New Hampshire in history; or, The contribution of the Granite state to the development of the nation, Part 3

Author: Metcalf, Henry Harrison, 1841-1932
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Concord, N.H. [Printed by W.B. Ranney Company]
Number of Pages: 148


USA > New Hampshire > New Hampshire in history; or, The contribution of the Granite state to the development of the nation > Part 3


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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While Vermont has contributed to New Hampshire a large percentage of her lead- ing lawyers, during the last seventy-five years, New Hampshire has given the Green Mountain State a goodly number of men who have been prominent in public affairs. Among these may be named three Gover- nors-Samuel E. Pingree, native of Salis-


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bury; Levi R. Fuller, native of Westmore- land, and Urban A. Woodbury, native of Acworth. Gov. Pingree by the way, who was a Civil War veteran, serving as lieu- tenant colonel in the Third Vermont In- fantry, recently passed away at the age of 90 years. He had served 53 years as town clerk in Hartford, his home town, where he had practiced law for more than sixty


years. One United States Senator, Dud- ley Chase, native of Cornish, who was af- terward Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and two Representatives in Con- gress from Vermont, John Noyes and William Henry, were born in New Hamp- shire, as were three other Supreme Court judges-Hoyt H. Wheeler, native of Ches- terfield, Wheelock G. Veazey, native of Brentwood, and John W. Rowell, born in Lebanon, the latter serving as Chief Jus- tice. Col. Veazey, who was also a Civil War veteran, served many years, later, as a member of the U. S. Interstate Com- merce Commission. Among many other New Hampshire born men prominent in Vermont affairs, may be named the late Augustus P. Huntoon of Bethel, eminent lawyer, native of the town of Groton, once speaker of the State House of Representa- tives; Fred A. Howland, born in Franconia, now president of the National Life Insur-


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ance Co., who has served as Secretary of State, and is now a member of the State Board of Education; Herbert D. Ryder, native of Acworth, leading lawyer in Bel- lows Falls, former County Attorney and member of the State Board of Education; Harry E. Parker of Bradford, prominent publisher and active in political affairs, na- tive of Lyman, and Harry B. Amey, native of Pittsburg, in practice of law at Island Pond, State Senator and prosecuting at- torney.


Massachusetts, the old Bay State, from which many of our early settlers came, has been repaid, tenfold, for all her contribu- tions to New Hampshire. The greatest names in her history, since the Revolution- ary period, are those of men of New Hamp- shire birth-Daniel Webster and Henry Wilson, the one a Senator and Secretary of State, the other Senator and Vice-Presi- dent of the United States. Another Sena- tor, already mentioned as Secretary of War, went down from his native town of Lancaster; while three governors of the State,-Benjamin F. Butler, of Deerfield, John Q. A. Brackett of Bradford and Chan- ning H. Cox of Manchester, the present in- cumbent, were all of New Hampshire origin. While Gen. Butler was Governor it was remarked as a significant fact, that 4


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not only the Governor, but the President of the Senate, George E. Bruce, and the speaker of the House, George A. Marden, were all New Hampshire natives, the latter both sons of Mont Vernon, and graduates of Dartmouth College in the same class. In the following year, two other sons of New Hampshire, Albert E. Pillsbury, na- tive of Milford, and John Q. A. Brackett, previously mentioned, also presided over the two branches of the £ Massachusetts legislature, Mr. Pillsbury subsequently serving as Attorney General of the State. Another New Hampshire man, William H. Haile, native of Chesterfield, then resid- ing in Springfield, where he had been Mayor of the city, was nominated as Re- publican candidate for Governor but was defeated. Another New Hampshire man, Harvey Jewell, native of Winchester, a brother of Marshall Jewell previously men- tioned, had been Speaker of the House of Representatives at an earlier date, and Joseph Bell, born in the town of Bedford, was President of the Senate in 1849.


Among New Hampshire born men who have represented Massachusetts districts in the National House of Representatives may be named Nathan Appleton, native of New Ipwich, William S. Damrell and Henry B. Lovering of Portsmouth, William


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M. Richardson of Pelham; Tappan Went- worth of Dover, (who defeated Henry Wil- son) Lorenzo Sabin of Lisbon, Goldsmith F. Bailey of Westmoreland, Benjamin F. Butler of Deerfield, Rufus S. Frost of Marlboro, Amasa Norcross of Rindge, and Samuel L. Powers of Cornish. William M. Richardson was also for a time Chief Jus- tice of the Supreme Court of the State, while a number of its Superior Court judges have also hailed from the Granite State, among them being Augustus L. Soule and Charles U. Bell, of Exeter, Daniel Aiken of Bedford, James B. Rich- ardson of Hanover, Caleb Blodgett of Dor- chester, and John H. Hardy of Hollis, as well as the newly appointed Chief Justice, Walter P. Hall, native of Manchester.


While speaking of New Hampshire's contribution to the public life of Massa- chusetts, it may be said, as well as any- where, that a very large proportion of the men who have been prominent and suc- cessful in the official, professional, and business life of the City of Boston, were born and reared among the New Hamp- shire hills. Two sons of New Hampshire, at least, have been mayors of the city-Dr. Thomas L. Jenks, native of Conway, and Albert Palmer, native of Candia, who held the office at the same time when Gen. But-


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ler was Governor, and Messrs. Bruce and Marden presided in the legislature, and it may be added that there is scarcely a city in the Bay State, but has had one or more New Hampshire born men at the head of its municipal government. Nathaniel Greene, native of Boscawen, was post- master of Boston for twelve years. Daniel Webster, great as a lawyer no less than as a statesman, was for many years in prac- tice in Boston, and had for some time as his partner there, John P. Healey, native of Washington, who served for many years as City Solicitor, and was the first man to hold the office of Corporation counsel, which position by the way was recently tendered by the present mayor to another son of New Hampshire, Sherman L. Whip- ple, native of New London, who has been in the front rank among Boston lawyers for many years, and has been twice the can- didate of the Democratic party for United States Senator. Mellen Chamberlain, a native of Pembroke, and a lawyer of ability, was for some years the Chief Justice of the Boston Municipal Court, while Henry S. Dewey, born in Hanover, William J. Forsaith, native of Newport, and several other New Hamphire born lawyers have been members of the same tribunal. Among the many names of New Hampshire men


HORACE GREELEY


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prominent at the Boston bar, at one time or another, may be mentioned such as Charles Levi Woodbury, native of Portsmouth, Augustus O. Brewster of Hanover, Ho- ratio G. Parker of Keene, Nathan Morse of Moultonboro, Napoleon B. Bryant of Andover, Moody Merrill of Campton, Rob- ert I. Burbank of Shelburne, Samuel L. Powers of Cornish, Wilbur H. Powers of Croydon, Joseph H. Wiggin of Exeter; Guy S. Cox of Manchester, John Herbert of Wentworth, George F. Bean of Brad- ford, and Joseph W. Lund and James A. Halloren of Concord, other members of the profession aside from those heretofore named as having occupied high official po- sitions in the state.


The medical profession in Boston, no less than the legal, has drawn its strength largely from New Hampshire, as illustrat- ed by such names as those of Dr. David W. Cheever, native of Portsmouth, appointed visiting surgeon for the Boston City Hos- pital when the institution was established, and continuing his valuable service in con- nection therewith for more than half a century, while he was for 33 years a lec- turer in the Harvard Medical School, and at the same time engaged in an extensive and successful private practice; and of Dr. George W. Gay, native of Swanzey, long


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time surgeon for the City Hospital, in- structor in and lecturer upon Clinical Sur- gery in Harvard Medical School, and ex- president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, who has recently retired after a successful professional career of nearly fifty years. Other New Hampshire born physicians, now in active practice in the city, include such men as Dr. Edward O. Otis, native of Rye, tuberculosis specialist, and Professor of Pulmonary Diseases in Tufts Medical School; Dr. William R. P. Emerson, native of Candia, national au- thority on the laws of nutrition, and his brother, Francis P. Emerson, ear, nose and throat specialist, and surgeon for the Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear In- firmary ; Dr. Fred B. Lund, native of Con- cord, widely known for surgical skill and Dr. Nathaniel R. Mason, born in Conway, specialist in Obstetrics and Gyncology, and instructor in Harvard Medical School.


Many of the most prominent leaders in mercantile life, banking, real estate and all important lines of business in Boston found their way to the city from New Hampshire, including such men as Marsh of Jordan, Marsh & Co., Dutton of Hough- ton & Dutton, Stearns, Bonney and other dry goods merchants; John Carr, long time president of the First National Bank, who


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went down from the town of Antrim; Charles F. Weed, native of Claremont, vice- president and chief executive officer of the same institution at the present time, and a recognized leader in the city's commer- cial affairs; the Rollins brothers of E. H. Rollins and Sons, Merrill of Merrill, Oldham & Co., and other private bankers; Henry W. Savage and Loren D. Towle, extensive real estate operators, the latter of whom has recently donated to his native town of Newport a munificent sum for the erection of a new high school building, and scores in these and other lines who might be nam- ed.


Especially in hotel management have New Hamphire men been conspicuous at "The Hub" as evidenced by such names as Whipple, Lindsay, Barnes, Duncklee, Greenleaf, Mann, Johnson, and Merrow.


As in Boston, so largely throughout the State of Massachusetts, men of New Hampshire birth have been and are con- picuous in every line of action-in the con- duct of municipal affairs, and in profess- ional and business life. A record of the names and activities of New Hamphire men who have been prominent in Bay State affairs for a century past would fill a dozen volumes.


Rhode Island and Connecticut have not


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drawn largely from New Hampshire, so far as public service is concerned; but it may not be inappropriate to mention the fact that the ablest man whom the former state ever had in either branch of the Federal Congress-the late Thomas A. Jenks, father of the Civil Service Reform move- ment, came of New Hampshire ancestry, his father having been born and reared in the town of Newport, in the old ancestral home where the late Edward A. Jenks of Concord first saw the light; while Marshall Jewell, Governor of Connecticut and Post- master General in the Cabinet of President Grant, was a native of the town of Win- chester. Arthur B. Calef, native of San- bornton, was State Treasurer of Connecti- cut, and Allen Tenney, born in Lyme, and at one time Secretary of State in New Hampshire, presided in its State Senate.


New York is indebted to New Hamp- shire for John A. Dix, one of her most noted Governors, and a United States Sena- tor, previously mentioned as a Secretary of the Treasury and a Minister to France; for Noah Davis, native of Haverhill, emi- nent as a lawyer and a Supreme Court Jus- tice, who presided, by the way, over two of the most famous criminal trials ever held in the country-that of Edward S. Stokes for the murder of James Fisk, and of Wil-


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liam M. Tweed, head of the notorious "Tweed ring," for corruption in office. Judge Davis also held a seat in Congress from one of the New York districts, as did John Dickson, native of Keene, credited with having made the first anti-slavery speech in Congress, Clark B. Cochrane, na- tive of New Boston, Charles C. B. Walker of Walpole, and John O. Whitehouse of Rochester, among others. George P. Bar- ker, born in the town of Rindge, one of the most noted lawyers of Buffalo, was for a time Attorney General of the State. He was a frequent opponent at the bar, of Millard Fillmore, afterward Vice Presi- dent and President of the United States, and was said to be more than his match as a legal debater. Asa W. Tenney, native of Dalton, was a U. S. District Attorney and Judge of U. S. District Court in Brooklyn.


Rufus Blodgett, a native of Dorchester, son of that old Democratic "wheel-horse," who was accounted as Harry Bingham's right hand man in Grafton County politics, Jeremiah Blodgett, was a United States Senator from New Jersey for six years; and it is not too much to say that it was the spirit and energy, due to the New Hampshire blood in his veins, that gave Garrett A. Hobart of that state the promi- nence that made him the successful candi-


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date of the Republican party for Vice- President, in 1896. His father was a na- tive of Columbia in the County of Coos, in this state, and it may as well be add- ed that Socrates Tuttle, an eminent lawyer, with whom he studied, and whose daughter he married, was a native of the same county, and a brother of the late Dr. Charles M. Tuttle of Littleton. Frederick Adams, native of Amherst, was a Judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals, and later of the U. S. District Court for New Jersey.


While there were quite a number of New Hampshire people among the pioneers of Ohio not so many representatives of the State became prominent in its public af- fairs or business life as in many others. Its most noted citizen, however, Governor, Senator, Secretary and Chief Justice Sal- mon P. Chase, heretofore noted, was one of New Hampshire's most distinguished sons; while Edward E. Noyes, another Governor of the Buckeye State, although born across the line in Haverhill, Mass., was reared in New Hampshire, learned the printer's trade in Dover, was educated at Kingston Academy and Dartmouth College and studied law in Exeter, before locating in Ohio.


While there is no state in the great Cen- tral West and Northwest to whose develop-


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ment, along industrial and business lines, New Hampshire has not contributed in some measure, and in whose public, politi- cal and professional life her sons have not been conspicuous, the State of Michigan is pre-eminently indebted to her in this re- gard. The first governor, greatest states- man, and most distinguished citizen of the "Wolverine State"-Lewis Cass-hereto- fore mentioned, went out from New Hamp- shire, as did his scarcely less illustrious successor in the United States Senate, Zachariah Chandler. Another governor of the state was John S. Barry, native of the town of Amherst, the only man three times elected to the office. The State Constitu- tion provides that no man can hold more than two terms in succession, but so great was Gov. Barry's popularity, that after holding two terms, and a successor follow- ing him, he was again elected. Another New Hampshire man, Henry Chamberlin, native of Pembroke, was the Democratic candidate for the office in 1874, and John J. Bagley, one of the most distinguished chief magistrates of the State, came of New Hampshire stock, his father having emigrated from Somersworth. William A. Fletcher, native of Plymouth, an able law- yer, became the first Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court; while another


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lawyer of like ability, native of the same town, Alfred Russell, was, later, for many years a leader of the Detroit bar. Two New Hampshire born men, at least, have been Speakers of the Michigan House of Representatives-Jefferson T. Thurber,


native of Unity, in 1851 and Sullivan M. Cutcheon, born in Pembroke, in 1863-4; who also served as U. S. District Attorney and Comptroler of the Treasury; while William Graves, native of South Hampton, held the office of Secretary of State. Two lawyers of distinction of New Hampshire origin, Oliver L. Spaulding, native of Jaf- frey and Byron M. Cutcheon of Pembroke, were Michigan representatives in Congress, as was, also, Charles C. Comstock, a lead- ing Grand Rapids manufacturer, born in Sullivan.


Michigan owes the organization of her splendid educational system to a son of New Hampshire, John D. Pierce, native of Ches- terfield, who formulated the plan of her University-the first and greatest of the State Universities of the country-after consultation with the most progressive ed- ucators of America and Europe, and car- ried it through to adoption, against stren- uous opposition; and right here it may be noted that the last great president of this University preceding the present incum-


REV. ALONZO A. MINER, L.L. D.


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bent, leading all other institutions of the kind in its present student enrollment, as well as the number of living alumni, was Harry B. Hutchins, a native of the town of Lisbon, who had previously served as the dean of its Law Department, after having organized a similar department for Cornell University in New York. Mr. Pierce was the first State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Michigan, and organized and put in operation the public school sys- tem of the State. It may also be said that Michigan was the first State in the Union to establish such an office, so that Mr. Pierce was, in fact, the first State Super- intendent in the country. Another emi- nent educator who subsequently held the same office and was also principal of the famous Michigan State Normal School at Ypsilanti, was Joseph Estabrook, a native of the town of Bath.


Not only in public affairs and education- al work have New Hamphire men been at the front in Michigan, but in great busi- ness and industrial enterprises as well. James F. Joy, native of Durham, a success- ful lawyer in Detroit, turned his attention to railroading, built the Michigan Central Railroad, of which he became president; as well as the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and other great lines promoting the devel-


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opment of the Central West; while Jesse H. Farwell, native of North Charlestown, and donor of the Farwell School building in that village, was the pioneer of the freighting business on the Great Lakes, conducting the bulk of the business in that line for years, at the same time, in com- pany with his son carrying on immense op- erations in contract work, installing the Buffalo sewage system with its difficult outlet into the Niagara River, construct- ing the main section of the Croton Aque- duct, for New York City's water supply, on which 1500 men were employed over three years, and doing the earth and rock work for th U. S. government locks, at Sault St. Marie, Michigan, the largest in the world.


John Wentworth, a native of Sandwich, and a representative of one of New Hamp- shire's old historic families, familiarly known as "Long John" from his great height, was a pioneer lawyer in Chicago, and active in promoting the progress and development of that now wonderful city. He was one of the early mayors, served a number of years in Congress, and was also for 20 years editor of the Chicago Demo- crat. New Hampshire capital, brains and energy have had much indeed to do with the upbuilding and advancement of the


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great metropolis of the Central West, and to-day two of its greatst enterprises are conducted by New Hampshire born men. John G. Runnells, native of Effingham is president of the Pullman Company, and John G. Shedd, born in Alstead, is the head of the Marshall Field Company, doing the largest dry goods business in the world. Two New Hampshire natives have repre- sented Chicago districts in the National Congress in recent years-the late George E. Adams, born in Keene, and Thomas Gal- lagher, a son of Concord; while Robert Smith, native of Peterboro, and Bradford N. Stevens of Boscawen were also once members of the Illinois Congressional dele- gation, and Jonas Hutchinson, native of Miiford, was long a judge of the Superior court.


Gerry W. Hazelton, native of the town of Chester was probably New Hampshire's most prominent son conspicuous in Wiscon- sin public life. He was a member and president of the State Senate, served two terms in Congress, and was for ten years U. S. District Attorney for Wisconsin. His brother George, later of Washington, D. C., was also at one time a Wisconsin Congressman. Another eminent Wiscon- sin lawyer, born in New Hampshire, is James G. Flanders, native of New London


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who has practiced in Milwaukee for more than fifty years with much success. A Democrat in politics, he had little oppor- tunity for political preferment had he sought it, but he has been prominent in the councils of his party, has served it in na- tional conventions and otherwise, and has been President of the Wisconsin Bar As- sociation. Another New Hamphire born man, long resident in Wisconsin, attained distinction and rendered great service in another direction-Sherburne S. Merrill, native of Alexandria, who entered the ser- vice of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, as a section man in early life, through his intelligence and energy gained rapid promotion, and finally became presi- dent of the great corporation, which under his enterprising management came to con- trol more miles of railway than any other corporation in the world. Joseph V. Quarles, some time U. S. Senator from Wisconsin, it may be mentioned, was the son of a Carroll County New Hampshire native.


Iowa's greatest statesman and most emi- nent citizen, James W. Grimes, Governor and United States Senator, went out from New Hampshire, a native of the town of Deering; while William G. Wood, sometime U. S. District Attorney, and Judge of the


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Supreme Court of that State was born in Hanover. Nathaniel B. Baker, long Ad- jutant General, including the Civil War pe- riod, a native of Concord, emigrated to Iowa after serving as Governor of New Hampshire.


Probably more natives of New Hamp- shire, now living, have made their homes in Minnesota than in any other Western State. A strong tide of emigration to that State set in, here, in the early "fifties" and continued for many years, great induce- ments in the line of agriculture, as well as manufacturing opportunities, being pre- sented, and the climate there being regard- ed as particularly healthful. The mass of these people engaged in farming; but other lines of activity were pursued by many, the professional field by no means being neglected. A pioneer in the development of the city of Minneapolis, and in the great flour manufacturing business, in which that city leads the world, was John S. Pills- bury, a native of the town of Sutton, who became prominent in public affairs and Governor of the State. Another New Hampshire native who held the same office, was David M. Clough, native of Lyme; while the present Chief Justice of the Su- preme Court of the State-Calvin L. Brown-was born in the little town of


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Goshen, under the shadow of Sunapee


Mountain. Lyndon A. Smith, native of Boscawen, was Lieutenant Governor and for some years Attorney General of the state. Walter H. Sanborn, of the U. S. Circuit Court, long a prominent lawyer of St. Paul, has already been mentioned. He was for a time associated with his brother, Gen. John B. Sanborn, also a native of Ep- som, an early settler in the state, active in public affairs, who served with distinction in the Union army in the Civil War, and was for some years Adjutant General of the state. Greenleaf Clark, native of At- kinson, served for some time as a Judge of the Superior Court. Adna D. and Anson L. Keyes, the first a native of Acworth and the second of Lempster, cousins and Dart- mouth graduates of the class of 1872, were partners in a successful law practice in the city of Faribault, and prominent in legis- lative and other public service, and the same may be said of George E. Perley of Moorehead, also a native of the town of Lempster. In other professional lines, and in educational work New Hampshire is also prominently represented in the state.


The first governor of Dakota Territory, before its division, was Nehemiah G. Ord- way, native of Warner, who before his ap- pointment had been Sergeant-at-Arms of


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the National House of Representatives, and George P. Waldron, born in Farming-


ton, was United States Attorney. In North Dakota for many years past, Clar- ence B. Little, a native of Pembroke, has been an upstanding figure in public affairs and banking. He is president of the Na- tional Bank of Bismark and has been a leader in the State Senate as chairman of the Judiciary Commitee for a score of years or more.


The first Governor of Arkansas, under the territorial government, was Gen. James Miller of New Hampshire. Edwin 0. Stannard, a native of Newport, and an extensive flour manufacturer of St. Louis, was Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, and a representative in Congress from that State, while Nathaniel Holmes, born in Peterboro, was a Justice of the Supreme Court, and Levi C. Marvin, a son of Al- stead was a Speaker of the House of Rep- resentatives.




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