USA > New Hampshire > History of New Hampshire, Volume III > Part 25
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Virginia. He was ordered to Fortress Monroe and succeeded General Mclellan in the command of the department of Vir- ginia. He was transferred to New York during the riots got up to resist the draft and had command of the department of the East till Lee's surrender, when he resigned his commission in the army.
He was appointed minister to France in 1866 and remained there till 1869. Here his knowledge of the French language and of law served him well. He did much to restore friendship between France and the United States, that had been somewhat strained by the expedition of Napoleon III to Mexico. After his return from Europe he was elected governor of New York. In whatever office he was placed, and few men have held so many and varied offices,-he thoroughly studied the situation and acted with wisdom, firmness and honesty. He had no large opportunity to distinguish himself as a military man; it was rather as a statesman and financier that he excelled. Throughout life he kept up his studies in the Latin classics and modern languages. While at Fortress Monroe, in the exciting times of 1863, he found leisure to make one of the best metrical trans- lations of the famous hymn, Dies irae, that has ever been pub- lished. He was a very remarkable man for scholarship and general executive ability. Wherever he was, he brought things to pass. His character and deeds reflect great honor on his native town and state. He died in New York, April 29, 1879.
William Pitt Fessenden, Maine's noted senator, was born in Boscawen, October 6, 1806. His father, Samuel Fessenden, son of the Rev. William Fessenden of Fryeburg, Maine, taught school in Boscawen the previous winter, being then a senior at Dartmouth College. Daniel Webster is said to have been god- father at the christening of William Pitt Fessenden. In 1852, when Webster was a candidate for the presidency in the Whig convention he is said to have complained that he rode twenty miles on a cold winter day to the christening of this child at the request of his father, and now the grown up man was voting against him. This Senator Fessenden did by the instruction of his constituents, though he himself was always friendly to Webster, who had taught Fryeburg Academy and become acquainted with the Fes- senden family.
The mother of William Pitt Fessenden was Ruth Greene,
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daughter of Nathaniel and Ruth (Fowler) Greene, born in Bos- cawen, November 27, 1787. She married, September 27, 1807, Moody Morse Currier, and widow Ruth Currier married, in Hop- kinton, November 26, 1810, Moses Bailey of Hopkinton and had two sons, Edwin C. and George Bailey, who became men of note. Edwin C. Bailey was at one time proprietor of the Boston Herald and later he was editor of the Boston Globe. The brothers of Ruth Greene were very prominent men, and it is evident that William Pitt Fessenden inherited natural ability from his mother as much as from his father. Samuel Fessenden married, in 1813, Deborah Chandler of New Gloucester, Maine, where he had settled as a lawyer. He afterward removed to Portland and was at the head of the legal profession in Maine for many years, holding the office also of major-general in the militia and having other distinguished sons besides William Pitt.
William Pitt Fessenden graduated with high honors at Bow- doin College in the Class of 1823, when he was not quite seven- teen years of age, having previously taught a school at Lewiston, Maine. He studied law under the supervision of his father with Hon. Charles S. Davies of Portland and with his uncle, Thomas Fessenden of New York. After practicing law for a short time at Bridgton and Bangor, Maine, he settled in Port- land in partnership with the Hon. William Willis. By intellect- ual acumen, rather than by arts of oratory, he soon attained high rank in his profession. His arguments were forceful, incisive and convincing. At the age of twenty-five the Whigs failed to persuade him to be their candidate for representative to congress, but he then represented Portland in the State legislature and again in 1839. In 1840 he was elected to congress as a Whig, an ardent admirer of Henry Clay, whom he had visited in Ken- tucky in company with Daniel Webster. After serving a term he returned to Portland, to be again sent to the legislature of his State. In 1854 he took his seat in the United States senate, having been elected by a combination of Whigs and Free-soil Democrats, who were the precursors of the Republican party. Here he remained fifteen years, save a few months in 1864-5, when he was Secretary of the Treasury in Lincoln's cabinet.
The writer hereof well remembers the excitement that pre- vailed, when President Andrew Johnson was impeached. The people of Maine watched William Pitt Fessenden, to see how he
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would vote. The party lines were pretty tightly drawn in that trial. Fessenden voted so as to disappoint many Republicans, but no one doubted his sincerity and that he had good legal reasons for not sustaining the impeachment. As a senator and judge he would not be bound by the wishes of his constituents, but followed the dictates of his own conscience and reason. He said, "If my constituents doubt my motive or distrust my judg- ment, they must send some one else to fill my place."
The senate acknowledged him as a leader, and when he briefly spoke, attention was compelled. His oratory was without imbellishments, but it was immediately convincing. Truth needs no arguments for display. The clearness of his head sometimes concealed the warmth of his heart. It was said of him that he constructed a speech as Solomon built his Temple, without sound of hammer or sight of debris. Every stone was shaped before it was taken from the quarry and it was fitted noiselessly into the argument to make a symmetrical and well proportioned, as well as beautiful, structure. Intellect, study and character made the man. Heredity did much for him, and he improved the gifts conferred. He died in Portland, Maine, September 9, 1869. Four sons graduated at Bowdoin College and became men of distinction.
George Gilman Fogg was born in Meredith, May 26, 1815, and was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1839. After graduation he was principal of Hebron Academy for a year or more and then became professor of English literature at Hamp- ton Academical Institution. Thereafter he studied at Harvard Law School and began the practice of law at Gilmanton. He was elected a member of the House of Representatives in 1846 and the same year was made Secretary of State for New Hamp- shire. From 1856 to 1859 he was reporter of the Supreme Court of the State. He was a member of the National Republican Committee from 1856 to 1864 and its secretary in 1860. He was a delegate to the Free-Soil Convention at Buffalo in 1849, to the Pittsburgh Convention of 1852, to the Republican Convention of 1856, to the Chicago Convention of 1860 and to the Philadel- phia Loyalists Convention of 1866. He was editor of the Inde- pendent .Democrat, published first at Manchester and later at Concord. President Lincoln appointed him United States Minis- ter to Switzerland, in which office he served four years during
JACOB H. GALLINGER
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the period of the Civil War. As a Republican he was appointed by the governor to the United States senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Daniel Clark, serving from August 31, 1866 to March 3, 1867. Bates College gave him the degree of Doctor of Laws, and he gave to the college five thousand dollars and served as a trustee. He died in Concord, October 5, 1881.
Jacob H. Gallinger was born in Cornwall, province of On- tario, March 28, 1837, of German ancestry. He became a printer in early life and served an apprenticeship of four years, after which he went to Ogdensburg, New York, and worked a year. Returning to Cornwall he became printer and editor of the paper on which he had served his apprenticeship. Later he studied medicine and was graduated from the Cincinnati Medical Insti- tute in 1858. His graduation was followed by two years of study and travel in Europe. On his return he came to New Hampshire and became associated with Dr. W. B. Chamberlain of Keene, adopting the principles of homeopathy. He removed to Concord in 1862 and entered upon the practice of medicine and surgery. His interest was divided between his profession and politics. In 1872-73 and again in 1891 he was elected to the lower branch of the State legislature, and he served in the State senate in 1878- 80, being its president the last two years. In 1878-80 he was surgeon-general in the militia of New Hampshire with rank of brigadier-general. He was chairman of the Republican State Committee from 1882 to 1890, when he resigned, but was again elected to the position in 1898, 1900, 1902, 1904 and 1906, resign- ing in 1908. He was chairman of the delegation from New Hampshire to the Republican National Conventions of 1888, 1900, 1904 and 1908, also chairman of the merchant marine com- mission in 1904-5. He was elected as a Republican to the 49th and 50th congresses, 1885-89, and declined renomination to the 5Ist congress. Since March 4, 1891 he has been a member of the United States senate and has the reputation of being a wise counselor and forceful speaker. He has contributed various articles to medical journals and other periodicals. Dartmouth honored him with the degree of Master of Arts.
James Wilson Grimes was born at Deering, October 2, 1816, son of John and Elizabeth (Wilson) Grimes, of Scotch-Irish lineage. He was educated at various academies and Dartmouth
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College, studied law with James Walker of Peterborough and settled in the practice of law at Burlington Iowa, in 1836. Soon he was in the legislature and in 1854 he was elected governor of Iowa by a combination of Whigs and Free-Soilers. In January, 1858, he was chosen United States senator and served by re- election till December 6, 1869, when he resigned on account of ill health. He was one of the founders of the Republican party in. the West. His allegiance to that party did not warp his judgment, and he voted for the acquittal of President Andrew Johnson, when the attempt was made to imitate some small republics and oust the chief official, because his policy was dis- approved by some. There was not sufficient cause for a "revolu- tion," and in a brief presidential term there was not much danger that the country would go to ruin. So Grimes and Fessenden thought and voted, while Chandler was ardent for condemnation. Senator Grimes founded a free library in Burlington, a professor- ship in Iowa College, and a scholarship there and at Dartmouth. Both colleges gave him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. He died at Burlington, Iowa, February 7, 1872.
Henry French Hollis was born in West Concord, August 30, 1869; educated in the Concord High School and Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1892, magna cum laude. Member of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. During his college course he pursued also the study of law at the Harvard Law School and so shortly after his graduation he was admitted to the bar and began practice at Concord ; has been prominent in athletic clubs. He was Democratic candidate for congress in 1900 and Democratic candidate for governor in 1902 and 1904. For some time he was chairman of the Democratic state committee. He was elected to the United States senate, after a prolonged voting contest, in 1813.
Benning Wentworth Jenness was born in Deerfield, July 14, 1806. His education was obtained in the common schools and at Bradford Academy, Massachusetts. Engaging in mercantile pur- suits in Strafford he was sent to represent that town in the legislature a number of terms. He was judge of probate in Strafford county, 1841-45. He was appointed to the United States senate to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Levi Woodbury and served from November 12, 1845 to June 13, 1846. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1850 and delegate to the Democratic national convention of 1852. His
GILMAN MARSTON
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party nominated him for governor in 1861, but he withdrew in favor of Gen. George Stark. Moving to Ohio he engaged in lumbering and banking and died in Cleveland, November 16, 1879.
Gilman Marston was born in Orford, August 20, 18II, and was graduated from Dartmouth in 1837 and from the Harvard Law School in 1840. In early life he worked on a farm and taught school to assist in his education. After he left college he had charge for a year and a half of an academy in Indianapolis, Indiana. He began the practice of law in Exeter in 1841. Soon he was representing that town in the House of Representatives, 1845-49. He was elected as a Republican to the 36th and 37th congresses, 1859-63 and re-elected to the 39th congress, 1865-67. In 1861 he was appointed colonel of the 2nd New Hampshire Infantry and was made brigadier-general of volunteers, Novem- ber 29, 1862. He took part in several battles, being wounded at Bull Run. He resigned his commission April 20, 1865, and re- turned to the practice of law. In 1870 he declined the governor- ship of Idaho Territory. Again he was a member of the State house of representatives in 1872-73 and in 1876-78. He was appointed to the United States senate and served from March 5 to June 18, 1889. Dartmouth gave him the degree of Doctor of Laws. He died in Exeter July 3, 1890. His career was marked by distinguishing ability, ambition, and earnest endeavor. As a lawyer it is said of him that he was always convinced of the justice of his cause, whether others were or not, and that he sought popularity and enjoyed it. What prominent man does not?
Moses Norris, Jr., was born in Pittsfield, November 8, 1799; graduated from Dartmouth College in 1828 and practiced law at Barnstead, Pittsfield and Manchester. He represented Pittsfield in the lower house of the state legislature, 1837-40, was elected as a Democrat to the 28th and 29th congresses, 1843-47 and was re-elected to the state house of representatives and chosen speaker in 1847. After serving as solicitor for Merrimack county five years he was elected to the United States senate and served from March 4, 1849 to his death in Washington, D. C., January II, 1855. In 1835 he prosecuted the Rev. George Storrs for conductiong an abolition meeting in Pittsfield. He was a thorough Democratic partisan.
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Nahum Parker, senator from New Hampshire, was born in Shrewsbury, Mass., March 4, 1760. He served as a soldier in the Revolution and was present at the surrender of Burgoyne. Settling in Fitzwilliam in 1786 he represented that town in the state legislature, 1794-1804 and 1806-7. He was a member of the governor's council, 1804-5. Elected to the United States senate he served from March 4, 1807 to June 1, 1810, when he resigned. He was justice of the court of common pleas for Cheshire and Sullivan counties, 1807-13, an associate justice of the western circuit, 1813-16, judge of the court of sessions, Cheshire county, 1821, and of the court of common pleas, Hills- borough county, 1822, member of the state senate and its presi- dent in 1828, and died in Fitzwilliam November 12, 1839.
James Willis Patterson was born in Henniker July 2, 1823; graduated from Dartmouth College and was a professor in that institution, 1854-65; member of the state house of representa- tives in 1862; elected as a Republican to the 38th and 39th congresses, 1863-67; elected to the United States senate and served from March 4, 1867, to March 3, 1873; again a professor in Dartmouth College; again a member of the state house of representatives, 1877-8; appointed state superintendent of public instruction, 1885-93; died in Hanover, May 4, 1893.
Austin Franklin Pike was born in Hebron, October 14, 1819; admitted to the bar of Merrimack county in July, 1845; member of the state house of representatives in 1850-52 and 1865-6, and was speaker in the last two years; member of the state senate in 1857-8 and president the last year; delegate to the Philadelphia convention which nominated Gen. Fremont for President, 1856; elected as a Republican to the 43rd congress, 1873-5; elected as a Republican to the United States senate and served from March 4, 1883, until his death in Franklin, October 8, 1886.
Edward Henry Rollins was born in Somersworth (Rollins- ford), October 3, 1824; attended academies in Dover and South Berwick; engaged in mercantile pursuits; chairman of the Re- publican state committee of New Hampshire at its organization and for many succeeding years ; member of the state legislature 1855-57, and for the last two years Speaker of the House; chair- man of the New Hampshire delegation in the Republican national convention of 1860 that nominated Lincoln and Hamlin; elected to the 37th, 38th and 39th congresses, 1861-7; secretary of the
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Union Pacific railroad company in May, 1860, and treasurer in April, 1871, resigning those positions before taking his seat in the senate; elected as a Republican to the United States senate and served from March 4, 1877, to March 3, 1883; died at the Isles of Shoals, July 31, 1889.
James Sheafe was born in Portsmouth, November 16, 1755; graduated from Harvard College in 1774; merchant; member of the state house of representatives and of the state senate ; elected as a Fderalist to the 6th congress, 1799-1801; elected to the United States senate and served from March 4, 1801, until his resignation, June II, 1802; defeated as candidate for governor in 1816; died in Portsmouth, December 5, 1829.
Thomas Weston Thompson was born in Boston, Mass., March 15, 1766; graduated from Harvard College in 1786; began the practice of law at Salisbury, Mass., in 1791 and continued there till 1810, serving also as postmaster five years; moved to Concord in 1810; member of the state house of representatives, 1807-8 and 1813-14, and Speaker for the last two years; elected to the 9th congress, 1805-7; treasurer of New Hampshire, 1809- II; appointed to the United States senate to fill vacancy caused by the death of Nicholas Gilman, and served from June 24, 1814, to March 3, 1817; trustee of Dartmouth College, 1801-21 ; died in Concord, October 1, 1821.
Bainbridge Wadleigh was born in Bradford, January 4, 1831 ; admitted to the bar in Newport in 1850; served eight years in the state legislature; elected as a Republican to the United States senate and served 1873-79; resumed the practice of law in Boston, Mass., and died there, January 24, 1891.
John Sullivan Wells was born in Durham, October, 1803; grand-nephew of General John Sullivan; attended the academy in Pembroke; practiced law in Guildhall, Vermont, 1828-35; in Bangor, Maine, in 1835; thereafter in Exeter, N. H .; served several years in the state house of representatives, as Speaker in 1841 ; attorney-general of the state in 1847; member and presi- dent of the state senate 1851-2. He was defeated for the office of United States senator on the Democratic ticket in 1854, but shortly after was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator Moses Norris and served from January 16, 1855, to March 3, 1855. He died in Exeter, August 1, 1860. His brother, Samuel Wells, was governor of Maine, and another
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brother, Joseph Bartlett Wells, was state attorney and governor of Illinois.
John Wingate Weeks was born in Lancaster, April 11, 1860. He was graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1881 and served in the navy as a midshipman and in the Spanish- American War as a lieutenant in the volunteer navy. He was mayor of Newton, Massachusetts, two years and was elected as a Republican to the 59th, 60th, 6Ist and 62nd congresses, 1905- 13, at the end of which period he was elected to the United State senate. His name was much before the public as a possible nominee of the Republican party for President of the United States.
Winthrop and Abigail (Witham) Colbath had a son born at Farmington, February 16, 1812, named Jeremiah Jones Colbath. His parents were very poor and several children followed. To help them Jeremiah was apprenticed at the age of ten to William Knight of Farmington, to be brought up as a farmer. He was indentured to remain till twenty-one years of age, to have food and clothing, a month's schooling every year, and at the end of his apprenticeship six sheep and a yoke of oxen. A neighbor, Mrs. Eastman, supplied him with books, and thus he became familiar with about a thousand volumes of history, biography, travel and romance, besides the current numbers of the North American Review. He sold his sheep and oxen for eighty-four dollars, and his first step in life was to have his name changed to Henry Wilson. Why the change was desired and why that name was chosen nobody knows. He worked a month cutting logs in the woods for six dollars, a big sum of money to him. Then he started out in search of work, walking from one place to another and finding nothing to do till he reached Natick, Mass. Here he learned to make shoes. In 1836 he visited Wash- ington and saw enough of slavery and heard enough of sub- servience of the North to the interests of slaveholders, that he came back an abolitionist and ever remained one. For short terms he studied at Strafford, Wolfeborough and Concord academies. In 1839 he returned to 'Natick and taught school for a term. Then he became an independent manufacturer of shoes on a small scale for the southern market and continued in this business for ten years with varying success. He represented Natick in both house and senate of Massachusetts and was ap-
ילי
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pointed brigadier-general in the militia. He was a delegate to the national Whig convention in 1848. For three years he edited The Republican. Massachusetts senate elected him its president, 1851-2. On the rise of the American, or Know-Nothing, party he became a leader therein. He was elected to the United States senate in 1855, to succeed Edward Everett, and continued in that body till he was chosen Vice-President in 1872. During all his political career he was one of the foremost advocates of anti-slavery. The temperance cause recognized in him a cham- pion. He rendered good service in organizing and bringing to the front the first regiments of soldiers for the protection of Washington. He understood American history as well as his colleague, Charles Sumner, who in public speaking could not outdo Wilson in practical information and display of common sense. Mr. Wilson was the author of several works dealing with legislation on slave questions. His most important work was a "History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," in three volumes. He died at Washington, November 22, 1875. How shall students of heredity account for him? Great men start up in unexpected places and in obscure families. Poverty is no bar to progress, if there is a determined will and a love for truth and righteousness. There is always a chance to come to the front, if one has a great message and is not ashamed or afraid to declare it. To champion the cause of the oppressed is the surest road to posthumous fame, sometimes by way of martyrdom, but not always. Many would like to be a senator or a vice-president, if the upward struggle were not too severe. It is best to do one's best, whether public honors come or not. Seeming accidents put some men on a pedestal. "Pyramids are pyramids in vales."
Leonard Wilcox was born in Hanover, January 24, 1799; graduated from Dartmouth College in 1817; began practice of law in Orford in 1820; state representative seven years; judge of the superior court 1838-40; appointed as a Democrat to the United State senate to fill vacancy caused by the resignation of Franklin Pierce; subsequently elected and served from March I, 1842, to March 3, 1843; judge of the court of common pleas of New Hampshire, 1847-8; again appointed judge of the superior court, June 26, 1848, and served till his death, in Orford, June 18, 1850. His father was Jeduthan Wilcox, representative in con-
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gress, and he himself had three sons who graduated from Dart- mouth College and became lawyers.
Paine Wingate was born in Amesbury, Mass., May 14, 1739; graduated from Harvard College in 1759; ordained minister of the Congregational church in Hampton Falls, 1763; removed to Stratham in 1776 and became a farmer; member of the state house of representatives; delegate in the continental congress, 1787-8; elected to the United States senate and served from March 4, 1789, to March 3, 1793; elected to the 3rd congress, 1794-5; judge of the superior court of New Hampshire, 1798- 1809; died in Stratham, March 7, 1838.
Chapter XVIII
NEW HAMPSHIRE IN THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Chapter XVIII NEW HAMPSHIRE IN THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
G EORGE EVERETT ADAMS, born at Keene, June 18, 1840, moved with his parents to Chicago in 1853. He was graduated at Harvard in 1860 and practiced law in Chicago. After serving in the state senate he was elected as a Republican to four successive congresses, 1883-91, after which he resumed the practice of law in Chicago.
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