History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 264

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 264

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It has been said that up to a certain period Mr. Whittier was in full sympathy with Mr. Garrison. At that period their ways parted on the slavery ques- tion, though their friendship was never broken nor seriously disturbed. Garrison denounced the consti- tution and the union and opposed political action. Whittier believed that the slave-holders had consti- tutional rights or " wrongs," as he has been heard to say, and that while it was the duty of every lover of free- dom to prevent the establishment of slavery in terri- tories over which Congress had jurisdiction, Provi- deuce would point out some method of final emanci- pation for the slave. He was sufficiently an optimist

to feel sure that other people were as conscientious as the Friends, who had rid themselves of slavery, and in good time would follow their example. Nor did he think it necessary or charitable to indulge in the de- nunciations uttered on the anti-slavery platform and the extravagant harangues of Garrison and Pillsbury and Phillips grated harshly on his ears.

In 1883 a complete edition of his poetical works was published, to which was attached a note by the anthor stating, "In these volumes for the first time a complete collection of my poems has been made. While it is satisfactory to know that these scattered children of my brain have found a home, I cannot but regret that I have been unable, by reason of ill- ness, to give that attention to their revision and ar- rangement which respect for the opinions of others and my own after-thought and experience demand. That there are pieces in this collection which I would willingly let die I am free to confess. But it is now too late to disown them and I must submit to the inevitable penalty of poetical as other sins. There are others, intimately connected with the author's life and times, which owe their tenacity of vitality to the circumstances under which they were written and the events by which they were suggested."

This note was written for the edition of 1857, but, except so far as it refers to his illness, way as true in 1883 as at the earlier date, for many of the pocnis in- cluded in the volume were written after the edition of 1857.

Mr. Whittier passed his eightieth birthday on 17th of December, 1887, on which occasion large numbers of friends from Boston and elsewhere visited him at Oak Knoll, and paid their tribute of affection to one whose life had flowed like a pure and quiet stream, enriching and making glad all within its influence. On a cold day in January of the present year the writer spent an hour with him at his fireside and at his noonday meal, and few hours in a life of nearly three-score ycars and ten linger more sweetly in his memory.

JAMES H. CARLETON.1

The great-grandfather of Mr. Carleton, on the maternal side, was Dr. James Briekett, born in Hav- erhill in 1737 and dying there December 9, 1818, aged eighty.one years. Ile was an able and successful physi- cian, practicing for many years and always enjoying the respect of his professional brethren. He was al- ways known at home as " Dr. Brickett," but in the biographical dictionaries he is spoken of as General Brickett, in deference to his military rank. During the French War he served as surgeon's mate in Col. Frye's regiment for at least sixteen months, and per- haps longer. He was an ardent Whig, from the very beginning of the troubles with Great Britain. Sep- tember 5, 1774, he was elected captain of the Artillery

1 By John B. D. Cogswell.

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Company in Haverhill, which was an infant school for the Revolutionary soldiers. During the whole of the struggle he served actively upon the town Com- mittees of Inspection, Correspondence and Safety, of which he was usually chairman. He was also fre- quently a delegate to the various patriotic conven- tions.

He evidently hastened to Cambridge upon the Lexington "Alarm." April 26, 1775, he made out there the " list " or roll of Haverhill " Minute " men who had marched on the 19th, and received the money for them. May 20th he was commissioned as lieu- tenant-colonel in the Essex regiment, commanded by his former superior officer, Col. Frye. On the 16th of June, Col. Frye was absent on court-martial duty, and was also ill with the gout. Lieutenant-Colonel Brickett accordingly led the regiment to Bunker Ifill, though he was disabled early in the action. Frothingham says: "Lieutenant-Colonel Brickett, a physician, was wounded early in the action, and, with the other surgeons, repaired to the north side of Bunker Hill and remained in attendance on the wounded." As Col. Frye was, after all, in the battle of Bunker Hill, it is quite probable he relieved Col. Brickett before the latter retired. July 5, 1776, Dr. Brickett was appointed by the Council, colonel of a battalion to be raised in the county of Essex and elsewhere, and July 11th, brigadier-general of forces to be sent to Canada. He took command of the Mas- sachusetts troops at Ticonderoga, August 10, 1776. Mr. Carleton has his "Orderly Book " during this campaign, in an excellent state of preservation. The following will exhibit the characteristics of the man and soldier. In one of his brigade orders, after rebuking certain acts as destructive of discipline, General Brickett continues: "Every officer will therefore endeavor to keep up his dignity, and not by any mean, low, sordid behavior make himself con- temptible and so lose his authority. Are we not come here for the defense of the liberties of America ? Should we not exert every nerve in it? Good dis- cipline makes you formidable, healthy, vigorous. For want of this, men soon grow insolent, sickly, ener- vated, and fit to serve neither God nor man." De- cember 2, 1776, Gen. Brickett was president of a court- martial at Albany, for the trial of Arnold, on Col. Hazen's complaint. In September, 1777, he was at Saratoga as a volunteer at the time of Burgoyne's surrender, and, under appointment from Gen. Gates, commanded the escort which brought a portion of the British prisoners to Prospect Hill, in what is now Somerville. As he was not at the time regularly in the service of either the State or Continent, he was never remunerated for either pay or advances. This circumstance caused him great mortification, and he is said to have expressed his irritation in sufficiently forcible language.

General Brickett was often moderator of the town meetings, and from 1779 to 1782, was chairman of

the Board of Selectmen, who were also assessors and overseers of the poor. He was chairman of the com- mittee which reported an address adopted by the town of Haverhill, October 10, 1786, in reply to a cir- cular letter addressed by the town of Boston to the other towns, in reference to the troubles then culmi- nating in "Shay's Rebellion." Presumably, tbere- fore, he was the author of the address, which is one of the finest of the cotemporary documents. The closing paragraph pledges Haverhill to uphold the laws : "We are ready, therefore, to join you in a firm, vigorons support of our Constitution, in the redress of grievances, and in promoting industry, economy, and every other virtue which can exalt and render a nation respectable."

General Brickett was evidently a man somewhat eager and impetuous. His was the spirit of a volun- teer. The verdict of his townsmen about him in private life is thus expressed : "He was an obliging neighbor, a genial companion, a liberal and enter- prising citizen, and a man of undoubted honor, patri- otism and integrity." He never forgot his old mili- tary comrades, nor they him. His house on Water Street was always their resort, and there generous old- fashioned hospitality was dispensed, with a soldier's welcome.

General Brickett's son, Dr. Daniel Brickett, who was his associate and successor in practice, was a highly respectable physician and an esteemed citi- zen. Not so energetie as his father, his taste did not lead him towards public life. Ilis daughter, Fanny Brickett, born September 23, 1793, died December 2, 1869, aged seventy-six. She married Phineas Carle . ton, of Haverhill, born 1786, who died October 5, 1866, aged eighty years and seven months. Their childred were Daniel Brickett Carleton, who died in 1848, aged thirty-two years ; James H. Carleton, born March 9, 1818; Mary F. Carleton, born 1824, who married Dr. Kendall Flint ; George and Ann Carleton, who died young.

Mr. Phineas Carleton was a man of retiring habits and methodical ways, who disliked and avoided the bustle and display attendant upon public position. It appears, however, that he joined the well-known Fire Society, January, 1814. fle was a merchant on Water Street for many years, retiring from active business about 1840. Ile attained considerable cele- brity as a manufacturing jeweller, his silverware be- ing famous, far and near, for its solidity and work- manship. An obituary notice of Mr. Carleton, pub- lished in the Haverhill Gazette, concludes : " He bore a reputation for unbending integrity and untarnished honor, which gained for him the respect and confi- dence of the community."

With this worthy parent, Mr. James HI. Carleton became early associated in the business we have named, carrying it on after his father's retirement, and even improving upon its traditions. Finally, a very critical condition of health, compelled his retire-

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ment from active engagements of that character. In- deed, no sketch of Mr. Carleton would be correct, which should fail to state that for many years his constitution has apparently been so delicate that his intimate friends have always wondered at the amount of business he has managed to transact. Yet, doubt- less much aided by his own courage and prudence, he has nearly attained the scriptural allotment of three score and ten.

About 1832 Mr. Carleton married Mary H., daugh- ter of Isaac R. llowe, Esq., a formerly well-known lawyer of Haverhill. Through her mother, Sarah Saltonstall Howe, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Salton- stall, she was descended from Nathaniel Saltonstall, who married Elizabeth Ward, daughter of the first minister of Haverhill, Rev. John Ward. Mrs. Carle- ton was born March 25, 1819, and died September 2, 1882. She was a woman of good sense, humor and unaffected kindliness. Not behindhand in any of the town's charitable movements, she was specially inter- ested in the Old Ladies' Home and the Ladies' Be- nevolent Society.

In 1847 Mr. Carleton was chosen a director of the Haverhill Aqueduct Company, in which circum- stances had led him to take an interest. In 1856 he became its treasurer and general manager, a position he has retained till date. The career of this company has been briefly sketched in previous pages, and its success is recognized as phenomenal.

In October, 1847, a society was organized, called the "Fraternity of Shenstones." Its object was to provide means for setting out and taking care of "ornamental trees in the streets, squares and other public places in the town." The organization took its name, of course, from William Shenstone, the poet, who early in the last century devoted life and fortune to the embellishment of his beautiful paternal estate of the Leasowes, in Shropshire, England. Mr. Carleton was not so much engrossed with the orna- mental functions of this ornamental tree-planting soci- ety as with its practical. He did not hold its offices, but he planted many trees as its representative. And he has his reward, for, as he passes under great elms, he can say, " this and this and these, were placed and watered by my hand."

Fifty or sixty years ago all the young people and some of the old were wont to go fishing and picnicing at Lake Kenoza (then Great Pond). When one of the land-proprietors complained of trespassing there, a number of citizens bought a perpetual license to resort to a pleasant point of land, near the northeastern extremity of the Pond. They put up a wooden building, and the place was long familiar, in a homely way, as the " Fish-house lot." But the building de- cayed and was burned, accidentally or in mischief, and the grounds were neglected. In the summer of 1858 an interest in the spot was revived, an informal meeting was called, at which Rufus Slocomb, who owned the fee of the land, proposed to transfer it to

the citizens of Haverhill and Bradford for the nomi- nal sum of one hundred dollars, on condition that it should be forever kept open as a place of public resort for the people of the two towns. The offer was accepted, and on August 31, 1859, a meeting was again called on the grounds. Report was made that the land had been purchased and enclosed by a fence, graded, ornamented by the planting of about two hundred and fifty trees, and made practicable by building a substantial stone house. Then there was an election of officers, and Mr. Carleton was chosen

president, a position he has retained to the present year. It seems to have been considered that a new name was necessary, and, indeed, "Great Pond" is not a very distinctive one. Fortunately, somebody had thought of Whittier-and his poem of " Kenoza " will be recited along its shores, probably, till the present race gives place to some other, succeeding it. Afterwards, there were other festivities of christen- ing and many famous gayeties in later years-among them, July 27, 1871, a grand pienie to the shoe and leather trade. But when, about 1876, river steam- boating became the popular form of summer pleas- uring, the old grounds began to be neglected once more. Alterations of the stone house by an additional story of wood were destroyed by a cyclone, and their restoration brought the association into debt, which Mr. Carleton had protected for many years. Jan. 13, 1888, a meeting was held at Mr. Carleton's house, at which he resigned his position as president, accompanying his retirement with a cancellation of all the debts (eighteen hundred dollars). Both the propositions, so coupled, and modified by the tender of generons hospitality, were accepted. A new list of officers was reported containing many of the old members of the association, as Dudley Porter, Presi- dent : John P. Randall, 1st Vice-President, and E. P. Hill, Secretary, who has been such since 1859. This association has always been much in Mr. Carle- ton's affections, aud he anticipates from the reorgan- ization a new order of things and an opening up, through its influence, of the beautiful scenery about " Kenoza." But the muse of the Kenoza Lake Club's laureate will still be the most effective agency in that direction.

August 1, 1873, Mr. Carleton was chosen trustee of the public library, at the first cleeton of such officers, and still continues to hold the position, which has been one of great usefulness and beneficence for the people of Ilaverhill.

In 1874 and 1875 he represented the town in the Legislature.

In youth Mr. Carleton was an active and zealous Whig; when that grand old party broke up he re- mained for some years in the conservative position of a Webster Whig, and then allied himself to the Democratic party.

In 1876 he was a delegate to the National Demo- cratic Convention at St. Louis. In 1878 he was the un-

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successful candidate of his party for Representative to Congress, and in 188I for lieutenant-governor.

In 1864 he became a member of the Democratic State Central Committee, and by annual re-election still retains the position, being easily the dean of that most honorable body.

During the Civil War Mr. Carleton was no laggard in support of the government, by purse, and hand, and brain. In that connection the town honored him with several unique commissions, which he suc- cessfully discharged. He was deputed to solicit and bring to the City Hall, in perpetuam memoriam, the battle-sword of Major Henry Jackson How, who fell before Richmond, and whose name is fittingly pre- served by the excellent post of the Grand Army, in Haverhill, and he was chairman of the committee for erecting the soldiers' monument, on which they inscribed for the citizens of Haverhill, the prond words, "in grateful tribute to the memory of those, who, on land and on sea, died, that the Republic might live."

A little more than a twelve-month ago, Mr. Carle- ton tendered to the trustees of the city hospital a very eligible estate for its location. The deed of gift was accepted by them, December 10, 1886, and the building was formally opened December 29, 1887. The excellent address of Dr. John Crowell, on that occasion, shows how gladly the trustees accepted Mr. Carleton's opportune offering.

Some persons knowing the intimate relations exist- ing for many years between the late Mr. Hale and Mr. Carleton, are of the opinion that the latter had much to do with the suggestion, and ripening in the mind of Mr. Ilale, of the beneficent thoughts which resulted in the public library and hospital of Haver- hill. If happily this were the case, he has shown that he is more than willing, out of his own sub- stance, to supplement the splendid donations of his dead friend.

Partly in pursuit of health and partly to gratify an intelligent curiosity, Mr. Carleton has been an exten- sive traveller, both at home and abroad. The pre- carious condition of his health has obliged him to spend many winter seasons in Florida where, unfor- tunately, he is almost as well known as at home.

Mr. Carleton is a strong partisan and a firm friend. He is a resolute and unyielding combatant, and will never be the first to cry " Hold, Enough !" It should, perhaps, be added, in justice to him, that in his own opinion, he is a very peaceful person, who has never done anything to provoke assault.

Whatever his qualities, they have made a very strong and favorable impression upon the people of llaverhill, who have known him, man and boy, trom his youth up. Too positive not to have made enemies, it has been evident, on one occasion at least, that the majority of the citizens were in sympathy with him and gave him their confidence. They have found him pleasant and they believe him to be upright.

Certainly all must admit that for public objects and when there is public calamity, as after the great fire of 1882, Mr. Carleton is a generous giver. He is entitled to recognition as a public-spirited citizen.

In private and social life there is nothing but good to be said of him. He admits and discharges in ad- vance all obligations. His acts of unsolicited friend- ship have been numerous. He is the most kind and

considerate of neighbors. His hospitality is abun- dant and extended to all sorts and conditions of people, and it is administered cheerily. Solitary as he lives, infirm in health and with old age drawing on, there is still no more important factor in the domestic life of the town than James HI. Carleton.

THOMAS SANDERS.1

Thomas Sanders is descended from Thomas San- ders, who settled in Gloucester, Mass., in 1702, and married a wife there in 1703, who lived to be ninety years old. He was a shipwright and carried on the business of ship-building extensively. In 1725 he commanded the government sloop " Merry Meeting." His oldest son, Thomas, was born in 1704. His de- scendant, Thomas Sanders, of Haverhill, has the commission granted to him, June 23, 1725, by Lieu- tenant-Governor William Dummer, J. Willard, secre- tary, as lieutenant of sloop " Merry Meeting," belong- ing to IIis Majesty's service,“ whereof Thomas Sanders (his father) is captain." This second Thomas spent a large part of his life in the service of the province, as commander of a government vessel. In January, 1745, he memorialized Governor Shirley for larger pay for himself and the crew of the sloop " Massachu- setts," which he then commanded. The Governor, sending the memorial to the House of Representa- tives, says: "I am satisfied with the reasonableness of Capt. Sanders' request, and am extremely loath to lose so faithful and experienced an officer. I must de- sire you would give him such relief as may make him easy in the service." The House doubtless complied with Governor Shirley's request, for Captain Sanders was in the expedition to Cape Breton the same year, and had command of the transports in Chapeau Rouge Bay. He had eleven children. His son, Thomas (the third) of Gloucester, married Lucy, daughter of Rev. Thomas Smith, the first minister of Falmouth, Maine, (afterwards Portland). This Thomas Sanders fitted for college with Rev. Moses Parsons, of Byfield, the father of the chief justice, and gradu- ated at Harvard in 1748. He was a merchant at Gloucester, represented that town in the House of Representatives from 1761 to 1770 inclusive, and was then a member of the Council till he resigned, in June, I773. His son, Thomas, born in 1759, settled in Salem, and died a wealthy citizen of that place, June 5, 1844. He married Elizabeth Elkins, a lineal descen-

1 By John B. D. Cogswell.

Thomas Sanders

"BIRCHBROW," RESIDENCE OF THOMAS SANDERS, HAVERHILL, MASS.

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dent of Peregrine White, the first born of New Eng- land. Leverett Saltonstall and Nathaniel Salton- stall, born in Haverhill, and sons of Dr. Nathaniel Saltonstall, married two of his daughters. His oklest son, Charles, who graduated at Harvard in 1802, has his name preserved in Sanders' Theatre at the Uni- versity. George Thomas, the youngest son, born Oc- tober 30, 1804, graduated at Harvard in 1824, lived at Salem, and died May 1, 1856. He married Mary A. Brown, of Salem, and had two sons-Thomas, the subject of this sketch, and Charles Sanders, who is engaged in business in Boston.

Thomas Sanders, of Haverhill, is, therefore, the fifth in deseent from the original Thomas, of GHouces- ter, who has borne his name. He was born at Salem, August 18, 1839, and married, June 6, 1866, Susie Bradley Howe, daughter of the late Hon. Na- thaniel S. Howe, of Haverhill. Their children are George Thomas, born March 5, 1867 ; Mary Williams, born February 5, 1869; Nathaniel S. Howe, born February 13, 1871; Charles Bradley, September 24, 1878; Anne Ehzabeth, April 23, 1880 ; Janet Rand, January 26, 1884; and Muriel Gurdon, born Noven- ber 13, 1886.

Thomas Sanders has always been exceedingly fond of agricultural pursuits, and from extreme youth spent much time upon a farm which his father had owned in East Brookfield, Vermont. From 1856 to 1870,- that is from about the age of sixteen or seventeen years till he was thirty-be carried on this farm, which contained about five hundred acres. He used it for stock-raising, and is in the habit of saying that he was successful in that pursuit. No one can doubt his keen relish in the employment, who sees with what eagerness he always escapes from later occupations to turn again to his carly Green Mountain home for a brief visit.

The growth of children needing education brought him to Haverhill, where, in 1870, he entered into the business of sole-cutting. He is now (1888) president of the Sanders Leather Company.

It is not extravagant, probably, to say that his es- tablishment leads in the business of furnishing cut soles at wholesale. It is not intended to claim that he first furnished eut soles. But previous to 1870 every manufacturer cut soles for his own uses ; now, no manufacturer does. Mr. Sanders' friends think that he had at least an important share in forwarding what is admitted to have been a great step in the pro- gressive history of shoe manufacturing. He has erected large buildings on Washington Street, in the shoe district of Haverhill, near Railroad Square, and lets steam-power to a considerable extent. Though not carefully concated with a view to a business life, he has many excellent business qualitics. lle is prompt, punctual, reliable and has large executive ability. Circumstances made him acquainted, as early as 1873, with Professor Alexander Graham Bell, who has since become famous as the inventor of the tele-

phone, and this acquaintance ripened into intimacy and friendship. Professor Bell, a Scotchman and not long in this country, had become favorably known as an instructor of deaf mutes, but was much absorbed in his system of visible speech. An earnest and eager student, he was projecting his keen intellect upon collateral lines, and Mr. Sanders, almost by accident, learned that he was speculating upon the possibility of transmitting articulate speech by elec- tricity. Mr. Sanders, on his part, quickly appreciated the immense practical value of such an attainment, if it were possible. Much consultation and mutual confidence drew them together till they united their energies to work for an important end. The imme- diate result was that Mr. Bell relinquished his pro- fessional pursuits, and gave up his time to self-educa- tion in the required direction, and to experiments, which he prosecuted with a relentless energy and a triumphant success which scientists have admired, and the public and the law courts have heard a great deal about. For several years these experiments were carried on in Mr. Sanders' immediate neighborhood, and, indeed, in his own home. He found means to carry them on, even to the neglect and injury of his business and his private affairs. At one time Profes- sor Bell and Mr. Sanders were equal partners in reference to all results to be obtained through the former's skill and researches. Subsequently, Gard- ner Green Hubbard, who became Professor Bell's father-in-law, was admitted as a third and an equal partner. The patent was obtained in 1876, and the world knows the ultimate triumph of the telephone. But these three owned jointly the patent and all of Professor Bell's rights and interests, in law and equity, till they were merged in the various corporations with whose history the world is so familiar. This is not the place, nor is it desired, to argue the merits of the Bell Telephone litigation ; but it is intended ex- plicitly to say that Thomas Sanders rendered firm and valuable support to Professor Bell ;in his years of experiment and straitened circumstances, as P'ro- fessor Bell would probably be only too willing to ad- mit. And it is proper to add that Mr. Sanders is a stanch believer in Professor Bell's absolute truth and integrity, under any and all circumstances.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 264

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