Book of biographies. This volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Grafton County, New Hampshire, Part 15

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Buffalo, Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 612

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WILLIAM S. NELSON, a member of the Moore Peg Co. of Lisbon, N. H., was born in the town of Monroe, N. H., June 6, 1861. He is a son of Edwin and Phoebe (Gibson) Nelson, and grandson of John and Harriet (Kelsea) Nel- son. John Nelson, who was born in Lyman, Oct. 16, 1801, was a grandson of the first bearer of the Nelson name, who settled in America- William Nelson, who came from Scotland in 1792 and settled in Ryegate, Vt.

John Nelson followed agricultural pursuits all of his life in Lyman, now Monroe, where he owned and managed a large farm. Jan. 15, 1823, he married Harriet Kelsea, who was born Aug. 8, 1803, and to them were born the follow- ing seven children: William C., born March 2, 1824; George, July 24, 1826; Eliza, Nov. 30, 1828; John M., June 5, 1833; Edwin, Sept. I, 1836; Almon, July 7, 1840; and Henry C., Sept. 21, 1844. All have passed to the great beyond with the exception of Edwin, the father of our subject, and Henry C. John Nelson was a firm Democrat and a member of the M. E. Church of , North Monroe.

Edwin Nelson was born in the town of Lyman, now Monroe, and received his education there, and has lived there and in Lyman proper nearly all of his life, engaged in agricultural pur- suits. He owns a farm of about 100 acres,

HON. WILLIAM HUSE CUMMINGS.

BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, GRAFTON COUNTY.

which he devotes to general farming. He is a thorough Democrat in his political allegiance. On Aug. 26, 1860, he married Phoebe Gibson, who was born Feb. 23, 1842; she was a daughter of Samuel and Mercia (Hoskins) Gibson, both natives of Lyman. As a result of their union our subject's parents gathered about them the fol- lowing family circle of four children: William S., born June 6, 1861; Albert J., April 19, 1865, now deceased; Frank K., Jan. 21, 1870; and George E., Jan. 14, 1872, now deceased. Mrs. Nelson died in 1877.

William S. Nelson was educated in the schools of the town of Monroe, and also in the town of Lisbon, N. H. His first employment was in a peg factory, and in that connection in various capacities he has continued to the present day. He commenced work in 1879 at the bottom of the ladder and became foreman of the mill in 1885; in 1890 he became one of the firm of the Moore Peg Co .; and in 1896 he took an extended business trip in the interest of the company to Europe. It may well be mentioned here in this connection that there are but four mills in America where shoe pegs are manufactured for the trade, and they are devoted almost exclu- sively to the trade in foreign countries. Mr. Nelson is a Republican in politics.

July 3, 1886, he was joined in marriage with Genevieve Moore, who was born Nov. 10, 1856, and was a daughter of Ovid D. and Harriet (Howland) Moore of Lisbon, N. H. Mrs. Nel- son died May II, 1894. In his religious views Mr. Nelson is inclined to be liberal.

HON. WILLIAM HUSE CUMMINGS, de- ceased, whose portrait we show on the opposite page, was born in New Hampton, N. H., Jan. 10, 1817. His father, Joseph Cummings, was a member of the old Cummings family of Dun- stable, and his mother, Mary Huse of Sanborn- ton, was descended from Hannah Dustin, whose heroism, when taken captive by aparty of Indians in the early days of the colony, has been handed down to the present day as a remarkable instance of fortitude and presence of mind, under circum- stances of great trial and danger. William was the second son in a family of five boys and two girls. His father was a farmer, and could give

his children only the advantages then afforded by the district school in the way of an education. But those advantages, such as they were, aided by a habit of reading and study, cultivated and exercised in all the after years of his life, sup- plemented the activity of a mind, by nature keen and comprehensive; a retentive memory added to the store of information gathered in his long and varied experience.

At the age of seventeen he left the shelter of the paternal roof and entered the store of Major Ebenezer Kimball in New Chester. Few young men of the present day would consent to receive so small a salary as thirty-five dollars and board the first year; but to the habits of prudence, economy, and thrift thus acquired, Mr. Cum- mings could trace much of his subsequent suc- cess. Little time was given him for dissipation or waste of money and talents, and an incident in his life at that time illustrates the pracucal com- mon sense with which he regulated his conduct. He was invited with other young men of his acquaintance to attend a ball on a certain even- ing. As a matter of curiosity he determined to calculate the cost of attending the party at com- pound interest from -that day until his sixtieth birthday. The amount was so large that he then and there resolved to renounce this form of amusement for himself, and throughout his life his recreations continued to be always of a simple and healthful character.

In 1837, Mr. Cummings purchased the busi- ness, in which for three years he had assisted as clerk, and at the youthful age of twenty started in trade for himself. After two years he went to Lisbon and remained a year in the employ of the firm of Allen & Cummings, going from there to Haverhill and entering into partnership with John L. Rix, with whom he was associated for five years. He then conducted the business alone for three years, and in 1849 disposed of his in- terests in Haverhill and returned to Lisbon, where for over forty years he was prominently identified with the business and public affairs of the village. He became a member of the firm of Allen, Cummings & Co., and engaged in mer- chandising, lumbering, banking, and manufac- turing until 1875, when he retired from active business.

In 1843 Mr. Cummings was married to Miss Harriet Sprague Rand, daughter of Hamlin

BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, GRAFTON COUNTY.

Rand, who was a leading business man in the early days of Lisbon and a large real estate owner. Mr. Cummings purchased of the Rand estate an extensive piece of property on the east- ern side of the Ammonoosuc River, and upon the hill overlooking the village built, in 1853, the house he ever after occupied, developing from a rough pasture, by liberal expenditure of time, money, and labor, one of the most beautiful home surroundings in the vicinity. Throughout his life he dealt largely in real estate, and while laying the foundation for his own financial suc- cess, he aided many a hard-working man to gain a home by selling him a house and land, and allowing the purchase money to be paid in small installments at stated intervals. From fifty to sixty houses passed through his hands in this way, and the growth of the town was greatly helped by his efforts in this and other directions.

Mr. Cummings was ever an active political force in Lisbon, representing the town in the Legislature of 1856 and 1883, and serving as Senator in 1877 and 1878, when he was mainly instrumental in the passage of the present super- visor law. Uncompromising in his allegiance to Democratic principles, he was always prominent in the councils of that party; as a legislator, he ranked among the leaders and exerted a power- ful influence among his associates in both branches of the Legislature. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention that met in St. Louis in 1876, and nominated Samuel J. Tilden of New York for the Presidency.

Until the later years of his life our subject was interested in the Masonic fraternity. One of the organizers, promoters, and charter members of Kane Lodge, and for twenty-six years an active member of the Franklin Chapter, he held all the offices of these organizations. He was also one of the original members of St Girard Command- ery, Knights Templar, of Littleton.

For over eighteen years Mr. Cummings was president of the Wells River, Vt., National Bank, serving its interests with the utmost care and fidelity. To his conservative action and skillful financiering the bank owed much of its pros- perity during the years in which he was con- nected with its management.

No worthy public enterprise ever appealed to him in vain for aid, and his liberal contributions toward whatever would best develop the re-

sources and increase the growth of the town in which he lived were an incentive to other men to help in all measures for public improvement. The fine school-house, erected in 1890, may be regarded as a monument to his forethought and far-reaching plans for the welfare of the village, as it was his earnest advocacy of the measure in the public meeting, called for the discussion of the question, that formed the nucleus of the de- cisive influence which induced the citizens of the district to pass a satisfactory final vote.

No man in the community was ever made the object of more appeals by all classes for material assistance, advice, and encouragement than was our subject. His office was always open to those who sought his counsel, and many a burdened man or woman, struggling with the problems of debt and the support of a family, carried to him their stories of want and anxiety, certain of a kindly interest, a sympathetic word, and often- times timely aid, which would render them his grateful friends through life. Always quiet and unostentatious in his beneficence, not until his death was it revealed how many had looked upon him as their best helper and strongest defender.

In 1878 the Congregational Church of Lisbon was organized and Mr. Cummings was until his death active in promoting the interests of the society. He was treasurer and chairman of the board of trustees for over twelve years; always chairman of the church business meetings, he presided with such simple dignity that any de- cision on his part carried with it so much sound judgment and good sense, that it put an end to all controversy. In the words of one of his pas- tors, "His moral support of the church was greater than his material support; his attendance on the means of grace was constant and inspir- ing." Two years and a half after his death his family presented to the church a pipe organ as a memorial to one who had been so closely iden- tified with its formation and growth.

Mr. Cummings died on July 15, 1891, after a year and a half of failing health, and is survived by his wife and two daughters, Harriet Sprague, (Mrs. O. P. Newcomb) and Mary Rand. His only son, William Edward, died in 1867, aged twenty-one. Mr. Cummings's funeral was held in the Congregational Church, and the large throng who were present testified by their pres- ence and evident sorrow the esteem in which he

BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, GRAFTON COUNTY.

was held by the community. He was a man of strong force of character, indomitable will, and strength of purpose. Keen in his perceptions, he was a good student of human nature, and rarely deceived in his judgment of men. Always court- eous and genial in his social intercourse, he won many friends, while upon the town in which he spent the greater part of his life he left an in- delible impression of his business energy and integrity. Mentally and morally, he was an ex- cellent representative of the best elements of New England character, and he has left the precious heritage of a noble life, and that good name which is "rather to be chosen than great riches."

JOSIAH WHEET. Among the model and progressive farmers of the town of Groton, N. H., is none more worthy of an honorable place than the gentleman whose name heads this short memoir. He was born in the town of Gro- ton, Grafton Co., N. H., Jan. 23, 1838, and is a son of Col. Joshua R. and Huldah (Kidder) Wheet, and a grandson of Josiah and Hannah (Reed) Wheet.

Josiah Wheet was born in Hollis, in 1761, and in 1794 came to the town of Groton, Grafton Co., where he bought the farm, where Mr. Judd lives at present; it is located in the very best farming district, and its possession has always been a matter of pride to its owners. A small portion was already cleared, and Josiah Wheet very nearly completed the clearing, putting the farm under the best of cultivation. His first wife was Sarah Hayes, who was stricken with a severe sickness and died in the prime of her life, leav- ing two sons and four daughters, as follows: Sarah, Hannah, Ruth, Lois, Josiah, and Thomas. He married as his second wife, Hannah Reed; she was born in Hollis, and died at the age of eighty-eight years. She presented Mr. Wheet with four children: Capt. Joseph, Betsey, Lucy, and Col. Joshua R.

Col. Joshua R. Wheet, whose military title was derived from his position in State militia, our subject's father, was born in Groton, N. H., March 23, 1807, and married Aug. 25, 1830, Hul- dah, daughter of John and Lois (Buell) Kidder. He learned the carpenter's and cooper's trades

and followed those avocations in great part throughout life. The homestead became his by inheritance, and he accordingly devoted much of his time to its proper cultivation and care. He was a man of thrift and enterprise and highly esteemed as one of the town's most valuable and devoted citizens. In public affairs he held a spirited interest, and never waited for anyone else to take the lead. He was a Democrat and held all the town offices: representative in the State Legislature in 1850-51; several years as moderator, as town clerk, and in other town offices. In his religious views he was a Univer- salist. He died at the age of seventy-three; his wife, the patient companion in joy and in sor- row, was called to her heavenly home at the age of seventy-nine.

They reared and educated the following chil- dren: Caroline B., born in 1832; Sarah A., 1834; Sylvester, 1836; Josiah, the subject of this sketch; John C., 1840, a practicing physician and surgeon; H. Angeline, 1843; Alonzo W. was taken back to the One on high, who gave him, when an infant; and Mary A., 1854.

The subject of this sketch received a liberal and broad education in the district schools, and in the Franklin and Warren academies. After completing his course in the academy he went to North Andover, Mass., and worked in Davis & Ferber's machine shop, where they produced woolen looms and other allied machinery. He remained in the shop for about thirteen years, and was then interested in the drug business for one year. The following two years were spent in a Lowell machine shop, returning to Davis & Ferber and working for them until 1875, when he retired to farm life, caring for his wife's parents and managing the farm; upon the death of Mr. and Mrs. Southwick he came into full possession of the property.

He married Hannah W. Southwick in 1863: she was the daughter of Isaac D. Southwick. After presenting her husband with the following children Mrs. Wheet died at the age of thirty- seven, in 1879. The children were: Frank E., who died at the age of six months; Fred E., born Nov. IT, 1868, married Hattie P. James, by whom he has two children, Frances and Mil- dred, and is a practicing physician and surgeon at Stevens' Point, Wis .; Isaac N., died at the age of sixteen months; Albert S. died at the age of

BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, GRAFTON COUNTY.

four years; Harvey A., born Feb. 6, 1877, lives at home. Our subject married as his second wife Abbie A., daughter of Andrew J. and Abbie C. (Heath) McClure, of Plymouth, N. H., and has three children as the result of the second union. The record is as follows: Ava H., born July 19, 1882; Lee H., Sept. 1, 1890; and Verne J., Jan. 15, 1895. Mr. Wheet has been a thorough-going Democrat and has held various of the minor offices of the town; he was four years on the school board, two years of which he was chairman of the same. Both our subject and wife are staid and consistent members of the Universalist Church. He is a member of the Monadnock Lodge, No. 145, I. O. O. F., and Kearsarge Encampment of Lawrence, Mass.

In his farming, a studied system and a careful attention to details have done much to give him his present high standing in the farming com- munity. A choice dairy claims no small amount of his time and attention, and amply repays him for all his trouble. A careful survey of his premises reveal an exceptionally prosperous and well-kept appearance, such as is only met with at rare intervals.

In 1896 he was the Democratic candidate for representative to the Legislature, but owing to the Democrats being divided on the money ques- tion he failed of an election by a few votes.

HARRY M. CHENEY, business manager and associate editor of the Granite State Free Press of Lebanon, N. H., was born in Newport, N. H., March 8, 1860, and is a son of Elias H. and Susan W. (Youngman) Cheney, and a. grandson of Moses and Abigail (Morrison) Cheney.

Elias H. Cheney was born in Ashland, then Holderness, Jan. 28, 1832, and was the fifth son and the ninth of eleven children that composed his father's family. His father was a paper- maker by occupation; he removed from Holder- ness to Peterborough in 1835, going into part- nership there with Abraham P. Morrison, his wife's brother. Elias H. acquired a fair common school education between the ages of eight and thirteen, when not engaged in the mill "laying off" paper. In 1845 his father removed to Hold- erness, where Elias attended the spring and fall

terms of the high school; the intervals were spent in his father's mill. As he grew older his work in the mill became more and more varied until there was no line of work in a paper mill that he could not and did not do. Two terms at New Hampton Academy and a year at Phillips Exeter Academy completed his school days.

His first venture in the newspaper business was in the Peterborough Transcript, which he finally bought and operated at the age of twenty- one. His zeal in the temperance cause soon tempted him to leave a good business and to re- move to Concord to undertake the publication of the New Hampshire Phoenix, a temperance organ. The venture resulted in a disastrous financial embarrassment, which clouded his early life and forced him to relinquish his paper in 1856 and to engage as job foreman of the New Hampshire Sentinel at Keene. In 1859 he be- came foreman and business manager of the Sullivan Republican at Newport, of which the late Judge W. H. H. Allen was editor.

In 1861, just after the battle of Bull Run, he arrived in Lebanon to take charge of the Granite State Free Press, which he had purchased of Hon. George S. Towle. Through the long and doubtful struggle of the war for the Union he worked incessantly composing and setting up editorials in type at the same time; by the hard- est kind of work he managed to prolong the life of his paper until better times came to his aid, his being the only paper in Grafton Co. which survived that trying period. For the past six years his son, H. M. Cheney, the subject of this sketch, has been associated with him. He rep- resented Lebanon in the State Legislature of 1867 and 1868, and his district as Senator in 1885. In January, 1892, he was appointed United States consul at Matanzas, Cuba; this necessitated a knowledge of Spanish, which he soon acquired, and is now quite a Spanish student, having completed the reading of Don Quixote in the original.

His wife was the daughter of Willard and Jane (Little) Youngman of Peterborough, N. H. Of the four children born to them, Fred W., born May 19, 1853, is the eldest; he is at present assistant secretary of the Capital Fire Insurance Co. at Concord. He was engaged for quite a period in newspaper work, graduated at Colby Academy in 1874, had charge of the Granite

BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, GRAFTON COUNTY.

State Free Press from 1876 to 1880, during which time his father was recuperating his health. He also established in 1881 and oper- ated for seven years the Republican Champion, a weekly paper of Newport; while a resident of Newport he was captain in the State militia, and chairman of the school board and represented the town in the Legislature of 1889. He became a master of military tactics, and in 1891 was ap- pointed by Governor Tuttle Inspector-General of the National Guard of New Hampshire, but declined on account of ill health. He married Cora M. Mead of Concord, and has one child, Morton M.

. Harry M., the second son, is the subject of this sketch. Susan, born in 1864, died in infancy. Helen G., born Nov. 5, 1865, married G. H. Kelley of Lebanon and has two children, Robert C. and Richard H. Elias H. Cheney is a Mason, belonging to Franklin Lodge, No. 6, F. & A. M., since 1864, and holding a membership in Mas- coma Lodge, I. O. O. F., since 1866. He is a Baptist in religious belief.

Our subject was but one year and six months of age when his father moved to Lebanon, and accordingly received his early education in the town of his present residence. When fifteen years old he went into his father's office and served a regular apprenticeship at the printer's trade. In 1878 he entered Colby Academy, from which he graduated in 1882; he then entered Bates College, at Lewiston, Me., where he grad- uated in 1886. He then assisted his brother in Newport in the publication of the Republican Champion for a short time till his father's failing health brought him back to Lebanon to assist him in the publication of the Free Press. He has been manager and associate editor ever since. He has been very active in advancing the commercial interests of Lebanon and has been one of the important factors in the recent de- velopment of that town. In politics, he is a stanch Republican and represented the town in the Legislatures of 1893 and 1895, and was the nominee in the election of 1896 for State Senator and was triumphantly elected, as the district is strongly Republican. He is also engaged in the life, fire, and accidental insurance business.

Mr. Cheney is a member of Franklin Lodge, No. 6, F. & A. M., serving as its Master for four years. During this period the

lodge, in 1896, celebrated its 100th anniversary, to the ceremonies of which Mr. Cheney con- tributed a very fitting and appropriate address. He is a member of St. Andrews Chapter, No. 1; Washington Council, No. 10; Sullivan Com- mandery, No. 6, K. T., of Claremont. He is also a member of Mascoma Lodge, No. 20, I. O. O. F. In religious belief he is a Unitarian. Our subject married on the 19th of December, 1893, Miss Mary E., daughter of Hiram A. and Eme- line (Gates) Vose. He has one child, Esther, born April 3, 1896.

GEORGE S. ROGERS, prominent among the leading business men of the county, and one to whom many of the important manufacturing interests owe their success, is the subject of this sketch. Mr. Rogers is a member of the firm of Carter & Rogers, woolen manufacturers of Le- banon, N. H. He is skilled in all the technical points that are of such value in the manufacture of wool into its different products. He is a stockholder, treasurer, and manager of the Everett Knitting Mills, and also treasurer and manager of the Riverside Woolen Co., both con- cerns of Lebanon, N. H.

Mr. Rogers was born in Plymouth, N. H., July 24, 1844, and is a son of Stephen G. and Lavina (Tookby) Rogers. Our subject's father was born in Plymouth, and was descended from one of the early families of that part of the county. Early in life he went to Thetford, Vt., and entered upon the manufacture of paper, varying in quality from straw-board to fine writ- ing paper. After a long period spent in this branch of the manufacturing arts he gave it up and began the manufacture of woolen fabrics; he was stricken down by typhoid fever in his sixty-fourth year, while still engaged actively at this industry. His wife died in 1854, at about forty years of age, leaving two children to mourn her loss: George S., the subject of this sketch, and Alfred R., who resides at Thetford, Vt. Stephen G. Rogers was a Whig and later on a Republican in politics; he always refused to hold any office, because of lack of time to properly attend to the duties that would have devolved upon him. He always did whatever in his power to advance the interests and aid in the progress

BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES, GRAFTON COUNTY.

and development of the town, and could never be accused of selfish devotion to his own inter- ests to the exclusion of matters of public interest.

George S. Rogers attended the public schools of Thetford, V't., and at the age of eighteen was taken as a partner in his father's business, where he was taught not only all the essential points concerning the manufacture of woolens, but also the careful, methodical habits and principles that go so far to form a prosperous business man. This training received from his father was of the best and accomplished what was intended, by making hin a man of sound judgment and suc- cessful in all the projects he has undertaken. After his father's death A. D. Carter of Lowell, Mass., bought an interest, and in 1883 the firm, under the name of Carter & Rogers, moved its plant to Ashland, N. H., and carried on the manufacture of woolen cloth of various qualities for five years. They then came to Lebanon and bought out the mills of the Lebanon Woolen Co .; all the buildings were burned in 1887. Our subject and his partner at once rebuilt a large factory, 170x50, of brick and wood, with two stories and a basement, making it one of the finest of the factories of Lebanon. The newest and most improved of modern machinery was introduced, so that the mill is now equipped in the very best fashion; about 100 hands find a profitable employment. The entire product is shipped intact to the commission house in New York City.

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Book of biographies. This volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Grafton County, New Hampshire, Part 15

Author: Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Buffalo, Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 612

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Buffalo, Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 612