Chat. Adams Jr.Chat. Adams Jr.
From Henry Adams (16), who settled in Braintree, descended the presidents. He had a large family besides the Edward named above, and among them a son Joseph, born in 1626, who married Abigail Baxter. These last had a son Joseph, born December 24, 1654. Of this second Joseph, the second son was Dea. John Adams of Braintree. Dea. John married Susanna Boylston, of Brookline, Mass., and their oldest son was John Adams, born October 19, 1735, second President of the United States. His oldest son was John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States, and father of Hon. Charles Francis Adams.
Dr. Charles Adams, the twenty-first generation from Ap Adam of Wales, was son of Jesse and Miriam (Richardson) Adams, of Brookfield, Mass., and was born in that place, February 13, 1782. His early years were spent on the farm with his father. His education was chiefly acquired in the district school and Leicester Academy. He then taught some two years in Half Moon, N. Y. On his return, in 1803, he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Asa Walker, of Barre, Mass., with whom he remained in practice one year after completing his studies. He came to Antrim, N. H., and began practice in the early summer of 1807, coming to take the place of Dr. Nathan W. Cleaves, whose early and much lamented death occurred in April of that year. Dr. Adams married, February 13, 1809, Sarah McAllister, of Antrim, daughter of James and Sarah (McClary) McAllister. She was a woman of excellent tastes and superior mind, of rare patience in toil and trial, and of a sweet and winning Christian spirit,—all of which made her conspicuously worthy and attractive. She was of pure Scotch descent and strict Presbyterian opinions. She was a mother whose children might well "rise up and call her blessed." Dr. Adams was a favorite in Antrim; was early in town office; was a successful physician; was a great reader, full of information; and was looked upon by contemporaries as an original and able man. He moved from Antrim to Oakham, Mass., in 1816, where he died of old age, March 6, 1875.
Hon.Charles Adams, Jr., A. M., the subject of this sketch, was born in Antrim, January 31, 1810; in that part of the town then known as "Woodbury Village," having only eight or ten houses all told, now the large and flourishing village of South Antrim. Here he had his first schooling, under charge of Fanny Baldwin and Daniel M. Christie, afterwards Hon. Daniel M. of Dover. Of those early school-days he retains a vivid remembrance; and he is the last of that group of scholars, or nearly the last, now living. After removal from Antrim, he continued and completed a common-school education at Oakham; was at a select school six months under Rev. John Bisbee, of Brookfield, Mass.; then he studied eight months with Rev. Josiah Clark, of Rutland, Mass.; and this was the limit of his opportunity for education. Then, though quite young, he was in a store about five years in Petersham, Mass., obtaining much practical knowledge in the course of his work. He is what called a self-made man. Few men can be found better versed in literary matters, or political economy, or the history of our land. He has been familiar with distinguished men, and is one we count winsome in the social hour, with a fund of information on most topics of conversation; with apt quotation, or vigorous repartee ever ready on his tongue. Hence he is one of the most agreeable, genial, and gentlemanly of men. He was some years book-keeper, and afterwards partner, in the immense boot and shoe-manufacturing establishment of North Brookfield (now employing from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred hands), from which company he retired just before the war.
With singular continuance, Mr. Adams has been kept in offices of trust by the people of his adopted town and state. He was clerk of North Brookfield (now of about forty-five hundred inhabitants) ten years; representative in the Massachusetts house four years; on the executive council of Massachusetts four years; treasurer of the state of Massachusetts five years; and member of the senate of that state four years. And in all these cases the office sought the man,not the man the office. The writer of this knows that some of his friends were almost angry with him because he would not consent to run for congress, when the way was clear and an election sure. It is simply the truth to say that he has been in public life more than a quarter of a century; that he is a man of fixed principles and irreproachable character, a vigorous hater of shams and corruption, and held in honor throughout his adopted state.
During his administration as treasurer and receiver-general of the commonwealth, it became necessary, in arranging its financial matters, to negotiate, sign, and deliver in England, a large amount of its bonds, and Mr. Adams was commissioned by the governor and council to go to London for that purpose. After having successfully accomplished the objects of his mission, he took the opportunity of traveling for a short time on the continent of Europe, as well as in Great Britain, and especially in Scotland. In the latter country he had an ardent and loving interest, which was increased by travel there, and has lost nothing in subsequent years. He is a Scotch antiquarian of much reading and research.
Mr. Adams has always been greatly attached to his native town, Antrim,—cherishing with undiminished love the rocks and the hills upon which he looked in childhood. His visits are frequent to the old town; he still retains his membership in the old Presbyterian church; clearly remembers the old faces; loves the old ways; was a great helper in preparing the recent History of Antrim, and was a willing contributor to its embellishment. With all the rest, he has been something of a musician, being a member of the church choir (North Brookfield, Mass.,) more than forty years,—for many years its leader. And in these traits his children follow him, as they are gifted with rare musical taste and skill.
Mr. Adams married, May 8, 1834, Eliza, daughter of Hon. Joseph Cummings, of Ware, Mass.; and they have three surviving children,—Charles Woodburn and George Arthur, of North Brookfield, and John Quincy, of Boston. An only daughter, Ellen Eliza, married Frank A. Smith, and died at West Brookfield in 1866.
The degree of A. M. was conferred on Mr. Adams by Dartmouth College in 1878. And it may be added that such men as Mr. Adams are continually reflecting honor upon our rocky New Hampshire, from which they went forth. Their success goes to prove, that, with an eager mind, good ready common sense, persevering application, and inflexible honesty, the boys of the Granite State may win high places among men. We see by this biography, that, if theman be good enough, the place will seek the man. Truth and uprightness, backed by good abilities, are pretty sure to be appreciated.
B. F. Prescott.B. F. Prescott.
The first person by the name of Prescott in the province of New Hampshire, was James, who came from Dryby, in the county of Lincolnshire in England, and settled in Hampton, in 1665. On his arrival he began farming operations in what is now Hampton Falls, upon the farm now known as the "Wells Healy place," and remained there until he moved to Kingston, in 1725, when that town was granted to him, and others. In 1668 he married Mary, daughter of Nathaniel and Grace Boulter, who was born in Exeter, May 15, 1648. From this couple sprang the Prescotts in New Hampshire. James was the second cousin of John, who came to Massachusetts and settled in Watertown in 1640, from whom sprang the Prescotts mainly in that state, and among them Col. William, the hero of Bunker Hill, and his grandson, William H. Prescott, the eminent scholar and historian. James is represented to have been an influential man, honest in his dealings, upright in character, sound in judgment. His opinions were sought and respected. They had nine children, five sons and four daughters. Their fourth child was Jonathan, who was born August 6, 1675. When he grew up, he settled in that part of Hampton, which, since 1737, has been known as Kensington. In 1696 he was at Fort William and Mary and remained there some time, and in 1710 served under Capt. John Gilman in a scouting party. He had four sons and two daughters. His first child was named Jonathan. He was married, April 3, 1721, to Judith, daughter of Ebenezer and Judith (Sanborn) Gove. He was appointed, by Gov. Benning Wentworth, captain in a company, in the celebrated expedition against Louisburg, on the island of Cape Breton, under Sir William Pepperell. While on this expedition he died of fever on the 19th of January, 1746, leaving eleven children, four sons and seven daughters. His eighth child was named Nathan Gove Prescott, and was born March 13, 1735. He married, February 24, 1757, Patience Brown, of Kensington. Near the time of his marriage he moved to Epping and began work as a farmer and blacksmith. His brother Micah settled near him, on the opposite side of the road, and was engaged in the same occupation. They both signed the "Association Test," in 1776, with two hundred and seven others in the town.
Nathan Gove Prescott had five children, three sons and two daughters, born upon the farm where he settled. He died November 13, 1825, aged nearly ninety-one years. Nathan was his first child, and was born June 25, 1759. He became a carpenter and went to Monmouth in the province of Maine, but returned to New Hampshire and died at an advanced age. He married Anna Wells and had nine children, four sons and five daughters. His fourth son was Asa, who was born in Deerfield, May 2, 1787. He was a farmer and blacksmith. He married Polly Clark, of Greenland, and by this marriage had nine children, six sons and three daughters. He died in Epsom, March 27, 1867, aged nearly eighty years. His oldest son was named Nathan Gove Prescott, after his great-grandfather.He was born upon the homestead, November 1, 1807. He became a farmer and was successful in his work. He possessed excellent judgment on all matters relating to his occupation, and was considered by all who knew him as an excellent and thrifty farmer with the limited means at his command. He was honest, frugal, and upright. His word was never questioned, his judgment was relied upon, and his opinion respected and valued by his townsmen. On the 9th day of May, 1832, he married Betsey Hills Richards, daughter of Captain Benjamin and Mehitable (Hills) Richards, of Nottingham, who was born December 21, 1811. She is a lady of fine presence, vigorous constitution, and cultivated manners. She still resides in Epping with her son. Her husband, Nathan Gove Prescott, died July 7, 1866, aged nearly sixty years. They had only one child,Benjamin Franklin Prescott, who was born on the family homestead, February 26, 1833. Thus the line of ancestry has been traced from 1665.
The families on both sides can point to a fair and honorable record. The subject of this sketch inherited from his paternal and maternal line a strong constitution and great power of endurance, which have aided him much in his career. Like the rest of the boys in his neighborhood, he attended the district school a few months in the summer and winter, and worked upon the farm the remainder of the time. He made commendable progress in his studies, and as soon as his age would allow, his parents, feeling the want of a liberal education themselves, determined to give their son the advantages of the higher seminaries of learning. In the fall of 1847 he was sent to Blanchard Academy, in Pembroke, where he remained a portion of the time till 1850, when he entered Phillips Academy, in Exeter. He remained at this distinguished institution until the summer of 1853, when he entered the sophomore class in Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1856. While at Exeter he delivered an oration before the "Golden Branch," a literary society, at its annual anniversary, which at the time was well received. While in college, in the winter of 1855, he taught school in Chester. At his graduation he had an oration, and was for a time president of the United Fraternity, a public society in the college. After his graduation, in the fall and winter of 1856 he taught two district schools and one private school in Epping, and in February, 1857, he entered as a student in the law firm of Henry A. & Abel H. Bellows, in Concord, and after studying the requisite time was admitted to the bar, in August, 1859. He began the practice of his profession in Concord, and remained in it until May, 1861, when he became associate editor of theIndependent Democrat, during the absence of Hon. George G. Fogg, United States minister to Switzerland, until the summer of 1866.
Mr. Prescott was, from his youth, strongly opposed to the institution of slavery, and on reaching his majority allied himself with the Republican party, and cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont. His father was also a Whig and then Republican. About 1858 or 1859 he was elected secretary of the Republican state committee, succeeding the Hon. William E. Chandler, and filled that position for fifteen years, during which time many of the important and successful political campaigns were conducted.
While connected with theIndependent Democrat, he was appointed a special agent of the United States Treasury Department for New England, his duty being, unless otherwise directed, to examine and report upon the custom-houses and their business, light-houses, revenue-cutters, sub-treasury and marine hospitals. He held this position less than three years, and was removed early in the administration of Andrew Johnson because he openly denounced the policy and course of the President. He served as secretary of the colleges of electors for New Hampshire in 1860, 1864, 1868, 1872, 1876 and 1880; he was elected secretary of state in June, 1872, 1873, 1875, and 1876. On the 10th of January,1877, Mr. Prescott received the nomination as the Republican candidate for governor, and on the second Tuesday of March following was elected, by a majority of thirty-six hundred and thirty-two over his competitor, Hon. Daniel Marcy, of Portsmouth. On the 9th day of January, 1878, he was unanimously renominated at the state convention in Concord, and on the second Tuesday of March following was re-elected by a majority of nine hundred and fifty-six over his regular competitor, Hon. Frank A. McKean, of Nashua, and a plurality of fifteen hundred and twelve. On June 16, 1862, he was elected a resident member of the New Hampshire Historical Society, and was for several years vice-president of the same. In 1876 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain, also president of the Bennington (Vt.) Battle Monument Association, also president of the Provident Mutual Relief Association. On May 6, 1880, he was elected a delegate-at-large to the Republican convention in Chicago, and while there was chosen chairman of the New Hampshire delegation. On the 8th of December, 1881, he was elected an honorary member of the Marshfield Club in Boston. In 1874 he was appointed a trustee of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, and in 1878 he was elected a trustee of Dartmouth College, both of which positions he holds at the present time.
While governor, he was frequently called upon to address public and private gatherings, and when it did not interfere with his official duties he seldom failed to respond. His first address was at Epping, on the occasion of a public reception given him by the citizens of the town, without distinction of party, on the day after his inauguration. The occasion was brilliant and highly complimentary. He also was present at the inauguration of Rev. Samuel C. Bartlett, D. D., LL.D., as president of Dartmouth College, and gave an address of welcome to this eminent scholar. The governor visited, with a large detachment of the state militia and distinguished citizens of the state, the centennial celebration of the battle of Bennington, Vt., and spoke there for the state at the banquet on that memorable occasion. He was also at state and town fairs, and meetings of various kinds held within the limits, and without the state, on all of which occasions he acquitted himself creditably, both in matter and manner, his style of speech being graceful and forcible.
Gov. Prescott was married, June 10, 1869, to Mary Little Noyes, daughter of Jefferson and Nancy (Peart) Noyes, of Concord. Mrs. Prescott was born in Atkinson, May 6, 1839. She is a lady of refined manners and a favorite in society. They have had only one child, who takes his father's name. He was born June 16, 1879, upon the family homestead. Gov. Prescott is an excellent and successful farmer, and has a large farm under a high state of cultivation. In 1876 he erected a spacious dwelling-house and other buildings. He has a large and well selected library.
Under Gov. Prescott's administration the laws of the state were revised, the new prison constructed, the militia re-organized, and judicial appointments made. The prison was built within the appropriation. In all his official acts Gov. Prescott was animated by a purpose single to the welfare of the state, and upon his retirement to private life, at the end of his term, he took with him the respect of its people, irrespective of party or sect. Pre-eminently a man of the people, without ostentation or pride of place beyond that which is befitting one who has filled the office of chief magistrate, he has always been as approachable to the humblest citizen as to the most exalted personage.
From the beginning of his public life, Gov. Prescott has taken a deep interest in all that appertains to the welfare of his native state. For its institutions of learning he has shown a high regard. Hisalma mater, Dartmouth College,is an object of solicitude, and no other son has done more for her in proportion to his means and influence. Many of the portraits of eminent graduates, presidents, and benefactors that now adorn the walls of the college, were procured through his thoughtful and persistent efforts. The portraits and marble busts that grace the hall in Phillips Academy, in Exeter, with one or two exceptions, were secured to it through his indefatigable zeal and wise action. This declaration will apply with equal truth to the collection of portraits by eminent artists in the state-house, and also the Historical Society at Concord. His interest in the history of the state is very keen, and few of New Hampshire's sons have done more to vindicate the fame of her Revolutionary heroes, and secure for them and their state the credit withheld by partial or poorly informed historians.
Gov. Prescott has a fine presence. Erect of body, with broad massive shoulders indicative of great physical strength; features regular, strongly marked and of kindly expression; agreeable manners, genial and open-hearted; outspoken at all times, but never censorious; hospitable, and considerate; a strict partisan, but never intrusive or arrogant; impatient of shams, but a firm friend of all philanthropic undertakings,—he has filled with credit to himself and luster to his state and country every place of honor and trust to which the favor and good judgment of his fellow-citizens have called him.
H W BlairH W Blair
Among the many strong and self-reliant men and women who went out from the old Scotch-Irish colony of Londonderry to establish homes in other sections of the state were the Livermores, Shepherds, Coxes, and Blairs, who were the first settlers in the Pemigewasset valley, where they and their descendants have ever since exerted a controlling influence.
The Blairs located in Campton, where the father of New Hampshire's senator of that name was born and grew to manhood. He was an excellent scholar, a talented musician, an accomplished military officer, and a man of great bodily strength and agility who was a recognized leader in the town. His wife was Lois Baker, a descendant of the Bakers of Candia, a family noted in colonial and revolutionary times, and for many years one of the most respected and influential in Campton. She was a very fine singer, and was gifted with remarkable mental endowments and rare sweetness of disposition. Both Mr. and Mrs. Blair were teachers in their youth, but after their marriage located themselves upon a farm in their native town, where they lived happily until he was fatally injured by falling timbers, while engaged upon the frame of a building. He died December 8, 1836, leaving three children: a daughter, Hannah Palmer Blair, aged six years; a son, Moses Baker Blair, aged four years; and a son,Henry William Blair, aged two years. A fourth child, Lois Esther Blair, was born soon after his death. Of these, the oldest daughter died in 1843, and the oldest son, a young man of remarkable abilities, in 1857.
The death of Mr. Blair left his widow very poor, and finding it impossible to support the children in her old home she was obliged to separate them. The two eldest were "put out" to live in the families of neighboring farmers, while she kept with her the youngest son, Henry, and the infant daughter, until he was six years of age, when she arranged with Samuel Keniston, a leading citizen of Campton, to take him for one year, and, carrying the little girl with her, journeyed by stage to Lowell in quest of work in the factories there, by which she might obtain the means to support and educate her children. This venture was not a pecuniary success, as her small earnings were nearly all absorbed in necessary expenses; and in the summer of 1842 she returned to Campton, and soon after removed with the two young children to Plymouth, where for the next year she supported them by sewing.
At this time the boy Henry W., who was born December 6, 1834, was seven years of age, bright, active, and able to make himself useful on a farm; and he attracted the attention of Richard Bartlett, one of the prosperous farmers of Campton, who offered to take him and give him a home in his house, with what small educational advantages the district school afforded, in return for such services as a boy of his build and mettle could render. Thither he went in May, 1843, to begin to earn his own living, and for several years his home was with Mr. Bartlett, who treated him kindly and generously. In 1846 Mrs. Blair died, and from that time on the boy fought the battle of life aided only by such friendsas he made for himself, and inspired by a purpose to show himself a worthy son of his noble parents, whose memory he has always reverently cherished. Writing of them many years after, when the people of New Hampshire had conferred upon him the highest honor in their gift, he said: "I owe very much to my parents, who, though poor, were among the best that a child ever had; and to them I have always applied Cowper's proud tribute to his own:—
'My boast is not that I deduce my birthFrom loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth,But higher far my proud pretensions rise,The son of parents passed into the skies.'"
'My boast is not that I deduce my birthFrom loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth,But higher far my proud pretensions rise,The son of parents passed into the skies.'"
Until he was seventeen he worked hard upon a farm summers, and attended the district school winters, and in the autumns of 1851 and 1852 the Holmes Academy at Plymouth, of which Rev. James H. Shepard was principal. His earnings the following winter enabled him to still further gratify his longings for an education by going to the New Hampshire Conference Seminary for one term in the spring of 1853. As this exhausted his means, in the hope of obtaining more he worked for a mechanic one year, and was expecting soon to resume his studies, when his employer failed in business and he lost his wages. Before he could secure another situation he was prostrated by a severe illness, which left him broken in health, and compelled him, after a long struggle, to abandon his purpose of obtaining a collegiate training. The next three years he worked upon a farm, taught school in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, tramped through this state selling books, and did whatever honest work his health would permit, in the hope of gaining strength and money enough to complete his academical course, studying, in the meantime, two terms at Northfield and one at Plymouth, when it became evident that his strength was unequal to the task he had set himself, and he yielded to the advice of Samuel A. Burns, an eminent scholar and teacher, who took a warm interest in him, and May 1, 1856, entered the office of William Leverett, an able Plymouth lawyer, as a student. Three years afterwards he was admitted to the bar, and, associating himself with his instructor, began practice as the junior member of the firm of Leverett & Blair; and, devoting himself to his profession with the same industry, perseverance, and ability which enabled him to enter it, he soon gained an enviable reputation as a lawyer. The next year he was appointed solicitor of Grafton county, which was his first public office.
From the first, Mr. Blair was a thorough-going Republican. An instinctive hatred of slavery and all its attendant iniquities inspired him as a boy to look eagerly forward to the time when he could join in the warfare against it, and when he reached his majority he lost no occasion to declare by voice and vote his convictions upon the subject. When the slaveholders raised the standard of revolt against the government, he had just begun to reap the fruits of his early struggles and see the realization of his boyish dreams of success in his profession; but every call for men served to render him uncomfortable at home, and while the Twelfth Regiment was being recruited he put away his books and briefs and tried to join it, but failed to pass the surgeon's examination. He then enlisted as a private in the Fifteenth Regiment, and was chosen captain of Company B. Before leaving the state he was commissioned major by Gov. Berry, in which capacity he went to Louisiana. Soon after his arrival there the disability of his superior officers left him in command of the regiment, and from that time the drill and discipline which made it one of the best in the service were his work. In the assault upon Port Hudson, in May, 1863, he was severely wounded by a minie-ball, in the right arm, and was carried to thehospital to recover; but, learning a few days later that another attack on that rebel stronghold was to be made, he insisted on disregarding the commands of the surgeons by joining his command, and, with his arm in a sling, led his men, who had the right of the column, in the ill-fated charge of June 14. Here he was shot again in the same arm by a bullet, which tore open the old wound; but he refused to leave his troops, and remained with them until he could take them from the field. About this time he was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, and, as such, brought it home when its term of service had expired. He reached Concord little more than a bodily wreck, and for some days his life hung by a thread; but careful nursing by his devoted wife and friends restored him to sufficient strength to warrant his removal to his old home on the banks of the Pemigewasset.
A long season of suffering and disability from wounds and disease contracted in the army followed his return; but he gradually regained his health sufficiently to resume the practice of law at Plymouth, in which the court records show him to have been remarkably successful. He had a legal mind, had fitted himself for the bar with great thoroughness, prepared his cases carefully and patiently, and managed them skillfully, seldom failing to obtain a verdict. The Grafton-county bar was at that time noted for the ability and learning of its members, and he was rapidly working his way to a prominent place among them, when he turned aside to enter political life,—a step which many of the eminent men with whom he was associated in the trial of causes regard even now as a great mistake, his brilliant success in the field of politics failing, in their estimation, to compensate for what he was capable of achieving in the law. For several years he practiced alone; but in 1878 formed a partnership with Alvin Burleigh, which continued until his election to the senate.
In 1866, Mr. Blair was elected a representative to the popular branch of the state legislature, and there began the political service which has since made him so widely known. The next year he was promoted to the state senate by the voters of the eleventh district, and in 1868 was re-elected. In 1872 the third district, composed of the counties of Coos, Grafton, Sullivan, and Cheshire, elected a Democrat to congress; and in 1874 the Republicans, looking about for a candidate under whose lead they could redeem it, found him in Mr. Blair, whose reputation as a soldier, clean record as a citizen, personal popularity, and indefatigable industry and zeal dictated his enthusiastic nomination, and after an exciting campaign secured his election to the forty-fourth congress. In 1876 he was again elected, and in 1878 declined a renomination. The next summer the term of United States Senator Wadleigh expired, and Mr. Blair came forward as a candidate for the succession. He was earnestly supported by the younger men of the party, by the temperance and soldier elements; and, though his competitors were the ablest men in the state, he bore away the great prize, and immediately entered upon the discharge of his duties at Washington, to which he has since devoted himself.
Mr. Blair's election to the national senate was largely due to the record he had made in the house, and to his remarkable faculty of winning and retaining the hearty friendship of nearly all with whom he had ever been associated. From his youth up he had held radical views upon public questions; and the persistency and zeal with which he advanced and defended these under all circumstances convinced even his opponents of his entire sincerity, and bound to him his coworkers with locks of steel. Men liked him because he was cordial, frank, and earnest, and respected him because he had ability, industry, and courage; and so they rallied around him with a devotion and faith which overcame all opposition.
During the four years he represented the third district in the house, he served upon the committees on Railroads and Accounts, and several special committees. In the senate of the forty-sixth congress, upon the committees on Education and Labor, Agriculture, Transportation, Routes to the Seaboard, Election Frauds, Pensions, and Exodus of the Colored People: and in the present congress is chairman of the senate committee on Education and Labor, and a member of those on Pensions, Public Lands, Agriculture, and Woman Suffrage.
Soon after entering the house he introduced and advocated with great ability a proposition to amend the national constitution so as to prohibit the manufacture or sale of distilled spirits in the United States after 1890, a measure which gave him a national reputation, and caused him to be recognized by the temperance people of the country as their leader and champion in the national capitol. The woman suffragists have also found in him a vigorous and unwearying defender; and his speeches in support of his bill to extend government aid to the common schools of the South are among the most carefully prepared and conclusive arguments on that subject. When the financial policy of the country became a subject of discussion, and many of its strongest minds were carried from their moorings by the Greenback cyclone, Senator Blair stood sturdily for an honest currency and strict honesty in dealing with the government creditors, and by his speeches in congress and on the stump contributed in no small degree to the triumph of those principles and the incidental success of the Republican party. The veteran soldier has always found in him a friend who lost no opportunity to speak and vote for the most liberal pension laws, and who never tired in responding to individual calls for assistance at the department. His other service as a senator has been most conspicuous in his speeches against the Texas Pacific Railroad Subsidies, upon Foreign Markets and Commerce, Election Frauds in the South, the Exodus of Colored People, the Japanese Indemnity Fund, the Public Land Bill, and the Commission of Inquiry into the Liquor Traffic; his eulogies upon Henry Wilson, Zachariah Chandler, and Evarts W. Farr; and his reports on numerous subjects which have claimed the attention of his committees. He is rarely absent from his seat, and when present never declines to vote. His first term expires March 3, 1885.
From this brief sketch it will be seen that Mr. Blair owes his exceptional success in life to no extraneous or accidental aids. His parents were poor, and their untimely death deprived him of their counsel and example. His boyhood was a struggle with poverty, of which his youth was only a continuance. All he had, he earned. What he became, he made himself. As a man, he has shown great capacity for work and a disposition to do his best in every position. He is always intensely in earnest. He has indomitable perseverance and persistency, and never allows his abilities to rust in idleness. He is an outspoken and aggressive but practical reformer; a radical but sagacious Republican. Though his early advantages were few, he has been a voracious reader and a close student, and does not lack for the help which familiarity with books gives. He is an easy writer and a fluent speaker. He is generous to a fault; and his most prominent weakness is a disposition to magnify his obligations to his friends.
Senator Blair married Eliza Nelson, the daughter of a Methodist clergyman, of Groton, and has one son,—Henry Patterson Blair,—aged fourteen years.
R A MaxsfieldR A Maxsfield
Rufus A. Maxfieldwas born in Nashua, N. H., on the fifth day of March, 1835. His father, Stephen C. Maxfield, was a native of Newbury, Vt., was married to Clarissa Staples, a native of Chichester. N. H., at Nashua N. H., when the now populous city was but a small village. There were ten children born to them. Four died quite young; six are now living, viz.: the subject of this sketch; James G. Maxfield, M. D., surgeon at the National Home for disabled volunteer soldiers at Togus, Me.; J. P. Maxfield, treasurer of the Hiscox File Manufacturing Company, at West Chelmsford, Mass., who resides in Lowell, Mass.; Stephen W. Maxfield, a mechanic, now living in Nashua; Susan T. and Helen A.; the former married and resides in Wolfeborough, N. H., the latter in Lowell, Mass., with the widowed mother, who is still living at the ripe age of seventy years. Stephen C, the father, was employed for seventeen years by the Nashua Manufacturing Company, and was a faithful servant to his employers. He early became identified with the Methodist denomination, and was among the most zealous workers in building up the two societies in those early days. He died in Lowell. Mass., August 10, 1862, having lived a consistent Christian life, at the age of fifty-three years.
When Rufus was eight years old he was employed in the carding department of the Nashua company's mills during his school vacations. It was here that he was first taught the rudiments of cotton-manufacture. For awhile he worked as back boy in the mule-spinning department. In 1846 the family removed to Lowell, Mass. After attending school here for a short time he again went into the mill in the carding department on the Lawrence corporation. From here he was transferred to the mule-spinning department. In 1853 he left the mill temporarily to attend school at Northfield, N. H., where he remained two years, when he returned to the mill and to his mule-spinning. He passed through the various grades until he reached the position of second overseer. He was married on the 10th of May, 1856, to Mary A. Spaulding, daughter of Joshua Spaulding, of Pepperell, Mass.
Soon after the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, the mills of Lowell suspended operations, and thousands were thrown out of employment, Mr. Maxfield among the rest. In 1863 he entered the employ of the Naumkeag Mill, at Salem, Mass., as second overseer under Charles D. McDuffie, Esq., who had charge of all the spinning in these mills. Mr. McDuffie is now agent of the Manchester Mills, Manchester, N. H. Mr. Maxfield remained in the employ of the Naumkeag Mill until the close of the war, when, the corporations in Lowell resuming operations, he was tendered the position of overseer of the mule-spinning in the hosiery-mill of the Lawrence Manufacturing Company, who were then starting. Here he remained until the spring of 1866, when he took charge of the mule-spinning in number five mill, then the largest mill owned by theLawrence company. During the latter part of 1868 he had charge of all the spinning in this mill.
In 1869 he was appointed superintendent of Ida Hill Mill, Troy, N. Y. Under adverse circumstances, with a mill cramped for power, and with old machinery very much out of repair, he was very successful, earning satisfactory profits for the owners. In the year 1872, the management of the Tremont and Suffolk Mills in Lowell, Mass., offered him the position of superintendent of their large mills, where, under Thomas S. Shaw, Esq., agent, he remained until 1875. During his connection with this company, the quality of the Canton flannels, which are a "specialty" with these mills, was brought up to a standard that made them rank among the first in the market, commanding ready sales and good prices.
The directors of the Nashua Manufacturing Company, on the death of Oliver Hussey, Esq., in January, 1875, realizing the qualifications of Mr. Maxfield for such a position, appointed him agent of their large mills in Nashua, N. H. During Mr. Maxfield's administration to the present time, there have been extensive alterations and improvements in the direction of economy of manufacture and increased production, so that the reputation of the company that owned the model mills of New England has been maintained. Thus we find the boy who at eight years of age took his first lesson in cotton-manufacture, returning, after the lapse of thirty-two years, to the same mills as agent. Little did the youth dream what thirty-two years would bring to pass in his career.
Socially Mr. Maxfield is a very agreeable gentleman; and, while he has devoted his energies during all these years to his chosen calling, he has found time to connect himself by social ties to beneficiary organizations, thus lending his influence to the great work in which they are engaged. He was prominent for many years in the management of the affairs of Mechanics Lodge of Odd Fellows of Lowell, Mass., passing through the various positions until now he is one of the "Past Grands" of this lodge. He is also a member of Pentucket Lodge of Masons, Royal Arch Chapter, Ahasuerus Council, and Pilgrim Commandry of that city.
He is a regular attendant of the Methodist church, and is respected by the people of Nashua for his upright and honorable course of life. He is prompt to decide questions that come before him; but his decisions, though firm, are tempered with that affability of manner which relieves them of much of the harshness that many men manifest. May he be spared many years to pursue his favorite calling; and may the day be far distant when the Nashua Manufacturing Company shall lose his services, or the city of Nashua lose so worthy a citizen.
Geo. B. SpaldingGeo. B. Spalding
George Burley Spalding, the present pastor of the First church in Dover, was born in Montpelier, Vt., August 11, 1835, son of Dr. James Eliza (Reed) Spalding. The line of American descent on the paternal side as follows: Edward, of Chelmsford, Mass., immigrant; Benjamin, whose will was proved April 5, 1670; Edward, of Canterbury, Conn.; Ephraim, of Connecticut; Reuben, of Connecticut; Reuben, who married Jerusha Carpenter, and lived in Sharon, Vt.; Dr. James; and Rev. George Burley.
Deacon Reuben Spalding, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was one of the early settlers of Vermont, whose life was not more remarkable for his toils, privations, and energy as a pioneer in a new country, than for his unbending Christian integrity. He entered Sharon in 1769, and lived on the same farm eighty years. He was a member of the church sixty-one years, and deacon forty-two years. He was distinguished for "the best qualities of the old New England Puritanism."
Dr. James Spalding was the third of twelve children, and for many years a successful practitioner of medicine in Montpelier, Vt., but especially eminent in surgery. He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical School at the age of twenty years. He was more than forty years a member of the Vermont Medical Society; its secretary over twenty years, its president in 1866, 1867, and 1868. "His life," says a printed sketch, "was that of the good Samaritan, a life of toil, prayer, and sympathy for others."
By the line of Reed, the family is of the same blood with Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring and Rev. Dr. Edwards A. Park. The grandmother of Dr. George B. Spalding, and the grandfather of the late Senator Matthew H. Carpenter, were sister and brother.
George Burley Spalding was the seventh of nine children. He fitted for college at the Washington County Academy, Montpelier, and graduated at the University of Vermont in 1856, being twenty-one years of age. He read law one year in Montpelier, with Hon. Charles W. Willard, and then went to Tallahassee, Fla., where he read law another year with Judge W. C. M. Davis. While in the South, he was a regular correspondent of theNew York Courier and Enquirer, of which his brother, James Reed Spalding, was one of the editors. As such he attended the noted Southern commercial convention in Savannah, in 1858, where Yancey, Rhett, Barnwell, and DeBow poured out their hot invective. In the following year he mingled with the great southern leaders, on the eve of the great events which were soon to burst upon the country. Doubtless in his law study and in his intercourse with men in different phases of society, he acquired that practical acquaintance with human nature which makes available his instinctive and common-sense power of meeting all classes of men.
Flattering offers were made him by Judge Davis to remain and enter into practice with that eminent lawyer, at a large assured income. But Mr. Spalding had already changed his purpose for life. He returned North, abandoned the law, and began the study of theology in the Union Theological Seminary in New York city in 1858. Here he remained two years. Here, also, he did regular editorial work on theNew York World, of which his brother was founder, and subsequently wrote for the columns of theNew York Times. This experience enabled him, later, to write, for five years, a large portion of the editorial leaders of theWatchman and Reflector. While in Union Seminary, his spirit of independence and industry was so strong that he supported himself entirely by his literary work. Leaving New York, he entered Andover Theological Seminary, where, after one year's study, he graduated in 1861. On the 5th of October of that year he was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in Vergennes, Vt., a position to which he had, in fact, been called before his graduation, as well as to another field. He resigned his successful pastorate at Vergennes, August 1, 1864, to accept a call to the Park church, Hartford, Conn., formerly Dr. Bushnell's, where he was installed September 28. He resigned that charge, and was dismissed March 23, 1869, and was installed pastor of the First church in Dover, September 1, following.
This church is the second in point of age in this state, being organized in December, 1638, and preceded by Hampton only. The old Exeter First church itself later, became extinct in 1642, and the present First church of Exeter dates from 1698 only. The Dover Firstparishdates from October, 1633, and is unquestionably the oldest in New Hampshire. A long line of able men has been on the roll of the pastors of that venerable church. Under none has it been so strong and so influential as under Dr. Spalding. Its numbers have largely increased; its pews are at a constant premium; its pew-occupants number men of the highest distinction in the state. Three years since, the whole of the handsome church edifice was refitted at an expense of over twelve thousand dollars, besides the amount necessary to purchase the pew property, and no debt remains. An elegant and commodious parsonage has also been purchased and paid for. Without disparagement to others, it is safe to say that public opinion accords to Mr. Spalding a foremost place among the ministers of New Hampshire. Certainly no pastor of the ancient First church ever had a greater public respect or a deeper personal affection. His administration of a strong and thinking society goes on without even a ripple. He has been frequently called to attend distant councils, some of great and even national interest, and some where delicate questions required the wisest consideration; and in all cases his calm and deliberate judgment has had an influence inferior to none. One of these was the great Brooklyn Council, of national interest, in 1876.
In his preaching, one has to study him to get the secret of his influence. There is nothing in it to startle. There is no dramatic exhibition. It is the farthest possible from the sensational. There are never any protruding logical bones. He never indulges in any prettinesses of diction. But a critical analysis (the last thing one thinks of in listening to him) reveals the elements of his power. His themes are always elevated themes. One sees the most earnest convictions held in perfect independence and honesty; a natural development of thought in an always fresh and orderly way; a diction as clear as a pellucid brook; illustrations drawn from wide observation, always simple and frequently beautiful; a genial, sometimes intense, glow pervading his whole discourse; and a dignified but simple manliness throughout. Fully six feet in height, and with liberally developed physique, he impresses one at first mainly with the idea of manly strength. But it takes no great time to see that commanding intellectual abilitiesare fully parallel with his physique; and those who hear him, and especially those who know him, find an equal development of a generous nature which inclines always to sympathy, and with which he answers, in public and private, to every appeal to his helpful power. In doctrine he is understood to hold the main tenets of what is calledoldtheology, but as forces rather than dogmas, and liberally instead of severely applied.
Mr. Spalding's literary work has been extensive, but mainly upon current newspaper periodicals. This has given him, of course, a valuable directness and clearness of expression. A few sermons and other productions have been published: A sermon on God's Presence and Purpose in the War, November 26, 1863; a discourse commemorative of Gen. Samuel P. Strong, February 28, 1864; a discourse on the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Dover, May 18, 1873; a discourse commemorative of the character and career of Hon. John P. Hale, November 27, 1873, which the poet Whittier characterized in the highest terms,—a fine specimen of judicious analysis, in which he does justice to the pioneer of the anti-slavery cause in the United States senate,—a justice now lately apparently purposely ignored out of a desire to magnify a brilliant but later laborer. The Relation of the Church to Children, November 6, 1873. The Dover Pulpit in the Revolution, July 9, 1876,—for which he searched and well used the manuscript of his eminent predecessor, Dr. Jeremy Belknap. The fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Conference of Churches of Strafford county, June 18, 1878. The Idea and Necessity of Normal-School Training, December 26, 1878. Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Normal School, June, 1879. Memorial on the Death of Garfield, September, 1881. Historical discourse on the one-hundredth anniversary of the Piscataqua Association, October 26, 1881. On the death of Wells Waldron, November 13, 1881. On the death of John Riley Varney, May 5, 1882.
In addition, however, to his other work, he has been, and is, the editor of theNew Hampshire Journal, a successful weekly in the interest of the Congregational churches, from which some of his keen editorials have met with favor throughout the country.
Mr. Spalding was a member of the constitutional convention of New Hampshire which met January 8, 1877. He represented Dover in the New Hampshire house of representatives in 1877. He is also a trustee of the state normal school, by appointment of the governor and council, his first appointment, for two years, being made in 1876, and his chairmanship of that board commencing soon after and now continuing. He became a member of the school committee of Dover in 1875, and still continues, having been its chairman from 1876. He was chosen trustee and one of the executive committee of the New Hampshire Missionary Society is 1873; and still retains each position. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Dartmouth College in 1878.
Dr. Spalding married Sarah Livingston, daughter of Rev. Dr. John W. Olmstead, manager and editor of theWatchman and Reflector; her mother, Mary, was daughter of Richard Montgomery Livingston, a lawyer of Saratoga, N.Y. Their children are Mary Livingston, Martha Reed, Catherine Olmstead (who died August 29, 1881, aged fourteen), Gertrude Parker, and George Brown.
John and Nancy (Franklin) Briggs were of that class of working Englishmen who had the courage to flee from hard surroundings which no strength could overcome, and seek in a new world, among strangers, a chance to improve their condition. They were factory operatives at Bury, Lancashire county, England, where their sonJames F.was born, October 23, 1827. When he was fourteen months old they took passage on an emigrant ship for America, and after a rough voyage of more than seven weeks landed in Boston, March 4, 1829. Going direct to Andover, Mass., the father found employment in a woolen-factory there. From that place he removed to Saugus, where he worked a short time, and from thence to Amesbury, which was the family home until 1836. In the fall of that year the father, in company with two brothers, bought a small woolen-factory at Holderness, now Ashland, N. H., and, having established his home near by, commenced business on his own account, in manufacturing woolen cloths. But few operatives were needed to run this mill, and they were mainly the three proprietors and their children, among whom was the boy James, then a lad nine years old, who had begun to earn his living in a factory before the removal from Massachusetts, the family circumstances being such that all had to contribute to its support as soon as they were able. He was continuously employed in the mill for the next five years; but during this time he had learned enough of books to make him ambitious to know more; and, as the affairs of the family were fairly prosperous, at the age of fourteen he was sent to the academy at Newbury, Vt., and afterwards to the one at Tilton. Being an expert operative, able to take the wool from the fleece and convert it into cloth, by working in the factory a part of each year he earned the money to pay his expenses at these institutions one or more terms every year until 1848, when he arranged to commence the study of law with Hon. William C. Thompson, at Plymouth; but in February of that year his father died leaving a family of eight children, six of whom were younger than James, in destitute circumstances. This affliction, which threw the care of the family largely upon the young man, compelled him to change somewhat his plans; but he did not for a moment lose sight of the object he had in view, and, as he could not enter the law office at Plymouth, he borrowed books from it and pursued his studies during such time as he could get at home, for a year, when he entered the office of Hon. Joseph Burrows, then a practicing lawyer at Holderness.