USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 4
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Parties seeking exemptions and municipalities granting such exemptions constantly take advantage of the doctrine of laches to avoid the ordinary effect of any claims that might be urged against the constitutionality of the proceedings.
Logically considered, the case comes to this: that if tax ex- emptions are inherently unconstitutional and yet become practi- cally constitutional by neglect on the part of interested tax-payers to make effective protest until the beneficiaries of the exemption have made some part or the whole of their investment, by parity of reasoning direct bounties voted to corporations or persons would be sustained under like conditions by the application of the doctrine of laches.
It is not often, if ever, that a law either organic or statutory can be promulgated that is self-enforcing. If, therefore, the people are not disposed even to call the attention of the court to the infraction of the constitutional safeguards provided for them, all that can be said is that certain provisions of the constitution are becoming obsolete, and to this extent it would seem that a process of constitutional amendment is going on through the agency of non-user or abandonment,-a noteworthy tendency in a land where the supreme law is founded in a written constitution.
These conditions and tendencies are of interest and importance to the student of constitutional law and political science. They pertain to questions which are pressing for solution at the present time in state and nation.
The years in which these enterprises had their inception wit- nessed the passing of the great lumbering industry that for a cen- tury had been the chief business resource of our people, that had filled the purse of the landowner, if not that of the manufacturer,
E. BERTRAM PIKE.
27
Manufacturing.
with the coin of the realm, and given employment through the long winter to the industrious husbandman, who after the year's supply of wood was in the front yard, with a team of oxen went into the woods to cut and haul logs to the saw-mill.
The old mill at Apthorp, so long operated on an extensive scale by Carleton & Moore, and then by the Cates and Cate & Redington, was used as a custom mill as late as 1881 or 1882 by Charles Eaton, when it passed into the possession of the Light and Water Company, and was used as a pumping station and power house for that company. In 1870 Charles D. Tarbell, Isaac Calhoun, and Charles Eaton formed a partnership and built an extensive mill on the east side of the river at South Littleton, where a large business was conducted for a quarter of a century. Mr. Calhoun was the first partner to withdraw from the firm, to be followed by Mr. Tarbell, when the business was continued by Mr. Eaton. At one time his son Harry, and his nephew, Henry Ashley Jackman, were his partners. The timber supply in these years came from Bethlehem, Carroll, and finally from Kilkenny. The mill was destroyed by fire on the 25th of May, 1898, and this excellent water-power has since run to waste. In 1887 George W. Richardson purchased the privilege known as the Bowman Meadow site, and built the dam and mill, which was burned De- cember 24, 1893. This mill did quite a large custom business, but its principal timber supply came from other towns in the Ammonoosuc and Connecticut valleys. This power, once esteemed the best in town, has passed into the control of the Light and Water Company. The only saw-mills at this time in operation (1903) are the Patten Mill on the site of the General Rankin Mill at West Littleton, and the mill of Peter Cardinal & Son at Apthorp, which is operated by steam-power.
During the history of the town many manufacturing industries have been established, flourished for a time, and then decayed. Of these the lumber business has been the most widely diffused, continued through the longest period of time, given employment to more individuals, and engaged the attention of the best business talent of our town. The elder Rankin, his son Gen. David, Samuel Learned, Deacon Lewis, Michael Fitzgerald, Isaac Abbott, William Brackett, Deacon Noah Farr, John Gile, John Bowman and his son Curtis C., the Kenneys (Gen. E. O. and Lorenzo C.), the Richardsons, Isaac Calhoun, Charles Eaton, and others of a later day, who followed the pine, spruce, and hemlock along the valleys and up the mountains until their waving plumes of green have nearly disappeared, were among the chief contributors to our
28
History of Littleton.
prosperity. They shared, however, with the farmer and mechanic, in doing obeisance, if such a thing were possible in their day, to the superior social and political power, first, of the clergyman and then of the lawyer and the doctor, who has maintained his relative position for more than a century. Within a very recent period a great change has been wrought in the position of the business man in every large community through the agency of the wealth-com- bining power of corporations. Vast business interests require the directing hand and guarding care of the highest intellectual ability, and gradually they have won to their service the best minds of the land, and with them the sceptre of power has passed from the pro- fessions to the masters of the art of concentration, administration, and accumulation. The towns have caught the spirit of the cities, and the manufacturer has become the dominant power in every community where he establishes a factory and achieves success ; his shadow is reflected and his importance shared in a lesser de- gree by business men generally.
29
Merchants.
XXVIII.
MERCHANTS.
T THE mercantile history of the town has been marked by three distinct periods, in which the methods of transacting business differed materially. The first was that common in all sparsely settled and remote regions, one of barter and long credits ; here it began with Learned & Jackson, and ended, as a general system, with the retirement of George Little from mercantile business. The second, inaugurated by Eastman & Mattocks, was one of "quick sales and small profits," with frequent settlements ; both methods were in vogue at times when the "general store " was the only one known to country trade. The third, or present method, came with the passing of the "general store " and the introduction of the system of limiting the stock to a specific class of goods.
George F. Batchelder was the first to introduce the modern method when he engaged in trade with a stock limited exclusively to hardware. He rented the brick store in 1855, and filled its shelves and cases with all sorts of goods then known to the trade in that line. But, as the sequel proved, he was in advance of the time, and the entire volume of business in hardware, could he have obtained it, would hardly have made his venture a success, and in two or three years he disposed of his stock to his father, Otis Batchelder, who added groceries and farm produce, and kept the store the headquarters of the club that had for years made it a home. George F. Batchelder went west, settling at Faribault, Minn., where he was in trade nearly a score of years and was an influential citizen. The quality of his citizenship is best shown perhaps by the public positions he was called to fill. In educa- tional matters he has been a trustee of the common schools, regent of the State University, and trustee of the State Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Institute ; in the Congregational Church a deacon and superintendent of its Sunday-school ; in political life a county commissioner, and member of the Senate. Since 1888 he has re- sided at Denver, Col., where he is a member of the Mining Ex-
30
History of Littleton.
change. He is a man of high character, and honored in all the walks of life. In recent years he has written much for the press, and some of his poetry has attained a wide circulation and received such approval from discriminating critics as to indicate that he might have achieved celebrity had he given his time to the muse rather than to business.
A second and successful effort in the direction of specialization was made in 1875 by William H. Whiting, who engaged in the dry-goods business, having a store in the block now (1903) occu- pied by Harry F. Howe and J. D. Campbell. Mr. Whiting did a large business, and demonstrated the practicability in this town of dealing in a single line of merchandise. After his death, in 1882, his business was sold to Orrin Martin Fisher, who continued in the same line for a few years, when he removed to Rockland, Mass., where he now resides. Mr. Fisher's departure ended for several years this mercantile method, and the general store such as had flourished in town for nearly a hundred years, modified only by the innovation introduced by Eastman, Mattocks, & Co., was once more in full possession of the local field.
One interesting relic of old-time business ways has come down to us in the ledger used by Major George Little when he began business in the store, then " spick and span," which for many years has been spoken of as the Old Yellow Store. The book does not differ much from those now in use for the same purpose, tliough the methods of bookkeeping then and now were dissimi- lar, as this ledger bears a close resemblance in its contents to a modern journal. It is dated in 1825, and its items tell us little as to what the Major's customers ate, but much as to what they drank, something in regard to what they wore when arrayed in their best clothes, what tools they used, and, in a general way, indicates what constituted the luxuries of life three-fourths of a century ago.
From this old but well-preserved book we learn that Major Little began business as a merchant on " Wednesday, Feb. 16th, 1825," with a capital consisting of $243.63 in cash and stock in trade that cost in Boston or Newburyport, Mass., #2,156.42. These goods were shipped in coastwise vessels to Portland, where doubtless other goods were purchased, though we have not the data at hand that locate these merchants, Brown & Train, James Reed & Co., Whiting, Crockett, & Seaver, John Chickering, and Joseph W. Kitteridge. From the wharf in Portland the goods were transported in "Red sleighs " through the White Mountain Notch to Littleton by Simeon Burt, Silas W. Batchellor,
Geoff. Batehelder
31
Merchants.
Parker Cushman, and Ebenezer Farr. For this freighting they received one dollar a hundred paid in goods charged in the old book. Among others are these transactions on their account, date not given but soon after the arrival of the goods.
SIMEON BURT Dr.
To 6 Galls N. E. Rum @ 3/9 3.75
PARKER CUSHMAN Dr.
To 1 inch chisel @ .22 .22
" 2
“1 .33 .33
EBENEZER FARR Dr.
To 1 lb. Tobacco .22
" 1 axe helve . .20
1
66 .20
" 8 bu. Rye for his hire to Portland 4.00
4.62
SILAS W. BATCHELLOR Dr.
To order to Truman Stevens on account payable in goods . 3.65
These ancient accounts in the old ledger tell the story of the changes time has wrought since they were made, and possess a singular fascination for those who can read history between their fading lines. Here is a charge to one of the founders of the Methodist Episcopal Church in this town, whose name is with- held to save it from the criticism of the brethren of the present day, who will doubtless rejoice to know that this man left a memory fragrant with the aroma of practical piety, and gave to the cause and to charity far more of his slender income than the Scriptures enjoined upon him.
Dr.
To ≥ 1b. Souch'g tea
.38
" } " Tobacco .11
" 12 qts. N. Rum .28
" 1 pt. H. Gin . .27
1.04
We find this account charged to a young woman then but recently married : -
32
History of Littleton.
Dr.
To 1 Comb
.13
" } doz. Hooks & Eyes
. 2
" z " Needles . 5
" 1 Snuffers tray
.25
" 1 Pr. Snuffers
.42
" 1 " Worsted Hose .
.56
13 Yds Calico @ .40
.45
2
" 2-
.67
2.53
These items appear in an account charged to a woman who resided in Bradford, Vt., and it may be stated that the ledger discloses the fact that Major Little had customers in all the surrounding towns : -
To 1} Yds. Bombazette .51
" 15 " Silk 1.63
" 1 skein silk . 5
" 3 Yds. Shirting @ .15 . .45
" 5 lbs. Cotton Yarn No. 10 @ .46 2.30
" 2 skeins of thread . 8
5.02
This item, charged to a man whose progeny still fill a large space on our check list, stands alone : -
Dr.
To Rum and tobacco .10
Another is given in full, as no descendant survives. Mr. Osgood lived at North Littleton and was something of a Nimrod in his day.
ISAAC OSGOOD Dr.
To 1 Gal. N. Rum .62
" } " H. Gin .65
" } 1b. Powder .20
" } " Shot . 8
" 1 Glass Toddy
. 5
1.60
These are sufficient to indicate many of the articles sold in stores at that time. On every page and in nearly every account, are items indicating how general was the use of spirituous liquors. New England rum, in particular, was regarded as one of the chief
33
Merchants.
necessaries of life, while loaf sugar, which came in the form of a cone wrapped in stout blue paper, was a luxury. Some names of the goods have an unfamiliar sound at present : flax, wheel- head, millenette, woundwire, caroline plad, satinette, buckram, quills, bragg, brandy, toddy, and brandy sling were articles that appear frequently. Shirtings were eighteen cents a yard, sheet- ings twenty-four cents, jean was thirty-eight cents, calico from thirty to fifty cents, loaf sugar twenty-five cents per pound, Havana sugar fourteen cents, nails ten cents a pound, and mno- lasses sold for the present price.
Four years in this business satisfied the mercantile ambition of Major Little. He then sold his stock to George B. Redington, who remained at the old store until he had built the brick store at the corner of the roads now Main and Saranac Streets. After his removal to that stand Colby & Eastman succeeded him at the Little Store, and there Mr. Eastman devised and carried out the system, before referred to, of small profits and short credits, which nearly all his contemporary merchants adopted, except the Redingtons, who afterward removed their stock to a store they had built at the scythe factory village, and there continued through their lives to conduct a mercantile business in which barter and long credits formed a considerable element.
As has been stated, Mr. Whiting was the first merchant to establish a permanent business devoted to a single line of goods. It should perhaps be added that as early as 1853 there had been a step taken in this direction by Eastman, Tilton, & Co., at the depot store, where their stock was made up largely of heavy goods, such as hardware, iron, salt, grain, feed, groceries, and the class of dry-goods required by lumbermen in their mills and in the woods.1
Hiram A. Tuttle, since governor of the State, brought here the first stock of ready-made clothing offered for sale in the town. He was then on an itinerant expedition through this part of the State with a large stock which he disposed of at a considerable profit. While here he occupied the store that stood on the present site of Rounsevel's Block. The prevailing conditions were not calculated to promote specialization in trade, and it was not until near the close of the seventies that the system attained what appeared to be a permanent position in mercan-
1 The groceries of those days, such as were conducted by Eri Goin, James S. Nelson, Eames Brothers, and John Burt, carried many other classes of goods, nearly all in fact of the general store stock except dry-goods, and many of them sold large quantities of liquors.
VOL. II. - 3
34
History of Littleton.
tile methods. The present tendency is rather toward a return to the old way of keeping in stock anything a possible customer may wish to purchase. In a measurable degree this condition is influenced by a sensitiveness on the part of the dealer to what he regards as a trespass on his assumed right to the market for goods in his line, and one breach leads to another, and the general or department store seems to be near.
That the passing of a generation brings many changes is shown by the fact that, of all the merchants of the town in this year of grace 1903, not one was in business here in 1870. Some have retired to the repose and enjoyments that are numbered among the rewards of an industrious life ; others, and by far the larger number, have closed their accounts and passed to a realm where gold and silver are not counted as valuable assets. Among those who played an important part in the business affairs of the town who passed away during the first decade of the period were E. S. Woolson, William Bailey, and Hiram B. Smith. They rep- resented three different lines of business : the first was the pioneer tailor of the class that kept a shop, sold the material, and made it into a suit for a customer ; the second belonged to the pedlers' craft, and the last was another business pioneer, the first in his line, - that of a manufacturer and dealer in tinware.
Elijah Sabin Woolson and William Bailey retired from business in 1870. Mr. Woolson was born in Bethlehem, lived for a time in Lisbon, where he married Hannah, daughter of Rev. Osias Savage. He came to Littleton in 1832, and in 1838 went to Sandwich, where he resided two years. Returning to this town in 1840, he made his home here until his death in 1874. He was in active business for nearly fifty years. When he returned from his sojourn in Sand- wich, he built the Thayer Store, and in 1840 purchased the dwelling of Major George Little and the Old Yellow Store, and occupied them until 1869, when he sold the house to John G. Sinclair, and the store passed to the possession of his oldest son, Sabin Clark Woolson. Mr. Woolson was a good citizen, exceptionally well informed, and possessed convictions and resolute courage that enabled him to stand by them without reference to the results his action in this respect might be supposed to have upon his social relations or his business interests with his neighbors. His prejudices were so intense that he had no respect for persons who were without religious and political convictions, or having them, were too timid to express them on all proper occasions. There were in his day a few men who dearly loved to train with the majority, and whose sense of political duty was so shallow
35
Merchants.
that no semblance of principle ever found a lodgment in their minds. To one such in particular he was so free with his tongue that he soon ceased to have an opportunity to meet him face to face and enjoy his favorite mental diversion. Within the circle of his relatives he found ample scope for the discussion of religious questions. His amiable wife was a member of the Congregational Church, her father an elder of the Methodist persuasion, and we believe the only one among them who agreed with him that the Universalist pathway alone led to the life eternal was Mrs. Woolson's nephew, Rev. E. M. Pingree. After all, this contro- versial tendency was of the head rather than of the heart, and the kindly qualities of his character so far outnumbered the somewhat drastic effects of this habit that it seldom caused him the loss of a friend. Mr. Woolson was the last survivor of a large class of citizens whose political views were colored and intensified in their younger days by the controversy in regard to the Toleration Act. The Democrats elected Mr. Woolson town clerk in 1842, and annually until 1845. His records, written in a bold and flowing hand, have been equalled in clearness and beauty only by the penmanship of his son George S. Woolson, and Robert Charlton, among the holders of this office.
1128569
Mr. Woolson was an excellent workman, and his sons, Sabin Clark, George Storrs, and Harry Hibbard, followed his business and were at different times his partners. Harry H., the youngest of his sons, is in business in Boston, where he is at the head of one of the leading establishments in his line in that city. He had two daughters : the eldest, Fannie Savage, became the wife of Adna Brown, a manufacturer and banker of Springfield, Vt .; the younger, Luella, married Francis Fletcher Hodgman.
William Bailey was a grandson of Major James Williams, and inherited the conservative characteristics of that sturdy pioneer. From an uncle, Isaac Fry Williams, he received the notion that the best mercantile method of employing his slender capital was by going upon the road and offering his goods for sale from a pedler's cart. He followed this vocation for many years, prosper- ing as the seasons rolled by, and in 1851, tiring perhaps of the monotony of the highways through the counties of the upper Connecticut River valley and influenced by a desire for domes- tic life, he purchased of Deacon John Merrill his dwelling, now the residence of Henry F. Green, and the shop on the south side of Main Street, opposite School Street, which he fitted up as a general store, and here for twenty years conducted business.
36
History of Littleton.
He had a faculty of finding the man he desired for his clerk and of keeping him in his employ for years. Two of these were John C. Chase, of Whitefield, and Hartwell H. Southworth. The former is one of the prosperous business men of Syracuse, N. Y., and the latter, after a long and honorable mercantile career, has recently passed away. Mr. Bailey was conservative in all his ways, keeping well within the limits of safety in his transactions, and was satisfied with reasonable profits and modest annual additions to his fortune. He and his wife were members of the Congregational Church and were respected for their worth. They had several children. Edgar A. resides in Rapid City, S. Dak., where he is in the clothing business. Henry E. is a dealer in real estate in Chicago, Ill., and the youngest, Ben- jamin Franklin, is one of the noted physicians residing at Lincoln, Neb.
Hiram Brigham Smith was born in Middletown, Conn., in 1800, and married, in 1828, Catherine C., sister of Dr. John C. Colby, of Franconia. During many years he was an invalid, but he pos- sessed great perseverance, and as a result had as much to show in the way of achievement as most men in firm health. Soon after coming to this town he built a residence which is now incorporated in the Bugbee Block, and a shop next east, now the property of D. C. Remich. During the financial panic of 1837 his possessions were swept away. He, however, soon regained his standing in the business community and built the residence on Union Street now owned by his son Henry W. Smith, and the original building on the site of Smith's Block, now Lynch & Rich- ardson's, which he occupied as a shop. He was slight of build, and moved slowly and with great caution. Seemingly not recog- nizing his friends, he had a way of knowing all that was passing in his presence, and a kind word and pleasant smile for all. Few men under such grievous afflictions have derived from life so much happiness as he.
The sons of Francis Hodgman, who had divided his business when it became their inheritance, did not continue it long. Charles, who had the jewelry branch, retired early in the seven- ties and worked thereafter for others as his broken health would permit. Francis Fletcher Hodgman acquired the drugs and medicines, and did a successful business for some years. He was endowed with an ardent nature, and gave to every enterprise he espoused an enthusiastic support. From the organization of the Musical Association until 1874 he was its treasurer, and no little of its success was due to his untiring work in its behalf. He was
37
Merchants.
much interested in entomology, and made a collection of butter- flies that was much esteemed by men learned in this science and was sold after his death for a considerable sum. He died at Philadelphia, whither he had removed on account of his health, in 1875.
When George K. Paddleford went out of business in 1856, the store he had occupied was taken by Eben L. Hall, who was a jeweller, and for a time he united with this business that of a druggist. Later on he was appointed by the Selectmen one of the liquor agents of the town. With this combination of interests he did not prosper. He was a skilful workman, a pleasant and obliging man who made many friends, but the long-established trade of Mr. Hodgman and the blight cast by the liquor agency combined to render the business unprofitable. When he retired he was succeeded by Stephen Webster Atwood, who for a few years confined himself to the trade of a jeweller until he built. up a profitable business. In 1865 he erected a small shop on a corner of the lot connected with the W. C. Brackett residence, now the " Courier" office, where he remained until 1868, when he traded with Colonel Eastman for the building now occupied by J. D. Campbell and Harry F. Howe, to which he moved and where he remained until he sold to F. G. Weller in 1874. His next store was at the Thayer stand, then just vacated by Farr & Tilton. Altogether Mr. Atwood was in business abont twenty years, most of the time under the firm name of Atwood & Brackett. He had a Yankee's fondness for barter and did a large trade. He gradually extended his sphere and dealt in many articles foreign to his original line, and his shop resembled an auctioneer's ware- house, filled as it was with a large miscellaneous stock. He was not systematic in his business methods, and when pressed by a few creditors undertook to raise funds by selling at auction. In this he was so successful that he added dry-goods to his stock and sold by auction at Lancaster and in other towns, and instead of curtailing his operations and lessening his indebtedness increased them, and renewed pressure for payment of bills led him to aban- don his large assets to the slaughter of a sheriff's sale. In the end his creditors were paid in full and a small fortune had been dissipated in expense, waste, and loss through this method of adjustment. Mr. Atwood left town before his affairs were settled, and the remainder of his life was passed as a commercial traveller.
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