History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 11

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia [Pa.] J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1520

USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 11
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 11

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P.F.GOIST DEL.

STATE HOUSE, CONCORD, N. H.

THE STATE-HOUSE.

greement as to location and the lack of funds, par- tially in consequence of the then late war with Great Britain, carried the matter over to the next June session.

On the 21st day of June, 1816, the matter came up in the House of Representatives, and the following resolution was passed :

" Resolved, That a State-House, agreeably to the plan communicated by Stuart J. Park at the last June session, be erected in the town of Con- cord and county of Rockingham ; the spot of ground to be selected, and the place on which to erect said State-House to be located by his excel- lency, the Governor, and the Honorable the Council."

That board was also authorized to appoint a com- mittee to make the necessary contracts and superin- tend its erection ; and said committee was to be in- structed to commence, as soon as practicable, and to employ the convicts in the State Prison in preparing the stone. By the same resolution, the sum of three thousand dollars was appropriated to commence the work, and it also contained a provision by which it was not to take effect unless the town of Concord, or its inhabitants, would donate the land, level and prepare it to the acceptance of the committee, give all the stone needed for its construction and convey the same to the lot free of charge.

The inhabitants residing at the north end were ready to give a bond to comply with these require- ments, providing the Stickney lot (site of the present court-house) was selected; and those residing at the south end would do the same, providing the Green lot (site of the present State-House) was decided upon. The advocates of the north end location claimed that the Stickney lot was elevated and dry, and had been selected by the committee of the Legis- lature as being the more eligible of the two; that the Green lot was low and wet, and that it would cost a large sum to put in a substantial foundation. The other side urged that the Green lot was more central, and for that reason the most eligible.

William Plumer, of Epping, was Governor, and Benjamin Pierce, of Hillsborough, Levi Jackson, of Chesterfield, Samuel Quarles, of Ossipee, Elijah Hall and Enoch Colby composed the Council. Messrs. Pierce, Jackson and Quarles favored the Stickney lot; the Governor, with Messrs. Hall and Colby, favored the Green lot. Consequently, with all pres- ent acting in the capacity of a committee of the Legislature, as some of them subsequently claimed they did, the result would have been a tie. On the 2d day of July, Colonel Quarles asked leave of absence until the 4th, to attend to some matters of his own, and went away, as he afterward stated, with the understanding that the matter of locating the State-House should not be decided until his return. On the following day, July 3d, at a meeting of the Governor and four members of the Council, the mat- ter was brought up, and they proceeded to examine the two locations, and then returned to the Council chamber. The Governor then asked the councillors, severally, if they were "ready to proceed in selecting

a plot of ground for said house." Mr. Colby an- swered that he was ready, but asked whether it would not be best to wait until the return of Colonel Quarles.

According to the statement of Mr. Colby, no one else expressed any desire for postponement, and a ballot was taken, which stood three in favor of the Green lot and two in favor of the Stickney lot, the Governor voting with the Council. Had all of the councilors been present, and acting in the capacity of an executive board, as I think was the intention of the Legislature, the vote would have stood three in favor of the Stickney lot and two in favor of the present location, in which case the Governor could have used his privilege of negativing the vote of the majority of the Council, thus leaving the matter un- decided. It was, therefore, fortune for the friends of the Green lot location that Colonel Quarles was called away at that time.

On July 4th, Colonel Quarles having returned, the Governor and Council held a meeting, the proceedings of which were recorded in the Coun- cil records in the same manner as were those of the 3d, or any other meeting of that board, the caption of the record being as follows: "At a meeting of His Excellency, the Governor, and the Hon1. Council, July 4, 1816, The whole board present," etc. At that meeting some one moved a reconsideration of "the vote of yesterday, select- ing a lot of land whereon to erect a State-House." The question being put, the vote stood three for re- consideration-Messrs. Quarles, Pierce and Jackson, -and three against, the Governor voting with the Council, as before, and claiming subsequently, in vindication of his action in so doing, that they were acting in the capacity of a committee of the Legisla- ture. If that was the case, and so understood at the time, it is not quite clear why they convened as "a meeting of His Excellency, the Governor and the Hon1. Council," or why their proceedings in that matter were recorded in the Council records, with other acts done at the same meeting, which could not have been legally done by any body of men except the Governor and Council in executive session.

On July 5th the Governor and Council met and ap- pointed Albe Cady, William Low and Jeremiah Pecker, all of Concord, as a committee to superintend the erection of the State-House. Messrs. Hall, Colby and Jackson acted with the Governor in making the appointment, a record of which was made by the Secretary of State in the same book and manner as the record of any executive appointment. The board then adjourned and did not meet again until Septem- ber 18th.

The Legislature adjourned on the 29th of June, to meet on the third Wednesday of November following. During the recess the work of construction progressed, as also did the strife between the " north-enders" and the "south-enders." Charges of unfairness, on the

HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

part of the Governor and Council, were made by the defeated north-enders, the principal charges being that the matter was acted upon in the absence of Colonel Quarles, contrary to an agreement to delay it until his return, and that the Governor voted with the Council, as he had no right to do, if they were acting in their official capacity as an Executive Council.

The Legislature assembled on the twentieth of No- vember, 1816, and the State-House matter was taken up on the ninth of December, at which time a com- inittee was appointed to "request such information of the Governor as he possesses relative to the location of the State-House," and report to the House of Rep- resentatives. Said committee called on the Governor, made the request verbally and on the following day he communicated in writing a statement of the action of the board in making the selection of a lot, etc. This not proving satisfactory to the House of Repre- sentatives, the committee called again on the evening of the thirteenth, and requested copies of " all the votes and proceedings of the Governor and Council" relating to the matter, which request he complied with by furnishing attested copies from the Council records, covering said proceedings, and suggested, in his letter of transmittal, that if either branch of the government considered it necessary to make any inquiries of the other, whether it "would not bet- ter comport with the dignity of both that the inqui- ries and answers should be in writing." Whereupon the House of Representatives formulated several questions, and sent a copy to the Governor, and one to each of the councillors. The substance of the Governor's answers was: That on the third day of July, 1816, Charles Walker, Esq., presented a bond to furnish a lot ; and the required amount of stone, provided the building was located on the Stickney lot ; that William A. Kent and Isaac Hill, Esqrs., pre- sented a bond to do the same, provided it was located on the Green lot; that in the afternoon of that day, he and four of the councilors examined all lots that any one requested them to see, and then returned to the Senate chamber and made the selection, as here- inbefore stated. The Governor also stated, that he did not understand that any agreement had been made to wait until the return of Colonel Quarles before making the selection. Mr. Pierce, Mr. Jack- son and Mr. Quarles stated that there was such an agreement. The Governor further stated that, in making said selection, they acted as a committee appointed by a resolve of the Legislature, and not in their executive capacity ; and in this his answer was sustained by a majority of the Council. But no attempt was made to explain why their transactions as a committee were acted upon in a meeting of " His Excellency, the Governor and the Honorable Council," at which meeting executive appointments were made, and the proceedings of which were embod- ied in one record, by the Secretary of State, in the

same manner as was the record of any meeting of the Governor and Council.

December 20th the investigating committee re- ported in full, from which report I extract the follow- ing: " Your committee would further report that, in their opinion, the general location of the lot whereon to erect the State-House never was made agreeably to the true meaning and provisions of the resolve aforesaid, inasmuch as that they have never seen any evidence that a majority of that Honorable board ever did agree to such location."

December 25th the investigating committee re- ported a resolution repealing the resolution of June 22, 1816, which placed the appointment of a commit- tee to superintend the erection of the State-House in the hands of the Governor and Council, which failed of a passage. On the same day a resolution appropriating four thousand dollars toward the erection of the building passed, ninety-one to seventy.

December 27th the investigating committee re- ported a resolution providing that the committee to superintend the building should consist of one man, instead of three, and that Albe Cady should be that man. As no complaint had been made by the com- mittee against any of the men composing the build- ing committee, the presumption is that the resolution was introduced for the purpose of taking the matter from the control of the Governor and Council, by making the building committee an appointee direct of the Legislature. The resolution passed the House, but was defeated in the Senate.

At the June session, 1817, the sum of thirty thou- sand dollars was appropriated to continue the work, in accordance with a report and recommendation of the building committee, who stated that they desired to complete the outside that season.

In 1818 an appropriation was made for necessary furniture, and the building was first occupied by the Legislature at the June session of 1819, but the build- ing committee was not discharged until June, 1820.

The building as completed was one hundred and twenty-six feet in length, including the wings, and forty-nine feet in width, with a projection of four feet in the centre of each front, and cost as follows, in- cluding fencing and furniture: Amount appropriated from the State treasury, $67,372.44; stone-work done at the State Prison by convicts, $10,455.16 ; lot and materials given by citizens of Concord, $4,000,- total, $81,827.60. The building, as thus erected, was occupied without any material change until remod- eled, in 1864-66.

In 1854, Governor N. B. Baker, in his address to the Legislature, at the June session, called the attention of that body to the insecure manner in which the pro- vincial and State records, Revolutionary War rolls and other valuable documents belonging to the State, were kept, stating that they were liable to destruction by fire at any moment and advising the construction of fire-proof rooms in the State-House, or of a separate

THE STATE-HOUSE.

fire-proof building for their safe keeping. A com- mittee of the Legislature, appointed to investigate the matter, reported a resolution providing that the Governor be requested to employ some suitable per- son to estimate the expense and make necessary plans for erecting a fire-proof building of sufficient capacity to accommodate the Secretary of State, State treasurer, State Library and the standard weights and measures.

The resolution passed, as also did another calling for a plan and an estimate of the cost of enlarging the Representatives' Hall, and, in accordance therewith, a report was made to the Legislature of 1855, plans pre- sented and the expense estimated at $37,000 for en- larging the State-House and hall, and $17,500 for a separate fire-proof building. That report not being acceptable to the Legislature, the matter was post- poned to the next session, and no material progress was made until 1863. At the June session of the last- named year the Legislature passed a resolution setting forth the fact that the largely increased business of the State government imperatively required an en- largement of the State-House; that the city of Con- cord derived considerable benefit from the location and should contribute materially to the expense of en- larging the capital. The resolution authorized the Governor and Council to cause new plans and esti- mates to be made, receive propositions from the city of Concord or any other city or town having necessary railroad facilities and " desirons of having the State- House established therein." In other words, the lo- cation of the capital was again for sale to the highest bidder, regardless of the fact that it had once been sold, paid for and delivered. Bids were to be made to the Governor and to be by him presented to the Legis- lature of 1864. The city of Manchester submitted a proposition to erect and complete a building without expense to the State, providing it should be located in that city.

Concord, by action of the City Councils on the 23d day of May, 1864, voted to raise and appropriate $100,000 to the work of enlarging the building then in use, and subsequently raised $50,000 more in the precinct. These propositions were transmitted to the Legislature by the Governor, June 6th, and referred to a select committee of one from each county. A sharp contest between the two cities ensued ; the citizens of Manchester used every means in their power to obtain the prize, and the citizens of Concord as earnestly strug- gled to retain it, believing that, as they had once por- chased the location, it ought not to be taken from them without cause ; and believing also that no cause existed to warrant its removal, as Concord was nearer the centre of the State than Manchester, and had equal railroad facilities. A majority of the Legisla- ture decided in favor of Concord, and the location of

1816 was confirmed by an act approved July 16, 1864, the act requiring Concord to bear the entire expense of the work, which amounted to nearly $200,000.

A contest of this kind between neighboring muni- cipalities is much to be regretted; the placing of citizens in hostility to each other creates enmities which time alone can allay; and in this case, the twenty years that have elapsed have failed to oblit- erate the scars caused by that memorable contest. The proposition made by the Legislature of 1863 was wrong in principle, and should never be repeated. When a public building is needed for the use of the State, let the Legislature decide upon its location at such place as in their opinion will best accommodate the majority of the people, and then cause the same to be erected, and paid for from the State treasury.

A new steam-heating apparatus was placed in the building in 1879, and valuable improvements were made in the basement in 1883, and the State-House, as it now stands, is an artistic and substantial edifice. The halls and offices are well lighted and roomy, with the exception of the room used for the library, and, as a whole, the structure is a credit to the State.

The porch on the east front is two stories in height, each story being supported by eight granite columns of massive proportions, which present a fine appear- ance as viewed from Main Street. The Council-room contains the portraits of all the Governors of the State, except the first, of whom no likeness is known to exist. Portraits of many presidents of the Senate are hung in the Senate chamber, and the Represent- atives' hall contains portraits of Revolutionary offi- cers and other eminent New Hampshire men. Doric Hall contains the battle-scarred flags of the regiments from this State who participated in the late war, some portraits, a bust of Hon. Amos Tuck, and a raised map of the State. In the Secretary's office are portraits of two Provincial and two State Secre- taries. In 1876 a fountain was placed in the front walk of the park, but proving to be a nuisance there, it was removed, in 1879, by order of the Legislature, to the southeast quarter of the grounds.

A statue, in bronze, of New Hampshire's most gifted son, Daniel Webster, presented to the State by Benjamin P. Cheney, is soon to be placed in the park, on the side adjoining Main Street. It will be seven- teen feet in height, including the pedestal, which will be of granite. Mr. Cheney was a native, and for many years a resident, of this State, and the gift which he is able to make from the abundant accumu- lations of an honest, sagacious and industrious life is a credit to himself, an honor to his native State and the renowned Webster, whose reputation as a states- man is second to that of no other man, and whose name will be familiar to future generations, when this statue shall have crumbled to dust.

HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

COLONEL SOLON A. CARTER.

Solon Augustus Carter (7) was born in Leominster, Mass., June 22, 1837; seventh generation from Rev. Thomas Carter (1), who was born A.D. 1610, graduated at St. John's College, Cambridge, England, in 1629, and came from St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, in the "Planter," embarking April 2, 1635. On his arrival in this country he was admitted an inhabitant of Dedham, Mass .; thence he removed to Watertown, Mass.

He was ordained the first minister of the church in Woburn, Mass., November 22, 1642, which office he filled to the acceptance of his people until his death, which occurred September 5, 1684. Johnson, in his " Wonder-Working Providence," says, "He was a reverend, godly man, apt to teach the sound and wholesome truths of Christ."

The subject of this sketch traces his descent from Rev. Thomas (1), born 1610; Rev. Samuel (2), born 1640; Samuel (3), born 1677-78; Josiah (+), born 1726-27; James Carter (5), born 1768; Solon Carter (6), born 1801; Solon A. Carter (7), born 1837.

Josiah (4), his great-grandfather, married, at the age of eighteen, Tabitha Howe, aged sixteen, and settled in Leominster, Mass., clearing the homestead where the three succeeding generations were born and reared. He served in the Revolutionary War, attain- ing to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was with the army under General Washington in the disas- trous campaign in New Jersey, previous to the retreat across the Delaware. He died at the ripe age of eighty-four, on the farm his own hands had cleared, and in the house his own hands had reared. At the time of his death he had living more grandchildren than he was years old, several of the fourth degree and one or two of the fifth, so that he could without fiction say, " Arise, son, go to thy son, for thy son's son has born unto him a son,"

James Carter (5) reared and educated a family of eleven children. James G. (6), the eldest son, gradu- ated from Harvard in 1820, and was engaged in educa- tional enterprises, being contemporary with Horace Mann and a co-worker with him in educational matters, notably the establishment of the system of Normal Schools in Massachusetts.

Solon (6), the second son, succeeded to the home- stead farm, which he cultivated successfully until his death, in 1879. He was an active participant in the social, religious and civil affairs of his town, being called upon at different times to fill the various town offices within the gift of his fellow-citizens.

Solon Augustus Carter (7), the eldest son of Solon (6) and Lucretia (Joslin) Carter, was born upon the farm cleared by his great-grandfather, educated in the public schools of his native town, completing his

education in the High School at the age of seventeen, working npon the homestead farm between terms, and also during term-time. The winter succeeding his seventeenth birthday he taught a district school in Leominster. The superintending committee, in his report of the school, said of the teacher, " It is evident he does not need to learn to teach-it is in him." The next winter he taught in the neighboring town of Lancaster. The summer of 1857 he spent in Chicago, in the employ of an uncle engaged in the lumber trade; but the panic of that year had such a depress- ing effect upon business in general that a commercial life had few attractions for him and he returned to the farm, teaching during the winter months.

He entered the employ of the Keene Gas-Light Company as its superintendent in December, 1859, and has since that time considered Keene his resi- dence. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the Fourteenth Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers, and was com- missioned captain of Company G, serving with his command until July, 1863, when he was ordered upon recruiting service at Concord, where he was assigned to duty as acting assistant adjutant-general upon the staff of Brigadier General Edw. W. Hinks. In the spring of 1864, General Hinks was assigned to the command of a division of colored troops near Fortress Monroe, and Captain Carter was, at General Hinks' request, by a special order from the War Department, directed to report to him for assignment to duty. Captain Carter was announced in General Orders as acting assistant adjutant-general of the Third Colored Division, Eighteenth Army Corps, and remained on duty with that organization until the close of the war, having received a commission from the President as assistant adjutant-general of volunteers, with the rank of captain (July 25, 1864). He participated with his command in all the skirmishes and battles in which it was engaged before Petersburg, on the north of the James, at Deep Bottom, Newmarket Heights and Fort Harrison, and in both expeditions to Fort Fisher and the subsequent campaign to Raleigh. He was subsequently breveted major and lieutenant- colonel for gallant and meritorious services during the war.

Brevet Major-General Charles J. Paine, in recom- mending him for brevet commissions, wrote,-

" Captain Solon A. Carter, late assistant adjutaut-general United States Volunteers, served as assistant adjutant-general of the division which I commanded for about a year, from the beginning of August, 1864.

"First, in front of Petersburg, under constant fire day and night ; then across the James, in front of Richmond, taking part in a very severe and successful assault by the division on the enemy's lines on the Newmarket road, September 29, 1864, and in other engagements ; later, in hoth Fort Fisher expeditions. At the taking of Wilmington and in the march in pursuit of General Johnston's command, never for a moment away from his post, and never neglecting his duties, which often were quite as severe as those of any officer of the division.

" He was a brave aod faithful officer of great merit, and I always ex- ceediugly regretted that he was not promoted. There is not, within my knowledge, an instance of equal desert without greater reward."

After his discharge from the service he returned to

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THE STATE-HOUSE.

Keene and engaged in the furniture trade. He was a member of the House of Representatives from Keene in 1869 and 1870.

In June, 1872, he was elected State treasurer, which office he has held since that time, with the exception of one year (1874-75), receiving the nomina- tion by acclamation, and without opposition, in nine successive re-elections, and also the commendation of successive auditing committees for the satisfactory manner in which the duties of the office have been performed. He is an active member of the Unitarian organization, having been for several years president of the State association, and is also identified with the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and the Grand Army of the Republic.

He has taken an active part in Masonic organiza- tions, having passed the chairs of the Blue Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter and Commandery, and also the chairs of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge, serving as Most Worshipful Grand Master for two years (1878-79), and as Right Eminent Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery in 1875.

He was married, December 13, 1860, to Emily A. Conant, of Leominster, Mass.

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 11

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia [Pa.] J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1520

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia [Pa.] J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1520