Part 23

In January, 1877, Mr. Sulloway was nominated by the Democracy of the second district as their candidate for congress, against Major James F. Briggs of Manchester, the Republican nominee. The district was strongly Republican, and that party had a popular candidate in the field; yet Mr. Sulloway, with no expectation of an election, made a vigorous canvass, and ran largely ahead of his ticket. He was also the candidate of his party in the district at the next election, and again in 1880, making lively work for his successful opponent, Major Briggs, on each occasion. He has been an active member of the Democratic state committee for more than ten years past, and for the greater portion of the time a member of the executive committee of that body, having direct charge of the campaign work. He was a member of the New Hampshire delegation in the national convention at St. Louis in 1876, which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for the presidency, and was an enthusiastic supporter of the great New York reformer, not only in convention, but also in the subsequent campaign in which he was actively engaged as a member of the Democratic national committee from this state. In 1880 he was again a delegate to the national convention of his party, at Cincinnati, where Gen. Hancock was nominated, and was again elected as the New Hampshire member of the national committee, holding the position until the present time.

In religion, Mr. Sulloway is an adherent of the liberal faith. He was reared a Universalist, and is now an active member of the Unitarian society in Franklin, a young but flourishing organization which is already taking active measures for the erection of a fine church edifice. In this organization, as in business and politics, Mr. Sulloway is an earnest worker, and his labor and encouragement have contributed materially to its success. He is a trustee of this society, and, with Governor Bell, a vice-president of the New Hampshire Unitarian Association. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Unitarian Educational Society, under whose auspices the liberal educational institution known as Proctor Academy, at Andover, is conducted.

In 1866, Mr. Sulloway was united in marriage with Miss Susan K. Daniell, an accomplished daughter of the late J. F. Daniell, a member of the noted paper-making firm of Peabody & Daniell, and a sister of the Hon. Warren F. and Frank H. Daniell. They have two children, a daughter and son,--the eldest, Alice, born August 5, 1871, and Richard Woodbury, born February 15, 1876. Their home is a fine modern residence, erected in 1877, beautifully located in a bend of the Winnipesaukee river, surrounded by handsome grounds, with all its appointments conducive to the comfort of the family and the host of friends who share their generous hospitality.

Mr. Sulloway is a man of keen perceptive powers and ready judgement, so that he is enabled to form conclusions upon all practical questions presented with more than ordinary promptness and accuracy. His opinion in all matters of public interest and concern in the community in which he resides is as frequently sought and carries as great weight as that of any other man, to say the least, and the same also may be said of his advice in private business affairs. He is frank and outspoken at all times, and never hesitates to say just what he thinks when called upon to express himself in any direction. He has many warm friends, and enjoys a full measure of popularity in social as well as in public and business circles. He was a moving spirit in the organization of the "New Hampshire Club," an association formed by New Hampshire men doing business in Boston, for social entertainment, and has been a leading member of the same from the start. Endowed with an active mind and healthy and vigorous bodily powers, he has great capacity for labor, and will, unquestionably, accomplish even more substantial results in the future than have already attended his efforts.

CHESTER PIKE.

The subject of this sketch was born July 30, 1829, in the town of Cornish, N. H. Mr. Pike may be said to be possessed of prescriptive rights in the township of his nativity and residence, for, planted of others, it was by blood of his blood nurtured into permanence and prosperity.

As the traits of the parent re-appear in the qualities of the child, so the annals of the stock from whence he sprang mingle inseparably with the chronicles of this many-hilled town by the Connecticut. His great-grandfather and great-grandmother Chase were the first white persons to settle in Cornish, and in every mention of early citizens will be found the names of Pike, Bryant, and Chase, whose blood blends with his. The friendship arising from nearness of residence and a common industry, which from the first had bound these families together, was soon strengthened and made permanent by the stronger tie of intermarriage.

In 1827, Eben Pike, who was the eldest son of Ebenezer and Mary Marcy Pike, of Cornish, was united in marriage with the daughter of Capt. Sylvanus Bryant and Sarah Chase Bryant, of the same place. This lady, on her mother's side, was a cousin to the statesman, Salmon P. Chase, who for many years represented Ohio in the senate of the United States, and at the time of his death, as chief-justice of the supreme court, wore with undiminished honor and dignity the mantle of the great Marshall.

The earliest fruit of this union was Chester Pike, whose life we are now tracing. A later son, John B. Pike, a mail-route agent between Boston and St. Albans, an efficient officer and courteous gentleman, is now a resident of Lebanon, in this state. The oldest son still resides in his native town and not far from the spot where his grandparents first settled, in the broad, picturesque valley of the Connecticut, hard by the village of Windsor, and under the shadows of Ascutney. To one so located, the relics of the past are objects of enduring interest. The very hills and valleys must awaken memories of the olden time and kindle associations of the ancestral home, which will perpetuate the virtues and the aspirations of the dead. He can but experience something of the feeling of the descendants of the old families of England, who live upon their ancient estates, and saunter in the halls of old castles, or under the shadows of gnarled trees that were planted centuries ago by the founders of their line, whose ashes long since mingled with, and became a part of, their inalienable homesteads. The remembrance of the brave fathers and fair mothers who lived in the heroic past is their richest inheritance.

In his earlier years, obedient to the custom of the fathers, Mr. Pike attended the district school. This institution, original to New England, discharges a function in the training of the young which, to our mind, some of the methods and more ambitious inventions of modern educators fail to fulfill. In the district school, if properly taught, are secured habits of faithfulness and diligence, and a permanent knowledge of elementary branches, which are of daily practical use in the life of the people. There, too, the silly conceits and factitious distinctions of society are broken down, as children see that success is achieved by brains, not money; by industry, not social standing. In this, sometimes rough but general intercourse of youth, democratic ways and independence of thought are acquired, and the seeds of a true manhood and womanhood are planted. Our system of public schools is in harmony with the organism of the state, and in them our children imbibe a spirit of obedience to wholesome, legitimate authority, and so become conservative of public discipline and order. Men learn to rule by learning to obey. It was here that Mr. Pike laid the foundations of character.

Later, he was for a time a scholar in the academy at Hartland, Vt. After a season of study there, he matriculated in that long-time famous and still existing center of pro-collegiate education, the Kimball Union Academy at Meriden, N. H. The principal, at that time, was the Rev. Cyrus Richards, and under his guidance several terms were passed in the acquisition of the more abstruse learning of the books. But the months drift by, and at the age of fifteen Mr. Pike graduates from the schools and passes on to the sterner duties of manhood and of life. The winter months of the six ensuing years are filled up with the active work of the pedagogue, and the summer seasons in constant, laborious work upon the home farm.

During this period he was ripening the lessons of his pupilage and maturing plans for the future. At the age of twenty-one, Mr. Pike, though he still spent his winters for some years in teaching, became a trader in cattle and a merchant in the products of the soil. By his enterprise in this, his chosen vocation, he reached the position of a foremost man of a notable class among the farmers of New England. Familiar from youth with the harvest capabilities of the rich levels and the sun-warmed hills of Sullivan county, and gifted with a quick sense to perceive the wants of modern markets, he has, by unusual energy and sagacity, fitted means to ends, and, with a Midas-touch, turned his agrarian resources into gold. His success teaches the lesson that the New England farm has no less potential wealth at present than in times past, if skill but holds the handles of the plow. Let the modern farmer cling to the old homestead and the paternal acres, and take counsel with the progressive science of soil-enrichment; let him employ the same skill in the cultivation of his farm and the management of his stock, let him use the same enterprise in utilizing markets, and the same economy in the disposition of his funds, which are necessary in other employments,--and his success is sure.

We would here quote from a leading paper of the state a few lines pertinent to our narrative:--

"Capt. Chester Pike, of Cornish, has one of the largest, if not the largest, farm in the state. It contains about one thousand acres of land, divided into wood, mowing, tillage, and pasture land; forty acres in corn, and seventy acres in wheat, rye, oats, barley, and potatoes. Last season he raised six thousand eight hundred baskets of corn. He has one hundred and thirty head of cattle, three hundred sheep, thirty-seven horses, and forty hogs, and raises hay enough to keep his stock through the season, or about three hundred tons. Capt. Pike's farm lies in the town of Cornish, on the east bank of the Connecticut river, immediately opposite the farm of the Hon. William M. Evarts, late secretary of state, situated in Windsor. Vt., which is of about equal dimensions, and, in fact, the largest farm in Vermont. Mr. Evarts raises about the same amount of stock, hay, and produce as Capt. Pike. On both of these farms may be found all the modern appliances, such as mowing and reaping machines, seeders for sowing grain, two-horse cultivators for hoeing corn, most of the work being done by machinery, the same as upon the largest farms of the West."

Any man might be proud of such a record, but it is only a part of the truth. In single seasons, Mr. Pike often buys, for resale, from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five tons of poultry, and between two and three hundred thousand pounds of wool. Besides the above, he has for many years purchased annually, for the Boston market, in the interest of the firm of Lamson, Dudley, & Pike, of which he is a member, great numbers of cattle and sheep. During the thirty years, Mr. Pike has found an outlet for that restless energy and enterprise which these pursuits and the occupation of farming and stock-growing cannot exhaust, in an extensive lumber business. All this, it should be borne in mind, is in addition to the extensive cultivation and stock-growing on his own farm.

Notwithstanding the variety and extent of his purely business transactions, Mr. Pike has also found leisure to fill with efficiency many stations in the public service. At one period of his career, during several successive years he was selectman of Cornish. This led the way to other offices. He who had discharged with faithfulness and skill the responsibilities in the town, was deemed worthy to be honored with higher duties, and Mr. Pike found himself, in 1859, 1860, and 1861, the incumbent of the office of county commissioner for Sullivan county. At the end of his third term, his fellow-townsmen withdrew him from the commissionship, which he had ably filled, and made him their representative to the general court for 1862, and again for 1863. He made an intelligent and active legislator, and soon became familiar with the business of the house. The estimate which was put upon his services and standing in the house is seen in the fact that in his first year he served on the committee on manufactures, and, in his second year, was made chairman of the committee on banks, which at the time was one of the most difficult and responsible positions in the house. If Mr. Pike did not often attempt to influence legislation by debate, he had what Wirt attributes to Jefferson, "the out-of-door talent of chamber consultation," and used it with good effect. The years 1862 and 1863 were two of the most anxious and trying years of the civil war, and perplexing propositions were brought before the legislature for solution. There were sharp antagonisms and earnest debates among the strong men of those sessions; questions of jurisdiction and policy touching the national defense and the rights of states, new to legislation and embittered by party rancor, became the subjects of action; the frequent calls for men and money to meet the demand which the prolonged and sanguinary conflict made upon the state gave to the legislation of the period unprecedented interest and importance. Through it all, no man was more active, more true, or more patriotic, than Capt. Pike.

In 1863, the subject of our sketch was appointed provost-marshal of the third New Hampshire district, and during that and the two succeeding years, when the war-cloud hung heavy and dark on the southern horizon, he discharged the duties of this delicate and difficult office with unusual ability, and received from Mr. Frye, the provost-marshal-general, the highest possible commendation for the integrity and success with which he administered the affairs of his department of the public service. Associated with him in this branch of the military organization, were some of the foremost men of the state: Hon. Francis A. Faulkner, an able lawyer of Keene, was commissioner, and Dixi Crosby, the distinguished head of the Dartmouth Medical College, was surgeon of the board of enrollment; Senator H. W. Blair, Hon. Ossian Ray, and Col. Nelson Converse of Marlborough were the deputy-marshals, and Judge W. H. H. Allen of Newport, C. C. Kimball, Esq., of Charlestown, and Henry C. Henderson, Esq., of Keene, were clerks of the board. To have conducted the office in a way to secure the respect and co-operation of such a body of men is in itself a distinguished honor.

In 1866, Mr. Pike received the nomination for councilor of the fourth councilor district, but declined, and was subsequently appointed United States collector of internal revenue. His administration of the duties of this position was deservedly popular with the department at Washington, and with the people at home, and he remained in it till the districts of the state were consolidated. In 1876 he was a delegate from Cornish in the constitutional convention, receiving every vote cast by his fellow-townsmen.

In addition to these public offices, Mr. Pike has been a director in the Claremont National Bank for fifteen years, and an active member and officer of the Sullivan County, the Connecticut River, the New Hampshire State, and the New England agricultural societies. To have earned and to have enjoyed the popular favor in a republic and in so many and varied places of honorable trust, is to have passed the crucial test of fitness for public life.

Few men of positive character and recognized ability, if in exalted positions, are so fortunate, in this age, as to escape criticism; but it will be acknowledged that in all the state and national trusts held by the subject of our sketch, he has so borne himself as to win the approval of the authorities, the good will of the people, and the respect of his friends.

In 1862, Mr. Pike was united in marriage to Amanda M. Fay, the daughter of Hon. Levi Chamberlain Fay, of Windsor, Vt., a lady of attractive manners and varied accomplishments. Mrs. Pike has been a most loyal wife in all the relations of life, and the beloved mother of four children,--three sons and a daughter,--of whom but one survives, Chester Fay Pike, a lad of twelve years.

In the above narrative, we have done little more than to set down in order the events in the life of a quiet citizen of one of the country towns of our state; but, when we consider how much this gentleman has accomplished and that he is only now at the meridian of life, we realize that his is no ordinary career, and that New England does not furnish a long catalogue of men who have so well illustrated the genius of our institutions, and the possibilities of a sagacious mind that has a fixed purpose to succeed in the race of life. The man who does difficult work and wins the love of friends deserves to be honored of all. In all the relations of public and private life Mr. Pike,--

"By nature honest, by experience wise, Healthy by temperance and exercise,"

has acted well his part, and so honored his state, and made a name which his descendants will cherish in the years to come.

COL. THOMAS P. PIERCE.

BY HON. JOHN H. GOODALE.

Most of the success and thrift which during the past thirty years have attended the manufacturing interests of New Hampshire are due to the untiring industry and intelligent foresight of that class of self-reliant, progressive business men who, starting in life with ordinary advantages, have had the nerve to seize and the capacity to improve the opportunities within their reach. Prominent among this class of enterprising and valuable citizens of this state is the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this page,--HON. THOMAS P. PIERCE.

Col. Pierce was born in Chelsea, Mass., on the 30th of August, 1820. He came from Revolutionary stock on both the father's and mother's side. After limited training in the public schools, he learned the trade of carriage and ornamental painting in Boston.