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 29
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11. B. PERKINS.
lic speaker. In 1871. he received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Bowdoin, and in 1875 was similarly honored by Dartmouth College. In the fall of the latter year he delivered to the Dartmouth students, a popular lecture on Robert Burns, the Scottish poet, which was repeated two years later at the request of the faculty. Mr. Per- kins has delivered many addresses before agricul- tural societies, colleges, political and other gather- ings, also before lyceums. Ile has always been in great demand as an after dinner speaker. During the Civil War he represented his native state in the New England Relief Association, and eloquently pleaded the cause of the Union. When the Second
New Hampshire Regiment arrived in New York, under command of Colonel Marston, Mr. Perkins was selected by the sons of New Hampshire resident in that city, to make the address of welcome, and this he did on the Battery, in the presence of ten thousand people. The speech was republished widely by the New England press. AAmong other notable addresses delivered. are included a speech made at the twenty-fifth State Fair of the New Hampshire Agricultural Society, and a response to the toast. " Our Country," at the famous Burns din- ner where David Dudley Field presided, and Horace Greeley, William Cullen Bryant, the Rev. Dr. E. H. Chapin, and other distinguished men spoke. In politics, Mr. Perkins has been a life-long Democrat, efficient and active on the stump during many cam- paigns. He has never sought political office, but was content to serve the educational interests of New York as Commissioner and Inspector of Pub- lic Schools for more than thirty years. During the last year of Fernando Wood's mayoralty in New York. the nomination for the Assembly in the Twelfth Ward was tendered Mr. Perkins, but was declined. Later, under the leadership of John Kelly, he was nominated for State Senator, but this nomination also was declined, very much to the re- gret of his party. Mr. Perkins is a member of the Tammany Society, of the Democratic Club, the Fordham Club, and the Washington Heights Century Club. He was President of the last named organ- ization for ten years. He was married. November 9. 1843. to Harriet Louise Hanmer, who died in 1888. Mr. Perkins purchased a beautiful estate at Fort Washington, forty years ago, where he now re- sides in one of the most valuable suburban villas of the Greater New York. Six children are living, one son and five daughters, who are married and reside in New York or in the vicinity of the great Metrop- olis.
PIEMAN, CHARLES FRANK, Manufacturer, Laconia, was born in that place. October 6. 1847, son of Joseph Prescott and Charlotte Abbie (Par- ker) Pitman. Ile is descended from early Puritan settlers of Essex County, Massachusetts, and among his ancestors were men who served with distinction in the Colonial Wars and in the Revolution. His father was a leading business man of Laconia, Agent of the Lake Company. a Managing Director of the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad, and at the time of his death President of the Pemige- wasset Valley Railroad. No one contributed more
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
to the growth and prosperity of Laconia. The mother of the subject of this sketch was a pupil of Mary Lyon, the distinguished teacher who founded Mount Holyoke College, and was a woman of great personal attractions, charming manner, and strong character. Charles Frank Pitman was educated at New Hampton Academy, and Phillips Academy at Andover. Upon leaving school he entered the ser- vice of the Pitman Manufacturing Company, estab- lished and owned by his father, where he mastered the details of the management of the business. Upon the death of his father, in 1883, he became President and Manager of the company, in the con- duct of whose affairs he has been highly successful.
CHARLES F. PITMAN.
Mr. Pitman is a Director of the Laconia National Bank, Trustee of Belknap Savings Bank, and mem- ber of the Finance Committee, member of the managing board of the Trustees of the Laconia Hospital, and of the Executive Committee of the Educational Society, and a Trustee of the Gale Fund for the City Library and Park. He is Presi- dent of the North Congregational Society, and a Deacon of the church. He is a member of the New Hampshire Society of the Colonial Wars. In poli- tics Mr. Pitman is a Republican. He has never sought public office, but he has always maintained an active interest in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the community. He is a liberal contri-
butor to worthy objects. He has a strong hold upon the regard of all those with whom he comes in contact, and is highly esteemed for his sound judg- ment and executive ability. He has strongly devel- oped literary and artistic tastes, and is the possessor of a large and valuable library and many works of art. Mr. Pitman married, October 15, 1890, Grace Anna Vaughan, daughter of O. A. J. Vaughan, a well known member of the Bar. Mrs. Pitman was educated at Mount Holyoke, is possessed of great literary attainments, and is active in. all social mat- ters. They have had two children : Ruth Marion, who died in infancy, and Charles Joseph, born Jan- uary 22, 1895.
RAMSDELL, GEORGE ALLEN, Governor of New Hampshire. The ancestors of Governor Ramsdell were of English origin. Abijah Ramsdell, who was born about 1695, came to this country in early life and settled in Lynn, Massachusetts. He was the immigrant ancestor of the family. The name appears frequently in the public records of that town. Descendants from the original progenitor settled. in that vicinity and became a prominent and highly respected class of citizens. Abednego Ramsdell was among the slain at Lexington. On the morning of that day he learned of the expedi- tion of the British to Concord and immediately started across the country in that direction. It is probable that he arrived at Lexington in season to meet the British troops in their retreat. He en- gaged at once in the fight and was among the first to fall. There were six others, brothers or near kinspeople of this family, in the War of the Revo- lution from the town of Lynn. Captain William Ramsdell, the grandfather of Governor Ramsdell, settled in Salem, Massachusetts, in early life and engaged in East Indian trade. The prominent po- sition of the merchants and " seafaring " men from Salem in the period succeeding the Revolution is historic. Their ships " went down to the sea," and visited the Indias and returned laden with the val- uable and varied products of that " wonderland of spices and silks, of ivory and gold." For two gen- erations certainly and perhaps three the ancestors of Governor Ramsdell were extensively engaged in the East Indian and Mediterranean traffic, sailing . their own vessels and those of other merchants. It was a life of peril and hardship and those who fol- lowed it were possessed of fortitude, strength and endurance such as the modern mariner knows not of. Captain William Ramsdell moved from Salem
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
to Milford, New Hampshire, in 1815. He then purchased the well-known farm situated upon the main thoroughfare between that town and Wilton, which has been the family homestead ever since and is now owned by the Governor and his brother. The father of Governor Ramsdell, the second Cap- tain William Ramsdell, was born in Salem and came to Milford when about twelve years old. He became a leading and prominent citizen and was largely influential in controlling the affairs of the town and to a considerable extent throughout the county and state. He was conservative and firmly fixed in his views in different departments of life. social, religious, business and political, and his strong personality was a potent influence in the community where he lived. In early life he fol- lowed the same calling as his ancestors and for several years was engaged in foreign trade, but in 1830 he settled down in the more quiet and less eventful life of farming upon the old homestead. Governor Ramsdell's mother was Maria Antoinette. eldest daughter of Reverend Humphrey Moore, one of the celebrated ministers of his time, Pastor of the First Congregational church in Milford for about forty years and well and widely known for his ability and a rigid adherence to his orthodox views. Her maternal ancestry is in lineal descent from Lieutenant Francis Peabody, the progenitor of the distinguished Peabody family in this coun- try, containing so many names of honor and re- nown. Lieutenant Peabody was born in Hertford-
shire, England, and came to this country in 1635. He first lived in Ipswich, Massachusetts, then Hampton. New Hampshire, and finally settled in Topsfield, Massachusetts, where he died in 1697. The maternal grandmother of Governor Ramsdell was Hannah Peabody. the lineal descendant of William, the third son of Lieutenant Francis Pea- body. No more honored name has been written in the history of our country, in the annals of war, in the halls of legislation, in the courts of justice, than the name of this distinguished family, and well may those take a pardonable pride who can claim kin- ship with so noble and worthy a man as George Peabody, the philanthropist, whose fame for princely charities is world-wide. In these brief traces of ancestry we find those enduring traits of character which from their positive and indestruc- tible nature transmit themselves through successive generations. George Allen Ramsdell was born in Milford, New Hampshire, March 11, 1834, and lived the uneventful childhood and boyhood days
upon the old farm. He attended the public and High Schools in that town and acquired a good English education before he was eighteen years of age. He was then intending to adopt the profes- sion of Civil Engineering but the depression in the 1852-'53 caused him to change his purpose and adopt a different plan, and he decided to take a clas- business of railroad building which occurred in sical course of study with a view of entering some college. He completed his preparatory course in McCollom Institute at Mont Vernon, New Hamp- he remained one year, but having in the meantime shire, and entered AAmherst College in 1853, where concluded to begin the study of law immediately instead of remaining to complete the collegiate term he entered the office of Hon. Bainbridge Wad-
leigh in Milford, where he remained two years and then went to Manchester to continue the study in the office of Hon. Daniel Clark and Hon. Isaac W. Smith. In the fall of 1857 he was admitted to the Bar and soon after commenced business in Peter-
borough, New Hampshire. He was engaged in ac- tive practice there about six years, when the resig- nation of Hon. E. S. Cutter, Clerk of the Supreme Court, caused a vacancy in that office. Mr. Rams- dell had already established the reputation through- out the county as a trustworthy and efficient law-
yer and had developed the qualifications which that
ion of the Bar seemed to fix upon him with one important position required. The universal opin-
accord and the appointment was made. He then
moved to Amherst, where the county records were
located. but in 1866 they were transferred to
Nashua, where he removed and has since resided.
He held the office for twenty-three years, and be-
came widely known as one of the most thoroughly informed and accomplished clerks in the country. While the position of the Clerk of our Supreme Court in many ways is one of a clerical character it has gradually grown to include a much broader if not more important class of duties. Its intimate connection with the varied practice of the law by the whole body of the profession makes a thorough knowledge of the system in all its details of inesti- mable value and it has come to be regarded by the Court as well as the members of the Bar as of great importance. His term of office was mainly during that period when such men as Hon. George W. Morrison, Judge C. W. Stanley, Chief Justice Lewis 1. Clark, Hon. George Y. Sawyer. Judge A. W. Sawyer, General A. F. Stevens, Attorney Generals W'm. C. Clark and Mason W. Tappan, United
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
States Senators Daniel Clark and Bainbridge Wad- leigh, Hon. S. N. Bell and other eminent lawyers were in full practice; and the court had such emi- nent Chief Justices as Samuel D. Bell, Ira Perley, Henry A. Bellows, J. Everett Sargent, Edmund L. Cushing and Charles Doe, with Associate Justices whose honored names upon the pages of our Judi- cial History have given our court rank among the ablest and most distingushed tribunals in the coun- try. Constantly surrounded by such men and dis- charging the varied duties which devolved upon him under such circumstances afforded the means of an education and a discipline rarely enjoyed. He was ' often appointed to act as Auditor, Referee or Master
GEO. A. RAMSDELL.
in Chancery, frequently in other counties, and prob- ably tried more causes than any other lawyer excepting Judges of the court, in the history of the state. His eminent fairness and correct application of the rules of law was universally conceded and the integrity of his decisions was never questioned. His high reputation and acknowledged qualifications for those important duties followed him after his retirement from the office of Clerk and in 1893 he was tendered the office of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, but owing to important interests in other directions which he had become connected with, he was obliged to decline the office, unfortu- nately we believe, for he would easily have taken
high rank as a jurist and been able to have ren- dered signal service in the place where above all others the welfare of the people and the permanency of our institutions can best be preserved. During the time he has resided in Nashua Governor Rams- dell has held many places of both public and priv- ate trust and importance. For ten years he was a member of the Board of Education and for twice that time has been a Trustee of the Public Library. In 1869-'70-'71 he was a member of the Legisla- ture ; in 1876 a member of the Constitutional Convention and in 1891-'92 a member of the Executive Council. For five years he was President of the Board of Trustees of the State Industrial School at Manchester and has been for many years a Trustee of the New Hampshire Orphans' Home at Franklin. While residing in Peterborough he became a member of the Masonic Fraternity and after moving to Nashua received the grades of the Scottish Rite to the Thirty-second degree inclusive. He is a member of the First Congregational Church in Nashua and has always been identified with the Orthodox denomination although he is regarded as very liberal in his views. He rendered that society valuable service in building the stone church of the parish, which is one of the best in the state. Gover- nor Ramsdell is a pronounced advocate of the cause of temperance and has been during his whole life a total abstinent. He has always upheld the prohibitory system in force in the state and whether in private or public life has brought to bear upon the condition of affairs concerning that most trou- blesome and important question an intelligent and decided influence. He is a staunch Republican and although he has done less of the party work than many others with whom he has been associated his conservative and well-defined views, emphasized always by great sincerity and strong convictions, have made him a potent factor in the control and general direction of the policy of the Republican people in the state; and while he has not sought to interfere with the details of party management to any great extent, his influence has been brought to bear in favor of its more important propositions, and his determined stand has frequently made its impression upon party measures. He has never engaged to any considerable extent in political can- . vassing but has occasionally made public addresses. His style as a speaker is logical and argumentative and always characterized by fairness and an unex- aggerated presentation of facts, and, emphasized by his high character and personal merit, his efforts
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have always been received with favor and respect. Among the positions of private trust which he holds may be enumerated President of the First National Bank and Treasurer of the City Guaranty Savings Bank in Nashua, Director in the Nashua Manufac- turing Company and the Jackson Company, the leading industries of his city. He is also a Director in the Wilton and Peterborough railroads. Gover- nor Ramsdell married November 29, 1860, Eliza D. Wilson, daughter of David Wilson of Deering. New Hampshire, a descendant of one of the London- derry emigrants. Her mother was Margaret Dins- more, also a descendant of one of the Londonderry settlers. They have four children, three of whom reside in Nashua, and one is engaged in business in Texas. Although he has been continuously in business for over forty years it is a remarkable fact that he has never been incapacitated for a single day by sickness from the discharge of any duty, or prevented from attending to whatever the occasion required. Governor Ramsdell is not possessed of great wealth but has a fair competency. He has never engaged in speculations or taken the chances by which men sometimes become rich and some- times poor. What he has acquired has been by honest ways and reputable business methods. According to usual party methods his name was suggested in connection with nomination for Gover- nor in the convention of 1892, and in 1894 he was one of the most prominent candidates. In 1896 he was made the party nominee with substantially no opposition and was elected in November by a larger majority than ever before received by any candi- date, and by a larger vote than ever received in the state by any candidate except President Mckinley. He was inaugurated January 6, 1897. Governor Ramsdell was peculiarly well fitted to enter upon the discharge of the duties of Chief Magistrate. His long and active service in the Legislature, his term as member of the Council and his thorough study of the affairs of the state, qualified him in an unusual degree for the position and he was enabled to take up the work as with a hand of long experi- ence and familiarity. The first year of his admini- stration was characterized by no unusual occurrence but the present period is marked with events of an important character. The war with Spain suddenly coming upon the country has brought the various states face to face with stern realities and called upon the people to march to the front. But al- though without reason to anticipate the situation New Hampshire has in the quickest possible time
been brought to a "war footing" and more than filled her quota and been among the first to get her troops to the front. In the early days of the great rebellion New Hampshire had a "War Governor " who gained high reputation for his energy and patriotism, and we of this day are equally fortunate in having a Chief Magistrate entitled to a stand among the "War Governors" who by their executive ability. prompt action and unflinching discharge of duty, enabled the Government to prosecute the War with success and efficiency and which make certain ultimate success.
SIDES, WILLIAM O., Postmaster of Ports- mouth, was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, January 17. 1831, son of Nathaniel B. and Eliza- beth (York) Sides. He is of English descent on the paternal side, his grandfather having come to this country from Great Britain. On the maternal side the family has been American for many gen- erations. His parents removed from Exeter to Kittery in his infancy, whence a few years later they came to Portsmouth, where he acquired his early education in the common schools. He com- menced active life as a mule spinner in a cotton mill, at which occupation he was employed for several years, and then entered into business for himself as a livery stable keeper in Portsmouth. This business he followed successfully for four or five years, until he abandoned it to enter the army. On the breaking out of the Civil War, Mr. Sides was the first man to enlist in the state of New Hampshire, and was appointed by the Governor as Recruiting Officer for the city of Portsmouth. In this capacity he enlisted one hundred and five men in five days. Although he had enlisted as a private, he was promptly commissioned Captain of the company thus raised, which became Company K. Second Regiment New Hampshire Volunteers. He went to the front in command of his company. and participated in the first battle of Bull Run. On the retreat following that disastrous engagement. he met with quite a severe injury, on account of which he soon after resigned his commission. Sub- sequently he was appointed by the President to a Captaincy in the Veteran Reserve Corps, and assigned to the command of a Company that was sent to Albany, New York, to enforce the draft. From there he was sent to Elmira, New York, and thence to Alexandria, Virginia, where he was detailed in command of the patrol guard. He was in service there for two months, when his condition
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of health requiring a change, he was relieved from his company at Alexandria and sent to Fortress Monroe, and took charge of five companies where he attended to the unloading from transports and removing to the hospitals some five thousand sick
W. O. SIDES.
and wounded soldiers, shipping them North when well enough to be removed to their homes. Resigned and reappointed as First Lieutenant and transferred to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, where he remained until December, 1865, mustered out, June 30, 1866. Altogether he was in the service thirty- four months. After a brief period of inactivity and recuperation following his return home, Mr. Sides went to Washington and served for a time as Messenger in the House of Representatives. While engaged in this capacity he received an appointment as Inspector in the Boston Custom House, where he served for three years, and was then transferred to a similar position in the Ports- mouth (New Hampshire) Custom House, in which he continued for twelve years. On the nomination of James G. Blaine for the Presidency, Mr. Sides, always a strong Republican in politics, in association with another gentleman, started a small daily paper, the Penny-Post, in the interest of Mr. Blaine's can- didacy. The subsequent defeat of the Republican ticket and the accession of the Cleveland regime resulted in the removal of Mr. Sides from his gov-
ernment office, and he at once turned all his atten- tion and energies to his newspaper, which he greatly enlarged and ran successfully throughout the whole term of the Cleveland administration, and the campaign that resulted in the election of Harrison. When President Harrison came into office, Mr. Sides was appointed Postmaster of Portsmouth, which position he filled until a change of administration when he was again removed from office by President Cleveland on the ground of " offensive partisanship." Under the Mckinley administration he was promptly reappointed to the Postmastership, taking office for the second time in September, 1897. and in this capacity he continues to serve with signal ability and satisfaction to the general public. Mr. Sides cast his first Presiden- tial vote for John P. Hale, the Free-Soil candidate, and he has been a consistent and ardent Repub- lican from the organization of the party. He has been active and prominent in state and local politics, and has served his city as Representative to the General Court. He has also served as Chairman of the Police Commission of the City of Portsmouth, resigning this office to accept his post- mastership reappointment. Mr. Sides is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, in which latter organization he has served as Vice-Grand Chancellor, Grand Chan- cellor and Past Grand Chancellor. He was mar- ried in 1858 to Margaret A. Badger; they have four children : Antoinette C., Annie B., (now Mrs. Garrett,) Grace A., and Walter Herman Sides ..
TOWLE, ELIAS IRVING, Merchant, Freedom, was born in that town, April 16, 1845, son of Elias and Lois (Swett) Towle. His grand-parents, Amos Towle and Stephen Swett, came from Hampton, New Hampshire, and were among the first settlers of the town of Freedom. He was educated in the common schools of his native town and in the sem- inaries at Parsonsfield and Center Effingham, and was graduated April 1, 1866, from Bryant and Stratton's Commercial College, Portland, Maine. At an early age he entered his father's store as clerk, also taking charge of his farm and general business. May 1, 1866, he commenced business for himself, purchasing his father's store and stock . of goods. His father had been engaged in business in the same place for thirty-five years. April 1, 1878, George I. Philbrick became his partner, forming the company of E. I. Towle & Company, which still con- tinues, and at the same time adding the manufacture
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