History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 64

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 64
USA > New Hampshire > Belknap County > History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire > Part 64

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).

By the death of their parents the children were called to meet the stern realities of life at an early, untried age. Up to the death of his father, young

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Oliver, then thirteen, had been raised a farm-boy and | piest success. Immediately following these, he taught so was inured to toil. By his comrades he was called a private school at the " Pine Ground " (so-called), in Chichester. a strong boy, and was seldom sick or ailing. The lit- tle farm, at his father's death left to his mother, was A few weeks later, while on a visit to friends in Lee, Oliver received by letter, from his old Walnut Grove School "chum" and esteemed friend, Benjamin Chase, Jr., of Auburn,-who now for many years has been an active citizen and prosperous manufacturer in Derry, N. H.,-a proposition that they "take a voy- age at sea." They had together read Dana's "Two Years Before the Mast," and in their young enthusi- asm had discussed many an "ocean tale," till, with their natural love for adventure, they felt a strong de- sire to be upon the " rolling wave " and tread another shore across the "ocean blue." indeed a precious home for the family. His brothers mainly did the work at home with their mother and young sisters till the mother's decease, while for two years Oliver worked out at farming, except winters, when he was at home attending the district school. In the spring of 1847, the year of his mother's death, in November, he apprenticed himself to Deacon Jacob S. Sanborn, of Chichester, with whom he faithfully worked and learned the trade of shoemaking, intend- ing to set up shop for himself at the old home with his mother, when through with his apprenticeship, for this was in an age of shoe manufacturing, when The proposal of his friend was readily accepted. As a matter of business combined with their pleasure sought, and also to learn about real sea-life, they planned to go as part of some ship's crew. It would have seemed too tame to have gone otherwise; at all events, one object of the two adventurers was to meet expenses. An able seaman's pay was then fourteen dollars per month. little single and double-handed shops were scattered all about this part of the State, with Lynn, Mass., as the head-centre, and not, as now, merged into the gen- eral factory system of manufacture with machinery. It was then a leading, lucrative trade for many hundreds of young men at their homes in the country. But the death of his mother shattered the fond hopes of Oliver's coming home, and so the little family was soon scattered, and to Oliver, the oldest of the family, there came a burden of solicitude and care not often experienced by one of his age.

Continuing his residence in Chichester, he followed his trade steadily till December, 1849, when he went in search of a better education than he had as yet had the privilege of obtaining ; and his aim was to do so at as small expenditure of his limited means as possi- ble. December, 1849, found him at the Walnut Grove Boarding-School of the veteran teacher, Moses A. Cartland, in Lee, N. H., a most excellent school, wholly unsectarian, though rather of the Quaker per- suasion, where the willing mind was led and vastly aided in broader, deeper channels of thought than those contained in the text-books. Here Oliver obtained board and tuition till the following March, paying his way by all sorts of work nights and mornings, while in all respects making good progress with his studies.

Returning to Chichester, he worked at his trade till December, 1850, and then took up his studies again at Walnut Grove School, in Lee, where he remained continuously till August, 1851, working, as before, for his board and tuition' to the full amount, excepting four dollars, which he thankfully paid in cash. Octo- ber, 1851, he commenced his first school as teacher in Strafford, N. H., in what was known as the " Caverly District," a term of nine weeks; and while here he was engaged by Prof. J. C. Cram (the veteran singing- school teacher) to take the school of his district, in Deerfield, N. H. He commenced teaching on Monday following the close of the school at Strafford, the Friday previous, and taught the winter term of eleven weeks, thus making for him a continuous run of twenty weeks. In both of these schools he met with the hap-

Going to Boston and donning their young sailor rig, they at last succeeded in shipping as "boys," at ten dollars per month, " before the mast," on the noble, square-rigged, one-thousand-ton ship "William Wirt," commanded by Captain Erastus Samson-one of " na- ture's noblemen " and one of the best officers that ever trod a quarter-deck. The points of destination were not fully known to the men before sailing, only "to one or more southern ports of the United States, thence to one or more European ports."

They set sail April 27, 1852, and the voyage proved to be to Mobile, Ala., loading there with cotton,- slave cotton, no doubt,-thence to Liverpool, Eng., and then returning to Boston with a load of two hundred and eighty-seven immigrants, in the old shipping line of Enoch Train, arriving in Boston, Oct., 1852. The "boys' " duties of course, were those of common sailors before the mast, with whom they lived in the fore- castle and worked the voyage through. It was to them a new phase of life with but slight embellishments. Resolutions repeatedly formed, however, during the trip, not to "follow the sea" as a calling, alone or chiefly, resisted the fascination of making, as sailors say, "one more voyage." The voyage was devoid of serious accident, but replete with many a lively in- cident. Lying six weeks in the docks of Liverpool, though living and working ahoard ship during the day, the privilege of evenings and Sundays, and now and then a "liberty day " ashore, gave fair opportunity for seeing much of English life and considerable of its scenery.

Returning to Chichester from his sea-voyage, Oliver wassoon called by his old teacher, Moses A. Cartland, to assist him in a school that he had recently opened in North Weare, N. H. Here Oliver remained most of that winter (1852-53) and spring, pushing on with his

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own studies as well as acting as tutor in the school. With an aptness for learning, a great love of study has been a marked feature of his life. The following May (1853) he became a student at the New Hamp- shire Conference Seminary, at Northfield (since moved across the river to Tilton), and continued here till the close of the fall term, November 9, 1853, when he took a very creditable part in the examination exercises. He was a member of the V. A. S. Association (a lit- erary society of the seminary), and was ever an earn- est factor in promoting its welfare, New Hampshire's future United States Senator, Henry W. Blair, being at the same time an active brother member, whose talents and sterling qualities gave bright promise of his future career.

Returning from the seminary, Oliver taught a pros- perous private school in his native district, No. 4, in Chichester, and continued his services with the win- ter term of the district; and then immediately fol- lowed with the school in the adjoining district, at the " Horse Corner" (so called) ; after which, and run- ning into the spring of 1854, he taught the term in the Union District of Chichester and Loudon, on the Chichester north road.

Teaching was to him a pleasure, and the best of success rewarded his efforts. But as a business, he de- sired some more lucrative calling.

During these years of 1852, '53,'54 the Northeast Pro- tective Union stores were having their day. One was or- ganized in Chichester in 1854, and opened in the present store building on the corner opposite the Methodist meeting-house. Oliver Drake was chosen itsagent. But organizations of this class all through New England, though for a time popular, were waning, and in some two years after, or a little longer, had all gradually passed into private hands. As agent, he conducted the affairs of the store to the best advantage possible, under the impracticable circumstances that prevailed, till the spring of 1856, when he resigned.

With regrets to himself and many friends, he then left his native town to try his fortunes in a broader sphere. For a year thereafter he was employed as book-keeper by the large teaming firm of Critchett & Gilman, in East Boston, Mass.

The three following years, 1857,'58,'59, he was vari- ously engaged in the grocery and provision trade in Boston, where for a time he worked in Faneuil Hall Market.

In 1860 and '61, till spring of '62, he was employed as first accountant in the wholesale grocery business of John G. Kaulback, Jr., 196 Water Street, Boston. Here, from the sedentary confinement of the counting- room, his health became much impaired, for which reason, as a more physically active employment, he betook himself again to the market.

But that antumn (1862) he was taken down with a slow, lingering fever, from which the following spring did not find him fully recovered. He then accepted a situation as book-keeper for the ship-building firm

of Curtis & Tilden, of East Boston, actively en- gaged at that time in building war steamers for the United States government. He remained here till the autumn of 1863, and then became proprietor of the West Lynn Market, in the city of Lynn, Mass., and at once entered upon this branch of trade, which he steadily and successfully followed for the succeeding six years.

Just at this period (1868-69) the White Pine min- ing excitement of Nevada was at fever heat, such, prob- ably, as the world before never saw. The famous Eberhardt, in which his brother Frank was a fifth owner by location, was turning out its hundreds of thousands of silver. Naturally of an active, hopeful temperament, Oliver was thus drawn westward. Sep- tember 1, 1869, he sold out his West Lynn Market, and soon completed arrangements for an inspection of the Nevada mining business. He reached Trea- sure City, Nev., where his brother was, on No- vember 5, 1869, and from that date to the present has been actively connected with mining interests, shar- ing with others some of its vicissitudes as well as its fortunes.

" White Pine " was first the name of the mining dis- trict, but has since become the name of the county in- cluding the district. Except a three months' visit home in the fall of 1870, Oliver remained at White Pine till November, 1871, when, with his family, he moved to Greenville, Plumas County, Cal., where he soon be- came superintendent of the Indian Valley Gold Mine, having in that vicinity also mining interests of his own. He was thus engaged till September, 1875, when he was called to become secretary and cashier of the Eberhardt Mill and Mining Company, which was ex- tensively and prosperously engaged in silver-mining at Eberhardt, White Pine County, Nev., his brother Frank having been appointed the company's mana- ger,-positions of great responsibility and trust in which the two brothers have been retained continu- ously to the present writing (August, 1885,) except the years 1879-80, when Oliver had withdrawn himself to engage in an extensive milling enterprise of his own.

The Eberhardt Company (Limited), with which the Drake brothers so long have been connected, is an English incorporation, with its directors and head of- fice in London.

August, 13, 1862, Oliver Drake married Sallie S., youngest daughter of Hosea C. Knowlton, Esq., of Chi- chester, whose likeness and sketch of life are given in this book. Four children have been born to them,- one son and three daughters,-the youngest of whom, Alma K., born in California, alone survives. Save in the loss of children, his domestic life has been emi- nently a happy one. Religiously and constitutionally, he is a Congregationalist, regarding the polity of this church as possessing the very spirit of genuine de- mocracy. Whether East or West, he has ever allied himself in some way with church life, so long as it

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visibly existed in his community. Music has been to him one cherished source of recreation and delight. Of a cheerful, social turn of mind and heart, and in all respects of correct and abstemious habits, his gener- ally excellent health through life has been but little disturbed, and his near associates and warm friends have been of the good and true.

Though politically an ardent Republican, he is no partisan. His only votes for a Democratic candidate for the Presidency were for Stephen A. Douglas, who was defeated, and James Buchanan, which vote he has ever since regretted. Political office he never desired, sought nor accepted, though repeatedly urged to con- sider it.

As inculcated by his venerated parents, one trait and motto of his life has been, that " whatsoever thy hand findeth to do," do it well.

The amities of life, with strict fidelity in all posi- tions of trust, have brought their reward in the confi- dence and respect of his fellow-men, which he long has largely shared.

MAJOR ARTHUR DEERING.

The origin of the Deering family was English; as far back as the French and Indian War two brothers came from England, from whom have descended all the Deerings in this country. The elder brother in all English families inherited the estate, and it often happened, as in the case of these two brothers, that the younger brothers came to this then new country to carve out a fortune for themselves. One of these brothers was killed during the French and Indian War, and a son of the other, by the name of Isaac, settled in Scarborough, Me., at Blue Point.

This son had a son named after himself, who was the father of the subject of this brief history. Isaac Deering, the father of Arthur Deering, married Sarah Sawyer, whose ancestors came from Scotland, and were descendants of the old Marr family, of whom " Lady Helen " Marr was one. To Isaac and Sarah Deering were born eleven children,-three girls and eight boys,-of whom Arthur was the youngest, who was born March 24, 1820, the year the State of Maine was admitted into the Union.

Mr. Deering had a common-school and academical education, and then graduated at the Free Baptist Theological School, at Whitestown, N. Y. He entered the gospel ministry at the early ageof twenty, and preached his first sermon at East Parsonsfield, Me., and had his first settlement at Bath, Me. From Bath he went to Central New York and preached in several places; he was ordained in Philadelphia, Jef- ferson County, N. Y., June 18, 1853, after being re- fused an ordination three times on account of more advanced views on moral and natural depravity and on the atonement. He did not believe that moral de- pravity, or sin, could be transmitted from parent to child, or charged upon any human being before com-

ing to years of intelligence and human accountability; but sin is an intelligent, voluntary, intentional viola- tion of a known moral law, and that sin, or moral de- pravity, can never pertain to man's nature, but to his character. And as to the atonement, he did not believe that Christ suffered any penalty of any law in our stead; did not believe that He died to help God ont of any difficulty in which Adam's transgression had involved Him ; but that all that Christ did and suffered was wholly and entirely for man's benefit. He he- lieved that God always was able to pardon penitent sinners, and that He was always willing to pardon penitent sinners, and all the reason He did not pardon them was because they would not repent ; and that Christ's mission into the world was to be a mighty moral power to induce men to repent.

After spending some nine years in New York he returned to Maine, and settled with a church in China; he afterwards preached in West Waterville, Richmond and several other places in Maine, and in 1871 came to Pittsfield, N. H., and preached with the First Baptist Church there three years, and in 1871 purchased the old Foster farm in Chichester, where he now resides.

Mr. Deering has always taken an active part in politics; when but eighteen years of age he embraced the anti-slavery cause and often addressed public meetings upon that question. In 1840 he took the stump for James G. Birney, who was the candidate of the Liberty party for President, and in 1841 cast his first ballot ; there heing no candidates at that election in his town, he wrote upon his ballot " Abolition " and put it in the ballot-box. He often attended the Lib- erty party County and State Conventions, was fre- quently on their committees on resolutions, and always kept well posted upon the question of slavery, and was one of their able and popular speakers.

In 1848 he was a delegate to the Free-Soil National Convention at Buffalo, and earnestly advocated & union of all the anti-slavery elements into one party to oppose the extending of slavery into free territory ; and, with other members of the old Liberty party, assisted in the organization of the Republican party in Maine in 1855. He took an active part in the Presidential campaign in 1856, and spoke with Josiah H. Drummond and A. P. Morrill for Fremont and Dayton, And again, in 1860, when he was president of the Republican Club in Richmond, Me., his club accepted the challenge of the Democratic Club, and chose him to meet their speaker in public dis- cussion of the political issues, the result of which, as freely admitted by his opponent, was the changing of twenty-five votes to the Republican ticket. In the fall of 1863 he was elected to the Legislature by the town of Richmond, where he was several times called to the Speaker's chair in his temporary absence, and was appointed Speaker to conduct the proceedings of the "mock session." Being at home from the army in 1864 on a short furlough, Governor Coney volun-

Mai. Arthur Derring

eris

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tarily obtained from Secretary Stanton an extension of his furlough for twenty days, that he might take part in the September election ; and a few days after he was requested by Hon. J. G. Blaine, then chairman of the Republican State Committee, to take the stump until election ; which he did, with other speakers ; and on his return to Philadelphia, where he was or- dered on detached duty as member of a military court, he was made an honorary member of the Union League, and as his military duties occupied but a few hours of his time during the day, he was on the stump most of the time until the November election. He spoke in Philadelphia, Reading and other places in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Mr. Deering acted with the Republican party until 1868, when he became satisfied that all of the political diffi- culties growing out of the war had been settled, and that the next great question before the American people was the liquor traffic; he left the Republican party and helped organize the Prohibition party in Maine, since which time he has been an earnest ad- vocate of its principles. In 1868 he was appointed by the Grand Lodge of Good Templars in Maine as State lecturer, and during the year spoke in every county but Washington in the State, in doing which he traveled more than eight thousand miles, speak- ing every evening from one and a half to two hours. He was again employed in 1869. In 1870 he was em- ployed by the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, and lectured some time in that State, moving to Pitts- field, N. H., in March, 1871. In 1874 he commenced the publication of the Pittsfield Times, a local non- partisan paper, and in 1875 he took charge of editing and publishing the Prohibition Herald, which had been published and edited by Rev. Mr. Millen, and continued their publication until Feb., 1876, when his office was burned and their publication discontinued.

In 1875, Mr. Deering was nominated by the Prohi- bition party for Senator in the Fourth Senatorial Dis- trict, and again in 1876, which resulted in a great deal of political trouble in the State. He received votes enough to defeat au election in the district, but the Democratic candidate had a plurality of the votes cast, and it was soon ascertained that the law required that a man, to be eligible to serve as Senator, must have been a citizen of the State seven years, and that Mr. Deering had only been in the State a little over five years. This fact coming to the knowledge of the Governor by the affidavit of Mr. Deering, which the Governor caused to be taken, the Governor and Coun- cil threw out Mr. Deering's votes and thereby gave the election to Mr. Proctor, the Democratic candidate, and by Mr. Proctor's election the Senate was Demo- cratic. At that time many of the county offices were appointed by the Governor, and removed by an ad- dress of the Senate and House. The Governor dur- ing 1876 was Mr. Weston, a Democrat, who had filled many of these offices with Democrats, who, unless re- moved by address of the Senate and House, would

hold over, and in that case the money and whiskey spent by the Republican politicians in the several counties to carry the election would be lost. And this was the only issue in the case, and, although Mr. Deering was entirely innocent, knowing nothing of the provisions of the State Constitution, yet unlimited abuse was poured upon him because of this affair. The Boston Journal said that he did it knowingly, in- tending to defraud the voters of their votes. But no man who knew him ever supposed that he would do such a thing intentionally.

Mr. Deering then told his enemies, jokingly, that "he would steal 1 the whole government next time;" and fulfilled the prophecy in the fall of 1884, in go- ing to New York and speaking for the Prohibition party, which rolled up a vote of twenty-five thousand for St. John, taking a large majority from the Repub- lican party, and thereby giving the State to Cleve- land and making him President.

He was the only Prohibition speaker who canvassed Jefferson County, which only gave Dow thirty -six votes in 1880, and gave St. John six hundred and thirty- six in 1884.

When the war broke out it found Mr. Deering at Richmond, Me. As he had been an earnest opposer to the extension of slavery, so he was now ready to meet the result of that opposition ; he had been ready to pray, preach and vote against American slavery, and as slavery had now arisen in arms to rend the Union asunder, so he was just as ready to fight against the extension and existence, even, of slavery, if need be, as he was to talk against it. In August of 1862 he held patriotic meetings in the towns of Richmond, Dresden, Bowdoinham and Topsham, and enlisted one hundred men for a company in the Twenty-fourth Maine Regiment, and was by them elected captain. When the regiment was first organized he was the ranking captain of it. The regiment left Augusta, Me., in November ; went to East New York and remained there until January, 1863, when it went to New Orleans. Remaining in the city a few weeks it then went to Bonnet Carre, forty miles up the river, to form a part of the onter defenses of the city, between the river and Lake Pontchartrain. The regiment remained here until June, when it marched to Port Hudson and took an active part in the siege of that place, after which it re- turned, by the way of Cairo and Chicago, to Maine.

While the regiment was at Port Hudson, Corporal William Lancaster, of his company, being some- what deranged by sickness, stabbed and killed Lieutenant Newell, of Captain Deering's company, and was tried the day the regiment left for home, so that no testimony could be presented in his behalf. After the regiment returned to Maine, Captain Deer- iug gathered the facts in the case and personally laid them before Vice-President Hamlin, and secured his pardon. Some years afterward this same William

1 They said "he stole the Senate."

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Lancaster saved the son of Captain Deering, William A. Deering, from drowning in the Kennebec River at Richmond.

After the regiment returned, and was mustered out of service, Captain Deering was appointed recruiting officer and enlisted recruits for the old regiments. During his term of service in the Legislature, in the winter of 1864, another call was made by the Presi- dent for more men, and two more regiments were or- ganized, the Thirty-first and Thirty-second, and Cap- tain Deering was commissioned a major in the Thirty- second Regiment. At the close of the session of the Legislature he went into camp at Augusta and took command of the six companies then formed, as no other field officers could be commissioned with that number of companies.

The regiments then raised in New England were assigned to General Burnside, and their destination was then expected to be to North Carolina. In April, Major Deering received orders to take the six com- panies and report to General Burnside at Annapolis, Md., but when he reached Baltimore his destination was changed to Washington, as General Burnside had been ordered to report with the Ninth Corps to Gen- eral Grant, in Virginia. On arriving at Alexandria the Thirty-second Regiment was assigned to Second Division, Second Brigade, Ninth Army Corps, and reached the Wilderness on the second day of the fight.

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History of Merrimack and Belknap counties, New Hampshire, Part 64

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