USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Chester > History of Chester, New Hampshire, including Auburn : a supplement to the History of old Chester, published in 1869 > Part 32
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Auburn > History of Chester, New Hampshire, including Auburn : a supplement to the History of old Chester, published in 1869 > Part 32
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In 1862 Mr. French was appointed Deputy Naval Officer at Boston and later Deputy Collector of Customs. He resigned in 1865 and entered the Bank of the Metropolis of Boston. In Apr., 1870 he formed the banking firm of Foote and French and later in the year he was called to New York by the firm of Jay Cooke and Co., to organize their foreign exchange with their London firm. In the panic of 1873 the firm of Jay Cooke & Co. failed but Mr. French, acting as attorney for the London firm paid all its obligations. In 1874, with George F. Baker and two members of the old firm of Jay Cooke & Co., Mr French bought a controlling interest in the First National Bank of New York and took part in several funding operations for the United States Treasury with the U. S. 4 per cent. loan.
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In 1877 he induced the Director of Mint to prepare a general treatise' on money and legal tender of the United States which Mr. French revised and edited. His famous correspondence with Secretary Sherman, 18 June, 1877, was widely circulated throughout Europe, and when he visited London in 1878 he received grateful recognition from Baron Rothschild, the Governor of the Bank of England.
In 1880 he sold out his interest in the First National Bank and became President of the Richmond & Alleghany R. R. In 1888 he was elected President of the Manhattan Trust Co. of New York and remained at the head of that financial institution until his death, 26 Feb., 1893.
With his wife and daughters he travelled abroad many times. He was a great reader and collector of books. He had three children, viz .: Elizabeth Richardson, who married Lord Cheylesmore and lives in London; Ellen, who married Alfred G. Vanderbilt, and Amos Tuck French (see Sketch).
HON. HENRY F. FRENCH
HENRY FLAGG FRENCH (1813-1885) was educated in the academies at Derry, Pembroke and Hingham, Mass. He studied law in his father's office in Chester and attended the Harvard Law School in Cambridge. He was admitted to the bar 14 Aug. 1835 and com- menced to practice in Chester. After the death of his father he removed to Portsmouth and then to Exeter.
He was solicitor of Rockingham County from 1838 to 1848 and bank commissioner 1848 to 1852. He was a justice of the Court of Common Pleas from 15 Aug. 1855 to 1 Aug. 1859. He then opened an office in Boston and removed from Exeter to Cambridge, Mass. On 19 Nov. 1862 he was appointed assistant district attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, and held this position until June 1865. He then was elected first president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College and removed to Amherst where the college was founded in Sept. 1865. Being unable to organize the college in accordance with his ideals of what such an institution should be, he resigned 17 Oct. 1866, and resumed his profession in Boston. He purchased a farm in Concord, Mass. and made it a financial success.
He was always deeply interested in agriculture and planted beautiful elms about his father's office and home in Chester street about 1829. After removing to Exeter he was active in ornamenting that ancient town with beautiful shade trees. He also served as president of the Rockingham County Agricultural Society from 1852 to 1860. During these years he was a regular contributor to several agricultural papers and published a treatise on Farm Draining.
In 1876 Hon. Lot M. Morrill of Maine, then Secretary of the Treasury ,appointed Mr. French Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. He held the position until his death 29 Nov. 1885, filling it with great efficiency. This was one of the happiest periods in his life. Dartmouth College honored him in 1852 with the degree of Master of Arts.
WILLIAM M. R. FRENCH
WILLIAM MERCHANT RICHARDSON FRENCH, Director of the Art Institute of Chicago for thirty-five years, died June 3, 1914. A sudden illness of less than two weeks duration preceded his death. Even dur- ing his illness, in fact until within a few days of his death, Mr. French constantly attended to the affairs of the Museum.
Mr. French was almost seventy-one years of age. He was born
HurtLuck Lauch
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at Exeter, Oct. 1, 1843, the son of Henry Flagg and Anne (Richard- son) French. He came of old New England stock and his family in- cludes the famous names of Daniel Webster and John Greenleaf Whittier. His father was a lawyer of note in New Hampshire and later in Massachusetts. His grandfather, Daniel French, was for a time Attorney General of New Hampshire; and his maternal grand- father, William Merchant Richardson, was Chief Justice of that state. The sculptor, Daniel Chester French, is his brother. Mr. French was prepared for college in the public schools and Phillips Exeter Academy. In November, 1860, he entered Harvard College, from which he was graduated in 1864.
He served in the Civil War in a Massachusetts regiment. In 1867 Mr. French settled in Chicago. A new society was organized in 1879 under the name of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, subse- quently (December 1882) changed to the Art Institute of Chicago. Mr. French had charge of the School and Museum from the beginning. At first he received the title of Secretary, which was later changed to Director. Although the development of the Art Institute was his absorbing occupation, he found time to write for publication and acquired a national reputation as a lecturer on art subjects. Mrs. French and two sons survive him.
CELESTIA S. GOLDSMITH
CELESTIA SUSANNAH GOLDSMITH, daughter of Nathan Burnham and Harriett (McDuffee) Goldsmith was born in Auburn Feb. 14, 1846, the oldest of eleven children. The family moved in 1859 to the old Emerson homestead in Chester.
She attended the public schools, Chester and Pinkerton Academies, and became a very successful teacher. Her first experience was in the "Bunker Hill" district in Auburn, in 1864, where, as was custom- ary at that time, she "boarded around."
She rendered very efficient service in the public schools of N. H. and Mass. for eighteen years and then began work in the LeMoyne Institute for the colored race in Memphis, Tenn., where she remained for thirteen years.
Many long-time acquaintances could testify with gratitude to the wholesome Christian influence of this faithful teacher. She was especially loyal to her family, her friends and her church, whose services she loved to attend, and was a faithful Sunday School teacher for many years.
At the time of her death she was the senior member of the Con- gregational Church, having united with it on March 9, 1862.
She was a highly valued member of the Bi-Centennial Historical Committee and collected and prepared much material for the new history.
She passed away after a lingering illness, which she bore with patient fortitude, on April 27, 1925.
CHESTER N. GREENOUGH
CHESTER NOYES GREENOUGH, university professor, son of William Smith and Elizabeth Macfarland (Noyes) Greenough was born in Wakefield, Mass., 29 June, 1874. He graduated from Harvard 1898; took his A. M. in 1899 and his Ph. D. in 1904. He married 10 Aug., 1907, Marietta McPherson of Marshfield, Mass. He was instructor in English at Harvard, 1899-1907; professor of English, University of Illinois 1907-10; assistant professor of English at Harvard, 1910-15
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and professor of English there since 1915. He was co-editor Journal of English and Germanic Philology 1908-10. Joint-author with Barrett Wendell of "A History of Literature in America," 1904; author of English Composition," 1917. Co-editor of "Selections from the Writings of Joseph Addison," 1905; "Specimens of Prose Com- position," 1907. He holds membership in several learned societies. He has been Dean of Harvard College since 1917.
SEBASTIAN S. GRIFFIN
SEBASTIAN S. GRIFFIN, youngest son of Nathan and Sally (Evans) Griffin, was born in the old Griffin homestead in Auburn in 1830 and died there, 4 Dec., 1898, aged 68.
His early education was limited to such a training as could be obtained in District No. 3 in Auburn Village. In his boyhood he began to search for Indian relics around the shore of Lake Massabesic. He was richly rewarded. He soon commenced to buy books of permanent value, such as encyclopedias, histories and works of literature. He built a nice book case which was destroyed by fire which burned his home in early manhood.
At the age of eighteen he found employment in the Amoskeag Mills in Manchester. Some twenty-five years later his health broke down. His later years were devoted to collecting relics of the olden days and contributing historical sketches to several local papers. His stories frequently related to the old homes in Auburn and Chester. He contributed histories of the Methodist Churches in Auburn, Candia and Chester which were published in the Methodist Conference Records of New Hampshire. He added to these literary accomplishments the production of valuable poems.
His memorial may be seen in the Library and Museum which he collected with his own hands and donated to his native town. From small resources he gave the land and building and 1000 volumes, the nucleus of the library in Auburn Village. Well may the town's people perpetuate the name of Sebastian S. Griffin, a real benefactor.
He married in Nov., 1859, Harriet Maria Smith of Candia, who died without issue, 4 Nov., 1914, aged 75. They adopted Etta A. Kenerson, youngest child of Daniel and Sally (Hall) Kenerson in Nov., 1863. She was born in Chester street, 24 Aug., 1862. She is now Mrs. Etta A. Neal of Manchester.
HON. GEORGE COCHRANE HAZELTON
In the sense that Boswell has given to us the life, in detail, of Samuel Johnson, we have no life of George C. Hazelton; but, in the broad sense, neither do we need one: for he wrote his own biography, in the memory of those who heard his voice.
In the first volume of an early two-volume edition of Prescott's History of the Conquest of Peru, found, after his death, in his library, is the following inscription :
"George C. Hazelton First Prize for Declamation Awarded at Dummer Academy July 12, 1854 Marshall Henshaw Principal
John Pike Pres of Trustees"
and, so, almost at the very last, we find him giving, without a note, the
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Address, found in these pages, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the founding of his native town - an address never to be forgotten by those who heard it.
Born in Chester, January 3, 1832, he came back there to deliver this Address, and, there, suddenly, on September 4th, a week later, to die - within a mile of the place where he was born, among those he loved.
Thus, Fate has linked his name and that of Chester together, indelibly and forever !
Teacher, lawyer, District Attorney for Grant County, Wisconsin, President pro tem of the Senate of Wisconsin, Member of Congress for three terms from Wisconsin, Attorney for the District of Columbia throughout President Harrison's administration, compiler and editor of The Dedicatory Proceedings of the Soldiers' Monument at Chester, New Hampshire, August 22, 1904-he remained ever the simple com- moner, that marks the truly great.
Those who heard him speak in the campaigns in Wisconsin, in California in 1879, when Grant returned from around the World, in the hall of the House of Representatives, in court, before the Alumni of Pinkerton Academy and of Union College, of both of which Associations he was President, before the Wisconsin and the New Hampshire Societies, in Washington, of both of which Societies also he was President, at the "House by the Side of the Road" at Candia, N. H .. August 18, 1921, when a tree was planted in memory of Saxton Conant Foss, D. S. C., the son of the poet, and in Chester, the beloved, throughout the many years, at the Church, before the Executive Com- mittee, in the open, on the veranda of the Inn, at the dedication of the Soldiers' Monument, on the occasion of the memorial service of Corporal James M. Forsaith, and on this last more than memorable occasion will not forget.
He had the dignity and poise, the voice, the brain; he was not above, but of, the people, so that he could feel with them; and poetry- the richest and the best-came to his memory, and his tongue, as freely as the song of Spring to the throats of birds.
"A combination and a form indeed, Where every god did seem to set his seal, To give the world assurance of a man."
In 1863, he married Ellen Van Antwerp at Schenectady, N. Y .; and it is beside her body that his rests, in the old family plot of the Van Antwerps there at Schenectady.
She-with her loyalty, charm and beauty; her love of all that was noble and fine-added immersurably to his success.
Like Cordelia, she was "herself a dowry." Her very gait did phophesy A royal nobleness."
HON. GERRY W. HAZELTON
GERRY WHITING HAZELTON was born in Chester, 24 Feb. 1829; died in Milwaukee, Wis. 29 Sept. 1920. He attended the common schools in Chester (see elsewhere his reminiscences) and attended Pinkerton Academy, Derry, 1846-48. His teacher at Pinkerton was Mr. Crosby for many years a distinguished teacher in Nashua.
In 1848 he went to Amsterdam, N. Y. and began the study of law with his kinsman Hon. Clark D. Cockrane and at the same time continued his classical course with a private tutor. In 1852 he was
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HISTORY OF CHESTER
admitted to the bar and formed a partnership with Judge Heath which continued till 1856.
In the latter year he removed to Columbus, Wis. and continued the practice of law. In 1860 he was elected state Senator and served as a member of the Judiciary Committee and also as chairman of the Committee on Benevolent Institutions. He was elected president pro tem of the senate and re-elected to the same office at the extra session following the death of Governor Harvey. At the second session he was made chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations and again elected president pro tem of the senate. He was also appointed chair- man of several important special committees. He then resumed his practice of law and in 1864 was elected prosecuting attorney for Col- umbia County, Wis. He also was a delegate to the Chicago Convention which nominated Lincoln for the presidency. During his term as prosecuting attorney he was appointed collector of Internal Revenue for the Second District of Wisconsin from which he was removed by President Johnson on account of political differences.
In 1869 he was appointed by President Grant United States Attorney for Wisconsin and served till Jan. 1871. He was then elected to the forty-second Congress and served on the Committees on Privileges and Elections and Expenditures in the Navy. In the forty- third Congress he was again appointed to the Committee on Privileges and Elections and to the new committee on War Claims. He also was designated by James G. Blaine, speaker of the house, as one of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution with Judge Ebenezer Rock- wood Hoar of Massachusetts and Samuel Sullivan Cox of New York.
In 1875, unsolicited and unexpected he was appointed United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin which position he held for nearly ten years.
He was trustee of Immanuel Presbyterian Church of Milwaukee and a trustee of Milwaukee-Downer College organied in 1895 and of Carroll College organized in 1846 at Waukesha, Wis. He delivered many lectures and addresses and was a contributor to "The Phantom Club" papers, and was the author of a paper entitled Federal and Anti-Federal, published in the Magazine of American History for Jan. 1890. He was the orator at the unveiling of the statute of Washington and at the memorial exercises following the death of President Garfield in Milwaukee.
JOHN A. HAZELTON
JOHN ADAMS HAZELTON, son of Samuel and Abigail (Tabor) Hazelton, was born in Chester, 6 July, 1820. He was educated in the public schools of Chester. He early developed a great love for music and possessed a bass voice of unusually fine quality. For years he sang in the choir of the Congregational Church.
In 1849 he went around Cape Horn to California with the "Fortyniners" where he remained two years. On the voyage he stopped in Valparaiso and had the honor of singing before the royal family of Chili.
In 1862 he enlisted in Company K, 15th N. H. Regt., serving as Corporal and Sergeant. He was a charter member and a regular at- tendant of Bell Post, G. A. R.
During his life he held various public offices in Chester and was keenly interested in many things pertaining to the best interests of the town and nation. He was a republican in politics.
In his early married life he owned the farm which had originally
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been granted to his Hazelton ancestors in Chester. This he sold and bought the Josiah Chase farm, the birthplace of his wife, where he lived with his family until his death in 1912.
COLONEL GEORGE A. HOSLEY
COL. GEORGE ADELBERT HOSLEY, son of Samuel Walter and Mary Ann (Laws) Hosley was born in Littleton, Mass. II Dec. 1846. At the age of fourteen he attempted to enlist in the Civil War but was prevented from doing so by his parents. In the fall of 1863-when he had nearly completed his seventeenth year, he went to Boston and entered the United States navy and went on board the ship Ohio which joined the South Atlantic blockading squadron off Charleston, S. C. He was at the capture of Fort McAllister in 1864 and assisted in removing torpedoes and other obstructions from Oguchee river and opening up communication with Sherman's Army.
He joined the Grand Army of the Republic in 1883 and was transferred to the Abraham Lincoln Post of Boston in 1890. In the various organiaztions of G. A. R. he has served from Commander of his Post to President of the National Association.
In 1897 he removed to Chester where he resided for a quarter of a century and then removed to Somerville, Mass. He was active in the erection of the Soldiers Monument in Chester; was a member of the School Committee for ten years and presided at the dedication of the Soldiers Monument and at the dedication of the Spanish and World War Memorial in 1922. His position as Chief of the Staff of the National Encampment G. A. R. makes him one of the most distinguished survivors of the Civil War.
He was married 14 June 1872 to Miss Emma C. Kimball, daughter of Christopher C. and Hannah L. (Rand) Kimball, who was born 31 Jan. 1852 in Swampscott, Mass.
MARTHA T. LEARNARD
MARTHA T. LEARNARD (1850-1923) early developed a fondness for study and was always a student. She graduated from Colby Academy in New London in 1870. She began to teach at fifteen and was greatly beloved by her pupils. For nine years she was lady prin- cipal of Colby Academy. Her personal interest in the students greatly enriched their lives. Her rare integrity, her high ideals, her genuine- ness and sincerity, her scorn of sham and her fidelity to duty made a lasting impression upon all who came under her influence.
Possessing great natural ability and always alert in her search for knowledge she was ever acquiring new ideas, filling her mind with the beautiful and the true. She imparted to her pupils not only a mental grasp but a love for knowledge and a vision of what life should be.
She was always hospitable to people and to ideas, bright, witty, original, ready to give of the richies of her mind, of her sympathy, of herself.
After retiring from teaching she served several terms on the School Board of Chester and here she showed remarkable insight into the needs of the schools and her wisdom and tact brought about some changes for the better. Grading was gradually accomplished and singing was introduced, and the children were interested in beautifying the school grounds. Everything pertaining to the progress and uplift of the young people was dear to her heart.
Her last work was that of collecting materials for this History in
.
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HISTORY OF CHESTER
which she was greatly interested and the Committee will long hold her in grateful remembrance for the help she rendered.
The Foreword prepared by her for the Bi-Centennial Calendar of Chester, was her masterpiece and is reproduced elsewhere in this volume.
CYRUS F. MARSTON.
CYRUS F.8 MARSTON (Joseph', Jacob", Benjamin5, Jacob4, Jacob3, John,2 William1) was born in Sutton, 7 Mar., 1842. He was the son of Joseph and Sarah B. (Gove) Marston. His father was born in Sutton in 1810 and his mother was born in Andover in the same year.
He obtained a common school education and removed to Chester I Jan., 1860. He enlisted in the Civil War, as a private in Company K, First N. H. Regiment Heavy Artillery, 2 Sept., 1864, was detailed as a musician in the Regimental Band, playing Solo B Cornet and was discharged, 15 June, 1865.
At the close of his term of service he returned to Chester and established himself as a watchmaker and optician. In 1875 he married Emma J. Brown.
He was elected Town Clerk of Chester in 1870 and has served for fifty-one years, being reelected in Mar., 1925. He has been a justice of the peace for a full half century, a notary public for thirty years, a trustee of the Chester Cemetery eighteen years, a trustee of Trust Funds and a member of the School Board nine years.
He is the last survivor of the Charter members of Bell Post No. 74, Grand Army of the Republic and has served as Adjutant or Com- mander for the greater portion of the time since its organization in 1883.
He was delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1912.
HARRIETTE A. MELVIN
HARRIETTE ATWOOD MELVIN ( 1837-1897) was educated at Chester and Gilmanton Academies and graduated from Mt. Holyoke College in 1856. She was a teacher at Mt. Holyoke, 1857-59; teacher in Chester 1860; teacher in Chester Academy, 1861, 1864 and in 1867-69 when she was Principal. She was superintendent of schools in Chester 1883 and served on the Board of Education till 1890.
Born with the teacher's gift, it was not alone her intellectual power that held her pupils but some influence of spirit from her to them. Her spiritual character made her set the standard high and her pupils were impelled to try to reach her expectations.
One of her pupils said: "Looking over the long roll of teachers under whom I have studied, I feel that to no one else among them do I owe so deep a debt of gratitude as to Miss Harriette A. Melvin."
It is significant that many a pupil carried the impress and in- spiration of her character and influence through life.
Her relation to the church of which she early became a member strengthened that spiritual life of her's which made her a power in the community.
Devoting herself to the service of the Master gave her power to influence the young to noble attainments. Modest and gracious in manners, her presence was a delight and her council was sought by many who gave her their confidence. "She opened her mouth with wisdom and the law of kindness was in her lips."
In the Sunday School work she was pre-eminent, leading class after class of young women into a deeper insight into spiritual truths.
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Her service in the school, in the church, in the home, will long be ramnembered in Chester.
HON. THOMAS J. MELVIN
HON. THOMAS JEFFERSON MELVIN early identified himself with the business and political life of Chester. He was proprietor of a large general store and his trade extended to the surrounding towns. atr he engaged in lumbering and the manufacture of shoes. He 'erved the town as selectman six terms and was representative four : rins. He was a clear, convincing speaker and as a presiding officer was well known throughout the state. He was elected state senator r two terms and served for one term as president of the senate. He wns . ostmaster of Chester 1845-48 and 1863-69.
He was an active member of the Congregational Church from ar'v manhood; was for forty years superintendent of the Sunday Schon1; and many years a member of the choir and deacon of the .1.nrch.
HON. JOHN W. NOYES
JOHN WEARE NOYES was born in Springfield, 14 Jan. 1910 and died in Chester, 9 May 1902. He was a son of Daniel and Nancy ( Weare) Noyes, representatives of two old New Hampshire families.
Mr. Noyes was educated at the academies in Salisbury, Pem- broke and Meriden and was first employed as a clerk in a store in Concord. In March 1832 he removed to Chester where for more than sixty years he was a leading citizen. He was engaged in mercantile pursuits as a tradesman from 1832 to 1855. He then devoted much of his time to agriculture, insurance and probate business. He owned a beautiful country seat in Chester village and at various times held nearly all of the local offices of the town. In 1840 he was chosen a Director of the Derry Bank and in 1864 when that institution was made a national bank he was chosen President which position he held for the remainder of his life. He was a Justice of the Peace and Notary Public for more than fifty years and served as Town Treasurer of Chester for a quarter of a century.
He was representative from Chester to the state legislature in 1811-2, 1853-4 and 1875-6 and was member of the Executive Council of New Hampshire in 1864-5.
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