USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 59
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Mr. Rand took great interest in the proposed extension of the railroad to this town as early as 1853. When the road had been built and was in financial difficulties, the ability he had manifested as an adviser in a more prosperous period of its history led to his election as a director, and subsequently to his employment as counsel for the stockholders who protested the receivers' sale to parties who purchased the property in the interest of the Boston, Concord, and Montreal Railroad. The suit that followed was
1 An account of his ancestry will be found on page 420, in the sketch of his brother, Judge E. D. Rand.
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notable alike in railroad annals and in the influence its successful conclusion in favor of his clients had upon the business interests of the town. He was counsel in several other important suits growing out of the tangled affairs of the several corporations which at various times were in possession of the road, and he con- ducted them with such ability and success as to acquire a reputa- tion of being the best equity lawyer of the State.
In those days of anti-slavery construction of the Constitution, Mr. Rand, conservative in all things, recognized constitutional obligations, and remained a Whig. Afterwards he was a moderate Republican until the South appealed to the sword, when he became a Radical until the close of the war and the final settlement of the questions over which it had been waged.
At that time political parties were so evenly divided that rather colorless candidates were placed in nomination, and attorneys, whose business has a tendency to provoke opposition, were seldom selected. Mr. Rand, however, had few enemies, and had been several times the candidate of the Whigs for Representative, but was not successful at the polls. When the Republicans were successful in the State in 1855, he was made Solicitor for Grafton County, holding the office until 1860. When the Republicans triumphed in the nation in 1861, he was made United States District Attorney for the District of New Hampshire, and at the expiration of his term was reappointed for a further term four years. For many years the business had not been large. As the exigencies of the war required additional revenue, the tariff was increased and the bureau of internal revenue created, and the violation of these laws added to the volume of business before the courts as well as the responsibility of the District Attorney. In the discharge of the duties of the position Mr. Rand was a learned, laborious, and faithful prosecutor, always seeking to avoid the general tendency of prosecuting officers to become persecutors. At the close of eight years of faithful service in this important position he was not an applicant for reappointment. The pre- monitory symptoms of a fatal disease were then sapping his physical strength, and he desired freedom from the compulsory labors of official station.
Mr. Rand was a successful advocate, presenting his case with cogency and holding the close attention of court and jury ; never resorting to the methods of the demagogue or the specious arts of the orator, his appeal was to the common sense of those he wished to convince. The partnership formed with his brother, Edward D., in 1855 enabled him thereafter to confine his professional
CHARLES W. RAND.
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work, aside from his official duties, to the congenial task of pre- senting the evidence, preparing briefs, and making an occasional argument before the court at law terms. These briefs and argu- ments were models of clear reasoning, had the flavor of exact thought, and were without waste of citations, illustrations, lan- guage, or other extraneous matters. As a practitioner he kept within his case. His association with the court, the jury, and his brethren of the bar was that of a sincere gentleman who guarded the interests of his clients with watchfulness and skill, and main- tained unbroken through life pleasant personal relations with his associates.
It has been said in the sketch of his younger brother, Edward, that the two had many characteristics in common, and reference has there been made to some of these, particularly their love of nature and literature. Charles was not such an omnivorous reader as his brother, but he found his pleasure in much the same class of reading, -that of the highest order. He was an accomplished scholar, and familiar with the most useful languages of ancient and modern times. He made no display of his erudition, but held it as a tool of one's trade, to be used when required for practical rather than for ornamental purposes.
Mr. Rand was an exceptionally useful citizen. He found delight in promoting to the extent of his ability all things calculated to advance the intellectual and material welfare of the town. He gave valuable service to the movement that resulted in the estab- lishment of Union School District and served on its governing boards. He gave liberally of time and money toward the con- struction of the railroad. He took an active and effective part in promoting other public enterprises, and was one of the original members of the organization which formed the liberal religious society which eventually led to building the Unitarian Church.
He married, June 24, 1847, Jane Moore Batchelder. About this time he bought the dwelling-house on Main Street, next east of the residence of Truman Stevens, which was built by Sewell Brackett in 1837, and there made his future home. His health began to fail in 1871, and he gradually withdrew from business from that time. He was a high-minded citizen, who served the public honorably and to its advantage in all things intrusted to his charge, and was a lawyer who confined his professional duties to the service of his clients.
The building of the railroad from the base to the summit of Mt. Washington was one of the remarkable events in railroad construction. This work was devised and executed by Sylvester
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Marsh, a native of Campton, for many years a resident of Chicago and for fifteen years, from 1864 to 1879, a citizen of Littleton. When Mr. Marsh was a young man he went to Ashtabula, Ohio, and engaged in the beef and pork business. In 1833 he pushed still farther west and located in Chicago, where he engaged in the same business, and was among the first, if not the very first, per- son to engage in pork-packing in that town at a time when it had less than five hundred inhabitants. He was a man of tireless energy and courage, full of resources, and possessed an inventive faculty which rendered him an adept in supplying means to quickly and effectively reach the end desired. When Chicago began to ship meat and grain to Eastern markets, Mr. Marsh was the first to recognize the importance of improved methods of pre- paring these food products for that market, and he invented several appliances for expediting and cheapening the cost of production in the meat department, and a device, the principle of which is still in use, for drying corn meal for shipment. Having accumu- lated a fortune that satisfied his ambition in that direction, he retired and gave his attention to mechanical investigations.
The scheme to construct a railroad to the summit of Mt. Wash- ington had been considered by Mr. Marsh for a number of years, and much of his leisure was given to its development. In 1858, while residing at Jamaica Plain, Mass., he came to New Hamp- shire and applied to the Legislature for a charter empowering him to build. Probably no scheme ever brought to the attention of our Legislature was considered as more chimerical or greeted with more laughter. Mr. Marsh told the story before a committee of the United States Senate.1 "Nobody," he says, " believed in it, and it created quite a burst of laughter when the man in the Legislature read the bill." It was moved to amend it by adding "a railroad to the moon." Mr. Marsh appeared before the com- mittee on railroads ; he succeeded in convincing a majority that his plan was feasible, and they made a favorable report to the House, and that body, while still unconvinced, passed the charter as a huge joke rather than as serious legislation embodying a plan to build a railroad up the mountain. Later on, when asked by the committee, " What put the idea into your mind ?" he re- plied, " Well, I built for a pastime and to cure the dyspepsia more than anything else. . I retired from business in 1855. After
1 Report of the Committee of the United States Senate on the Relations of Labor and Capital, vol. iii. pp. 606, 607, 620. Washington Government Printing Office, 1885. An extract from the report may be found in the article on " The Town and the Railroads," in the " Littleton Centennial," by John M. Mitchell, pp. 269, 270, 271.
,
Sylwester Harsh Marsh
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living a few years doing nothing, I had the dyspepsia very bad and was compelled to do something to save my health. I got this idea and worked upon it, and built different models of it until I worked it out. It was ridiculed a great deal, . . . but it cured the dyspepsia."
When he had finally resolved to devote all his energies to this work, he made his home in this town in 1864, and three years after bought the residence of F. J. Eastman on South Street, now the residence of Benjamin W. Kilburn. Ground was not broken until 1868, and the road was completed and regular trains were running in the summer of 1872. Built amidst some of the grandest scenery of our country, a resort of the lovers of nature from many climes, this work of man has drawn thousands of visitors to this region, and added to, rather than impaired, the attractive features of our mountains.
Mr. Marsh was a man of slight physique, nervous temperament, and much mental and physical activity. Notwithstanding his possession of the inventive faculty, which is supposed to belong to those of a speculative, if not imaginative mind, he was practical in purpose and method, except in want of attention to what he regarded as trifling details of minor business matters which he habitually left to chance while all his energies were given to more important affairs.
Some time after the completion of the railroad up the mountain he bought what is known as the Fabyan House property and began extensive improvements, in which he was subsequently joined by the Redingtons and Col. Henry L. Tilton, who formed a corpora- tion with him. Another enterprise of some magnitude upon which he entered after taking up his residence at Concord was the purchase of a large tract of land on the Merrimac at Sewell's Falls with the purpose of utilizing the water power there and building up a manufacturing town. This project failed ; but he, or his administrator, succeeded in extricating his estate without very serious results. Mr. Marsh died at Concord in 1884.
John Franklin Marsh, eldest child of Sylvester, was a young man of talent and scientific attainments ; graduated from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y., he assisted his father in building the railroad up Mt. Washington, and was afterward employed as a mechanical draftsman by the Whittier Machine Company of Boston. He died in 1877, after a lingering illness. He was a man of promise in his profession.
Ai Fitzgerald, a representative to the General Court in 1877 and 1878, is a grandson of Daniel Fitzgerald, a soldier of the
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Revolution, who came to this town from Gilmanton about the close of the War of 1812 and whose descendants have been iden- tified with the town since that time. Ai Fitzgerald has for more than fifty years been with the building trades in this section of the State, and is the oldest, in continuous service, of the manufac- turers of the town. He is a member of the firm of Fitzgerald & Burnham. He is more than commonly well read, and a represen- tative of a class of mechanics who by industry, prudence, and knowledge of their craft have aided materially in the progress of our industries.
The political condition at the close of 1879 was much like that which prevailed in the decade ending in 1859. The numerical strength of parties had changed under the shifting conditions attending the industries of the town and at this period the two great parties were nearly equal in numbers and in their deter- mination to continue, or win, the ascendency.
There was a third party, by no means contemptible in numbers, that represented no principles, but marching under a flag of sable hue had waxed in strength with each passing year until now it was in a position to control the political situation. The captains of the old organizations were subject to the will of a band of mer- cenaries ; to go forward was dangerous, to recede was annihila- tion. The victory was sometimes with one party and sometimes with the other, but always rested with that having the heaviest artillery.
An event that brought sorrow to the community in November, 1880, was the death, after a brief illness, of Major Evarts Worcester Farr, who had in the same month been elected for a second term as a representative in the Congress of the United States. He was the most distinguished member of a family of unusual influence in the town.
The family founded in Littleton by Ebenezer Farr in 1802 has since been prominent in its affairs. The branch descended from his son Deacon Noah Farr has borne a notable part in business, in political and in church concerns. John, the second son of the deacon, was for more than sixty years one of our most useful citizens. His sons Capt. George, Major Evarts W., and Charles A. shared with him the credit of being ever ready to aid any cause that promised to advance the moral or material interests of the community in which they dwelt ; another son, John, Jr., was in active business for many years in other communities.
The pioneer, Ebenezer Farr, was the first settler on the hill which bears his name. His house was on a pitched lot, now the
cerr
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site of the house of John W. Farr. When Snow surveyed this part of the town, Farr's buildings were found to be in lot 6 in the 6th range. His sons settled near him, - Ebenezer on the hill above, and Noah below; Titus, Elijah, and Joseph also subse- quently owned farms in this vicinity ; while a daughter, the wife of Levi Hildreth, lived on the farm on the summit of the road so long owned by Elanson Farr.
Deacon Noah Farr cleared the farm known to the present generation as the Shute place, at present owned by Joseph Ide. Here in April, 1810, John Farr was born. As the boy grew to manhood, his physical strength did not keep pace with his mental development, and through life his energies were burdened with a weak constitution seemingly inadequate to support the intellectual activity to which it was subjected. Notwithstanding this check to an active career, by constant care and watchfulness he so hus- banded his physical resources as to enable him not only to outlive most of his youthful associates, but to pass them in the race of a successful business career. Mr. Farr's school privileges, though scant, were not neglected. His early instruction was obtained in the school on Farr Hill, and when his father had built and moved into the house where Dr. Sanger's residence now stands, he at- tended the village school on Pleasant Street, until at sixteen he entered the employ of W. & A. Brackett in the Old Red Store, and there laid the foundations of a business career. He was sub- sequently in partnership with M. L. Goold at the Brick Store, and was also a partner in the manufacturing firms of Ely, Redington & Co. and Ely & Farr. Ill health finally rendered it necessary that he should retire from active business, and for more than a year he led a quiet life, until he became Deputy Sheriff, - a posi- tion he held for five years, until the condition of his health again compelled him to relinquish his vocation. The following year he purchased a farm in Glover, Vt., and removed to that townl. Two years of life on the farm were sufficient to convince him that the change was not likely to effect the results desired, and he re- turned to Littleton in 1849.
In 1852 Mr. Farr began the study of law with C. W. Rand and William J. Bellows. He was at that time well read in probate law, having been often appointed to administer upon estates and act as conveyancer. Admitted to the bar in 1854, he was for a short time in partnership with Charles W. Rand, but in the same year with William J. Bellows established the law firm of Bellows & Farr, which continued until 1859, when Mr. Bellows withdrew to become editor of the "People's Journal." Mr. Farr conducted
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the business alone until his son Major E. W. Farr became his partner, in the summer of 1867. In 1873 the senior retired and gave his attention to his duties as an officer of the bank. During his active professional career Mr. Farr transacted a large and lucrative business. Though doing a general law business, he made a specialty of commercial and probate law branches, in which he had few equals as a practitioner.
As a financier Mr. Farr long held a prominent place in this section of the State. He was one of the receivers appointed by the Supreme Court to wind up the affairs of the White Mountain Bank at Lancaster, was for many years a director of the National Bank of Newbury at Wells River, Vt., and when the Littleton National Bank was organized, he became its president, and held the position until failing health led him to tender his resignation, in 1888, though he retained his position as a director of that insti- tution until 1891. Mr. Farr was naturally conservative, and seldom acted without giving any subject under consideration care- ful attention. This practice in no small degree contributed to his success both as a lawyer and financier.
The Whig party was in its infancy at the time Mr. Farr attained his majority. The family, like nearly all those that came to this town from Cheshire County, had been Federalists, and naturally became Whigs when that party was organized. In this party Jolin Farr was influential, in a quiet way, in directing its local policy. After the election of General Taylor to the Presidency in 1848, his ardor for the Whigs began to diminish, and in 1850 he affiliated with the Democrats. At this time also he contem- plated the establishment of a newspaper in this town, and issued a prospectus. Before this project was fully under way he con- cluded to prepare for the bar, and thus failed to become the founder of the first Littleton newspaper.
Mr. Farr was one of the active men in the movement to create a new county from the towns of northern Grafton and southern Coos. While acting with the Democrats he was elected to the Board of Selectmen in 1853, - a position which he filled admirably and could have continued to hold, but he declined a re-election. He had previously held the position in 1840 for a single term, and then declined to serve longer. The political upheaval following the Know-Nothing episode and growing out of the Kansas, Nebraska, legislation, led Mr. Farr to join the Republican party in 1856, and from this time he was a consistent but not radical member of that organization. In that year he was elected a member of the Board of County Commissioners. Once again he was elected to the
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same office under peculiar circumstances : this was in 1865. The county was close, and but few votes were wanted to change the re- sult ; the Democratic ballot was counterfeited, by the substitu- tion of the name of Mr. Farr in place of that of his opponent. This counterfeit was guardedly circulated in a few towns, with the result that Mr. Farr was elected. It was with difficulty that he was finally persuaded to qualify. Having assumed the duties he held the place for only a few months, when he retired and a Democrat was appointed his successor. His sense of honor for- bade that he should continue to fill the position under such cir- cumstances. In 1866 he was named by the Governor as one of the delegates to represent the State at the Loyalist National Con- vention held at Philadelphia. He was chosen, as the representative of the minority party of the town, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1876 ; was Justice of the Police Court from 1877 to 1880 ; a member of the School Board and its treasurer ; com- missioner to examine and report the facts in the matter of the Winnipeseogee Lake Cotton and Woollen Manufacturing Co., and prepared the report of the commission.
Mr. Farr's usefulness as a citizen is not to be measured by the various offices he held. His influence was felt in the church with which he was connected, and in an advisory capacity among his friends and associates, to a much larger extent than is common with men who do not hold high official positions in the State. In the troublous times of the beginning of the anti-slavery agitation, when the Congregational Church was assailed by honest zealots like Allen and Brown, and persistent advocates of the equality of man like Edmund Carleton, the good sense and equipoise of Mr. Farr were the chief reliance of the Rev. Isaac R. Worcester, the pastor, in his efforts to avoid serious disaster. His views in regard to the controversy from a constitutional and religious standpoint were cogently stated by him at the time in a letter prepared for publication in the " Herald of Freedom," which the editor neglected to give a place in his columns. It was published in the " Christian Panoply " of January 17, 1840.1 His advice was sought in regard to all public business affairs for many years. His attitude respecting the maintenance of existing, or the creation of new, business enterprises to advance the prosperity of the town was that of a wise and generous citizen willing to make private sacrifices in order to benefit the public. It was in this spirit that he became a stockholder in the Scythe and Axe Company that built the original plant on the site now occupied by the Pike Manu-
1 For an extract from this letter see pp. 378, 379, of this volume.
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facturing Company, and which eventually swept away $12,000 of his fortune. It should be remembered that he was not seeking an opportunity to invest his funds in an enterprise established solely for profit, for this establishment was founded to maintain the manufacturing prestige of the town more than for private gain.
When the Littleton National Bank was established, Mr. Farr was a director of the National Bank of Newbury, Vt., and was the only person in the town connected with the new bank who had any considerable experience in the management of banking institutions. This fact, together with his wide reputation as a conservative financier, caused him to be selected for its president, - a position he held so long as the condition of his health would permit him to perform its duties. He was also a trustee and member of the investment committee of the Savings Bank for a more lengthy period. Prudence was the most pronounced trait among Mr. Farr's business characteristics. Careful and methodical in all his ways, possessing a full knowledge of the financial responsibility of those who were likely to become patrons of the banks acquired through years of professional and financial transactions, he brought to the service of these institutions qualifications of great value to their stockholders and depositors; and as time passed, these qualities were strengthened, and he became known as a safe and progressive banker.
John Farr had four sons, of whom the eldest, Capt. George Farr, bore a strong intellectual resemblance to his father. The son was born in February, 1836, and died March 19, 1895. With the exception of the years passed in acquiring his education and while in the service of his country during the Civil War, his life was passed in his native town.
His education was acquired in the schools of old District No. 15 and at Thetford Academy, where he fitted for college. In 1858 he entered Amherst College, and remained two years. In the beginning of the collegiate year of 1860 he entered Dartmouth as a member of the Junior class, and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1862.
He returned to his home on the day President Lincoln issued his call of July 1, 1862, for 300,000 volunteers, and at once resolved to enter the service. Together with Edward Kilburn, he was authorized to enlist a company for one of the regiments about to be raised. Before the middle of August, 104 men had joined this company and were drilling in this town. Of these men forty- seven were of Littleton, the others from adjoining towns. These men were above the average, as every man in the company could
GEORGE FARR.
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. read and write. The commissioned officers were George Farr, Captain ; Edward Kilburn, First Lieutenant; Marshal Sanders, Second Lieutenant. The company was ordered to join the Thirteenth Regiment at Camp Colby in Concord, and left Little- ton on Friday, the 12th day of September, and was subsequently mustered as Company D of that regiment. The regiment left Concord for the front, October 6, under the command of Col. Aaron F. Stevens.
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