Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
in that portion of Chester now Hooksett, and, building a log house,
carried to it Anna Knox, his wife. The site of the primitive cabin was
the identical spot where Gov. Head's beautiful residence now stands. As
would be expected, the young man, who with no fortune but strong arms
and a stout heart had the bravery and determination to establish his
forest home, soon rose to position and influence. The report of the
battle of Lexington made him a soldier at once, and the record shows him
to have been a second lieutenant in the ninth company of volunteers from
New Hampshire at Winter Hill, in the cold season of 1775-76; ensign in
Capt. Sias's company, Col. Nichols's regiment, in the expedition to
Rhode Island in 1778; and captain in Col. Reynold's regiment in 1781.
Returning to his home, he added to the pursuit of agriculture the
establishment and operation of a lumber-mill. He was early commissioned
a justice of the peace, and held frequent courts, at the same time
performing a large amount of probate business, including the settling of
many estates, while his acknowledged sense of justice and marked
integrity often caused him to be chosen arbiter in important questions
of dispute in the neighborhood. With the close of the war, his martial
ardor was not extinguished, and he became prominently connected with
the state troops,--the old roster showing him to have been a brigade
inspector, and also colonel of the Eleventh Regiment.
Col. Nathaniel Head, Jr., had nine children, the seventh, John, born May
30, 1791, being the father of the subject of this sketch. He remained at
the old homestead, and after arriving at manhood was associated with his
father in the work of the farm and the mill, and after his death
succeeded to the estate by purchasing the interests of the other heirs.
The military spirit again appears in John Head, who rose to the rank of
lieutenant-colonel of the Seventeenth Regiment.
Col. Head married Miss Anna Brown, whose home was near his. Before her
union with him she was a school-teacher, and a woman of great energy and
executive ability. She was a member of the Pembroke Congregational
church, and took a deep interest in the religious and educational
affairs of her neighborhood. She was a grand-daughter of William Brown,
one of the three brothers who came from Scotland and settled in the
upper part of Chester, near what is now Suncook. Her father, William
Brown, was a sea captain, who made numerous voyages around the world.
Captain Brown's sister married Ezekiel Straw, grandfather of Gov.
Ezekiel A. Straw, of Manchester, making the latter a second cousin of
Gov. Head. The three Brown brothers already mentioned were men of
ability, and had high family connections across the Atlantic. Their
English coat of arms was the "hawk and the bird" the design showing the
former diving towards, and in the act of catching, the latter. On the
maternal side, Gov. Head's great-aunt, Betsey Brown, daughter of Rev.
Joseph Brown, M. D., of the Church of England, married the distinguished
Hon. Samuel Livermore, of Holderness, who was chief-justice of the
superior court of judicature.
Mrs. John Head had four brothers, one of whom, Hon. Hiram Brown, was the
first mayor of Manchester, and now resides at Falls Church, Va. By the
death of Col. Head, August 7, 1835, the widow was left in the management
of a large and valuable property, to which was added the care of her
family. All those responsible duties she discharged with great fidelity
and conscientiousness until her death, which occurred April 3, 1849. She
left five children, of whom four are now living. They are Mrs. Hannah
A., widow of the late Col. Josiah Stevens, Jr., of Manchester; Natt,
born May 20, 1828. John A., of Boone county, Io., and William F.,--the
latter the business partner of Gov. Head.
The picturesquely located home farm of three hundred acres is owned by
Natt and William F. Head. It extends from the house to the Merrimack
river, and follows the same for the distance of half a mile, embracing
many acres of the fertile intervale lands of that stream. The farm is
particularly adapted to grass, and yields about two hundred and fifty
tons of hay annually. There are kept on it one hundred head of neat
stock and thirty horses. In addition to the homestead, the brothers own
large tracts of outlying wood and pasture lands. The lumber operations
which were begun by Col. Nathaniel Head have assumed large proportions
in the hands of his descendants. Under the firm name of Head & Dowst, in
Manchester, the brothers do a heavy lumber and building business. On the
home farm are the famous Head clay banks, where some eight million or
more of brick are produced each year. The firm employs, in Hooksett,
from seventy-five to one hundred men.
Gov. Head had the advantages of the common school and of the Pembroke
Academy. His room-mate at the latter was Mark Bailey, now a professor at
Yale College, and between whom a close friendship has since existed.
Being only seven years of age when his father died, he soon learned to
assist his mother in managing the work of the farm and the mill; and to
such an experience, joined with her kindly influence, may be attributed
the formation of those principles of character which led to the eminent
success that he achieved in later years in business and in political
life. After the death of his mother, he settled the estate, and with his
brother William bought out the other heirs and formed a joint
partnership, under the firm name of Natt & W. F. Head, that has
continued to the present time,--there never having been any division of
their income, or of the large amount of property that they own. On the
score of integrity and promptness in meeting every business obligation,
it will not be invidious to say that no firm in the state has a higher
standing.
From boyhood allied to agriculture, Gov. Head's interest in it has never
diminished, notwithstanding the many military and civil honors that came
to him in later life. For five years he was a director, and for eleven
years the president, of the New Hampshire State Agricultural Society, an
officer of the Merrimack County Association, a trustee of the New
England society since its organization, and an ex-trustee of the New
Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts at Hanover. For
many years he has been a popular speaker at agricultural fairs and
farmers' meetings. While president of the state society he inaugurated
the first farmers' convention ever held in New England, and which called
out many of the ablest agricultural speakers in the country.
Inheriting military taste and enthusiasm from three generations, we find
him following in the footsteps of patriotic and distinguished ancestors.
He was one of the active spirits in the formation, and was one of the
first member, of the famous Hooksett Light Infantry, which was a crack
company in the old state forces. September 1, 1847, he was commissioned
drum-major of the Eleventh Regiment, third brigade, first division, of
the state militia, and served four years. He was an original member of
the famous Governor's Horse-Guards, and drum-major and chief bugler
during the existence of the corps. He was a charter member and four
years commander of the Amoskeag Veterans, of Manchester; is an honorary
member of the Boston Lancers, and is a member, an ex-sergeant, of the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery, of Boston. He was chief on the staff of
Gov. Joseph A. Gilmore, and is an honorary member of several other
military organizations. The Head Guards, of Manchester, one of the
oldest companies under the present militia system, was named in his
honor.
In this connection it may be stated that when the Soldiers' Asylum near
Augusta, Me., was burned, Gov. Head was appointed to the charge of that
institution during the illness of the deputy-governor, and subsequently
rebuilt the establishment. He had previously, as a contractor, built
several miles of the Concord & Portsmouth Railroad between Suncook
and Candia, and also the road-bed and bridges from Suncook to Hooksett,
and the branch line from Suncook to Pittsfield.
In early life he was elected to various town offices; was commissioned a
deputy-sheriff, and was a representative in the legislature from
Hooksett in 1861 and 1862.
The appointment which brought him most conspicuously before the public
was that of adjutant, inspector, and quartermaster general of the state,
which he received from Gov. Gilmore, March 26, 1864. He was called to
that office at a period when the republic was in one of the most serious
crises of the great civil war, and when the loyal people of New
Hampshire were putting forth every effort to enlist the men called for
under the President's proclamation of the preceding month. On entering
the office he found every department lamentably incomplete, but little
matter having been collated in relation to the equipping of the troops
or their achievements in the field, although the state had, up to that
time, furnished twenty-six thousand soldiers. In truth, not a full set
of muster-in rolls of any regiment was found in the office.
Notwithstanding these obstacles, and with no appropriation to draw
upon, Gen. Head promptly entered upon the duties of his position,
procuring the necessary outfit for the office, and upon his own
responsibility employing clerks. He did this trusting in the legislature
for re-imbursement, which it not only cheerfully made, but made all
additional appropriations that were called for. The faithful manner in
which all the clerical work was performed, the method and persistency
shown in hunting up and placing on file the records of our soldiers, and
the system exhibited in preserving and filing the valuable and extensive
correspondence,--were all worthy of the greatest praise. The reports
issued during Gen. Head's administration not only give the name and
history of every officer and soldier who went into the service from our
state, but they embrace biographical sketches of all the field officers
who fell in battle or who died of disease during the war, together with
a brief history of all the organizations, giving their principal
movements from their departure to their return home. These books also
include the military history of New Hampshire from 1623 to 1861, the
data for which were gathered with great perseverance and under many
discouragements from various sources in this and other states and from
the rolls in the war department at Washington, thus making the united
reports a work of inestimable value to the present and coming
generations, and, at the same time, constituting an invaluable
contribution to the martial history of the nation. He was the first
adjutant-general in our country who conceived the idea of having
handsomely engraved on steel, with attractive and appropriate symbols
and of a size adapted to framing, a memorial certificate to be presented
to all surviving officers and soldiers from our state, and to the widows
or nearest relatives of those who gave their lives in the great struggle
for the preservation of the republic. This testimonial was filled up
with the name and rank, and also the regiment and company with which the
men were connected, and the nature and length of their services. It will
not be invidious to say that no other state had during the war an abler
or more efficient and patriotic adjutant-general than New Hampshire, or
one who was more devoted to the men on their way to the field, while
there, or on their return after peace was declared. Many a veteran will
remember with gratitude his fatherly care of them after their discharge,
and his good counsel and assistance in saving them from the hands of
sharpers who were always in waiting to take advantage of the necessities