USA > New Hampshire > New Hampshire men. A collection of biographical sketches, with portraits, of sons and residents of the state who have become known in commercial, professional, and political life > Part 10
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117
COL. HENRY BREWER QUINBY.
H ENRY BREWER QUINBY was born in Biddeford, Me., June 10, 1846, and is the son of Thomas Quinby and Jane E. (Brewer) Quinby. He was educated first in the city schools of Biddeford and then fitted for college at the Nichols Latin school at Lewiston, Me. He graduated from Bowdoin college in the class of 1869, afterward graduating at the National medical school at Washing- ton, D. C. During his residence in New Hampshire Colonel Quinby has lived at Lakeport, where engrossing business cares compelled the relinquishment of his professional pursuits. His business interests comprise a directorship in the Cole Manufacturing company, in the Laconia Car company, in the New Hampshire Life Insurance company, and in the Laconia National Bank; and trusteeship in the Laconia Savings Bank, and the presidency of the Mutual Building and Loan as- sociation of Lakeport. He gives his chief attention, however, 'to the duties of superintendent and assistant treasurer of the Cole Manufac- turing company, manufacturing car axles, castings, and machinery. Colonel Quinby derives his military title from service on the staff of Gov. E. A. Straw in 1872. In politics Colonel Quinby has won con- secutive advancements from membership in the house of representatives in 1887, through a chair in the state senate in 1889, to a seat in the executive council during Governor Tuttle's administration. Colonel Quinby is an officer in the Grand Commandery, Knights Templars of New Hampshire, and a Mason of the thirty-third degree. Colonel Quinby may be justly ranked as one of the ablest of New Hampshire men. Sound, native ability has been increased by the judicious use of a liberal education, and at every emergency in his life he has called upon a mental reserve force for the needed support to success. His business life has demanded and developed rare executive ability, and his political success has been brought about by integrity, by solidity of opinion, by earnestness of purpose, and by honesty of expression.
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HON. DAVID A. WARDE.
H ON. DAVID A. WARDE was one of New Hampshire's most distinguished and promising sons in many lines of activity. He was born February 1, 1828. at Henniker and was educated in the private and public schools of the town and at Professor Ballard's noted school for young men at Hopkinton. At the age of sixteen he began mercantile life as a clerk in the hardware store of Messrs. Porter & Rolfe, in Concord, and in 1852 he was made one of the proprietors of the firm and continued to his death. May 14, 1874, at the head of the house, giving it a high reputation through his enterprise and ability. Mr. Warde aside from the increasing duties of his extensive business found time to win many laurels in other fields. He was a prominent and active Republican, and represented his ward in the legislature in 1867 and 1868, and was a member of the state senate in 1872 and 1873, in the latter year presiding over the deliberations of that body with remarkable tact and urbanity. He served as an aid upon the staff of Governor Smyth, with the rank of colonel. and was, for a long time. a member of the Republican state committee, and for the last few years of his life a member of the executive committee directing the work of the campaign. Mr. Warde married Martha S. Cleaves and had two sons and three.daughters. Mr. Warde's death in the full bloom of a fruitful existence was a sad loss to many branches of New Hampshire's activity. As a business man he had won success by the strictest probity and fidelity. In social circles he was prominent by the rare cordiality of his spirit. In political life he had ranked high because of the unfailing trust of his fellow-citizens. In beneficent organizations he was a lead- ing spirit, actively identified with all good works and exemplifying to a high degree in his own life the ideal which he wished to impress upon others. Colonel Warde's death was followed by most lasting regret.
119
HON. JOHN KIMBALL.
H ON. JOHN KIMBALL was born in Canterbury, April 13, 1821, and in infancy went with his parents to Boscawen, where in his youth he attended the schools of the town and for one year studied at Concord academy, after which he was apprenticed to learn the trade of constructing mills and machinery. As a millwright in 1842 his first work after attaining his majority was to rebuild the grist mill near Boscawen Plains, and until 1848 he was similarly employed at Suncook, Manchester, Lowell, and Lawrence. In the year men- tioned he was employed by the Concord railroad to take charge of the new machine and car shops then building at Concord, and in 1850 was appointed master mechanic of the Concord railroad, serving for eight years, when he resigned. In 1856 Mr. Kimball was elected to the common council of Concord, and in 1857 was reelected and chosen president of that body. In the two years following he was a member of the legislature, serving in the latter year as chairman of the com- mittee on state prison. From 1859 to 1862 he served as collector of taxes and city marshal of Concord, and in 1862 was appointed collector of internal revenue for the Second district of New Hampshire, holding this office for seven years. In 1872 he was elected mayor of Concord, and was reelected in 1873, 1874, and 1875. During Mr. Kimball's incumbency of the mayorship many important public works were begun and carried forward to a successful completion. In 1876 he was a member of the constitutional convention, and in 1877 was appointed chairman of the commission to erect a new state prison. In 1881 he was a member of the state senate and was elected president of that body. Mr. Kimball has won an enviable fame in the world of finance, having been, since 1870, treasurer of the Merrimack County Savings Bank, and for many years treasurer of the New Hampshire Bible society and of the Orphans' Home at Franklin. He was also treasurer of the Republican state committee from 1863 to 1890.
120
GEN. CHARLES H. BARTLETT.
N TO outline can portray the life of Gen. Charles H. Bartlett. No recital of dates can describe his career. He was born in Sun- apee, October 15, 1833. His boyhood was spent on his father's farm. but a precocious mind, spurred by the desire of a broader activity, led him to professional pursuits and he began the study of law after com- pleting his education at Washington academy and New London. In 1858 he was admitted to the bar and began practice at Wentworth, removing to Manchester in 1863. In 1861 he was clerk of the New Hampshire senate. In 1865 and 1866 he was private secretary to Gov. Frederick Smyth. In 1866 and 1867 he was treasurer of the State Industrial school. In 1867 he was appointed clerk of the United States district court, serving until 1883. In 1867 he was chosen city solicitor of Manchester, declining a reelection for the following year. In 1872 he was elected mayor of Manchester, resigning the office February 18. 1873, in accordance with a Federal ruling forbidding United States officials to hold state or municipal office. In 1872 he was appointed a United States commissioner. and still holds that position. His resigna- tion as clerk of the district court was called forth in 1882 by his election to the state senate, presiding at the session of 1883 over the body of which he had been clerk twenty-one years before. In 1890 he was appointed a trustee of the State Industrial school. and in 1891 was ap- pointed judge advocate general upon the staff of Governor Tuttle. In 1890 and 1891 he was major of the Amoskeag Veterans. General Bartlett is a man of marked capability, a fact attested by the conspic- uous success that has attended him in all the various positions of an active public career. As an official he was tactful, faithful, and honor- able. Fertile in resource, remarkably equipped for positions of distinction, he has won and held fame in many walks of life. Possessing oratorical gifts of rare power, his voice has often been heard from the platform in political campaigns and on numerous public occasions.
121
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HON. DAVID ARTHUR TAGGART.
H ON. DAVID ARTHUR TAGGART was born at Goffstown, June 30, 1858. He graduated at the Manchester high school and at Harvard college, graduating from the latter institution in the class of 1878. He studied law with Judge David Cross of Manchester, and upon his admission to the bar became a partner of Judge Cross, continuing that relation until 1885. In 1883 he was elected to the house of representatives from Goffstown, and though a young man and a new member served as chairman of the committee on elections and on the committee on the revision of the laws, and took an active part in the spirited debates of the session. In 1889 he took his seat in the state senate and was chosen president of that body, serving with marked distinction as a parliamentarian, with great dignity, and with unex- ampled affability. In the summer of 1890, by reason of the continued and serious illness of Governor Goodell, Mr. Taggart, by command of the supreme court, assumed the office of governor, serving until Governor Goodell's recovery with modest fidelity and decided ability. In the fall of the same year Mr. Taggart received his party's nomination for con- gress, in the First district. Mr. Taggart is a young man of whom New Hampshire may well be proud, and of whom New Hampshire is proud, as is amply attested by the honors that have been bestowed upon him. In his profession Mr. Taggart has achieved pronounced prominence by reason of his marked ability as a counsellor and an advocate. As a public speaker he has won many laurels. Fluent yet concise, rigid in thought yet graceful in utterance, and always uncompromising in his convictions, he has appeared upon many a platform as an orator and a political speaker, always with unvarying success. Called while yet young to assume the duties of the highest offices in the gift of the commonwealth, Mr. Taggart has filled each position with credit to his constituents that has reflected upon himself most favorably.
122
HON. HENRY ABBOTT.
H ENRY ABBOTT was born in Keene, October 5, 1832, and is the son of Daniel Abbott and Polly Brown. When he was an infant his family moved to Surry, where his boyhood was spent upon the farm, his schooling being received in the common schools and at the academies in Marlow and Westminster. When Mr. Abbott was eighteen years old he went to Virginia, intending to become a school- teacher, but three months of travel over different parts of the .. Old Dominion " satisfied him with life in the South, and he returned to the North with its free institutions. For two years thereafter he was engaged in western Pennsylvania as clerk for a large lumber firm, and the next ten years were spent in a store at Keene, with the exception of one year, when he lived in Illinois and Wisconsin. In 1863 Mr. Abbott joined the United States Sanitary Commission and was stationed at Washington in the special relief department, looking after the pay of sick and wounded soldiers in the hospitals of that city. lle was after- wards placed in charge of the sanitary supplies of the Ninth army corps at Annapolis, and was with that corps in its march and battles from the Rapidan to the James, retiring from the service because of failing health and returning to New Hampshire. September 5. 1864, Mr. Abbott was chosen cashier of the Winchester National Bank, which position he has held ever since. Mr. Abbott in 1866 was elected town treasurer of Winchester, and has been reelected every successive year. In 1869 and 1870 he was a member of the legislature, and 1873 and in 1874 was a member of the New Hampshire senate. In 1889 he sat in the consti- tutional convention. Mr. Abbott is justly esteemed. The integrity of his life is amply attested by his long continuance in offices of import- ance, responsibility, and trust.
123
HON. HIRAM KING SLAYTON.
H IRAM KING SLAYTON was born at Calais, Vt., August 19, 1825, the son of Bucklin Slayton and Sallie Willis. He was educated in the common schools of Calais and at Montpelier academy, and for three years was himself a teacher. In 1843 he went to Boston and entered mercantile life, and for three years was engaged in a count- ing-room, returning to Calais, where for ten years he owned a general store and bought farm produce. During his residence in Vermont Mr. Slayton was for seven years elected justice of the peace, and represented his town in the legislature in 1857 and 1858. In 1856 he was a dele- gate to the national convention at Philadelphia which placed in nomina- tion the first Republican ticket, and in 1860 was a delegate to the convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln. In 1863 he came to Manchester and established a wholesale produce and provision house, which has since passed into the hands of the E. M. Slayton company. of which he is president. The people of Manchester chose him for their representative in the legislature in 1871 and 1872, and elected him to the state senate in 1877 and again in 1878, he being the last senator from Manchester under the old constitution. Mr. Slayton was a dele- gate to the first meeting of the Sons of the American Revolution, held in New York city in April, 1887, and was made vice-president general of that organization. As a writer upon economical topics Mr. Slayton has won the hearty endorsement of the keenest minds in the circle of political economy and finance. His writings in favor of honest money and against the passage of the Bland silver bill, and also in favor of the resumption of specie payment, were widely copied by the press through- out the country. Mr. Slayton was the author of the resolutions adopted by the New Hampshire legislature in opposition to the passage of the Bland bill, and of a resolution of the same tenor passed by the legisla- ture of Vermont.
124
HON. JAMES FRANK SEAVEY.
H ON. JAMES FRANK SEAVEY, of Dover, was born in Roch- ester, N. H .. August 14, 1838, and was educated in the common schools of that city, at Miss Caroline Knight's private school in Roch- ester, and at the Franklin academy in Dover. The first nineteen years of his life were passed at Rochester upon a farm. At that age, however. he embarked in a business career by becoming a clerk in a dry goods and grocery store at Dover, where he remained for eight years until he was enabled to begin business for himself by the establishment of a clothing house under the firm name of James F. Seavey & Co. Mr. Seavey has found time as personal director or projector to enter into numerous other enterprises of business or financial concern. being one of the directors of the E. H. Rollins & Sons corporation, bankers : member of the firm of Charles N. Seavey & Co., manufacturing lumber dealers ; director in B. F. Haley & Co., Newmarket, N. H .. whole- sale clothiers : one of the managing committee of Dover Navigation company : director Dover Improvement association : trustee Dover Five Cent Savings Bank : president and director Dover Cooperative Savings Fund and Loan association ; and proprietor of a livery and hack stable. In secret society circles Mr. Seavey has arisen to a high rank in Masonry, being a Knight Templar, and in the Knights of Pythias having been grand chancellor of New Hampshire in 1876, and in 1878 and 1879 having been the state's representative in the grand lodge of the world. In politics Mr. Seavey has had an eventful and honorable career. In 1867 he was elected member of the common council of Dover, for two years he was selectman of his ward, and for the same length of time ward clerk. In 1869, and the two years following he was county treasurer of Strafford county, and in 1878 and the three years thereafter he was a member of the legislature. In 1881 he was elected to the state senate, and in 1883 was honored with a reelection. a distinction as rare as it was merited.
125
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HON. VIRGIL CHASE GILMAN.
H ON. VIRGIL CHASE GILMAN was born in Unity, May 5, 1827, the son of Emerson Gilman and Delia Way. He was educated in the public schools of Lowell and removed to Nashua in 1843, and for twenty-one years was engaged as a manufacturer of printers' cards and paper. In 1865 he was elected mayor of Nashua and in 1879 was a member of the legislature, and in 1881 he sat in the state senate and was honored with the chairmanship of the judiciary com- mittee. For several years he was a member of the board of education of Nashua, and for twenty-five years has been a trustee of the public library in that city, at present being treasurer of the board. He is a director in the Nashua Iron & Steel Co., president of the Nashua Saddlery and Hardware company, and director in the Indian Head National Bank. Upon his retirement from business as a paper manu- facturer, Mr. Gilman was called to the position of treasurer of the old Nashua Savings company, and assumed the duties of that position on the first of January, 1879, and still retains it. Mr. Gilman is one of Nashua's most honored citizens ; the frequency with which he has been called to positions of trust, and the long terms of service that he has given to them, indicating the esteem in which he is held by the people among whom the active years of his life have been spent. In all good works he is foremost. Prominently identified with the religious, the social, and the literary life of the city, no less than with its financial and commercial interests, he is a man of marked eminence. He is devotedly attached to agricultural interests, and is the owner of a fine farm a short distance from the city of Nashua, where he maintains a magnificent herd of Jerseys. Mr. Gilman is a gentleman of broad culture with discrim- inating taste, he has read widely and retentively, and is a gentleman to the manner born. Called to high position, he has never lost the true courtesy that has characterized his every act.
126
COL. GEORGE G. DAVIS.
G EORGE G. DAVIS was born at Roxbury, August 28, 1842. and T is the son of Joshua Davis and Eliza Rice. He was educated in the schools of Roxbury and at Keene. Until eighteen years of age Mr. Davis was a farmer boy, and at that period of his life he enlisted as a private in Company A of the Second New Hampshire volunteers, and was severely wounded at the Battle of Williamsburg, Va., retiring from the war in 1863. when he settled in Marlborough and was engaged in manufacturing boxes and toys until the first of March, 1870, since which time he has been occupied in mercantile pursuits and other bus- iness interests. Mr. Davis for fifteen years was town clerk of Marl- borough and for twenty years was its treasurer. In 1879 and in 1881 he was a member of the house of representatives and in 1883 sat in the state senate. In 1885 he was appointed an aide-de-camp on Governor Currier's staff, with the rank of colonel, and in Cheshire county has been elected three times as county commissioner, his present term expiring in 1895. Mr. Davis, in addition to his personal business interests, is also trustee of the Keene Guaranty Savings Bank. January 1. 1866, Mr. Davis was married to Maria L. Collins, daughter of J. T. Collins of Marlborough. In politics Mr. Davis is a Republican and by religious preference is a Congregationalist. Mr. Davis is justly reckoned as one of the most prominent men in Cheshire county, though it would be unfair to him to insinuate that his reputation is confined to the limits of that county. By reason of his service in the legislature, and by reason of his career upon the governor's staff. Mr. Davis has made hosts of acquaintances and friends through all the state, who have come to esteem him as he is, an honorable, upright gentleman, frank and fear- less in his dealings with his fellow-man.
127
HON. MANSON S. BROWN.
M ANSON S. BROWN was born in Bridgewater, November 30, 1835, and is the son of James Brown and Judith Harron. His boyhood and youth were spent upon the farm, and his education was attained in the common schools and at New Hampton institution. In 1859 he commenced work at Campton as a blacksmith, and continued therein until the summer of 1863, when he enlisted in Company C of the Thirteenth New Hampshire volunteers, under Col. Aaron F. Stevens and served with credit, being wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg and at Cold Harbor. Mr. Brown was with his regiment in all its skirmishes and battles with one exception, and was promoted by suc- cessive steps to become principal musician of the regiment, and as such led the musicians of the First brigade into the city of Richmond, April 3, 1865, when that city capitulated to the Union army. At the close of the war Mr. Brown took up his residence in Plymouth, returning to his old trade and continuing his work until the spring of 1870, when he was commissioned deputy sheriff of Grafton county and several other counties of the state. In 1874 he was commissioned high sheriff of Grafton county, and served in that capacity and as deputy sheriff under different high sheriffs for several years. In 1885 Mr. Brown sat in the state senate as a Republican, being elected from the Fourth district, and was appointed state liquor commissioner December 26, 1886, and still holds that position. Mr. Brown has had extensive business relations in connection with real estate, both in the East and West, always with unvarying success. Mr. Brown's home in Plymouth is on a large farm overlooking the beautiful valley of the Pemigewasset, and among his neighbors he is classed with high esteem, and as one among those who by their probity and honor have added solidity to the reputation of the Granite State.
128
HON. FRANCIS HILTON FRENCH.
F RANCIS TILTON FRENCH. member of the legislature from East Kingston, was born in that town, September 2, 1835. He is the son of Enoch Sanborn French and of Permelia Tilton, and his education, like that of many another of New Hampshire's men, was found only in the common schools, to be supplemented with the broader course afforded by the great university of active life. He spent his boyhood and youth upon the farm, and became inured to hard labor. At the age of twenty he forsook agriculture, and entered into business in company with G. W. Sanborn, as a cattle-dealer and butcher. For twenty-five years this partnership existed, and the same business is still carried on by Mr. French. In those years he was often elected by his fellow-citizens to various town offices. In 1865 he was first elected to the house of representatives, in 1879 he came again, and in 1880 was once more a member. In 1883 he sat in the state senate, and in 1892 was again his party's candidate for the house of representatives. carrying his contest from the polls to the floor of the house where, after a ten weeks struggle, he was awarded his seat on the ground that he had been illegally declared defeated in November. Mr. French is one of those successful men who have become so through industry, and careful attention to the details of business which have enabled him to command hearty and deserved support in his undertakings. When elected to office he has followed the same rule, and his constituents have clone well in repeatedly reelecting him. The years of his service as a legislator cover an interesting period in New Hampshire's history, and embrace two changes of the organic law, yet Mr. French is always abreast of the times and to-day, as a member of the legislature, is as active, as progressive, and as interested as when he first sat in that body twenty-eight years ago.
129
HON. WALTER S. DAVIS.
W ALTER SCOTT DAVIS was born at Warner, July 29, 1834, his parents being Nathaniel Ambrose Davis and Mary Clough. He was educated in the schools of Warner, Gilmanton, Washington, Thetford academy, Vermont, and Colby academy, New London. At the age of fourteen he began to earn his living as a mill boy, and so labored until 1854, when he engaged in business with Samuel H. Dow, dealing in lumber and hemlock bark, remaining with him until 1865. In that year the firm of W. S. Davis & Co. was formed to engage in lumbering and had an existence until 1872, when the firm of Dow & Davis came into being as manufacturers of straw board and continued until 1878, being succeeded by the firm of Davis Bros., who were located at Davisville, a thriving community named from the many descendants of General Aquila and Capt. Francis Davis, who had settled there and been identified with its industries. Mr. Davis moved to Contoocook in 1874, purchased the mills and water-power there in 1887, made extensive improvements and additions to them, and erected the large silk factory in 1890. Here he has a machine shop where he materializes his inventions, his latest being an automatic machine capable of making forty boxes per minute from rolls of pasteboard sus- pended on the machine. He has always been an enthusiastic believer in the Bell telephone, being one of the large stockholders in that com- pany, and has erected an elegant residence from the profits in that enterprise. Mr. Davis is a Mason, has been master of Harris lodge at Warner, is a member of Woods chapter of Henniker, and of Horace Chase council of Concord. In politics Mr. Davis has taken an active part, having been always prominent in his party councils, was a member of the house of representatives in 1878, of the state senate in 1885, and of the constitutional convention of 1889. In all of Mr. Davis's life, and amid all the successes that have followed him, he has been always the same genial, unassuming, honest gentleman.
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