Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
commander of the first company of militia in the towns of Newbury and
Haverhill "in our province of New Hampshire," as says his commission,
signed in 1764 by Benning Wentworth, which, with his sword, borne in two
wars, is now in Col. Kent's possession. During the Revolution, while
burdened with the cares of the infant settlement, he was an earnest
actor in the scenes which gave us our independence. He was colonel of
the forces in his vicinity, and on the advance of Burgoyne started with
his regiment for the field, and was present with it at the capitulation
at Saratoga. The original homestead is still in the family, Col. Jacob
Kent--a gentleman through a long life well known in the political,
military, and social circles of Vermont--being the present owner.
Jacob Kent, first named, left three sons,--Jacob, John, and Joseph. John
Kent, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, settled in the town of
Lyman, where he died in 1842, leaving four sons and one daughter. The
father of Col. Kent--Richard Peabody Kent--was one of these sons, his
mother, Tabitha Peabody, being a daughter of Lieutenant Richard Peabody
of the Revolutionary army. He is still in active business in Lancaster,
where he settled and engaged in mercantile pursuits in 1828. During this
long career his affairs have been transacted with scrupulous integrity,
exactitude, and honor. Though never in public life, he has always taken
a deep interest in the material and educational welfare of the
community. On the maternal side the ancestry of Col. Kent is traced to
Richard Mann, "a planter in the family of Elder Brewster," who was one
of the colony of the Mayflower. From him descended that John Mann, born
December 25, 1743, who was the first permanent settler of the town of
Orford, N. H., October, 1765. To him were born fifteen children, of whom
Solomon Mann was well known in the state. Emily, second daughter of
Solomon Mann, married Henry Oakes, an active and well known business man
at Waterford and Fairlee, Vt. To Henry and Emily (Mann) Oakes were born
three daughters and a son. One of the daughters, Emily Mann Oakes, was
married to Richard P. Kent at Littleton, June 5, 1832. To this union
there were born three children--sons--Henry Oakes, Edward Richard, and
Charles Nelson.
HENRY OAKES KENT was born in Lancaster, February 7, 1834. He attended
the district school and Lancaster Academy, and graduated from Norwich
Military University in the class of 1854, receiving later the degree of
A. M. He studied law with Hon Jacob Benton, and was admitted to the bar
at Lancaster in May, 1858. Soon after, he became the proprietor of the
_Coos Republican_, and assumed the editorial and business management of
that paper, his strong interest in political affairs and the fortunes of
the Republican party, with which he was actively indentified, impelling
him to this step, in taking which he relinquished the prospect of a
successful and distinguished career at the bar. In the management of the
_Republican_, both financial and editorial, he displayed rare skill and
ability. His leading articles were always strong, vigorous, earnest, and
secured for his paper, notwithstanding its remote location from the
Capital, an influential position among the party journals of the state.
It is safe to say that from the time when he assumed its management
until 1870, when he sold it,--a period of twelve years,--no paper in the
state rendered more efficient support to the party with which it was
allied, or advocated more heartily all measures tending to advance the
material prosperity of the section in which it was located, than did the
_Coos Republican_ under the direction of Col. Kent.
Since 1870 he has attended to a large and growing general office
business, to which he had previously given more or less attention, and
also to the interests of the Savings Bank for the County of Coos, for
which institution he secured the charter in 1868, and of which he is and
has been a trustee and the treasurer. He is also an owner and manager of
the Lancaster paper-mill; is treasurer of the Pleasant Valley Starch
Company, and is president of the Lancaster and Kilkenny Railroad
Company, a corporation organized to develop the resources of the
adjoining forest town of Kilkenny. The encouragement of local enterprise
and industry has, indeed, always been one of his characteristics.
As has been indicated, Col. Kent entered political life as a Republican,
and was an active advocate of the cause and policy of that party, with
pen and voice, until after the election of Gen. Grant to the presidency.
In 1855, when but twenty-one years of age, he was chosen assistant clerk
of the house of representatives, and re-elected the following year. In
1857 he was chosen clerk of the house, discharging the duties of that
office, for three successive years, with a readiness and efficiency
which have never been excelled by any incumbent. In those days the
previous question was not in vogue, and roll-calls were frequent. So
familiar did Col. Kent become with the roll, which embraced over three
hundred names, that he called it from memory, and it is related that,
having called the roll nineteen times in one day, it became so impressed
upon his mind that he called it over at night in his sleep, after
retiring at the Eagle. In 1862 he was chosen a representative from
Lancaster, and served with marked ability, his previous experience as
clerk admirably fitting him for the discharge of legislative duties. He
served that year as chairman of the committee on military affairs; a
position of great importance, considering the fact that we were then in
the midst of the war period. His next appearance in the legislature was
in 1868, when he served as chairman of the committee on railroads, and
again in 1869, when he was at the head of the finance committee. During
each year of his legislative service he occupied a prominent position
among the leaders of his party in the house, displaying marked ability
in debate, and energy and industry in the committee-room.
In 1858 a commission was appointed, by the states of Maine and New
Hampshire, "to ascertain, survey, and mark" the boundary between them.
The line had been established in 1784, and revised in 1825, when Ichabod
Bartlett and John W. Weeks were the commissioners on the part of New
Hampshire. The duty of representing this state upon the commission of
1858 was assigned to Col. Kent, and the work was performed during the
autumn of that year, through the wilderness, from the Crown Monument, as
far south as the towns of Fryeburg and Conway. Col. Kent's connection
with this work is perpetuated in the mountain bearing his name, on the
northeastern frontier, laid down on the state map of 1860, and in
subsequent surveys. In 1864 he was one of the presidential electors of
this state, and from 1866 to 1868 inclusive, he was one of the bank
commissioners.
At the outbreak of the rebellion Col. Kent volunteered in aid of the
Union cause. He was ordered to Concord by Gov. Goodwin, commissioned
assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of colonel, and assigned to
duty in the recruiting service. Raising a company in a few days at
Lancaster, he was ordered to Portsmouth, where he aided to organize and
send out the Second Regiment and to fit the garrison at Fort
Constitution. He continued on duty as assistant adjutant-general (the
only one ever appointed in New Hampshire) until after the earlier
regiments had left the state; but when a call was issued for three
additional regiments from New Hampshire, in the fall of 1862, he was
commissioned colonel of the Seventeenth, which was raised mainly by his
personal efforts and upon the strength of his name, and organized and
thoroughly drilled and disciplined under his command. Under the
exigencies of the service, however, and by orders received from the
secretary of war, the regiment was consolidated with the Second, whose
ranks had become heavily depleted, the men being transferred and the
officers necessarily mustered out, the governor in "general orders,"
regretting the necessity for this action and complimenting the
Seventeenth for its high discipline and soldierly demeanor. As it was,
few men, if any, in the state, did more than Col. Kent to promote the
efficiency of the service, and to maintain the reputation of New
Hampshire for prompt and patriotic effort in the Union cause,--a cause
which he sustained by pen and voice and active personal effort
throughout the entire struggle. He has been connected with the Grand
Army of the Republic since its organization, is past commander of his
Post, and is a frequent and popular speaker at the Veterans' reunions
and on Memorial-day occasions.
Col. Kent was an active member of the organization known as the
"Governor's Horse-Guards," which was formed for parade on the occasion
of the annual inauguration of the governor, in which he held the office
of major in 1860, and rode as colonel in 1863, 1864, and 1865.
In his association with, and labor for, the Republican party, Col. Kent
was actuated by his opposition to the institution of slavery, which he
regarded as prejudicial to the republic. He maintained his convictions
earnestly, yet candidly, in his paper and on the stump. But after the
war and the downfall of slavery, he favored the burial of past issues
and sectional bitterness, and the restoration of fraternal relations, as
essential to the general prosperity of the country. Regarding the policy
of the administration as inimical to such result, he was unable to
sustain it. He therefore disposed of his paper, which as a party organ
he could not conscientiously carry to the opposition, and engaged in the
development and organization of the Liberal movement, which resulted in
the Cincinnati convention and the nomination of Horace Greeley for
president in 1872. He participated in that convention, and was a member
of the National and chairman of the State Liberal Republican committee
in 1872 and 1873. In 1873 the Liberals ran an independent state ticket,
but united with the Democracy on a common platform in 1874. The
resolutions of the Liberal convention, announcing such purpose, were
presented in the Democratic convention by Col. Kent, whose appearance
and announcement elicited strong demonstrations of enthusiasm in that
body. The campaign thus opened, ended in the election of a Democratic
governor and legislature,--a result to which the earnest labors of Col.
Kent largely contributed. In recognition of his efficient services, as
well as acknowledged ability, he was accorded the Democratic
congressional nomination in the third district in 1875, and again in
1877 and 1878. In each of the attendant canvasses, he spoke
continuously, and ran largely ahead of his party vote, especially in his
own town and vicinity. In all subsequent campaigns Col. Kent has
heartily devoted his energies to the furtherance of Democratic
principles, and has been active upon the stump in New Hampshire and
outside the state, and always with numerous calls and large audiences.
Col. Kent is now fully engaged in the direction of his business
concerns, which furnish an ample field for his energies and talent; yet
he has in no degree abated his interest in public and political affairs.
As has been said, he has given earnest encouragement to all enterprises
calculated to promote the material welfare and prosperity of his
section. In the advancement of educational interests he has also been
earnestly engaged. He is a trustee and chairman of the executive
committee of the corporation of Lancaster Academy, and is also a trustee
of Norwich University, and president of the "Associated Alumni and Past
Cadets" of that institution. In 1875 he addressed the Associated Alumni