History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 36

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 36
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 36

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

When the spirit left its tenement of clay to return to the God who gave it, the clock had just struck the hour of six, and as the signal of work was sounded for others he received the summons to rest forever from his labors. But no sooner had the tidings of his departure reached the factory than the implements of labor fell from every hand, every arm was relaxed, every heart was saddened and every eye was dimmed, while the widowed wife and mother, with her sorrow- ing children, relatives and friends, felt that a cloud had overshadowed their happiness. The cloud, how- ever, was not without its silver lining, for was there not something of the chastened "joy of grief" in the thought that the loss thus mourned by the living was the great and eternal gain of the dead ? How truly doth the good Book say: "The memory of the just is blessed !"

December 15, 1829, Mr. Abbot married Grace, daughter of Sherburne and Margaret (Sargent)

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HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Wiggin, who was born October 6, 1806, and still sur- vives. Their family consisted of five children, viz. : Edward Augustus, Margaret Ann, Joseph Henry, Francis Lewis and Mary.

JOHN KIMBALL.1

An honorable ancestry is a source of gratification, if not of merit, and from it noble traits of character are undoubtedly often inherited. It is therefore to be noted in considering biography.

1. Richard and Ursula Kimball, with seven chil- dren, came from Ipswich, England, April 10, 1634 (O. S.), and settled in Watertown, but in 1637 moved to Ipswich, Mass. He died June 22, 1675, having had eleven children. From this Puritan family have sprung most of the Kimballs of New England.

2. Their son, Richard, was born in England in 1623; settled in Wenham, Mass., as early as 1656; married Mary Gott, had eight children, and died May 26, 1676.

3. His son, Caleb, was born in Wenham April 9, 1665. He was of Exeter, N. H., having moved there from Wenham. He married Sarah -, had eight children, and died in Wenham January 20, 1731-32.

4. His son, John, was born in Wenham December 20, 1699; settled in Exeter, and married Abigail Lyford, February 14, 1722-23, who was the mother of six children, and died in Exeter February 12, 1737-38. He married Sarah Wilson, of Exeter, Sep- tember 18, 1740, who had nine children.

5. His son by his first marriage, Joseph, was born in Exeter January 29, 1730-31. After an early mar- riage, the wife and two children of which died, he married Sarah Smith, who gave birth to nine children, and died March 1, 1808, and he died November 6, 1814. He had moved to Canterbury as early as 1788, and settled on a farm just north of the Shakers. He had the misfortune to lose his eyesight before he left Exeter; consequently he never looked on the town of Canterbury, where he resided twenty-six years, and six of his children were born after he became blind.

6. His son, John, was born in Exeter November 20, 1767; married Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Moulton, of Kensington, November 21, 1793; moved to Canter- bury February 14, 1794, and settled on their home- stead, north of Shaker village, where they resided nearly sixty years, having nine children, the wife dying April 30, 1853, and he February 26, 1861, at the age of ninety-three years, three months and six days. To farming he added the business of a wheel- wright and manufacturer of agricultural implements, and occasionally that of a builder.

7. His son, Benjamin, was born in Canterbury De- cember 27, 1794; married Ruth, daughter of David Ames, February 1, 1820. After continuing two years with his father on the farm, and two years on a farm

in Northfield, he settled in Boscawen in the spring of 1824, on the farm known as the Frost place, on High Street ; but in November, 1830, having purchased of Hon. Jeremiah Mason, of Portsmouth, attorney for the United States Bank, its land and water-power at the south part of the town (now Penacook), he moved there, and resided in the house he had bought, situ- ated next east of the hotel, where he died July 21, 1834. Although dying at the age of forty, he had become an active and influential business man. In 1831 he erected the dam across the Contoocook River, and the brick grist-mill standing near the stone fac- tory. He also engaged in manufacturing lumber. He took an active part in all that was essential to the general and religious welfare of the town, and was elected to the Legislature in the March preceding his death.

Ruth Ames was the ninth of the ten children of David Ames and Phebe, daughter of Thomas Hoyt, who died in 1777, in the War of the Revolution. David, born May 27, 1749, was one of four children of Samuel Ames, one of the first settlers of Canterbury, who was born February 13, 1723-24, and died January 16, 1803. Ruth Ames was born in Canterbury July 29, 1797, and died in Concord October 22, 1874. She was a fine type of the strong but liberal New England woman.

John Kimball, son of Benjamin Kimball and Ruth Ames, was born in Canterbury April 13, 1821. When he was thirteen years of age his father died, leaving, also, a daughter (Elizabeth) nine years old, and an- other son (Benjamin A.) less than a year old. The widowed mother had already buried two children in infancy, and six years later lost the daughter; but she lived forty years longer, and enjoyed the highest felicity of a mother, seeing her two stalwart sons grow prosperously to man's estate, achieving riches and honors, unblemished in life and character. The early home duties and experiences of the elder son naturally aroused in him tender devotion to a mother and brother so dependent upon him, animated him to earnest and persistent effort, developed in him strong self-reliance, and laid broad and deep the foundations of those qualities of heart and mind which now dis- tinguish him.

He attended the town schools of Boscawen, and during the year 1837 the Concord Academy. In 1838 he was apprenticed as a machinist to William Moody Kimball, his father's cousin, then engaged in con- structing mills and machinery at Boscawen, and in four years he mastered his trade. His first work after coming of age was, in 1842, to rebuild the grist-mnills in the valley near the north end of Boscawen Plain, which are still in use, and he worked at his trade in Suncook, Manchester, Lowell and Lawrence.

In 1848 he took charge of the new machine and car-shops of the Concord Railroad, then building at Concord, and in 1850 became master mechanic of that corporation, continuing in the position until 1858.

1 By William E. Chandler.

John shinball.

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CONCORD.

Twenty years of unremitting work in mechanical construction had brought him to the summit of his vocation, possessing thorough, practical skill, having acquired an unusual share of common sense in human affairs, and with habits of industry, temperance and self-reliance, sure to give him a fair measure of suc- cess in any new calling which he might choose. Henceforth his life's work was to be in different fields. His neighbors and friends had discovered his integrity and capacity, and they commenced to utilize them in public employment.

In 1856, Mr. Kimball had been elected a member of the Common Council of the city of Concord, and re- elected in 1857, and chosen president of the Council. In 1858 he was elected to the State Legislature, was re-elected in 1859, and served as chairman of the committee on the State Prison. In 1859 he relin- quished other employment to serve as city marshal of Concord and collector of taxes, from which office he was, in 1862, appointed by President Lincoln to the post of collector of internal revenue for the Second District of New Hampshire, consisting of the counties of Merrimack and Hillsborough, and served until he resigned, in 1869. His collections, which included the tax on manufactures from the mills of Man- chester, were very heavy for a country district, and amounted in the seven years to nearly seven millions of dollars. No revenue district in the country estab- lished a better reputation. His methods of collection, while thorough, were quiet, and gave no offense, and his administration was in all respects faultless. In the office of the commissioner of internal revenue, at Washington, his record has always been referred to as one of the very highest.

In 1870, Mr. Kimball was elected treasurer of the Merrimack County Savings-Bank, then first organized. He has held the office ever since, and now conducts its business, for which he has been largely respon- sible, the bank being a profitable and successful in- stitution.

Mr. Kimball was elected mayor of the city of Con- cord in 1872, and re-elected in 1873, 1874 and 1875. The duties of this honorable, responsible, but per- plexing office he discharged with zeal and firmness, and to the satisfaction of the citizens. It fell to his lot to construct an nnusual number of public works, which will long endure to testify to his capacity and fidelity. A freshet having carried away or rendered impassable five of the seven wooden bridges spanning the Merrimack and Contoocook Rivers, the work of rebuilding devolved on him as the superintendent of roads and bridges. The new structures are of the most substantial character,-two, the Federal Bridge and that at Penacook, being of iron, of modern de- sign. The central fire station, built by him, is also an edifice attractive as well as commodious and con- veuient. Complaints of the cost of Mr. Kimball's constructions as mayor have long since ceased, in view of the universally admitted integrity of all ex-

penditures upon them, and their solidity and per- manency, as well as of the credit which they have brought to our beautiful city. During his adminis- tration the Long Pond water-works were constructed, bringing to the centre of Concord a copious supply of the purest water, at a cost of four hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, economically and skill- fully expended. He became ex-officio one of the water commissioners, and in 1878 president of the board, in which position he has ever since been kept. Blossom Hill Cemetery was doubled in size, the streets of the city were improved in accordance with modern re- quirements, the system of sewerage was enlarged, new and attractive school-houses were constructed, and, without any discredit to other mayors, it may be claimed that it happened to him to render more im- portant and lasting service than any other official from the adoption of the city charter, in 1853, to the present time. For his success he must have been largely indebted to the skill acquired during his long and laborious experience in the practical business of his youth and early manhood.

In 1877, unexpectedly, and without solicitation or suggestion from any one, Governor Benjamin F. Prescott and his Council appointed Mr. Kimball as chairman of the board of commissioners to build the new State Prison at Concord, with Messrs. Albert M. Shaw aud Alpha J. Pillsbury as his associates. In 1880 the edifice was completed within the limits of the moderate appropriation of two hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars, a model in its design and construction, remarkable for the honesty and cheap- ness which had characterized the establishment of a penitentiary superior, all things considered, to any prison of other States. No more than just praise was uttered concerning the chairman of the commission, on the ceremony at the opening of the prison, by the speaker of the occasion, one of Concord's most de- voted and public-spirited sons, Colonel John H. George, who said,-

"It is a matter of further and warm congratulation that its erection has been intrusted to a competent commission ; that good judgment and intelligent investigation have characterized the plan ; that no cor- rupt jobbery has polluted its construction ; and that for every dollar expended a fair and honest result has been obtained. And in this con- nection it is but just to say that the fitness and labors of the chairman of the board especially should receive public recognition. To the suc- cessful performance of the duties of his office he brought nnusual mechanical skill, and large exprience in the construction of public works."

Repeated nominations and elections of any citi- zen by his friends and neighbors to local offices, not in any way improperly procured, but conferred solely from popular esteein and desire, must be taken to indicate ability and true excellence. Mr. Kimball not only held the elective offices already mentioned, but was, by the most intelligent local constituency in the State, that of Ward 5, Concord, for eleven suc- cessive years, from 1861, elected moderator of their meetings, and was elected a member of the Consti- tutional Convention of 1876, in which he was chair-

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HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

man of the committee on finance. He was, in November, 1880, chosen State Senator by the larger constituency comprised within the principal wards in Concord; and at the meeting of the Legislature, in June, 1881, he was, by general consent of his party associates, selected for president of the Senate, in rauk the second officer in the State. The duties of this high position he performed creditably, with cour- tesy and dignity, and to the satisfaction of his fellow-members, as indicated by their unanimous resolution and their speeches of approval of the 18th of August, which were accompanied by an appropri- ate testimonial of their good-will.

Additional trusts reposed in him have heen the presidency of the Concord Gas-Light Company ; his appointment, by Mr. Chief Justice Doe, as one of the trustees of the Manchester and Keene Railroad; the treasurerships of the New Hampshire Bible So- ciety and the Orphans' Home; the settlement and management of many estates of persons deceased, and of beneficiaries of all kinds, the amounts now in his care reaching several hundred thousand dollars. The trusted citizen, banker and friend, to whom is so freely committed the property of widows and orphans, can possess no higher evidence of integrity and worth.

In person, Mr. Kimball is tall, erect and of com- manding presence, well preserved at the age of six- ty-four, in perfect health, and with good prospects for longevity. His modes of life are regular, aud he is a total abstainer, through conviction and habit. While firm and decided in his views, he is genial and courteous in personal intercourse. His mind has heen well cultivated. He is a careful reader, with an inclination for genealogical and historical research, and he writes and speaks with precision and effect. He is faithful in every relation of life, public aud domestic, and is valued and beloved by his neighbors and friends.

In 1843 he joined the Congregational Church in Boscawen, has continued his conuection with that de- nomination and is now a member of the South Congregational Church in Concord. He is free from bigotry, pretense and intolerance, is a just aud good man, serving his God faithfully according to the light he possesses, performing his every duty and bearing his every burden without complaint.

In politics, Mr. Kimball has had no violent changes to make. Acquiring Whig principles from his father and grandfather, the latter being a great ad- mirer of Governor John Taylor Gilman, he became a Republican in 1856, and has always been an active, trusted and honored member of his party, serving since 1863, twenty years, as treasurer of the Repub- lican State Committee.

May 27, 1846, at the age of twenty-five, Mr. Kim- ball married Maria H. Phillips, of Rupert, Vt. Their only child, Clara Maria, born March 20, 1848, mar- ried, June 4, 1873, Mr. Augustine R. Ayers, a suc- cessful merchant in Concord. Six children-Ruth

Ames, John Kimball, Helen McGregor, Joseph Sher- burne, Josiah Philips and Augustine Haines-have been born to them. All are now living except Joseph Sherburne and Josiah Phillips.

Mr. Kimball has lived during an eventful period in the history of his country and the world, and has seen wonderful changes in human affairs. Commenc- ing life during the first quarter of the century, he has already almost reached the middle of the last quarter and may hope to survive to its end. He began in the poor and primitive days of the republic; he now sees it abounding in wealth and the means of luxnri- ous living. Marvelous progress has been made under his eyes in all forms of human knowledge and in all departments of huutan endeavor. When, in 1834, he and his widowed mother took counsel together how to meet the necessities of life for them- selves and the dependent sister and brother, they saw no telegraphs, railroads, steamships nor power printing-presses. Before that mother died, in 1874, these four wonderful inventions alone had revo- lutionized all civilized life. Progress in human- ity has been no less striking. As late, even, as 1852 the public conscience was proved to be dead concern- ing American chattel slavery, which was a most foul stain on the nation's honor, whose extinction almost no man dared predict or hope for ; but another decade saw slavery annihilated, and freedom universal in America. Fortunately, Mr. Kimball has had nothing to unlearn or retract of opinions on slavery. He has witnessed and participated in the whole anti-slavery struggle, and now, in the fulness of his manhood, rejoices that he can enjoy the worldly prosperity with which he has been blessed, as the citizen of a nation exalted by righteousness and sustained and guided by the highest national honor.

BENJAMIN A. KIMBALL.

The subject of this sketch received his preparatory education at the High School in Concord, and sub- sequently at a school in Derry under the special in- structions of Prof. Hildreth (who at that time was regarded as one of the ablest teachers in the State). He entered the Chandler Scientific Department of Dartmouth College at the opening of that department of the college, iu 1851, to fit himself for his chosen profession of mechanical engineer. He acquitted himself with credit in all the branches prescribed in the course of study, and was especially excellent in mathematics and draughting. His class was small, but it was composed of meu who entered college with the purpose of making the most of themselves, and they worked with a will. He graduated with honor, July 27, 1854, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science.

An incident, known to but few now living, occurred at the time of his graduation which revealed the spirit and purpose of his class.

----

- -

سعد

Gand Pillsbury

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CONCORD.

Considering the smallness of the number that was to graduate, the trustees thought the department could not well afford to have a steel plate engraved for the diploma at that time. From this decision the class appealed through its principal instructor,-then, as always, a firm friend of the department,-John S. Woodman, to the board of visitors, John A. Dixwell and Francis B. Hayes. The visitors saw at once that the class, having completed the prescribed course, could demand all they claimed, and that to withhold it might injure the department, and they said to Prof. Woodman : "This department shall not be behind other departments of the college in honoring its graduates."

The diplomas were consequently ordered and ex- eented with a pen on parchment by N. D. Gould, of Harvard College, and were fine specimens of artistic penmanship and faithful testimonials of the justice then secured and since maintained for the Chandler Department by the board of visitors.

August 1, 1854, Mr. Kimball entered the employ of the Concord Railroad as draughtsman and machinist, and was promoted, April 1, 1856, to be foreman of the locomotive department. January 1, 1858, he suc- ceeded his brother as master-mechanic at the age of twenty-six years. A suggestion was made to the directors as to the propriety of appointing him, on account of his age and limited practical experience, to an office involving responsibilities so important, but from their knowledge of him in his previous em- ployment by the company they did not hesitate to make it, and by his untiring energy and application he soon proved his fitness for the position and con- tinued successfully to occupy it until April 1, 1865, when he resigned. At this time he became a member of the firm of Ford & Kimball, manufacturers of car- wheels, etc., which business is still successfully car- ried on by them. In 1870 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives from Ward 6, Con- cord, but declined a re-election in 1871.

He was a member of a special committee appointed by the City Council of Concord, in 1871, to procure plans and specifications for an aqueduct to bring a supply of water from Long Pond, and, in January following, was appointed a member of the Board of Water Commissioners to construct the works sub- stantially upon the plan and under the ordinance submitted by said committee. He continued an ac- tive member of the board for six years and was its president for three years. In 1876 he was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention to revise the Constitution of the State, and proved an efficient and valuable member of that assembly.

He has been connected with the banking interests of the city for many years. He was trustee and president of the Concord Savings-Bank until compelled to resign by ill health, and is a trustee of the Merrimack County Savings-Bank at this time. He has been a director in the Mechanics' National Bank from its

organization, and is now its president. January 11, 1879, he was elected to fill the vacancy in the board of directors of the Concord Railroad caused by the death of Hon. Onslow Stearns, and has since been closely connected with its system of roads. In No- vember, 1884, he was chosen councilor for the Second District and accepted the office June 4, 1885.

This is the brief, but honorable record of one whose life has been devoted to industries and enterprises which are the source of general prosperity. He has not coveted official stations, but, quietly mastering the principles and details of his business, has ad- vanced by the force of personal merit to stations of large public responsibility, and has always proved equal to the demands which have been made upon him. His mind naturally and easily grasps the reasons of things, and hence he is thoroughly practical in his work and affairs. He is a good example of that honorable and valuable class of our citizens whose natural abilities, cultivated and improved by study and practical experience, make them successful in business for themselves and influential and useful members of society in the communities in which they live.

In an age distinguished for mechanical skill and the application of force to the development of material resources, men of the quality of Mr. Kimball are indispensable and appreciated. Metaphysicians and theorists are relegated to seclusion, and practical thinkers and doers are advanced to leadership. The right of the subject of this sketch to a foremost place in this class has been clearly recognized and his place assigned at the front in the line of social progress. The people have learned that he is not one

" To cozen fortune, And be honorablo without the stamp of merit."

HON. GEORGE A. PILLSBURY.1

The prosperity of the great West, a subject almost too vast for comprehension, certainly too extensive to be treated of in these pages, is one in which all sections of the country must, necessarily, be deeply concerned. Particularly is the proposition true as re- gards New England, for there are binding ties of relationship and identities of interest that render separation or indifference upon the part of the latter impossible. New England has claimed, justly, it is conceded, to have contributed very largely in men and money to build up the West to its present flourishing condition, but certainly no State has done more, pro- portionately, towards accomplishing this end than New Hampshire. National or sectional prosperity is as much due to the energy and enterprise of men as to capital, and to-day, there is not a State in the wide West that does not show the fruits of the pluck and

1 By Allan H. Robinson.

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HISTORY OF MERRIMACK COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

perseverance of New Hampshire men. A glorious inheritance was the energy, industry and self-reli- auce which seem to have been transmitted from the settlers of the Granite State to their descendants; for it is to these traits of character that the State owes the credit reflected upon her by the success of her sons. Well may the State regard with pride the roll of names that have achieved distinction abroad, for it is as bright as a constellation, and, as a New Hampshire statesman and scholar recently said, " as long as the milky way." Not alone in literature, the professions and politics, but in industrial pursuits, and, in fact, all the walks in life, have they become distinguished. Hardly a village in the common- wealth but boasts of some representative abroad who has won honor and distinction. High in the list of honored names, in this and other States, is that of Pillsbury, and in the subjoined it is attempted to sketch, briefly, the life of a member of this family, who recently left New Hampshire to make his home iu Minnesota. Brief and unsatisfactory, in point of detail, as it is rendered by limited space, the writer feels assured that the facts will be read with interest by the many friends of the gentleman mentioned.

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 36

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