USA > Maine > Oxford County > Woodstock > History of Woodstock, Me., with family sketches and an appendix > Part 13
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ALDEN CHASE.
No man has been more identified with the affairs of the town for many years, than Alden Chase. A good accountant, efficient in business, and of sterling integrity, his townspeople have always appreciated these important qualities and qualifications in a public man, and have given him all the offices he has cared
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to accept. He was a school officer as soon as he was old enough, and as a teacher of the common school he took high rank. Naturally of a mathematical turn of mind, he has been a regu- lar contributor to that Department of the Maine Farmer's Almanac for the past forty years. A lover of books, he has collected by far the largest and most valuable library in town. He has served several terms in the Maine Legislature, and was always an influential member of that body. In 1856, he was elected Register of Deeds for the Oxford County Registry Dis- trict, which position he held for two terms of five years each. He was an excellent recording officer. At the close of his term, he returned to his farm in Woodstock, where he has since re- sided. He is a practical, painstaking farmer, and few, if any, men in town understood the business better. He has long been interested in Freemasonry, and has served as Master of Jeffer- son Lodge for several terms, and as Secretary and Treasurer; he has also served as District Deputy Grand Master. He was one of the early workers in the temperance field, and has always been an ardent supporter of prohibition as applied to the sale of in- toxicating liquors. He was a member of the Maine Legislature in 1851, when the first prohibitory liquor law was passed, and of the committee that reported the bill, which met his hearty approval and received his ardent support. For this action he was censured by some of his constituents, but time has justified the wisdom of his action.
PROF. A. FITZROY CHASE.
In all probability, Woodstock has never sent out a more pro- found scholar than Alden Fitzroy Chase. In mathematics, when a mere boy, he was regarded as almost a prodigy, and his subsequent achievements in his fully-developed manhood have caused to be realized the hopes entertained of him by his family and friends in his earlier years. Like most New England
PROF. A. FITZROY CHASE.
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youth, he spent much of his minority with his father, upon the farm, attending the town schools in winter. He fitted for college at Kent's Hill and elsewhere, teaching school winters with great success. He excelled not only as a teacher but as a disciplinarian, his order of mind being such that everything must move in harmony. He graduated from Middletown, (Conn.) University with the highest honors, and was soon after elected Professor in the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill, which place he still occupies. He is now in the full vigor of manhood, and gives promise of a long and useful career. In the college, he has the chair of mathematics and English Litera- ture. He is also librarian of the college, and has been instru- mental in adding largely to the value and usefulness of the library. No person connected with the college labors with greater zeal to promote its interests than he. He is very popular with the students and with the public, and of the Maine Wesleyan Seminary he is one of the strong supports. He is a member of the Maine Conference, and occasionally preaches, but his time and energies are mainly devoted to the duties of his Professorship.
REV. RANSOM DUNHAM.
As the head of one of the Dunham families, of Woodstock, Rev. Ransom Dunham has already been sketched under the head of family sketches. In his 84th year he was a delegate to the Republican State Convention, at Portland, in June last, and then had his picture taken, which embellishes this volume. He retains his bodily and mental faculties in a remarkable de- gree. In the summer of 1881, he worked for the Grand Trunk Railway, sharpening tools for the quarrymen at Bryant's Pond, and during the season was paid two hundred and seventy-seven dollars for his work. He is engaged in the same employment the present season. Recently, he remarked in our hearing, that never before did the works of Nature appear so grand and
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beautiful to him as now ; that he never before so fully appre- ciated the adaptation of everything to the necessities of animals and man, and was never before so deeply impressed with the infinite wisdom, power and goodness of the great Creator of the Universe. He further remarked that the plan of salvation, as regarded from the standpoint of his denomination, never looked so plain, simple, and certain to be true, as since he passed his four-score years. His wife, who is two or three years his senior, still lives, and their married lives extend over a period of more than sixty years.
RUFUS K. DUNHAM.
Rufus King Dunham, born in Parkman, came into this town with his father when a lad. He had the misfortune when a young man to have an attack of fever, which, settling in one of his limbs, made him lame for life. He worked with his father in Woodstock, and attended the common schools here, until he entered the store of Thomas Crocker, on Paris Hill. He worked here one season, and then entered the store of J. C. Marble in the same place. He was afterwards for a year or two in the store of Ebenezer Drake, at Trap Corner, in Paris-then with John R. Briggs, Caleb Bessee and C. C. Whitman, at North Woodstock. He was also for several years in trade, in company with Albert H. Estes, at Bryant's Pond. When the Atlantic and St. Lawrence railroad was finished to Bryant's Pond in 1851, he was appointed station agent here, a position he has held without interruption since that time, a period of over thirty years, and during all these years, he has scarcely been off duty a day. A more faithful and competent employé, the Company has never had. In addition to the ordinary duties as station agent, he has been telegraphic operator and express agent. He was the second Postmaster at Bryant's Pond, and has been Sec- retary and Master of Jefferson Lodge of Masons. He has also been a Justice of the Peace for many years.
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Cushing Gallion In, 2
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
DR. JEFF. C. GALLISON.
Jefferson Cushing Gallison, son of John M. (see Family Sketches), was born in Sebec, but came to Woodstock with his parents in 1847. He was educated at the common schools, and also attended several terms at high schools and academies. He was a year in the Norway Advertiser office as an apprentice, and afterwards in Noyes' drug store. He then gave his atten- tion to carriage painting, and worked in his father's shop at Pinhook and also at Bridgton. At times, also, he tried his hand at landscape painting, and with no mean success. In 1868, he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. J. H. Kimball, of Bridgton, and continued with him three years. He also pursued his studies a year in Portland under a private teacher. He attended two full courses of lectures at the Harvard Medical School and one at the Boston University, graduating from the latter in 1875. He practiced three years in Medway, Mass., and then moved to Franklin, where he yet remains. He has succeeded in working up a large practice and has been very successful. He was appointed Instructor in Surgery in the Boston University in 1878. He has successfully surmounted all the difficulties incident to a lack of means during his pre- paratory course, and, by his own unaided efforts, has worked his way up to an honorable position in professional life. He married, January 2, 1864, Ellen S., daughter of Isaiah M. and Abby (Willard) Burnell, of Bridgton, and has one child, Annie Louise, born October 28, 1871.
CHARLES P. KIMBALL.
Charles Porter Kimball lived at home, dividing his time between the farm, his father's carriage shop and the district school until he was eighteen years old. Then he bought his time of his father, giving his notes for one hundred fifty dollars per year for three years, and went to work in his brother's
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carriage shop at Bridgton. Here he added to his earnings by working evenings, wooding cast iron ploughs, so that he was able to attend school about four months in each year and still pay his father's notes. In 1847, he commenced business in Norway Village, having but little money of his own. The late Dr. Theodore Ingalls, who had taken an interest in him, loaned him one thousand dollars to start business with. He remained in Norway, doing a large business, until 1854, when he removed to Portland, where he remained until 1875, when he removed to New York and joined the great carriage house of Brewster & Co. He did an extensive business in Portland and achieved a wide reputation. He was Alderman in 1860, again in 1861, and President of the Board. He was a decided War Democrat, and worked earnestly for the Union cause and for the good of the families of departed soldiers. He was a member of the Democratic State Convention holden in Augusta, in June, 1861, and when the resolution declaring that the war was a failure and ought to stop was passed, he, with thirty or forty others, denounced its action as treasonable, left the hall and organized another convention, which nominated Gen. Charles D. Jameson for Governor, who received a much larger vote than Ex-Gov. Dana, the regular candidate. He was several times candidate for Representative, Senator, Sheriff, &c., but, his party being in a minority, he was not elected to any of these offices. He was Surveyor of the port of Portland in 1866, was long an active member of the Maine Charitable Association, and its President for several years ; was also President of the Board of Manu- factures until he left Portland. At the Democratic Convention in Bangor, in 1869, over which he presided, he received every vote as candidate for Governor, but positively refused to stand, and forced the convention to nominate another candidate; but in 1871, he received a unanimous nomination for Governor and was a candidate that year, and also in the famous Greeley cam- paign of 1872.
After the close of the campaign in 1871, Governor Perham
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showed his appreciation of his political opponent and life-long friend, by appointing him one of the United States Centennial Commissioners from Maine. Mr. Kimball removed to New York in 1875, and resigned as Commissioner from Maine; but the United States Centennial Commission requested Governor Tilden to appoint him to fill a vacancy in the New York Com- mission, which he did, so that he presented his resignation from Maine and his commission from New York to the same meet- ing. He was then and continued to be a member of the Exec- utive Committee, and no one familiar with the Centennial can over-estimate his services.
His first wife, Mary Porter, was a native of Turner, and a niece of Gov. William King and of Gen. Philo Clark, and an estimable woman; she died in April, 1870. He was married the second time in 1875, to a daughter of the late Henry F. Getchell, formerly of Anson, but then a wealthy resident of Chicago, and was so pleased with the business prospects of that city that he determined to make it his future home. He at once contracted for an immense carriage factory, and moved to Chicago in the fall of 1876. He is now at the head of one of
the largest carriage establishments in the world. He was mainly instrumental in organizing the society of the Sons of Maine, and was chairman of the committee that gave the Grand Maine Banquet in June, 1881. His attachment to his native State, County and town is still unabated.
HANNIBAL I. KIMBALL.
Hannibal Ingalls Kimball (see "Kimball" in Family Sketches) was born on the Gore, but when quite young went to live' in the family of Hannibal Ingalls, Esq., of Mercer, whose wife was a sister of his mother. He returned to the Gore when seventeen or eighteen years of age, and worked for some years in the
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carriage shop of his father, opposite the Bailey place. He be- came an expert workman at the carriage business, for which he had a natural aptitude, and at the same time attended the public schools. He also worked in the establishment of his oldest brother at Bridgton Center. When his brother Charles P. went into the carriage business at Norway Village, Hannibal became his foreman, and proved a very efficient one. Afterwards, in connection with some of his brothers, he went into business in New Haven, Conn. He was at the head of the establishment that turned out more than three thousand carriages a year. Every sort of vehicle on wheels, whether to be used for business or pleasure, was manufactured here, and the establishment had a wide reputation. At the close of the war he traveled quite extensively through the South in pursuit of health, which had become somewhat impaired by long-continued business cares, and he also had in view a place of settlement. After looking the ground carefully over, he selected Atlanta, Georgia, as one of the most promising localities in the whole South, and the result has more than justified his choice. He went to Atlanta, in 1866, and when the people of Georgia voted to establish the seat of government in that city, he bought the unfinished opera house, and reconstructed it into a spacious, substantial and convenient capitol, under contract with the State. In 1870 he laid out and graded Oglethorpe Park, and fitted it up with buildings, walks and drives. In this park the State fairs have since been held, and here the Exposition is located. The same year he built the H. I. Kimball House, a splendid hotel, six stories high and 210 feet long, and furnished it to · accommodate 500 guests, at a cost of $675,000. About that time he constructed 150 miles of a railroad leading into Atlanta. Some three years after, he planned and organized a company, and erected a cotton factory with a capacity of 24,000 spindles, which is now in successful operation.
The city at once became an important railway center. New
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK. 159
lines of railroad were built and old lines diverted from their original location, and Mr. Kimball became connected with several of them, either as President or Director. When a great International Cotton Exposition was determined upon, and Atlanta aslanted as the place. Mr. Kimball was at once selected on to be placed at the head of LOVE IS LIFE. to a most successful issue, for credited. A leading Southern us spoke of Mr. Kimball's busi- with it :
Y UIU.
BY REV. EDW. CRAIG MITCHELL. Oh! thinking is not living, true, On earth, or e'en above; The heart alone gives life its tone : We live in what we love.
The mind perceives the truth, and brings The will with self in strife;
Yet truth, though known, is not our own, Until 'tis loved in life.
As rain upon the hardened rock, So falls the truth on those Whose hearts, unopened to the Lord, Their deep interiors close.
As fruitful ground the shower receives, So loving hearts are taught: Our Lord above leads man by love, And not by mental thought.
And when the old man views his life, What rouse his memories deep ! The things he loved, in which he grew, Alone his soul will keep.
And give him now a master-thought, His aged brain is still : But touch him with an infant's hand, His young heart feels a thrill. iladelphia, 1863.
nd enlightened enterprise, and an ex- [. Kimball, of Georgia, is entitled to 1 Oxford County, Maine, in 1832. In » r's trade, and at the age of nineteen, nsive carriage manufactories in the ajority, the firm in whose employ he Lis executive and financial ability by Kimball became interested with Mr. ness early in the history of that in- of the war he came South to establish ire his health became much broken, ere he at times resided, compelled him : traveling all over the South, he de- re advantages for business and for a and he therefore located in Atlanta. tified with every movement of progress r she has that is worthy of her has been in her behalf of Mr. Kimball. He was e Exposition, and has pushed it to its .did success of the exhibition, and the , State and South from it, are, in the nd superior management of Mr. H. I. 1.”
ban Agricultural Association in :' of 1881-2, Mr. Kimball was present and read a very able paper upon the resources and con- dition of the Southern States, which was published entire in the proceedings of the Association. He is yet in the vigor and
2
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
carriage shop of his father, opposite the Bailey place. He be- came an expert workman at the carriage business, for which he had a natural aptitude, and at the same time attended the public schools. He also worked in the establishment of his oldest brother at Bridgton Center. Wagen his ha T ev. Abiel Silver, Minister of the New Church into the carriage business at New York. One volume 12mo., 286 pages his foreman, and proved a ver $1.25.
10 Holy Word in its Own Defence connection with some of his bressed to Bishop Colenso, and all other earnest
ers after Truth. By Rev. Abiel Silver, au- New Haven, Conn. He was aof " Lectures on the Symbolic Character-of that turned out more than tlacred Scriptures," One volume 12mg, 24" Every sort of vehicle on wheels Price $1.25. Postage 1fr mnv eed's Gun To be rat
or pleasure, was manufactured rysmoted his story W.cf : a wide reputation. At the clow Is; we will suppose that they have helped them )SOMWell, well, we have heard enough of the lo extensively through the South trives to all the corn they wanted; tell us whe become somewhat impaired bid To which the story-teller answered, very deli nompened afterward."
and he also had in view a play
ell you what happened afterward before I he the ground carefully over, he Stavold you what happened first." And then he went on again :
of the most promising localitidar " And then another locust went in and card ed,ff another grain of corn, and then another lost result has more than justified h 90vent in and carried off another grain of corr nd then another locust went in and carried off anden in 1866, and when the people ofougrain of corn." ary seat of government in that The king listened with unconquerable p Chaksix months more, when he again interrupt opera house, and reconstructed $1. with : "Oh, friend ! I am weary of your n c. How soon do you think they will have do To which the story-teller made answer
and convenient capitol, under ture " O king! who can tell? At the time 1870 he laid out and gradedB. E my story has come, the locusts have cles ful e a small space, it may be a cubit, each v hole : and the air is still new an
it up with buildings, walks and g.
the inside ofthe paper, and exceller
fairs have since been held, and Vindication of "Object Teaching," The same year he built the H Scotia." Price 15 cents. bart's Life of Swedenborg.
hotel, six stories high and 210 , and improved edition, containing Sampsc s admirable Lesture on the Mission of Św
· accommodate 500 guests, at a
g, and his article on the New Jerusale h, prepared for the New American Cyclope time he constructed 150 miles of Some three years after, he plan Price 87 cents. Postage 12 cents. rrespondence of the Sun, Heat, and Light. and erected a cotton factory with areen Bordy Si-24,000 spindles, which is now in successful operation.
The city at once became an important railway center. New
" If it please your majesty, it is impossible
ad ately :
*
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HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK.
lines of railroad were built and old lines diverted from their original location, and Mr. Kimball became connected with several of them, either as President or Director. When a great International Cotton Exposition was determined upon, and Atlanta selected as the place, Mr. Kimball was at once selected by common consent as the person to be placed at the head of the enterprise. It was brought to a most successful issue, for which Mr. Kimball is largely credited. A leading Southern paper, during the Exposition, thus spoke of Mr. Kimball's busi- ness capacity and his connection with it :
"As a representative of legitimate and enlightened enterprise, and an ex- ponent of modern progress, Mr. H. I. Kimball, of Georgia, is entitled to marked pre-eminence. He was born in Oxford County, Maine, in 1832. In early life he learned the carriage maker's trade, and at the age of nineteen, took charge of one of the most extensive carriage manufactories in the United States. Immediately on his majority, the firm in whose employ he was, evidenced their appreciation of his executive and financial ability by admitting him to full partnership. Mr. Kimball became interested with Mr. Geo. Pullman in the sleeping car business early in the history of that in- dustry, and immediately after the close of the war he came South to establish their lines. By over-work and exposure his health became much broken, and the severe climate of Chicago, where he at times resided, compelled him to seek a home in the South. After. traveling all over the South, he de- termined that Atlanta presented more advantages for business and for a pleasant home than any other point, and he therefore located in Atlanta. Since then Mr. Kimball has been identified with every movement of progress and edification of Atlanta. Whatever she has that is worthy of her has been secured through the untiring efforts in her behalf of Mr. Kimball. He was the first to take up the matter of the Exposition, and has pushed it to its present prosperous stage. The splendid success of the exhibition, and the benefits that shall accrue to the city, State and South from it, are, in the main, due to the energy, foresight and superior management of Mr. H. I. Kimball, the efficient Director-General."
At a meeting of the American Agricultural Association in New York, during the winter of 1881-2, Mr. Kimball was present and read a very able paper upon the resources and con- dition of the Southern States, which was published entire in the proceedings of the Association. He is yet in the vigor and
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and of the Standing Committee, member of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society and of the Prince Society, honorary member of the Weymouth (Mass.) Historical Society, and corresponding member of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain. He is a member of the Maine Press Association, and at the present time its President; is Secretary of the Augusta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and Secretary and a Director of the Augusta Literary and Library Association.
GEORGE F. LEONARD, M. A.
George F. Leonard received his primary education in the common schools of Woodstock and Waterford, was fitted for college at Norway and Bethel Academies, and graduated at Dartmouth College in the class of 1859. He adopted teaching as his occupation, and instructed the academies in Norway and Paris, in Maine, and in Northbridge, Mass. He was also teacher in the English High School in Boston, following this occupation for over twenty years. He is now engaged in other business at Newton Highlands, Mass. In 1861, he married Miss Jennie E. Brunell, of Piermont, N. H. He is a profound scholar and succeeded well in teaching.
ORSAMUS NUTE.
Orsamus Nute, born in this town, received his education mostly in the common schools. He was naturally a good scholar, and early became an instructor of the schools of his town. He was also a good farmer, and successfully cultivated the old homestead of his father for many years. He filled the office of Selectman and Superintending School Committee, but, being always a Democrat, he could not be elected to any office
HON. SIDNEY PERHAM.
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where party principles were involved. In 1864, he left his farm in Woodstock and moved with his family to Boston, where he was engaged in a contract for sprinkling the streets, and in various other kinds of business, in which he has been successful. He still resides in Boston.
HON. SIDNEY PERHAM.
Sidney Perham is an excellent example of a New England self-made man. Born in Woodstock, upon a rocky side-hill farm, he was early inured to the labor which farmers' sons of the period were expected to perform. He developed a vigorous constitution, and his work upon the farm, coupled with strictly temperate habits, insured robust health, which he has found of great benefit in his succeeding years of labor in other capacities. When he became of age, he purchased the old homestead of his father, and made a specialty of sheep-husbandry, in which he was very successful. His flock generally numbered from four to six hundred. Becoming early interested in temperance re- form, even when a minor and at work for his father, he, with a few of his associates, held meetings and addressed them in the school districts of Woodstock and adjoining towns. It was in these early meetings that he first schooled himself in public speaking and in debate. He attended the public schools in Woodstock and a single term at Gould's Academy in Bethel. For several years he taught schools winters, and with great success. This he continued after he became of age, and until he entered upon a more public career, carrying on his farm in summer and leaving the care of his stock to hired help in winter. He was an interested member of the teachers' insti- tutes, which began to be held in Oxford County about that time. As a disciplinarian in school, he had few equals among his cotemporaries, and his services were in great demand in those districts where trouble might be expected from over-grown
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