USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Littleton > History of Littleton, New Hampshire, Vol. II > Part 8
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Merchants.
usefulness in the public service as a member of the Board of Edu- cation for a long period, and in a large measure had the supervision of our schools during his incumbency of this office, and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Public Library. He rep- resented the town in the Legislature of 1901-1902, and served as chairman of the Committee on Education. He has done much to add to the attractiveness of the town by improving his real estate ; the block at the corner of Main and Pleasant Streets, and the brick block erected for his own business, which has taken the place of the White Store, being among the most attractive business structures in town.
In the present year (1903) L. L. Roy, who came from White- field, has taken a lease of the quarters recently occupied by the Cohashauke Club, and remodelled them for the use of trade, and deals in dry-goods and small wares.
The jewelry business is now flourishing as never before. The oldest member of the guild is Elbridge Flint, who came to this town thirty-seven years ago to work as a journeyman for S. W. Atwood, and has since been connected with the trade. For more than twenty years he has occupied the store in Opera Block, of which he was the first tenant. Mr. Flint is a skilled workman, and was for some time the leading jeweller of the town. New- comers have of late so competed for a share of the business that it has been divided. Among his rivals Harry F. Howe, a young man who was formerly of Lisbon, keeps a good general stock. He has been somewhat active in politics, and has served as super- visor of the check list. A single term in this office was enough to satisfy him that its honors were but a slight compensation for its many annoyances, and he retired to the less conspicuous and more quiet supervision of his business affairs. W. W. Brown com- bines with his jewelry trade that of an oculist, and has built up a successful business. He is a man who attends closely to his affairs.
The retail trade in boots and shoes, as now conducted, was a long time in gaining possession of this field. A little more than fifty years ago merchants would occasionally purchase in the Bos- ton market a case of cowliide boots, a class of footwear now seldom seen. They were heavy-soled, with tops reaching nearly to the wearer's knee, and were clumsy but durable. Goods for the use of women and children made their appearance later. About 1882 Alonzo Weeks and John Smith Davis, who had previously kept to the old-fashioned method of making footwear to order, gave up the attempt to compete with machine manufacturers, who had improved the style and comfort of their goods to such an extent
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History of Littleton.
that they commanded the market, and gave over their shops to the sale and repair of the ready-made footwear. The last effort to maintain custom boot and shoe making was made by Thomas S. Nurse, who had worked for Mr. Weeks for a generation ; and when that gentleman quit the business, he took his bench and tools to his house on Cottage Street and there continued to accommodate such persons as were too old-fashioned to purchase or wear foreign- made boots, until his death, which occurred in 1896. Marquis L. Goold, among the first to engage in the sale of the ready- made goods, located in 1867 at the Thayer store, where he also carried a small stock of groceries. In 1870 Mr. Goold sold to Farr & Tilton, who put in an extensive stock of boots and shoes. Andrew W. Bingham was the pioneer dealer who confined his stock exclusively to these goods. He leased, and subsequently purchased, the John Smillie building in 1882, remodelled its interior, and, until he sold to George J. Patch in 1898, carried a large and varied stock of goods. Mr. Bingham repurchased the business in 1902.
Edwin H. Gould is a practical shoemaker, familiar with the manufacture as with the sale of boots and shoes. He began business here in 1880, confining it largely to repairing and customs work. In 1885 he occupied the store in Union Block, and has since dealt in manufactured goods on an extensive scale.
George J. Patch, who for four years did business at the Bingham store, was an enterprising merchant, and carried a well-selected stock. Owing to the fact that Mr. Bingham, who owned the block, wished to re-enter the business, Mr. Patch parted with his stock and purchased the laundry which had maintained a precarious exist- ence for a dozen years under the direction of various proprietors. Since it came under the management of Mr. Patch it has been brought to modern methods and has become a successful enterprise.
The drug business, once no small item in the profit-producing department of the general store, has in practice and in law been elevated to the position of a profession. The pharmacist, however, still continues to deal in many articles not essentially an adjunct of the business, but which the process of evolution from trade to profession has failed to eliminate, and to that extent the pharmacist continues a merchant. No single line of trade has more clearly marked the progress of the town in popu- lation than has this of the druggist. The limits of success or failure seem to be fixed by the number of inhabitants. In this town it emerged from the general store to the dignity and inde- pendence of a distinctive profession when Francis F. Hodgman
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CHARLES C. SMITH.
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Merchants.
took that part of his father's business. Then, when warranted by the increased population, came the Dr. Watson store and, fifteen years later, that of Fred B. Hatch.
The present dean of the profession is Wilber Fisk Robins, who conducts the business established in Union Block by Dr. Watson in 1867. Mr. Robins became proprietor of the store in 1874 and has since managed it with success. The next, in point of time, to engage in this business was Mr. Hatch, who came from Lancaster, where he had learned the mysteries of compounding and mixing drugs and medicines, and opened the store in Opera Block now occupied by Charles F. Davis. Mr. Hatch was not only skilful in his art, but was a master of the methods of so arranging his goods as to attract the attention of his patrons. In 1897 he sold to Davis & Green (Charles F. Davis and Fred E. Green). The firm dissolved in 1899. Mr. Davis is thoroughly conversant with every department of the trade and has been successful in retaining the large patronage attracted to this store by its former proprietor. The Hodgman stand has the advantage of being the oldest establishment in the business, having been founded seventy years and numbering among its patrons some who would not think of purchasing medicines elsewhere, having bought such as they required at this store throughout their lives. Among its successive occupants Robinson brothers, Fred A. and Benjamin F., Herbert E. Kenney, and the present proprietor have been well qualified to maintain its high reputation. F. E. Green became proprietor of the store in 1901 and has to some extent changed its interior. He is a progressive man, an educated pharmacist, and a business man of character.
In the line of hardware, tinware, and stoves, the union formed many years ago has been continued to this day. Myron H. Richardson, doing business under the firm name of Lynch & Richardson, is a successor, with several removes, to Hiram B. Smith, the founder of the stove and tinware trade in town. His former partner, Edward B. Lynch, died in 1901. Mr. Lynch was from Derby, Vt., and came to this town in 1878 to enter the depot store of C. & C. F. Eastman as a clerk, where he remained until 1886, when he purchased a half interest in the business of Charles C. Smith. Mr. Lynch possessed far more than ordinary business capacity and power of concentration ; he had breadth of view with an easy mastery of details, and these attributes, combined with a pleasing address, rendered him one of the foremost business men of his time in this section. In February, 1893, Myron H. Richardson purchased the inter- est of Mr. Smith, and in January, 1902, that of the estate
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History of Littleton.
of his former partner, Mr. Lynch, who died at an early age in 1901. In addition to a large trade in stoves and tinware, the firm deals in general hardware, painters' supplies, and crockery.
Royal P. White came here in 1880, and in partnership with a brother under the firm name of White Brothers, engaged in the general hardware business. The firm dissolved, however, in 1883, and Mr. White bought out the business of William Lucas, at that time located in the Old Brick Store. Here he remained until he moved to the Eastman store, and thence to Tilton Block. He carries the same line of goods and wares dealt in by Lynch & Richardson, but has added thereto an extensive collection of curiosities and antiquities, gathered with great care and discretion from year to year, until it stands unrivalled in the State. Ancient andirons, rare old prints, brazen knockers, and household uten- sils of the long ago, quaint and curious, repose upon his shelves and afford those interested in the relics of the past unusual opportunities for adding to their own collections.
George L. Flanders and Frank Bowles, under the firm name of George L. Flanders & Co., were until recently dealers in general hardware, tinware, and plumbers' supplies. When they began business the field appeared fully occupied, and seemed to offer few inducements for such a venture, but they met with grati- fying success. Mr. Flanders, in the autumn of 1903, sold his interest to Frank P. Bond, and the firm now does business as the Littleton Hardware Company.
The ready-made clothing business has grown to large propor- tions in recent years, and far exceeds the amount and value of custom work at the present time.
Bellows & Baldwin are among the most enterprising merchants of the town. The senior member, William H. Bellows, was for nearly thirty years the practical head of the firm of Bellows & Sons, having active control of the extensive business of that firm. He is an able financier, a judicious and discriminating buyer, and as a salesman has few equals. He has been interested in public matters, and is of prominence in the political councils of his party. He represented the town in the General Court of 1898 as a Republican, and was chairman of the important committee on banks. He also served in the early eighties as a deputy sheriff, and was for six years a member of the Board of Education. Be- sides the management of large private interests, he has been a director in the Littleton National Bank and a trustee of the Lit- tleton Savings Bank since 1892. A public-spirited citizen, he has
WILLIAM H. BELLOWS.
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Merchants.
ever been zealous for the advancement and improvement of the varied interests of the town. Like his forbears, it has always been his habit to extend in an unostentatious way a helping hand to others. There is more than one owner of a home who is indebted to his generous assistance for its possession.
The junior member of the firm, Capt. Harry S. Baldwin, has long been associated with Mr. Bellows in business, first as clerk, and since 1901 as partner. When the firm deserted the Bellows building, which had been its home for nearly a generation, a con- siderable change in the character of its business occurred, and it is now confined to gentlemen's clothing and furnishings. Captain Baldwin has a thorough knowledge of the needs of this trade. He is a young man of character, energy, and tact, and as captain of the Kilburn Guards, the local military organization, has brought that command to a high state of efficiency in a remarkably short time. He is also active in local Republican politics. September 2, 1902, he married Bessie Tuttle Moffett, daughter of the late Frank T. Moffett, M.D.
Edson Bailey, doing business in Opera Block, is the sole pro- prietor of the business founded in 1882 by Lane & Stocker. This house has always sustained an excellent reputation for business integrity and enterprise. The owner is conservative in his busi- ness notions, and believes that to give the customer what he pays for is the best of advertisements. A Democrat in politics, he has taken an active interest in promoting the welfare of that party, and was once its candidate for the Legislature.
A firm conducting a similar business is Renfrew Brothers, for- merly located in the Bugbee Block, but now in Harrington Block. The brothers were born on the Vermont side of the Connecticut River, but have long been residents of this town, - the elder, John S., since 1883, the junior, Irving C., since 1889. Men of business capacity and energy, they have succeeded in building up a large and satisfactory trade. John S. Renfrew has been interested in promoting local improvements, and for six years rendered effi- cient services as one of the commissioners of the Littleton Village District. Irving C. Renfrew has confined his activities mainly to his business and the welfare of the Congregational Church, of which he was formerly deacon.1
The clothing store now owned by Robert Tuttle was organized in 1897 as Wilson & Tuttle. Mr. Wilson was a St. Johnsbury man and never resided in this town, the management of the busi-
1 Since the above was written John S. Renfrew has sold his interest to his brother, and is engaged in business at Plymouth.
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History of Littleton.
ness being in the hands of Robert Tuttle, the junior partner, who has since become the sole owner of the establishment. His place of business is on the site of the William C. Brackett residence, which was remodelled for business purposes by the late Col. Cyrus Eastman.
The ill-fitting ready-made clothing of old times has given place to a better style and workmanship and trenched to some extent on the business of the merchant tailors. There are at the present time two establishments in that line, the proprietors of which are thorough workmen, and of late have succeeded in more than hold- ing their own against the inroads with which their competitors once threatened them.
James A. Moore succeeded in 1890 to the merchant tailoring business of Carlos P. Day, with whom he had previously been in partnership more than a year preceding that date, and until re- cently his location was No. 1 Opera Block, whence he moved to his present place of business in Remich Block.
Joseph D. Campbell, formerly with Macullar, Parker, & Co., of Boston, came here in 1897 and engaged in business as a merchant tailor, and has succeeded in securing a satisfactory patronage.
During this period the millinery business, once transacted at the home of the dealer, has assumed such proportions as to win for itself a distinct position in mercantile pursuits. At no time in the history of the town has the combined amount of business transacted equalled in volume the business of each of the present- day firms individually. Those now engaged in that line are Mrs. T. E. Parker, Mrs. E. C. Young, and Mrs. Solon Simonds, all of whom have a reputation as skilful and artistic designers.
The five and ten cent store is a modern invention. The first of these in the town was established by Fred S. Bellows in 1888. His shop was in the Paddleford Building. Ill health compelled him to close out what promised at one time to be a successful trade. Others to subsequently embark in this line were Chester J. Willey, who in 1894 bought out Mr. Marston and who occupied the store where Mr. Eldredge now is, and exposed for sale a large and varied stock of this class of goods. Mr. Willey in 1899 sold to C. A. Simpson, who in 1900 returned to this town and resumed business, but soon after sold to Mr. Willey again, who in turn in 1900 sold to E. E. Eldredge, who has since conducted the business.
It would fill a volume were we to give space in this narrative to all who have been engaged in trade in the town during the last half-century. The purpose has been to omit none who have been
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Merchants.
permanently connected with mercantile affairs or who in other ways, though for but a brief period, were factors in our com- mercial life. There are some whose names time has nearly obliterated, who were active and prominent in the early part of the period, whose record should not be neglected. Among these Nathan McCoy was the most important. He came here in 1854 and bought the building so long known by his name, and for a dozen years was in trade, buying and selling any and every thing that could be exchanged for goods, wares, or merchandise, or current funds, and all the time getting a little the best of the bargain. He was a man of great energy and possessed a marvel- lous knowledge of human nature, and had he confined his efforts within a narrower field would have been a great merchant. As it was, he covered too large a territory to leave a lasting impression on any part of the field.
Another merchant, but differing in most respects from Mr. McCoy, was John Hale, who for more than a year was a grocer of the town. He was a man of large experience in mercantile affairs, an excellent salesman and of agreeable address ; he was wanting in the hard-headed selfishness that is one of the basic elements of the accumulators of wealth and in a financial sense was not a success in his calling. He closed his commercial career as a travelling salesman, and in that capacity was above the average of the guild.
There is a long list of others who at different times have started business in this field but did not continue a sufficient time to send their roots deep into the soil. In this class were Charles Conner, baker; F. E. Choate, grocer; T. J. Pratt, grocer and dealer in horses ; Norman G. Smith, meats and provisions; Woodruff Brothers in the same line ; J. Harvey Quimby, dry-goods ; Samuel L. Clay, general store ; T. E. & Harland Parker, grocers ; E. S. Prescott, grocer ; Charles H. Stoddard, ready-made clothing and dry-goods ; R. T. Mckenzie, merchant tailor ; E. Pyer and Henry George & Son, grocers.
The merchants of Littleton have, with rare exceptions, been men of enterprise, honor, and active public spirit. Their interest in the progress of the town has not been confined to anticipated personal profits, but in no inconsiderable degree has arisen from the loftier motive of promoting the public weal. Observing the wholesome rule of omitting mention of " present company," it can be said of such men as William Brackett, George Little, the Redingtons, the Eastmans, Henry L. Thayer, Franklin Tilton, and Nelson C. Farr, that they were sagacious merchants whose
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History of Littleton.
mercantile careers were governed by the immutable laws of trade ; but they were more than this : they were always patriotic citizens, bringing to the discharge of their public duties the wisdom and integrity that guided their private affairs. They contributed more than any other class to the continuous upbuilding of our manufacturing industries when these were menaced by adverse conditions, and thus kept the material interests of the town mov- ing forward in paths of progress. It is natural for men to forget or ignore the past, and centre their minds as well as activities in things of present concern where their interests mainly lie. Still it should be remembered that the Littleton of the present was not built in a day, but, like all things worthy to outlast their generation, has been developed through a process of evolution, and that honors, if such there be, should be granted to all who have contributed to its making, and that a large share of these belong of right to its merchants.
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Banks and Bankers.
XXIX.
BANKS AND BANKERS.
T HE founders of the settlements in northern New Hampshire had little use for banks of discount. The products of their farms were their mediums of exchange, and answered the purpose in this town for all save the State tax, and that was not paid dur- ing the first twenty-five years of our history, but was left to accu- mulate, and was adjusted finally in two annual payments near the close of the eighteenth century.
The first bank in the State was incorporated as the New Hamp- shire Bank, at Portsmouth, in 1792. Ten years after, in 1802, the New Hampshire Union Bank at Portsmouth was chartered, and in 1803 the Strafford Bank at Dover and the Coo's Bank at Haverhill were incorporated, the last-named institution having a capital of $100,000. Its charter ran for twenty years and was re- newed in 1821 and its name changed to Grafton Bank. A bank was established at Lebanon in 1828, and one at Lancaster in 1832.
The old Coos Bank was a flourishing institution, and had at least one considerable patron in this town, from a date soon after its door was opened for the transaction of business, in Samuel Learned, Jr., who, when he branched out as an operator in lands, lumber, and produce, as well as a merchant, was a heavy borrower ; and when his investments on the Ottawa River in Canada were lost beyond hope of immediate recovery, the bank obtained judg- ments against him for several thousand dollars, and all his posses- sions passed from his control.
When the scythe factory was built in 1835, its projectors patronized the Concord Bank, and the newly founded institution at Lancaster. Then came the days of speculation in wild lands in Canada and Maine, when nearly all our prominent business men became heavy borrowers at the banks at Concord, Haverhill, and Lancaster, and investors in these lands that promised, accord- ing to the "promoters " of that day, to lead to vast fortunes. One day, in 1837, Henry A. Bellows and Truman Stevens drove to Lancaster, where they had a note for $2,000 discounted at the bank. The day was rainy, and on their return they encountered
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History of Littleton.
some difficulty in crossing Johns River in Dalton, but finally made the passage, and reached home well along in the night, when they discovered that their currency was missing. Thinking the package had been dropped at the passage of the river in Dalton, Mr. Stevens in the early morning drove to that place, but failed to discover any trace of the money, and he supposed it was then either floating down the Connecticut or torn to shreds in the passage of the fifteen mile falls. At the end of the return journey he learned that the funds were in the possession of Mr. Bellows, having been picked up in the street by Lyman Heath the night before, as he walked from his singing-school held in Brackett's Hall to his home. How valuable the patronage of the business men of this town may have been in those days cannot be known, as the records of the courts of bankruptcy are not available. Could the pages of that record be scanned, they would disclose the fact that business men of ability and experience sometimes dream, and that it is not always safe to discount the future, however rosy its horizon may appear.
In the early forties the manufacturers and merchants turned to the Bank of Newbury at Wells River, Vt., for banking accommo- dations. Whatever the value of their patronage may have been to other financial institutions, there can be no doubt but that the Vermont bank found their accounts for many subsequent years among the most profitable carried on its books. When the national banking system was established, the officers of the Wells River Bank recognized the probability that a bank would sooner or later be established in this town, and by adopting a liberal policy sought to put off the evil day as long as possible, and in this they succeeded admirably for a long time. John Farr became a director in that bank, and in other respects it became difficult to start a movement in favor of a home bank. “Let well enough alone," was the response of business men when the matter of more convenient banking facilities was urged by George B. Redington. For several years he stood alone as an advocate of this project while the current of opinion in business circles con- tinued strongly against him. Nothing daunted, he did not relin- quish his project, and continued to advocate it whenever occasion gave him an opportunity to make an effective point. It was not, however, until Colonel Tilton's object lesson had made an impres- sion upon the conservative business mind of the community, and he saw that it was turning to his opinion, that he felt the time had come to move forward. He then found that the limit of circulation authorized by the banking act had been reached, and
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Banks and Bankers.
a charter could not be obtained. Within a few days he learned from a news item in a paper that a circulation might be purchased from existing banks, and in this fact he saw his opportunity. The following day he invited those most likely to be interested in the project to meet in the evening for consultation. The meeting was held at the office of John Farr & Son. There were present, beside Mr. Redington and the Farrs, Cyrus Eastman, Charles W. Rand, Henry L. Tilton, Nelson C. Farr, and Samuel A. Edson ; there were others, but those named include all who were active in the matter. At Mr. Redington's suggestion, Major Farr was authorized to proceed to Washington for the purpose of ascer- taining whether a charter would be granted if the required circu- lation was purchased. Within the week the Major returned with the necessary authority for the establishment of the bank, having arranged with the New York bank for the required circulation. We have dwelt on the details of this transaction beyond what its importance might seem to require, because it illustrates a promi- nent trait in the character of one of the foremost business men of the town.
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