USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 6
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Isaac Calhoun was the son of James and Philena Robins Calhoun, and grandson of the James who was the first of the family in this country, coming hither from the north of Ireland with Andrew Woods, who settled in Bath, while Mr. Calhoun located in the adjoining town of Lyman. It was a virile stock, with a tendency to ideas and a gathering of knowledge. Isaac was born in Lyman in 1839 ; when he was seven years old, the family moved to a farm in the Robins neighborhood, where they resided until 1861.
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History of Littleton.
In the mean time Isaac, following the bent of the leading trait of his character, was with a persistent energy in business at one time in Lisbon, then in Littleton, and in other places before he had attained his majority. His subsequent business life was principally passed in this town. He was often in partnership with his cousin James E. Henry or with Charles Eaton, both of whom had entered into this relation with him before they had reached the age of twenty-one years. During his busy life he was engaged in the lumber business, butchering, in trade, dealing in cattle, disrobing abandoned farms of their timber, then cultivating or selling the naked land, and in many other ways putting the im- mense energies with which he was endowed to the use of others as well as to accumulating property for his own use. The taint of a dishonest transaction never stained his character. He mar- ried a daughter of Leonard B. Hildreth in 1867, and about that time entered into partnership with Mr. Hildreth, by which all their business transactions, either as individuals or in partnership with others, became a company affair. This connection was dissolved by the death of Mr. Hildreth in 1894. Mrs. Calhoun died in 1884, and he married second, 1886, Flora Young, of Lisbon.
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Another partner of Mr. Eaton whose activities were mainly devoted to the lumber business was Charles Duane Tarbell, who, coming from Rindge in 1870, resided here for twenty years. He was manager of the lumber-mill at South Littleton and interested for a time in the store. He was a deacon of the Congregational Church and active in the temperance cause. He gave much of his time to the work directed by the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion and other auxiliary societies connected with his church. In 1890 he went to Southern Pines, N. C., where he was interested, with others from this section, in lumbering, and where he still resides.
Henry Francis Green is a brother-in-law of Mr. Eaton. For several years prior to his joining the firm he had been a resident of Indianapolis, Ind. He came to Littleton in 1877, and has since been prominent in mercantile, manufacturing, and political affairs. He is now connected with the Saranac Glove Company as a director and as treasurer.1
Charles Eaton was born in Landaff June 9, 1834, and has been a resident of this town since 1868. He was doing business here before that time in connection with Isaac Calhoun, but maintained his residence in Lisbon. Like most other members of his firm, he was largely interested in the manufacture of lumber during
1 See Vol. I. Chap. XXVI.
FRANK P. BOND.
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Merchants.
nearly the entire period of his residence in the town. Through various instrumentaliti s this business increased from year to year until he found it necessary to renounce mercantile affairs to give attention to this class of manufacturing. Mr. Eaton was a suc- cessful merchant, a good buyer, and an excellent salesman ; he carried a large and well-selected stock of goods and hield the patronage of the public. In 1895 he retired from business, and in 1899 was appointed postmaster by President Mckinley, - a position he still holds.
Frank P. Bond was born in Dalton, the son of Lucius Bond, a prosperous farmer and business man of that town, who died in Littleton in February, 1891. Frank P. Bond retired from the firm of English & Bond in 1901, and is now largely interested in real estate. He has been active in the political life of both towns in which he has made his bome. He was town clerk of Dalton from 1877 to 1883 inclusive, and a Representative in the Legis- lature of 1885-1886.1
The leading mercantile house for forty-six years was the firm founded by Cyrus Eastman and Ethan Colby in 1836, and ter- minated when C. & C. F. Eastman sold to Edson, Bailey, & Eaton in September, 1882. From first to last Cyrus Eastman was the chief factor, as he was the only member of the company who passed with it through all its long and prosperous career. Wlien first organized, it took the name of Colby & Eastman and entered upon a successful existence. The financial stringency that pre- vailed in this country in 1837-1838 failed to shake the credit of the firm, but made plain the fact that to successfully meet the business demands of the future required a larger capital than was at the command of the young men who constituted the company. To meet this requirement Mr. Colby sold his interest in 1838 to Ebenezer Eastman and Henry Mattocks, both of Danville, Vt., and went to Colebrook, where he formed a partnership with Mr. Kit- teridge and continued in business for nearly as many years as did the partner of his youth. This readjustment necessarily brought with it a change in the name of the company, which became Eastman, Mattocks, & Co., and so continued until 1843, when Mr. Mattocks retired and was succeeded by Franklin Tilton, another son of Danville, who was a brother of Mrs. Cyrus Eastman. Then the name became Eastman, Tilton, & Co. The firm thus con- stituted was unchanged in its membership for nearly ten years, but about 1850 its title became F. Tilton & Co. In 1852 Franklin J. Eastman, a younger brother of the senior members, who had
1 See Vol. I. Chap. XXVI.
VOL. II .- 4
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History of Littleton.
formerly been in the employ of the company as a clerk and had subsequently formed a partnership in trade with Robert Harvey at Barnet, Vt., returned and became a partner in the firm, which assumed the name of C. & F. J. Eastman & Co. This firm, then the most considerable in the northern part of the State, was a family affair. With Colonel Eastman, who had then acquired the title in the Thirty-second Regiment State Militia, were associated two brothers and a brother-in-law. It was at this time that a great change in the business of the town was impending by reason of the construction of the railroad to this point. The company realized, as no other seemed to, the full significance of the event, and prepared to meet it with accustomed prescience and prompt- ness. Land had previously been purchased by Colonel Eastman of Dr. Burns for a residence, and before the depot foundations had been laid, a new store was in process of construction on this site, which was accessible to cars over a track extended from the proposed railroad station, and the Colonel's new residence was built on South Street. For several years the firm operated two stores. In 1854 Henry L. Tilton returned from California, pur- chased an interest in the firm, and was associated with Franklin Tilton in charge of the old store. The stock in trade had been divided when the depot store was opened; the hardware, iron, salt, grains, flour, lime, and groceries of a heavy kind being carried at that place, while at the old establishment were kept all kinds of goods such as are usually sold in a country store. In 1858 Henry L. Tilton withdrew from the firm in order to employ his energies in a wider and freer field, and another change in style resulted in its resuming the old name of Eastman, Tilton, & Co. In 1866 Charles F. Eastman, a son of the Colonel, was admitted as a partner, F. J. Eastman having previously, in 1858, purchased the real estate and stock at the Main Street store to do business on his own account. Upon the death of Franklin Tilton in the spring of 1867, the surviving partners assumed the firm name of C. & C. F. Eastman, and transacted business under that title until they sold out in 1882 and retired from mercantile life.
From the beginning in 1836 to the close the concern prospered to a great degree. Its transactions, always relatively large, in- creased more rapidly than the population of the town. As the lumber business up the valley and in Coös County and the moun- tain industries grew from year to year, they brought their tribute to the counters of the company. Its average annual sales reached $150,000. In these years it sold annually thirty thousand bushels of corn, five hundred tons of plaster, - a commodity then
Cyus Eastman 2
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Merchants.
extensively used for agricultural purposes,-their market for the plaster extending from Wentworth to the headwaters of the Coll- necticut, while its sales of iron and groceries were correspondingly large, exceeding those of any other dealers in the State north of Concord.
The company did not confine its energies to trade, but, as has been before stated, was interested in manufacturing not only in this, but in neighboring towns as well as in Maine, and in various other important enterprises. After the death of Ebenezer East- man, which occurred in 1853, the supervision of these outside operations fell to Colonel Eastman. His resoluteness of purpose and mastery of expedients overcame every obstacle, and when at his best he carried to a successful conclusion more than one enterprise that his associates pronounced impossible. An illustra- tion of these qualities is found in the rebuilding of the Crawford House in 1859. This incident has been related by the Colonel :
"In 1852 Eastman, Tilton, & Co., in connection with E. J. M. Hale and James H. Carleton, of Haverhill, Mass., purchased the interest of Thomas J. Crawford in the Crawford House property, and completed the hotel then in process of construction. This was burned Saturday, May 1, 1859. On Monday Colonel Eastman drew the rough plan of a new hotel, to be two hundred feet front, with two wings of two hun- dred feet each, two and three stories in height. On conferring with his partners, they seemed to consider it a foregone conclusion that no hotel could be put up to take the place of the burned Crawford House until that summer season had passed. To this supposition he said : 'I will guarantee to have a new house ready to receive guests in sixty days, with three days' grace.' Receiving their sanction, he entered upon the work. He sent his plans to the architect for arrangement, made a fly- ing trip to all the mills within quite a radius, purchased the lumber on hand, and night and day devoted himself to the work before him. . . . Everything had to be hauled from Littleton, and in ten days' time he had one hundred and fifty men and seventy-five oxen and horses at work, . . . superintended everything, and had the pleasure of opening the new Crawford House to travellers on July 13, . . . when one hun- dred guests were entertained for the night."
This was no ordinary feat. It is difficult in these days of large operations, of telegraph and telephone and with modern con- veniences of transportation, to realize the countless difficulties he had to encounter in this enterprise. Littleton, the base of his operations, was twenty-five miles away and the highway from Pierce's bridge to the White Mountain Notch passed through a dense forest of spruce broken by few settlements and at that early
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History of Littleton.
season rough and difficult of passage. It was a task with many hindrances and one which few men could have successfully achieved.
During his long and active life Colonel Eastman witnessed the growth of the village from a straggling hamlet surpassed in influence, wealth, and power by many of its neighbors, especially by Haverhill, Bath, and Lancaster, and lived to see it win in the race of progress and outstrip all rivals. He came here a young man before the martial spirit born of two wars had entirely passed away, when a military title was a symbol of influence and the epaulet a badge of honor. As an able-bodied man subject to militia duty he served in the ranks and was rapidly promoted, until in 1842 he raised and commanded the Littleton Greys, an independent company of light infantry made up of young men residing in this corner of the town, and finally attained the rank of colonel and the command of the Thirty-second Regiment in 1844, a position he held for four years. At a time when the Governor's staff had not been sufficiently increased by act of the Legislature to enable it to do escort duty at the Governor's inauguration, the " Governor's Horse Guard " was organized for that service, and Colonel Eastman held a captain's commission in that organization. This was the last militia duty that fell to his lot.
His political opinions were those advocated by Jefferson, and no party ever had a more devoted, constant, and consistent follower. He was no carpet knight in the political arena, but from the first was one of the most active workers and trusted leaders of his party. A Whig, a Know-nothing, or a Republican might be his personal friend or valued business associate and counsellor, but he was his political enemy, and as such received no considera- tion in politics at the hands of the Colonel. Generally he was averse to leaving his business affairs to accept political office. He once declined a nomination for Senator for this district when it was at his disposal, and after serving as a member of Governor Goodwin's council one term declined a renomination that was due him by right of custom. Then there came a time when he had an ambition to represent the town and was twice elected to the General Court, first in 1871 and again the following year ; was a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1876; postmaster from 1853 to 1857, and was many times auditor of public accounts and served on various committees appointed for the transaction of special town business. He was fire-ward in 1838-1840 and continuously from 1842 to 1849, and was supervisor in 1880
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and 1881. Upon the organization of Union School District he became a member of its first Board of Education and served for a term of three years.
He was a stockholder in various corporations, and a director in the White Mountains Railroad, the Littleton Woollen Company, the New Hampshire Scythe Company, the Littleton National Bank -from its organization in 1871 to the time of his death in 1896 -its vice-president from 1890, and one of the trustees and vice-president of the Savings Bank from 1871. In both banks he was a member of the investment and loan committees. In foreign financial institutions he was a director of the Burton, Vt., National Bank and also of the Eastern Banking Company of Hastings, Neb.
Upon his retirement from active business he gave his time and found his pleasure in the management of his estate. He was the builder of the Chiswick Inn, and was constantly adding to and otherwise improving this property in which he had made a con- siderable investment. It is a notable fact in the recent history of the town that the only refusal it has made in the way of tax exemption was to deny to this property a favor granted all others under similar conditions, and this action was taken under the leadership of one who never before or since has failed to advocate such exemptions. Just why the town should have thus discrim- inated in this case is not known, and all semblance of a pretence to return to a policy of non-exemption was soon after abandoned and such favors have since been had for the asking.
For threescore years Colonel Eastman's influence was felt in all directions in the mercantile and industrial life of the town. That influence was given in a healthful conservative way to the up- building of all the interests that are universally regarded as essen- tial to the promotion of the public weal. He was not born to affluence, and was early thrown upon his own resources to make his way in the world. Such men usually grow to think before they act, and count the cost as well as the benefits to be derived from any proposed personal or public action. First necessity, and then habit, makes them slow to venture where the way is obscure and the results doubtful. Men of this cast of mind are never found among the promoters of enterprises of an exotic character. They prefer paths that experience and observation have shown to be safe, though the rewards promised at the end are small and no sound of approval from the careless throng is heard along the way. To this class Colonel Eastman belonged, - conservative, and yet sufficiently progressive to lead rather than to follow his asso-
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History of Littleton.
ciates and rivals in trade, as we have seen when he broke from the traditions that held the merchants of the town in the old way of annual settlements and exorbitant profits and blazed the way to the modern system. The industrial and mercantile history of the town during the half-century of his most active life show liow intimate was his connection with all the industrial enterprises established during that period to promote its growth at a time when our citizens of wealth found it necessary to invest their own funds for that purpose in ventures foreign to their chosen line of business. It was his fortune to have been engaged in active business for a longer period than any other merchant of the town, and early to have won a position among the foremost traders in northern New Hampshire and to have maintained it to the end. In integrity, enterprise, far-sighted judgment of the tendency of the currents of business, and in resolute adherence to his con- victions, he had no superior in his day.
Colonel Eastman was a strong man intellectually and physically, square in build, with a face denoting intelligence and strength of will, and the carriage and demeanor of a self-reliant, deliberate man both in thought and action, -a noticeable figure in any assembly. He deemed it a privilege as well as a right to hold opinions of his own, and these he frankly expressed on all proper occasions without evasion or fear of consequences.
Another son of Danville who was early in his business life connected with this firm was Henry Lowell Tilton,1 son of Joseph and Sally B. Tilton, born at North Danville, Vt., May 3, 1828. His parents were then living upon one of the finest and most fertile farms in Vermont. At the age of fifteen years the family residence was at Danville Green, at which time young Tilton commenced his studies at Phillips Academy, and finishing his education at nineteen, taught school one term at the Pond District, and at twenty a term in the then called Dole District in Danville.
In the spring of 1848, when twenty years of age, his father gave him a suit of clothes, and he came to Littleton, N. H., and engaged as clerk in the store of Eastman, Tilton, & Co. - one of the firm being his brother - for the compensation of his board and clothes during one year, and remained nearly three years, with a small salary for the last part of his services. By close economy enough was saved at the end of the clerkship to pay his passage to California, for which State he started on the 1st of
1 The sketch of Colonel Tilton was contributed by Major Routhe of Spokane, Wash.
M-N-6
HENRY L. TILTON.
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Merchants.
December, 1850, in company with four other young men from Littleton.
His first business was selling water in San Francisco for a " bit a bucket," this being ten cents a pail; and from this he was a salesman in a large hardware establishment in San Francisco at a salary of 8200 per month. After a year he was connected with Mills Cady under the firm name of Tilton & Cady, importing goods from New York and Boston to San Francisco. His stay in San Francisco, about three years and a half, was very suc- cessful in every way. Returning to Littleton May 10, 1854, he within a month was a partner in the business of C. & F. J. Eastman & Co., the successors of the same firm employing him before his departure to California, and for five years continued his interest in this firm, which was very active and prosperous. About 1859 he retired from the firm and started a general mer- cantile business by himself, which continued about ten years, and during this period he was interested in many outside operations. He was engaged with John T. G. Leavitt, under the firm of John T. G. Leavitt & Co., in building a lumber-mill below the falls on the Ammonoosuc River, and operated the timber lands connected thereto, all situated in Carroll, N. H. He was also con- nected with the firm of Leavitt, Brackett, & Co. in building the mill on the Ammonoosuc River, which is now called the Am- monoosuc Falls, in Carroll, and the firm cleared the timber lands connected with this property. Mr. Tilton had one-half interest in the firm of Tilton & Wilder in the flour business ; and was also interested in the firm of Brackett & Tilton, dealing in flour, groceries, etc. During these years he was also connected with Josiah Kilburn & Son in the purchase of lands in the vicinity of High, Clay, and Jackson Streets in Littleton, and sold the same in building lots, assisting many in building themselves a home. In 1869 the business became so extended that William J. Bellows and C. W. Brackett were admitted as partners under the firm name of Henry L. Tilton & Co. During the four succeeding years they carried on a large mercantile business, including the pur- chase of large amounts of timber lands in Grafton County, N. H., so that at one time they were the owners of about twenty-three thousand acres of valuable property of this character.
In 1870 Mr. Tilton completed what is called Tilton's Block, a building ninety by fifty feet, three stories in height, situated on Main Street in Littleton Village. At about the same time he opened a banking-house in his block, doing a general banking and loan business under the style of Tilton & Co. About this time he
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History of Littleton.
was chosen one of the Board of Education and treasurer of Union School District, and continued in the same for six years. He was also a director and treasurer of the Littleton Fair Ground Asso- ciation for several years. In 1870 Mr. Tilton became a large owner in the Union Hall building, and a director and treasurer of the Union Hall Company. He was the same year appointed executor of his father's will, and had the care of his mother's property ; he was subsequently appointed executor of her will. He was one-fourth owner in the property and business of the firm of Howland, Tilton, & Co., manufacturers of chair-backs and all kinds of lumber, at Victory, Vt.
With all the care and load of this business upon him in 1871, his health became impaired, and a retirement from business and a long rest were advised by medical counsel. The advice was at once adhered to; he retired from the firm of Henry L. Tilton & Co., and the banking house was converted into a national bank. He as much as possible relieved himself from all his other busi- ness connections, so that during the lapse of some eighteen months he was nearly restored to his usual health. He was director and one of the loaning committee in the Littleton National Bank from 1871 until 1888, and for several years was appointed auditor and examining committee in the same bank, and also trustee and loaning committee in the Littleton Savings Bank.
In 1872 he connected himself with William H. Stevens, under the firm name of Tilton & Stevens, in the purchase of the Gile property, amounting to one hundred and twenty-five acres in Lit- tleton village, and opened streets and made extensive improve- ments in this property.
In 1873 he was appointed guardian and agent for the Franklin Tilton heirs and administrator of said estate, and had the charge and management of the same for the heirs, and at the same time became largely interested in the Mount Washington Hotel Com- pany, and a director and treasurer of that company. He was also one of the owners in the Fabyan Cottage in the White Mountains. In 1875 he was the projector and furnished the means for build- ing the Mount Pleasant House, a hotel located a little easterly of the Fabyan House.
In 1876 he was one of the founders of the Eureka Glove Com- pany, and a director and treasurer of that company. He was also one of the projectors in building the Oak Hill House, and was treasurer of the company. At the same time he was con- nected with William J. Bellows in buying lands in the vicinity of this house which were platted and sold or built upon. He was
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Merchants.
elected vice-president of the Littleton National Bank in 1877, and the same year purchased from William H. Stevens his interest in the property owned by Tilton & Stevens, and carried on quite an extensive farming interest, laying out streets on his property and assisting others to purchase lands and to build homes. He was chosen vice-president of the Littleton Savings Bank in 1880, and was active in pushing the Apthorp Reservoir Company, by which means water is furnished to Littleton village. Mr. Tilton was elected president of this company.
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