USA > New Hampshire > Men of progress; biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in and of the state of New Hampshire > Part 23
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F. L. BENEDICT.
the New Hampshire Homoeopathic Medical Society. Doctor Benedict was married, December 20, 1888, to Katheryne Hinckley Hamlin, the ceremony tak- ing place in the Church of the Transfiguration, by Rev. Doctor Houghton, New York city.
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BINGHAM. EDWARD FRANKLIN. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, born at West Concord, Vermont. August 13. 1828, son of Warner and Lucy (Wheeler) Bingham, is a descendant of Thomas Bingham, who emigrated from Sheffield, England, and settled in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1659. He is a brother of the Hon. Harry Bingham, an eminent lawyer and Dem- ocratic leader, and the late Judge George A. Bing- ham, a prominent lawyer and Ex-Judge of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. Edward F. Bingham received his early education at the public and select schools of Vermont, and later at the Academy of Peachanı, Vermont, one of the oldest and best endowed institutions of that state at that time. In 1846 he determined to make Ohio his future home, and after spending a brief period at Marietta College, read law with his brother, Harry, at Littleton, concluding his law studies under the late Judge Joseph Miller, at Chillicothe, Ohio. He was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of that state in May, 1850, the late Chief Justice Hitchcock presiding. On June 1, 1850, he opened a law office at McArthur, the county-seat of the newly created county of Vinton. Although a total stranger he soon found warm friends and built up a large practice. The following November he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of Vinton county, and in 185: he was elected for a term of two years, and re-elected in 1853, serving five years. He was a member of the Legislature in 1856 and 1857. Although strongly urged to accept a re-nomination to the Legislature, he declined, desiring to devote himself to his law practice. In 1858 he was given the unanimous nomination by the Democratic party for the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the second sub-division of the Judicial District composed of the counties of Vinton, Jack- son, Scioto, Pike, and Lawrence. His party then being the minority in that sub-division, he was defeated by a small margin. In 1859 he again declined a nomination as candidate for the Legis- lature. He was a Delegate from the Eleventh Congressional District of Ohio, in 1860, to the Democratic National Convention, held first at Charleston, South Carolina, and by adjournment at Baltimore. In January, 1861, he removed to Columbus, Ohio, where he resided until his re- moval to Washington, District of Columbia. In 1868 Judge Bingham became Chairman of the State Democratic Executive Committee, and so discharged the duties of that office in the impor-
tant campaign of that year as to receive the gen- eral commendation of his party, but because of its interference with his professional duties, he de- clined further service. From 1867 to 1871 he was by election City Solicitor of Columbus, Ohio. He
E. F. BINGHAM.
served as a member of the Board of Education from 1863 to 1868, and was re-elected in 1872. In March, 1873, he was elected, without opposi- tion, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the Fifth Judicial district, and was thrice elected, each term being for five years. At each election he inet with no opposition. He was a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention at St. Louis, in 1876, which nominated Samuel J. Tilden for President. He was nominated by the Ohio Democratic State Convention in 1881, as a candi- date for Supreme Judge of the State of Ohio, but with the rest of the ticket was defeated. April 25, 1887, while occupying a place on the Ohio Coni- mon l'leas bench, he was appointed by President Cleveland Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Judge Bingham has ranked very high as a lawyer. In Ohio he was among the foremost members of the State Bar. He is earnest and forcible, industrious and thor- ough. On the bench his success is even more pronounced than it was as a lawyer, and on and off the bench he is quiet and unassuming, cul-
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tured, and humane. It may be said of him that few of his decisions have ever been reversed by higher courts. Judge Bingham was married, No- vember 21, 1850, to Susannah F. Gunning of Fay- ette county, Ohio, who died in 1886, leaving two sons and two daughters. The Judge married, August 8, 1888, Mrs. L. C. Patton, daughter of the late United States Senator Allen T. Carpenter of West Virginia.
BINGHAM, HARRY, Littleton, for fifty years a leader of the New Hampshire Bar, was born in Concord, Vermont, March 30, 182 1, son of Warner and Lucy (Wheeler) Bingham. He is descended in the eighth generation from Thomas Bingham, who was admitted to membership in the Cutler's
HARRY BINGHAM.
Company of Sheffield, England, December 21, 1614, as a master cutler. Thomas Bingham, 3d, the first of the family to come to America, was one of the first landed proprietors of Norwich, Con- necticut, and died in Windham in 1693. War- ner Bingham, who was born in Cornish in 1789, was a State Senator, 1842 and 1843, and Assist- ant Judge of Essex county, Vermont, in 1844. He died in Bethlehem, February 12, 1872. His son Harry attended the common schools of his native town, was fitted for college in Lyndon (Ver- mont) Academy, was graduated from Dartmouth in
1843 and began the study of the law with the Hon. David Hibbard at Concord, Vermont, continuing with Geo. C. and Edward Cahoon at Lyndonville, and completing his studies with Hon. Harry Hib- bard in Bath. He was admitted to the Bar in 1846, and at once began practice in Littleton. From 1852 to 1859 he was a member of the law firm of H. & G. A. Bingham, and since that date he has been a member of Woods & Bingham, 1859 to 1862 ; H. & G. A. Bingham, 1862 to 1870; Bingham & Mitchell, 1874 to 1879 ; Bingham, Mitchell & Batchellor, 1879 to 1882 ; Bingham, Mitchells & Batchellor, 1882 to 1885, since which date the firm has been Bingham, Mitchell & Batchellor. Mr. Bingham's practice has been extremely large-his briefs in cases argued in the law terms of the Supreme Court are contained in every volume of the New Hampshire Reports from the twentieth (fifty volumes)-but in his later years he has been less active in his professional work, having given his time more and more largely to recreation, travel, and literature. In 1880, Dart- mouth College conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. Mr. Bingham has been a life-long Demo- crat, and one of New Hampshire's most distin- guished exponents of the principles of the party. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1861, and was re-elected in 1862, when he was a candidate for Speaker, 1863, 1864, 1865, 1868, 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879, 1881, 1889, and 1891; and he was a State Senator for two terms, 1883-1887. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1876. During his legislative service he was always a member of the Committee on the Judiciary, and in 1871 and 1874, the years of Democratic supremacy, he was its Chairman. In 1865, he was the candi- date of his party for Congress against James W. Patterson, and in 1867 against Jacob Benton. In 1867, he was United States Treasury Agent, under President Johnson. He was the Democratic can- didate for United States Senator against Aaron H. Cragin in 1870; against Bainbridge Wadleigh in , 1872 ; against Henry W. Blair in 1879 and 1885 ; against Austin F. Pike in 1883, and against Wil- liam E. Chandler in 1887 and 1889. Governor Weston named him for Chief Justice in 1874, but he was defeated by a division in the council; and in 1880 he declined an appointment as Justice of the Supreme Court, tendered by Governor Head. Mr. Bingham was a delegate to the Philadelphia Peace Convention of 1866. Two years later he attended
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the National Convention, which nominated Horatio Seymour for President, on which occasion he acted as proxy for the Hon. Josiah Minot of Concord, member of the National Committee, and was him- self chosen the member of that committee from the state, holding the post until 1872. He was a del- egate to the Baltimore Convention of 1872 which nominated Horace Greeley, the Cincinnati Conven- tion of 18So which nominated General Hancock, and the Chicago conventions of 1884 and 1892 which nominated Grover Cleveland. In all these conventions he was a member of the Committee on Resolutions. He was on the electoral ticket in 1864 and 1888, and in 1896 was a candidate for Elector on the National Democratic ticket. He presided over the State Conventions of 1870, 1872, 1878, and 1896. In his younger days Mr. Bing- ham was connected with the militia, serving as Quartermaster of the Thirty-second Regiment in 1849, and as Aide-de-camp on the brigade staff of General F. O. Kenney in 1851. He is a member of Kappa Kappa Kappa, Dartmouth Greek Letter Society, the Granite State Club (political) and the Pilgrim Society. In 1886-'88, he was a Director of the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad. Since 1893 he has been President of the Grafton and Coos Bar Association. Many of his legal argu- ments have been published in full in newspapers and pamphlets ; and he has been the author of numerous addresses and essays on more general topics, covering a wide range. Among the more important titles are : " Centennial Address," deliv- ered at Littleton, July 4, 1876 ; " Memorial Day Address," Littleton, May, 1880; " Andrew Salter Woods," a memorial address, Dartmouth College, June 23, 1880; "Certain Conditions and Tenden- cies that Imperil the Integrity and Independence of the Judiciary," before the Grafton and Coos Bar Association, 1882 ; "The Political Situation," Manchester Union, February 14, 1883 ; " The Life and Democracy of John HI. George," before the Granite State Club, June 27, 1888 ; " The Issues at Stake " (a reply to William F. Chandler), River- side Magazine, 1890; "Gilman Marston," " Na- thaniel W. Westgate," " William S. Ladd," " The Muniments of Constitutional Liberty," " Progress in Asiatic Civilization and its Significance for the Western World," addresses before the Grafton and Coos Bar Association, 1891 '95 ; " The Rights and Responsibilities of the United States in Reference to the International Relations of the Great Powers of Europe and the Lesser Republic of America,"
before Marshal Sanders Post, Grand Army of the Republic, Littleton, December 26, 1895; "The Welfare of the Republic the Supreme Law," before the Grafton and Coos Bar Association, 1896; "The Present Duty of Democracy," before a ratification meeting of the National Democracy. Manchester, 1896 ; "The Relations of Woman to the Progres- sive Civilization of the Age," 1897; "The Influ- ence of Religion on Human Progress," annual address before the New Hampshire Historical Society. June 8, 1897 ; " The Annexation of Ha- waii : a Right and a Duty."
BOWKER, CHARLES HARVEY, Physician, Berlin, was born in Lisbon, New Hampshire, March 20, 1870, son of Mitchell H. and Laura P. (Brooks)
C. II. BOWKER.
Bowker. On the paternal side his ancestry is traced back to Edmund Bowker, who settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1646, being one of three brothers who are supposed to have come from Sweden. There were Bowkers who served in the French and Indian Wars, the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. Gideon Bowker, great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who served from the battle of Bunker Hill to the close of the Revolution, was one of the founders of Lunenburg, Vermont. Mitchell H. Bowker was a merchant of Whitefield, and was a member of Governor Busiel's Council, being the
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first Republican Councillor elected from the fifth district. On his mother's side Dr. Bowker traces his descent from Simeon Brooks, one of the grantees of Alstead, New Hampshire,-his maternal grand- mother was a Bradford, direct descendant from Governor Bradford of the Plymouth Colony. Charles H. Bowker attended the public schools and the High School at Lisbon, and New Hampton Academy. He passed through the freshman year, at New York Homoeopathic College, spending the following years of a medical course at Hahnemann College of Philadelphia, being graduated in 1892. He then took a special course at the New York Post Graduate College in mental and nervous dis- eases and in study of Old School Therapeutics at the University of New York. He also held the position of Resident Surgeon at Ward's Island Hospital (now the Metropolitan Hospital) of six hundred beds, one of the Charities and Correc- tions Institutions of New York city, a position he obtained through a competitive examination. For a year he was in practice with Doctor George Mor- rison of Whitefield, and for a time he owned the Whitefield Publishing Company issuing the White- field Times. Since this was made a stock com- pany he has been its heaviest owner. He owns the Berlin Pharmacy, which was established in 1896. He was active in founding the Androscoggin Hos- pital (of twenty-six beds) in 1894, and has been Attending Surgeon since that time. He is at pres- ent Secretary-Treasurer, and member of the Execu- tive Committee; was Health Officer of Berlin in 1895 and 1896, and was instrumental in securing the present effective filter system adopted for the water supply of the town. He is Physician to the Independent Order of Foresters, Ancient Order of United Workmen, Knights of the Maccabees, Knights of the Golden Cross, Knights of Honor, American Benefit Society, and Pilgrim Fathers. He is local Surgeon for the Boston & Maine Railroad, and Surgeon to the City Fire Department. He is President of the Berlin Co-operative Store Com- pany. In 1890 he was Health Officer in White- field and in 1895 and 1896, as has been stated, he held a similar position in Berlin. He is a Justice of the Peace and a member of the Republican Ward Committee. He is a Republican and active in local politics. He is a Mason, a member of the North Star Commandery of Knights Templar, a Past Grand of Odd Fellows, and a member of Encampment and Canton. He is a member of the Maynesboro Club, Cowasse Club, and of the Sons
of American Revolution. Mr. Bowker married September 24, 1891, Bertha C. Libbey, daughter of the Hon. G. W. Libbey of Whitefield.
BUFFUM, CALEB TALBOT, was born in Royals- ton, Massachusetts, June 4, 1820, son of James and Ruth (Bliss) Buffum. He is of English de- scent, his ancestors having emigrated from England about the year 1638, and settled in Rhode Island. Caleb Buffum and Nathan Bliss, grandfathers of the subject of this sketch, settled, the first named in Richmond, New Hampshire, and the latter in Royalston, Massachusetts, and both were tillers of the soil. Nathan Bliss also served with credit as a
C. T. BUFFUM.
soldier in the Revolutionary War. Mr. Buffum gained his early education in the common schools, with three terms at Keene Academy. He worked upon the farm until he was sixteen years of age, when he went to learn the tailor's trade with Dins- more, White & Lyon, a leading clothing and dry- goods house of Keene, with which he remained for four years. He was employed for a year as a journeyman, but in 1841 formed a partnership with Jonas Parker, under the firm name of Buffum & Parker, and for sixteen years did a successful busi- ness in the manufacture of clothing, and sale of men's furnishing goods, at wholesale and retail. In 1854 he disposed of his business interests in
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Keene, soon after engaging in the wholesale cloth- ing and furnishing business in Boston, the firm name being Sears, Buffum & Company. Failing health compelled Mr. Buffum, in the fall of 1855, to sever his connection with this firm, and to seek a milder climate. He went to Florida, where he remained until the spring of 1856. Returning, with renewed health, to the North, he soon after formed the firin of C. T. & G. B. Buffum, his part- ner being his brother, and continued in the cloth- ing and furnishing business until January, 1871. when he retired from active business. As a busi- ness man he was energetic, far-seeing, sagacious, careful and conservative, combining shrewd com- mon sense and good judgment with a great finan- cial ability, and these same qualities have made him one of Keene's most influential residents. He has borne an honored part in the management of many of the city's most important enterprises. He was elected President of the Keene Five Cent Sav- ings Bank, in June, 1871, and still holds that posi- tion. He has been a Director in the Ashuelot National Bank since 1875. For a number of years he was President of the Keene Humane Society, and he has held various other positions of trust and responsibility. Although a staunch Republi- can since the birth of the party, Mr. Buffum has never been an aspirant for political honors. He was a Representative from Keene in 1859 and 1860, and an Alderman from Ward Four for two years, but these offices comprise the list of those of a political nature which he has accepted. Since his retirement from active business, he has traveled extensively throughout the United States, having passed several winters in Florida, and visited Cali- fornia and the Pacific Slope. One of his special characteristics is an enthusiastic love of nature, and he is an ardent disciple of Izaak Walton. He has an angler's retreat at Silver Lake (town of Har- risville), near Keene, which is open to his friends in summer time, and where lie greatly enjoys his summer outings and the charms of camp life. He is a lover of birds, and something of a taxidermist, has a large collection of birds, minerals, etc., and has done something in the collecting of coins. He is a member of the Unitarian Society and of the Unitarian Club, and of the Keene Humane Society. Mr. Buffum was married April 19, 1843, to Susan R., daughter of Lewis Gilmore of Charlestown, New Hampshire. She died December 21, 1854, leaving one child : Ellen A. Buffum, who died at the age of sixteen. He was again married Feb-
ruary 23, 1857, to Sarah A., daughter of Asa Strat- ton of Greenfield, Massachusetts, the children of this marriage being Fred Lincoln, born November 14, 1860, died December 5. 1867, and Susie S. Buffum, born April 19, 1865.
CHANDLER, WILLIAM ENTON, United States Senator, Concord, was born in that city, December 28, 1835, second son of Nathan S. and Mary Ann Chandler. He was educated in the public schools, and the academies at Thetford, Vermont, and Pem- broke, New Hampshire. He began his law studies in Concord, and attended the Harvard Law School, being graduated with prize honors in 1855. In the
WM. E. CHANDLER.
same year he was admitted to the Bar ; and for sev- eral years he practiced in Concord, where he made for himself a good name in his profession. In 1859 he was appointed Law Reporter of the New Hamp- shire Supreme Court, and published five volumes of Reports. Mr. Chandler was an earnest Republi- can, from the beginning of the party, and gave much of his time to the State Committee, serving first as its Secretary, and in 1864 and 1865 as its Chairman. He was elected to the Legislature in 1862, 1863 and 1864, and was twice elected Speaker. In November, 1864, he was employed by the Navy Department as special counsel to pros- ecute the Philadelphia navy yard frauds ; and on
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March 9, 1865, was appointed the first Solicitor and Judge Advocate General of that department. On June 17 of the same year, he became Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, resigning the position November 30, 1867, and resuming the practice of his profession. During the next thirteen years, he occupied no official position except that he was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1876, but he continued to take an active part in politics, being a Delegate to the Republican Na- tional Convention in 1868, and Secretary of the National Committee from that time until 1876. In that year he advocated the claims of the Hayes electors in Florida before the canvassing board of the state and later, was one of the counsel to prepare the case submitted by the Republican side to the Electoral Commission in Washington. Mr. Chandler afterward became an especially out- spoken opponent of the southern policy of the Hayes administration. In 18So he was a Delegate to the Republican National Convention, and served as a member of the Committee on Credentials, and was the author of the report in favor of district representation, which was adopted by the Conven- tion. During the subsequent campaign, he was a member of the National Committee. On March 23, 1881, he was nominated by President Garfield for United States Solicitor General, but was rejected by the Senate, the vote being nearly upon party lines. In June of that year he was again a member of the New Hampshire Legislature, where he favored stringent legislation against bribery at elections, and against the issue of free passes by railways, while he favored legal regulation of freight and fares on railways within the state. On April 7, 1882, he was appointed Secretary of the Navy. Among the important measures carried out by him while holding this office were the sim- plification and reduction of the unwieldy and ex- travagant navy yard establishment ; the limitation of the number of annual appointments of officers to the actual wants of the naval service; the discon- tinuance of the ruinous policy of repairing worth- less wooden vessels ; and the beginning of a mod- ern navy in the construction of the four steel cruisers recommended by the Advisory Board, the Chicago, Boston, Atlanta and Dolphin. The or- ganization and successful voyage of the Greely relief expedition in 1884, commanded by Captain W. S. Schley, was largely due to his personal efforts. Mr. Chandler was a strenuous advocate of uniting with the navy the other nautical branches of the
Federal administration, including the lighthouse establishment, the coast survey and the revenue marine, upon the principle, first distinctly set forth by him, that "the officers and seamen of the Navy should be employed to perform all the work of the national government upon or in direct connection with the ocean." He served as Secretary until March 7, 1885. He was elected to the United States Senate, June 14, 1887, to fill the unexpired term of Austin F. Pike, which ended March 3, 1889 ; was re-elected June 18, 1889, and again January 16, 1895. His present term will expire March third, 1901. Mr. Chandler has been twice married, in 1859 to a daughter of Governor Joseph A. Gilmore, and in 1874, to a daughter of the Hon. John P. Hale. He has three sons by his first marriage, Joseph Gilmore, born in 1860; Wil- liam Dwight, born in 1863; and Lloyd Horwitz Chandler, now an officer in the Navy, born in 1869 ; and one son by his second marriage, born in 1885, John P. Hale Chandler.
CHUTTER, FREDERICK GEORGE, Dry-Goods Merchant, Littleton, was born in Somersetshire, England, September 12, 1857, son of George and
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F. G. CHUTTER.
Hannah (Pidgeon) Chutter. He began his early education in the private schools of this country. After seven years as a clerk in the dry-goods busi- ness, spent mostly in Boston, he began to study
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with reference to the ministry. He spent some time in Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, but graduating from Coburn Institute, Waterville, Maine, he entered Colby University in the same city in the following fall. He was graduated from the Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachu- setts, and was settled at once over the First Con- gregational church of Littleton, New Hampshire. which charge he resigned to go abroad for travel and study. He spent one year at the Oxford Uni- versity, and another at the Presbyterian Divinity College in Edinburgh, Scotland, and some time in Paris. He traveled extensively in Europe, going as far North as the Arctic Circle, visiting Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece. On his return to this country he received several calls to important churches, but was obliged, on account of ill health, to refuse them and finally to leave the ministry. He has been in the dry-goods business since 1893 and has taken much interest in the educational affairs of the town. He is a member of the School Board, and serves on the committee for the exami- nation of schools and teachers. He is a Trustee of the Public Library, and of the Dow Academy of Franconia. He has a decided taste for literary work, having written considerable for the press, and has lectured frequently. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Chutter was married October 19, 1887, at Boston, Massachusetts, to Carolyn Clark Cutler, daughter of the Hon. John Cutler of that city. They have two children : Mildred Caro- lyn and Reginald Frederick Chutter.
COLONY, HORATIO, first Mayor of Keene, President and Treasurer of the Cheshire Mills, Harrisville, was born in Keene, November 14, 1835, son of Josiah and Hannah (Taylor) Colony. He is of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His great-grand- father, John Colony, who came to this country in 1740, served in the French and Indian Wars, and was on the alarm list in the Revolution. Josiah Colony, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a prominent manufacturer of woolen goods. In the maternal line, Mr. Colony is a descendant of the Danforth family of Massachusetts. He received his early education in the public schools and Keene Academy, studied under a private tutor, read law in the office of the Hon. Levi Chamberlain in Keene, and attended the Albany Law School, from which he was graduated in 1860. He was admitted to the New York Bar at Albany, and to the Cheshire County Bar of New Hamp-
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