Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
In closing this sketch of a busy and useful life, I must add a few words
appreciative of the character of one whom as a boy and man I have known
for forty years. In his personal habits Mr. Chandler is above
reproach,--pure in speech as in action,--with a mind quick to perceive,
prompt to execute, and comprehensive in its scope. He is a man with
convictions and the courage to express and maintain them. He has never
sought advancement by flattery or pandering to prejudice. Those who know
him best have the most faith in his integrity. The best evidence of it
is the fact that in twenty-five years of aggressive political life,
while occupying positions of temptation, and criticising freely the
action of men who forgot their moral obligations or were shirking their
official duties to the detriment of the public good, no one of them has
been able to connect him with personal dishonesty, corrupt practice in
official life, or political treachery or double-dealing. His methods are
direct, positive, systematic, exact, and logical. The positions he has
held have all come to him in recognition of his ability and earnest
efforts in serving the cause he espouses.
Mr. Chandler has been twice married,--in 1859, to a daughter of Gov.
Joseph A. Gilmore, and in 1874, to a daughter of Hon. John P. Hale. He
has three sons,--Joseph Gilmore, born in 1860; William Dwight, in 1863;
and Lloyd Horwitz, in 1869. Mr. Chandler's father died in 1862. His
mother is still living in Concord. He has two brothers,--John K.
Chandler, formerly a merchant in Boston and the East Indies, now
residing on a farm in Canterbury, N. H.; and George H. Chandler, who was
first adjutant and afterwards major of the Ninth New Hampshire regiment,
and is now a lawyer in Baltimore. Mr. Chandler's father was a Whig, a
man of great intelligence and firmness of character. His mother is a
woman of equally positive traits, and has contributed much to the
formation of the character which has given success to her sons.
HON. WILLIAM C. CLARKE.
Among the public men of New Hampshire who have lately passed away, none
was more widely known in the state, or more sincerely respected, than
Hon. WILLIAM COGSWELL CLARKE, of Manchester. He was born in Atkinson, N.
H., December 10, 1810, being the eldest son of Greenleaf and Julia
(Cogswell) Clarke. His father was a farmer and master-mason, the
constructor of many fine business buildings in the neighboring town of
Haverhill, Mass., and a highly esteemed citizen of Atkinson, where he
served as selectman and justice of the peace. He was descended from
Nathaniel Clarke, a merchant of Newbury, Mass., who died in 1690, and
from Capt. Edmund Greenleaf, of that place, an officer of repute in the
wars of the early colonists with the Indians. The wife of Greenleaf
Clarke was a daughter of Dr. William Cogswell, of Atkinson, who was a
surgeon in the Revolutionary army, and at one time chief of the Military
Hospital at West Point.
William C. Clarke pursued his early studies at Atkinson Academy, of
which his maternal grandfather was one of the founders, and then entered
Dartmouth College, at the age of eighteen years. He was graduated with
high honors in the class of 1832, which included Professors Noyes and
Sanborn, of Dartmouth, and the late Samuel H. Taylor, LL.D., the noted
instructor at Andover, Mass. Immediately becoming principal of Gilmanton
Academy, he held the position for one year, while beginning the study of
law. He continued his legal studies in the Harvard Law School, in the
office of Stephen Moody, at Gilmanton, and in that of Stephen C. Lyford,
at Meredith Bridge, now Laconia, N. H. On his admission to the bar, in
1836, he began practice in the latter town, and on the creation of
Belknap county, at the close of 1840, he was appointed county solicitor.
He held this position until the spring of 1844, when he removed to
Manchester, and continued the practice of his profession. Two years
later he was one of a committee of seven chosen by the town to petition
the legislature for a city charter, and at the first city election, in
August, 1846, was the Democratic candidate for mayor. There being two
other candidates, there was no choice, and he withdrew his name before
the second ballot, in September. In the same year, however, he consented
to act as chief engineer of the fire department of the young city, and
he retained this position till the close of 1848, having a number of
leading citizens as his assistants.
In 1849 he was elected to the office of city solicitor, which he held
for two years, and in 1850 he served as a member of the state
constitutional convention. Appointed the judge of probate for
Hillsborough county in 1851, he obtained the judicial title which clung
to him thereafter. In 1854 he was again the Democratic candidate for
mayor, but the Whig ticket was successful. A year later Judge Clarke was
tendered, by Governor Metcalf, an appointment to the bench of the
supreme court, but declined the position. As judge of probate he
discharged his duties with high public approval, but his removal from
this office, in 1856, was included in the sweeping political changes
which began in 1855. In 1858 he served as a member of the Manchester
Board of Aldermen. Soon after the death of the Hon. John Sullivan, he
was appointed, in 1863, to succeed him as attorney-general of the state;
and, receiving a re-appointment in 1868, he continued to fill the office
until his death in 1872.
From the time of his admission to the bar until he became the chief
prosecuting officer of the state, Judge Clarke was actively engaged in
private legal practice. He early acquired the reputation of a sound and
able lawyer, and obtained an extensive clientage. As attorney-general he
was highly successful in the performance of his duties, to which he
devoted himself with conscientious faithfulness. Recognizing the
semi-judicial character of his office, he did not allow the zeal of the
advocate to outweigh more important considerations, and, in cases where
a minor offense had been committed for the first time, he frequently
caused indictments to be suspended, so as to give the culprit both a
chance and a stimulus to reform. Hardened or flagrant criminals he
pursued with the rigor demanded by the interests of justice, leaving no
stone unturned in his efforts to secure their conviction. He drew all
his indictments with the greatest care, and it is said that no one of
the number was ever set aside. He took equal pains with the preparation
of evidence and of his arguments in all important causes. These cases
included a number of murder trials which attracted wide attention when
in progress, and which afforded marked proof of his legal skill. His
sense of duty being above all other considerations, he was unmoved by
all attempts to affect his official course by private appeals or by any
species of personal influence.
Judge Clarke had a marked distaste for ordinary politics and the arts of
the politician. On the few occasions when he consented to be a candidate
for an elective office, he did not seek the nomination, but accepted it
at the request of his friends. Firmly believing, however, in the
original principles of the Democratic party, he often gave his voice and
pen to their support, and was long a prominent member of that party in
New Hampshire. When the rebellion broke out he did not hesitate a moment
in regard to his political course, but was among the foremost of those
who urged all citizens to sink minor party differences and rally to
sustain the imperiled government. During this crisis he was active in
calling and addressing many public meetings, which pledged aid to the
most vigorous measures for the defense of the Union. At the great war
mass-meeting held in Concord, N. H., on the 17th of June. 1863,--which
was attended by thirty thousand people, from all parts of the state, and
was addressed by men of national eminence, including a member of
President Lincoln's cabinet,--Judge Clarke called the assembly to order,
and read the call, after which he was chosen the first vice-president.
Being dissatisfied with the attitude toward the war assumed by many of
the leaders of the Democratic party, he was largely instrumental in
organizing the zealous War Democrats of the state into a third, or
"Union," party, which nominated a separate ticket for state officers in
1862 and 1863. This organization was not maintained after the latter
year, and Judge Clarke thenceforward voted with the Republican party;
but, after the early years of the war, he refrained from any active
participation in politics, which he regarded as inconsistent with the
nature of his duties as attorney-general.
He was one of the original directors of the Manchester Bank, serving
from 1845 till 1849, and of the City Bank, with which he was connected
from 1853 till 1863. He was also a trustee of the Manchester Savings
Bank from 1852 until his death. For many years he was a trustee of the
Manchester Atheneum, and when this was succeeded by the City Library, in
1854, he was chosen a member and clerk of the board of trustees of the
latter institution, retaining both positions during the rest of his
life. He was the first treasurer of the Manchester & Lawrence Railroad
Company, holding that office from July 31, 1847, till his resignation
took effect, February 8, 1849; and he was the clerk of that company from
February 28, 1854, until he died, being also its attorney when engaged
in private legal practice. He was a trustee of Gilmanton Academy, and in
1854 was a member of the National Board of Visitors to the United States
Military Academy at West Point.
Judge Clarke was one of the earliest members of the Franklin-street
Congregational church in Manchester, and one of the original officers of
the society, to both of which he rendered valuable service.
Some mention of his personal appearance should not be omitted, as he was
a man of unusually distinguished presence, having a large, finely
proportioned figure, with a handsome, dignified head and face. Without
undue formality, his manners were invariably courteous and refined. With
excellent literary tastes, he possessed much general information, and
was very attractive in conversation. Though rigid in his sense of right
and wrong, he was eminently charitable in his views of others, having a
broad tolerance of opinions which differed from his own. His disposition
was genial, and his kindness of heart unfailing.
He was married, in 1834, to Anna Maria Greeley, only daughter of the
late Stephen L. Greeley, Esq., of Gilmanton, N. H. His wife survives
him, with four children,--Stephen Greeley, Anna Norton, Julia Cogswell,
and Greenleaf.
The death of Judge Clarke occurred at his home in Manchester on April
25, 1872, and was the cause of wide-spread sorrow. At his funeral there
was a large attendance of prominent citizens from many parts of the
state. Resolutions of regret and eulogy were adopted by the city bar,
the Hillsborough-county bar, the Manchester Common Council, and various
other bodies with which he had been connected. In the resolutions of the
common council he was spoken of as "one who, as a former member of the
city government, and its legal public adviser, served it with marked
fidelity and ability, and who, by his many virtues, had won the
confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens." His associates of the
Manchester bar declared that "he was a faithful officer, a wise
counselor, a respected citizen, and a Christian gentleman. He was
courteous in manner, efficient in duty, upright in character, and an
ornament to his profession." In the resolutions adopted by the bar of
Hillsborough county, and entered upon the records of the supreme court,