History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 201

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 201

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BENJAMIN HALE.

Benjamin Hale was born November 23, 1797, in the Belleville Parish of Newbury, Mass., now in- cluded in the limits of the city of Newburyport.

He was the eldest son of Thomas Hale, who was the grandson of the fifth Thomas Hale in the series of Thomas Hales, whose first member came to New- bury in the year 1663.

Ilis mother was a daughter of Col. Josiah Little, who was a son of Col. Moses Little, an officer of the Continental army, who served with distinction at Bunker Hill, and during the siege of Boston, and on Long Island, and in the battles near New York City. On both sides of the house he came of a race of vig- orous, energetic and industrious men, honored by their fellow-citizens, and distinguished for exemplary habits and faithfulness in the discharge of varied trusts and duties.

poetry." lle was also at the Newburyport Academy when Mr. Abiel Chandler was the principal, who had not the faculty of making himself very attractive to younger scholars, though a scholarly man and inter- ested in education, which he many years afterwards exhibited by endowing the Chandler Scientific De- partment of Dartmouth College.

He fitted for college at the Atkinson Academy, in Atkinson, N. II., then under the charge of the Ilon. John Vose. He entered Dartmouth College in 1814, and was among the youngest of some thirty members of his class, Ilis health becoming impaired, he left college early in the sophomore year.

He, however, pursued his studies under the direc- tions of Rev. Mr. Abbott, of Dummer Academy, and entered the sophomore class of Bowdoin College early in 1816, then under the presidency of Rev. Dr. Apple- ton. Here he stood high in a class of uncommon ex- cellence. The class was the largest in the history of the college up to that time. In 1818 he graduated with the second part in his class, giving the salutatory oration. lleeding the advice of his old pastor, Dr. Spring, " that one who meant to be a minister would do well to try his hand at being a school-master," he took charge of the Academy at Saco for one year. In the autumn of 1819 he became a member of the Theological Seminary, at Andover. Here his college classmate became his classmate and room-mate, Dr. Anderson, of the A. B. C. F. M.

Dr. Anderson thus writes of him :

"Our friendship was founded in mutual knowledge and esteem, and continued during his life. The operations of his mind were effective, equally so in nearly every branch of learning. He was quick and ac- curats in mathematics, in the languages and in music. I know not in what ons branch he was best fitted to excel. While perfect in all his recitations, he was social, always ready for conversation when I desired it. He had, and through his whole life retained, my entire confidence as a man of God, nor was I surprised at the eminent position he after- warils attained in the church of Christ. Pleasant is his memory, and pleasant is the thought of meeting him in a better world."

While at Andover he had leisure for reading, and that part of it which he devoted to ecclesiastical his- tory had an important influence as it turned out, in deciding his future ecclesiastical connection. At the commencement of Bowdoin College in 1820 he was appointed tutor. He taught the junior class in natural philosophy, and Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding, and the sophomore class in geometry and some other parts of mathematics and in logic. At the same time he continued to pursue his theolog- ical studies, and in January, 1822, was licensed to preach by the York Association.

In childhood he was studious and kind, commenc- ing his education at the age of three years, at the school of Ma'am Fowler, a well-known local teacher, who died in 1854, at the age of ninety-six. Newbury In September, 1821, he delivered a Latin valedic- tory oration, and took his degree of A.M. With re- gard to this period of his life his fellow-tutor, Profes- sor Packard, thus writes: and Newburyport in those days were well supplied with competent and accomplished teachers. Benja- min Hale, who was himself studiously inclined, es- teemed Archibald McPhail as the best of those hecame " Mr. Ilale gave nt once tho impression of a kind, generous, faithful heart, a clenr, acute and rapid intellect, and a vigorous grasp of any subject to which he gave his thought. He was a ililigent student. Ile loved books, Without conceit, he had sufficient self-reliance, which in contact with. Speaking of a walk with him, when he was nine years old, to the Boiling Spring, he said "That walk invested the Spring with a good deal of . was always of service to him as a teacher and governor. He always bad

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IIISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the good-will of his pupils, and whether with them or with his col- leagues, he exerted an influence above rather than below his age and standing. Ile was a true man, unselfish, of a decidedly social turu, of warm affections, of a genial humor."

After being licensed to preach he performed that duty quite regularly, one-halfof the day in the church at Brunswick, President Alleu preaching the other half. Ile was also called upon to preach occasionally in neighboring Episcopal Churches. This shows that denominational lines sixty-five years ago were not always drawn very vigorously.

In the summer of 1822 he received proposals from R. H. Gardiner, Esq., to take charge of a new institu- tion which he had determined to establish for the ed- ucation of farmers and mechanics in the true princi- ples of science.

Closing his connection with the college at com- mencement, in the year 1822, he went to Gardiner in the autumn, completing the preliminary arrange- ments.

January, 1823, he opened the Lyceum, was inaugu- rated as its principal, and delivered an address on the occasion, which was published. This was one of the earliest of the schools of technology, which have since then won their way to so important a part in the educational systems of the present day.

Having obtained what was a remunerative salary in those days of stricter domestic economy, and a po- sition of consideratiou, he took to himself a wife, Mary C. King, eldest daughter of Hon. Cyrus King, M.C., of Saco, Me., April 9, 1823. The Lyceum, at- tracting many students, became a flourishing institu- tion ; additional teachers were added. The principal gave lectures in chemistry, and taught mathematics and nainral philosophy, and in the winter had classes in architecture and agricultural chemistry, preparing for the former of these classes a book on "The Ele- mentary Principles of Carpentry," in the year 1827. His health having suffered from the confinement and the arduous duties of his position, he decided with many regrets to leave a situation for which he was in every way well suited, and to accept a less arduous one as Professor of Chemistry in Dartmouth College, where he delivered his inaugural address in August, 1827. His colleagues in the medical college were the esteemed and widely-known Professors Reuben D. Mussey, M.D., and Daniel Oliver, M.D.

The importance of physical studies was not then appreciated in the colleges and universities. Dart- mouth College had not taken a scientific periodieal for half a century. There was no cabinet of minerals. " There was not," writes Dr. Oliver, "a single modern volume in the college library upon either mineralogy or geology, and scarcely one, if one, upon chemistry, later than the days of Fourcroy or Vau- quelin. The prevailing taste was decidedly anti- physical. It was directed another way, and not only so, but there was among the college faculty a disposi- tion to undervalue the physical science." Dr. James

F. Dana, the predecessor of Professor Hale, writing of the college in reference to physical science, used this striking illustration : "It was anchored in the stream, and served only to show its velocity."

When Professor Hale was engaged, his duties eom- prised a course of daily lectures to the medical class, through the lecture term of fourteen or fifteen weeks, to which lectures the members of the senior and junior classes were to be admitted for a small fee, and in- struction to the junior class in some chemical text- book, by daily recitations for five or six weeks. This was all.

Professor Hale voluntarily, each year, gave to the academic classes a separate course of over thirty lec- tures, at his own expense. He substituted a larger and more scientific text-book for that in use, and ob- tained an increase in the number of recitations from thirty to forty.

He laid the foundation of the cabinet of minerals by giving five hundred specimens, classifying and labeling (with some assistance) all additions, leaving the collection in a respectable condition, with twenty- three hundred specimens. IIe also gave annually about twenty lectures in geology and mineralogy, hoping to excite an interest in those subjects ; and for some years was the instructor of the senior class in the philosophy of natural history. For two years also he took charge of the recitations in Hebrew, and also took other recitations. All of the above services were voluntary and gratuitous. It is no wonder that students thus cared for should respond as they did with enthusiasm and regard. Happily, in this depart- meut as well as in all others, Dartmouth College is now in motion, and with the foremost in the current of physical studies. Professor Hale's architectural genius and constructive ability were also brought into active exercise during the process of repairing the old college buildings, and erecting new. Of this he writes, December 11, 1827 : "I have made out a plan for the repair of the college buildings, and the addition of a building for libraries for the use of the trustees at their next session." Again March 20, 1828: " I have the honor of being half of the build- ing committee, Professor Chamberlain being the other moiety, and we are commencing operations. The prospects of the college are now so bright that the plan I first proposed, and which was adopted by the trustees, is abandoned, and we are preparing to erect two brick buildings, three stories high and fifty by seventy feet in size, one for students' rooms, the other for public rooms. And what is more comforting, onr funds are improving so much that the buikling will not distress us very much if the thirty thousand dol- lars should not be realized."

During his last three years Professor Hale was president of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. His por- trait, presented by the members of the society, hangs, or did hang, in the college library."

Professor Hale's closing experiences at Dartmouth

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NEWBURYPORT.

were not pleasant. Having thought it was his duty to resume preaching, but in the Episcopal Church, he was ordained deacon by Rt. Rev. Dr. Griswold, bishop of the Eastern Diocese, and January 6, 1831, priest by the same. In this course he in no sense violated any provision of the college charter, or any condition connected with any single article of endowment. Iu fact, some of the most prominent of the early friends of the college were Episcopalians.

He scrupulously attended services at the village church; in the evenings, however, he held a service in his own study for his own family and that of Dr. Oliver, and for such other communicants of that church and other friends as desired to attend. Dr. and Professor Crosby, in a contribution to the Medical History of New Hampshire, briefly refers to the re- sult, saying, "I cannot forbear to recall, for an in- stant, the name of Professor Hale, who, after serving the college in the chair of chemistry for a few years, lost his connection with the institution in a manner by no means creditable to the trustees. The board determined on his removal, but as it could not legally be accomplished under the college charter, the Alex- andrian method of treating this heretical kuot was adopted. A vote was passed abolishing the profes- sorship."

Professor Hale, at the request of his colleagues, de- livered the course of lectures following, and at the close published his valedictory letter to the trustees.

The same year he published Scriptural illustrations of the liturgy.

In October, 1835, the degree of D.D. was conferred. on him by Columbia College, of New York City.

In 1835 he spent the winter in the island of Santa Cruz, on account of a severe attack of bronchitis. His published letters, signed "Valetudinarius," were very pleasant.

August 2, 1836, he was elected president of Geneva College, and entered on his duties the October follow- ing, delivering his inaugural address December 21st. The history of that institution for nearly twenty -two years was intimately connected with the history of its president. His labors, thoughts, hopes and prayers were given to it. One of its trustees wrote of its con- dition : " His presidency embraced a most critical period in the history of the college; life was already nearly extinct, and death would soon have followed

had not the president given himself wholly to his / near to his birth-place, and not far from the graves of work, with a faith that never faltered, a perseverance strengthened with difficulties, and a thorough convic- tion that his work, if well done, would promote the glory of God, and of his church through all time. Verily, he had a most difficult task. He did it nobly. He saved the college."

" It was an excellent thing for our college," writes Joseph M. Clark, D.D., " that it was able to secure in 1836 the services of Dr. Hale, as its third president. The college had averaged during the ten years of its existence four graduates a year. And up to the begin-

ning of 1836 all the endowments, exclusive of buildings and ground, only yielded $1500 a year. About as much was given from church sources in 1836," and later some money was granted by the State. " All the faculty lived lives of great self- sacrifice, but I think Dr. Hale was pre-eminent in this respect." Yet in the depth of these trying times he refused an offer of a situation, at a salary which would have placed him at once in luxury. He knew that he must stand by or the ship was lost.

" At last the venerable corporation of Trinity Church, New York City, came to the relief of the institution, and granted an annuity to sustain it." Dr. Hale instructed thoroughly and easily in every department of learning, though most fond of ethical and metaphysical studies. His courses of lectures on civil and ecclesiastical architecture invested those subjects with very great interest.

When the division into Eastern and Western Dio- ceses was first voted on in 1838, Dr. Hale published a pamphlet advocating the measure, besides making other active efforts in its favor.

He also, a little later, originated the "Society for Educating the Sons of the Clergy." His health beginning to suffer, to secure an entire change for awhile, in December, 1852, he sailed for Enrope, to make a brief tour. His health improved, and he thought of home, though he excessively enjoyed and appreciated what he saw. He wrote : "The wealth of Rome absolutely fatigues me in its works of art, especially by its richness in architectural and sculp- tural decorations. All I see in Europe, so far, makes me glad that I and my children were born in America."

He was welcomed home, on his return June 29, 1853, by the faculty and students, who met him at the railroad station.

His health was so far restored that he could resume his work with vigor. His letters and journal furnish delightful reading, and his mind was full of interesting and attractive reminiscences. His health again beginning to decline in the autumn of 1857, he was obliged to lay aside his work, and on the 19th of Janu- ary, 1858, presented his letter of resignation to the trustees, which was accepted, and some very just and commendatory resolutions were unanimously adopted. In 1859 Dr. Hale removed again to Newburyport, his fathers. A valuable service of plate was pre- sented to him by the alumni and friends of the college. Rev. Mr. Van Rensellear, in presenting it, said : " Your monument will be found in these halls of learning ; in the influence of your faithful instruc- tions and paternal counsels upon the minds of the young men who have gone forth into the world from their shadows; in those distinguished names who, either in the church or the republic, will show the fruits of their training here."

In his new abode he met with a cordial reception,-

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

" he was not alone respected, he was loved." For a few years only was he able to enjoy the earthly rest he had sought. After a short period of sickness he entered his eternal rest the 15th of July, 1863, leav- ing to mourn his loss four sons and one daughter.

We are much indebted to Dr. Douglas's " Life of Dr. Hale," as well as Dr. IIale's letters to his children, for much information in preparing this short sketch.

JOSIAH LITTLE HALE.1

Among the early emigrants who settled in "Old Newbury " were George Little and Thomas Hale. In the veins of their descendants has flowed some of the best blood of New England. For two hundred and fifty years the Littles and the Hales have figured largely and honorably in the history of Newbury and Newburyport. Few family names among us have represented more intelligence, enterprise and moral worth than these two. The subject of this sketch fitly bore both these names, as he, in so large a degree, combined in himself the many excellent qualities of mind and heart which these names represent.

Josiah Little IIale was born in that part of New- bury, now included in Newburyport, called Belleville, December 9, 1803. He died February 26, 1875, in the same house in which he was born. His father, Thomas Hale, was of the seventh generation in the direct line of descent from the emigrant, Thomas Hale, who settled in Old Town, Newbury, in 1637. ITis mother, Alice Little, was of the sixth generation, in the direct line of descent from the emigrant, George Little, who came from London, England, to Newbury, New England, in 1640. He was the fifth born of a family of ten children, only two of whom are now living, viz. : Mrs. Alice Little March, and Dea. Joshua Hale.

Mr. Hale, in his early years, received an excellent religions training, for which he was ever afterwards truly grateful. His childhood and youth were singu- larly guileless and pure. He even then exhibited those gentle, amiable, winning traits which were so conspicuous in later years; which made him a favor- ite with his play-mates and fellow-pupils, and won the love and admiration of all who knew him. That filial obedience and devotion which he always delight- ed to see in children were beautifully illustrated in himself. One day, a short time before his death, alluding to his early life, he said : " I do not remem- ber that I ever did anything which I was not willing my parents should see, or ever said anything I was not willing my parents should hear." The child was father of the man.

Mr. Hale was, in the best and only true sense of the word, a self-made man. Of a quiet, gentle spirit, he yet had great self-reliance and energy of purpose. He was emphatically the architect of his own fortune. Waiving all his rights in the patrimonial inheritance

in favor of his sisters, he resolved to make his own way in the world. At the age of seventeen he left home for Boston and secured a place as office-boy in the Merchants' Insurance Company. By his dili- gence, fidelity and courteous manners he soon won promotion and was made secretary of the Washing- ton Marine Insurance Company, and such satisfaction did he give in this capacity that when, a few years later, that company decided to open a branch office in New York, Mr. Hale was selected to have charge of it. After a year of marked success in that responsi- ble position, it was proposed to him to unite with the late Walter R. Jones in establishing the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company of New York. This proposition involved the necessity on the part of Mr. Hale of securing subscriptions to the stock of the new company to the amount of one hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars. For this purpose he visited Boston and laid the matter before his friends there, and so great was their confidence in his in- tegrity and business ability and in the success of any enterprise in which he might engage, that in one hour twice the required sum was subscribed-no slight tribute to a young man of twenty-five. Mr. Hale was chosen president of the company and Mr Jones vice-president, and for a long term of years these two men held these offices. Under their wise and efficient management the Atlantic was eminently successful and became the foremost insurance com- pany in the United States.

For more than a quarter of a century Mr. IIale held a prominent place among the leading business men of New York. He had a wide and ever-enlarging circle of friends in that city, and enjoyed the confi- denee and esteem of all who knew him. One who was intimate with him at that time bears this testi- mony : " He combined, in a rare degree, great busi- ness talent, remarkable fairness, and strict integrity, and never-failing urbanity."

The pressure of business never deadened his sym- pathies nor repressed his overflowing kindness of heart. IIe felt a special kindly interest in young men, and was ever ready to encourage and aid them, and even to befriend them, when involved in trouble by their own folly and wrong-doing. More than one young man, through his kind offices, was saved from the consequences of his indiscretions.

When a prominent business gentleman of New York heard of his death, he exclaimed with great feeling : "I owe to Mr. Hale all that I am." IIe had, when a young man, for some irregularity, been dismissed from his place; but Mr. Hale interested himself in his behalf and secured for him another place, where he could take a new start and retrieve his character, which he did.

To the frequent appeals for charity, which are the annoyance of so many business men, Mr. Hale always had an open ear and a responsive heart. If he knew the pleasure of acquiring, he knew also the greater

1 By D. T. Fiske, D.D

Uruch-tal.

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NEWBURYPORT.

pleasure of giving ; but his giving was not ostenta- tious, and often was unknown except to the recipients.

For many years Mr. Hale was a parishioner of Dr. Gardner Spring, and was a constant worshipper at the old Brick Church, and a regular attendant upon the weekly evening meetings condneted by the pastor and members of that church. Afterwards, residing in Brooklyn, he was one of the originators of the enterprise which resulted in the formation of the Congregational Church and Society of the Pilgrims, and the settlement over the same of the Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs.

In 1854 impaired health compelled Mr. IIale to resign the responsible position he had so honorably and successfully filled, and to retire altogether from active business.

The trustees of the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company marked the occasion in a manner alike creditable to themselves and to him by passing very complimentary resolutions, and presenting to Mr. Hale a valuable silver service "in testimony of their regard, and for his long, faithful and efficient ser- vices."

Leaving New York, he returned to his early home, where the last twenty-one years of his life were hap- pily and usefully spent among kindred and friends- Here he was universally beloved and esteemed, and his presence was a perpetual benediction. Ile was deeply interested in everything touching the good name and welfare of his native town, now grown to be a city. His public and private charities were numerous, and no one could come in contact with him without knowing what a well-spring of kindness was in his heart. His character was not only at- tractive when seen at a distance, but closer inspection revealed more clearly its rare and manifold beanties. He was a man of excellent judgment, quick percep- tions, great suavity of manners, candid, charitable, sympathetic, cheerful, modest, gentle, peaceable, yet not lacking in firmness of purpose nor in fortitude, either moral or physical. He was in the best sense of the word a Christian gentleman. His love for the Bible was strong, and his faith in its teachings implicit. Without being a bigot or a sectarian, he held with a firm and intelligent conviction what are termed the "Evangelical " doctrines of religion. A inember of the Belleville Congregational Church, he lived and died in the faith of his fathers, and in the confident hope of a blessed immortality.

Mr. Hale never married, but he was an object of tender and almost venerating affection to a large cir- cle of relatives, and his name will long be held in grateful and loving remembrance in the community where the last years of his life were spent. His end was peace. The final summons came unexpectedly, but found him all ready to go. His body was laid to rest in the Belleville Cemetery, which he did so much to enlarge and adorn while living.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 201

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1672

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672