USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 58
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and A. M. Street as secretary. The corporation enlarged the water supply by improving the old Carleton sawmill at Apthorp, which had been purchased by the original company, and erecting a pumping-station which was connected with the Pine Hill reservoir, extending the mains and adding new hydrants. On the 15th of May, 1889, a water cloud burst over Black Mountain, and when the descending waters struck the walls of the storage basin, they gave way, and an immense torrent overleaping the channel of the Palmer Brook rushed down the valley, doing great damage. Several suits against the corporation to recover on this account were instituted, but settled before trial. The dam at the storage base was not rebuilt, as it had covered a thick layer of vegetable matter which rendered the water impure. Water from the uplands was thereafter taken from the dam on the Noble farm.
Upon the union of the Water and Light companies the stock was increased to $45,000, and bonds to the amount of $75,000 issued to retire the bonds issued by the Apthorp Reservoir Company, some $10,000, and to pay for the enlargement of the plant.
Before the close of 1893 the firm of Stanton & Co. went into bankruptcy with liabilities of many millions and assets consisting largely of the stock of water and light plants constructed by funds received from the sale of bonds. This company went into the hands of Benjamin H. Corning as receiver, and was finally sold by auction to Street & Smith, of New York. This firm was in possession for ten years, before the entire plant was purchased from the bond- holders by the town.
From the first the new owners were beset with difficulties.
BENJAMIN H. CORNING.
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Neither the water power nor the steam plant was of sufficient horse power to enable the corporation at all seasons to fulfil their contract with the town as to furnishing lights. The provis- ion of the old Apthorp Reservoir charter in relation to exemption from taxation to the amount of the indebtedness of the corporation was supposed to have survived through the several legislative enactments relating to the company, and had been treated by the town as a valid law, and the property to the amount of the bonded and other indebtedness had never been assessed for taxation by the Selectmen. In some form these questions were before the annual meetings nearly every year. While the discussion of the meeting was generally favorable to this company, the contentions were none the less troublesome.
In July, 1896, when the contract originally made with the Apthorp Reservoir Company was about to expire, a new contract was made with the Village District. The price for the annual rental of hydrants for fire purposes was increased from $25 to $30, and in consideration therefor the company agreed to make the following improvements: (1) to extend its water mains; (2) to maintain standpipes for the purpose of furnishing water for street sprinkling: (3) to repair the Noble dam and the Pine Hill reservoir, and put in additional hydrants upon request of the Select- men : (4) to replace four-inch pipe with that of six inches, and finally, " to maintain said waterworks plant in good working order and repair during the life of this contract." It would seem that each of these improvements was uncalled for in a contract, as each and all were necessary if the company was to do business and earn a sum sufficient to enable it to meet its fixed charges.
On December 31, 1898, Benjamin F. Corning was retired as manager and succeeded by Henry F. Green, who held the position until the property was purchased by the town.
An epidemic of typhoid fever prevailed in 1902, which was believed to have been caused by germs conveyed in river water through mains of the company. Through the efforts of Daniel C. Remich, a member of the Legislature of 1903, an act was passed authorizing the town of Littleton to purchase the existing water and light plant or construct a new one. In accordance with this authority, the outstanding bonds of the Littleton Water and Electric Light Company were bought by the town, and it took possession of the property. In accordance with the provisions of the act of the Legislature, the Selectmen appointed Daniel C. Remich, Frank M. Richardson, and Myron H. Richardson water
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commissioners. Their powers are such that it is doubtful if the town has any legislative power over the property.
Within a few years Partridge Pond has been nearly surrounded with cottages which are the summer houses of many people of this town and of Lisbon. More than a hundred years ago Nathaniel Partridge settled on what is now known as the Hurd place, just over the line in Lyman. The outlet of the pond is in that town, though nearly all its waters are in Littleton.
The orthography of the name is not quite clear. Solomon Whiting, who lived near its shores in 1802, and Clark Hastings, who was born about that time on a farm from which the waters of the pond formed the most attractive feature of the landscape as seen from his home, agreed that it was named for Mr. Par- tridge, who was for some years the only settler on its border. On the other hand, Hannah Goodall Peabody, a very intelli- gent woman, who is still living, writing concerning her childhood memories of that part of our town, speaks of it as Patridge Pond. Fifty years ago the pronunciation of the word as spelt by Miss Peabody was universal. Still, this is not very good evidence as to the original name, for that of the Partridge family was given the same pronunciation by the people. On the whole, the probabilities are that it derives its name from the pioneer who owned the land at its outlet.
Since the pond has attracted summer residents, they have dignified it by calling it a lake ; and such it is, since its shores and waters have been cleared of the dead and water-logged timbers that once sent their naked arms in every direction. It is fed by springs, only one insignificant brook contributing to its waters. Once it was the home of the trout, and offered fine fishing for the . angler. In 1810 Comfort Day, who lived on the Millen place next north of the Hurd farm, had a trap for mink at the outlet of the lake. High water covered it, and when Mr. Day visited it, he found he had trapped a large trout instead of a mink. Not far from 1820 John White, a peddler of earthenware, was hired by Nathaniel Partridge to put into the lake pickerel, which were then esteemed of greater value for the table than trout, which were very common. Occasionally in recent years a large trout has been taken from these waters. It was in the woods bordering the easterly shore that in 1800 Mr. Partridge, when returning from his weekly visit to the home of Elizabeth Goodall, in the small hours of a December night, was pursued by a pack of wolves, and sought refuge in a tree, where he remained until the sun was well above the horizon.
VIEW OF PARTRIDGE LAKE,
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The lake was a famous feeding-place for moose in the early days. The last of these animals known to have been killed in this town was taken at the lake about 1812-1815, by Jonathan Eastman, Alexander Millen, and Comfort Day, who lived near the lake, - Eastman on the Steere farm, Millen in the last house in Littleton on the road to Mr. Partridge's, and Day on the farm owned by Harvey Lewis. After the capture they started to drag the moose to David Hoskins', who lived on the farm now occupied by Noah Farr, and being overtaken by darkness on the mountain, scooped out a resting-place in the snow, where they remained until morn- ing. The vicinity of the lake was also crossed by the runways of the deer, and as late as 1845 a number of these animals wintered near its waters.
Public affairs in this first decade, from 1870 to 1880, moved with even flow, broken only by two uncommon events, - the national elections of 1872 and 1876. The former was marked by numerous changes of party relations by men who were dissatisfied with the policy of the Republican party in regard to the recon- struction of the Southern States. Of this class Curtis C. Bow- man, William Moffett, Charles A. Farr, and John F. Tilton had been active party men. Mr. Bowman in particular was in- terested as a leader of the young set when the Whigs suffered eclipse and Know-Nothingism was swinging through its brief and murky orbit. For twenty years thereafter his interest did not abate. The Greeley campaign was his most strenuous as it was his last. The defeat that followed destroyed his belief in the sanity of the majority of his countrymen. William Moffett was the first of the name born in Littleton, and he resided here during his active life. The family entertained strong political convic- tions, and acted upon the theory that it was among the first duties of man to overcome the machinations of the Democrats. It was this strong partisan bias that rendered William's advocacy of Greeley one of the notable incidents of a campaign that was marked with surprises from the beginning to its close. For nearly fifty years the family was prominent in the annals of the town, but now the only one of the name on the check-list is David Moffett, who has passed his fourscore years. The Greeley cam- paign left no enduring impress. Nearly all former Republicans sooner or later found their way back to their old party.
In the first half of this decade the change in the political character of the town, before noted, began to make itself mani- fest. This was not the result of a change of political convictions on the part of individual voters, but the gradual extermination of
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the raw material of the lumber business eaused the removal of many residents, while persons engaged in the glove business came to take their places in the citizenship of Littleton. This caused the gradual reversal of the party complexion of the town in 1883.
Harry Bingham was chosen to represent the town in the General Court annually from 1871 to 1882 inclusive. His colleagues to 1880, who, as a rule, served through two terms, named in the order of their election, were Cyrus Eastman, Ellery D. Dunn, Charles A. Sinclair, John C. Goodnough, John G. Sinelair, George A. Bingham, Otis G. Hale, George Carter, Ai Fitzgerald, and Albert S. Batehellor. During the same period no town in the State was represented with equal ability, and few have at any time surpassed it in that respect.1
Charles Arthur Sinclair was elected to represent Littleton in the Legislature of 1873. His nomination and election were opposed by some of the older members of the party, who urged that he was not entitled to the position by reason of his youth and his brief residence in the town. They were overruled by the majority, who regarded the constitutional age of twenty- one as sufficient. Those who believed in the qualifications of age and experience to the number of thirty cast their ballots for Eli- jah S. Woolson. In the Legislature Colonel Sinelair was modestly aetive, serving on important eommittees, manifesting an interest in the business before the House, and giving promise of a future of usefulness and influenee which was realized after he became a resident of Portsmouth. He was born in Bethlehem August 21, 1848. His education was acquired in the schools of that town, Newbury, Vt., Academy, Tilton Seminary, and Phillips Academy at Exeter. He entered Dartmouth College in 1868, but did not continue beyond the Freshman year. In the spring of 1869 he became a law student in the office of H. & G. A. Bingham, where he remained until near the close of the year. He was an apt student, but did not take kindly to the confinement required for office work. His mental tendencies urged him to business rather than to the legal profession, and before the close of the year he was engaged in the flour and grain business with an office in Tilton's Block. In 1870, after his father became a resident of the town, he purchased the vaeant building at the corner of Main and Maple Streets and fitted it for his business.
Soon after his marriage with Emma Isabel Jones, Mr. Sin- elair engaged in business with Frank Jones. He soon evineed his capacity for the conduet of affairs, and his advance from the
1 A sketch of Colonel Eastman will be found in vol. ii. pp. 49-54.
,
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position of collector to one of large financial responsibility was rapid. Within the next twenty years he was an important factor in the conception and execution of several railroad transactions of great public interest involving in their consummation millions of dollars. Among these enterprises was the purchase of control- ling interests in the Worcester, Nashua, and Rochester, the East- ern, the Manchester and Lawrence and the Connecticut River railroads, and the building of the Upper Coos, the Hereford, and the extension of the Upper Coos railroads. The first of these were leased to and became a part of the Boston and Maine system. The others became a part of the Maine Central system. He was a director in nearly all these roads and president of more than one of them. He was also interested in various manufacturing corporations and in hotel property. It was in such operations as the consolidation of these railroad interests that he manifested his acumen, his skill in combination, and executive capacity ; with these qualities he united that of an intense tenacity of purpose which surrendered only to the inevitable.
While residing in Portsmouth he was twice elected to represent his district in the Senate three terms, 1888 to 1892, and again in 1894-1896. From 1892 to 1894 he was a member of the lower House of the Legislature. In his legislative service he was one of the most influential members of the body, in which he served both in debate and in the deliberations of the various committees of which he was a member. He was twice the candidate of his party for United States Senator. His title of Colonel was ac- quired by service on the staff of Governor Weston in 1871. One of the minor, but not the least useful, was a service of nearly three years as a member of the Board of Education of Union School District in 1870-1873.
In personal appearance and in many intellectual traits he bore a striking resemblance to his father ; in stature he was under the average height, but strongly built and muscular, and greatly enjoyed all sorts of athletic sports. His countenance was comely and intellectual. In social intercourse he was a delightful com- panion, possessing nearly all the qualities calculated to charm in a circle of friends.
His health had been impaired for several years, and, medical skill failing to bring relief, the end came on the 22d of April, 1899, at Brookline, Mass., where the winter had been passed. He was a few months more than fifty-one years of age. It will be said that he had been cut off before his time. Measured by years, this is true. According to the test of achievement through the
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concentration of energy, he had lived a long and laborious life.
The third Representative of this year, John C. Goodnough, came to Littleton about the time that Mr. Sinclair became a resident, but maturity probably saved his political ambition from subjection to the test urged against Mr. Sinclair. Mr. Goodnough, having accumulated a competency, had retired from business before he be- came a resident of Littleton. He has been a close student of affairs, and is well informed in regard to the history of our country. He has a considerable fund of technical information respecting matters which he likes to use in an argument for the purpose of confound- ing an opponent. As a Representative, Mr. Goodnough gave his time closely to his legislative duties, and brought to their consider- ation a conscious desire to act in the interest of his constituents. He was also a Representative in 1874.
In those days of annual elections it was the custom to elect all officers for two terms. The removal of Colonel Sinclair from town created a vacancy in the representation which was filled by the election of John G. Sinclair as his successor. The elder Sinclair, too, had been a resident of Littleton nearly five years. He had previously lived in Bethlehem from the time he engaged in business on his own account. He was known throughout New England, in political circles, as a leader of renown. In courage, skill in manipulation, knowledge of men and affairs, resourceful- ness, aptness in the use of sentiment, wit, and sarcasm in his addresses upon the hustings, and in eloquence he had few equals in this State in his day. At one time, and that covering several years, he was the most influential politician of either party in the north country.1
He was descended in the seventh generation from John Sinkler of Exeter, who emigrated from Scotland, and is supposed to have been a grandson of John Sinclair, Earl of Cathness, a family that claimed kinship with William the Conqueror. John of Exeter was the first of the family in New Hampshire. He was a follower of the Rev. John Wheelwright, and accompanied that divine in his banishment from the Puritan Colony.
Before John G. Sinclair had reached his eighth year, his father died, leaving the family in indigent circumstances ; when but
1 This descriptive phrase has come into general use in recent years, as applied to the geographical section comprised in the first and second senatorial districts of the State. When the State was divided into twelve districts prior to the adoption of the amendments to the Constitution in 1877, this territory was embraced in the twelfth district.
John G. Sundain
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thirteen years of age, he became a member of the family of Samuel Pevey, a merchant at Landaff, who had married his mother's sister. There he had entered on his business career as a clerk in his uncle's store. His compensation was board and clothes, with the privilege of attending school during the winter months. With these narrowed school privileges he soon mastered the branches taught in the schools of that town, and later attended the Academy at Newbury, Vt., a few terms. Thus equipped with practical knowledge gained in a country store and that acquired in the schools, at the age of nineteen he sought a wider field, and found employment first at Manchester in 1845, and then for a few months in Lawrence, Mass. Having reached his majority, he began business for himself as the proprietor of a country store at Bethlehem in the spring of 1847. In October of the same year he was united in marriage with Tamar M. Clark, of Landaff, a young woman endowed by nature with talents of a high order which were cultivated and enriched by a thorough education, and who possessed a character that endeared her to all who came within the sphere of her influence.
A country store failed to furnish employment for the abounding energies of Mr. Sinclair, and he gradually drifted into other branches of business, especially that of manufacturing and dealing in potato starch ; the raw material of this product was then prob- ably the largest money-producing crop raised by our farmers. He at a later period was largely engaged in the lumber business and in speculation in timber lands. The first to realize the possibilities of Bethlehem as a summer resort, he was also the first landlord to enter upon the development of that business in the town. As a business man he was far-sighted, skilful in developing his plans, and successful in executing them. Several times in his business career he was in a position to retire with an ample competency, but it was the striving, the planning, the getting, that gave a charm to such a life, and this he was never quite ready to forego. He had, however, a fatal habit of keeping too many irons in the fire, and never had time for the details of his minor projects. Then, too, his position as the friend and adviser of nearly all his townsmen, his good-fellowship and political relations, soon brought about a condition in which many came to regard Mr. Sinclair's property as their own, and from that time the stream of waste had a large outlet from the reservoir into which his possessions passed. This condition was not without its compensations, for in time of financial stress most of these self-helping friends came to his rescue. The benefits naturally never equalled the losses VOL. I .- 34
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the system entailed, and the inevitable end, while long delayed, came at last.
He was much interested at one time in military affairs, and in the few years that elapsed from the time he took up his residence in Bethlehem to the repeal of the militia laws of the State, he was an active member of an independent Company, and a commissioned officer of the company commanded by Captain E. O. Kenney.
Mr. Sinclair was active in politics from his earliest manhood. From 1852 to 1855 inclusive, he was the representative of the town in the Legislature, and was one of the youngest members of that body. He grew rapidly in the esteem of his associates as a man of parts who was likely to become a power in affairs of state. Legislation through the sifting process of committees was not, in 1852, the potent machine it now is, nor were the committees as many in number by a third, or composed of as many members. Mr. Sinclair was assigned to the committee on incorporations in 1853, and at the next session he was made its chairman. At the session of 1855 - the year of the Know-Nothing deluge - Mr. Sinclair was one of the few members of the former majority who was returned to the house and shared with Samuel Herbert, of Rumney, the leadership of the minority, and was a member of the committee on the judiciary. This committee was remarkable for its strength and for the number of its members who subsequently became the rulers of the State. It consisted of Christie of Dover, Edwards of Keene, Emery of Portsmouth, Herbert of Rumney, Benton of Lancaster, Sinclair of Bethlehem, Rollins of Concord, Pattee of Antrim, Chapman of Nashua, and Harmon of Madison. Other members of the House assigned to other important com- mittees were Mason W. Tappan, Daniel Clark, Bainbridge Wad- leigh, Jonathan Kittridge, and William H. Gove. It was such men as these that Mr. Sinclair met in debate almost single-handed and it was the concurrent testimony of those familiar with the events of the session that he was a foeman worthy of their steel.
In 1858 and 1859 Mr. Sinclair was a member of the State Senate, where his reputation as a debater and political tactician was increased. He was several times returned to the House in the years between 1863 and 1877. In 1866-1867 and 1868 he was the Democratic candidate for Governor, and made the memorable campaign with General Harriman 1 for that office. He was also the candidate of his party in 1876 for United States Senator.
When the storm of financial trouble burst upon him, he settled with his creditors, and in 1879 removed to Florida and engaged
1 Referred to more at length on p. 504.
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in the real estate business at Orlando. There he lost none of his political zeal, but was never again a candidate for office. He was content to follow and contribute to the cause he loved by accepting many of the numerous invitations extended him to make campaign addresses in this and the State of his adoption.
Mr. Sinclair's strength as a politician was largely increased by his fidelity to his friends, and, strange as it may seem, by a fondness for the use of sentimental influences in advancing the interests of his party. He never lost an opportunity to bring forward a soldier as a candidate for an office, nor neglected in his campaign speeches to refer to their services in eloquent periods. In this he was not playing the part of a demagogue, but was a sincere friend of those who had made sacrifices for their country.
The death of his son in April, 1899, was a blow from which he never recovered, and he returned to Bethlehem, where, amid the scenes of his early triumphs and later misfortunes, surrounded by lifelong friends, he passed to his reward the following June.
By the death of Charles White Rand, which occurred in 1874, the town lost a valued citizen.1 He came to this town a few weeks after his graduation from Wesleyan University, where he had shared with his younger brother, Edward D., the honors of their class. The habits of application and industry that charac- terized his student days remained with him until, broken in health, lie closed his office door never to recross its threshold. Here he entered the office of Henry A. and William J. Bellows as a stu- dent of law and attended Harvard Law School. In 1844 he was admitted to the bar and opened an office in Littleton. At that time the members of the profession in practice were Henry A. Bellows, William J. Bellows, and William Burns. Mr. Rand had won the respect and confidence of the people while a student and he did not have to wait for clients. He soon became known as a safe and able counsellor, and his business was sufficient to employ his time.
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