USA > Maine > Biographical encyclopedia of Maine of the nineteenth century > Part 26
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of the most ardent, active, and hopeful. Thenceforward he worked for its success with all his might, was always a director of the company, and was president for many years and at the time of his death.
Mr. Brown early became interested in the Maine Central Railroad, through his con- nection with one of its component parts, the Portland and Kennebec Railroad. To the Maine Central he gave some of the best work of the best years of his life. He thought of it, talked of it, planned for it, worked for it, up to his very last day.
Mr. Brown was also interested in the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad, and was its largest stockholder, besides assisting liberally in the negotiation of its securities. He was for many years a director in the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad ; for a brief period in the Erie Railway, at the time of its latest reorganization ; and closely and inti- mately connected with the Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railway, to which corporation he had made large advances of money. He was a director in the Portland Company, the Rolling Mills Company, the Kerosene Oil Company, the Maine Steamship Company, the First National Bank, and was President of the Portland Savings Bank for many years and at the time of his death.
Mr. Brown's close attention to business enterprises did not take him from more public services. He was the first President of the Portland Board of Trade, and held that position for nine years. He was a liberal contributor to the funds of the Maine General Hospital, and was president of the corporation. He was a Manager of the Portland Benevolent Society, and was connected with other charitable societies in Portland. He was a Warden of Bowdoin College, and the founder of the Brown Scholarship in that institution, as well as of the Brown Fund for procuring medals for the best graduates of the Portland High School-both of these endowments in memory of his son James Olcott Brown.
Politically, Mr. Brown was a Whig until the establishment of the Republican Party, when he joined that organization. As a Whig, he was elected to the City Council when a young man, and to the Senate of Maine in 1857. This was the extent of his public political life ; but he was always an active worker in the ranks. He was no sectarian, but his likings were for the Congregational polity ; and for nearly all of its existence he was a constant, regular, and devout attendant at the High Street Church.
This is a brief and imperfect mention of the outside life and occupations of a busy, wise, public-spirited man. Of his personal characteristics and his inner life it is more difficult to speak. Mr. Brown was a many-sided character, and those who saw only his rapid business instinct, his quick grasp of things, his occasional sharpness of speech, knew little or nothing of the gentleness, tenderness, cheerfulness, and warmth of his nature. A friend wrote of him in one of the newspapers on the day of his funeral : "There was no asceticism in his nature. He enjoyed heartily the good things of life, and he liked
John Black .
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Mr. Brown was married in 1830 to Ann Matilda, daughter of Philip Greely, an honored Portland merchant, and became the father of five children-Philip Henry, Matilda, James Olcott, John Marshall, and Ellen Greely. Matilda died in infancy. All the brothers were graduated from Bowdoin College. Philip, after leaving college, went into business with his father. He married Fanny, daughter of the late Justice Clifford of the U. S. Supreme Court. James also entered the firm. He married Emily, daughter of Hon. Henry K. Oliver of Massachusetts, but survived his marriage only a short time, dying August 16, 1864. The Portland Press said of him : " He was a great loss to the city and the State, for he possessed a most lovable disposition, rare culture, and was a true poet." John studied law, but went into the army, fought gallantly through the war, received the brevet of brigadier-general, and is now in the banking firm at Portland. He married Alida C., daughter of the late Hon. William T. Carroll of Washington, D. C. Ellen married W. H. Clifford, son of the late Justice Clifford of the U. S. Supreme Court. Mr. Brown left three sisters resident in Maine-Mrs. Chapman of Bethel, Mrs. Brooks of Norway, and Mrs. Purington of Andover.
B LACK, COLONEL JOHN, was for a great period of time one of the principal citizens of Maine. His name was intimately associated for half a century with the business and history of the region where he lived. For almost a lifetime he was known as the manager of the "Bingham Pur- chase," so-called, in Eastern Maine.
Born in London, England, July 3, 1781, he died in Ellsworth, Maine, on October 25, 1856. As the Bingham lands in Maine were the occasion of his emigrating to this coun- try when but a boy, a few words in respect to that property may well be regarded as an interesting part of his own history.
At the close of the Revolutionary War, Massachusetts feeling the pressure of her public indebtedness, Governor Hancock called the attention of the General Court to their eastern lands, with a hope that sales might be effected to raise a revenue to pay the State's debt. In pursuance of the Governor's suggestion, a land lottery was established of lands in Eastern Maine owned by the Commonwealth, from a grand prize of a township, down to prizes of 160 acres of land each. Hence the origin of what is known as the " lottery lands" in Maine. Only about 300,000 acres were sold in this way, scattered by the draw- ing over different townships, and a further prosecution of this scheme was abandoned.
Afterward a scheme was entered into, in which General Henry Knox, aid to Wash- ington, and General Henry Jackson, Revolutionary heroes, were in one way or another
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interested, to purchase a million acres of land in the Upper Kennebec region, together with the unsold land in fifty-two townships east of the Penobscot River, for $265,000, or ten cents an acre. In 1793 this contract was assigned to William Bingham, Esq., of Phila- delphia, a banker who had contributed largely to the aid of the nation in its financial dis- tress; a man much esteemed for his integrity and patriotism, who was to take the contract from the shoulders of the original purchasers. The General Court consented to sell the tracts to Mr. Bingham for $311,250, or twelve and a half cents an acre, who paid that sum in cash therefor. There were certain requirements in the contract of sale in relation to obtaining settlers upon the land, which were never fulfilled, and that condition was after- ward waived by the Commonwealth. The supposed value was in the soil, while it has turned out that the principal value was in the timber upon the soil.
Mr. Bingham had but one son, who settled in Montreal ; two daughters who married in London-one to Alexander Baring, the other to Henry Baring, eminent bankers and statesmen. His other daughters were married in this country-one to Robert Gilmore of Baltimore, one to Charles M. Willing, and one to Charles W. Howe of Philadelphia. Mr. Bingham in the decline of life went to England to spend his last days in retirement with his daughters, and died at Bath, near London, in 1806.
We are indebted for some of these statements to an article upon the " Bingham Land," in volume vii. of the Collections published by the Historical Society of Maine, in which complimentary historical mention is made of the subject of our sketch, Colonel Black, although there are some unimportant inaccuracies in the article named. Colonel Black is personally mentioned also by Mr. William Willis in his valuable and interesting book, "The Courts and Lawyers of Maine," page 427, where his character is fitly described, and the principal events of his life given. The litigations necessarily incident to the manage- ment of so large a landed estate brought Colonel Black into intimacy with many of the leading lawyers of the State, by whom he seems to have been much esteemed.
When Mr. Bingham went to London, upon the recommendation of Alexander Baring, his son-in-law, then Member of Parliament, he appointed John Black, then only of the age of eighteen, who was then an accomplished accountant in the banking-house of Hope & Co., as a clerk to the late General David Cobb, then of Gouldsborough, Maine, who in 1798 was appointed by Mr. Bingham an agent for the sale and settlement of these large tracts of land. George Richards of Boston was an associate agent with General Cobb. Black first went to Gouldsborough, the central office; afterward to Ellsworth as a local agent, in place of Donald Ross, a very intelligent Scotchman, who relinquished his business through sickness ; and upon the death of General Cobb, in 1830, Mr. Black became his successor, and when Mr. Richards died, became sole agent, continuing in the office until he died, in 1856.
That Colonel Black was a most intelligent, faithful, sagacious, successful, and in all
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respects honorable agent, no one ever gainsaid. His employers had unbounded confi- dence in him. The rights of all persons were punctiliously respected by him. Although vast sums of money were constantly passing through his hands, no bond was ever required of him. His principals only asked of him that he never should indorse anybody's note or become a surety upon any person's papers. This advice was heeded, and never once in his life departed from. He would often lend and assist, but not indorse. His name was once forged very artfully as an indorser on a note, upon which he was sued. He had become too poor-sighted to see, and the trial came off before the day when parties could testify in their own cases. But he made a statement under oath, that he knew he did not indorse this note, as he had never indorsed an accommodation note in his life. His assurance was enough. He obtained a verdict in his own favor.
The Bingham Lands were a famous interest in Maine : its agency still existing at Ells- worth. There are yet unsold lands, and among them a large area upon the important island of Mount Desert, upon which Bar Harbor, a place now of great reputation as a summer resort, is situated.
The proprietors allowed Colonel Black, while their agent at a stipulated salary, to enter for himself into a general mercantile business, consisting of ship-building and lumber- ing, and permitted him to cut timber from their lands upon exceedingly reasonable terms, by which opportunities he acquired, for the day and the place where he lived, a considera- ble wealth. He was an accomplished and skilful business man. Possibly he attempted to do too much personally. While he oversaw all business that was to be done, he fondly accomplished a vast deal with his own hand. Being an excellent penman and draughtsman of business instruments, for a long period he wrote all his letters and papers, and invariably and carefully copied all of them. He usually made his own accounts and settlements. This exactness and carefulness consumed time and made his work onerous. He was so absorbed in business, that he never took time to recross the water for a visit to his native land, although he always kept up a correspondence with his beloved sisters whom he left behind him, not forgetting them in his will.
For several years before his death he was afflicted with partial and finally with total blindness, which caused him to surrender the active management of his own business and the Bingham agency to his son George N. Black, who died in 1880, upon whose fine business capacities and great executive abilities he confidently at all times leaned.
Colonel Black had a fondness for military life, receiving various military honors and offices until he attained the position of lieutenant-colonel commandant, being in com- mand of a regiment of the Massachusetts militia long before the District of Maine became a separate State. He possessed a fine appearance and soldier-like manner as an officer, and displayed great taste and good tact in executing any military duty that came to him. He was captain of a detached company of the Massachusetts militia, organized in 1809, and,
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after the War of 1812, during which he held a lieutenant-colonel's commission, his passion for more active military position led him to accept a commission of captaincy again. The Cobb Light Infantry, a previously existing company, named for his father-in-law, General David Cobb of Revolutionary memory, was reorganized with Colonel Black at its head, and continued a distinguished company under his leadership for quite a number of years.
The most important incident in his military experience occurred in 1813. A British frigate was hovering about the coast of Mount Desert Island, threatening the property of the inhabitants, and his regiment was suddenly called out and ordered to march to the island for its protection. Before proceeding upon the march, Colonel Black addressed the regiment, the principal occasion of the address being that a question had been raised with some jealous-minded men whether the Colonel would be true to his allegiance, inas- much as he was by birth an Englishman, and an agent of a landed proprietorship in which certain English people had interests. There are old men living who recollect the incident very well. The neat and patriotic speech has been recently found among old papers, .
wholly in the Colonel's handwriting, as follows :
" BROTHER OFFICERS AND FELLOW-SOLDIERS : Considering it the first and most important duty of a soldier promptly to obey the orders of his superiors, in obedience to the brigade order of the 30th June, which I have just read, I issued a regimental order on the 4th instant for mustering different parts of this regiment as soon as possible ; and it gives me pleasure to find that the order, as far as respects the companies now present, has been promptly obeyed.
"CITIZEN SOLDIERS : In times like the present, when danger hovers around, when your wives and children and your aged parents are looking to you for protection, let me urge upon you the necessity of obeying the orders of your officers without a moment's delay; a moment too late and all may be lost. My superior officers will probably (as in the present instance) forward all orders to me by express, and I hold myself in readiness to obey them instantly, and I presume that every officer, noncommissioned officer, and soldier whom I have the honor to command will be equally ready to obey.
" FELLOW CITIZENS AND SOLDIERS: For several years our country has been kept in a state of uneasi- ness by violent men of different political opinions. But now we are in a state of war; and whether this war is honorable or dishonorable, just or unjust, it is our duty as citizens of the Commonweath of Massa- chusetts to unite in defence of our country. Let me entreat you to bury forever the names of parties- the very thought that there ever were two parties; let us heartily unite in defence of our country, and all will yet be well. 'United we stand, divided we fall.'
" My friends (I say friends, for I know of no foes among you), I have been informed tha some persons, pretending to be friends to you (no doubt) and to the country, have endeavored to create in your breasts suspicions of me, as I understand, because I was born in England-the country with which we are now at war. It is true I was born in England, and I would thank any of these jealous, suspici- ous people to inform me how I could prevent that had I been so disposed; and I would ask if a man in this country of boasted liberty is to be suspected and convicted without a trial. I came to this country when but a boy. I have lived in this neighborhood for almost fourteen years, and have been known to most of you for that term of time. Notwithstanding the insinuations alluded to, I have the strongest proofs of the regard and confidence of my neighbors and friends. I have been elected to perform the
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duties of several important offices; and presume that I have hitherto performed those duties to the satisfaction of the electors, or I should not now have the honor to command the Second Regiment of the Second Brigade of the Tenth Division of the Militia of Massachusetts.
" BROTHER SOLDIERS: I should not have noticed the base insinuations of such men as would make those I have alluded to, had it not been to satisfy you and them, that I consider my character and repu- tation as a citizen-soldier invulnerable against such attacks. I am a citizen of the United States of America; have renounced allegiance to the Government under which I was born, and many now present were born under the same; have a wife and children and property here to protect ; and I appeal to you, brother soldiers, whether these are not the strongest ties; and be assured, while you will stand by me, and I have strength to wield this sabre, I will defend your wives, children, and property, and the Consti- tution of our country, as far as my abilities permit, against the attacks of all enemies whatsoever."
The personal qualities of Colonel Black were as conspicuous as his business qualities. He was a marked man in the community, and well known by the leading men of the State. His personal presence was fine. He was in his stature short and thick, and altogether English-looking. His sense of justice was strong, his sympathies active. No one ever questioned his honesty or honor.
He was a well-educated man, and was a reader of books. He was quite a good speaker upon public occasions, and that he could write well is attested by the military speech before given.
Although a man of strong will and purposes, these were adorned by many of the finer tints and graces of character. He possessed an excellent taste for social company, and there his presence and conversation were always interesting. He was fond of music of all kinds, and in his earlier life was himself quite an adept with the violin. He could also paint quite well, as specimens of his handicraft in that line upon the walls of the old man- sion at Ellsworth, now in the possession of his grandson, George N. Black, Esq., will show.
Colonel Black was a charitable man-he gave a great deal. He forebore collecting his own demands of those debtors who were ill able to pay ; a vast quantity of uncollected and outlawed demands left behind him evidences that fact. When a direct tax was levied by the U. S. Government in 1815, he paid the land tax, small in each case, for about all of his poor neighbors, the most of which were never repaid to him. He did much for the support of the religious organizations of Ellsworth, himself attending upon the Congregational worship, those of his own faith (Unitarian) having no permanent organiza- tion there during his day. In all respects Colonel Black fulfilled the mission of life that was accorded to him.
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B LACK, GEORGE NIXON, of Ellsworth, Maine. Born January 15, 1814, at Ellsworth. His father, Colonel John Black, was a native of England, the manager of the estates belonging to the Bingham Proprietary, and a distinguished and influential citizen of the State.
Young Black received his preliminary scholastic education at Taunton. Thence he went to the celebrated school taught by Mr. Greene at Jamaica Plain. At a suitable age he entered into business with his father in Boston. The firm of Black & Co., lumber-merchants, was one of the most considerable in that particular department of trade. The great energy and unusual business skill of Mr. Black contributed liberally to its suc- cess. Succeeding his father in the management of the Bingham Lands, he also owned and conducted mills in Ellsworth. Large tracts of timber land in Maine came into his posses- sion. All his several properties werc so wisely administered that he early acquired an ample fortune, and wisely determined to enjoy it while he had the opportunity. Becoming somewhat weary under the pressure of numerous and burdensome cares, he resigned the agency of the Bingham Lands, and disposed of his individual interests to other parties, in the year 1866. He then removed with his family to Boston, but retained his legal residence in Ellsworth. Several months of each year were passed in the occupancy of the old family mansion, to whose attractive beauty his rare taste was constantly making additions.
Mr. Black was deeply interested in local and also in national politics, but never offered himself as a candidate for any official position. Originally an Old Line Whig, he joined the Republican Party at its organization, and adhered to its policy and fortunes with intel- ligent and liberal zeal. In business life he strikingly exhibited the qualities which consti- tute the ordinary factors of success. Upright, cautious, prudent, self-reliant, and of tireless encrgy, he exhibited a strong and persistent will. When once he had entered upon any course of procedure, he permitted no surmountable obstacle to turn him aside, but reso- lutely pressed forward to the successful accomplishment of his purpose. Failing in any un- dertaking was of very infrequent occurrence. For civic distinctions he had little taste and no ambition, but preferred the elevation of others to that of himself-choosing rather to be the maker than the made.
In social life he was eminently urbane and hospitable. His home was distinguished by elegance, cordiality, and brightness. An estimable and accomplished wife presided over its ministrations, and lent refined grace to its many and various charms. To him it was a welcome refuge from the wearing routine of secular cares. Had he aided its recuperative powers by adding the recreations of foreign and domestic travel, his naturally robust con- stitution and temperate habits might have resisted the strain of excessive labor, and many years of health and comfort been added to his life.
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Religion was to Mr. Black a subject of profound speculative and practical interest. It occupied much of his time and thought. In the facts and doctrines of Divine Revelation he was an enlightened and firm believer. In Boston he regularly attended the ministry of the Rev. Phillips Brooks, whose sermons he greatly admired, and whose eloquent utterances of the great truths of Christianity he earnestly accepted. The interests of earth and time appeared trivial and transient compared with those of heaven and eternity. "At the last," says a local newspaper, " he gave to those he loved best the comforting assurance that he was without fear, and was entirely resigned to the will of his Heavenly Father." After a painless illness of some months, he died in Ellsworth, October 2, 1880, at the age of sixty- six. A large circle of friends tenderly sympathized with his bereaved family in their great sorrow.
Mr. Black was married in 1836, to Miss Mary E. Peters, daughter of Andrew Peters, a shipping-merchant of Ellsworth. Of their four children, two-namely, George Nixon Black, Jr., and Agnes-are now living.
W OODS, LEONARD, JR., D.D., LL.D., ex-President of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine. Born at Newbury, Massachusetts, November 24, 1807. His father was Leonard Woods, D.D., an eminent Congregational divine, and distinguished especially as an advocate of "Orthodox Calvinism." Dr. Woods, Sen., graduated at Harvard College with the highest honors in 1796 ; succeeded Dr. David Tappan as minister at Newbury in 1798 ; was Professor of The- ology in Andover Theological Seminary from 1808 to 1846, and was Emeritus Professor in the same institution until his death on the 24th of August, 1854. He was a somewhat voluminous writer in the department of Controversial Theology ; published many sermons, orations, and tracts ; took an active part in the establishment of the American Tract So- ciety, the American Education Society, the Temperance Society, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, etc. In the last-named he served as a member of the Prudential Committee for about twenty-five years. Dr. H. B. Smith styled him em- phatically the "judicious divine" of the later New England theology ; and added, " He educated a generation of preachers [more than a thousand in number] who had neither crotchets nor airy aims."
Of his collective works the Rev. Dr. Burder wrote: "They have a vividness of thought and language, as well as an accuracy of Scriptural truth and a healthy soundness of theological system, which very many readers will be prepared to value."
The wife of the elder and the mother of the younger Dr. Leonard Woods was a
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daughter of the Rev. Joseph Wheeler of Harvard, Massachusetts, and was a woman of strong symmetrical character, of great sweetness of disposition, and enthusiastic fondness for all the beauties of nature.
The family consisted of ten children, of whom Leonard was the fourth. Affectionate and harmonious among themselves, he was the mediating peacemaker whenever inevitable difficulties sprang up to interrupt the concord. His father was not only one of the ten- derest of parents, but also the most genial of companions. Intercourse with his sisters was loving and confidential, and prepared the way for those intimacies with ladies of talent and culture which formed so characteristic a feature of his mature life. Born of such parents, intellectual pre-eminence might legitimately have been expected of him. Dr. C. C. Ever- ett states that the family tradition was that the first word he ever uttered was " Theology." Porter, Griffin, Stuart, and other stalwart theologians were wont to gather at his father's house and discuss the great themes so inestimably important to the religious world. The freedom and latitude there exhibited were imparted to the youthful listener, and did more to stimulate his thought than to mould his opinions.
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