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 5
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SANBORN, JOHN WILLIAM, Railroad Superin- tendent and Banker, Sanbornville, was born in Wakefield, New Hampshire, January 16, 1822, son
of Daniel H. and Lydia Sanborn. He was brought up on his grandfather's farm in Wakefield and edu- cated at the common schools and Academy in that town. At the age of eighteen, he began teaching school in the winters and continued most success- fully in this work for twenty terms. When a young man he purchased a farm and became an active and industrious farmer. Soon after he also engaged in buying and taking cattle to the markets, and car- ried on a lumber business which up to 1870 was extensive. He had a large probate business for some years. He was a Selectman of the town of Wakefield in 1856-'57, was a member of the Legis- lature in 1861-'62, a member of the Executive Coun-
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JOHN W. SANBORN.
cil in 1863, was a State Senator in 1874-'75, being President of the body during the latter year, was a member of the Constitutional Conventions of 1876 and 1889 and was Democratic candidate for Con- gress in 1880. He has been a Trustee of the New Hampshire Insane Asylum ; is now a Trustee of the New Hampshire Agricultural College, a Director of the Manchester & Lawrence Railroad, and of the Portsmouth Fire Association, Director and Vice- President of the Granite State Fire Insurance Com- pany and President of the Wolfboro Loan and Bank- ing Company. Early in life he became interested in the improvement of the means of transportation and travel, and was active and instrumental in the
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extension of the Portsmouth. Great Falls & Conway Railroad. From 1874 to 1884 he was Superintend- ent of the Conway Division of the Eastern Railroad: is now and has been from that time Superintendent of the Northern Division of the Boston & Maine Railroad ; was acting General Manager of the Bos- ton & Maine Railroad from February 4. 1892. to March 1. 1894. Sanbornville, at the junction of the main line of the Northern Division of the Bos- ton & Maine Railroad and the Wolfboro Branch, was named for him, and it is through his activity and effort that the place has been built up to be one of the most important in Carroll county. Mr. Sanborn was a strong Union man during the war and was active in enlisting soldiers for the service. contributing large sums of money to carry on the cause, and was influential in matters of state relat- ing to the war.
PIPER, CHARLES FRANCIS, of Wolfboro, son of Benjamin Y. and Hannah (Evans) Piper, was born at Lee. New Hampshire, May 22, 1849. His grand- father. John Piper, served in Colonel Scammel's
CHARLES F. PIPER.
Regiment in the Revolutionary War from 1777 to 1780, and was Corporal in Captain Jacob Smith's Rangers in 1781. Mr. Piper received his education in the common schools and at the Wolfboro and Tuftonboro AAcademy. From 1868 to 1872 he was a
clerk in a country store, and was a postal clerk on the route from Boston to Bangor from 1872 to 1876. He then commenced business in a clothing store in Wolfboro, in which he still continues, and has been Cashier of the Wolfboro Loan and Bank- ing Company since it was incorporated in 1890. He held the office of Postmaster four years; has served as Town Clerk: was Representative in the Legislature of 1887 ; has been Town Treasurer ten years ; a member of the Republican State Committee since 1878, having served on the Executive Com- mittee for several years; and has been a Delegate to every Republican State Convention since 1880 ; and is at present a member of Governor Ramsdell's Council. He belongs to the Morning Star Lodge of Masons, Carroll Chapter. Orphan Council, and St. Paul Commandery; also to the Order of Red Men, and Lake Shore Grange. He married Ida E. Durgin, December 10, 1874. They have one son : Carroll D. Piper.
SANGER, THADDEUS EZRA, Homeopathic Phy- sician. Littleton, was born in Troy. Vermont, March 12. 1832, son of Ezra and Sarah M. (Brown) San- ger. He is the grandson of Eleazer Sanger, who was the third of that name. Eleazer Sanger the second was born in Petersham, Massachusetts, in 1735, and with his brothers Ezra and Abner was at the taking of Quebec and Fort Ticonderoga, during the French and Indian war. They were also mem- bers of the foot company from Keene, New Hamp- shire, which marched on the alarm from Bunker Hill. Richard Sanger who was born in England. and was the first of the family to come to America, settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1636. In 1790, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch moved to St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Dr. Sanger received his education in the common schools of his native town and in the St. Johnsbury Academy. graduating from the latter at the age of eighteen. Hle then taught school for some time, after which he accepted a position in a drug store in Toledo, Ohio. Here he began the study of medicine and after two years attended lectures in Philadelphia. He then entered the office of Doctors Stone & Sanborn at St. Johnsbury, and also studied with Dr. Darling of Lyndon, Vermont. A little later he entered the Homeopathie College at Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in 1856. He first settled in Hardwick, Vermont, remaining there two years. In 1858, he moved to Littleton, where he has been in
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active practice ever since. He has the distinction of being the first physician of his school in Northern New Hampshire. He has been most successful professionally and financially, and is highly esteemed as a citizen. Formerly, his practice extended over a wide field but lately has been confined to the town of Littleton. In 1867, the honorary degree of Doctor of Homeopathic Medicine was conferred
T. E. SANGER.
upon him in recognition of services. He was appointed by the general government in 1871 to the position of Surgeon for the United States Pension Bureau. This position he held until the Cleveland administration, when he resigned. Since 1865, he has been a member of the New Hampshire Medical Society, of which he was President for several years. In 1870, he joined the American Institute of Hom- copathy. He is a member of Burns Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Littleton, joining in December, 1870. In 1882, he was made a Knights Templar, and in 1885 became a Thirty-second degree Mason. He has been Master of his lodge and has held the important offices of the order in the state. Dr. Sanger married lanthe C. Kneeland, daughter of Willard H. and Cleora (Woods) Knee- land of Victory, Vermont. They have three daugh- ters : Ellen I. Sanger Parker, an artist by profession deceased March 3, 1890, and Lillian E., now Mrs. F. E. Green, and Katherine Sanger of Littleton.
RICH, GEORGE FRANK, Lawyer, Berlin, was born in Bethel, Maine, December 1, 1869, son of James F. and Sarah Ellen (Bean) Rich. When he was eight years old his family moved to the West, living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Manhattan and Lawrence, Kansas. He attended the public schools in these places, and returning to Bethel in 1886, fitted for college in Gould Academy in that town. For three years he was a student in the University of Maine, leaving that institution in 1891. He next attended the Law School of the University of Michigan, being graduated in 1893, and subse- quently admitted to the Bar of Michigan. In July, 1894, after studying for a year in the office of R. N. Chamberlin, in Berlin, he was admitted to the New Hampshire Bar; and in October of the same year became junior partner in the law firm of Chamberlin & Rich, which still continues. He was appointed Judge of the Police Court of Berlin by Governor Busiel in June, 1895, and now holds that office. He is a member of the Republican State Committee, the Knights of Pythias, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. On June
GEORGE F. RICH.
10, 1896, Mr. Rich was married to Persis M. Mason of Berlin. They have one son: Robert Rich. In his college days he took an active part in athletics, and after going to Berlin played on the local base-ball team, which achieved the reputation
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of the best nine in Northern New Hampshire. Recen ly, however, pressure of business has forced him to give up the pastime.
SPALDING, JOHN AUGUSTINE, Banker, Nashua, was born in Wilton, New Hampshire, May 29, 1837, son of Moses and Anna H. (Kimball) Spalding.
JOHN A. SPALDING.
He traces his descent from Edward Spalding, who came to America from England about 1630. and who founded here a family, many of whose members have distinguished themselves in the financial world, in the workshop, in science and in medicine, in philanthropy and in statesmanship. Mr. Spald- ing was educated in the district schools of Wilton, and in Crosby's Academy, Nashua. At the age of thirteen, he went to work as a clerk in a clothing store, and at nineteen began business in Nashua on his own account. When the First National Bank of the city was established in 1863. he was elected Cashier, a post he held for thirty-two years. Then he was made Vice-President of the institution, his son. William E. Spalding, succeeding him as Cashier. Mr. Spalding has dealt extensively in real estate and has many other interests. He is & Director in the Wilton and Worcester. Nashua & Rochester Railroads, and was the first President of the Nashua Street Railway. He is a Trustee of the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane. He was
Chairman of the first Board of Police Commissioners for Nashua. In 1865 and 1866, he was a Repre- sentative in the Legislature and in 1870 a Senator. He was a member of the Governor's Council in 1883 and 1884, and Mayor of Nashua in 1885. He was a Garfield Elector, a Delegate to the St. Louis Con- vention of 1896, and Chairman of the Republican State Committee in 1896 and 1897. He is a Thirty- second Degree Mason and an Odd Fellow, having passed through the officers' chairs in Odd Fellows, both branches, and he is a Red Man. Mr. Spald- ing was married on October 13, 1859, to Josephine E. Eastman. Of his children, William E., born December 13, 1860, and Harry E. Spalding, born June 11, 1862, the former survives. On November 24, 1870, Mr. Spalding was again married to Anna M., daughter of Dr. E. J. Learned of Fall River.
STONE, MELVIN TICKNOR, Physician, Troy, was born in West Boscawen ( now Webster), New Hampshire, July 20, 1854, son of Hiram G. and Mary Ann C. (Ticknor) Stone. His great-grand- father. Captain George Stone, was born in Lex-
MELVIN T. STONE.
ington, Massachusetts, in 1760, and served five years in the Revolution. On the return of peace he settled in Boscawen, with only twenty cents with which to begin life. He, in time, acquired land enough to give each of his eight children a home-
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stead. Mary Ann Ticknor was a sister of William D. Ticknor of the firm of Ticknor & Fields, pub- lishers, of Boston. Dr. Stone was educated in the common and private schools of his native town and at the New Hampton Literary Institute, graduating from the Commercial Department in 1873. He then worked upon the farm until 1876, when he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. F. A. Stillings of Concord. New Hampshire. He was graduated from Dartmouth Medical College in Nov- ember, 1879. In February, 1880, he went to Troy and entered upon the practice of his profession as successor to Dr. B. E. Harriman, where he has remained ever since, being the only physician in the town. He was appointed Superintending School Committee in the years 1882-'85, was a member and Chairman of the School Board in 1886, and was again chosen a member in 1890-'92. In 1887, he was elected a Representative, and served upon several committees. He was chosen Town Clerk in 1888, and has held the office until the present time. He was a trustee of the Public Library in 1894 and again in 1897. In 1896, he was elected one of the Supervisors of the Check List, has been Health Officer and member of the Board of Health for sev- eral years, and a Justice of the Peace since 1885. He was a member of the Board of Pension Examin- ing Surgeons at Keene during President Harrison's Administration. Dr. Stone is the author of a His- tory of Troy, published in 1897, and is also one of the Trustees of the Fitzwilliam Savings Bank. He is a member of Monadnock Lodge No. 88, Free and Accepted Masons, of Troy, and was Worshipful Master for three years, 1886 and 1888, is a member of Cheshire Chapter, Royal Arch Masons and Hugh de Payen Commandery Knights Templar of Keene. He is also a member of the New Hampshire, the Cheshire County, and the Connecticut River Valley Medical societies, having been President of the last two, and the present Council of the New Hampshire Medical Society. In politics he has always been a Republican. Dr. Stone was married January 26, 1882, to Cora M., daughter of Charles W. Whitney. Of their three children only one is living : Mildred Ticknor Stone, born March 17, 1889.
WALKER, REUBEN EUGENE, Lawyer, Concord, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, February 15, 1851, son of Abiel and Mary (Powers) Walker. He was educated at the district school in Warner, New Hampshire, and at the Colby Academy, New Lon- don, New Hampshire. Later he entered Brown
University, and was graduated with the class of 1875. He studied law in Concord with Sargent & Chase, and since his admission to the Bar in 1878, has been in active and successful practice there. He is a member of the firm of Streeter, Walker &
REUBEN E. WALKER.
Hollis. From 1889 to 1891, he was Solicitor for Merrimack county. He represented the Sixth Ward of Concord in the Legislature of 1895. In politics he is a Republican. On June 18, 1875, Mr. Walker was married to Mary E. Brown. They have one daughter : Bertha May Walker.
. WEEKS, FRANK, Lawyer, Centerville, was born in Wakefield, Carroll county, New Hampshire, August 31, 1851, son of Algernon Sidney and Sarah Jane (Rogers) Weeks. In the paternal line he is of the seventh generation from Leonard Weeks, son of John and Anne Wyke of Moreton, Somerset County, England, born in 1639, and an emigrant to America. Leonard Weeks in 1660-'61 was living at Winnicut River, in Greenland, New Hampshire. John Weeks, his great-grandson, was one of the first settlers of Wakefield, in 1772. On the maternal side, Frank Weeks is descended from John Rogers of Jackson. His early education was obtained in the common schools of Wakefield and the Wakefield Academy. In 1867 he began teach- ing, but in 1870 took up the study of medicine with
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Dr. George W. Tebbetts of Ossipee. A few months later he began reading law in the office of Sanborn B. Carter of Ossipee. Subsequently he studied with Colonel S. D. Quarles of the same town, and later with L. D. Sawyer of Wakefield. In 1873 he was appointed an Inspector of Customs at Boston. He was in the service until April. 1875. devoting his spare time to legal studies in the offices of May- nard & Hills, and Frank H. Hills. Admitted to the New Hampshire Bar October 22, 1875, at Ossi- pee, he began practice in that town, where he has since remained. His legal business has been lucra- tive, extensive, and varied, yet he has also engaged to a considerable extent in dealings in real estate.
FRANK WEEKS.
He owns several thousand acres of land in Ossipee and other towns, as well as handsome holdings of town property in his own neighborhood and Massa- chusetts. His homestead of one hundred and sev- enty-five acres affords opportunity for indulgence of his liking for agricultural pursuits. He is a lover of out-of-door life, and at Weeks's Park on the shore of Ossipee Lake, on a tract which was the strong- hold of the Ossipee Indians, and what still shows traces of their burial ground and a fort built as a protection against the raids of the Mohawks, he has erected a delightful summer home. Mr. Weeks has not sought office. He was a member of the superintending school committee of Ossipee for
some time in the earlier days of his legal practice, and is now one of the Auditors of Carroll county, but he has declined a number of nominations, among them that for County Solicitor. In politics he is a Republican. He married August 1, 1883, Mary Isabel, daughter of Joseph Quarles and Mary Elizabeth Roles of Ossipee.
WINSLOW, SHERBURN J., Bank Treasurer and Manufacturer, Pittsfield, was born March 16, 1834, at Nottingham, New Hampshire, son of Josiah and Ruth (Tucker) Winslow. Both his paternal grandfather and grandmother were said to be direct descendants of Edward Winslow of the Mayflower Colony. His maternal grandfather, James Tucker, was a farmer of Pittsfield and was born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, in 1776. Mr. Winslow was educated in the common schools of his native place and later at the academies of Pitts- field. Pembroke, and New London. From 1853 to 1860, his summers were spent upon a farm and the rest of the year he taught school, at which occupa- tion he was very successful. From 1860 until 1878
S. J. WINSLOW.
he engaged in farming and general business. le then followed manufacturing and dealing in lumber until within four or five years, when other interests have taken his attention to such a degree as to compel him to withdraw gradually from his busi-
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ness. He had charge of the construction of the water works for Merrimack county as well as for the towns of Tilton and Pittsfield, and was Super- intendent of the Pittsfield Water Works for about ten years, being one of the principal owners, and at present, one of the Directors of the company. He has also been, ever since its organization, a large owner and a Director of the Gas company in the same place. For the past four years he has been interested in the management of the Exeter Manu- facturing Company, is a stockholder and Director, and is now and has been for the last three years Treas- urer of the company. In the fall of 1897, he was elected Treasurer of the Pittsfield Savings Bank, with which he had been connected as Auditor, member of Investing Committee and of the Board of Trustees for seventeen years. This position he now holds. He is also a large owner of real estate in his own and adjoining towns. For more than forty years he has almost constantly had the charge of the settlement of estates and the management of trust funds. Mr. Winslow never sought political office, but has been and now is a member of the School Board. He is a Free Mason and a member of the Episcopal Church, having been Treasurer and Warden of the society for years. He is a Republican in politics. On March 19, 1860, he married Margaret Denison. They have two children : Cora, wife of James L. Hook, and Nellie, wife of Dr. F. H. Sargent.
ADAMS, DANIEL SIMMONS, Physician and Sur- geon, Manchester, was born in Lockport, Niagara county, New York, May 3, 1846, son of David and Adelia Maria (Griffs) Adams. In the paternal line, Dr. Adams traces his descent from David Adams, born October 19, 1797, in Londonderry, New Ilampshire, and died January 9, 1868, in Lockport, New York ; James, born May 5, 1765, married Anna Griffin and lived in Londonderry ; Edmund, born October 24, 1740, a resident of London- derry, married Hannah Thurston; Richard, born November 22, 1639, married Susannah Pike, and lived in Newbury, Massachusetts ; Abraham, born in 1639, resident of Newbury, Massachusetts, married Mary Pettengill ; Robert Adams, born in 1601, and also a resident of Newbury. The family is descended from John A. Adams, Baron of Somersetshire, England. Daniel S. Adams attended the district schools at Lockport, New York, and the Union School in that town, and Pinkerton Academy of Derry, New Hampshire.
He was two years at Genesee College of New York, one year in the Medical Department of the University of the City of New York, and for two years in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the Medical Department of the Columbia Univer-
DANIEL S. ADAMS.
sity of New York, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. February 28, 1872. He was for a year in the New York Hospital, ending his term of service there in the fall of 1872. In September of that year he began his practice in Manchester, where he has since remained. He was Treasurer of the New Hampshire Medical Society from 1881 to 1891 ; President of the Board of Cen- sors of the New Hampshire Medical Society from 1886 to date ; a delegate to the International Medi- cal Congress at Washington, District of Columbia, 1887 ; Associate Supreme Medical Examiner of Royal Templars of Temperance Insurance Order, headquarters at Buffalo, New York; Surgeon to Elliott Hospital, Manchester, New Hampshire; Con- sulting Surgeon to Children's Home, Manchester, New Hampshire. He is a member of the New Hampshire Medical Society, of the American Med- ical Association, of the International Medical Con- gress. He is a member of the First Congrega- tional Church. He is a Mason, Knights Templar, and Thirty-second degree. He has always been a Republican. Dr. Adams married, November 17,
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1870, Cora Anna. daughter of Andrew and Margaret A. Fox of Auburn, New Hampshire. Mrs. Adams died February 22, 1898, after an illness of eight months.
BEAN, ALFRED ELMER, Postmaster of Berlin, was born in Dummer, New Hampshire. July 20. 1864, son of Caleb Fuller and Tirzah (Lang) Bean. Ilis parents were natives of Maine, being descen- dants of the early settlers of that state. His father came to New Hampshire as a young man and en- gaged in the lumber business, settling first in Dum- mer and afterward removing to Milan. The sub- ject of this sketch becoming discontented with the quiet farm life, at the age of fourteen. bought his time and faced the world for himself. For the next seven years, he was employed as driver of a team for Daniel Webster Hodgdon, lumber merchant. During the summer he worked on a farm. In the fall of 1885. he went to Berlin with the determina- tion of securing an education. While living in the home of Dr. II. F. Wardwell working for his board, he attended the Berlin High school. In the spring
ALFRED F .. BEAN.
of 1888, he entered the employ of the Berlin Mills Company, and held his position until he was ap- pointed Postmaster of Berlin, October 1, 1897. In politics, Mr. Bean is a Republican. Hle married September 2, 1890, Fannie A. Wardwell. They
have three daughters : Elizabeth Wardwell, Dorothy, and Margaret Wilson Bean.
BLAIR, HENRY WILLIAM, Ex-United States Sen- ator from New Hampshire, was born December 6, 1834, at Campton. New Hampshire. His father was a man of unusual abilities, an excellent scholar, a talented musician, and a recognized leader in the town. On the maternal side he was descended from the Bakers of Candia, a family noted in Colonial and Revolutionary times. The Blair stock is Scotch-Irish, and many of the members of the family were prominent in the old Scotch-Irish Colony in Londonderry. Henry William Blair's father died when the boy was two years of age. His widow was left in straitened circumstances, and when the youngest son, Henry, was six years of age, she arranged with Samuel Kenniston, a leading resident of Campton, to take him for a year, while she went to Lowell, in quest of work in the factories there, by which she might secure the means to support and educate her children. This venture of hers was not successful, and in the sum- mer of 1842 she returned to Campton, but soon went with her children to Plymouth, where for the next year she supported them by sewing. Richard Bartlett, one of the prosperous farmers of Camp- ton, was attracted by the boy Henry and offered to give him a home in return for such services as he could render. So in May, 1843, the lad started out to begin to earn his own living, and for several years his home was with Mr. Bartlett. In 1846 Mrs. Blair died, and from that time on her son fought the battle of life, aided only by such friends as he made for himself. Until he was seventeen he worked upon the farm in summer and attended the district school in winter. In the autumns of 1851 and 1852, he was a pupil of Holmes Acad- emy at Plymouth, then under the control of Rev. James II. Shepard, and in 1853 attended the New Hampshire Conference Seminary for one term. He worked for a mechanic for one year, and was expecting to resume his studies, when his employer failed and he lost his wages. Before he could secure another situation he was prostrated with an illness, which left him broken in health and com- pelled him after a long struggle to give up his hope of a collegiate training. For three years he worked on farms and taught schools in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, sold books and did whatever work his health would allow. May 1. 1856, he entered the office of William Leverett of Plymouth
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as a law student, and three years later was admitted to the Bar. He began the practice of his profes- sion, as junior partner in the firm of Leverett & Blair, and devoted himself to his labors with indus- try and ability. In a year he was appointed Solici- tor of Grafton county. When the war broke out he endeavored to enlist in the Fifth and afterwards in the Twelfth Regiments New Hampshire Volun- teers, but failed to pass the Surgeon's examination. However, he succeeded in enlisting in the Fifteenth Regiment as private and was chosen Captain of Company B. He was commissioned Major by Governor Berry. The Fifteenth went to Louisiana, where, soon after its arrival, the disability of the
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