History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 265

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 265

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In 1880-81, Mr. Sanders built on the High- lands a beautiful house, which he calls " Birchbrow," overlooking Lake Saltonstall. Here he has built up a fine farm embracing a considerable portion of the old "Great Ox-Common " of Haverhill. His avenues, barns and other buildings, with his well-cultivated fields, exhibit that thoroughness which is chareter- istic of all that Mr. Sanders does. It would be diffi - cult to find an estate where so much has been aceomi- plished in the same time with no greater outlay. In this charming home, a generous and refined hospi- tality is dispensed, which is at least appreciated by such as have had the good fortune to enjoy it.

On this property Mr. Sanders still enjoys his okl

2078

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

pursuit of stock-raising. He has a fine herd of high- bred Jerseys, and has raised some good colts. Mr. Sanders has had munch to do with the management of the New England Agricultural Society, and in 1885 delivered the annual address before the Essex Agri- cultural Society, of which he is an active member. Mr. Sanders is connected with many corporations and societies. Ile is, and has been from the beginning, a director in the American Bell Telephone Company ; he is a director, also, in the Brunswick Antimony Com- pany, and in the Haverhill Bank ; he is a director and treasurer in the Haverhill Iron Works, the business of which has much increased, so that the company is now prosperous.

He is a member of the Merrimack Lodge of Free Masons, and the Haverhill Commandery of Knights Templar ; he is a director of the Haverhill Young Men's Christian Association, in the work of which he feels a deep interest, and devotes to it his time and energies ; he is a member of the Haverhill Fort- nightly and other clubs. But it is hardly worth while to extend this list, save to add that he is a warden and much interested in the temporal and spir- itual prosperiry of Trinity Episcopal Church.

Socially Mr. Sanders, or "Tom Sanders," as hosts of people persist in calling him, is one of the most genial of men. Nobody is more popular in the town, and perhaps nobody ought to be more so, for he is very much in earnest about everything which can promote its prosperity or enhance its reputation. Political and municipal offices have been often ten- dered to him, but so far he has put the temptation easily by. He has hosts of friends who would be glad to demonstrate their regard for him. It is generally believed of him, that he is ready and anxious to do what good he can in the world.

DR. KENDALL FLINT.1

Thomas Flint, the emigrant ancestor, according to tradition, came to America from Wales. The first mention of him in Salem town records, is in 1650; but there is an opinion among the genealogists that he arrived earlier. He was among the first settlers of Salem village, afterwards South Danvers and now Peabody. Ile bought two hundred acres about six miles from Salem Court Ilouse, near Phelps' mill and brook, where the subject of this sketch spent his childhood and youth. The title deed to a part of this land was witnessed in 1662 by Giles Corey, who in 1692, when eighty-one years old, during the witchcraft madness, was pressed to death at Salem because he would not plead to the charge. His house stood upon land that after his death, became a part of the Flint homestead. This estate remains in the possession of heirs of Elijah Flint.

Thomas Flint, son of Thomas, lived upon this

homestead. He was in King Philip's war, and was wounded in the swamp fight. He became a large land-holder, having purchased, between 1664 and 1702, more than nine hundred acres of land. Ile was a man in whom his neighbors had confidence and was employed to build the first meeting house in Salem village.

Captain Samuel Flint, sixth son of the last Thomas, received in the division of the estate, the house in which his father had lived. He was chairman of the committee chosen to promote the setting off from Salem of Salem village, as a separate town. When it was incorporated as Danvers, he was one of the first Board of Selectmen and through life was much in public business. There is a family tradition that he was out in the old French war, and, on his way home, in com- mand of his company, encountered his son Samuel, who had taken advantage of his father's absence, to enlist in another company. "You rogue, where are you going ? Come home with me," cried the father. Whether the story anticipates events or not, this son Samuel, who inherited his father's farm by will, was out as a minute man on the day of the Lexington battle. He seems to have entered the service almost immediately, having been eight months at the siege of Boston. He was killed at the head of his company, at Stillwater, October 7, 1777, and was the only officer from Danvers killed in the Revolution. He was only forty-four. The anecdote came down in the family that Captain Samuel 2d had a negro boy, named Primus, to whom he said, "Primus, if you will go to fight for the country, I will give you your freedom." And Primus accepted the challenge and went.

Major Elijah Flint, second son of the last named Samuel, received the homestead. He was a Whig in polities, a Puritan in religion and in private life a model farmer. The old house, having been enlarged and altered by various generations, was much modern- ized, and improved according to later ideas, by Thomas Flint, son of Elijah, a hardware merchant of Boston; but it was consumed by fire, June, 1874, much venerated for its antiquity and associations.

Dr. Kendall Flint, the youngest son of Major Elijah, was born February 4, 1807. In 1824 he began to fit for college at Hampton Academy, entering Amherst College in 1827 aud graduating there in 1831. He entered Andover Theological Seminary the same year and remained in that institution till 1833, when declining health compelled him to return to his father's house, where a protracted illness of two years awaited him. His physician at last de- cidedly advised him to exchange the clerical for the medical profession, upon the ground that exercise in the open air might gradually restore his shattered health. The prescription was hard to take, but seemed inevitable. It was a great trial to this young man to leave the study of the immaterial and pass to the material side-to abandon theology and philoso- phy and the spiritual, and cross to the other side of

1 By John B. D. Cogswell.

Randall Flink M. S. .

2079

HAVERHILL.

the gulf, to study experience, sensation and science. But once convinced that the step was necessary, he entered his name as a student with his attending physician, Dr. Osgood, of Danvers. Completing his medical studies, he received his degree in 1839, at the Harvard School in Boston. Early in 1840 he came to Haverhill and purchased the situation previously oc- cupied by Dr. Augustus Whiting. Haverhill was then a comparatively small place, having, by the cen- sus of that year, a population of four thousand three hundred and thirty-six. June 28, 1842, he married Mary F., daughter of Mr. Phineas Carleton. They bad two children-George Carleton, born November 26, 1848; died October 6, 1849, and Mary Howe, born April 23, 1853; died in 1855.

Dr. Flint entered upon the practice of medicine with a high sense of responsibility. He believed that the physician could do much to assist nature in saving life, to shorten the duration of disease, to relieve pain and suffering, and to help friends bear up under the responsibility which often seems like to crush them.

He adopted the allopathic practice, then generally ruling in the medical world. He was seldom disap- pointed in its results when it was properly admiuis- tered. But after he hecame master of the treatment and able to vary it, he avoided the harsher remedies, as blistering and bleeding, with such drugs as anti- mony and calomel, commonly employed at that time, and finally modified the treatment to a more specific form. When the great allopathic practice, that had come down from Hippocrates, Galen, Vesalius, Har- vey, Hunter and Good, had swallowed up Thomson- ianism, Hydropathy and all similar systems, which were merely one particular remedy used for all com- plaints, the question was asked, "What will it do with Homeopathy ? Will it absorb that also ?" The answer was, " No! for Homeopathy is founded on a principle which could be absorbed only by adopting the principle, and though that would enrich Allo- pathy by having two principles instead of one-to adopt it would compromise its dignity !"

In the American Encyclopedia, in the article Homeopathy, we read that " Hippocrates, the father of medicine, asserted that medicine sometimes acted according to the rule of similia and at others accord- ing to that of contraria, thus intimating the truth of both the allopathic law of contraria and the homco- pathic law of similia." Although Dr. Flint mainly adhered to allopathy, he believed that there are cases best treated by the homeopathic rule, and these he sought out. And when the cholera visited this conn- try, he used this treatment with perfect success in many cases. Many homœopaths use both systems on the principle that two legs are better than one. When all physicians do the same, the science of med- icine will be more complete.

As Dr. Flint looks back over the fifty years of his practice, he sees some new views advanced with re- gard to the healing power. It is said that the efficacy

of drugs, whether in large or small doses, depends, not upon their own peculiar healing nature, but upon the faith with which they have been freighted and weighted by those who have used them, and by the physician and patient now using them. And, more- over, it is said that no medicine or drugs are needed, and, in fact, no faith is needed by the patient-that the doctor or healer ean cure, by his own faith, if supported by certain spiritual views and feelings, with their conscious union with the Infinite Spirit. These views have been put forth with great conti- dence and appear to be supported by-abundant evi- dence from remarkable cases of cure.

Now these views of treatment are outside of medi- cal science. They do not require either a knowledge of the human system, of the materia medica, or any- thing that is requisite in medical treatment. The cure is of a spiritual nature, not faith in medicine, but faith in a Divine union, with which, physicians as such, have nothing to do.

At the beginning of the civil war, Fr. Flint re- ceived an appointment as United States examining surgeon, whose duties were to examine volunteers, drafted men, and men claiming pensions. This very responsible position he held fifteen years.

At the commencement of the war, it was not real- ized that it cost the Government as much to fit out a man liable to break down at once as an able-bodied soldier. An army of duly examined soldiers are picked men. and in this respect the very flower of the country.

Many volunteers were deeply chagrined, because not being physically perfect, they could uot pass ex- amination. But when drafting was necessary, the same severe system of inspection prevailing, censor- ious persons often insinuated that the examining sur- geon must be bribed to allow certain persons to es- cape whom he had refused to pass, because physically disabled. Examination for pensions is a very respon- sible duty, calling for an honest and capable class of men, who are well qualified as physicians and sur- geons, can weigh well the evidence, and decide ac- cordingly.

Dr. Flint, who suffered so much from ill-health as a young man, and has yet been able to do so much, has now been an invalid again for many years, and latterly compelled to abstain from active practice. Rigid diet and serupulons care alone, have preserved his valuable life. Yet whoever secs him upon the streets of llaverhill, erect and even youthful in bear- ing, might well suppose him to be a man in the very prime of life. Yet his father was a boy of fourteen when Americans declared their independence, and a man of twenty-one when Great Britain acknowledged it. And the venerable doctor himself antedates Waterloo and the downfall of Napoleon. Placid and serene, he reads Bain and ponders the tendency of modern philosophy.

2080

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

WILLIAM E. BLUNT.1

Among the citizens of Haverhill who have won distinction and honor in public life, and enjoyed to a large degree the long and uninterrupted confidence of the public, none have more merited it than William E. Blunt, a son of Joshua Blunt, who moved to Haverhill from Andover.

Mr. Blunt was born August 21, 1840, on Merrimack Street, near where the post office now stands. IIe received his early education in the public schools of the city, and by close aud successful application, aided by private instruction, was fitted tor college. His life at this time was not unmarked by a hard struggle. He worked during vacations and evenings at whatever was offered, to obtain the means for the prosecution of his studies. He began the study of law, and in due time was admitted to practice in the State Courts, and later, in the United States Court. He was appointed United States Assistant Assessor in 1866. Governor Bullock made him special justice of the Haverhill Police Court, which position he retained for many years. His own townsmen also elected him to the school board, and to the office of city solicitor. lle declined the position of trial jus- tice for juvenile offenders, tendered him by Governor Talbot, and in 1870 he was elected to the legislature. In this capacity he represented Haverhill continu- ously until 1876, when he declined further re- election. Ilis services in the house were marked by sigual ability, efficiency and faithfulness, and he soon became favorably kuown in other parts of the State. A modest young man, not seeking notoriety, he was only conspicuous at first by constant atten- dence, punctuality and diligence-the prime qualities of usefulness in legislation .- He rarely allowed per- sonal considerations of any kind to interfere with his public duties, and for six consecutive sessions was never absent for a single day. Amiable and of pleasing address, he soon established valuable social relations with his associates, and when it was found that he was quick to discern the merits, bearings and relations of public matters, that he was honor- able and straightforward, he was recognized as a valuable ally to any cause in which he took an interest. lle was a firm friend and a dangerous opponent. Above all things he was trustworthy. As his valuable services became thus recognized, peo- ple applauded the good sense of the voters of Haverhill in keeping him in his seat year after year. Ile serv- ed upon the standing Committees on Probate and Chancery, the Judiciary, Claims, and was three years on the committee on Railroads, and that for re- districting the State as well as other important special committees. On the occasion of the memor- able visit of President Grant and his Cabinet, he was a member of the reception committee. During this time he had won the esteem and friendship of

some of the best men in the State, irrespective of party, who considered him an honest, sagacious and growing man. His good sense and tact in politics have made him invaluable as a counsellor.

In 1872, Mr. Blunt was delegate to the Republican National Convention at Philadelphia which renominat- ed President Grant, with Heury Wilson for Vice-Presi- dent. He served as secretary of the Massachusetts delegation. In 1875 the friends of Mr. Blunt pre- sented his name to the Republican State Convention for nomination as secretary of State, when he re- ceived strong support. President Grant nominated him as postmaster of Haverhill, May 30, 1876, and he was promptly confirmed by the Senate. He was reappointed by President Hayes and by President Arthur without opposition, his present commission ex- piring May 17, 1888. Formerly very earnest in local politics and ever a warm Republican, since his appointment as postmaster he has felt himself con- strained to refrain from active participation in politi- cal movements. He has been seen no more in cau - euses or conventions. This course has been main- tained by him with admirable consistency, even when there were great persoual temptations to depart from it, and when apparently he might have done so with impunity. The very general acquiescence to his serv- ing as a Republican under a Democratic administra- tion is not alone due to his personal popularity, for he has rendered in that capacity very important ser- vice to the business men of the eity and to the com- munity at large. IIe has anticipated rather than re- sponded to the wants of the people, and his efforts in behalf of better and increased mail facilities are justly appreciated. When he saw that the govern- ment was ereeting public buildings, especially in the West and South, he at once set himself to work to procure an appropriation for one in Haverhill. It is due to his efforts alone that the Senate has twice passed a bill with an appropriation for this object, thus accomplishing what will be of value when cir- cumstances are finally favorable. Noticing his effi- cieney, which indeed could not be well hidden, the Republicans of Haverhill made a spirited effort to se- cure Mr. Blunt's nomination to Congress in 1884. In it they were much aided by his personal popularity with all classes and in all parties. IIe received the hearty and united support of the northern section of the district, but was defeated, Colonel Stone, of New- buryport, who had held the position for two terms, securing the nomination by two majority. In 1886 a more determined effort was made, and his own city and the adjoining and outlying towns sent an un. divided and earnest delegation in his behalf to the convention. General William Cogswell, of Salem, was the principal opposing candidate, and after a contest lasting from 10 A.M. to 5 p.M., without intermission, obtained the nomination on the twenty-seventh ballot by one majority. A gallant and satisfactory struggle had been made by Mr. Blunt's friends, and had it not

1 By John B. D. Cogswell.

William E. Blant

20Si

HAVERHILL.

been for the fact that he refrained from taking

Isaac, a descendant of ('apt. Jaques, grandfather of a personal part in the contest, owing to official duties, Alden Potter, removed to Bowdoin, where he accumu- the result would have doubtless been different. It is due to Mr. Blunt to also add that on both these occa- sions he acquiesced in the result with admirable good spirit, and supported and efficiently aided in the election of both Colonel Stone and General Cogswell. Mr. Blunt is yet in the early prime of manhood. He is an excellent man of business, and he has acquitted himself admirably in every position, public or private, in which he has been placed.

With his experience of life and affairs, he seems to have still before him a long and useful career. So far as his political prospects are concerned, it is mod- erate to say that in every contest in which he has been directly or indirectly engaged he has developed great personal strength ; that such defeats as he has sustained were but the fortunes of honorable warfare, involving no personal discredit, and in no way di- minishing his personal popularity. His wounds are but the scars of chivalrous warfare, and he is ready to do his duty as he may see fit in the future.

For the past five years Mr. Blunt has been presi- dent of the Kennebunkport Seashore Company, which owns some six hundred acres of valuable property at Cape Arundel, Me. As a citizen Mr. Blunt is pub- lic-spirited and liberal. In conduct and speech he is prudent. His convictions are strong and his opinions are tenaciously held, but not so expressed as to in- fringe on the rights or wound the feelings of others. In social life he is genial, generous and hospitable. It would, perhaps, be trite to say that he is a kind and considerate husband and father. Mr. Blunt is mar- ried, his accomplished wife being Harriet M., daugh- ter of Daniel Harriman. He has two children,- Kate M. and Florence T.

The strongest traits in Mr. Blunt's character, in all the relations of life, are his reliability and fidelity. His is stanch aud loyal. With his word goes his heart. In his self-sacrificing friendship he grants favors with a heartiness that doubles their value. No success can attend him, and no honors can be award- ed to him, which will not be matters of sincere rejoic- ing to hosts of attached friends.

ALDEN POTTER JAQUES.

Aldeu Potter Jaques, who, for the past twenty-five years, has been recognized as one of the successful business men of Haverhill, was a native of Bowdoin, Maine, and sprang from an ancestry of sturdy yeomanry. In the colonial days of this country, three brothers, by the name of Jaques, emigrated from France to America and located in Newbury. One of the trio afterwards removed to Harpswell, Maine, and was one of the first settlers of that place, where he became a large real estate owner. For several years he was master of a merchant ship, and followed the sea, and finally found his grave in the ocean.

lated a large property, and became a prominent and influential citizen. He was the father of three sons and one daughter. Stafford, one of the sons, married Harriet Potter, and to them were born five sons and two daughters. Alden P., the oldest of the sons, was born March 4, 1835. His younger days were spent on the homestead farm, and during the three winter months of each year of his boyhood and youth he at- tended the public schools of his native town. Ilis father, being a contractor and builder, was absent from home a large part of the time, leaving his farm in charge of his eldest son as soon as he was old enough to conduct the place, until be was eighteen, when his ambition led him to seek his fortune in the world. Being quite skillful in the use of tools, he readily obtained a situation as a ship-joiner in Richmond, Me. He continued to follow that trade until the financial crash of 1857, when, ship-building having become a poor business, he engaged in house carpentering.

In 1858, Mr. Jaques married Harriet, daughter of John Car, of Bowdoin, Me., with whom he enjoyed life until she was called home, in 1865. This was his first great sorrow. In 1871 he married Miss Marci L., daughter of Leonard R. Avery, of New Hampton, N. H .; to them has been born oneson, Walter H. Jaques. Soon after Mr. Jaques' first marriage he purchased a farm, on which he lived but one year, and in 1859, being desirous of a more active life, he removed to Haverhill, Mass., where he again engaged in carpen- tering, and, being a skillful workman, found constant employment in doing the finer kinds of finishing. Ilis last work at this trade was done on City Ilall, in 1862.

The shoe industry, being the chief business of the place, presented greater inducements and more re- munerative wages ; he therefore turned his attention to that, and, aided by bis natural mechanical skill, he soon found an opening, and for a time he worked at the shoe bench until he engaged in shoe manufactur- ing in 1862, having formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Randall A. Potter, the name of the firm being Potter & Jaques.

In 1870, Mr. Jaques, in company with John B. Nichols, purchased the large wooden building then standing on Washington Street, and known as the Coflin Block, also the Whipple House adjoining. In this building, in 1873, Mr. Jaques inaugurated an enterprise that has done more than any other to rev- olutionize the shoe industry in Haverhill, viz. : the application of steam-power to machinery for making shoes. At first this innovation was regarded by somo as impracticable, but the advantage those who adopted it soon gained over their neighbor- led to the general adoption of this force, and the erection of other engines in the shoe manufacturing section of the city, so that now the business that was at one time

131

2082

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

scattered throughout the place is centralized and re- duced to a system.

To Mr. Jaques also belongs the honor of being the first to succeed in making shoes in what is known as a string-shop. In this he was also followed by others, until now nearly every manufacturer has adopted this method. Mr. Jaques continued in the shoe business until the great conflagration in February, 1882, swept away his factory and other buildings in which he was interested. This destruction of his property only tended to stimulate him to erect more substantial buildings in place of his old ones, and to interest him more extensively in real estate and other enterprises. At present Mr. Jaques is a large share-owner in, and treasurer of, the Eastern Cattle Company, of llaver- hill, which has an extensive and well-stocked ranch at Deer Trail, Col.

While he has been an active and successful busi- ness man, Mr. Jaques has always taken a lively inter- est in the welfare of the city and State where he re- sides. His fellow-citizens, realizing his talents and ability, have honored him by placing him in positions of trust and responsibility.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 265

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