USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 7
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In 1881 he was the projector and builder of Tilton's Opera Block in Littleton, situated on Main Street, at a cost of about $50,000, and was made president of this company, all of the stock being held in Mr. Tilton's family. This block is one hundred and sixty-two feet long by fifty feet deep, it being four stories in height, and contains six stores. It is built of brick and granite in the most solid and thorough manner. The same year he purchased with Messrs. Calhoun and Hildreth the Bowman meadow property situated in the centre of Littleton, and sold building lots from the same.
He has served as one of the loaning committee in the Littleton National and Savings Banks from the start of each, and continu- ing about eighteen years. In 1882 he was appointed agent for the defendants to carry on the great land suit instigated by the New Hampshire Land Company against several parties owning a large tract of timber land in the vicinity of the White Moun- tains, involving some forty-five thousand acres of great value. In this suit the defendants prevailed. In the year 1884 Mr. Tilton, with Ira Parker, Esq., and E. C. Stevens, Esq., pur- chased of G. G. Moulton the Moulton estate, comprising all the real estate owned by Mr. Moulton in Littleton. This estate was sold in various ways, about forty acres (what is now known as the Park) having been purchased by the town. This Park is laid out with fine drives and roads, a pond, and beautiful shade trees.
The winter of 1885-1886 was spent by Mr. Tilton with Mr. Ira Parker in travelling through the Southwestern, Western, and Northwestern States, touching the Pacific coast twice in the two journeys.
Considerable time was spent at Spokane Falls, Wash., and they made large investments in that city in valuable inside lots and real estate, and established a loan company called the Tilton Loan Company.
In 1887 he was connected with I. S. Kaufman, of Spokane Falls, in erecting the Post-Office building in that city, of brick
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and granite, one of the new and most beautiful blocks recently built there. In 1888 he returned to Spokane Falls and bought largely city lots, and that year formed the real estate and loan company of Tilton, Stocker, & Tilton, the other members being J. S. Frye, George K. Stocker, and Mr. Tilton's son, Mr. George H. Tilton. Mr. Tilton was elected president of the Spokane Loan Trust and Savings Bank, also president of the Washington National Bank of Spokane Falls, but resigned his positions in both of these banking institutions in March, 1893, some three months before their failure the following June, during the great bank panic of 1893, and was made a director in the Spokane National Bank. Mr. Tilton with I. S. Kaufman erected one of the largest and handsomest buildings in the city, it being entirely of native granite. Mr. Tilton disposed of his interest in this property in 1896, Mr. Kaufman becoming the sole owner.
Mr. Tilton has not inclined to political life. He was, however, a delegate to the Chicago Convention in 1880 which nominated James A. Garfield, and was chosen one of the New Hampshire electors on the Garfield ticket. He was a member of Governor Straw's staff with the rank of colonel in 1872. In 1884 he was elected one of the Representatives to the New Hampshire State Legislature from Littleton. He is an Episcopalian and with his wife became a communicant in 1868, and has always since that time been a very regular attendant at this service.
Mr. Tilton has given close attention to business from the age of twenty-one to the present time, and whatever branch of busi- ness he undertakes commands all his energies.
The firm of Sinclair & Merrill was formed in 1869 by Charles A. Sinclair and George W. Merrill. Mr. Sinclair had once con- templated the law as a vocation, but a few months of study in the office of H. & G. A. Bingham served to convince him that his active spirit, aptitude for combination, and ambition to manage large and important interests in the financial world appealed to his sense of proportion as well as his ideas of power; so he formed this partnership in the hope, undoubtedly, that he might soon outgrow it and find a more congenial field. Mr. Merrill, an old stage proprietor on the line between the Profile and Crawford Houses, is now the only survivor, save Wilbur C. Stearns, of Plym- outh, of the men who forty years ago were expert knights of the whip in the mountain region, and has lived to see the iron horse and steam cars supersede the coach-and-six among the rugged moun- tains in passes that fifty years before were regarded as safe from the intrusion of any means of conveyance more swift and luxurious
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VIEW IN RIVERSIDE PARK.
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than a horse and saddle. Mr. Merrill, in his age, has retired from these scenes of his active life to the quiet comforts of a meadow farm at Compton in the Province of Quebec. The firm did a large business, but Mr. Sinclair's opportunity came sooner than he expected. Its affairs were closed out, and he removed to Ports- mouth, where he became a large factor in railroads and other ex- tensive business enterprises that gave full scope to his business energies.
The store they vacated in 1872 was purchased by Bellows & Son in 1873, who remodelled the interior and put in a large stock of ready-made clothing and furnishing goods that occupied all the space on the first floor, while the upper was given over to an extensive assortment of carpetings, crockery, and glassware.
For several years the firm consisted of William J. Bellows and his sons William H. and George S. William J. Bellows in early life was engaged in the dry-goods business in Boston, having charge of an important department of one of the largest houses in the line in that city. But neither climate nor occupation was to his liking and he returned to this town, where he had formerly resided as the ward of his elder brother, Henry Adams Bellows, in whose office he entered upon the requisite course of reading for admission to the bar, to which he was admitted in 1845, and continued with his brother in the practice of his profession, the firm style being Henry A. & William J. Bellows, until 1850, when the senior member removed to Concord. The business here was continued by the junior of the old firm alone until 1854, when John Farr, who had been a student in his office, was admitted to practice and the firm of Bellows & Farr was established. They had for a year or two the old office so long occupied by Henry A. Bellows, which was near the line dividing his estate from that of E. S. Woolson. It was a small one-story building with two rooms. Offices were then fitted up for the firm over the store of William Bailey, where they remained during the time Mr. Bellows continued in practice.
Mr. Bellows was a sound, well-read lawyer and persuasive advocate. His instinct of justice was strong and rendered him prone to discourage litigation, and when he found the case weak in law or the facts against his client, he could not assume a con- fidence he did not feel, and for this reason sometimes failed to satisfy the expectations of an aggressive client ; but in a good cause he did not fail to answer all the demands of justice and the interests his client had confided to his care.
His health, long infirm from the oft recurring and illusive
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History of Littleton.
attacks of a disease of the stomach, again suggested a change of occupation, and in 1860 he retired from the practice of the law and with Henry L. Tilton and Charles W. Brackett engaged in mercantile affairs. Prior to this he had assumed editorial charge of the " People's Journal," upon the retirement from that sheet of Henry W. Rowell, and for several years graced its editorial columns with articles from his facile pen which sought to con- vince the judgment of "the enemy " without awakening its passions or resentments.
Soon after the inauguration of President Lincoln in 1864, Mr. Bellows was appointed postmaster and held the office until 1868. On his retirement from office he joined the firm of H. L. Tilton & Co., which, aside from the regular business of the company, was interested in the purchase of timber lands, owning thousands of acres in the mountain region. He was to some extent inter- ested in the mining speculation which at this time attracted the attention and money of many of our citizens, and it may be said that he was one of the small number who found the balance on the right side of the ledger when the account in this matter was closed. Mr. Bellows retired from business in 1901.
When Mr. Bellows was reading law, he had as a fellow-student Charles W. Rand. The young men possessed similar tastes. They were fond of books and of literary pursuits, and organized a literary club made up of young people of both sexes, and many papers read before the club, but not printed, are still preserved. They were also inclined to enact a part in the amateur theatricals of that day, a habit Mr. Bellows continued until long past middle life, and their ability in this mimic life is still remembered.
The community is indebted to Mr. Bellows for valuable services in many a good cause, especially that of education. He was one of the most active and influential members of the small band that assumed the burden of carrying through the plans for a union of the village school districts and the building of the High School House, a project that has resulted in more lasting benefits to the town than any other that has been organized within its borders. He was also one of the efficient promoters of the Oak Hill House, an enterprise that thinned his pocket-book but materially added to the prosperity of the town. For more than half a century he has been relied upon in every emergency to give time, labor, and money to every cause inaugurated to promote the moral and material growth of this town.
Mrs. Bellows was the daughter of Samson Bullard, formerly a prominent business man in Concord. On his retirement from
WM. J. BELLOWS.
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active pursuits he came to this town and purchased the George W. Ely property, now the site of the residence of Ira Parker. This he remodelled and there made his home for the remainder of his life. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bullard were liberal dispensers of charity ; Mrs. Bellows inherited this characteristic, and her life was filled with good works. She ended her earthly journey in 1890, and Mr. Bellows is rounding out a well-spent life in the society of his children and the constant charm of those friends of the printed page who have been the cherished companions of his long and useful life.
Associated with Mr. Bellows in business were his sons William H. and George S. The former was in charge of the store, while the latter superintended the shop for the manufacture of stereo- scopic views which had been purchased of the estate of George H. Aldrich in 1889; the manufacturing department of this establish- ment being in charge of Gilbert Mozrall, a young man of artistic taste and practical skill in the business.
George Samson, youngest child of William J. Bellows, was a man of more than ordinary ability and accomplishments ; always a student after leaving school, he pursued a course in modern languages and became proficient in French and Spanish litera- ture. He was familiar with men and affairs, but he was over- modest or self-distrustful, and held his acquirements for personal use rather than for the benefit of friends or the public He was a strong believer in the principles of the Republican party and an earnest worker in its behalf, his interest being for the cause and not for the honors or emoluments so dear to the heart of the average politician. He was a stout friend who did not hesitate to make a personal sacrifice in order to aid others. He was as strongly averse to becoming the recipient of a favor as he was eager to do a kindly act.
When Opera Block was first tenanted, one of the stores was occupied by Gilbert E. Lane and George K. Stocker, under the firm name of Lane & Stocker. They came here from Lancaster, and while having a successful trade were not entirely contented with their lot. When Spokane, Wash., was passing through its booming period, Mr. Stocker went there, where he continues to reside, having survived the flood of inflated prices that swept over that city of immense promises. Mr. Lane subsequently sold to his brother Charles Lane and Edson Bailey. Charles sold his interest to his partner five years since.
For more than twenty-five years E. S. Woolson and his sons, as merchant tailors, had no opposition in this vicinity. Their
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History of Littleton.
first competitors were the Starbird brothers, who came here from Boston and opened a customs tailoring shop in the west store in Paddleford's building in the early fifties. The elder of the brothers was an accomplished workman, but he remained here only three years, when he returned to Boston, the younger brother, George H. Starbird, continuing the business for a time, then abandoning it to give his attention to the sale of ready-made clothing. He became a somewhat noted character on account of one or two idiosyncrasies. He was tall and angular, bearing a somewhat close personal resemblance to President Lincoln; he had an exceedingly nervous temperament, and expressed his views in strong and picturesque language. He was a Democrat without reservation, and was prone to advocate his views against all comers. His method of reasoning and quaint language always gave him' listeners, and while he was sometimes worsted in the argument, he never surrendered and was the last to quit the field. He was a bachelor, and made his home at Thayer's Hotel many years.
Henry Merrill conducted a merchant tailoring business from 1865 to 1875. He learned the trade with E. S. Woolson, and first located in the Eastman store. In a short time he moved to the store now occupied by Edward M. Fisher. He remained here until he purchased the Bailey store in 1869, where he did busi- ness until the sale of that property, in 1875, to Ira Parker & Co., and his retirement from the business which had never been quite congenial, though successful in a pecuniary point of view. Sub- sequently he was engaged in the lumber business at McIndoes Falls, Vt., with Richard W. Peabody. It was in connection with them that George Van Dyke made his first extensive venture as a manufacturer of lumber. Upon the withdrawal of Mr. Peabody, the firm became Van Dyke & Merrill, the former having special charge of the manufacturing, the latter of the sales department. Having accumulated a competency, and fearing that the extensive purchase of timber lands by Mr. Van Dyke was hazardous, Mr. Merrill sold his interest to his partner, and when the Washington city of Spokane was well advanced in its boom in the early nine- ties, he made a considerable investment there, and also engaged in the ice business in that city, which has been disposed of recently (1902).
Another merchant tailor of the period was Nelson Parker, who conducted the business in the Brackett store first, and continued in various shops four or five years prior to entering the business of the manufacture of gloves. When the Eureka was merged in
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the Saranac Company, Mr. Parker went to Nebraska, where he became a hotel-keeper, a line of business with which he was not familiar, and he retired after a brief experience, and has since been engaged in various manufacturing and commercial enterprises.
Newell Moore, who married a daughter of Herod Stevens, was in this line of business here for a few years. He came here from Lisbon. His health soon failed, and he was forced on that account to retire.
A tailor of more recent date was Carlos P. Day, who began business in Tilton's Block in 1878, and when Opera Block was completed in 1882, located there in store No. 1. He was a good workman and an enterprising citizen. He resided here about twelve years, and during the time built the house on Cottage Street which he sold to the late George Carter, that on Union Street now owned by A. J. Barrett, and then built on the Taylor place on the Meadow road. In 1890, in association with other Littleton people, he became interested in New England City, Ga., and removed to that city of great promise and small fulfilment. When that place had reached its utmost growth, he returned to his native State and resumed his trade at Berlin. He has represented his ward of that city in the Legislature, and he held a position on the Governor's staff with the rank of colonel in 1900-1901.
When Francis F. Hodgman retired from the drug business, he was succeeded by Curtis Gates, who had been bred a miller and engaged in the business of an apothecary purely as a matter of speculation. In 1879 he sold to Fred A. and Benjamin Frank Robinson, who like their predecessor were not educated to the business and placed the prescription trade in the hands of a clerk who had been. The Robinsons were able and popular men and did a large business, of which the elder brother had immediate charge, the younger giving his personal attention to other matters. Fred A. Robinson was a genial, democratic man, who had a faculty of winning friends, and holding them with hooks of steel. He was an active Republican and one of the most popular and efficient leaders of that party. He was a member of the Board of Health in 1886, fire-ward under the old village system from 1882 to 1887, and a member of the first Board of Commissioners elected under the act establishing the village district ; was messenger to convey the electoral vote of the State to Washington in 1888, and a candidate for Repre- sentative at a time when his party went down in defeat. Mr. Robinson was a Mason of high degree, an Odd Fellow, and a Knight of Honor. He was a member of a not over-large class
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History of Littleton.
of men who delight in manly sports and good fellowship. Owing to a combination of untoward incidents, his last years were clouded; ill health racked his frame, an unfortunate marriage circumscribed his liberty of action, and what he regarded as a betrayal by some he considered his friends embittered life. He closed his earthly journey in June, 1896.
After the death of Mr. Robinson the business was sold to Her- bert E. Kenney, an educated and experienced pharmacist, from whom in 1891 it passed to its present proprietor, Fred E. Green.
The trade of the town at the present time is more extensive than ever before, naturally having kept pace with the increasing population in this and surrounding towns. The business house now holding the priority both in age and volume of business is that of Edson & Bailey, proprietors of the depot store, who con- tinue to deal in the same class of goods as did the firm of C. & C. F. Eastman, whom they succeeded. George Alden Edson received his business education under the tutelage of his father, and his mercantile career has been creditable alike to teacher and pupil. After a brief experience alone in trade, he joined with James Henry Bailey and Henry Alston Eaton in the purchase of the stock and good-will of the depot store in 1882. Two years later Mr. Eaton retired, and the business has since been conducted by the present members of the firm. Mr. Edson finds little time to devote to matters not connected with the affairs of the com- pany, but was once persuaded to accept the position of town treasurer, the only office he has held, and this after a few years he relinquished voluntarily and much against the wishes of the appointing power. Of pleasing address, he makes friends easily, and has the faculty of retaining their good will. Mr. Bailey en- tered the employment of the old firm in 1874 as bookkeeper, and in that capacity earned a reputation for integrity, industry, and business ability, qualities that when he became a partner in the purchase of the business constituted a large share of the capital he invested. The change in the management wrought no percep- tible alteration in the method of conducting the business, and it has retained through many years the confidence and patronage of its customers, some of whom have patronized the depot store for half a century, a fact that furnishes substantial evidence of the high character of the house for fair dealing. Mr. Bailey has been more inclined than his partner to interest himself in public mat- ters, and has served the town as Selectman for several terms and the village district as a member of the Board of Commissioners; he is a trustee of the Littleton Savings Bank, and, since 1896, has
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been a director of the National Bank. When a town officer he gained an excellent reputation as an administrator. Since his retirement his services have been sought to fill the same positions, but he has as constantly declined to re-enter the service of the town. Both members of the firm are Littleton born.
The other houses engaged in the grocery trade confine their business to that line. In point of time the oldest of these is that of Fred Hubbard English, the successor to the several firms of which Charles Eaton was formerly the head. Mr. English is a Vermonter by birth, as was his father before him; his mother was of Littleton, a daughter of Amos Hubbard, one of the Cheshire County emigrants that about 1800 settled on Farr Hill. He was educated in our schools, and began his business life as a clerk in the store of F. J. Eastman ; he was then for three years in the service of Charles E. Tilton at Tilton, as an overseer in the man- agement of that gentleman's large property. He then returned to this town, and was successively a partner in the firms of South- worth, Lovejoy, & English, Eaton & English, and English & Bond. In 1901 he became sole proprietor of the extensive business. Mr. English is a public-spirited citizen, always eager to give time and means for the advancement of any enterprise calculated to pro- mote the public weal. He has never held a purely political or partisan office, but has served on the Board of Health three years and as a member of the Board of Education for twelve years, and on the executive committee of the Musical Associa- tion. He is now (1903) serving his first term as a member of the Board of Selectmen, and ex officio as a member of the Water Commission having in charge an important public utility recently purchased by the town and which is being greatly extended and improved.
Harrington & Co. (James and William) are the successors of the firm with which H. H. Southworth was long connected. The brothers have been bred to their business, the senior with the firm of Batchelder & Robinson of Loudon, the junior with the noted house of Cobb, Bates, & Yerxa of Boston. They have recently erected on the site of the old McCoy building a large and im- posing block, and their store is filled with all the modern improve- ments for the successful conduct of the grocery and provision business.
The firm of F. A. Watson & Co. is located in the old Thayer store, near the hotel, and has a flourishing business. The com- pany is composed of F. A. Watson and Joseph Ide. Mr. Watson is a son of the late Porter B. Watson, and is an aggressive and VOL. II .- 5
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diligent worker, who has been connected with this branch of trade since leaving school. His only official position is that which he now holds as a member of the Board of District Commissioners. Mr. Ide is of Waterford, where he began business in tanning in company with his father. The firm was noted throughout this sec- tion for the high quality of the leather it produced. When lie first came to this town, it was to take charge of the tanning depart- ment of one of the glove companies. Since 1891 he has been in trade, and has met with satisfactory success.
Since the dry-goods business was specialized in this town, there have been, until very recently, but two firms engaged in that branch, C. F. Nutting and F. G. Chutter, who have had a prac- tical monopoly without endangering their supremacy by any out- ward manifestations of rivalry. Both are enterprising merchants, carrying large and well-selected stocks, and supplying all the demands of the public in their line in this and many other towns in the " north country." Cortez F. Nutting was born in Bakers- field, Vt., and has been a resident and in business in this town since 1890. He began in a small way, purchasing the Opera Block stock of dry-goods owned by Dow Brothers, has given his time and attention to his business, and now has a patronage that is unsurpassed in the county. He was for one or two terms a member of the Board of Education of Union District, from which he resigned. He has also been an efficient officer of the Musical Association.
Frederick George Chutter was for a few years after leaving school connected with a firm in Boston doing a large dry-goods business, and is well grounded in the rudiments and requirements of the trade. His intellectual predilections led him subsequently to study theology and enter the ministry of the Congregational Church. His only ministerial charge was over the church in this town, which he resigned that he might make a tour of Europe. When he returned from abroad, his health was not firm, and he concluded to retire, at least temporarily, from the ministry. Un- der these circumstances, when the business of Dow Brothers fell upon the market by reason of the death of its proprietors, he pur- chased it in 1893, and has since conducted a large and profitable establishment. While so doing he has not entirely withdrawn from the religious work to which he was consecrated, but has nearly every Sunday found a sick or weary minister, or a church whose pulpit was vacant, whom he could serve by supplying the sacred desk. His services are also much in demand at weddings and funerals. Mr. Chutter has found pleasure and intellectual
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