History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 206

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 206
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 206

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part attributable to the remarkably good judgment . and foresight of its cashier. The able men associated with Mr. Brown in the management of the bank's affairs speak in no stinted praise of his keen percep- tions, and his full acquaintance with market values and the conditions of investment. He is superior as a judge of credit. In the delicate matters pertaining to his office he shows remarkable tact, treating all persons with such kindly consideration that none can take offense.

Mr. Brown has been a member of the Masonic fra- ternity for thirteen years, and of the Odd-Fellows for seven. He is also connected with the State Historical Society, in all the affairs of which he takes an intel- ligent interest.

Mr. Brown is true to his ancestral traits; he com- bines with rare business faculties a. large benevolence and a deep religious faith ; his charities are wide and constant, and " without observation." The full weight

Alonzo H. Quint.

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of his well-balanced character and his ever-increas- ing influence is on the side of every publie measure which makes for the prosperity, peace, and purity of the community. He is a member of the First Church (Congregational), and his activities are devoted to its welfare.

Mr. Brown (Oct. 18, 1870) married Fannie, young- est daughter of the late Dr. Alphonzo Biekford, who held a foremost place in his profession, and, as a man, was largely respected for his publie spirit, liberal and intelligent views, and sterling integrity. They have two boys,-Alphonzo Bickford, born Jan. 23, 1872, and Harold Winthrop, born Nov. 8, 1875.

ALONZO H. QUINT.

Alonzo H. Quint was born March 22, 1828, at the house of his maternal grandfather, Barnstead, N. H. He was the only child of George and Sally W. (Hall) Quint. His father, a remarkably skillful mechanic, was in manufacturing business in Dover, N. H., for over fifty years. Dr. Quint's mother was grand- daughter of Elder Benjamin Randall, the founder of the Free Baptist denomination in America. Dr. Quint's father's father and three great-grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolution ; two collateral were with John Paul Jones; a great-grandfather was a soldier in the French and Indian war, at the mas- sacre of Fort William and Henry, and his ancestor, Shadrech Walton (Judge S. J. C.), was colonel of New Hampshire troops at the capture of Port Royal. The earliest American ancestor of his mother was Deacon John Hall, of Dover, ancestor also of Hon. Joshua G. Hall, now member of Congress, and Col. Daniel Ilall, both of Dover.

Dr. Quint fitted for college at Franklin Academy, Dover, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1846. Being but eighteen years of age, he divided the next three years between manual labor in his father's employ and reading medicine; when twenty-one entered Andover Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1852, but took another year of post- graduate study. He was ordained the first pastor of the Central (Congregational) Chureli, Jamaica Plain (now a part of the city of Boston), Dec. 27, 1853. Here he remained until the commencement of the war of 1861, when he entered (May, 1861) the ser- vice as chaplain of the regiment under Col. G. II. Gordon (a graduate of West Point and a soldier in Mexico), the Second Massachusetts Infantry, the first regiment authorized and raised for three years' ser- vice. The church at Jamaica Plain gave him leave of absence, refusing the resignation which he tendered ; this leave was extended for two years, when he in- sisted on a separation. He took part in the gallant history of that distinguished regiment, which, with Gen. Hooker in 1864, "as is known to two armies, has no superior." It served in Virginia, Maryland, and under Sherman in the centre and to the sea. Of

its first list of men, the casualties in action were (by official figures) precisely 600, in 115 killed, 70 mor- tally wounded, 415 wounded not mortally.

Dr. Quint continued in service until the summer of 1864, when in the campaign to Atlanta by advice ; of surgeon he was mustered out. He had been officially mentioned for good conduct on the field, and especially in two important battles. Abbott, in his history of the civil war, writes of him as " one of the most heroic chaplains of the war," and other writers have borne a like testimony to his fidelity.

July 23, 1864, Dr. Quint was installed pastor of the North Congregational Church in New Bedford, Mass. This church, temporarily depressed, rose under his ministry to a remarkably influential position. The congregation was largely increased, and the pastor's peculiar abilities were making themselves felt through- out the entire denomination. After a ministry of eleven years Dr. Quint felt constrained on account of failing health to resign his position. The malarial fever which he had contracted during the war had made it impossible for him during the last months of his pastorate to do seareely any service. Although his attached people offered him a leave of absence, he felt it to be his duty to insist upon his withdrawal.

In July, 1875, Dr. Quint came to Dover, and has ever since resided here in the home once his father's. His health has been fully regained, and he has been enabled to perform a large and varied literary work. In addition to this he has been for the past two years and still is regularly preaching in the pulpit of Broad- way Church, Somerville, Mass.

Mr. Quint received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Dartmouth College in 1866. In 1870 he was elected a trustee of this institution, and still serves in this office. He was by the appointment of the Gov- ernor of Massachusetts one of the eight members of the Massachusetts board of education (the term being eight years), and served until he entered the army of the civil war.

For eleven years he was grand chaplain of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. He is also a member of the Odd-Fellows. He was the first person initiated into the Grand Army of the Republic in New England. He helped form the first post (New Bedford), was one of the commit- tee to form its national constitution, and was chaplain- in-chief four years. He was a member of the Massa- chusetts Historical Society from 1859 until he left the State, its membership being limited to a hundred. He has been for many years a valuable member of the New England Historie Genealogieal Society. He was formerly a corresponding and is now a resident member of the New Hampshire Historical Society. He is also a corresponding member of the New York Historical Society. Dr. Quint has published two books, "Potomae and Rapidan" (army letters) and "Record of the Second Massachusetts Infantry." Various sermons and public addresses have also been

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HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

put into permanent form, among them, notable for its fervid patriotism and eloquent expression, is the ora- tion on the occasion and dedication of the soldiers' monument at Dover; he also performed a similar ser- vice at New Bedford. Ife officiated as chaplain at the dedication of the soldiers' monument on Boston Common. A vast mass of most valuable historical material has been contributed by Dr. Quint during the past twenty-five years to the columns of the Dorer Enquirer. Other results of his patient and wide re- search in this field of literature are to be found in the "New England Historieal and Genealogical

During this session there was a great contest over the chartering of the Lake Shore Railroad, and the passage of a general railroad law, involving the ques- tions of the whole railroad policy of the State. Ile Register" and in the printed volumes of the " Pro- , was the recognized leader upon one side of these ceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society." . questions, as also upon one side of the consideration Dr. Quint was one of the founders of the Congrega- tional Quarterly, and was one of its editors from 1859 to 1866.

At the present time his literary labors are engaged in preparing two most important histories,-i.e., that of Dover and that of the State of New Hampshire. For more than a quarter of a century Dr. Quint has been busy in gathering in much most recondite and deeply interesting material, which when brought into final shape by him will prove an exceedingly riel contribution to American history.

Dr. Quint's services to the Congregational denomi- nation have been most important and highly appre- eiated. For twenty-five years he was secretary of the Massachusetts General Association of Congregational Churches, and its moderator in 1865 and 1882. He was chairman of the Business Committee of the Na- tional Council of 1865; was chairman of the eom- mittee to eall a convention of delegates in 1870 to form a National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States; was chairman of committee to draft its constitution ; was temporary presiding officer at the National Council which met at Oberlin in 1871, and was chosen secretary of the Council for three years, and has been continued by re-elections in this office ever since. He has sinee 1860 edited the "Congregational Year-Book" and other publications giving the statistics of the Congrega- tional Churches, excepting four years, and still has charge of that work.

Dr. Quint preached the last sermon given in the old Brattle Square Church before the Massachusetts Convention of Congregational Ministers. He has been for twenty-two years a director of the American Congregational Association, which has in trust the Congregational Home and great Congregational Li- brary in Boston, and is now senior director. He was for twenty years, to 1882, one of the managers of the Congregational Publishing Society, and, since its in- corporation in 1868, seeretary of the Board of Minis- terial Aid, and one of its fifteen members. He is a corporate member of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions. He also preached the election sermon by election of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1865.

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In 1880 he was chosen member of the New Hamp- shire House of Representatives from Ward 2, Dover. The Legislature met in June, 1881. He was a mem- ber of the Railroad Committee, of the Committee on Old Records, the Committee on the Yorktown Celebra- tion. He was chairman of the Committee on Insane Asylum, and also on the Condition of the Insane in County Almshouses.

of constitutional and legal questions involved in the election of senators. In this conflict Dr. Quint took a conspicuous part. In his mastery of the subjects, his elearness of statement, his strength of argument, he showed himself a peer among the veteran lawyers and legislators who stood in the arena of debate. In November, 1882, Dr. Quint was re-elected by an increased majority as representative of his ward.

For a man to have served, as Dr. Quint has, in so many and so diversified offices in church and State, argues the possession by him of an unusual range of powers. His versatility must certainly be remarkable. But, beyond this, to have met these so widely different demands with such an acknowledged ability in every case shows Dr. Quint to belong to that order where we place great men. An analysis of his qualities will strengthen this estimate of him.

Dr: Quint is a man of unnsnal intellectual force. lle impresses every one as being full of will-power. This of itself goes far to make him a natural leader among men. Ife would dominate men if by nothing else by the sheer strength of his own personality. But to this foree are added sharp perceptions, elear foresight, and a righteous purpose. This gives to his remarkable executive powers wise and benefieent di- rection. It is not less his keen comprehension of the conditions and issues of perplexing questions which arise in discussions than his clearness and strength of self-assertion that enables him so often to set a bewildered assembly right, and unloose the skein of some tangled debate. Dr. Quint is by constitution a logieian. His mind is orderly in its movements, and as clear as it is orderly. He is naturally an organ- izer. He must put persons and things under rules, and hold them to a system, just as he loves to put facts and statistics into due form and relation. But there are other qualities in him rarely found in a man of sneh executive will and logical reasoning. He has great imaginative force and poetie sentiment.

His sermons and addresses, both those written and those spoken out of the inspiration of the moment, are not only strong in statement and muscular in ar- gument, but they are blossoming out all over with the very flowers of poetry, the eoneeits of humor, and sentiments of beauty, tenderness, and pathos. This

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Geor Spalding

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makes Dr. Quint an eloquent speaker. He knows men's feelings, their every-day, homely thoughts and experiences, and he reaches these with great delicacy and directness.

Dr. Quint, too, has a wonderful memory, at once ca- pacious and retentive. It is a storehouse wherein lie most various and abundant materials, all properly shelved and labeled, and forthcoming on demand. Dr. Quint, so strong and assertive in these qualities, has great kindness of heart and charitableness of judgment. Ile is magnanimous to all, and most truly loyal to his friends. He is the natural defender of the weak, and quick to champion the cause of the wronged. His patriotism is intense. The material elements mingle strongly in him. We can casily understand of him why it was said that lie was " one of the most heroic chaplains of the war."

Dr. Quint married, Jan. 31, 1854, Rebecca P., daughter of Allen and Eliza (Page) Putnam, of Salem, Mass. Her father was not less able as a ship- master in the old-time long voyages than respected as a man. He was president of the Salem Marine So- ciety, and four years surveyor of the port of Salem. His father and grandfather were officers in the army of the Revolution, as also was Mrs. Putnam's father, Col. Page. Mrs. Quint is a great-grandniece of Gen. Israel Putnam, and also of Gen. Rufus Putnam, of the Revolution. Their children have been: (1) George Putnam, who died young; (2) Clara Gads- den, named for her mother's sister, wife of William S. Gadsden, of Charleston, S. C .; (3) Wilder Dwight, now a student in Phillips' Exeter Academy ; (4) Katherine Mordantt, named from her father's grand- mother, and an early ancestor ; (5) John Hastings.

GEORGE BURLEY SPALDING, D.D.1

George Burley Spalding, the present pastor of the First Church in Dover, was born in Montpelier, Vt., Aug. 11, 1835, son of Dr. James and Eliza (Reed) Spalding. The line of American descent on the pa- ternal side was as follows: Edward, of Chelmsford, Mass., immigrant ; Benjamin, whose will was proved April 5, 1670; Edward, of Canterbury, Conn .; Eph- raim, of Connecticut ; Reuben, of Connecticut ; Reu- ben, who married Jerusha Carpenter, and lived in Sharon, Vt .; Dr. James, and Rev. George Burley.

Deacon Reuben Spalding, grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, was one of the early settlers of Vermont, whose life was not more remarkable for his toils, privations, and energy as a pioneer in a new country than for his unbending Christian integrity. He entered Sharon in 1769, and lived on the same farm eighty years. He was a member of the church sixty-one years, and deacon forty-two years. He was distinguished for " the best qualities of the old New England Puritanism."

Dr. James Spalding was the third of twelve chil- dren, and for many years a successful practitioner of medicine in Montpelier, Vt., but especially eminent in surgery. He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical School at the age of twenty years. He was more than forty years a member of the Vermont Medical Society, its secretary over twenty years, its president in 1866-68. "Ilis life," says a printed sketch, "was that of the Good Samaritan,-a life of toil, prayer, and sympathy for others."

By the line of Reed, the family is of the same blood with Rev. Dr. Gardiner Spring and Rev. Dr. Edwards A. Park. The grandmother of Dr. George B. Spalding, and the grandfather of the late Senator Matthew H. Carpenter, were sister and brother.

George Burley Spalding was the seventh of nine children. He fitted for college at the Washington County Academy, Montpelier, and graduated at the University of Vermont in 1856, being twenty-one years of age. He read law one year in Montpelier, with Hon. Charles W. Willard, and then went to Tallahassee, Fla., where he read law another year with Judge W. C. M. Davis. While in the South he was a regular correspondent of the New York Courier and Enquirer, of which his brother, James Reed Spalding, was one of the editors. As such he at- tended the noted Southern commercial convention in Savannah, in 1858, where Yancey, Rhett, Barnwell, and DeBow poured ont their hot invective. In the following year he mingled with the great Southern leaders on the eve of the great events which were soon to burst upon the country. Doubtless in his law study and in his intercourse with men in different phases of society he acquired that practical acquaint- ance with human nature which makes available his instinctive and common-sense power of meeting all classes of men.

Flattering offers were made him by Judge Davis to remain and enter into practice with that eminent lawyer at a large assured income. But Mr. Spalding had already changed his purpose for life. He re- turned North, abandoned the law, and began the study of theology in the Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1858. Here he remained two years. Here, also; he did regular editorial work on the New York World, of which his brother was founder, and subsequently wrote for the columns of the New York Times. This experience enabled him later to write for five years a large portion of the editorial leaders of the Watchman and Reflector. While in Union Semi- nary. his spirit of independence and industry was so strong that he supported himself entirely by his literary work. Leaving New York, he entered Ando- ver Theological Seminary, where, after one year's study, he graduated in 1861. On the 5th of October of that year he was ordained pastor of the Congrega- tional Church in Vergennes, Vt., a position to which he had, in fact, been called before his graduation, as well as to another field. He resigned his successful

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

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HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

pastorate at Vergennes, Aug. 1, 1864, to accept a call to the Park Church, Hartford, Conn., formerly Dr. Bushnell's, where he was installed September 28th. He resigned that charge and was dismissed March 23, 1869, and was installed pastor of the First Church in Dover, September 1st following.

Church itself later became extinet in 1642, and the | mainly upon current newspaper periodicals. This has

This church is the second in point of age in this State, being organized in December, 1638, and pre- ceded by Hampton only. The old Exeter First First Church of Exeter dates from 1698 only. The Dover First Parish dates from October, 1633, and is unquestionably the oldest in New Hampshire. A long line of able men has been on the roll of the pastors of that venerable church. Under none has it been so strong and so influential as under Dr. Spald. ing. Its numbers have largely increased ; its pews are at a constant premium; its pew-occupants number men of the highest distinction in the State. Three years since the whole of the handsome church edifice was refitted at an expense of over twelve thousand dollars, besides the amount necessary to purchase the pew property, and no debt remains. An elegant and commodious parsonage has also been purchased and paid for. Without disparagement to others, it is safe to say that public opinion accords to Mr. Spalding a foremost place among the ministers of New Hamp- shire. Certainly no pastor of the ancient First Church ever had a greater public respect or a deeper personal affection. His administration of a strong and think- ing society goes on without even a ripple. He has been frequently called to attend distant councils, some of great and even national interest, and some where delicate questions required the wisest consider- ation ; and in all cases his calm and deliberate judg- ment has had an influence inferior to none. One of these was the great Brooklyn Council, of national interest, in 1876.

those who hear him, and especially those who know him, find an equal development of a generous nature which inclines always to sympathy, and with which he answers, in public and private, to every appeal to his helpful power. In doctrine he is understood to hold the main tenets of what is called old theology, but as forces rather than dogmas, and liberally instead of severely applied.

Mr. Spalding's literary work has been extensive, but given him, of course, a valuable directness and clear- ness of expression. A few sermons and other pro- ductions have been published : a sermon on God's Presence and Purpose in the War, Nov. 26, 1863; a discourse commemorative of Gen. Samuel P. Strong, Feb. 28, 1864; a discourse on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Dover, May 18, 1873 ; a discourse commemorative of the character and career of Hon. John P. Hale, Nov. 27, 1873, which the poet Whittier characterized in the highest terms,-a fine specimen of judicious analysis, in which he does justice to the pioneer of the anti-slavery cause in the United States Senate, a justice now lately ap- parently purposely ignored out of a desire to magnify a brilliant but later laborer ; the Relation of the Church to Children, Nov. 6, 1873; the Dover Pulpit in the Revolution, July 9, 1876, for which he searched and well used the manuscript of his eminent prede- cessor, Dr. Jeremy Bełknap; the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Conference of Churches of Strafford County, June 18, 1878; the Idea and Neces- sity of Normal-School Training, Dec. 26, 1878; An- nual Report of the Trustees of the State Normal School, June, 1879; Memorial on the Death of Gar- field, September, 1881 ; historical discourse on the one hundredth anniversary of the Piscataqua Association, Oct. 26, 1881 ; on the death of Wells Waldron, Nov. 13, 1881; on the death of John Riley Varney, May 5,1882.

In his preaching, one has to study him to get the secret of his influence. There is nothing in it to In addition, however, to his other work he has been, startle. There is no dramatic exhibition. It is the , and is, the editor of the New Hampshire Journal, a farthest possible from the sensational. There are successful weekly in the interest of the Congregational Churches, from which some of his keen editorials have met with favor throughout the country. never any protruding logical bones. He never in- dulges in any prettinesses of diction. But a critical analysis (the last thing one thinks of in listening to Mr. Spalding was a member of the Constitutional Convention of New Hampshire which met Jan. 8, 1877. He represented Dover in the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 1877. He is also a trus- tee of the State normal school, by appointment of the Governor and Council, his first appointment, for two years, being made in 1876, and his chairmanship of that board commencing soon after and now continu- ing. He became a member of the school committee of Dover in 1875, and still continues, having been its chairman from 1876. Ile was chosen trustee and one of the Executive Committee of the New Hampshire Missionary Society in 1873, and still retains each po- sition. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity him) reveals the elements of his power. Ilis themes are always elevated themes. One sees the most earnest convictions held in perfect independence and honesty ; a natural development of thought in an always fresh and orderly way ; a diction as clear as a pellucid brook ; illustrations drawn from wide obser- vation, always simple, and frequently beautiful ; a genial, sometimes intense, glow pervading his whole discourse; and a dignified but simple manliness throughout. Fully six feet in height, and with lib- erally developed physique, he impresses one at first mainly with the idea of manly strength. But it takes no great time to see that commanding intellectual abilities are fully parallel with his physique; and | from Dartmouth College in 1878.

Broker m.J.

Joseph D. Chippy

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Dr. Spalding married Sarah Livingston, daughter of Rev. Dr. John W. Olmstead, manager and editor of the Watchman and Reflector ; her mother, Mary, was daughter of Richard Montgomery Livingston, a lawyer of Saratoga, N. Y. Their children are Mary Livingston, Martha Reed, Catharine Olmstead (who died Aug. 29, 1881, aged fourteen), Gertrude Parker, and George Brown.

HENRY RUST PARKER, M.D.

The subject of this sketch is of English ancestry, and traces his lineage in this country to William Parker, who emigrated from England in the year 1703 and settled in Portsmouth, N. H. From that time onward members of the Parker family have occupied prominent positions in the councils of the county and State.

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History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 206

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