History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 174

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1714

USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 174
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 174

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He took a deep interest in education. He was zealous and untiring in efforts to elevate the schools in Rochester. To none more than to him the high school owes its present standing and success.

From his well-known ability and interest in histori- cal research, he was elected a member of the New Hampshire Historical Society. In 1865 he began a series of historical sketches in the Rochester Courier, which are models of simplicity, conciseness, and accuracy. He intended to rewrite and enlarge these sketches into a complete history of the town, and with much labor had collected considerable material for this purpose. His premature death unfortunately left the work unfinished.

IFis mind was essentially mathematical, with keen powers of analytic thought. Flowers of rhetoric could not cover false logic from his eye, which de- tected shams at a glance. His power of methodical analysis was well illustrated in his mountain· adven- ture. When he found he was lost, he knew the at- tempt to go on in the night would only increase his perplexity, besides the danger from unseen precipices. Having no means of kindling a fire, he could only ward off a fatal chill by continued exercise. He therefore chose a level spot of a few rods' length be- tween two large trees, and paced back and forth from one tree to the other all night. While thus walking

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he went over in careful thought the whole day's jour- ney, studying step by step to find his error. In this way he came to a definite conclusion as to just where he had left the true path, and just what course to pursue in the morning. The theory proved true in every particular, and brought him out in safety.

In 1876 he obtained a patent on a valuable " Im- provement in Combination and Chronometer Locks," which he sold to a lock manufacturing company for five hundred dollars. This invention secures two principal advantages: first, that any accidental stop- ping of the clock-work will not prevent the opening of the lock ; and second, that it can be opened between the hours for which it may be set only by assembling too many persons for a burglar's safety. His methodical turn of mind fitted him especially for business, in which he was a model of diligence, exactness, and integrity. No crookedness or obscurity ever darkened his finan- cial transactions. ITis partial loss of hearing, added to his retiring nature, withdrew him somewhat from social life, and his quiet, unobtrusive ways left others of far less merit to be more widely known than he. But his neighbors and townsmen highly appreciated his sterling worth, and his intimates prized his friend- ship as of one of the sincerest and most lovable of men. His firm and substantial character was beauti- fied and crowned with the graces of a Christian life. His religion, like every other part of his character, was genuine. No affected holiness or pious drivel marred its excellent simplicity. Shrinking and sen- sitive, his religion avoided all boastful display. It was, nevertheless, all-pervading, shining in and through his life, leaving a light behind to guide others to the heavenward path. He was long dis- trustful and doubting in regard to his own experi- ence. But when he once decided to identify himself with the Church of Christ, it was a transaction for- ever. His daily life exemplified the truths he be- lieved. He was pre-eminently meek under abuse. When a temporary cloud came upon the savings- bank, conscious of integrity, he was calm and quiet under vituperation. He would patiently answer questions and explain the bank affairs to every in- terested party ; but when, leaving inquiry, any began to rage and revile he would quietly turn to his books, as if not hearing a word. Quick in sympathy, he was nobly generous in every worthy cause. The poor were among his sincerest mourners. Unosten- tatious in his gifts, many a needy one was relieved, only suspecting whence the favor came. He was emphatically "a pillar in the church," a friend and helper of every pastor, an active supporter of every good work, a model church officer. His death was a severe loss, not only to family and church, but to town and State. Few worthier or more valuable men ever claimed the Granite State for their home than Deacon Franklin McDuffee.

" The memory of the just is blessed."

JOIIN MODUFFEE.1

To men of their own energetic stock, who, refus- ing all political preferment, have given comprehen- sive abilities, sterling integrity, and sagacious in- dustry to the development of business, many New Hampshire towns owe an imperishsble debt. John M«Duffee's record is in the prosperity of Rochester.

The name itself suggests that strong Scotch-Irish blood which endured the siege of Londonderry, in which were Mr. McDuffee's ancestors, John McDuffec and his wife Martha, honored in tradition. John and Martha MeDuffee had four sons, viz. : Mansfield, Archibald, John, and Daniel. Mansfield went to London, England; the other three came with their parents to America in the emigration which gave New Hampshire the powerful stock of Derry and London - derry. John, the father of these sons, settled in Rochester in 1729, on land on the east side of the Cochecho River, adjoining Gonic Lower Falls, the farm of eighty-five acres remaining without break in the family, and now owned by the subject of this article. The Rochester settler was, as just stated, the father of Daniel McDuffee, and also of Col. John McDuffee, a gallant officer in the old French and Revolutionary wars, lieutenant-colonel in Col. Poor's regiment, who, never marrying, adopted his brother Daniel's son John, and eventually made him his heir. John, the colonel's heir, was a farmer in good circumstances, married Abigail, daughter of Simon and Sarah (Ham) Torr, and was father of John McDuffee, the subject of this sketch, who was born on the farm once the colonel's, abont a mile and a half from Rochester village, on the Dover road, Dec. 6, 1803.

Of course while working on the farm more or less he had for five or more years the advantage of a good school kept at the village by " Master" Henry H. Orne (D. C. 1812), of severe discipline and good scholarship, who supplemented the public school with a private one each autumn. Mr. Orne was a very successful teacher, and among the associates of John McDuffee in this school were Thomas C. Up- ham, Nathaniel G. Upham, John P. Hale, and Noah Tibbets. In 1818, at the age of fifteen, the boy en- tered Franklin Academy in Dover, the first day of its existence, Thomas E. Sawyer and Richard Kim- ball being among his associates, and Rev. Mr. Thayer being its principal. IIere he fitted to enter college as sophomore, but returned home, and at the age of eighteen he went into the store of his uncle, John Greenfield, at Rochester. It was a large country store, where everything was sold. After two years' experience, being only twenty years of age, he began the same business for himself on the same square, was successful, and after two years took into partner- ship his uncle, Jonathan H. Torr. During this period he was commissioned postmaster of Rochester,

1 By Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D.D.

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IIISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

being not of age when appointed, and he held this office until removed on Jackson's accession to the Presidency.

In the spring of the year 1831 he went to Dover, and began the same business on a broader scale, first in the Perkins Block, and in the autumn as the first tenant of the northern store in the new Watson Block, on the Landing, Ira Christie his next southern neighbor. This locality, now at an end for such pur- poses, was then the place of business and offices. Steady success continued to reward his energy and in- dustry, but in February, 1833, selling to Andrew Pierce, Jr., he returned to Rochester to settle the large estate of his wife's father, Joseph Hanson, who, dying in December previous, had made him executor. Mr. Hanson, whose daughter Joanna (by his marriage with Charity Dame), Mr. MeDuffee had married, June 21, 1829, was one of the three old and wealthy merchants of Rochester, Nathaniel Upham and Jonas C. March being the other two. The settlement of this extended estate and business was completed and. the accounts settled by Mr. McDuffee's energy in seven months ; and it caused his entire abandonment of trade, although he had been eminently successful.

There was no bank in Rochester. Old traders had some connection with the Strafford Bank in Dover, and the Rockingham Bank in Portsmouth. They loaned money instead of getting discounts. Mr. Han- son's safe, where he kept all his securities, was a small brick building back of his store, with a sheet- iron door fastened by a padlock. He kept some de- posits, however, in Strafford Bank, and was a stock- holder iu that and in the Rockingham Bank. The three principal traders used to go to Boston twice a year on horseback to buy goods. Mr. McDuffee saw that a bank was needed. He prepared the plans, secured signatures, obtained a charter from the Legislature in 1834, and the Rochester Bank was organized with ninety stockholders, and a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, later increased to one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, with one hundred and thirty stockholders. Of the original ninety, only two be- sides Mr. McDuffee now survive. On the organiza- tion he became cashier, his brother-in-law, Dr. James Farrington (member of the Twenty-fifth Congress), being president. The bank was the frontier bank, no otber existing between Rochester and Canada, and it was the first bank which the counterfeits from Canada naturally but uselessly struck. It was a fa- vorite of the people, and was so managed that its dividends were eight or nine per cent. It is well known that the business was really left to the probity and skill of its cashier. Cashier for twenty years, on the then renewal of its charter, Mr. McDuffee resigned the cashiership in favor of his son Franklin, and be- came president. The bank did not become a national bank until 1874, and in the six years previous he and his son formed the house of "John McDuffee & Co., private bankers," took up the old bank's business,

and successfully carried it on. In 1874 they merged it in a national bank, the one being president and the other cashier, as before, and the two taking two-fifths of its stock. It is an interesting fact that no bill has ever been issued by either Rochester Bank without the well-known signature of John McDuffee, either as president or cashier ; and he still actively admin- isters the interests of the bank he originated in another form forty-eight years ago.

In addition to this Rochester interest, Mr. McDuffee was one of the original grantees of the Dover National Bank, and for a short time was a director; but his interest became more in the Strafford Bank, at Dover, of which (new charter) he was the second heaviest stockholder, Daniel M. Christie being the first. He became a director in the Strafford National Bank in 1870, and still actively holds that position. The stock of this bank (par, one hundred dollars) has this year sold at one hundred and sixty dollars.

The Norway Plains Savings-Bank, at Rochester, was chartered in 1851, and Mr. McDuffee became its treasurer, being succeeded by his son Franklin in 1867, and himself becoming president, an office in which he still remains. It is worth recalling that although this bank was ordered, in the panic, to pay out only five-sixths of any deposit, it subsequently petitioned for leave to pay, and did credit to every person affected, the remaining sixth.

Mr. MeDuffee early saw the advantages of manu- facturing to a community. By his own means and a liberal allowance of banking facilities he has greatly aided their development, the first such enterprise in Rochester, the Mechanics' Manufacturing Company, being decided to locate there by the new banking facilities. Mr. McDuffee was a director. It was a manufacture of blankets, and its successor is the Nor- way Plains Manufacturing Company. The original company Mr. McDuffee carried safely through the crisis of 1837. The mill property at Gonic Mr. McDuffee bought in 1845 to lease to N. V. White- house, that the business might not be given up. He held his purchase for about ten years. The effort was successful, and the property was eventually taken by a joint-stock company. Stephen Shorey, owning some facilities for manufacturing at East Rochester, came to Mr. McDuffee to see if the bank would ad- vance means to build. Mr. McDuffee at once pledged the means, and the mills were built. A stock com- pany afterwards purchased mills and machinery, and the thriving village of East Rochester owes its pros- perity to Mr. MeDuffee's liberal policy. Thus have been developed the three principal water-powers of Rochester.

Mr. McDuffee's personal interests in manufacturing were also in the Great Falls Manufacturing Company, in whose great business he was a director for four years. Capital, one million five hundred thousand dollars. In 1862 he bought large interests in the Cocheco Manufacturing Company, and has there re-

(Dominicus Heinsono

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mained. Since 1874 he has been a director of that corporation. As such he advocated the erection of the great mill, now No. 1, and the replacing of all the old buildings by new and magnificent mills, un- surpassed in the United States,-a work now rapidly progressing. The remarkable success of this com- pany certifies alike to the sagacious boldness and the considerate policy of its directors.

The need of railroad facilities at Rochester was carly apparent to Mr. MeDuffee. In 1846 he entered into two enterprises,-the Cocheco Road, from Dover to Alton Bay, and Conway Road, from Great Falls to Conway. Each was to and did pass through Rochester. In each road Mr. McDuffee was the largest individual stockholder, and of each was the first treasurer. When the Conway Road reached Rochester Mr. McDuffee resigned its treasurership. The other road, after various difficulties, became the Dover and Winnipe- saukee by the incorporation of the bondholders, and Mr. McDuffee continued to be a director. With " friend" William Hill he visited Boston more than thirty times to treat for the lease of this road to the Boston and Maine. The effort was finally successful, and the road, by itself weak, became a fine piece of property. Rochester was thus doubly accommodated ; but another avenue was needed, and Mr. MeDuffee took part in the Portland and Rochester, which se- cured a route eastward, of which road he was a di- rector; and he invested liberally in the Rochester and Nashua, which opened a line to the West. The result has been that Rochester is a " billing-point," and its various manufacturing interests have felt its impetus.

The beauty of "McDuffee Block" in Rochester, built by him in 1868, exhibits the owner's public spirit. It is an elegant brick building of four stories, containing six stores, twelve offices in the second story, a public hall in the third, and a Masonic hall, one of the finest in the State, in the fourth. In the use of the public hall the liberality of its owner to benevolent objects is well known. As a Mason he joined IIumane Lodge on the very day he became " of lawful age."

In religion. Mr. McDuffee was brought up under good old Parson Joseph Haven, and has remained a liberal supporter of the Congregational Society. In politics, he was an earnest Whig. His first vote was for the electors who chose John Quincy Adams Presi- dent, and his postmastership was ended by Andrew Jackson. He has always been a decided Rupublican.

Mr. McDuffee's great amount of labor has been possible only by the vigorous constitution which he

inherited. The boy who before he left home " car- ried the forward swath" in the hay-field made the man who now accomplishes an amount of work which would surprise many younger men. Monday is al- ways given to the Strafford Bank at Dover; Tuesday he presides at the Rochester Bank meeting ; Wednes- day, at the Savings-Bank ; and no day is idle.

Of Mr. MeDutfee's happy domestic relations nothing need be said. Of his eight children, nam- ing them in the order of birth, (1) Joseph, who fol- lowed the sea, died (single) on the ocean, at the age of thirty-five. (2) Franklin, who graduated at Dart- mouth College in 1853, died, after a successful finan- cial career, Nov. 11, 1880, greatly lamented ; he mar- ried Mary Fannie, daughter of John Hayes, of Farmington, and left two sons, John Edgar (now in the Chandler Scientific Department of Dartmouth College) and Willis. (3) John Randolph graduated at the Chandler Scientific Department in 1857, was a civil engineer in Rochester, and died single, aged twenty-five. (4) Anna M. is the wife of Frank S. Brown, of Hartford, Conn., of the firm of Brown, Thompson & Co. She has one son and two daugh- ters. (5) Mary Abbie is the wife of Charles K. Chase, a merchant in Rochester, and has two daugh- ters. (G) Sarah died single. (7) George, the only surviving son, is engaged in extensive grain, mill, and lumber business in Rochester. He married, first, Lizzie Hanson, who died, leaving a son; afterwards he married, second, Nellie, daughter of Dr. James Farrington, of Rochester, her father being nephew of Dr. James Farrington, M.C. (8) Oliver, died in infancy.

Judged by the success of his work as a banker, as developing by a liberal and wise help every worthy manufacturing enterprise, and as foremost in the building of the various railways centering in Roch- ester, it is clear that Mr. MeDutfee nobly comes into the list of those spoken of in our first paragraph, whose record is in the prosperity of his native town, where ability, sagacity, integrity, and kindness have united to make that record, as well as his own per- sonal success.

Of other real estate Mr. McDuffee has, besides various pieces in Rochester, including such as the Gonic farm, the New Durham "powder-mill" estate DOMINICUS HANSON. of nine hundred acres of land and eleven hundred Dominicus Hanson, son of Joseph and Charity (Dame) Hanson, was born in the same house in Roch- 1813. acres of water, and in Barrington two hundred acres on Isinglass River, held with a view to future manu- ester, N. II., where he now (1882) resides, Aug. 23, facturing needs.

His father was born in Dover, N. H., Dec. 18, 1764, and died at Rochester, N. H., Dec. 19, 1832. Ile married Charity Dame, March 4, 1798. She was born at Rochester, Sept. 1, 1775, and died Feb. 3, 1833. They had ten children,-

(1) Humphrey (deceased), a druggist.

(2) Mary D. (deceased), wife of Dr. James Farring- ton, deceased), of Rochester, a distinguished physician and member of Congress from New Hampshire.

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HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

(3) Hannah, died in infancy.

(4) Joseph S., died at twenty-five; was a druggist.

(5) Meribah (deceased), wife of Dr. Joseph H. Smith, now of Lowell, Mass.

(6) Joanna (Mrs. John McDuffee, of Rochester). See biography of John McDuff'ee.

(7) An infant not named.

(8) Hester Ann (deceased), Mrs. Daniel M. Mooney.

(9) Dominicus, the subject of our sketch.

(10) Asa P., a corn and flour dealer in Newton City, Iowa.

Joseph Hanson came to Rochester from Dover when a young man, and immediately engaged in the general grocery and mercantile business, which he successfully followed till within a few years of his deatlı. He was a man of excellent judgment, good common sense, shrewd, cautious, industrious, and eco- nomical. IIe built the first brick store ever erected in Strafford County, probably about 1810 or 1812. It had a tin roof, and the doors and window-shutters were of tin also. At a very early day he made a brick vault for the safe deposit of his papers, etc. Ile inaugurated many useful schemes which have had a tendency for good, and his name is held in grateful remembrance by those who knew him. Ile was justly considered one of the best business men of his day, and his ample fortune left to his family fully attests this estimate of him. He was a Whig in politics, but was averse to holding any office, preferring to at- tend to his own private matters, hence his great suc- cess for one of those days.

Mrs. Hanson was a member of the Methodist Church, and he was an attendant and supporter of the various churches, though not a member of any, rather leaning towards Universalism.

Dominicus Hanson received the advantages of a common-school education until he was some fifteen years of age, and this was supplemented by an aca- demic education at Rochester Academy, Parsonsfield Seminary, Me., Hopkinton, N. II., and at Pembroke, N. H. In 1830 he commenced the drug business as an apprentice to his brother-in-law, Dr. Smith, and served him two years, when in 1832 he bought Dr. Smith's interest, and has continued in the business ever since, except some two or three years when away at school.

As an evidence of the confidence reposed in Mr. Hanson as an honest and trustworthy gentleman, we may mention that, at the earnest solicitation of the business men of his native town, he issned scrip of the respective denominations-10 cts., 25 ects., and 50 cts. -to the amount of $8000, which reads as follows :

State of New Hampshire, Rochester, Sept. 27, 1802. For value re- ceived, I promise to pay - - on demand, in current Bank Bills, in sums of one dollar and upwards, at my place of business.

DUMINICUS HANSON.

This serip was issued when there was a scarcity of circulating money during the great civil war, and be-

fore the general government had issued any money. This serip circulated throughout New England, and was never refused. All of which was promptly re- deemed when the general government made its issue.

" Honest Dominicus, as he has been known by his friends for long years. Who ever saw the goodly village of Rochester Plains but has seen his prim pressed-brick two-story apothecary store, with its cir- cular front, once the most stylish store in the whole State of New Hampshire; its long-remembered and excellent brick sidewalk in front, dating back to time immemorial, before this prospective city knew the luxury of sidewalks; its broad stone steps, always a delight to the innumerable patrons of this popular resort, who climb them with assurance of safe foot- hold and excellent reception beyond? If Noah could by any means be compelled to refit and re- arrange the ark, and take in all that he considered necessary to stock a new world, he couldn't collect the six or eight million invaluable articles which are here gathered together from the four corners of the earth (or is coming the next day), unless he had the nearly miraculous experience of our subject, and to acquire such an experience would cost a frightful ex- penditure of both time and money. Mr. Ilanson is now (1882) sixty-nine years of age, rather less than six feet in height, stands erect, possesses rather a commanding figure, moves quickly, like an active young man of twenty-five. His hair, always inclined to brown, is silvered with age. He is of a markedly nervous organization, his thin-cut face bearing its certain evidence. Nothing about the face or general appearance of our subject is strongly marked above many other men you may meet in the course of a day's ride in any portion of Yankee land; by that sign you can judge the man. If ever wit and drol- lery overflowed in one person, here it is. I know of no two faces in the country that so nearly resemble each other as that of 'Honest Dominicus' and the happy countenance of America's humorist, 'Mark Twain.' The general impression ,left by the two faces is the same, the same mysterious gleam, sure token of the mental flash occurs in each, and the wit and humor of each is fully recognized among their friends. The parallel holds good still further, in neither case can the purpose or intent be solved. A matter of the lightest import may be treated with ponderous gravity befitting a funeral oration, and while either of the two are discoursing with length- ened faces upon the topic the bystanders are convulsed with laughter. On the contrary, many things which bewilder the brains of common people are heartily langhed at by them: Either of these worthies are a puzzle to their many friends, and like all human enigmas, of course they are idolized. But Mr. Hanson is a study. In him lie the gentle graces, geniality, cute Yankee sense, and the subtle and evanescent essence of fun. In him dwells a constant gleam of drollery always welcome as sunshine in winter, or

James Haringon

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flowers in May. The mirth which overflows in his happy moments is all the more welcome because of the uncertainty of its aim. It may be gentle invec- tive of society's shams; perhaps a tinge of sarcasm wittily said lightens his efforts."

In politics he has been a lifelong Democrat of the old school. He was an earnest supporter of Gen. Jackson for the Presideney for his second term, though not old enough to vote. He cast his first Presidential vote for Martin Van Buren, and has voted at every election since. Without his knowledge he was appointed postmaster of his native village by Gen. Jackson ere his majority, and he continued to hold the same position under Van Buren and Harri- son's administrations. He has been director of the Norway Plains Savings-Bank for many years.

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History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 174

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1714

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1714