USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. I > Part 63
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Mr. Carleton's house was a station on the " Underground Rail- road," and he never failed to get his fugitive slave passenger to the next station north, which was Lancaster. He took the " Lib- erator," and, his file of the same being the most perfect obtainable, it has been purchased by Congress and is now in the Congressional Library. Garrison circulated a petition for the dissolution of the Union, and a copy was mailed to Mr. Carleton. This was illegally obtained from the post-office, and was wrongfully used against him. Two incidents, one of them lively, set the matter straight, and the attack reacted upon its instigators.
He was for the Union. Though he had supported Jackson for the. Presidency, he was naturally a Whig, and would probably have continued to act with that party but for the question of Slavery. That made him a leader in the Liberty and Free-soil parties, and he was by them often named for office. John P. Hale and N. P. Berry -afterwards Governor - were his in- timate political friends. The latter was one day dining at Mr. Carleton's house. The " dough face " was the subject of conver- sation and contempt. Said the Governor : "One tells me, 'I am anti-slavery, but'; and another, ' I am anti-slavery, but'; and my reply to them is, ' I am anti-slavery, but, top and all.'" Mr. Carle- ton had the courage to stand for office, knowing election to be im- possible ; and never hesitated to express his views, which were always given temperately, deliberately, clearly, forcibly. His course of action was thoroughly disliked by the majority, but
Edmund Carlton
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Edmund Carleton
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his personal character was universally respected. No one ever thought of questioning his statement of fact. Naturally he helped to form the Republican party ; and when New Hampshire voted for Lincoln, in 1860, he bore the official announcement to Washington.
His family was uppermost in his thoughts. The death of four daughters visibly depressed him. Reverses of fortune, sickness, and especially a feeling of martyrdom -for the common lot of reformers was his-enfeebled his mental and physical powers during the last few years of his life, though he survived his wife by two years, and reached a great age.
A son of Littleton who has won high professional honors abroad is Edmund Carleton, M. D. He is a son of Edmund Carleton whose life filled a large space in the history of the town in the last cen- tury. The doctor began life without superior advantages, except those of heredity and the intellectual character of his surround- ings. These exerted a marked influence in the formation of his character. As a youth he was an industrious student, and with his father's assistance as teacher, acquired an excellent education. Having received his degree of M. D., he began practice in New York City, which has since been his home. He made his way slowly at first, but in a few years his sterling qualities as a man and his skill as a physician combined to crown his efforts with success and bring him an ample practice.
Edgar Aldrich, United States Judge for the District of New Hampshire, was born in Pittsburg, the northernmost town of the State, February 5, 1848, the son of Ephraim C. Aldrich, a promi- nent and forceful citizen of the Indian Stream country, and Ada- line Bedel Haynes, a granddaughter of Gen. Moody Bedel of Revolutionary fame.1 Born and reared in what was then com- paratively the " frontier country," he enjoyed the slender advan- tages of the district school, at the same time laying the foundations of a rugged constitution through the stimulating powers of manual labor on his father's farm. The inherent determination which is the key to success in life impelled him irresistibly to seek a broader education, and after a course at Colebrook Academy he entered the Law School at Ann Arbor, graduating from that in- stitution with the degree of LL.B., when but twenty years of age. He had previously spent some time in the office of Ira A. Ramsey at Colebrook, and was admitted to the bar soon after graduation while still under the constitutional age limit of twenty-one. His youth, however, had no deterrent effect upon his success, and at an early period in his professional career he had acquired a large and
1 This sketch was written by Harry M. Morse.
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History of Littleton.
desirable clientage and had twice served as County Solicitor of Coös County. The opportunities for building up a substantial practice in the town of Colebrook were necessarily contracted by the meagre population and the infrequency of important litigation, and when, in 1881, he was offered a partnership with Judge George A. Bingham at Littleton, he accepted, the connection being main- tained until Judge Bingham's appointment to the bench in Decem- ber, 1884. He continued in practice with D. C. Remich until January, 1889, after which, until his appointment to the Federal bench by President Harrison in February, 1891, he was alone.
During these years of practice at Littleton he served the town as Representative in the Legislature, and was elected Speaker of the House in 1885, the only Littletonian to hold that office. He was the first President of the Board of Trustees of the Public Library, and continued to serve in this capacity until 1896. He was moderator in 1891, and in 1884, representing the Republi- cans, together with Harry Bingham, representing the Democrats, was supervisor to make up a new check-list of voters.
Since his elevation to the bench he has been elected a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1902, as the candidate of both political parties, and throughout the session bore a leading part in settling the many questions that were presented to that body. His most powerful effort was a speech on the so-called " Trust and Monopoly " amendment to the Constitution, in which he predicted the enormous growth of the trust evil that has since come to pass.
Early in his career Judge Aldrich earned a reputation for strict integrity, and fidelity to his cause and client. His prepara- tion of a case was careful and complete. In addition to thorough preparation, his powers of analysis and masterly presentation, combined with a rugged logic in argument, gave him a place among the leaders of the bar, and made his services desired on one side or another in nearly all the important litigation in the State, while he was frequently called into the neighboring States of Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts to assist in the trial of corporation causes involving large interests and intricate ques- tions. After thirteen years of service upon the bench, his repu- tation as one of New England's foremost jurists is secure.
Of the many cases with which Judge Aldrich has been connected, among the most important are the New Hampshire Land Com- pany case ; Connecticut River Lumber Company v. Olcott Falls Company, in which he was associated with Irving W. Drew of Lancaster, as counsel for the plaintiff, defendant's counsel being
CHARLES F. EASTMAN.
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William S. Ladd of Lancaster, and Jeremiah Smith of Dover (Judge Aldrich's able argument in reply to Judge Smitli, which , secured a favorable determination for his client, being regarded as so worthy an effort as to merit publication in full in Volume 65 of the New Hampshire Reports) ; the Bemis Will case; Rob- inson v. Robinson ; and the Steere trial, in which he secured an acquittal for the defendant, accused of murder in the first degree, his associate counsel being Harry Bingham and Irving W. Drew. He has not confined his abilities to legal affairs, but has read widely and critically, and is a close student of current questions.
His occasional addresses include many valuable historical and biographical papers, and among these, in addition to those already noted in the genealogical tables under his name, may be men- tioned " John Marshall as a Soldier," delivered before the New Hampshire Bar Association on John Marshall Day, 1901; his speech before a committee of the Legislature advocating a statue of Franklin Pierce; and an article in the "North American Re- view " for December, 1901, upon the power of the Federal Gov- ernment to protect its representatives, which was largely quoted in the United States Senate during the discussion of the various measures for the suppression of anarchy.
Judge Aldrich possesses what is commonly termed a "legal mind." The ability to seize at once the crucial point of a problem and to decide it without permitting the immaterial por- tion to confuse his judgment is his in a remarkable degree. As a speaker he is forceful, and his logic inexorable. His judicial opinions are marked by clearness and strong common-sense.
October 7, 1872, he married Louise M. Remick. They have two children : Florence M., wife of Howard S. Kniffin of New York; and Ephraim F., a Boston lawyer and head of the firm of Aldrich, Shurtleff & Flaherty. Judge Aldrich's home, " Three Oaks," is surrounded by extensive and beautiful grounds, and commands a charming view of the distant hills and the winding Ammonoosuc valley.
The campaigns of 1888 and 1890 were of a character that could not be repeated. The citizens concluded rightly that " the flame was not worth the candle," and the election of 1892 passed with- out incident, and resulted in the election of Oscar C. Hatch, Charles F. Eastman, and George L. Flanders, the first named a Republican, the last two Democrats.1 Mr. Eastman has for many years given much of liis time to the public service, acting in
1 A sketch of Colonel Hatch appears in the chapter on Banks and Bankers, vol. ii. pp. 80-87.
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various capacities. He has been a member of the Board of Select- men, Town Auditor, District Commissioner, a member of the Board of Education of Union School District, Trustee of the Pub- lic Library, and a member of various committees appointed for special purposes, and is at present (1903) a member of that to erect the Library building, the gift of Andrew Carnegie. While chairman of the District Commission he had charge of the impor- tant work of concreting Main Street. He has been a member of the Committee on Town History, and its treasurer since its ap- pointment in 1883. He is one of that rare class of officials who are able to transact public business with the same prudence and interest which they devote to their private affairs, with an eye single to the welfare of the people. He is a man of sound judg- ment and quiet manners, who has never manifested any particular ambition to attract the public gaze by striving for public honors, yet is qualified in all respects for such service.
The election of 1892 was the last to bring to the polls the full strength of both parties. It was also the last to be fought with old-time vigor and acrimony. The catastrophe that befell the Democratic party in 1896 deprived it of many of its leaders, and discouraged the rank and file. Since then the Republicans have been successful by large majorities. The uniform course of events has rendered it unnecessary to particularize in regard to the conduct of political affairs further than may be necessary to indicate the persons voted for. The successful candidates from 1894 to 1903 inclusive were, in 1894, Daniel C. Remich, Henry Merrill, John W. Farr; 1896, Benjamin W. Kilburn, William H. Bellows, Frank I. Parker ; 1898, Noah Farr, Dr. William J. Beattie, Daniel C. Remich ; 1900, Henry F. Green, Frederick G. Chutter, Curtis Bedell ; 1902, Daniel C. Remich, William H. Mitchell, William H. Blake. Those for whom the Democrats cast their ballots were : 1894, Frank E. Bowles, Edwin H. Gould, Jacob K. Dunbar ; 1896, James H. Bailey, Fred H. English, William Kenney ; 1898, James H. Bailey, Frank P. Bond, Frank C. Albee ; 1900, Hiram O. Stevens, Edward B. Lynch, Olin J. Mooney.1
Since the town became entitled to three Representatives, one of the number has been selected from among the farmers. Those belonging to that class in the foregoing list were John W. Farr,
1 Sketches of those included in the above list not given in this chapter will be found as follows : of William H. Bellows, vol. ii. pp. 70, 71; Henry Merrill, vol. ii. p. 62; Benjamin W. Kilburn, vol. ii. pp. 13, 14, 15; William J. Beattie, M. D)., pp. 188, 119; F. G. Chutter, vol. ii. pp. 66, 67, 207, 208, 209; E. H. Gould, vol. ii. p. 68; F. H. English, vol. ii. p. 65 ; James H. Bailey, vol. ii. pp. 64, 65.
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Frank I. Parker, Noah Farr, Curtis Bedell, and William H. Blake. John W. and Noah Farr are members of the family of that name which for a hundred years has been prominent in the town ; they are also representative farmers of the highest order. John W. Farr has been a prize-winner at the World's Fair at Chicago, for the high quality of his butter ; Noah has one of the most produc- tive and best equipped farms in the town, - that first settled in April, 1770, by Nathan Caswell. As would naturally be expected from such farmers, they have been prominent Grangers since the founding of the order in Littleton. Frank I. Parker, too, is regarded as one of the most prosperous farmers of the town, and resides on a farm the title to which has been in his family for more than a hundred years, when it was conveyed, in 1802, to Jonathan Parker, his great-grandfather ; since then it has passed successively to his grandfather, father, and himself. Curtis Bedell is a descendant of the Bedell family, active in the early civil and military history of Haverhill and Bath. He, inheriting some of the warlike characteristics of the family, was a soldier in the war between the States. Mr. Blake was formerly a business man in the village, then a farmer on the Meadows, but is now retired ; he was a soldier, and is active in the affairs of the Grand Army of the Republic. None of these men were leaders of the House ; they were modest, intelligent, and sought in unobtrusive ways to render their constituents the full measure of service that was expected of them when they were selected from a thousand of their fellow- citizens for law-makers.
The most active member of either house in this period was Daniel C. Remich, who has occupied a position as a leader second to that of none of his associates.
In one of his incomparable essays, lustrous with a succession of sparkling thoughts, Emerson observes that "Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors." The proportionate effect of the various influences which contribute to the formation of char- acter cannot be measured accurately, but it is certain that hered- ity is a large, if not the dominant, factor. The ancestors of Daniel Clarke Remich were pioneers.1 They came from the Old England to the New England while the wilderness of the forest still fringed the sea and with their fellows entered upon the long struggle which has ended at last with the conquest of a continent and the annihilation of a race. In those iron days life was a battle that called into daily exercise the highest human powers and developed in a superlative degree endurance, courage, and
1 This sketch was written by Robert Jackson.
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faith. The adventurous spirit craved new obstacles and sought new dangers. The forest levelled, roads cleared, fields smiling with the first harvest, and a measure of ease secured, there was yet something lacking to the pioneer's content. The horizon waited. Onward again he moved, the " skirmisher of civilization," blazing the way for the myriads to come. Rarely did he win for himself the reward his labor and daring so richly deserved, but he bequeathed to his children a heritage of character achieved through resolute effort and unceasing toil that they might reap where he had sown.
The irrepressible spirit of the pioneer survives and is strongly accented in Daniel C. Remich. Exhaustless energy, infinite re- source, and indomitable will are his salient characteristics. No task is so forbidding, no obstacle so vast as to discourage his industry. Once his purpose is determined, he summons to the assault every available power and influence within his control. He defies impossibility. His energies are never at rest and are constantly seeking new outlets, new fields of action. His capacity for work is prodigious. Physically tireless, he gives an attention to detail that would bring a weaker man to collapse, and simulta- neously conducts many and varied affairs. In whatever rôle he assumes he is at once a force to be considered. Acute in his likes and dislikes, he is formidable as a foe, and steadfast as a friend. He cannot be neutral, and his nature compels him to combat every opponent with his utmost vigor as well as to lend every aid to the friend or principle he champions. He is a fighter whose resolu- tion grows commensurately with the opposition he meets, and who bows to the inevitable alone.
He was born in Hardwick, Vt., January 15, 1852. His early education was secured in the schools of that town and Cole- brook. For a time he worked in the mills at Lawrence, Mass., but in 1875 he entered the office of Edgar Aldrich in Cole- brook, to pursue the study of law. He also studied in the offices of Aldrich & Parsons and of Jason H. Dudley, and completed his preparation by a course at the University of Michigan, graduating from that institution in 1878. In the following April he was admitted to the bar and entered into a partnership with Jason H. Dudley at Colebrook, under the firm name of Dudley & Remich. In 1882 he came to Littleton as the junior member of the firm of Bingham, Aldrich & Remich, and upon its dissolution, caused by the reappointment of Judge Bingham to the Supreme Bench, the firm became Aldrich & Remich. Later he was in partnership with his brother James W., under the firm name of Remich &
DANIEL C. REMICH.
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Remick. While in Colebrook he married Belle Loverin of that town, who died at Littleton in September, 1885. May 18, 1886, he married Lizzie W., daughter of Benjamin W. Kilburn, and in 1890 retired from the practice of his profession to engage in business with his father-in-law. He has been a Representative in the Legis- lature on two occasions, 1895 and 1900, and was elected to the State Senate in 1901, and returned to the House in 1903. In both branches he has been a leader of his party, and especially prominent as a champion of measures designed to strengthen the prohibitory liquor laws. Before being elected to the Legislature, he drafted and secured the passage of what is known as the Nui- sance Law, the most effective weapon used in many years for the suppression of illegal traffic in liquors. His activity in prosecuting offenders drew upon him much unpopularity, but purged the north country of saloons. Later, the law was emasculated by a provision bestowing the decision of guilt or innocence upon a jury instead of a magistrate, since which time convictions have been far less frequent.
Mr. Remich's efforts as a legislator have by no means been confined to securing the passage of laws restricting the sale of liquors. The State Home for the Feeble-Minded is the result of his labors, and he has of late been the leading advocate of a State Home for Consumptives. As a member of the House in 1903, he drafted the act impowering the town to condemn and purchase through the right of eminent domain the property of the Littleton Light and Water Company, and to inaugurate a system to be owned by the town. He has served on the most important committees, and has the reputation of being a remarkably strong debater, keen, resourceful, and always prepared for contingencies. Vehemence and fluency of diction are his chief oratorical characteristics, and he is one of the few whose best thoughts are always at their com- mand and find adequate expression in extemporaneous speech. While at the bar he gave promise of becoming a power in legal circles, and here again the quality of resourcefulness was distinctly apparent. Lacking the tact necessary to certain situations, his aggressive methods and tenacity solved many others where a more moderate man would have failed.
For fifteen years he has been a leading factor in the history of the town, and has been instrumental in bringing here the Little- ton Shoe Company and the Pike Manufacturing Company, and secured from Andrew Carnegie a gift of $15,000 for a library building.
One of the candidates selected when the first trial of strength VOL. I .- 37
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was to be waged with some prospect of success by the Repub- licans, was Henry Francis Green, who has been an important political factor in the town in recent years.
Henry Francis Green became actively identified with Littleton affairs in 1877. He was then thirty-three years of age, and well equipped for responsible business undertakings by education, aptitude, and experience. He had spent several years in business in the West, being connected in railroading in Vermont and in manufacturing in Indiana with prominent men of the business world and with important responsibilities.1
Three of his sisters were then or eventually to be residents of Littleton. These were Mrs. Charles Eaton, Mrs. George W. Jackman, and Mrs. H. H. Southworth.
Mr. Green was at first associated with Mr. Eaton in trade at the Brackett store, where F. H. English is now established. From this business connection with Mr. Eaton, he passed to a responsible position in the Saranac Glove Company at the time when Ira Parker and George M. Glazier were reaping a rich harvest of prosperity and while the business was at and near its high-water mark. To these men Mr. Green's services were in- valuable. His duties related largely to the finances of the business, but he was always a safe and far-sighted adviser in the general affairs of the company.
Mr. Green severed his connection with the Saranac after the withdrawal of Mr. Glazier and the sale of his interest to other parties.
Meanwhile Mr. Green became somewhat identified with the extensive enterprises in lumbering in which Mr. Eaton was engaged.
At length, in the reorganization of the Saranac Glove Company, as a result of which Mr. Parker transferred his stock and interest in the business to Mr. Glazier, and the latter resumed control of the largest individual holding and the selling department, Mr. Green was recalled to assume the office of treasurer. Indeed, this was one of the conditions on which Mr. Glazier consented to resume his connection with the company. These two men have always worked harmoniously and successfully together, and to them is largely due the stable business prosperity that has always characterized the operation of this establishment in the periods in which they have been potential in the directory.
In the past six years Mr. Green has also been the general
1 This sketch was prepared by Albert S. Batchellor.
HENRY F. GREEN.
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manager of the business of the Littleton Water and Light Com- pany. In that time many thousands of dollars have been invested by the company under his supervision in the various lines of improvement inaugurated to enlarge and improve the water supply and increase the capacity of the plant in respect to the generation of electric light. Among these later works are the canal on Bowman's Meadow, a system of filter wells, and the power-house at the lower dam.
Mr. Green has also been identified for several years with the directorates of the National Bank and the Savings Bank at this place. His strong good sense, conservative instincts, and wide acquaintance with men and affairs in this region have rendered his services in these institutions especially valuable.
It is, however, in public affairs and in political relations that Mr. Green has been, from the beginning of his residence here till the present day, the most effective, if not the most conspicuous producer of results among all his political co-workers and contemporaries in this region.
If he had subordinated the success of his party to any private interest, his closest confidants would find it difficult to name that interest. He is sagacious, far-sighted, and persistent in all those concerns which relate to party plans, party organization, party methods, and party achievements. He is always true to his pur- poses and loyal to his friends. When he became a resident here, he found his party in an apparently chronic minority status. He supplied that talent for organization, management, adaptation of means to ends, and adherence to definite purposes, on correct con- ceptions of political strategy, without haste and without rest, that the local leaders had lacked or had not discovered in their twenty or thirty years of almost uninterrupted defeat. Within six years after Mr. Green's advent in the local organization, the town was so nearly carried by the Republicans that himself and Dr. Moffett, their candidates for the Legislature, obtained their seats, though Mr. Green was compelled to a contest in the House with Silas Parker, the Democrat who held the credentials upon a majority of the votes actually cast. From the outset Mr. Green has been recognized by his political opponents, as well as by his political associates, as an astute and potential mover in political events, unobtrusive and imperturbable, far-sighted and tireless, an adept in the " art of ultimate arrival."
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