Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men
majority, and the rest of the district swelled this to fourteen hundred
and eighty.
In congress, Mr. Briggs has been from the first a faithful, hard-working
member, always in his seat, tireless in serving his constituents,
especially the veteran soldiers, and conscientiously devoted to the
discharge of all his duties. In the forty-fifth congress he was a member
of the committee on Patents; in the forty-sixth, of the committee on
Naval Affairs; and in the present, the forty-seventh, is chairman of the
committee on Expenditures in the War Department, and a member of the
Judiciary and Reform in the Civil Service. No member of the house
commands a more perfect confidence in his associates, and few, if any,
are able to accomplish so much. He succeeds at Washington as he did at
home, by quiet, patient, persistent work, and is satisfied with results
rather than with brilliant outbursts and noisy exhibitions of his
rhetorical powers.
Mr. Briggs married Roxana Smith, the daughter of Obadiah and Eliza M.
Smith, of New Hampton, and has had three children, all of whom are
living. The oldest, a son, was educated at West Point, and served four
years in the army, when he resigned, and is now engaged in the
manufacturing business in Trenton, N. J. Two daughters reside with their
parents in Manchester.
In concluding this brief sketch, written without the knowledge of its
subject, the author feels that it will fail to satisfy those who have
known Mr. Briggs intimately without some direct reference to the
qualities which characterize him in all positions in life. Prominent
among these are his perfect fidelity, industry, steady courage, and
thoroughness. It is natural for him to be true, impossible for him to be
false. He is ambitious, and few prize more highly the honors they win;
but he is incapable of the duplicity, demagogy, and all the cheap
artifices by which some men succeed. His faithfulness to his convictions
does not count cost or query about consequences to himself. He is as
stanch and true a friend as ever lived, and he never cheats those whom
he dislikes or despises. His generosity and devotion to his family are
far-reaching and untiring. He is a public-spirited citizen, a kind
neighbor, and a pleasant companion. He is always approachable, patient,
and considerate. In every cause in which he enlists he is a hard worker
and a free giver. He knows how to wait, and how to look beyond temporary
reverses to the complete triumph which he always believes will crown and
establish the right. He never frets, and never rests until the result is
secure. His private life is without a stain, and the fierce light of the
hottest campaign has disclosed no shadow of a blot upon his public
record. His sympathies are with the people, and his head and hands are
controlled by his heart. These qualities have made James F. Briggs what
he is. They have supplied the place of early advantages, influential
friends, and fortune. They have carried him from the woolen-mill,
working for a few cents a day, to the national house of representatives,
commissioned to speak and act for the largest and richest district in
New Hampshire. They have made him strong at the bar, popular at the
polls, and influential in congress.
NATHAN WENTWORTH CUMNER.
BY J. W. FELLOWS.
The ancestors of the Cumner family were of English origin. The name is
first discovered in the period following the supremacy of the Norman
rule,--the return from the dynasty of the Conqueror to the ascendency of
the English-Saxon line. It was first spelled Comnor, and later Cumnor,
meaning "hospitality to strangers," or a "place of hospitality," and
comes through the Saxon branch. To this period may be referred the
formation of many English family names,--often derived from some
unimportant circumstance, or suggested by personal characteristics.
These became marks of distinction, new titles to manhood, and were
proudly bequeathed by father to son,--"inherited sur-names."
During the century following the loss of Normandy, the Anglo-Saxon, as a
written language, having been banished from courts and superseded in all
legal papers by the Latin, became dearer to the common people as a
spoken language, preserving their cherished objects and transmitting
leading sentiments. It increased its power and volume by building new
terms and means of expression, and particularly by multiplying its
patronymics. In a comparatively short space of time the language had
become vernacular, and fairly entitled to be styled English, rich in the
idioms and proper names of its own creation and outgrowth.
"The history of words," says Trench, "is the history of ideas," and he
might have said of people and nations. They are not only the "vehicle of
thought," but they tell anew the story of their times and enrich the
great body of history with countless incidents of value and importance.
In studying their genealogy, the English-speaking people find the
starting-point of many an illustrious name in the peculiar circumstances
of those mediaeval times,--the natural product of the mingling of
different tongues, and the constant struggle between feudalism and
servitude.
The famous old manor-house, Cumnor Castle, so celebrated in romance,
once enjoyed the rent-fee and service of a large body of retainers, and
carried for many a year, by reason of its feudal allotments, a numerous
vassalage. Its walls have long since fallen into shapeless ruins, but
the lands of its tenantry now embrace the beautiful village of Cumnor.
The families bearing this name have not been numerous in England, but
have maintained their lineage with remarkable directness. The earliest
trace of these people shows that they belonged to the industrial
classes,--the guilds-people, who in the latter part of the seventeenth
century had attained such prominence as to nearly control the business
interests of the great metropolis, and to whom the Lord Mayor of London
was pleased to say on a memorable occasion, "While our gracious nobility
are the leaf and flower of the kingdom, ye are the sturdy trunk and
branches."
The subject of this sketch belongs to the third generation in America.
His grandfather Robert Francis Cumner came to this country when about
fifteen years of age, under circumstances of a very interesting
character. In June, 1774, while walking in the streets of London, he
was seized by a "gang of pressmen" from the ship Somerset, sent out to
recruit his Majesty's marine. He was carried directly on board, forced
to become one of the crew, and do the duty of a common sailor. He was
not allowed the privilege of communicating with his friends, and no
tidings from him or knowledge of his situation were received during the
long cruise of the Somerset in distant waters, until she appeared in
Boston harbor and took part in the battle of Bunker Hill. Her position
and the service she rendered the British troops on that memorable day
are well known in history. From her decks came the first fatal shot, and
under the fire of her guns the broken and retreating ranks of royalists
found protection.
The scenes of that bloody struggle made a deep impression upon the mind
of young Cumner, and fixed his determination to take no part in the work
of subjugation. Circumstances fortunately soon favored his settled
purpose. The Somerset not long after the battle "got aground," probably
somewhere in the lower part of Massachusetts bay. During their efforts
to get afloat, some of the crew went ashore, among them the Cumner boy,
who immediately availed himself of the opportunity to escape from his
unwilling service. While following the highway into which he first came,
near the shore where lay the stranded Somerset he was overtaken by a
Quaker on horseback, who, learning his situation and purpose to obtain
his freedom from the "British yoke," invited our young hero to "get up
behind," and, throwing his gray cloak over the lad, soon carried him
beyond the king's power.
He settled in Wareham, Mass., learned the tailor's trade and began the
permanent business of his life. October 20, 1785, he married Miss Sylvia
Sturtevant, whose family connections were very worthy and highly
respected. Her father was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and
fell on the battle-field fighting for independence. The Sturtevant
people have received honorable mention in the annals of history, and
their name is written among those who deserve well of their country. Not
long after his marriage he moved to Sandwich, Mass., from that place to
Wayne, in the state of Maine, where he resided during the remainder of
his life. He was successful in business and became a prominent and
highly respected citizen. He was a man of modest and retiring habits and
exemplary character, but of indomitable will and inflexible adherence to
what he believed to be right. If his life were the subject of our
sketch, we could fill it with incidents showing his remarkable tenacity
of purpose. Robert Francis and Sylvia Cumner had two children,--John,
born January 19, 1788, and Polly, a few years younger. He died February
5, 1825, and his wife, March 26, 1826, and their remains were interred
in the Evergreen cemetery in Wayne.
John Cumner was but a few months old when the family moved from
Sandwich, Mass., to Wayne. He was of a sanguine active nature and early
evinced the character of a sincere and zealous worker in religious
matters. He obtained a fair education, and although to a certain extent
compelled to work on the farm and devote himself to that kind of
employment, his thoughts ran upon matters more congenial to his nature.
When about eighteen years of age he was employed by Gen. Landsell to
take charge of his farm in Bridgewater, Mass., where he remained several
summer seasons. During this time he became acquainted with Miss Hannah
Thomas Bartlett, of Bridgewater, whom he married July 11, 1813. He
settled in Wayne, upon the farm which became the homestead, and was so
occupied by the family during his many years of labor and life in the
ministry.
He was associated with the society of the Methodist Episcopal church,
and interested in the affairs of that denomination, at the early age of
nineteen years, and soon after appointed a class leader and licensed to
preach. His labors were attended with marked success, and at the annual
meeting of the general conference for Maine, in 1833, he was admitted to
membership and received his first appointment. He continued in the
active ministry until 1852, when failing health obliged him to cease
labor; but his love for the church and his zeal in the cause of its
established creeds continued unabated during his remaining years. He
died February 5, 1861, closing a life of industry and devotion, in which
he had accomplished more good than usually falls to the lot of man. His
wife died December 5, 1852. She was very beautiful when young, and was
much beloved and admired by her wide circle of friends. Possessed of an
earnest and devotional nature, she entered with ardent sympathy into the
plans and labors of her husband; faithfully bearing her share of life's
varied duties,--firmly in the hour of trial, and with amiable
companionship when prosperity filled the measure of their ambition. They
had eleven children, two of whom died in infancy. Three others have
deceased,--Maryetta in 1871, and Francis and James in 1881. The
remaining members of the family are Cathamander, William B., John T.,
Nathaniel W., Charles W., and Benjamin G. Cumner.
NATHANIEL WENTWORTH, the youngest but two of the children of John and
Hannah T. Cumner, was born at Wayne, November 28, 1829. His early life
was devoted to obtaining an education in the vicinity of his home,