USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume III > Part 20
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Gov. Augustus C. French was born in Hill, August 2, 1808. After teaching a district school irregularly he entered Dartmouth College, but had not means to finish the course of study. He
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returned home, took up the study of law and was admitted to practise in 1823. Soon he went West, lived for a short time in Albion, Illinois, and in 1825 settled in Paris, in the same State. That place sent him to the legislature in 1837, and thereafter he was a political leader. He was elected governor of the State and re-elected in 1848. Thereafter he was Professor of Law in Mc- Kendree College, holding that position many years. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1862. He died in Lebanon, Illinois, in 1868.
Elisha Benjamin Andrews was born in Hinsdale, January 10, 1844. He attended the common school and did farm work till the age of seventeen. Then he enlisted at the outbreak of the Civil War and served till October, 1864, when he was discharged on account of the loss of one eye by a wound. He had been commissioned second lieutenant. He fitted for college at Powers Institute and Wesleyan Academy and graduated at Brown Uni- versity in 1870. He was principal of Connecticut Literary Insti- tute at Suffield two years and graduated at Newton Theological Institution in 1874. Then he was called to the presidency of Dennison College, at Granville, Ohio, where he remained four years and added to its buildings and endowment. Then he became a professor at Newton, 1879-82. After a year of study in Germany he accepted a professorship of history and political economy in Brown University. In 1888 he was professor of political economy and public finance in Cornell University. In 1889 he was elected president of Brown University and professor of moral and intellectual philosophy. He was United States commissioner to the international monetary conference at Brus- sels in 1892. On account of some divergence of views he resigned the presidency of Brown University to become for one year superintendent of the schools of Chicago, and then he was elected chancellor of the University of Nebraska. He is the author of a History of the United States and other works of great educative value and is known as a student and man of independent thought -a leader among the educators of the nation.
John Smith French, D. D., was born at Chester, December 28, 1800, and died at Waialua, Sandwich Islands, March 28, 1867. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1826 and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1830. The next year he sailed for Honolulu, where he was pastor of a church at Waialua for
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thirty-two years, except four years in which he was a professor in a seminary. He visited the United States in 1860 and received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In his long pastorate in the Sandwich Island he baptized about 1200 persons. He published five volumes of elementary text-books and was joint author of an English-Hawaiian dictionary. He saw a group of populous islands converted from cannabalism to Christianity and a system of schools established among them, where the English language and literature were taught. Thus the Sandwich Islands were fitted to become a part of the United States of America. Every foreign missionary is first of all a teacher of truth and righteous- ness.
Bishop Philander Chase was born at Cornish, December 14, 1775, and was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1796. There he became by reading a convert to the faith of the Protestant Episcopal Church. After graduation he served as rector at Poughkeepsie, New York, New Orleans, La., and Hartford, Conn., remaining six years in the last place. Animated by the missionary spirit he went to Ohio when that was the western frontier, in 1818, and there organized many churches. He was consecrated bishop of Ohio in 1819. Feeling the need of schools wherein to train men for the Christian ministry he went to Eng- land and collected gifts amounting to $30,000, with which he founded Kenyon College and Gambier Theological School in connection therewith. Both were located at Gambier, Ohio, and were named for English contributors to the above-mentioned collection. Eight thousand acres of land were purchased, and Bishop Chase found himself not only president of a college, but also farmer and lord of a manor, on a salary of $800 per annum. Revenues came from cultivation of the soil, wheat-growing and sheep-raising. Needing more funds he solicited contributions of one dollar and thus raised about $25,000. Mills, a store and a hotel were run for the benefit of the college. In 1831 dissensions between the bishop and some of the clergy led him to resign his offices of bishop and president, and he took up a large tract of land in Michigan. Again he went to England and secured $10,000 with which he began a new college. This was at Robin's Nest, Illinois, and was called Jubilee College, begun in 1838. In 1835 he had been elected bishop of Illinois. He was by far the most prominent and energetic of the missionaries of the Protestant
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Episcopal Church in the West. He published several works, including an autobiography, in two volumes, 1848. He died at Jubilee College September 20, 1852, worthy of honor for his missionary spirit and consecrated activity.
Col. Carroll D. Wright, son of Rev. Nathan R. and Eliza (Clark) Wright, was born in Dunbarton, July 25, 1840. He received his early education in the academies at Washington, Alstead and Swanzey and the high school of Reading, Mass., and was fitted for the junior class in college, but was prevented by frail health from taking the full college course of study. He began the study of law at Keene in 1860. In the autumn of 1862 he enlisted in the 14th regiment of New Hampshire volunteers. He was promoted from private to second lieutenant and then to be adjutant. He was on staff duty as colonel of his regiment under Gen. Sheridan in 1864. An attack of typhoid fever caused his resignation before the close of the war. Returning to Keene he resumed the practice of law and in 1867 removed to Boston and made a specialty of patent law. He was elected a member of the Massachusetts Senate, 1872-3, and was made chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1873. Then began his remarkable career as a statistician and student of social labor reforms. In this capacity he served till 1888, during which time he was appointed United States commissioner to Europe to study the factory sysem for the census of 1880. He was United States Commissioner of Labor from 1885 to 1905, and was in charge of the eleventh United States census.
Colonel Wright was University lecturer at Harvard on the factory system, 1881, and held appointments to lecture upon statistics and labor at Johns Hopkins, University of Michigan, Northwestern University, and Harvard. He was honorary pro- fessor of social economics at the Catholic University of America, 1895 to 1904; professor of statistics and social economics at Columbian (now George Washington) University, since 1900; president of Clark College, Worcester, Mass., since 1902, and professor of statistics and economic science in Clark University since 1904. He was a member of many learned societies, among others the American Statistical Association, from 1876; fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, from 1892; American Antiquarian Society, from 1893, and the Washington Academy of Science. He was trustee of the Car-
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negie Institution from its foundation in 1902. He was a member and recorder of the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission of 1902. He had been a member of the British Economic Association, from 1891; of the Royal Statistical Society of England, from 1893; of the Society of the Friends of Natural Sciences, Anthropology and Ethnography at the Imperial University of Moscow, from 1904; of the International Association for Comparative Jurisprudence and Political Economy, Berlin, from 1897; Corresponding Mem- ber of the Institute of France, since 1898; and honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Russia, since 1898. He was honored with all the scholastic degrees from various colleges.
He was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, received the Cross of the French Legion of Honor and was a Chevalier of the Order of Saints Lazzaro and Mauritz, Italy. He was president of the National Unitarian Association 1896 to 1899. He was the author of many volumes on subjects related to Political Economy, Sociology, etc. He died at Worcester, Mass., February 20, 1909.1
The Rev. Jeremiah Eames Rankin, born in Thornton, Jan- uary 2, 1828, was son of the Rev. Andrew and Lois (Eames) Rankin, of Scottish descent. He was educated at Middlebury, Vermont, and Andover Theological Seminary. He had pas- torates at Potsdam, N. Y., St. Albans, Vt., Lowell and Boston, Mass., and Washington, D. C. In his last church at the national capital he remained fifteen years and exerted all his influence in favor of the education of the freedmen of the South. Fred Douglass said of him, "He has done more to secure the rights of my race than all the legislation of congress." He was for some years a professor in Howard University and served as its presi- dent from 1890 to 1902. He was twice delegate to the Methodist General Conference and once to the Congregational Union of England and Wales. Many sermons were published by him, as well as popular hymns, among the latter, "God be with you till we meet again." He was a frequent contributor to reviews and newspapers. His name was known and honored throughout the United States and in Great Britain. He died November 28, 1904.
Prof. Cecil P. P. Bancroft was born in New Ipswich, Novem- ber 25, 1839. He was fitted for college at Appleton Academy,
1 See Granite Monthly, XLI. 142.
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graduated at Dartmouth in 1860 and at Andover Theological Seminary 1867. Meanwhile he had been principal of an academy at Mt. Vernon, Vermont, for four years. For five years more he was at the head of Lookout Mountain Institute, near Chatta- nooga, Tenn. Then he studied at the University of Halle and traveled in Europe. While at Rome he was elected principal of Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., where he had been previously teacher of the classics four months. Here he found his life work and the institution prospered greatly under his direction. Six thousand students were under his care, and he had the respect and affection of his pupils. He was a trustee of Dartmouth College and president of its alumni association. Yale honored him with the degree of Doctor of Laws, and the University of the State of New York made him a Doctor of Philosophy, while nature and his own acquirements made him a doctor (teacher) of manliness, high ideals, studious habits and noble character. He died in Andover, Mass., October 4, 1901.
Prof. John Potter Marshall was born at Kingston, August II, 1823. He fitted for college at Kingston and Atkinson Acad- emies and graduated at Yale in 1844. For some years he was principal of Chelsea High School, while serving at the same time as a professor in Tufts College. For forty-five years he served that college, mainly in the chair of geology and mineralogy. During the Civil War he spent two years in hospital service in the South. He traveled extensively in England, Germany and Italy. His death occurred at College Hill, February 4, 1901.
Horace Morrison Hale was born at Hollis, March 6, 1833, great grandson of Colonel John Hale, who fought at Bunker Hill. He was educated at Genesee College, Lima, N. Y., and Union College, Schenectady, where he graduated in 1856. He worked his way through college without any financial aid what- ever. Then he taught at West Bloomfield, N. Y., and Nash- ville, Tenn. In 1861 he went to Detroit and studied law. Then he went West for health and taught in Colorado. In 1873 he was made superintendent of public instruction in Colorado. For some years he was principal of the school at Central City and served as mayor of that city. Later he was president of the University of Colorado. Altogether he spent forty years in school work and stamped his character upon a host of growing minds.
Who has not heard of Laura Dewey Bridgman, the blind
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and deaf mute? She was born in Hanover, December 21, 1829, and died in Boston, May 24, 1889. A fever, when she was two years of age, deprived her of sight, hearing, sense of smell and partially of taste. She was sent to Perkins' Institute for the Blind, at Boston, and there became well educated and a teacher of others. Loss of speech followed loss of hearing. She learned to read by touch, and this sense became wonderfully developed, so that she could readily tell persons as well as objects by this sense. Her mind became so active that she would talk with the sign language while asleep. Her life shows how an imprisoned soul may burst its bars. Boundless capacities may be in those persons who by reason of physical limitations have no means of expression.
John Eaton was born in Sutton, December 5, 1829. He worked on a farm and taught school at the age of sixteen. Thet- ford Academy, Vermont, was the place where he fitted for col- lege and he graduated at Dartmouth in 1854. After a year as principal of a school in Cleveland, Ohio, he became superin- tendent of schools at Toledo and remained there three years. Then he studied at Andover Theological Seminary. In 1861 he entered the Union Army as chaplain of the 24th Ohio Infantry. General Grant said of him, "Under him the freedmen's bureau had its origin in the Mississippi valley." He gathered the negroes in camps and organized many thousands of them into regiments. He became colonel of the 63rd regiment of United States colored infantry and later was made a brigadier-general. At the close of the war he founded a paper called the Memphis Post and edited it two years. From 1867 to 1869 he was State Superintendent of public instruction in Tennessee and organized its first school system. In 1870 he was appointed commissioner of the bureau of education and held that office sixteen years. Many difficulties and oppositions of the unbelieving encountered him at the beginning of this work, but when he resigned he had thirty-eight assistants, an educational library of 18,000 volumes, besides many pamphlets, and the most influential educational office in the world. This department was consulted by several foreign nations to aid them in the establishment of school sys- tems. He gathered information from all parts of the world and published it in his annual reports. In 1886 he became president of Marietta College and after a successful period of twelve years
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became president of still another institution in Salt Lake City, known as the Sheldon Jackson College. In 1899 he was ap- pointed by the United States government superintendent of instruction in Porto Rico and organized the educational system of that island. He was author of many educational pamphlets and addresses. Rutgers College gave him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Dartmouth made him a Doctor of Laws. He died in Washington, D. C., February 9, 1906, having done a lifework of great educational value.
James A. B. Stone was born at Piermont, October 28, 1810. He was educated at Middlebury College and Andover Theolog- ical Seminary. Teaching occupied his time for a few years at Hinesburg College and Middlebury College. Then he substi- tuted for a year for Professor Hackett at Newton Theological Institution. From 1843 to 1849 he was pastor of a Baptist church at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and from 1843 to 1863 he was presi- dent of the college there and professor of intellectual philosophy. His wife was a teacher for some time. Their home was a resort for lecturers on abolition and equal suffrage, in which both were firm believers. Colgate University honored him with the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He died at Detroit, May 19, 1888.
Henry Towle Durant was born in Hanover, February 20, 1822. Graduating at Harvard in 1841 he studied with Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. It was then that he changed his name, which previously had been Henry Welles Smith. His legal practice was lucrative and he added to his wealth by engaging in business enterprises, being among other things interested in iron mines in northern New York. The death of his only son turned him to religious work and he was active as an evangelist and lay preacher. Holyoke Seminary elected him a trustee. Un- der his direction and by means of his gifts the cornerstone of Wellesley College was laid in 1871, on an estate of three hundred acres that had been his summer home. The main building with equipment cost $1,000,000. He endowed the college so that the annual income was $50,000. His aim was not to glorify himself, and he would not allow his name to be given to the college; he simply wanted to found an educational institution that would uphold and inculcate the Christian religion. He was a man of fine personal appearance, and an impressive speaker. He gave
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himself and his all for the welfare of others. His death occurred October 3, 1881.
Eben Carlton Sprague was born in Bath, November 26, 1822. Four years later he removed with his father to Buffalo, N. Y. He was educated at Phillips Academy, Andover, and Harvard College. He studied law and practiced fifty years in Buffalo. For several years he was chancellor of the university in that city. He was prominent as a lawyer and educator, and a man of such character and ability as won the respect and admira- tion of a large circle of acquaintances. Harvard gave him the degree of Doctor of Laws. He died February 14, 1895.
Bradbury L. Cilley was born at Nottingham, September 6, 1838, great grandson of General Joseph Cilley and General Enoch Poor of the Revolution. He prepared for college at Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated at Harvard in 1858. After teach- ing a short time in Albany Academy he was called to a professor- ship of ancient languages in Phillips Exeter Academy, where after 1871 he taught Greek alone. Thus his whole life was identi- fied with that institution and he did much to increase its power and usefulness. He died March 31, 1899.
Samuel Graves, D.D., was born at Acworth, March 25, 1830. He graduated at Madison University, N. Y., in 1844, and at Hamilton Theological Seminary two years later. Then he be- came tutor of mathematics and Greek in his Almer Mater for three years. He was ordained to the ministry at Ann Arbor and served there, 1849-52. Then he was professor of Greek at Kala- mazoo College and of ecclesiastical history in the theological seminary, 1851-9. He was pastor of the Central Church, Nor- wich, Conn., 1859-69, and at Grand Rapids, Mich., 1870-85. He was president of Atlanta Seminary 1885-95. He wrote many articles for the religious press and published "Outlines of The- ology." He died at Grand Rapids, January 20, 1895.
Oren Burbank Cheney was born in Ashland, December IO, 1816, and as a boy worked in his father's mill. He prepared for college at Parsonsfield Seminary and New Hampton Institute and was graduated at Dartmouth in 1830. He taught in acad- emies at Farmington, Maine, Parsonsfield, Maine, Greenland and Strafford. He studied for the ministry at Whitestown Sem- inary and was licensed to preach in 1843. His first pastorate was at West Lebanon, Maine, where he founded an Academy. Then
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he was for five years pastor of a church in Augusta, Maine. He was the principal agent in establishing the Maine State Seminary in Lewiston, Maine, and was its president from 1857 to 1863, when it became Bates College, and he continued at its head till 1894. Its growth has been rapid from the beginning, and it is now one of the largest "small colleges" in New England, having about five hundred students. Dr. Cheney received his degree from Wesleyan University in 1865. He was instrumental in endowing Storer College, at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, by secur- ing $10,000 from John Storer of Sanford, Me. Twelve times he was delegate to the general conference of Free Baptist churches and three times moderator. He died at Lewiston, Maine, Decem- ber 22, 1903.
Carrol Cutler, D.D., was born in Windham, January 31, 1829, and was educated at Phillips Academy, Andover, and Yale Col- lege, where he was graduated in 1854. After teaching a year at Bloomfield, N. J., he studied for the ministry at Union Theo- logical Seminary and at Princeton. He was a tutor in Yale Col- lege, 1856-8, traveled one year in Europe, was lieutenant in an Ohio regiment in 1862 and colonel in the State militia, 1863-4. He was professor of Rhetoric and Mental Philosophy in West- ern Reserve College, now Adelbert College, at Hudson, Ohio, 1860-89, and its president, 1873-89, preaching regularly in the college church. He was professor of Ethics and Theology in Riddle University, Charlotte, N. C., 1889-91, and in Talladega College, 1891-4. Among his eight book publications are "De- fence and Confirmation ; Ellicott Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion," "The Beginnings of Ethics," and "Joint Education of Men and Women in Adelbert College."
Alpheus Crosby was born in Sandwich, October 13, 1810. His preparatory studies were at Gilmanton and Phillips Exeter Academies, and he was graduated at Dartmouth in 1827. At once he began teaching in Moor's Charity School and then served three years as tutor in Dartmouth College. After studying for the ministry in Andover Theological Seminary he became pro- fessor of Greek and Latin Languages and Literature at Dart- mouth, where he remained many years. He became agent of the Massachusetts Board of Education and lecturer in Teachers' Institutes, 1854-6, and principal of the Massachusetts State Nor- mal School at Salem, 1857-65. He died at Salem, April 17, 1874.
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Among his publications was a Greek Grammar, Greek Tables, Greek Lessons, Xenophon's Anabasis, Eclogae Latinae and First Lessons in Geometry.
Chapter XVI FRANKLIN PIERCE-PRESIDENT
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Chapter XVI
FRANKLIN PIERCE-PRESIDENT.
Political Situation in 1852-A Divided Democracy Once More United- Democratic National Convention at Baltimore-Franklin Pierce the Nominee-Ancestry and Public Career-Strict Constructionist of the Constitution-His Pro-Slavery Views-His Election and Inaugural -A Remakable Cabinet-Kansas-Nebraska Act Overshadows a Notably Successful Administration-Renomination Denied-Retirement-Gen- uine Patriot, and Lover of Country-Though Villified and Maligned, State Does His Memory Justice and So Honors Itself.
W HEN the Democratic National Convention met at Balti- more, June 1, 1852, the administration of national affairs was in the hands of the Whigs. Questions connected with slavery had in the campaign of 1848 split the Democratic party into fac- tions, and the support given by more than one-fourth of the Democrats at the north to Martin Van Buren as an independent candidate, had resulted in the defeat of Lewis Cass, the regular Democratic nominee, and the consequent election of the Whig candidates for President and Vice-President, Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore.
The Whig administration had been confronted with a serious task. The organization of the vast territory acquired as a result of the war with Mexico, had not only made the subject of slavery in the Territories a leading political issue, but had precipitated agitation and contest recognized as fraught with danger.
The result of this agitation was what were known as the "Compromise" Measures of 1850, which were at first included in a single measure known as the "omnibus bill," but later separated, when each feature of the bill was passed on by itself. California was to be admitted as a State without restriction as to slavery ; slavery was not to be abolished in the District of Columbia ; Texas was to receive ten million dollars for yielding her claim to New Mexico; Utah and New Mexico were to be organized as new Territories; and last and most fateful of all, as subsequent
1 Contributed by William F. Whitcher. See Vol. II., p. 151.
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events proved, a new and more stringent fugitive slave law was to be enacted. Party lines were not drawn on the passage of these measures which were supported alike by leading Whigs and Democrats, and were opposed alike by leading pro-slavery Southern extremists on the one hand, and the radical anti-slavery extremists of the North on the other. President Taylor died while the measures were pending, but the bills were promptly signed by President Fillmore who as Vice-President became his constitutional successor.
The supporters of these measures believed that by their enact- ment, the slavery issue, which had become a troublesome one, was finally settled, and that any reopening of the question would be regarded by the people of the country as unpatriotic and med- dlesome. In the Democratic party acquiescence in the settlement was general. The division which had lost it the election in 1848 was apparently closed up and healed. The Democrats in 1851 had carried the elections in most of the States as against the Whigs who had lost the support of the anti-slavery wing of the party, who had become known as "Conscience Whigs." It was evident that for the presidential campaign of 1852 anything like a hearty union among the Whigs was out of the question, but could the Democrats find a candidate unobjectionable to both wings of a formerly divided party, and so go into the contest a united party, their success was reasonably assured.
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