History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 49

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168

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PROCTOR BROTHERS, manufacturers of fish, syrup

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and provision casks, kits and kegs, began business iu Hollis in 1870, and removed to Nashua in 1881. They employ seventy-five men. They have a large mill, store-house, shop and two dry-houses. Their motive-power is a one hundred and twenty-five horse- power steam-engine. Market in the large cities. They use white-pine lumber for the most part, and at the present time obtain it in Hudson, Litchfield and other neighboring towns. They make three hundred thousand casks and kits yearly.

THE FLETCHER & WEBSTER FURNITURE COMPANY make wood and marble-top centre tables, hat-trees, whatnots, cribs, eradles and other varieties of useful and ornamental wood-work. They occupy three large buildings, employ forty hands, and make sales amount- ing to fifty thousand dollars annually. J. M. Fletcher is president and manager.

THE NASHUA NOVELTY WORKS make fancy bird- cages, children's roeking-horses, wagons, doll-car- riages and toys of all kinds. It has two spacious shops, and employs fifteen hands. Its sales are about fifteen thousand dollars yearly. J. M. Fletcher is proprietor.

G. O. SANDERS' saw and box-mill, near the Hudson bridge, was started in 1882. He uses a sixty horse- power engine, employs thirty men, and does a business of over fifty thousand dollars annually.

HOLT BROTHERS, on the line of the Acton Railroad, have a mill, forty by eighty feet, and four stories, with an annex of thirty by thirty-eight feet. The mill was built in 1884, and has new and improved machinery. They have a forty horse-power engine, and, including their building contracts, employ one hundred men.

THE INVALID BED MANUFACTORY is a new enter- prise, located in the three-story brick building on Lowell Street. The invalid bed made by this com- pany is unequaled for its merits, and will have an extensive use. Evan B. Hammond is president ; F. A. Mckean, treasurer ; J. Q. A. Sargent, superintendent.

LUTHER A. ROBY & SON are the largest manu- facturers and dealers in ship timber in New Hamp- shire. Their market is chiefly at Boston and Charles- town. Their yard is south of Temple Street and west of the Concord station. The timber is largely oak, and is mostly obtained from the Upper Merrimack Valley.

THE ISAAC EATON COMPANY, for the manufacture of bobbins and shuttles, has new buildings on Charles Street. The main building is one hundred and twenty- six by forty feet. The head of the company has had a long and successful experience. The works are new and the machinery of the most improved kind. Isaac Eaton is president ; Elmer W. Eaton, treasurer; G. R. Holt, superintendent.

ROGER W. PORTER, Hollis Street, is manufacturer of shuttles, bobbins and spools for cotton-mills. His factory is sixty-five by twenty-five feet, with engine of twenty horse-power. He employs twenty hands.

General Manufacturing Industries .- THE NA- SHUA CARD AND GLAZED PAPER COMPANY is a large and successful industry. We have already given its early history. In 1862, Horace W. Gilman became a member of the firm, then consisting of C. P. Gage, O. D. Murray and V. C. Gilman. In 1864 the Gilman Brothers bought the interest of the two other partners, and in 1866 obtained from the Legislature the present charter of the company, but did not organize under it till 1869, when the firms of Gilman Brothers and Mur- ray, Pierce & Co. were consolidated and organized under the charter as the Nashua Card and Glazed Paper Company, with a capital of one hundred thousand dol- lars. The first board of directors were V. C. Gilman, H. W. Gilman, T. P. Pierce, O. D. Murray and G. D. Murray. O. D. Murray was elected president and H. W. Gilman treasurer. In January, 1873, Virgil C. Gilman sold his interest to the remaining members of the company. The capital was increased to one hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars, and the plant removed from the old Washington House to its present loca- tion. In January, 1883, O. D. Murray sold his inter- est, and the new directors elected were H. W. Gilman, T. P. Pierce, Franklin Pierce, W. V. Gilman, E. T. Pierce, C. H. Hill, J. W. White. T. P. Pierce was chosen president, and H. W. Gilman treasurer, which officers are still in service.

This has been one of the most successful enterprises in Nashua, its business steadily increasing until its manufactures are sent to nearly every city in the Union, and are to be found in the remote mining towns of Colorado. They have been sent to Italy, Mexico and South America. Its consumption is from three to four tons of paper per day ; its shipments in 1884 amounted to fifteen hundred and seventy-eight tons, or over five tons per day. An average of one hundred hands are employed, and the annual produc- tion is three hundred thousand dollars. To maintain so large a business against large competition, and through periods of business depression, has required careful management, and success is due to the fact that every department has been under the direct su- pervision of some one of the leading owners, who have applied to the work their practical experience.

MOODY, ESTABROOK & ANDERSON, manufac- turers of boots and shoes, Hollis Street, established their business in 1879. Their building is one hundred and eighty by thirty-five feet and four stories high. Power is obtained from the powerful engine in Chand- ler's grain elevator. This firm gives employment to two hundred and fifty hands, and manufactures five hundred thousand boots and shoes for the Western and Southwestern States. Its sales amount in the aggre- gate to nearly six hundred thousand dollars annually. By judicious management this firm has secured a good reputation, and its business has added to the prosper- ity of the city.

THE WHITE MOUNTAIN FREEZER COMPANY was started in Laconia in 1872, burned out and re-estab-

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

lished in Nashua in 18$1. The main building is two hundred by forty feet, store-house two hundred by thirty feet, foundry one hundred and sixty by forty feet, and several small store-houses upon its four acres. It manufactures ice cream freezers, using a million feet of lumber and a large amount of tin and iron an- mually. Every piece of goods manufactured by the company is from the raw material. Its product finds a market in every part of the world. Engine, one hundred horse-power; men employed, one hundred and twenty ; pay roll, three thousand five hundred dol- lars monthly ; business, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars annually. This enterprise is growing rapidly. Thomas Sands is superintendent and proprietor.

CHARLES H. BURKE'S BAKERY is located at 13 and 15 Mulberry Street. It is the best-equipped bakery in the State. In addition to the making of wheat and corn bread of every variety, it makes crack- ers a leading specialty, furnishing every style from the small oyster to the large pilot eracker. It also makes wedding goods, pies and every style of cakes. It employs sixteen hands, and all the appointments are kept in a neat and suitable condition.

THE SOAPSTONE-WORKS of Charles Williams, at the Concord Railroad Junction, employ thirty men, and manufacture stoves, sinks, wash-trays, register-frames and soapstone work of every kind. The quarry is in Francestown, N. H., and furnishes the best soap- stone in the United States. New York, Boston and Philadelphia are the leading markets for these goods.

CHARLES HOLMAN, wholesale manufacturer of con- fectionery, is located in Spalding & Holman's Block, South Main Street. He employs twenty-four men and sends goods to every part of the State.

A. H. DUNLAP & Sox, seedsmen, in Dunlap's Block, put up twelve thousand boxes of garden and flower-seeds annually, and are the largest seed dealers in the State.

S. S. DAVIS, paper box manufacturer, on Railroad Simmare, began business in 1867. It is now an estab- lished industry, uses steam-power and the most im- proved machinery. Mr. Davis uses about one hun- dred tons of straw board annually, which is obtained from the mills at the West. Twenty-four hands, mostly females, are employed, and the annual produc- tion of goods is twenty thousand dollars.

S. D. CHANDLER, at Worcester depot, manufactures flour from Western wheat, and at Concord depot makes the hydraulic cement sewer-pipe.

O. W. REED, Mason Street, makes at his brass foundry all kinds of brass, copper and composition castings and Babbit metal.

I. E. BURBANK manufactures standard overalls of various patterns on Railroad Square.

Mrs. M. E. Kimball, North Middle Street and Miss Barber, Belvidere, manufacture knit-goods, such as mittens, gloves and shirts, and employ from thirty to seventy hands cach. There are other individual en- terprises employing more or less people, but the list

above shows the extent and variety of the industries of Nashua.

The agricultural territory of Nashua, limited in ex- tent, is yet of considerable importance. Among the owners of good farms within the city limits are Luther A. Roby, Otis Searles, John P. Cummings, Alfred P. Kendall, Mrs. Horace Tolles, Mrs. Alfred Godfrey, John C. Lund, J. L. H. Marshall, Charles F. Tolles, Elliot Whitford, Stilman Swallow, Charles Lund, David Roby, James Roby, Alfred Chase, B. F. Cotton, Frank H. Ayer, V. C. Gilman and heirs of T. J. Laton. There are some fine apple orchards in the south part of the town, and in no part of the State are better pears raised than within two miles of the city hall.

Municipal Statistics .- Since the incorporation of Nashua as a city the mayors have been :

Josephus Baldwin, 1853-54; Freeman S. Rogers, 1855-56; Thomas W. Gillis, 1857 ; Albin Beard, 1858-59; Aaron W. Sawyer, 1860; George Bowers, 1861 ; Iliram T. Morrill, 1862-63; Edward Spalding, 1864 ; Virgil C. Gilman, 1865 ; Gilman Scripture, 1866-67; George Bowers, 1868; Jotham D. Otterson, 1869-70 ; Dana Sargent, 1871 ; Seth D. Chan- dler, 1872; Frank A. Mckean, 1873-74; George H. Whitney, 1875 ; Charles Williams, 1876-77 ; William H. Cook, 1878; Charles Holman, 1879-80 ; Benjamin Fletcher, 1881-82; Alfred M. Norton, 1883-84 ; John A. Spalding, 1885.

The following is the list of attorneys-at-law in prac- tice at this time (June, 1885) :

Aaron F. Stevens, William W. Bailey, Charles H. Burns, Henry B. Atherton, Edward S. Cutter, James B. Fassett, George B. French, Ed- ward E. Parker, Royal D. Barnes, Charles W. Hoitt, E. B. Gould, H. E. Cutter, J. B. Parker, L. F. Burbank, James A. Leach, Jeremiah J. Doyle.

The following is the list of physicians practicing in this city at this time :

S. G. Dearborn, HI. G. Dearborn, E. A. Colburn, E. F. McQuesten, G. F. Wilber, J. G. Graves (2d), J. C. Garland, W. S. Collins, C. S. Collins, R. B. Prescott, C. B. Hammond, G. A. Underhill, J. N. Woodward, R. J. Halleren, (. S. Rounsevel, G. E. Ellis, John Nottage, Frank A. Dearborn, P. E. Dansereau, A. W. Pettit, Eugene Wason, A. M. Spald- ing.

Dentists .- L. F. Locke, Albert Lull, George Bowers, C. G. A. Eayrs, C. E. Faxon, F. L. Twitchell, Harrison Baldwin.

CITY OFFICERS, 1885.

Jolin A. Spalding, mayor ; Engene M. Bowman, city clerk ; Milton A. Taylor, treasurer ; Charles W. Hoitt, solicitor ; John Nottage, city phy- sician; Tyler M. Shattuck, messenger; Frank E. Marsh, collector ; James II. Ilnnt, city marshal ; Henry W. Webster, assistant ; James B. Fassett, police judge ; W. O. ''lough, associate justice ; Fred. II. Morrill, clerk.

The following is a list of the members of the school committee for term ending 1885: Jacob Leroy, J. B. Fassett, J. L. H. Marshall, C. W. Hoitt. For term ending 1886 : Gilman C. Shattuck, G. W. Currier, C. W. Stephens, Jason E. Tolles. For term ending 1887 : J. W. Howard, W. P. Hussey, C. V. Dearborn, Elbert Wheeler. Superintendent of Schools, Frederic Kelsey.

SCHOOL-TEACHERS.

High School .- Spring Street, Edwin J. Goodwin (principal), Clara J. MeKean, Della L. Haywood, Enna F. Johnson, Flora A. Runnels.

Grammar Schools .- Mt. Pleasant, Edward C. Burbeck (principal), Clara J. Thompson, Annie M. Putnam, Etta C. McLaren ; Spring Street, Livinia 1. Dodge, Celia T. Garland, Lucelia A. Kimball, IT. Adella McKean, Adelaide M. Kittridge, Ella F. Wheeler, Luln L. Pinkham.

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Middle Schools .- Main Street, Letitia G. Campbell, Josie B. Ilale, Emma G. Osborn, Delia P. Fiske ; Mt. Pleasant, Margaret A. O'Neil, Ida M. Hoyt; llarbor, Fannie D. Parker, Etta C. Marble; Belvidere, Clara E. Upton ; O'Donnell, Sarah C. Whittle.

Primary Schools,-Main Street, Ellen M. Sullivan, Ida F. Wallace, Fannie A. Morrison, llattie E. Farley ; Mt. Pleasant, Cora B. Cook, Saralı A. Collins, Anna E. Bussell; Palin Street, Mary L. Hammond, Ellen E. Kendall, Elizabeth L. Burke ; Mulberry Street, Mary E. Law, Lizzie M. Hammond ; East Pearl Street, Carrie E. Mitchell, Hattie T. Case ; Harbor, Alice S. Harris, Fannie E. Clark ; O'Donnell, Mary A. Dean, Estelle C. Shattuck ; Belvidere, Ellen L. Reilly ; Edgeville, Lizzie Morgan.

Suburban Schools .- District No. 1, Helen M. White ; District No. 2, Euminie I. Flanders ; District No. 3, Mattie J. Marshall ; District No. 4, Hannah M. Swallow ; District No. 5, Annie S. Tolles ; District No. 6, Nellie G. McClure ; District No. 7, Bertha L. Holden.

There were thirty-one graduates from the High School in 1885, the term closing on the 29th of June. The summer vacation of late years is twelve weeks, the fall session beginning the middle of September.

In closing this history of Nashua, we will only say that we hope the reader, whether a citizen or a stranger, a resident or one of the many who have found homes elsewhere, will find in the pages which describe the olden times and the more recent events of our city something to awaken a deeper interest in her present welfare and her future prosperity. The next historian of Nashua will, no doubt, write more worthily of her, but will not close his work with better feelings toward her people.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

HON. ISAAC SPALDING.

Hon. Isaac Spalding, of Nashua, was the son of Captain Isaac Spalding, and was born in New Ips- wich, N. H., February 1, 1796. The family moved to Wilton, N. H., in 1800. His father was a man of good education for those times, but his means were moderate. His son, therefore, had a limited educa- tion, and was very early thrown upon his own re- sources.

In 1809, at the age of thirteen, he went to Amherst, N. H., as the clerk of Robert Reed, Esq., a leading merchant of that place, with whom he continued in that capacity seven years. In 1816 he became a partner of Mr. Reed, and remained in that situation ten years, being for the most of the time the post- master.

In 1826, Mr. Spalding moved to Nashua, where he soon became the leading dry-goods merchant of the then new and thriving village. After twelve years in business he retired from it to engage in railroad enterprises, chiefly in the Concord Railroad, with which he was connected for twenty-five years. He was among the first who saw the importance of a railroad connection between the lakes and tide-water, and gave his aid to those enterprises.

There was no more systematic and efficient business man in Hillsborough County than Mr. Spalding, and such was the confidence in his impartiality that in the most heated political contests he was often chosen moderator by unanimous consent. He was several years a representative in the Legislature, and, under the city charter, was a member of the Board of Alder- men. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1850, and of the Governor's Council in 1866-67 and in 1867-68.

Mr. Spalding was elected one of the trustees of the State Asylum for the Insane in 1863, and was chosen president of the board in 1869. He was one of the earliest advocates of the Concord Railroad and its first treasurer, and, from its incorporation in 1835 to 1866, he served either as treasurer, director or presi- dent. 1Ie was for more than twenty-five years presi- dent of the Nashua Bank, a State institution, which closed its business in 1869, having never made a bad debt or lost a dollar. In the War of the Rebellion he was a financial agent of the government, and assisted in providing the means of our country's success.

Mr. Spalding, at the time of his death, in May, 1876, was one of the richest men in New Hampshire, having acquired his property by industry and economy, united with a wise forecast and untiring energy. He left no surviving children. In May, 1828, he married Lucy, daughter of Nathan Kendall, of Amherst, who was born December 13, 1796. Two sons were born to them,-Edward Francis, in 1831, and Isaac Henry, in 1840. Both of them died in childhood. Mrs. Spalding is still living, and resides in the family mansion on Main Street, in Nashua.

JOSIAH G. GRAVES, M.D.

Among the most honored names of medical men in Hillsborough County during the last half-century is that of Josiah G. Graves. No history of Nashua would be complete that would not give a sketch of one for so long a period identified as one of its representative physicians, and who, to-day, retired from practice, retains the vigor of middle life, the power of accurate thought and just and quick conclusion, the firmness of an honest and truthful nature and the suavity and courtesy of the gentlemen of the " old school."

Josiah Griswold Graves, M.D., was born July 13, 1811, in Walpole, N. H., one of the loveliest villages of the beautiful Connecticut Valley. His father was a well-to-do farmer, and his mother a woman of su- perior mind and excellent judgment, who looked well to the ways of her household, as did the notable women of that period. Ralph Waldo Emerson af- firmed that man is what the mother makes him. Much of truth as there undoubtedly is in that asser- tion, it does not tell the whole truth. Past genera- tions, as well as the beloved mother, have contributed to the building of the man. Physical peculiarities, physical aptitudes and mental tendencies have been transmitted by the ancestors, and in the case of this

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

mother and son, who shall say that the mother's nature, intensified by the inheritance of powers from progenitors strong physically and mentally, did not so influence the son as to make his successful career certain from the start, forcing him from the uncon- genial vocation of a tiller of the soil into a mission of healing during a long range of years?

From an able article in "Successful New Hamp- shire Men " we extract as follows : "Not having a fancy for farming, and thus acting contrary to the wishes of his father, he left home at the age of eigh- teen, with his mother's blessing and one dollar in money, determined upon securing an education and fitting himself for the medical profession. He de- frayed the expenses of his education by his own individual efforts and native will and industry, by teaching both day and evening, and was remark- ably snecessful in his labors. Being a natural penman, he also gave instruction in the art of pen- manship."

He commenced the study of his profession in 1829. He was a student in medicine in the office of Drs. Adams and Twitchell, of Keene, and subsequently attended medical lectures at Pittsfield, Mass., and graduated at the Medical Department of Williams College in 1834. Afterwards he spent six months in the office of Drs. Huntington and Graves in Lowell.

Dr. Graves commenced the practice of medicine in Nashua, N. H., September 15, 1834. At this time Nashua was a comparatively young town. It was but a brief period, however, before the energy, determi- nation and superior medical and surgical skill of the young physician carved out for him an extensive practice. For forty years he followed his profession in Nashua and the adjoining region with untiring assiduity and with a success that has but few par- allels. He loved his profession and gave to it his best powers. He was gifted in a remarkable degree with a keen insight into the nature of disease, and, of course, his success was in proportion to his fitness for his calling. He did not need to be told symptoms; he knew by intuition where the break in the consti- tution was and how to rebuild and give new life. IFc was made for his profession, and not his profession for him, which is too often the case. After several years' practice, desirons of further improvement, he took a degree at Jefferson College, Philadelphia. At the time of the Rebellion the Governor and Council of New Hampshire appointed him a member of the Medical Board of Examiners.

Dr. Graves retired from active practice in 1871. He has been for many years a valued member of the New Hampshire State Medical Association. In 1852 he delivered an address before that body on a subject which was of the greatest moment, and at that time occupied the attention of the leading members of the medical profession in all manufacturing centres. This address was on " The Factory System and its Influence on the Health of the Operatives." It was

bold, incisive and fearless, and won high praise for the careful investigation which it showed, its ex- haustive treatment and its convincing logic. He took the ground (in opposition to Dr. Bartlett, who stated that the death-rate of Lowell was less than the surrounding towns) that the young people went to the mills, and the old people stayed on the farms, and after a few years, when mill-life had broken their constitutions, the operatives returned to their birth- places and did not die in Lowell. Much care was taken in the preparation of the address. Factory after factory was visited, and hundreds of operatives consulted. The conclusions reached by Dr. Graves were accepted as correct.

He has had a most remarkable practice in obstet- rics, and has a complete record of five thousand cases. We give as an illustration of Dr. Graves' won- derful accuracy and system one fact well worthy the attention of all physicians. From his first day's prac- tice he, every night, posted his books for that day's business and now has the entire set bound in fine morocco, with all entries in his own clear writing and without a blot to mar the symmetry of the page. Every business transaction has been inserted in his " diary," which is equal in accuracy to that famous one of John Quincy Adams, and many an old soldier has had occasion to thank Dr. Graves for the facts derived from these books, by which he has secured his bounty, back pay or pension.

Dr. Graves has been much interested in railroads, east and west ; has been a director in the Nashua and Lowell Railroad and other roads. He is a director in the Fanenil Hall Insurance Company and in the Metropolitan Steamship Line, and is also connected with many other financial interests of a comprehen- sive character. He has a business office in Boston, and manages his large estate with as much foresight and sagacity as many younger men. He has always manifested a deep interest in the application of science to business purposes, believed firmly in the financial success of the electric light where many shrewd men considered it an impracticable scheme, and was one of the earlier investors in its stock. His faith has been munificently repaid, and he is now a large holder of the most valuable stock in this field.

From the first, Dr. Graves has been in warm sym- pathy with the principles of the Democratic party as enunciated by Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and other leaders, and has fearlessly, at all times and under all circumstances, championed what he believed to be for the " greatest good to the greatest number," conceding with a broad liberality the same rights to every other citizen which he exercises him- self. He has received the thirty-second degree of Masonry, and is a Unitarian in religion. He believes "in a Christian observance of the Sabbath ; that Sab- bath-schools should be supported, for on them rests the moral safety of the country ; that the 'Golden Rule' should be the guide for all our actions.'"

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 49

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1168

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168