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 30
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of clothing. Since ISSo he has dealt quite exten- sively in fancy steers and oxen, and has done a large farming business. His father had been in the lumber business for several years and on account of ill-health gave up the business to him in 1874. The company is known as Towle & Keneson. and does a business of from thirty to fifty thousand dollars yearly. Mr. Towle was chosen Trustee of the Ossipee Valley Ten Cent Savings bank of Free- dom, May 11, 1870, and four years later was chosen Assistant Treasurer, and December 29. 1881, he was elected Treasurer. He has been Town Clerk and was a member of the General Court in 1893. He is a member of Carroll Lodge of Masons, No. 56 ; Carroll Chapter, No. 23, Royal Arch Masons; Cal- vin Topliff Chapter, Order of Eastern Star ; is an Odd Fellow, member of Prospect Lodge, No. SI ; Mt. Chocorua Encampment, No. 32: Sunset Rebekah Lodge, No. 52, and Freedom Grange and Carroll County Pomona Grange. He is a member of the First Christian Society of Freedom. In
1 .. 1. TOWIE.
politics lie is a Democrat. Mr. Towle was married February 22, 1872, to Vesta Marcia Merrill. They have one son : Harold Irving Towle, born April 3. 1887.
VARNEY, FRED MOULTON, Banker, Somers- worth, was born in Dover. New Hampshire, July
17, 1868, son of Benajah P. and Ann Lizzie (Moul- ton) Varney. He attended the public schools of Dover, and began his business career in banking in this city in 1887. In May, 1897, he was appoint- ed Cashier of the Great Falls National Bank at
F. M. VARNEY.
Somersworth, succeeding J. H. Stickney, who was murdered by Joseph E. Kelley. April 16, 1897. Mr. Varney is prominent in Masonry, and is a member of the Strafford Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons: of Belknap Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; of Orphan Council, Royal and Select Masters; of St. Paul Commandery. Knights Tem- plar. He is a member of Olive Branch Lodge, Knights of Pythias ; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of Ancient Essenic Order, all of Dover. He was married December 12, 1893, to Rosalind B. Johnson. They have one child : Harold Johnson Varney.
BARTLETT, JOHN PAIGE, Manchester, was born in Weare, February 4, 1841, son of John and Lurena ( Bailey) Bartlett. He attended the Acad- emies of Francestown, Meriden, and Mont Ver- non, and subsequently was a student at Dartmouth College, being graduated in the class of 1864. He Studied law with Morrison, Stanley & Clark at Man- chester. His first active practice was in the West, where he was Commissioner of the United States
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Circuit Court in Dakota, 1867-'68. He removed to Nebraska, where he became leader in his profes- sion, and was chosen City Solicitor of Omaha, 1869-71. In 1874 he returned to the East, and opened an office in Manchester, where he quickly
JOHN P. BARTLETT.
came to the front, being chosen City Solic- itor in 1875, and appointed Judge of the Police Court, 1875-'76. Mr. Bartlett has been very active in politics, and has proved his ability as Chairman of the Democratic State Committee in 1890 and 1892. He is a member of the Amoskeag Vet- erans ; a Mason, having been Master of Washing- ton Lodge, and has held high positions in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was first President of the Granite State Club. He was one of the organizers of the Southern New Hamp- shire Bar Association. Mr. Bartlett, during his residence in the West, was the first President of the Bar Association at Cheyenne, Wyoming, a posi- tion to which he was elected in 1867 ; and he was the first attorney to be admitted to the Bar in the state of Nebraska. He was a member of the state Senate in 1895.
BARRON, OSCAR G., Manager of the Quincy House, Boston, was born in Quechee, Windsor county, Vermont, October 17, 1851, son of Asa T. and Clarissy (Demmon) Barron. He received his education in the schools of Quechee, Springfield, White River Junction, Williston, Fairfax, and Poult- ney, Vermont. His lifelong occupation has been hotel keeping, with every department of which he is thoroughly acquainted, and in the pursuit of which he has made an almost unrivalled success.
In the course of his career he has managed the United States Senate restaurant at Washington (being appointed by Vice-President Wheeler in 1877 and retaining the management for five years) ; the Putnam House, Palatka, Florida ; the Eastman Hotel, Hot Springs, Arkansas; the Raymond and Whitcomb Grand, Barron's Suburban Hotel and the Harvard Hotel, Chicago; the Twin Mountain House, Fabyan House, and Mount Pleasant House, White Mountains; the Senter House, Centre Har-
O. G. BARRON.
bor, New Hampshire ; and the Quincy House, Bos- ton. For thirty years he has been engaged in the summer hotel business, having gone to the Twin Mountain House in 1868. He became manager of Fabyan's in 1878. Probably no White Mountain hotel landlord is more widely known, and more gen- erally popular. In addition to his private business he has devoted much time to public affairs. He served the town of Carroll as Selectman for eight- een years, and in 1888, 1890, 1895 and 1896 as Representative in the Legislature. Governor Saw- yer appointed him a Colonel on his Staff. Mr. Bar- ron is a member of White Mountain Lodge of Masons, Whitefield; North Star Chapter, Lancas- ter; St. Gerard Commandery, Littleton; Edward A. Raymond Consistory and Rose Croix, Nashua ; Aleppo Temple of the Mystic Shrine, Boston ; and the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of
MEN OF PROGRESS.
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Boston. He married, May 16, 1872. Jennie Lane of Montpelier, Vermont, and has one daughter : Maude Lane Barron.
CAIN, J. LEAVITT. Physician. Newport, was born in Goshen, New Hampshire, September 26, 1859, son of George W. and Cynthia J. (Leavitt) Cain. His father, a native of Unity, New Hamp- shire, was a dry goods merchant for many years, and afterwards a farmer ; he has now retired and lives in Newport. Doctor Cain was brought up on a farm, and attended the district school, and later Kimball Union Academy. In 1883 he was gradu- ated from the Medical Department of Dartmouth College, and the following year took a post-gradu-
J. LEWITT CAIN.
ate course in New York city. He first settled in Grantham, in 1884, remaining five years, when he removed to Newport. He is one of the foremost physicians of the county, and has a fine practice. . He is a Mason, a member of Mount Vernon Lodge and of Sullivan Commandery at Claremont. In politics Doctor Cain is a Democrat, but has been too actively engaged in his profession to seek any office.
COLLINS, CHARLES S., Physician and man of affairs, Nashua, was born in Grafton, New Hamp- shire, in April, 1853, son of W. S. and Harriet W.
(Colby) Collins. His father was a successful phy- sician, and his mother was a member of the well known Colby family of Warner. Charles S. Collins was educated at Colby Academy, New London, from which he was graduated with honors in 1872. and at Boston University. After graduating in medicine, he settled in Nashua, where he was joined by his father in a large and most successful prac- tice. Doctor Collins soon proved that he was gifted with extraordinary business instinct. and as a diver- sion from labor, took up, developed. and finally established the most successful business in mineral water ever known in America. It was through his energy and sagacity that the name of Londonderry Lithia Water was made a household word. The advertisements he designed were unique and con- vincing. always abounding in fresh ideas that made them notable. Indeed. Doctor Collins is every- where recognized as a " past master " in the art of advertising, and he is also a very clear and incisive writer on general subjects, impressing his vigorous individuality upon the products of his pen. Another of his divertisements has been politics. In 1881.
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c. S. COLLINS.
Doctor Collins consented to enter the canvass for the Senate against the Hon. D. A. Gregg, one of the strongest candidates in the district. The campaign was managed by the Doctor himself, and was made notable by many new departures in the game of
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politics, and by the Doctor's victory by one major- ity over the combined Democratic and Prohibition votes. He was elected to the Legislature in 1887, and introduced the first police commission bill, making a most vigorous fight for its enactment. The measure passed its third reading, and was de- feated only by filibustering in the closing hours of the session. Doctor Collins was for many years a member of the local Health Board, and was ap- pointed by Governor Busiel to the State Board of Health, a position he still holds. He is a member of the American Public Health Association, a Ma- son, Odd Fellow, Knight of Pythias, and belongs to a number of clubs. He is now retired from active business.
CURRIER, MOODY, of Manchester, Thirty-eighth Governor of the State of New Hampshire, was born in Boscawen, New Hampshire, April 22, 1806. His boyhood, in its cares and duties, its pleasures and opportunities, was that of a typical lad on a typical New England farm ; but the success of the career to which it was the prelude was greater than that which has fallen to many of the successful men who have gone from the farm to gain distinction in other walks of life. His schooling was of necessity slender, but the boy was of studious tastes and steadfast resolve ; he gave his evenings and other leisure hours to his books, and after a few months at Hopkinton Academy, was able to enter Dart- mouth College, where he was graduated in the class of 1834, with the honor of delivering the Greek oration. Upon leaving college, Mr. Currier, follow- ing the almost invariable custom of those times, devoted himself to teaching, first at Hopkinton Academy, and afterwards in the High School at Lowell, Massachusetts. As an instructor he acquitted himself with credit, but his ambition being for a more permanent profession and wider field of action, he made choice of the law, as better suited to his tastes and inclinations, and opening into fields of higher and broader activities. Having read the preparatory course during his spare hours while teaching, he was ready to enter at once upon the profession. In 1841, he removed to Manchester, where he was admitted to the Bar, and soon found himself in a large and profitable business. For several years he remained in practice, but the rapidly developing manufacturing city offered finan- cial possibilities and opportunities for congenial and profitable business enterprises which led him grad- ually to abandon his practice, and engage in finan-
cial operations. To banking he gave the best years of his life, and as a banker he was eminently suc- cessful. He organized and brought to high stand- ing the Amoskeag Bank, the Amoskeag Savings Bank, the Amoskeag National Bank, and the Peo-
MOODY CURRIER.
ple's Savings Bank ; and in addition to these under- takings he entered into and managed many other enterprises, in the conduct of which his wisdom and ability were repeatedly demonstrated. In poli- tical life Mr. Currier was speedily advanced to posts of trust and honor. He was Clerk of the State Senate in 1843, and a member of that body in 1856 and 1857, being chosen its President in the latter year. As a member of the Governor's Council, in 1860 and 1861, he performed most acceptably the heavy duties involved in the raising and equipping of troops to fill the state's quota in the Union army. He was elected Governor in 1884, and inaugurated in June of the following year, serving for two years with distinction and honor. Governor Cur- rier's early love of books never waned, and busy as his life had been, he was ever a student. He was versed alike in the love of antiquity and in mod- ern literature, was master of many tongues, and devoted much time and thought to natural sciences and the theological discussions of the day. As Governor, his proclamations and other state papers attracted great attention, not only for their subject
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matter, but also for the literary qualities they pos- sessed, qualities displayed even more strikingly in the poetic works Mr. Currier has given to the pub- lic. Among his best known poems are the " Eter- nal One," "Questions of Life." ". The Old Man of the Mountain," and many others, while he pub- lished for private circulation charming books of polished and felicitous verse. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by Dartmouth and by Bates College. Mr. Currier was thrice married. He died at his home in Manchester August 23. 1898.
HAINES, JOHN NOWELL. Manufacturer. Somers- worth, was born in that town, June 15, 1848, son of John L. and Theodata (Nowell) Haines. Ile comes of good old New England stock, and some of his mother's ancestors took part in the Revolution- ary War. He was educated in the common schools of his native town and at the High School in Great Falls, from which he was graduated in 1866. Later he attended Dummer College. Byfield, Massachu-
J. N. HAINES.
setts, graduating in 1869. The following year he engaged as ship's yeoman on the United States Steamer Plymouth, which conveyed back to his na- tive state the remains of the philanthropist, George Peabody. In 1880 he became engaged in the bus- iness of cotton waste and wiping stock, and this he
still carries on. He was Selectman of Somers- worth in 1885-'86, and County Commissioner in 1893-'96. Hle is a Mason, a member of Lybanus Lodge, No. 49. of Somersworth, and Dover Lodge of Perfection : Brothers Lodge Knights of Pythias of the same place. and Dover Lodge of Elks. He is Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias for New Hampshire. In politics Mr. Haines has always been a Republican. In January. 18So, he married Matilda Page. They had one daughter : Pauline Haines, now deceased.
HUMPHREY. JOHN. Manufacturer, Keene, was born in Lyndon. Vermont. October 12. 1834, son of John and Mary (Putnam) Humphrey. He is of English descent. being in the eighth generation from Jonas Humphrey, who came from Wendover, Bucks county, and settled in Dorchester, Massa- chusetts, in 1637. The place which he purchased the day after his arrival. is still in possession of his descendant in the tenth generation. Mr. Humphrey received his education in the common schools in Lyndon and in Rindge, New Hampshire, and later spent two years in the Melville Academy at Jaffrey. From twelve to fifteen years of age he was em- ployed in a wooden ware factory at Rindge. and at sixteen took a position as clerk in a store. Return- ing to his former business, he was employed in Nelson. New Hampshire, until he was eighteen, when he invented a machine, and after engaging for a time in its manufacture, at Harrisville, rented a building and went into business for himself. At twenty-one he formed a partnership with Charles Buss of Marlborough, but the enterprise was not successful and ended after one year. In 1856 he removed to Keene, was employed by II. L. Haynes in the machine business until the spring of 1859. when he went to White River Village to put up a machine manufactory there. Becoming interested, he went into business in the town but after two years a disastrous fire compelled him to retire with no assets. His former employer at Keene, having assigned, Mr. Humphrey was asked to return and buy out the factory. This he did, in June, 1861, and has continued there ever since, with many enlargements to the business. Until 1872 he en- gaged extensively in making shoe peg machines, of which he made more than any other factory, and other wood working machinery. At present, the business consists mainly in manufacturing water wheels. lu 1873, the business was incorporated as
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
the Humphrey Machine Company, and still bears that name. In that year he began making turbine water wheels, under the name of I. X. L. Turbine Wheel, which is considered by those familiar with it, the most economical and serviceable wheel in the market. Mr. Humphrey was a member of the Legislature in 1868-'69, County Commissioner in
JOHN HUMPHREY.
1870-'73, and Water Commissioner in 1869-'89. He is a member of the American Society of Me- chanical Engineers. In politics he is a Republi- can. He married in 1855, Eunice D. Gilson of Plymouth, who died in January, 1890, leaving four daughters : Mary Etta, who died in November, 1894; Harriet M., Mabel C., and Emmogene E. Humphrey. He was again married May 16, 1891, to Mrs. Eliza J. (Howard) Rice of Warren, Massa- chusetts.
JONES, FRANK, Ex-Congressman, Capitalist, and Brewer, Portsmouth, was born in Barrington, New Hampshire, September 15, 1832. He attended the common schools, and at the age of seventeen was engaged in the hardware and tin business in Portsmouth. Hle soon became a partner in the firm, and later sole proprietor of the establishment. From this beginning is traced a career that was one of the most successful in the records of New Eng- land's self-made men, who by energy, foresight, and
business ability have won for themselves fortune and high rank in the community. In 1858 Mr. Jones became interested in the brewing business, which under his management has been developed to the first rank among the brewers of America. He has been closely identified with banks, railroads, and other great corporations. He is a Director of the Lancaster Trust Company; of the Wolf- boro Loan & Banking Company, and of the National Bank of Portsmouth; President of the Portsmouth & Dover Railroad; of the Granite State Fire Insurance Company ; the Portsmouth Fire Association, and the Portsmouth Shoe Com- pany. For many years he devoted much of his time to the active duties of the Presidency of the great Boston & Maine Railroad. He is much inter- ested in hotel property, and is proprietor of " The Rockingham " at Portsmouth and the " Wentworth " of Newcastle, two of the most famous hostelries in New England, built from structures of his own design, and erected and equipped under his own direction. In politics Mr. Jones has for several years been a leader of the New Hampshire Democ-
FRANK JONES.
racy. Hc was twice elected Mayor of Portsmouth, and was a member of the Forty-fourth and Forty- fifth Congresses. His homestead property known as "'The Farm," about a mile from the Rocking- ham, of one thousand acres, enclosed with its
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hedges, charming grounds, and conservatories, and other appendages, is by his courtesy called the " Public Garden of Portsmouth."
HALE, WILLIAM SAMUEL, Manufacturer. Keene, was born in Dublin. New Hampshire. May 17. 1854. son of Samuel Whitney and Emelia M. (Hay)
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W.M. S. MALE.
Hale. His grandparents were Joseph Fitch and Nancy Sanders Hay of Dublin, and Samuel and Salome Whitney Hale of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The family has long been prominent in New Hampshire, and his father was honored with an election as Governor of the state. William S. Hale was educated in the High School at Keene, and at Phillips Academy. Andover, Massachusetts, where he fitted for Vale. He was graduated from college in the class of 1881. In the following year Mr. Hale began his business career as a manufacturer and has carried on a successful business ever since. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Hale married October 10, 1883, Emma Wheeler Frost. They have four children : Margaret, Samuel Whitney, Josephine and Rufus Frost Hale.
PARSONS, WILLIAM M., a veteran Physician of Manchester, was born in Gilmanton, New Hamp- shire, December 30, 1826, son of Josiah and Judith ( Badger) Parsons. Of the nine children of the fam-
ily. six became teachers, one a lawyer, and two physicians. Josiah Parsons, the father, served as a Lieutenant in the War of 1812, and his father was a Revolutionary soldier. In the paternal line. Doctor Parsons's descent is traced from Joseph Parsons, born in England, who emigrated to this country. July. 1726. settling in Northampton. Massachusetts. In the maternal line, he is descended from General Joseph Badger, who served in the Revolution. Doctor Parsons attended the common schools of Gilmanton, and the Academy in that town. He began the study of medicine with Doctor Nahum Wight. with whom he remained for three years, at the same time taking courses of lectures at Dart- mouth Medical College. He also attended the Vermont Medical College, from which he was grad- uated in June. 1851. He began practice with his brother. Doctor Joseph B. Parsons, with whom he remained until 1855. Subsequently, after practic- ing in Barrington for nine years and Antrim for fifteen, Doctor William Parsons removed to Man- chester in April. 1873, and there he has ever since been engaged in the active practice of his profes-
W. W. PARSONS.
sion. He was appointed in 188: Chairman of the Committee for the extermination of pleuro-pneu- monia among cattle, a disease prevalent at that time, and his efforts were remarkably successful. He was made Assistant Surgeon in the First Regi-
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ment New Hampshire National Guards, in 1883, and in 1884 was promoted to Surgeon. He was a member of the state Legislature from Barrington in 1872-'73. He is a Thirty-second degree Mason, an Odd Fellow, a member of the Knights of Honor, and an Elk. He married in November, 1882, Mar- ion J., only daughter of the Hon. John and Doro- thea (Jones) Hosley. He has one child: Martha C., born April 30, 1884. In his nearly one-half century of practice, Doctor Parsons has gained a reputation as one of the most successful physicians and surgeons of the state; and he has been a pre- ceptor for a very large number of students, who subsequently have attained success in their profes- sion.
PILLSBURY, PARKER, one of the heroes of New England's famous "Abolition Trinity " (Garri- son, Phillips, Pillsbury) and its last survivor, who for nearly half a century, in perils and hardships, devoted himself heart and soul to pleading the cause of the oppressed, denouncing iniquitous, superstitious, bigoted laws and practices, and de- manding the removal of the yoke that held the colored race in cruel bondage, was born in Hamil- ton, Essex county, Massachusetts, September 22, 1809. He was the son of Deacon Oliver and Anna (Smith) Pillsbury, and the eldest of a family of eleven children. His father, a native of Newbury, Massachusetts, son of Parker, first, and Sarah (Dickinson) Pillsbury, was of the sixth generation in descent from William Pillsbury, who married Deborah Crosby in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1641, and afterward settled in Newbury, the line being as follows: William's son Moses, his grand- son, Moses, Jr., and his great-grandson, Moses third, who married Mary Parker, and was the father of Parker Pillsbury first. Oliver Pillsbury, when four years old, was taken by his parents to West Boscawen, now Webster, New Hampshire, where he grew to manhood. At nineteen years of age he returned to Newbury, Massachusetts, where he learned the blacksmith's trade, and subsequently completed his schooling at Dummer Academy. Here he made the acquaintance of his future wife, Anna Smith, daughter of Philemon Smith. They were married December 8, 1808, and settled in Hamilton, Massachusetts, where he worked at his trade until 1814. The hard times caused by the war with England then led him to remove to a farm in Henniker, New Hampshire, to buy which he incurred a debt of $1,500.00. With the conclusion
of peace the price of farm produce fell, and to free himself from this burden, cost many years of severe toil. He was public spirited and religious, a Deacon in the church, earnestly interested in tem- perance, and in the abolition of slavery, and was ever ready to lend a hand to local benevolent enterprises. Oliver Pillsbury died in 1857. His wife, a most estimable woman of strong character, survived him about twelve years, retaining her faculties to a marked degree at the advanced age of ninety-four. Eight of their eleven children survived the parents, namely : Parker, Josiah W., (father of Albert E., Ex-Attorney General of Mas- sachusetts) Gilbert, Oliver, Jr., Eliza A., Harriet, Mary S., and Moses D. Parker Pillsbury, the Radi- cal and the Reformer, obtained such education in his boyhood as was afforded by the district schools of Henniker, but always had to help in the work of the home farm. When about twenty years old, he was employed in driving an express wagon from Lynn, Massachusetts, to Boston. Subsequently he returned to Henniker, and devoted himself to farm- ing. Becoming zealously religious, he was urged to prepare himself for the ministry. Acting upon this advice, he pursued a course of study at Gil- manton, New Hampshire, and at the Andover Theological Seminary. "In less than four years from the reaper and the plough " he was licensed to preach by the Suffolk Association of Boston, and was settled over the Congregational " Meeting- house " Society for a year, 1839-'40, at Loudon, New Hampshire. But as the Christian Church was at that time "the bulwark of American slavery," as William Lloyd Garrison truly said, it could not and would not tolerate Parker Pillsbury. In the pulpit he was deeply sincere, earnest, and scathing in his denunciation of that " sum of all villainies," human slavery. Inasmuch as his whole moral nature had been roused against that institution, by the fearful outrages which were being perpetrated upon the abolitionists, he abandoned the Christian ministry, and espoused the anti-slavery cause in 1840 as a working apostle. His first lecture on the subject of slavery was given in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. After leaving the ministry, his first anti-slavery work in New Hampshire was to con- duct the " Herald of Freedom " for a time in the absence of the editor, Nathaniel P. Rogers. Then as he says, he entered "the lecture field with the full resolve to see the overthrow of the Southern slave system or perish in the conflict." There he stood with Garrison, Phillips, Rogers, Foster, Higginson,
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