History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 35

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 35
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 35

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supervision to all the corporate interests under his charge, embracing not only their general relations with other corporations and interests, but extending to the most minute details of their management. He was never idle. No man was ever more pains- taking and faithful in the discharge of his duties. His papers and figures were carried with him, and studied as he journeyed between his home in Con- cord and the railroad offices in Boston ; and when in Boston his labors almost always extended far into the hours of night. He lived in labor, and thought no plan complete till, by execution, it had passed beyond his power to labor upon it. His knowledge of the practical management of railroads was com- plete and perfect to the smallest details; and this, together with his unwearied industry, sound business judgment and foresight and his knowledge and control of men, contributed to a success such as few railroad managers have attained. At his death he was the oldest railroad president in continuous service in New England, having been president of the Northern Railroad for twenty-seven years.

Although in no sense a politician, as has been stated, Mr. Stearns was a man of fixed political con- victions, acting heartily with the Whig party from early life nntil the dissolution of the party, when he became a Republican. In 1862 he accepted the nomination of his party as candidate for State Sen- ator in the Concord District, and was elected, serving upon the committees upon railroads, elections, and military affairs. He was re-elected the following year, and was chosen president of the Senate, faith- fully and acceptably discharging the duties of his responsible position. In legislation, as in business

life, he was eminently a practical man. During his term of legislative service the War of the Rebellion was in progress, and his efforts as a legislator, as well as a citizen, were freely and fully exerted in behalf of the Union cause. He was one of the prime movers in the formation of the New Hampshire Soldiers' Aid Society, an organization which con- tributed largely to the encouragement of enlistments and the assistance of the needy families of soldiers in the field.

In 1864, Mr. Stearns was a delegate-at-large from New Hampshire in the Republican National Con- vention, and was one of the vice-presidents of that body. Many prominent Republicans and personal friends had, for some time, urged his candidacy for the Republican nomination for Governor of the State, and in 1867 he received a large vote in the convention which nominated General Harriman for that office. Soon after the convention he was besought by a num- ber of his friends and political associates, who were dissatisfied with the action of the convention, to allow the use of his name as an independent candi- date, but declined to accede to their wishes.

In the Republican State Convention of 1867 no name but that of Mr. Stearns was presented for the

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gubernatorial nomination, which was conferred upon him by acclamation, a circumstance of rare occur- rence in a case of a first nomination. He was elected by a decided majority, over General John Bedel, the Democratic candidate, and was renomi- nated the following year. He sent a letter to the convention declining the renomination, on account of the state of his health and the pressure of busi- ness cares ; but the convention refused to accept the declination, and a committee was appointed to wait upon him and urge its withdrawal, which was finally successful in its efforts. His re-election followed, and for another year he devoted no small share of his attention to the interests of the State, notwith- standing the varied demands of the extensive cor- porate interests under his management. To the financial affairs of the State his care was especially directed, and during his administration the State debt was reduced nearly one-third, while the State tax was also reduced in still greater proportion. He also took a lively interest in the management of the State Prison, and was instrumental in effecting great changes therein, securing more thorough discipline and putting the institution upon a paying basis, whereas it had long been run at a pecuniary loss to the State.

In the discharge of all his public duties Mr. Stearns always sought to treat the matter in hand in a thoroughly practical and business-like manner, exercising the same judgment and discrimination as in the management of his private and business affairs. Although firmly attached to his party, he was less a partisan in the exercise of his official functions than many of his predecessors had been, and was the first Republican Governor of New Hampshire to nominate a Democrat to a position upon the Supreme Bench, which he did in 1870, when Hon. Wm. S. Ladd, of Lancaster, was made an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Judge Nesmith. This action, although denounced by many of his Republican friends, is now regarded by all as having been wise and judicious, inasmuch as the ultimate outcome has been a thoroughly non- partisan judiciary in our State and a universal desire and determination to maintain the same.

The cause of education found in Mr. Stearns a warm friend, and in the welfare of Dartmouth Col- lege, which institution, in 1857, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts, he took special interest. His first public address after assuming the gubernatorial office was upon the occasion of the college centennial, wherein he took decided ground in favor of such liberal aid from the State as might be necessary to make the institution permanently effective for the public good.

In religious sympathies and convictions Mr. Stearns was a Unitarian, and was an active and influential member of the Unitarian Society of

Concord during his long residence in the city, con- tributing liberally for the support of public worship, upon which he was a constant attendant, and for all its auxiliary purposes and objects. Thoroughly public-spirited, he never failed to give material sup- port to all measures which seemed to him calculated to advance the interests of his adopted city, as well as the State at large, nor were his social duties in the least neglected, notwithstanding the pressing cares of public and business life.

The long and arduous labor of his life was not without its substantial reward, and he became the possessor of an ample fortune, enabling him to dis- pense a liberal hospitality. Among the many dis- tinguished persons entertained in his elegant mansion were two incumbents of the chief magistracy of the United States, General Grant and Mr. Hayes, each of whom became his guest when visiting our State capital.

Mr. Stearns was united in marriage, June 26, 1845, with Miss Mary A. Holbrook, daughter of Hon. Adin Holbrook, of Lowell, Mass., and with her established a home in Concord the following year, in the location where he continued to reside, making numerous improvements from time to time through- out his life. Five children-a son and four daugh- ters-are the fruit of this union. The son, Charles O. Stearns, is engaged in railroad business in Boston. The eldest daughter, Mary, is the wife of Brevet Brigadier-General John R. Brooke, of the United States army; the second daughter, Margaret, is now Mrs. Ingalls, of North Adams, Mass .; the other daughters, Sarah and Grace, remain with their mother at the family residence in Concord, where. the husband and father, after a brief illness of a few days, quietly departed this life, December 29, 1878.

LEWIS DOWNING.

Samuel, father of Lewis, was of English extraction, born in 1757, and moved to Lexington, Mass., in 1777. He married, first, Susanna, daughter of Ben- jamin and Sarah (Reed) Brown, of Lexington. The children of this marriage were Polly, born Octo- ber 21, 1783; Oliver, born March 10, 1785; Samuel, born October 30, 1787; Susanna, born November 20, 1788; Sally, born November 23, 1790; Lewis, born June 23, 1792; William, born September 20, 1796. The latter was a soldier in the War of 1812, and was mortally wounded at the battle of Lundy's Lane, July 25, 1814.

Samuel married, second, Eunice Bridge, of Lex- ington, and the children from this union were Emily, born January 24, 1801 ; Charles, born July 9, 1802; George W., born February 22, 1804; Andrew J., born October 31, 1815, and Fanny, who died in in- fancy. Samuel was a carriage-maker by trade, and taught the same to his son Samuel, who, in turn, taught it to his brother Lewis, and the shop where

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they all worked still stands as then, in the town of Lexington and just below the celebrated " Munroe Tavern."

In the year 1800 Samuel removed from Lexington, Mass., to Newburgh, N. Y., and thence to Montgom- ery, intending to continue his occupation as a ear- riage-maker at that place. Owing to the bad state of his health at Montgomery he returned to Newburgh, where he established, on the corner of Broad and Liberty Streets, about the commencement of the present century, a shop for the manufacture of wagons and carriages. While yet in the early stages of this undertaking failing health led him to engage in the more healthful business of market gardening and the cultivation of a nursery, which he planted on the property adjoining his shop. As early as 1810, he offered for sale, trees grafted or inoculated of apples, pears, peaches, apricots and cherries, and was the first to conduct the business with such suc- cess as to secure its continuance. He led an indus- trious and sober life, and died in Newburgh November 1, 1822. Of the children by his second marriage, Charles and Andrew J. were very celebrated for their knowledge of horticulture and landscape gard- ening, having published various works, among which are "Downing's Fruits and Fruit-Trees of America," "Downing's Country Houses," and also " Landscape Gardening."

Andrew J. Downing, as an architect, has no su- perior. His creations were always appropriate to, and compatible with, their surroundings. So much 80, that one was often fain to wonder whether the scen- ery was made to fit the edifice, or the edifice to crown and ennoble the scenery. As a horticulturist, flori- culturist and pomologist he had no equal ; his knowl- edge in each of these departments was profound and exhaustive, and his taste both exquisite and unerring. As an author, he was prolific, genial and attractive; always at his ease, and always a perfect master of his subject and the English language. He was for many years editor of the Horticulturist, a monthly magazine of large circulation. It is very rarely that a man of such varied talents, each so perfect in its kind and all capable of combination to a certain and practi- cable end, appears in this world of ours. He laid out the grounds of the Smithsonian Institute, in Washington in 1851, and a monument was afterwards erected on them to his memory. He perished in the burning of the steamer " Henry Clay," on the Hudson River, July 28, 1852, while on his way to superintend the erection of some villas at Newport, R. I.

Charles Downing was always in complete sympathy with his gifted brother, Andrew J., and had many qualities in common with him. He devoted his life to his favorite pursuits of horticulture and pomology, and re-edited Andrew's Work on "Fruits and Fruit- Trees of America," adding much new matter, the results of his own observation and experiments, finally completing a work which is considered the highest

authority on this subject both in England and America. He died at Newburgh, N. Y., January 18, 1885, at the age of eighty-two years. On the ma- ternal side they are of the same lineage as the late President Garfield, the common ancestor being John Bridge, the Puritan, one of the earliest settlers of Cambridge, whose statue in bronze stands on Cam- bridge Common.

Lewis, the subject of this sketch, son of Samuel and Susanna (Brown) Downing, was born in Lexing- ton, Mass., June 23, 1792; married Lucy Wheelock, only child of Jonathan and Lucy (Beaman) Wheelock, at Concord, Mass., May 25, 1815. Jonathan Wheelock was a soldier in the Revolution, doing service for his country, from Bunker Hill to Yorktown, especially sharing in the sufferings of the American army at Valley Forge. He was for many years a noted stage- driver between Boston and Concord, Mass., spending the last years of his life with his daughter, dying at her home, September 5, 1845, at the age of eighty- six years.

The children of Lewis and Lucy (Wheelock) Downing, all born in Concord, were, Lucy Maria, born September 19, 1818; Lewis Downing, Jr., born December 6, 1820 ; Alonzo, born December 28, 1822; Mary Ann, born January 25, 1826 ; Emily and Ellen, born July 28, 1828. Lewis moved from Lexington, Mass., to Concord, N. H., in May, 1813, and com- menced the carriage business, first at the north end of Main Street, but in 1816 purchased the " Duncan Es- tate," at the south end, and moved his shops there, where they remain at the present time. For the first few years he only made the "Concord Wagon," with some freight-wagons, used at that time for freighting goods from Boston to towns in New Hampshire and Vermont, and the two-wheel chaise, used extensively then instead of the four-wheel buggy, as at the pres- ent time. The first wagon made was in November, 1813, and the first chaise he made was sold to the Rev. Dr. Bouton, and was used by him a great many years. In the year 1826, Mr. Downing, foreseeing that there must eventually be a great demand for stage-coaches, concluded to commence the manufacture of them, and with that in view, he went to Salem, Mass. and arranged with J. Stephens Abbot to come to Concord and huild three coach-bodies. Mr. Abbot was then at work for Mr. Frothingham, a celebrated coach-maker in Salem, but left and arrived in Con- cord on Christmas eve, and made the first coach- bodies ever built in New Hampshire during the spring of 1827. The first coach was completed, and went out of the shop in July, 1827, and was sold to John Shepherd. From that time on, the demand for coaches increased, and before the advent of the rail- roads they could be found in all parts of the world.

In 1828, Mr. Downing took Mr. Abbot in with him as a partner, and the firm-name was Downing & Abbot until September, 1847, when it was dissolved, and Mr. Downing and his two sous built new shops

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on Main Street, opposite the Phenix Hotel, con- tinning business under the name of L. Downing & Sons, while Mr. Abbot and his son Edward A. carried on the same at the old shops. January 1, 1865, Mr. Downing, Sr., retired from the business, and a new firm was formed under the name of Abbot, Downing & Co., consisting of J. Stephens, Edward A. and Joseph H. Abbot, Lewis Downing, Jr., and Alonzo Downing, and the works at the south end greatly en- larged for the purpose. January 1, 1873, they pur- chased the works of Harvey, Morgan & Co., and reorganized under the general laws of New Hamp- shire as the Abbot-Downing Company, and so continue at the present time, with a capital of four hundred thousand dollars, a force of two hundred and seventy- five men, their shops occupying about six acres of ground and their carriages sent in all directions. In this connection it may not be improper to say that it is a very remarkable circumstance, probably without a parallel, that from the time Samuel Downing com- menced learning his trade, in 1772, until the present time, 1885, it will be one hundred and thirteen con- seentive years of service in the same business by the father, son and grandson, and a total of one hundred and forty-fonr years' active service by the same per- sons, viz .: Samuel Downing from 1772 until 1810, thirty-eight years; Lewis Downing from 1807 until 1865, fifty-eight years; and Lewis Downing, Jr., from 1837 until 1885, forty-eight years. The latter is still in active business and president of the Abbot-Downing Company. The original shops, established by Lewis Downing seventy-two years ago, occupy the same ground they have occupied the past sixty-nine years. Mr. Downing visited California twice in connection with his business, and was well-known on the Pacific coast, where he had a large market for his carriages, so celebrated the world over. He earned and main- tained a high reputation for skill, sagacity and in- tegrity, probably doing as much as any other man for the prosperity and growth of Concord. The Concord Daily Monitor, in an interesting sketch of his career, January, 1865, says: " Mr. Downing, Sr., retires from business, after active participation in it for nearly fifty-eight years, and we think we express the general sentiment of the community when we say that during that time, his integrity having never been questioned, he is entitled to be called Concord's best benefactor."

Mr. Downing, though not an active politician, was a thorough-going Republicau, and represented Ward 6 in the State Legislature in 1865-66. He not only sought to build up a business for his own advantage, but he was keenly alive to whatever affected the pub- lic welfare. So far as his influence could avail any- thing, he endeavored to have the business affairs of the community and State conducted on principles of strict justice to all concerned. Positive and self-re- liant in his own convictions, he opposed, with blunt sincerity, whatever seemed to him ill-considered and blamable. No one had a more thoughtful concern

for whatever tended to strengthen public character and elevate public life, and his personal integrity in business gave character to the whole community and made the city of Concord famous. His coaches being known the world over, are regarded as fair represen- tatives of the average moral worth of her citizens. In religion, so far as any creed is concerned, he was a strong Unitarian, being one of the founders of that society in the city of Concord, and in his will gives his entire estate, at the decease of his children, to that society, the income of which is to be expended by them annually for the spread of liberal Chris- tianity, as represented in the writings of William Ellery Channing. After a long and severe illness he died, March 10, 1873, in the eighty-first year of his age. His life was faithful, just and true; his death peaceful, serene, full of faith and longings for the "beyond."

J. STEPHENS ABBOT.

In the beautiful town of Andover, Mass., situated on the bank of the Merrimack River, is the cemetery in which may be seen a cenotaph bearing the follow- ing inscription :

" GEORGE ABBOT, born in England, was one of the first settlers of Andover, A.D. 1643 where, in 1647, he married HANNAH CHANDLER. He died December, 1681, 2. 66, She died December 1711, JE. 82. Their descendants, in reverence for Their Moral Worth and Christian virtues, erected this monument A.D. 1843.""

Thus it appears that the ancestors of the subject of this sketch were of that sturdy and valiant race of pioneers who laid the foundation of this great Anglo- Saxon nation.

J. Stephens Abbot was born in Albany, Me., on the 22d of February, 1804. While yet an infant he was deprived of both his parents, and his nncle, General Abbot, took him to old Salem to his aunt, Mrs. Chase, hy whom he was adopted, and for whom he always cherished the most affectionate regard.

At Salem he enjoyed such educational advantages as generally fell to the lot of boys destined to earn their own living in a new country at that early period of the present century. His school-days over, he was apprenticed to Frothingham & Loring, of Salem, who were then celebrated chaise-builders, and some years afterward he was indnced by Mr. Lewis Downing, Sr., to accompany him to Concord, N. H., to aid in the introduction and manufacture of the now famous Concord stage-coach. It was here that he built the first coach-bodies which were ever constructed in the State of New Hampshire.

In 1828 he became associated with Mr. Downing as a partner in the firm of Downing & Abbot. Together they planted, with skillful hands, that tree which has

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taken such deep root in the soil that, to-day, hundreds of industrious families find sustenance and shelter under its vigorous branches.

Many an old man in New England and the Canadas can well remember the first yellow, oval-shaped, Con- cord stage-coach which came rattling into his native village, creating more excitement than the train of railroad cars does now, rushing into the depot with its ponderous engine. A description of the running part of the Concord stage-coach would be superfluous, because the saying has become proverbial that "the Concord running parts do their own talking." The superiority in the running parts was a peculiarity in the Concord stage-coach that called for the exercise of the utmost intelligence, combined with no small degree of practical and scientific knowledge. The same admirable qualifications were displayed by Mr. Abbot in the construction of those old-fashioned om- nibuses then in vogue.

For several years the business continued to enlarge and prosper, until, in 1847, Mr. Downing retired from the firm, leaving Mr. Abbot to carry on the business in his own name, and in 1852 he took his son, E. A., into partnership, under the firm-name of J. S. & E. A. Abbot, who brought out the justly-celebrated American ambulances, which rendered such priceless service in our Civil War and also in the conflict be- tween France and Prussia. So greatly were they appreciated by the French nation that the provisional goverument decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor three enterprising Americans who intro- duced these humane accompaniments of war into France.

It is thus that at all times, especially when great emergencies arise, the genius of New England in the mechanic arts finds so vast a field of usefulness at home and abroad.

In 1865 the firm-name was changed to that of Abbot, Downing & Co., by the introduction of Lewis Downing, Jr., the son of Mr. Abbot's old partner. The new firm turned their attention to the manufac- ture of the celebrated Concord wagons, which manu- facture soon became remarkably successful. There are very few on this continent who do not know what is meant by the expression "a Concord express- wagon." Besides the various specialties of their own invention here manufactured, they built for the New York Transfer Company fifty of Dodd's "Patent Crystals " for use in New York City.

The whole establishment is so admirably arranged that the extensive business at Concord contributes simultaneously to the prosperity of the firm and the general comfort and happiness of the employés and their families. Indeed, Mr. Abbot was remarkably successful, not only in commanding their respect, but in gaining their affectionate good-will. Possessing a fine figure, a noble presence and a countenance at once beautiful and beaming with goodness and benev- olence, they regarded him as a friend a benefactor,

rather than as an employer, in the ordinary accepta- tion of the word.

If proof of this were called for, we have it in the fact that no such thing as a strike was ever heard of in the factory at Concord, and whenever difficulties occurred among the workmen his word and look were sufficient to remove them, while his friendly counsel rarely, if ever, failed to effect the object for which it was given. He was, essentially, "a master-workman," being thoroughly conversant with every branch of the manufacture and every detail of the business.

Often have the hands been astonished to note with what judgment and skill he could walk into the forest, and at a glance, as if indued with intuitive perception, select and blaze the trees which were best adapted for his purpose.

In all the relations of life the deceased was con- fided in and beloved, while a word of praise from his lips exercised the same magic power in his home circle as in the work-shop.

He attended the Episcopalian Church and adorned its doctrines in all things, and was more a Christian, and less a sectarian, than many who make a louder profession of religion. In politics he was "an Old- Line Whig," one of the Daniel Webster school. He enjoyed the intimate friendship of some of the best and foremost statesmen in his adopted State; was a warm, personal friend of the late ex-President Franklin Pierce, and a member of the old Salem Cadets, at whose reunion, in 1870, he was present contributing to the general enjoyment on that happy occasion. With the ample means at his disposal, he was never backward in promoting, as fitting occasion presented, the welfare of his relatives and friends. He had never known sickness until the illness over- took him which, in three short weeks, terminated his earthly career, March 16, 1871, in the sixty-eighth year of his useful and honorable life.

It is pleasing to know that he bore his sufferings with Christian patience and with manly fortitude.

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 35

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