History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 40

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 40
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 40

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).

JAMES SHEPARD NORRIS.

Among the families whose names are prominent in the colonial history of New England, and who have shown energy, force of character, business acumen and persistent industry, which have impressed themselves on the present era by the perpetual labor of several generations, must be particularly mentioned the Norris family. The name appears frequently in the annals of Epping, N. H., showing them to have been active in the pioneer, colonial, Revolutionary, civil and religious history of that town.

In 1741, as signers to a petition to His Excel- lency, Benning Wentworth, His Majesty's Council, for incorporation into a separate parish, are found the names of James Norris, James Norris, Jr., and Samuel Norris. As members of a Committee of Safety are found the names of Joseph, John and Moses Norris.

The town of Epping was incorporated February 12, 1741, and the first town-meeting was convened at the farm-house of James Norris.

Iu the War of the Revolution James Norris was a soldier, and in 1775 was promoted to rank of captain.

In 1779, Josiah Norris was chairman of the com- mittee to audit the accounts of the town, and to pay to the soldiers the sums raised as bounties.

In the list of representatives to the General Court, in the ecclesiastical history of the town and in the various records of public acts the name of this family frequently appears. These men were tillers of the soil, and became owners of large tracts of land, which have been handed down from father to son, each succeeding generation leaving thereon its im- press of improvement and increased fertility. The life of a plain farmer, with no startling events or 11

famous acts, is apt to be uneventful so far as the pur- poses of a biographical sketch are concerned, and yet these lives are the foundation and superstructure of society. The line of descent is from John (1), James (2), Thomas (3), James D. (4), to James Shepard (5).

Thomas (3) was born February 14, 1743, and died in 1840. His son, James D. (4), was born in Epping April 23, 1785, and married Mary Pike Norris, who was born in Epping July 2, 1785, and died October 6, 1828. The children of this union were Maria H., born June 16, 1809; James Shepard (5), born Decem- ber 4, 1812; Mary E., born August 22, 1825.

James D. (4) succeeded to the farm of his father, Thomas (3), and became one of the successful farmers of the town, besides carrying on the lumber business and the manufacture of barrels and shoe-boxes. He was active in doing good, greatly interested in educa- tioual and religious matters, was a regular attendant on public worship and lived a useful and exemplary life. In his family relations he was tenderly affec- tionate, as a friend and citizen was trusted and true, and justly meriting the good opinion of all. He died at his residence in Epping, August 9, 1857, and was buried on the old homestead.

James Shepard (5), the subject of this sketch, passed his boyhood on the old homestead farm, where his lot was much like that of the farmer-boy of that time, assisting in farm-work in the summer and attending the common school in winter. His educa- tional advantages were such as were afforded by the district school, supplemented by two terms of private instruction. At the age of twelve years young Norris had become useful in general farm-work, and as time progressed also went into the woods with his father for timber, which was converted into lumber at the saw-mill, owned partly by his father. Being active in business, he was soon entrusted with the re- sponsibility of hauling and marketing lumber, which was transported by ox-teams to Newburyport, Mass., twenty-five miles distant. The teams were loaded and ready for the start at three o'clock in the after- noon, the journey being kept up through the silent hours of the night and the journey's end reached about sunrise the following morning. The lumber was marketed during that day and the return journey commenced after the load was sold out, and ordinarily the arrival home would be in the afternoon of the third day. Such was the routine during the lumber season. In addition to these duties, he took charge of the manufacture of lumber at the saw-mill, and, during the absence of his father, was intrusted with all the responsibilities incident to this varied busi- ness.

About the year 1838, Mr. Norris commenced the manufacture of shoes in Epping, which he continued until 1847, when, by reason of the business, which was too confining, his health failed. He came to Coucord and entered the employment of Ebenezer Symmes, as salesman in the bread, cracker, pastry

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and confectionery business, at a salary of twenty dollars per month. This out-door occupation was beneficial to his health, and in a short space of time, having become thoroughly familiar with the selling department of this business, and more or less con- versant with the general business, he, in 1850, pur- chased the business of Mr. Symmes and carried it on so successfully that in the course of a few years it became necessary to put up additional buildings, which were, when completed, supplied with modern improvements for the economical transaction of the business on a large scale.

In 1859, Mr. Norris suffered the loss of his build- ings by a disastrous conflagration, Transferring the larger part of his business to an unoccupied bakery at Warner, N. H., he at once, with characteristic energy, set about rebuilding, and in the brief space of six months completed the work, and relinquishing the Warner bakery, opened anew in Concord.

In May, 1864, Mr. Norris took into partnership Mr. George W. Crockett, of Sanbornton, N. H., and con- tinued under the firm name of J. S. Norris & Co. until 1875, when Mr. Crockett retired, disposing of his in- terest to Mr. Norris, who, the same year, transferred it to his son, James C. Norris, and they continued un- der the firm of J. S. Norris & Son for three years. Having thus been actively and continuously engaged in this business for thirty-one years, the unremitting cares of which had undermined his health and made rest and quiet imperative, Mr. Norris sold his interest in the business to Mr. Crockett, his former partner, and retired, and the firm since that date (1878) has been Norris & Crockett.

Mr. Norris, during his successful business career, has acquired valuable real estate in Concord, and is now passing the evening of life surrounded by com- forts and conveniences that are the legitimate fruits of his careful and prudent business habits. Mr. Norris has never been active in politics nor a seeker after place or position, but since his first vote has acted with the Democratic party. In religion he is a Baptist, a member of the First Baptist Church of Concord, and for many years one of its deacons. In the improvement of this church building he made a very liberal gift, and also contributed to the churches in Epping and Suncook.

Mr. Norris is a valued member of the I. O. O. F. and is also a Free-Mason, being a member of Blazing Star Lodge, of Concord.

A man so successful in the management of his own affairs would naturally be sought for counsel in the financial affairs of his community, and we find him acting as a director in the State Capital Bank, to which position he was elected February 10, 1863. He was also elected director of the National State Capital Bank January 2, 1865, which position he has held continuously to the present time. He is a trustee and vice-president of the Loan and Trust Savings-Bank, of Concord, and one of its investment

committee, and a trustee of the Centennial Home for the Aged, the existence of which institution is largely dne to his exertions. He has done much for the im- provement of Concord, and has been ready to assist in every good work, and has ever been a true friend to the poor. He has been interested in education and liberal in support of schools.

Such a life, unostentatious though it be, has a value not to be easily measured, and the world is much better for such living.

In November, 1840, Mr. Norris married, first, Caro- line M., daughter of Dr. Timothy and Sarah Hillard, of Northwood, N. H., who died June 27, 1847, aged thirty-one years, leaving a daughter, Ellen G., born May 1, 1844, who married George W. Crockett.

September 24, 1850, Mr. Norris married, second, Mary E., danghter of Wesley and Harriet Palmer, of Concord. She was born January 23, 1829. From this union there was born James C. (6), April 3, 1854, who has succeeded to the business of his father and is now at the head of the firm, aud stands as one of the flourishing and intelligent young business men of Concord.

July 5, 1876, James C. (6) married Minnie Parker, daughter of Augustus and Mary Jane Wiggin, of Concord. She was born May 13, 1856. From this union there have been Mabel Parker, born February 9, 1877 ; Orra, born November 24, 1878; Ethel, born February 13, 1881; and James Shepard (7), born No- vember 20, 1884.

Of the first wife of Mr. Norris (5) it may fittingly be said that she was a help-meet, frugal and indus- trious, and with untiring devotion and Christian love aiding to the utmost in establishing a home in its truest sense. She was devoted to her husband, her child and her Saviour.

It was at the time when Mr. Norris (5) started out for himself in the wider field at Concord that he married Mary E. Palmer, and of her it may be said that, while attending to the manifold duties of the household, she has aided and encouraged her husband in his struggle from poverty to affluence, and now shares with him the confidence and love of a large circle of friends. She is a tender, loving wife, a true Christian mother and a member of the First Baptist Church of Concord.

GRANVILLE P. CONN.

Granville P. Conn, A.M., M.D., Concord, was born in Hillsborough, Hillsborough County, January 25, 1832, and was the youngest of eight children of William and Sarah (Priest) Conn. The paternal ancestry was of Scotch-Irish origin, while on the maternal side it was of English descent. His father being a farmer, he resided at home until sixteen, at- tending the common schools and in doing farm-work. After this a few months at Francestown and Pem- broke Academies was followed with two years at

Granville P. Com

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Captain Alden Partridge's Military Institution, at Norwich, Vt., with an occasional term of teach- ing common and select schools in New Hampshire and Vermont. At this time, and until 1852, he de- voted his attention principally to fitting for the pro- fession of civil engineering, which myopia and general ill health compelled him to relinquish.

From this time until 1856 he read medicine in the office of Dr. H. B. Brown, of Hartford, Vt., and teaching mathematics several months during this period at the academy in that village. After attend- ing two courses of medical lectures at Woodstock, Vt., and a third course at Dartmouth Medical Col- lege, he received the degree of M.D. from the latter institution in the class of 1856, with the late Professor A. B. Crosby, of Hanover.

In 1880 Norwich University conferred the honorary degree of A.M.

In 1856 he located at East Randolph, Vt., and re- mained there until 1861, when he sold out and re- moved to Richmond, Chittenden County, Vt.

He was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Twelfth Regiment Vermont Volunteers, Angust 19, 1862, and was ordered to rendezvous at Brattleborongh at once, and, in connection with the late Surgeon Phelps, of Windsor, Vt., instituted a United States hospital of one thousand beds. A month later his regiment came into the field, and with it he served in Virginia during its nine months' service, first in the Twenty-second Army Corps and afterwards with the Second Vermont Brigade, was transferred to the First Army Corps and was mustered out of the service with the regiment at Brattleborongh, Vt., July 14, 1863.

In the fall of 1863 he came to Concord, locating in Ward 4, on North Main Street, where he has re- mained ever since. For several years he was a partner of Dr. Charles P. Gage, of Concord, and a member of the local Board of Health. Afterwards, for five years, he was city physician. Very soon after commencing the practice of medicine he be- came firmly convinced that a great many deaths occurred from preventable causes, due in many in- stances to ignorance of the laws of health, and that physicians were often disappointed in obtaining satisfactory results, by reason of inefficient nursing and lack of attention to the hygiene of the sick-room. Believing the State owed to the people a care of their health, as well as of their morals, he commenced, in 1866, to agitate the question of cleaning up the city, and there being an epidemic of cholera in Europe at the time, he brought the matter to the attention of the city officials, who passed an ordinance, drafted by him, that secured a house-to-house inspection, the first in the State. This was made under his direc- tion, and a full record of the sanitary condition of every building in the compact part of each ward in the city was made early in the season, which resulted in a general cleaning of courts, alleys, streets and

yards. The city at once took an advanced position in sanitation, which it has always maintained, for with the introduction of a water supply in 1873 came the necessity for a system of sewers, that was promptly met by the city borrowing a large sum of money to practically complete the system in 1876.

While city physician, circumstances occurred to show that more care should be exercised in the burial of the dead, and, in company with the city solicitor, he advocated that a burial permit he required from the city registrar before a body could be lawfully in- terred.

The City Council passed an ordinance to that effect, and since then substantially the same ordi- nance has become the law of the State, and New Hampshire undoubtedly secures quite as accurate registration of deaths as any State in the Union. His intimate connection with the hygiene of the city of Concord rendered him more and more convinced that the State should have and maintain an effective supervision over the lives and the health of its citi- zens, and that a State Board of Health was fully as necessary an adjunct of the executive department of New Hampshire as a bank, railroad, insurance or fish commission ; for, while it is acknowledged by all that the material interest of the State should be fostered and pushed forward to compete with the industries of other municipalities, yet, unless the causes of sickness are reduced to the minimum, but little pro- gress will be made; therefore the watchful care of a health department becomes a necessity in order to render good health possible to the greatest number, whose energy, vitality and working capacity become the capital stock of the State, whose par value and dividends can only be attained by having a sound mind in a vigorous and sound body. For many years he labored, with others, to secure for the people of New Hampshire a State Board of Health, and to this end he read papers on sanitation before the medical profession, as well as contributed articles to the news- papers on the necessity of hygienic reform ; for it was evident to his mind that the State must be progres- sive in matters pertaining to the health of her citi- zens, else it would be impossible to retain her prestige among other commonwealths, and in 1881 he had the great pleasure of having the Legislature pass an act giving his native State a Board of Health.

The bill establishing the board was drafted by him. and is in many respects a model for any State of the population and diversified interests that characterize New Hampshire, while the few years the board has been in existence proves that the whole subject was thoroughly and carefully considered before being presented to the Legislature; for, while there is but the slightest appearance of arbitary power, which is so distasteful to a free and enlightened people, yet, with the statute law then existing in the State aud the enactment of the bill establishing a Board of Health, it is doubtful if there is another State in the

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Union whose health department creates less friction in its practical work than it does in New Hampshire. This is largely accomplished by taking it entirely out of the domain of politics, and in making the secre- tary a permanent officer so long as his efficiency con- tinues.

He was at once appointed a member of the board for four years, and upon its organization was elected its president, which office he now holds.

Although in active practice of his profession, he has, by his industrious and systematic habits, done considerable work for the board, contributing articles upon ventilation and other subjects intimately con- nected with hygiene, and he has represented the board several times in conferences with sanitary au- thorities and public health meetings.

At this time it may be considered an endorsement of his work on the board, that he has received a re- appointment for four years.

While a resident of Vermont he became an active member of its State Medical Society, and a few years since he was elected an honorary member of the same association. He became a member of the New Hampshire Medical Society in 1864, and in 1869 was elected its secretary, which office he has, by the un- animous vote of the association, held ever since, except in the years 1880-81, when he was vice-presi- dent and president of this venerable society, which was organized in 1791. .

It is well known that in voluntary associations of this kind very much of their prosperity and efficiency depend upon the executive ability and energy of its secretary, and it is a matter of satisfaction to all who know him that since he became its secretary the New Hampshire Medical Society has increased in the num- ber of its active members from sixty to over two hun- dred and twenty-five, with an annual average attend- ance of one hundred and twenty-five in place of less than fifty in 1865. He is a member of the Centre District and an honorary member of the Strafford District Medical Society, as well as a member of the American Public Health and the American Medical Associations. He is also a member of the various Masonic associations in Concord, and of Post E. E. Sturtevant, G. A. R., of New Hampshire.

In 1877, and again in 1879, he was elected by the people on the Board of Railroad Commissioners for New Hampshire, this being the only time he has taken any active part in politics.

While railroad commissioner he made two reports to the Legislature, in which he strongly advocated re- forms in the commission and in the manner of the roads making returns, that have since been adopted. His early education as a civil engineer has always made the construction and management of railways a matter of interest to him, and he has always believed that the progressive spirit of our country will yet ad- vance American railways until they will become an example to the world of business prosperity. In this

connection it may be mentioned that, believing that the prosperity of the State and its railroads depends very much upon its being a summer resort for the whole country, who come here for the purpose of health and recreation, he has instituted a system of railway sanitation and inspections that the manage- ments of the roads nobly second, and which, by the watchful care of the State Board of Health over the railway stations, cars and hotels, will increase the confidence of the traveling public in assuring them that it is the desire of the people of New Hampshire to keep the hills and valleys of the Granite State free from the contaminating influences of waste and effete matter, in order that the summer visitor may return to his home with firm health and renewed vitality in return for the pecuniary consideration of a few days or weeks in the State.

In 1858, while a resident of Vermont, he married Miss Helen M. Sprague, of East Randolph, in that State, and has two children.

GEORGE W. ELA.

George W. Ela, a native of Portsmouth, N. H., born January 18, 1807, was the third son of Joseph and Sarah (Emerson) Ela, and the sixth of a family of nine children. The first sixteen years of his life were spent at his paternal home, occupied, when not attending the town schools, on his father's farm and in the tannery which his father carried on as a reg- ular occupation. This period of his life was without noticeable incident, if we except what he insists was the foundation-stone of his future,-when, in his fifteenth year (1822), he was taken from school, and, by an arrangement of his father with other land- owners in Grafton County, was sent to Lisbon, with his surveying instruments, to confirm or correct the lines of the original survey, involving titles to lands in that town, and, to some extent, the boundaries of the adjacent towns of Littleton and Lyman. The object was accomplished after much labor, and in that season a plan made and returned to the pro- prietors, much to their satisfaction ; and their entire approbation and their flattering praise of his per- severance and success gave him confidence in his own powers and secured theirs in his executive ability, which never abated while they lived.

In that year, by an arrangement with Hill & Moore, publishers of the New Hampshire Patriot, at Concord,-the famed Republican organ of that day, afterward more famous as the organ of the Jackson portion of that party,-Ela was to enter their office as an apprentice in the printing trade. The latter part of that year the copartnership of Hill & Moore was dissolved, Isaac Hill retaining the Patriot and Jacob B. Moore establishing a new printing-office- subsequently establishing the New Hampshire Journal, as the organ of the Adams wing of the Republican party of that day. In January, 1823, Mr. Ela entered

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the office of Jacob B. Moore as an apprentice and continued there during his minority, excepting a few months of the last of his term, when, by an arrangement of all parties interested, he went to Dover, N. H. He then started the Dover Enquirer, which the supporters of Mr. Adams in the na- tional political contest, then beginning to be inter- esting, had determined to establish in that locality. After a few months Mr. Ela became, by degrees, the proprietor, publisher, printer and editor, continuing in that relation-the latter part of the time in con- nection with the late lamented George Wadleigh- for a period of about three years. Many of the present generation of politicians will remember the influence which that paper exerted in political circles in the State, which was well maintained by Mr. Wadleigh, who succeeded Mr. Ela and continued in its manage- ment for a long series of years. Mr. Ela then re- turned to Concord for the purpose of consolidating the Statesman and Concord Register and the New Hampshire Jornal, as a political measure, and, in the year 1831, commenced the publication of the States- man in connection with the late Asa McFarland, who retired after about two years. Mr. Ela continued the paper, as sole proprietor, for several years, and sub- sequently in connection with the late Hon. Jacob H. Ela, who had, in the mean time, served an apprentice- ship in the Statesman office, which was commenced and continued while he remained a member of Mr. Ela's family. Thus Mr. Ela was brought into the forties,-after unremitting labors of more than twenty years in the printing-office, with all the duties and customs connected with the public press and political parties-before the days of the last two generations.

He commenced with these duties when the printers' devil was expected to know everything, do everything, know everybody and be everywhere-to be stoker, messenger, newsboy and, perhaps, caterer to his mas- ter's table. It was a substantial relief to advance a peg to the position of compositor or pressman or any other labor in the office, when, too, the last called for the most muscular and expert workmen, for at that time a power press was not known in New England, the work being all done on that wonderful screw arrangement, the invention of Adam Ramage. Even the ink-spreading process was accomplished with balls, the composition roller, which subsequently took their place, being then unknown. The Wells press-tlie lever-was invented a short time previous, about 1820. Few of the craft of the present day have any definite idea of the mode of printing of that time. In this connection Mr. Ela mentions the fact that all the paper then used was made in that primitive mode of dipping from the vat on a hand-screen, shcet by sheet, the pulp of which they were formed, and that the revolutions which have succeeded from time to time in that line are as wonderful as the many other advances in art and science and mechanical inven- tions.

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 40

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