Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. I, Part 114

Author: Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 858

USA > New Hampshire > Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. I > Part 114

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Colonel Kent married (first), at Newbury, Mass- achusetts. December 26, 1752, Abigail Bailey, born June 20, 1722, and died July 4, 1756. Her father, Joseph Bailey, born February 13. 1683, died April 4, 1755. He married Abigail Webster, born March 3. 1684, and died February 5. 1787. Colonel Kent married (second), at Plaistow, New Hampshire, June 16, 1762, Mary White, born August 14, 1736, and died June 17, 1834, having attained the remark- able age of ninety-eight years. She was the daughter of Nicholas and Mary (Calef) White. Nicholas White was born December 4, 1698, and died Octo- ber 7. 1782. She was a very intelligent woman and retained her memory unimpaired up to the time of her death. From her many facts relative to the early history of Newbury were obtained and are now made a part of the published history of that town. In her old age she used to relate that once when the colonel was gone to meeting on Sunday, three bears came and looked in at the door upon her. Colonel Kent had by his first wife Abigail one child, Abigail. By his second wife Mary five children: Jacob, Mary, Elizabeth, John and Joseph.

(VI) John (2), fourth child and second son of Colonel Jacob and Mary ( White) Kent, was born in Newbury. Vermont, March 14, 1772, and died in Lyman, New Hampshire, July 4, 1842. He was a farmer, and received from his father the middle one of the three farms into which the original estate was divided. He removed to Lyman, New Hamp- shire, October, 1810. He married, November, 1804, Tabitha Peabody, born February 22, 1775. and died April 30, 1836, daughter of Richard and Tabitha Peabody, of Littleton, New Hampshire. Richard Peabody was a lieutenant of the West Woodstock, Connecticut, troops in the Revolution. From him Colonel Henry O. Kent derives his right to member- ship in the Society of Cincinnati, of the New Hamp- shire branch of which he is president. Six children were born of this union: Richard Peabody, John Childs. Harriet, Adriel, Lucia and Nelson.

(VII) Richard Peabody, eldest child of John and Tabitha ( Peabody) Kent, was born on the old family homestead in Newbury, Vermont. December 21. 1805. and died in Lancaster, New Hampshire, March 30, 1885, in his eightieth year. He was ten

years old when his father removed with his family to Parker Hill in Lyman, New Hampshire. The following years his right knee was so injured by a cut that he never recovered from the effects of it, and its influence was important in shaping his sub- sequent career. At the age of fifteen he became a clerk in the store of William B. Eastman, of Lyman, where he worked for two years, receiving as his compensation for his first year's work thirty dollars, and for the second seventy dollars. He next went to Walls River, Vermont, where he worked in the store of William Eames two years, and from there he went to Lisbon into the employ of John A. Smith, where he remained until 1825, when he engaged with Royal Joslyn for two years at one hundred and fifty dollars a year, in a store he was about to open in Lancaster. He arrived at Lancaster, June 1, 1825. In 1828 Mr. Joslyn accepted Mr. Kent as a partner. They were the first successful merchants in the town. Under the firm name of Richard P. Kent & Com- pany they did a good business for four years, at the end of which time they dissolved partnership, each acting on his own account. Mr. Kent bought out William Cargill and occupied what was known as the old "Green Store" until 1837, when he moved into a building which he enlarged in 1853 and re- built in 1890, which is now known as the "Kent Building" on Main street, where he remained until his death, in 1885. In April, 1837, he took Lewis C. Porter into partnership with him, which relation lasted three years, From 1840 to 1844 he had no partner. He had his brother Nelson for a clerk from 1836 to 1845, when he took him into partnership, the firm name being R. P. Kent & Co. Three years later R. P. Kent became the sole owner of the store, and so continued until 1862, when he took his brother Nelson and his son, Edward R. Kent, into partners- ship, as R. P. Kent, Son & Co. Seven years later Nelson Kent retired from the firm, which from that time until the death of Mr. Kent was known as R. P. Kent & Son. During his entire career as a merchant Mr. Kent kept a general store, his stock including almost everything on the market. In 1865 he made his stock of stoves and tinware a separ- ate department, took in Erastus V. Cobleigh as a partner. and under the firm name of Kent & Cob- leigh they carried on business until 1882, when Mr. Kent sold his interest to his partner.

For over forty years Mr. Kent never missed mak- ing his regular semi-annual trips to Boston to buy goods, and even after commercial travelers were on the road with their samples, or it had become possible for merchants to order by mail, he still visited the wholesale houses and selected stocks. At the time of his death he was the oldest merchant in Lancaster, having been in business on his own ac- count fifty-seven years, and as clerk three years in Lancaster, and sixty-five years from his first service as a clerk in a store at Lyman. He was one of the most careful and well trained merchants, and car- ried on his business methodically and successfully in spite of many losses from casualties, and the fail- ure or dishonesty of debtors. He was always cour- ageous, resourceful, energetic, and having a fixed

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and definite purpose made business a success where others failed.

From June 1, 1825, to March 11, 1885, Mr. Kent kept a daily record of all events of interest trans- piring in Lancaster, and largely in the region round about. This journal saved much of local history from uncertainty, if not from oblivion, and assisted in the preparation of much that has been written of Lancaster in later years. Mr. Kent with General John Wilson, Royal Joslin, and Apolos Perkins, was a partner in the publication of the White Mountain Aegis, the first newspaper published in the town, be- ginning in 1838.

He was never in what is known as public life, but was connected with numerous enterprises of benefit to the public and calculated to develop the business of the region. He was a trustee of the Lancaster Savings Bank Irom its incorporation to his decease, and for several years was cashier of the Lancaster Bank, an institution which though expen- sive to its stockholders, by reason of bad debts in- curred, never occasioned the public or any person a cent of loss through failure to redeem its bills or obligations. He was a corporator in the first rail- way chartered crossing Coos, the Portland & Con- necticut River railroad, covering the entire county, a franchise which the Atlantic & St. Lawrence, later the Grand Trunk, was obliged to retire before that company could construct its line. For over forty years he was secretary and treasurer of Lancaster bridge, built not as an investment, but to draw busi- ness from the Vermont side of the river.

He was ever the friend of education and religion and the institutions for their advancement. and was identified with the earlier public educational plans of the town and region. For fifty years he was a trustee of Lancaster Academy, and was president of the corporation at his deccase. He was a member of the Orthodox Congregational Church, and for many years had been a supporter of the society. He was devoted to the cause of temperance, and was lib- eral in his benefactions for the public good, and an unostentations bestower of deserved charity through numerous private sources. No man did more to develop Lancaster and make its people prosperous than Richard P. Kent.

He married, at Littleton, New Hampshire, June 5, 1832, Emily Mann Oakes, born in Barnet, Ver- mont, May 31. 1814, and died in Lancaster, New Hampshire, July 30, 1888. aged seventy-four, daugh- ter of Henry and Emily (Mann) Oakes. Henry Oakes was born at Springfield, Vermont, and was a merchant at Waterford, Fairlee and Barnet, Ver- mont, and Emily Mann was of the Manns of Or- ford, the original settlers of that town. In the sum- mer of 1882, Mr. and Mrs. Kent celebrated the golden anniversary of their wedding in a quiet way, assisted by their immediate relatives. The children of this union were: Henry Oakes. Edward Richard, and Charles Nelson, who died in Merrick, New York, February 14, 1906. ( Edward receives further notice in this article ).

(VIII) Colonel Henry Oakes, eldest child of Richard P. and Emily Mann (Oakes) Kent, was

born in Lancaster, New Hampshire, February 7, 1834. He was educated in the common schools at Lancaster, and at Norwich University, the military college of Vermont, graduating from the latter in- stitution with the close of 1854, of which Admiral Dewey was a member. After receiving his degree he returned to Lancaster and entered upon the study of law in the office of Hon. Jacob Benton, pursued his studies four years, and was admitted to the bar at Lancaster in May, 1858. In the same year a commission was appointed by the states of Maine and New Hampshire "to ascertain, survey and mark" the boundary between them. Mr. Kent was assigned to represent this state, and the work was performed during the autumn of 1858, through the wilderness from the Crown Monument, as far south as the town of Fryeburg and Conway. Mr. Kent's connection with this work was marked by bestowing his name on a mountain on the north- eastern frontier, laid down on the state map of 1860, and in subsequent surveys. (Mount Kent.)

At twenty-one years of age Mr. Kent had be- come thoroughly conversant with local politics. and events so shaped themselves that for years he re- linquished the prospect of a successful and dis- tinguished career at the bar for a position where he believed his efforts would be productive of more good to others. Before the close of the year 1858, his strong interest in the political affairs and for- tunes of the Republican party, with which he was actively identified, impelled him to become pro- prietor, editor and business manager of the Coos Republican of Lancaster. "In the management of the Republican, both financial and editorial, he dis- played rare skill and ability. His leading articles were always strong, vigorous, earnest, and secured for his paper, notwithstanding its remote location from the capital, an influential position among the party journals of the state. It is safe to say that from the time when he assumed its management until 1870. when he sold it, a period of twelve years, no paper in the state rendered more efficient support to the party with which it was allied, or advocated more heartily all measures tending to advance the material prosperity of the section in which it was located, than did the Coos Republican under the direction of Colonel Kent."

After disposing of his paper and retiring from its management, Mr. Kent continued to give his attention to a large general office business, which had grown up during his journalistic career and also to the Lancaster Savings Bank as its treasurer, for which institution he obtained a charter in 1868, and to other business enterprises in which he be- came actively engaged. He has been treasurer and trustee of this bank from the time of its organiza- tion until the present time. He is also owner and manager of the Lancaster paper mill, treasurer of the Pleasant Valley Starch Company, and president of the Lancaster Trust Company since procuring its charter in 1891.

Mr. Kent had as law partners, Hon. Turner Stephenson, later judge of probate, in 1861, and Hon. William Heywood in department claims, 1866;

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out the pressing demands on his time made by the many other business enterprises in which he was engaged led to his gradual relinquishment of the profession.

Mr. Kent's official life began early. In 1855, when but twenty-one years old, he was chosen as- sistant clerk of the house of representatives, and re- elected the following year. In 1857 he was elected clerk of the house, and discharged the duties of the office with so much credit that he was twice re-elected to that office. In 1862 he was elected representative from Lancaster and won approval as a legislator. He served as chairman of the com- mittee on military affairs, a position of great import- ance at that time, in the midst of the war period. In 1868 he was again in the legislature, and served as chairman of the committee on railroads, and took an active part in securing the extension of the rail- road into Coos county. Again, in 1869, he was a representative and was chairman of the finance com- mittee. His last election to the house was in 1882, and during the following session he earnestly ad- vocated the passage of the general railroad act of that year, securing the development of the railroad system of the state. He also actively supported the bill to relieve church property from taxation. In that session he also introduced the original bill re- lieving veterans from poll-tax. In 1885 he was elected to the senate, and introduced a bill declaring New Hampshire veterans free from liability to resi- dence in time of need, in a public alms house. His last legislative service was in the constitutional con- vention of 1902, to which he was elected by the unanimous vote of the town, then adverse on party lines, and of which body he was unanimously elected temporary chairman. In 1859 he served as mod- erator, and has since then served, 1861-65, 1867, 1869-72, 1874-75, 1877-80, 1883-85, 1891-94. He was postmaster of the United States senate from 1862 to 1865, Arthur Pue Gorman, afterwards senator from Maryland, being assistant postmaster.

In 1860 Editor Kent's two years' management of the Republican liad brought him into suchi favorable prominence in the state that he was elected alternate delegate-at-large to the convention (attending) at Chicago which nominated Abraham Lincoln to the presidency. During the war his paper advocated every measure of importance of the National ad- ministration tending to bring the war to a success- ful termination and abolish slavery. At the close of the war and after the downfall of slavery he differed with his party on national questions, and favored the burial of past issues and sectional bit- terness and the restoration of fraternal relations. As his views diverged widely from those of the majority of his party, he could no longer advocate its measures in his paper, and he therefore disposed of it and joined the organization of Liberal Repub- licans. This movement resulted in the Cincinnati Convention and the nomination of Horace Greeley for president in 1872. He participated in that con- vention, and was a member of the National and chairman of the State Liberal Republican Com- mittee in 1872 and 1873. In the latter year the Lib-

erals put an independent ticket in the field, but united with the Democracy on a common platform in 1874. The resolutions of the Liberal convention, announcing such purpose, were presented in the Democratic convention by Mr. Kent, whose appear- ance and announcement elicited strong demonstra- tions of enthusiasm in that body. The campaign thus opened ended in the election of a Democratic governor and legislature, a result to which the earnest labors of Colonel Kent largely contributed. In recognition of his efficient services, as well as acknowledged ability, he was accorded the Demo- cratic congressional nomination in the third district in 1875, and again in 1877 and 1878. In each of the attended canvasses, he spoke continuously, and ran largely ahead of his party vote, especially in his own town and vicinity. In all subsequent campaigns he has heartily devoted his energies to the furtherance of Democratic principles, and has been active upon the stump in New Hampshire and other states, and always with unanimous calls and large audiences.

Colonel Kent was also president of the New Hampshire Democratic state conventions in 1877 and 1884, and his speeches on those occasions were the enunciations of the principles in support of which the campaigns following were conducted. In the latter year he also drafted the resolutions adopted, which were widely copied by the press throughout the country. In the same year he was a delegate-at-large to the Democratic national con- vention at Chicago, where his speech seconded the nomination of Grover Cleveland for the presidency, on behalf of the New England delegation, gave him a national reputation as an orator. In 1894 and in 1896 he was Democratic nominee for gov- ernor, and conducted his campaigns with vigor and ability, but he was unable to overcome the normal Republican majority. On the incoming of the second Cleveland administration he was offered the posi- tion of assistant secretary of war, but saw fit to decline it. In 1900 he was chairman of the New Hampshire delegation to the Democratic national convention at Kansas City, and as such seconded the nomination of William J. Bryan to the presi- dency.

He early developed a love for military affairs fostered by his cadet life. At seventeen he was made a corporal of artillery. rising through the grades of the old militia to be lieutenant-colonel of the line and full colonel of staff, attaining the last named rank in 1860, when he was also elected to the com- mand of the Governor's Horse Guards, the body guard of the chief executive of the state, and in which United States senators, governors and con- gressmen and prominent business men were of the line and rank and file.

He was one of the earliest to volunteer to defend the Union at the outbreak of the Rebellion (April 16, 1861), and was commissioned assistant adjutant general of the state, with the rank of colonel, and assigned to duty in organizing the recruiting service. In a short time after raising a company at Lan- caster he was ordered to Portsmouth, where he as- sisted in organizing the Second Regiment and in

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fitting the garrison at Ft. Constitution. He con- tinued on duty until a call was issued for three additional regiments from New Hampshire, in the fall of 1862, and was commissioned colonel of the Seventeenth, October 22, 1862, which was raised principally by his efforts and by the use of his name, and organized and thoroughly drilled and disci- plined under his command. While in service at the front the Second Regiment had suffered severely, and men were required to fill its decimated ranks, for which purpose the men of the Seventeenth were taken and its officers mustered out. The governor in "general orders" complimented the Seventeenth on its high discipline and soldierly appearance, and expressed his regret for the necessity of its dis- bandment and absorption into another command. "As it was, few men, if any, in the state, did more than Colonel Kent to promote the efficiency of the service and to maintain the reputation of New Hampshire for prompt and patriotic effort in the Union cause, a cause which he sustained by pen and voice and active personal effort throughout the en- tire struggle." His rank and service were recognized by special act of congress, unanimously passed and approved by President Harrison, approved July 21, 1892.

Colonel Kent is a charter member of Colonel Edward E. Cross Post, No. 16, Grand Army of the Republic, organized January, 1869, and has been past commander, judge advocate, a member of the council of administration, junior vice-, senior vice-, and department commander, and has served on the building and executive committees at the Weirs and as president of the New Hampshire Veterans Association. He is as enthusiastic and efficient in matters pertaining to the Grand Army as in other affairs, and his home "Indian Brook' is always open to Grand Army men.

"As a public speaker Colonel Kent has long been actively engaged. Before an audience he is spirited, earnest and convincing. He has a pleasing. well- cultivated voice, and speaks with fluency and rapidity. He combines his statements and arguments in such a manner that he invariably arrests the attention of his hearers and steadily holds it to the close." Some of his more important special public speeches and ad- dresses are the address before the Nesv Hampshire Fish and Game League in ISS5; before Norwich University : Memorial Day addresses at Lancaster, Portsmouth and Laconia : Masonic address at White- field; the speech seconding the nomination of Cleve- land in 1884; at the Boston Banquet to Governor Hill, of New York, in June, 1886, where he re- sponded to the toast. "The President of the United States"; in Fancuil Hall at the reception of Robert E. Lee Camp of Virginia, by John A. Andrew Post of Massachusetts on Bunker Hill Day, 1887; and his address of welcome on the part of Norwich Uni- versity to Admiral Dewey, on the occasion of the laying of the corner stone of Dewey Hall. in Octo- ber, 1899; his address, widely published in Masonic literature, before North Star Lodge, June 24, 1889; Benton Lodge, Guildhall, Vermont. July 9, 1901 ; and his ballad. "The Master's Apron," widely known of

Masons. He acted as temporary chairman of the Constitutional Convention of New Hampshire in 1902.

Colonel Kent has not confined his activity in liter- ature entirely to prose, but has written some gems in verse that would be a credit to a poet of acknowl- edged reputation, among which are a poem inscribed "To the Old Granite State." written in 1856. and "Welcome Home," read at the Lancaster Centennial Celebration, July 14, 1864. He is senior of the board of trustees of Norwich University, from which he received the degree of A. M. in 1863, and LL. D. in 1895. He was trustee and chairman of the executive committee of the corporation of Lancaster Academy, and has served twenty years as president of the "As- sociated Alumni and Past Cadets" of Norwich Uni- versity. He has been governor of the Society of Colonial Wars in New Hampshire, member of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and is president of the Society of the Cincinnati for New Hampshire. In ISSI he was one of the corporators of the Yorktown Centennial Association, named by the legislature of Virginia. Colonel Kent is a mem- ber of North Star Lodge, No. 8, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Lancaster, and an adept in Free Masonry, having received all the degrees, ci- fices and honors of the craft from the degree of en- tered apprentice, in North Star Lodge, Lancaster. New Hampshire, April 3. 1855, to member of the Supreme Council, thirty-third and last degree, in 1894, in Boston. He has twice been grand com- mander of the Grand Commandery and Appendant Orders in New Hampshire, and has twice con- manded encampments in the field, viz. : at Odiornes Point at Portsmouth. 1868. and at Lake Winnipisseo- gee, 1869. He was of Haswell Chapter, St. Johns- bury, before Cryptic Masonry was established at Lancaster, and for twenty-three years has been chairman of the Masonic bodies in his local jurisdic- tion. He is a member of Mount Prospect Grange, No. 242, Patrons of Husbandry.

He was inarried in Boston, Massachusetts, Janu- ary II, 1859, by Dr. Edward N. Kirk, to Berenice Adaline Rowell. born in West Concord, Vermont, September 27, 1835, daughter of Samuel and Evaline Page Rowell. Two children have been born to them : Berenice Emily and Henry Percy.

(VIII) Edward Richard Kent, second son of Richard P. and Emily M. (Oakes) Kent, was born in Lancaster, February 1, 1840. He acquired his edu- cation in the public schools and at the Lancaster Academy. and received his business training in his father's mercantile establishment. He was as-o- ciated with the elder Kent until the latter's decease. when he succeeded to the business and carried it on alone until 1898, when he relinquished his activities on account of ill health. Having recovered suffici- ently to resume business in 1903. he purchased the retail drug store which he is now conducting, and has built up a flourishing trade. In addition to the above he has other important business interests. 1 i:g a director of the Thompson Manufacturing Com- pany, and a director and trustee of the Lancaster Savings Bank and the Lancaster Trust Comp. :

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He is active in promoting measures for improving the business resources of Lancaster, and for the past seventeen years has rendered valuable services in that direction as president of the Lancaster Board of Trade. He is also vice-president of the New Hamp- shire State Board of Trade.

In 1874-75 Mr. Kent served on the staff of Gov- ernor Weston with the rank of colonel, and is now one of the three survivors of that body. For fifteen years he has served as a member and treasurer of the Lancaster board of education, and from 1870 to 1891 was chief of the Lancaster fire department. In the Masonic order he has attained distinction, having served as eminent commander of North Star Com- mandery, Knights Templar, ten years, 1875 to 1885; grand commander of the Grand Commandery of New Hampshire, ISSS, a member of the Grand En- campment, United States; worthy patron of Olive Branch Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, six years, 1880-86; Edward A. Raymond Consistory (thirty-second degree), of Nashua. as well as in the various local subordinate bodies. His religious affil- iations are with the Congregational Church, and he is a member of its executive committee.

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Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. I, Part 114

Author: Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923 Publication date: 1908 Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 858

Author: Stearns, Ezra S; Whitcher, William F. (William Frederick), 1845-1918; Parker, Edward E. (Edward Everett), 1842-1923
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 858