Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men

Part 1

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SKETCHES OF SUCCESSFUL

NEW HAMPSHIRE MEN

Illustrated with Steel Portraits.

MANCHESTER:

JOHN B. CLARKE.

1882.

Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1882, by JOHN B. CLARKE, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.

This volume contains portraits and biographical sketches of eighty-eight New Hampshire men whose deserved success in their several callings has made them conspicuous in the professional, business, and political world. It should be the first of a series,--the beginning of a work so extensive as to include similar presentations in regard to all the prominent men of our state, when it would exceed in value and interest to New Hampshire people all other publications of a biographical nature. The glory of our state centers in and is reflected from her great men and noble women, whose history should be familiar to all who by birth or association are interested in her fame and welfare, and especially to those in whose hands rests her future, and who may need the strengthening influence of their example. To this end this volume will contribute. Its preparation has occupied a long time, and involved much labor and expense. My connection with it has been that of a publisher, whose duties I have endeavored to discharge faithfully and acceptably. All else is to be credited to others. The sketches are printed in the order in which they were furnished.

JOHN B. CLARKE.

MANCHESTER, N. H., July, 1882.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

ADAMS, CHARLES, JR. 278

ADAMS, PHINEHAS 166

AMORY, WILLIAM 151

BALCH, CHARLES E. 113

BARNARD, DANIEL 304

BARTLETT, CHARLES H. 33

BARTON, LEVI WINTER 50

BLAIR, HENRY WILLIAM 285

BRACEWELL, JOHN 199

BRIGGS, JAMES F. 294

BRYANT, NAPOLEON B. 187

BUFFUM, DAVID HANSON 276

CARPENTER, JOSIAH 43

CHANDLER, GEORGE BYRON 185

Part 2

CHANDLER, WILLIAM E. 255

CHENEY, GILMAN 215

CHENEY, PERSON C. 162

CLARK, JOSEPH BOND 179

CLARKE, JOHN B. 311

CLARKE, WILLIAM C. 261

COGSWELL, FRANCIS 177

COGSWELL, GEORGE 204

COGSWELL, THOMAS 160

COGSWELL, WILLIAM 137

COLBY, ANTHONY 251

CROSBY, ASA AND SONS 243

CUMNER, NATHANIEL WENTWORTH 297

CURRIER, MOODY 35

DANIELL, WARREN F. 237

DEARBORN, CORNELIUS VAN NESS 195

DUNLAP, ARCHIBALD HARRIS 264

EDGERLY, MARTIN V. B. 130

FRENCH, JOHN C. 157

GEORGE, JOHN HATCH 98

GILMAN, VIRGIL C. 148

GOODELL, DAVID H. 233

GOODWIN, ICHABOD 133

GRAVES, JOSIAH G. 235

GRIFFIN, SIMON G. 58

HALL, DANIEL 229

HARRIMAN, WALTER 74

HAYES, ALBERT H. 202

Part 3

HEAD, NATT 223

JEWELL, DAVID LYMAN 63

KENT, HENRY O. 21

KIMBALL, JOHN 89

MARSH, CHARLES 184

MARTIN, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 269

MAXFIELD, RUFUS A. 289

MCDUFFEE, JOHN 153

MEANS, WILLIAM GORDON 103

MINER, ALONZO A. 16

MOULTON, JOHN CARROLL 114

MURPHY, CHARLES M. 67

NESMITH, GEORGE W. 180

NORCROSS, AMASA 37

PARKER, JOHN M. 31

PEABODY, CHARLES A. 209

PILLSBURY, GEORGE ALFRED 39

PILLSBURY, OLIVER 191

PIERCE, THOMAS P. 127

PIKE, CHESTER 123

POTTER, CHANDLER E. 302

PRESCOTT, BENJAMIN F. 281

RICHARDS, DEXTER 271

RIDDLE, WILLIAM P. 307

ROLLINS, EDWARD ASHTON 143

ROLLINS, EDWARD H. 217

SARGENT, JONATHAN EVERETT 93

SAWYER, CHARLES H. 249

Part 4

SAWYER, JONATHAN 240

SHAW, ALBERT M. 267

SHERBURNE, HENRY C. 69

SMYTH, FREDERICK 106

SPALDING, EDWARD 81

SPALDING, GEORGE BURLEY 291

STARK, GEORGE 9

SULLOWAY, ALVAH W. 119

TILTON, CHARLES ELLIOTT 110

TUTTLE, HIRAM A. 14

WALLACE, RODNEY 56

WALLINGFORD, ZIMRI S. 70

WESTON, JAMES A. 85

WHEELER, SAMUEL METCALF 79

WHITE, JEREMIAH W. 140

WHITE, NATHANIEL 172

WILDER, MARSHALL P. 25

WILLIAMS, CHARLES 47

GEN. GEORGE STARK.

BY H. W. HERRICK.

In the remarkable development of railroad traffic in this country within the last fifty years, many prominent men of our state identified with this interest have achieved an enviable success. A leading position among these representative men will be accorded to General GEORGE STARK, who, within the last forty years, has been associated with the successful organization and management of several of the most wealthy and influential of these corporations. Beginning at an early age with some of the first of these enterprises in New England, he has been identified with their history; and he has also had, within the last five years, a controlling hand in the resuscitation and extension of the great Northern Pacific line, that will soon span the continent from the great lakes to the Pacific ocean. This successful business career has been honorably distinguished, inasmuch as it has, in all its phases, recognized the sound business principles that govern supply and demand in the legitimate carrying-trade. As the leading medium between the producer and consumer, the railroad interest thrives only with the prosperity and good will of both; and in this, its legitimate sphere, seeks neither to control production or traffic, except in those reciprocal relations which contribute to the public good.

The influences attending the early life of Gen. Stark favored the development of the qualities of character that have made his business career marked and successful. His father, Frederick G. Stark, was the son of John, the third of the children of Major-General John Stark, the hero of Bennington, the latter being, therefore, the third in ancestral order removed from the subject of this sketch. George Stark was born at Manchester, N. H., April 9, 1823, a few months after the death of his illustrious military ancestor. His father at this time occupied the old manor-house formerly owned by Judge Blodget, originator of the famous Blodget canal. This time-honored structure has been destroyed by the demand of modern improvements, and its site, at the entrance of the canal around Amoskeag Falls, is now only marked by the ruins of the sheds connected with it. The locks and canals, in connection with like works on the Merrimack river, were owned by the Union Locks and Canal Company, and Frederick G. Stark occupied the position of general superintendent and manager. He was also proprietor of a general-supply store for river-men and the population adjacent, and was, moreover, land surveyor for the neighboring country. He also held the position of general magistrate, and was, withal, the most influential man of the vicinity, leading in all commercial enterprise and traffic. He died in 1861.

The early days of young Stark were favored with the oversight and directing influence of an excellent mother,--a lady of genial, kindly character, rare mental qualities, and showing a benevolent and christian solicitude both for her own family and general society in the neighborhood. She died in 1856. Of the four children, Juliet (Mrs. Henry C. Gillis) died in 1840; Emma (Mrs. J. G. Cilley) died in 1859; William, the youngest, well remembered as possessing rare literary abilities, and known as author and poet, died in 1873.

At the age of nine years George was taken from the schools of the Amoskeag district, and for the succeeding four years studied in the academies of Pembroke and Milford. His mental culture in these advanced schools was chiefly in the line of mathematics, yet natural aptitude and diligence supplied in after life many deficiencies in education. At the close of his school-days in Pembroke and Milford George returned to Manchester, in 1836, finding the scenes of his childhood transformed from their previous quiet to a busy preparation, by engineers and laborers, for the new city of Manchester. The young school-boy was placed as assistant with the chief engineer and surveyor, Uriah A. Boyden, and worked one season on the preliminary surveys for the canal, factories, and streets of the embryo city. During this season, and a few years succeeding, when not employed on surveys, he attended the academies of Bedford, Sanbornton, and the high school at Lowell, Mass.,--the last being then under the charge of Moody Currier, Esq. In the autumn of 1836, at the early age of fourteen, he was employed with the staff of engineers engaged in the locating surveys of the Nashua & Lowell Railroad. This line, only fifteen miles in length, was two years in process of building, giving an amusing contrast to the long routes now located and built in one season. The years 1839 and 1840 were spent in alternate seasons of field work with the engineers and study at the academies.

Upon the completion of the Nashua & Lowell road, the enterprising business men of Concord had ready for the engineers the work of further locating the line from Nashua to Concord. This extension of thirty-six miles was commenced in 1841, and our young surveyor, then only seventeen years old, was complimented with the post of assistant engineer, and given the charge of portions of the line, both in the surveys and laying the track. At the close of this service he was employed for a time on the preliminary surveys of the Northern Railroad.

In 1843, Stark was invited by the Land and Water Power Company of Manchester to enter its service, make surveys, and superintend the building of the lower canal. This work was finished in the same year in which it was begun. The following season we find him engaged on surveys for the Vermont Central, and subsequently on the Old Colony Railroad, where he first served as assistant, and afterwards as resident engineer, in which position he remained until the completion of the work in 1845. From this period to the year 1847 he was in the service of his old friend and employer, Mr. Boyden, engaged on surveys and drawings for mill-work. At the close of his engagement with Mr. Boyden, Stark returned to Manchester and spent a good part of the season in making surveys and drawing a map of the compact part of the city, with reference to drainage. He also made a survey, accompanied with a report, upon the feasibility of supplying the city with water from Massabesic lake.

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