young men who have learned in his
classes have often received promotion in business through his influence.
He is always present at the stated meetings of the church.
"Punctuality," says the old maxim, "is the essence of virtue." Mr.
Rollins believed in the importance of punctuality; therefore he was
never missed from the place of duty. In college he was never absent or
unprepared; in office, in the bank, in public assemblies, the hours of
business are promptly observed. In church, too, the times and places of
worship are conscientiously observed, and if a delinquent neighbor, who
has failed to be present when church affairs, temporal or spiritual,
were discussed, meets him on a subsequent day, he is carefully
questioned with regard to his health!
The family is the unit of the state. Good families make good
communities, good cities, and good nations. A single good family is a
light shining in a dark place. The history of the world is the united
histories of illustrious families. The history of the church is the
history of holy men. The Scriptures record the deeds and words of the
best men our earth has known. Eliminate from the Bible the actions and
opinions of kings, prophets, and apostles, and the records of our race
become unintelligible. When we find a faultless and worthy Christian
household, we do well to present it to the public for contemplation and
imitation. One such household we venture to describe. Mr. Rollins's
house is beautiful of situation, at the corner of Spruce and Fortieth
streets, in West Philadelphia. Its liberal grounds, numerous trees,
shrubs, and flowers make it very attractive to the eye of the stranger.
When once introduced to the interior, every guest who has any music in
his soul would be delighted to sing "Home, sweet Home" from early morn
to dewy eve. Every room invites you to repose; every picture that looks
upon you from the walls bids you welcome. It is impossible for one who
has enjoyed the hospitality of the house to describe it fully without
encroaching upon the sacred privacy of domestic life. This house was
long the home of the now sainted mother, who only a few months ago was
bidden to go up higher, and left the husband and children desolate. The
house seems like the shrine of a departed divinity. The furniture was of
her selection, the walls and mantels were adorned by her handiwork; and
when changes or additions are now made to the internal conveniences of
the home, the first question asked is, "What would mother choose if she
could speak to us?" Her spirit seems still to hover over them.
Sidney Smith said, "There can be no handsomer furniture than books."
Every room, every nook and corner of the house, is furnished with new
books. The room specially devoted to library uses has a selection of
books in every department of reading, sufficient for the instruction and
pleasure of any man of refined taste and culture. Amid the thousands of
volumes gathered, the most precious of them all to the family and their
friends are two volumes written by Mrs. Rollins not long before her
decease, entitled "New England Bygones" and "Old-Time Child Life." To
one born in New England seventy years ago, the pictures of New England
scenes are inimitable; they stir the blood of age like a trumpet. These
books are the creations of true genius, and will live when all the
contemporaries of this gifted woman are dead.
Enough has been said to reveal the attractions of this delightful home.
Every word has been dictated by a life-long friendship. The sterling
qualities of the subject of this sketch constrained me to portray them,
and the half has not been said. When the elders of the Jews were sent to
Jesus by the Roman centurion to intercede for his sick servant, the
highest commendation they could name was this: "For he loveth our
nation, and hath built us a synagogue." He was patriotic and religious;
he feared God and loved his neighbor. No higher test of moral worth can
be named. Let all public men be judged by this standard; and among them
our good friend whom we have sketched, we doubt not, will hold a high
rank. And if at any time the President of the United States should be
seeking for a man for financial secretary who is honest, capable, and
experienced, a multitude of voters would cry out,--Edward Ashton Rollins
is the man!
VIRGIL C. GILMAN.
VIRGIL CHASE GILMAN was born in Unity, Sullivan county, New Hampshire,
May 5, 1827, and was the third of a family of eight children born to
Emerson and Delia (Way) Gilman.
Emerson Gilman was the oldest son and the first of twelve children born
to Stephen and Dorothy (Clough) Gilman, who were married September 5,
1793. This was his second marriage, he having married Anna Huntoon, by
whom he had nine children, some of whom died in infancy. Stephen Gilman
was a native of Kingston, and served as a cavalry officer in the war of
the Revolution. He was a descendant of Moses Gilman, who was one of
three brothers,--Edward, John, and Moses,--who emigrated from Hingham,
England, early in the sixteenth century.
In 1827, it was said:[4] "Edward Gilman's descendants are as
numerous as the sands on the seashore. There is hardly a state
in the Union where they may not be found. The family have been
in civil office from the time our colony became a royal province
to the present time. John Gilman was one of the first counselors
named in President Cutts's commission, and died in 1708. Col.
Peter Gilman was one of the royal counselors in 1772. Hon.
Nicholas Gilman was counselor in 1777 and 1778. Hon. John
Gilman, in 1787; while the present venerable John Taylor Gilman
was fourteen years, eleven in succession, our highly respected
chief magistrate. His brother, Nicholas Gilman, was a member of
the house of representatives in congress eight years, and in the
national senate nine years. Our ecclesiastical annals have,
also, Rev. Nicholas Gilman, Harvard College, 1724; and Rev.
Tristram Gilman, Harvard College, 1757, both respected clergymen
and useful men."
These words are quoted in substance from Mr. Lincoln's work. "If
he had written forty years later" says the author of "The Gilman
Family in England and America,"[5] "he would have found the
family still more numerous and many additions would have been
made to his list of prominent men bearing the Gilman name. The
family of Gilmans is not one furnishing a few brilliant
exceptions in a long list of commonplace names. Its members
appear generally to have been remarkable for the quiet home
virtues, and rather to have desired to be good citizens than men
of great name. To an eminent degree they appear to have obtained
the esteem and respect of those nearest to them, for sound
judgment and sterling traits of character."
Emerson Gilman followed the trade of clothier until the introduction of
machinery supplanted the hand process, when he, after pursuing the
business of farmer for a few years, removed to Lowell, Mass., in 1837,
relying, upon his strong and willing hands to find support for his large
family and give his children the advantages of education which that city
signally afforded.
The subject of this sketch was then ten years old, and made fair
progress through the several grades to the high school, with which his
school-days ended. He removed to Nashua in 1843, but it was not until
1851 that he entered business on his own behalf, at which time he became
associated with Messrs. Gage and Murray for the manufacture of printers'
cards of all the various kinds, also fancy-colored, embossed, and marble
papers, a new business in this country at that time, which business he
followed successfully for twenty-one years, and until his close and
unremitting application made it necessary for him to relinquish it for a
more active out-door employment. Following a natural love for rural
affairs, he was not long in possessing himself of a hundred-acres farm
in the south part of the city, upon the Lowell road, which he greatly
improved, and indulged to some extent in the usually expensive luxury of
breeding Jersey cattle, trotting-horses, and Plymouth Rock fowls. He
claims to have bred the finest and fastest gaited horse ever raised in
New Hampshire. Meantime, having realized the object sought, greatly
improved health, and the office of treasurer of the Nashua Savings Bank
becoming vacant by the resignation of Dr. E. Spalding, in 1876, he was
elected to fill the vacancy, and still continues in this responsible
position, with nearly two and a half millions of deposits committed to
his watchful care and secure investment.
Never coveting office, still he has rarely refused to perform his full
share of duty in the various departments of labor and responsibility
incident to city affairs, from ward clerk to the mayor's chair, serving
also as assessor, member of the board of education, and is now trustee
of the public library, also its secretary and treasurer. To him
Dartmouth College is indebted for the Gilman scholarship; and the board
of trustees of the Orphans' Home at Franklin finds in him an interested
member. He is identified with the mechanical industries of the city,
having a large interest in the Nashua Iron and Steel Company, and its
local director; also an owner and director in the Underhill Edge Tool
Company, and Amoskeag Axe Company; also a director in the Indian Head
National Bank.
In military affairs actively he is unknown, his service having commenced
and ended with the "Governor's Horse-Guards," enlisting as private in
Co. B, and ending as major of the battalion. His interest, however, is
kept alive by honorary membership of "City Guards" and "Foster Rifles,"
of his adopted city.
His strong love for agricultural affairs led him to take an interest in