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 15
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HON. JOHN J. LASKEY.
H ON. JOHN J. LASKEY, whom the citizens of Portsmouth have delighted to honor, was born in that city December 25. 1840, the son of William and Martha (Jones) Laskey. He was edu- cated in the schools of Portsmouth, and after a brief mercantile experi- ence in his native city he caught the western fever and went to Detroit, where he found employment, first as clerk and then as travelling sales- man. It was during his residence in the West that he was for a short time a soldier of the United States. With the fund of experience gained by several years of life in the West, Mr. Laskey returned to his native place and embarked in business. There honors awaited him. In 1883 he was chosen a member of the city's board of education, and served for several years upon its most important committees. Under President Cleveland's first administration he was appointed assistant postmaster of Portsmouth, and served two years, resigning because of failing health. For one year he was a member of the common council. and in 1888 he was chosen city treasurer and tax collector. From this office he was called, three years later, to become mayor of Portsmouth. and was re-elected in 1892. His term expired August 8, 1893, and during it he saw begun and completed many important public works. Mr. Laskey is a prominent member of the Odd Fellows, and numbers his friends by hundreds. He was a worthy man in all the positions which he was called upon to fill and by his industry, no less than by his integrity, added to his reputation as a reliable, trustworthy man, faithful to every obligation and trust laid upon him.
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HON. GEORGE M. DEWEY.
M UCH of the muscle that has developed the mighty West came no doubt from across the water; but New England claims with justice the credit of furnishing the greater part of the brains that directed the undertaking. A typical western Yankee's career is that of the Hon. George Martin Dewey, who was born in Lebanon, Febru- ary 14, 1832, the son of Granville and Harriet Byron (Freeman) Dewey. He was educated in the public schools of New Hampshire, at the Lowell (Mass.) High school, and at the Lebanon (N. H.) Liberal institute. Removing at an early age to the then far West of the state of Michigan, his work since that time may be classified under the three heads, teacher, editor, and platform speaker. His work in the first- named capacity was mostly done in the years up to 1857. In 1854 his editorial life began, and has continued uninterruptedly up to the present time. During most of that period his services have been rendered the Republican party through the columns of its press, though he is now connected as editor and publisher with The Odd Fellow, Owosso, Michigan. Mr. Dewey's devotion to his party has also manifested itself in much of his platform speaking, and nearly every state east of the Mississippi can testify to his brilliance and worth as a campaign orator. Here in New Hampshire we have heard him before every presidential election since 1860. He has also spoken considerably in the interests of temperance reform and Odd Fellowship. The offices Mr. Dewey has held show the varied interests with which he has iden- tified himself: Deputy state superintendent of public instruction, 1857-58; six years in the postal service ; five years state agent of the board of charities: state senator, 1873-'74; alderman of Hastings four years ; six years a member of the board of education ; grand mas- ter of the I. O. O. F. of Michigan ; grand representative to the S. G. L. ; and grand councillor, R. T. of T. for Michigan, and supreme vice councillor, R. T. of T.
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JOSEPH STEPHENS ABBOT
J OSEPH STEPHENS ABBOT was born in Albany, Me., Feb- ruary 22, 1804, and losing his parents in infancy spent his school- days and youth in Salem, Mass., where he was apprenticed to Frothingham & Loring, chaise builders, and was afterward induced to settle in Concord, where, in partnership with Lewis Downing, he pro- duced the first coach bodies ever constructed in the state of New Hampshire. This was in 1828, and from the partnership then formed sprang up the greatest coach-making industry in the United States, passing through various firm names, though never with a change of ownership, until the present day, when it exists as the Abbot-Downing company. The Concord coach, the product of this company alone. was the development of Mr. Abbot's ingenuity. Schooled in the old- time trade of coach-building, his work possessed the old-time charac- teristics of strength and solidity. In 1847 Mr. Downing retired, and Mr. Abbot admitted his son, Edward A., to the partnership. In 1865 the firm was again changed by the admission of Lewis Downing. Jr., the son of Mr. Abbot's old partner, and the new firm began the manu- facture of the celebrated Concord wagons, manufacturing in addition to the specialties of their own invention many vehicles built upon private specification and order. Mr. Abbot being thoroughly conversant with the rudiments and developments of his trade, his judgment and skill were almost stamped upon every individual product of his factory. This ripe judgment he carried into all the affairs of life. In Concord, where he lived so many years, he enjoyed the intimate friendship of the best and foremost citizens. March 16, 1871, after a short illness, he died, bequeathing to his children the substantial rewards of industry, yet more than that, the priceless gift of a good name the synonym for rug- ged, virtuous honesty, uncompromising rectitude, modest benevolence, and constant friendship.
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JOSEPH HENRY ABBOT.
TN the line of an ancient and honorable family of the state, 'Joseph Henry Abbot, the son of Joseph Stephens Abbot and Grace Stevens Wiggin, was born in Concord, February 6, 1838, and was educated in the schools of that city, at the " Little Blue" school, Farmington, Me., and at Phillips Andover academy. At the conclusion of his school days Mr. Abbot became connected with the Abbot-Down- ing company of Concord, a corporation of which his father was one of the founders and which is engaged in the manufacture of Concord coaches and carriages known the world over, whose stamp is the syno- nym for thorough construction, the sign-manual of honesty and the guaranty of service, of sturdiness, of solidity, of worth. The products of the Abbot-Downing plant equipped the first of the stage lines in California and Australia, and from this same establishment came the great twelve-horse coaches traversing the Transvaal gold field in South Africa. The operations of the Abbot-Downing company reach every continent, and to many a foreign land the Concord coach is the only evidence of the great republic beyond the seas. Of this corporation Mr. Abbot has been vice-president for the past fifteen years and in that capacity has had not a little to do with the development of the extensive business that has been done. It would be unfair to attempt to trace in detail his connection with the upbuilding of the Abbot-Downing cor- poration, yet it is but just to say that in every branch of its develop- ment his hand has been felt, his judgment has been demanded, and his- advice has been followed. As a witness of the esteem in which Mr. Abbot's reliability is held, may be instanced the fact that he is a mem- ber of the board of water commissioners for Concord, having succeeded in that position the Hon. James R. Hill. Personally Mr. Abbot is one of the most popular of men, for his sunny, genial, kindly disposi- tion naturally wins friends and his honest uprightness retains them.
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FRANCIS L. ABBOT.
RANCIS LEWIS ABBOT, who represented Ward Six, of Con- cord, in the legislature of 1893, comes from a line of English ancestors that settled in Andover, Mass .. A. D. 1643. who were of that sturdy and valiant race of pioneers who laid the foundation of this great Anglo-Saxon nation. He is a son of J. Stephens Abbot. the original builder of the world-renowned Concord stage-coach, and the founder of an industry unrivalled in the history of manufacturing establishments in America, and was born at Concord, May 20, 1843. and was educated in the public schools of that city, and afterward at St. Paul's school. where he was one of the first pupils. After leaving school he entered the office of the Abbot-Downing Co., with which the name of his family is indissolubly connected, and afterward became secretary of the corpo- ration upon its formation, and still holds the position, devoting his time almost exclusively to his duties there. though he serves the Margaret Pillsbury hospital as secretary of its board of trust, having been, from the first, prominent in the movement for the establishment of the city hospital in Concord. Mr. Abbot is a prominent layman in the Epis- copal church, and is a vestryman of St. Paul's church, Concord. Mr. Abbot, by his life-long residence in Concord, by his activity in the business world, and by his various interests of a quasi-public nature, no less, however, by his courtesy, gentleness, and true worth of character. is justly recognized as one of the leading men at the state's capital.
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LEWIS DOWNING.
T HROUGH two generations the name of Lewis Downing has been borne among New Hampshire men. The first to bear it was born in Lexington, Mass., June 23, 1792, and in 1813 he came to Concord and commenced the carriage business at the spot now occu- pied by his successors, the Abbot-Downing Co. The first wagon was turned out by Mr. Downing in November, 1813, and in the spring of 1827, in company with J. Stephens Abbot, he turned out the first coach ever built in New Hampshire. This first Concord coach was followed by thousands of others, and for fifty-eight years Mr. Downing remained actively connected with the business, seeing it grow-in repu- tation as well as size-and watching its various gradations of title in its course from individual to corporate ownership. His retirement took place in 1865, and in that same year and in 1866 he was a representa- tive in the legislature, a slight return for what he had done to benefit his fellow-citizens. He died March 10, 1873. To his son he left his name, a greater bequest than wealth, and to the Unitarian church of Concord he bequeathed his entire estate, to be used, upon the death of his children, in spreading the liberal Christianity represented in the writings of William Ellery Channing, whose philosophy had soothed the generous testator's mind, whose cheerful logic had quickened his hope, and in whose faith he had died, conscious of the reward which fol- lows him whose life is lived in peace and love, and in trust in God.
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MAJ. LEWIS DOWNING, JR.
M AJOR LEWIS DOWNING, Jr., of the Abbot-Downing Co .. was born in Concord, December 6, 1820, and attended school in Concord and at the Burr seminary in Manchester, Vt. For a short time thereafter he was employed in a store in Concord, and he then entered the establishment of Downing & Abbot to learn the coach- maker's trade. With that firm he has been for fifty-six years, and is now president of the Abbot-Downing Co., the corporate successors of the firm. Major Downing has almost equally long been promi- nently identified with the most important financial interests of the city of Concord. Since 1867 he has been a director in the National State Capital bank, and since 1878 he has been its president. In 1872. upon the organization of the Loan and Trust savings bank, he was chosen a trustee and a member of the investment committee, and is now vice-president of the institution. For seventeen years he has been a director in the Stark mills, Manchester, and almost no benevolent enterprise in Concord has been attempted without his co-operation and assistance. In the days of the old militia system. Major Downing acquired his title. The legacy of his father's name, with its generous reputation, Major Downing may leave with added credit, while as a rare type of the old-school business man, punctual, courteous, exact, Major Downing, vigorous, though full of years, stands at the head of large business and financial interests, keenly alive to all the require- ments of latter-day commercial development.
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GEORGE W. ABBOTT.
T HE development of the newer New Hampshire has been due to the busy enterprise of her sons. Among them is George White- field Abbott, who was born at Webster, March 13, 1837, and is the son of Nathaniel Abbott and Mary Fitts. He was educated in the town schools and at Salisbury academy, and when nineteen years of age went to Boston to become a clerk in a store, where he remained until 1860, when he opened a grocery store of his own in Norwich, Conn. In 1862 he disposed of his business to enter the service, coming to Penacook and enlisting in the Seventh New Hampshire regiment, serving until the close of the war in 1865. Mr. Abbott's war record was a credit- able one. He followed the fortunes of his regiment, and was severely wounded at the Battle of Olustee, Fla., on Feb. 20, 1864, and was con- fined to the hospital for more than a year, rejoining his regiment in North Carolina early in 1865. On his return to Penacook he at once entered upon a mercantile career, and followed it until 1870, when fail- ing health compelled him to seek an out-door line of work, which he followed for two years, by building blocks and houses at Penacook, then accepting the position of selling agent for H. H. Amsden & Sons, furniture manufacturers. In 1882 he commenced the manufacture of furniture for himself, under the firm name of J. E. Symonds & Co., which business he rapidly developed, until it demands the employment of about forty men in the manufacture of tables, desks, bookcases, etc., which is now one of the largest of its kind in New England. In addi- tion to the engrossing duties of his own business, Mr. Abbott is a director in the First National bank and the Concord Street railway, of Concord, also director and manager of the Penacook Electric Light Co. He was presidential elector on the Republican ticket of 1892. Mr. Abbott is one of those sons of New Hampshire whose enterprise and activity have entered so largely into the development of the state's resources, and is classed among New Hampshire men in the front rank.
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HARLEY B. ROBY.
A REPUTATION for sagacious prudence and conservative wisdom is one much to be desired by a banker of to-day, in a time of financial distrust. And it is precisely that which is universally ren- dered to Harley Benjamin Roby of Concord. Mr. Roby was born in the capital city December 13, 1867, and is one of the youngest bank- ers in the state, a fact which makes his success the more noteworthy. His parents were Benjamin F. and Ella L. (Sargent) Roby, and his education was gained in the public schools of Concord. supplemented by two years under the private instruction of Professor Amos Hadley. Upon the completion of his education he at once entered the widely known banking-house of E. H. Rollins & Son, with whom he remained for six years. During three years of this time he was a mem- ber of the firm, and after its incorporation as a company. served as secretary and director of the corporation. Severing that connection about three years ago, he has since been engaged in the banking busi- ness independently. and has achieved marked success. Active, self- reliant, and public-spirited. Mr. Roby gains and holds the respect and confidence of all with whom he has relations. He has been a director in the Capital Fire Insurance company since its organization, and is now president of the Concord Commercial club.
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LLOYD H. CHANDLER.
T HE third son of Hon. Wm. E. Chandler was born at Washing- ton, D. C., August 17, 1869, and in that city and in Water- loo, N. H., his life was passed, attending private schools in Washing- ton and the district school at Waterloo, until September 4, 1884, when he entered the United States Naval academy at Annapolis, and was graduated in June, 1888, ranking thirteen in a class graduating thirty-five members. He was at once assigned to the U. S. S. Boston, one of the cruisers of the new navy that had been built under the administration of his father as sec- retary of the navy, and in September, October. and November of that year made a cruise on that vessel, which was then under the command of the now Commodore Francis M. Ramsay. May 16, 1890, he. was detached from the Boston, and ordered to Annapolis for final examina- tions, and passing them, ranked ten in the class, which by that time bad been reduced to twenty-eight members. June 19, 1890, he was detached from the Naval academy, and placed on waiting orders. July 1 he was commissioned an ensign in the United States navy, with the rank of nine in the class, and October 28, 1890, reported for duty on board the United States training ship Portsmouth, one of the old wooden sailing vessels, built at Portsmouth, N. H., and then acting as one of the training squadron for apprentices. On board the Portsmouth he served until June 15, 1892, and on July 10, 1892, he reported for duty on the gunboat Concord, under Commander Edwin White, then attached to the North Atlantic Station, where he remained until March, 1893, when he was detached, and granted leave of absence for three months, at the expiration of which he reported for duty in the United States coast and geodetic survey, on board the U. S. S. Eagre, then occupied in sur- veying Boston harbor.
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WILLIAM D. CHANDLER.
W ILLIAM DWIGHT CHANDLER, the second son of Hon. William E. Chandler, was born in Concord, February 3. 1863. and was educated at St. Paul's school, Concord, where he was a pupil for six years, and in Europe, where he spent a year and a half in travel and study. Upon leaving school Mr. Chandler became city editor of the Concord Evening Monitor, retiring from that position in 1882 in order to visit Europe, at which time he made the tour before mentioned. covering in his travels nearly every part of the continent, being present in Russia at the ceremonies incident to the coronation of the present czar. In 1883 Mr. Chandler returned to America, and immediately went to Winona, Minn., and joined the clerical force of the First National bank in that city, remaining there until March, 1892, passing in that time through all the grades of the fiscal service, and being at the time of his resignation assistant cashier of the bank. During Mr. Chandler's residence in Minnesota he became a Mason, and took the degrees in that order, up to and including that of Knight Templar. Mr. Chand- ler's return to his native city was made in order that he might assume the position of vice-president and treasurer of the Republican Press association, publishers of the Independent Statesman and Concord Evening Monitor, a corporation in which he had acquired a large moneyed interest. Mr. Chandler entered upon his work in the East with the same vigor that had characterized his career in Minnesota, and with the same enthusiasm that had won him such success in the latter state. In the few months that have elapsed since he assumed his pres- ent position. Mr. Chandler has developed a remarkable capacity in the new field. Under his direction new departments have been added, and the business has been extended in many directions, bringing to the cor- poration the energy that the latter-day business development demands.
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CLARENCE JOHNSON.
C LARENCE JOHNSON, of Pittsfield, is a native of that town. He was at one time city editor of the Concord Evening Monitor, and is now connected with that paper and the Independent States- man as associate editor. While Senator W. E. Chandler was chair- man of the U. S. Senate committee on immigration Mr. Johnson served as its clerk. Since then he has been clerk to Senator Chandler.
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MAJ. ROBERT HENRY ROLFE.
R OBERT HENRY ROLFE, the son of Henry Pearson and Mary R. (Sherburne) Rolfe, was born in Concord, October 16, 1863, After fitting for college he graduated from Dartmouth, in the class of 1884, and immediately entered the office of the Northern railroad, at Concord, and was employed there until August, 1889, when he removed to Zylonite, Mass., but shortly after returned to Concord, where he became connected with the Republican Press association, first in the circulation department, afterward being promoted to cashier, in which position he still remains. For nearly ten years he has been a member of the New Hampshire National Guard, and that organization has no more zealous member than he. Twice he has been an enlisted man, returning to the ranks after having held a captain's commission, which his removal from the state compelled him to surrender. For two years he was ser- geant-major of the Third regiment, and his first commission was as first lieutenant in Company C. He was also captain of the same com- pany, and resigned as indicated above. He was afterward a private in the same company, and was taken from the ranks to become adjutant of his regiment, and from that position he was called, by the vote of his fellow-officers, to become senior major of the Third regiment, in command of the First battalion. Major Rolfe was appointed, in 1893, a member of the commission to revise the military law of the state, and. by virtue of his rank, is recorder of the board. Major Rolfe is the best type of a citizen-soldier ; an enthusiast, a student, he has mastered the service in every detail ; and more than that, has imparted his own spirit to his command. Destined for yet higher honors, he wears his present laurels modestly, but as one ready to defend that which he has won.
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JOHN I. EASTMAN.
JOHN I. EASTMAN, of Philadelphia, though not born in New Hampshire, is credited as a New Hampshire man, because the early years of his life and the first fruits of his activity were given to the Granite state. Mr. Eastman, the son of Robert Eastman and Sarah (Lee) Eastman, was born in Middleboro, Mass., February 16, 1831, and when he was one year of age his father moved to Con- cord, where the boy was educated in the common and private schools until his sixteenth year, when he went to Lowell, Mass., and learned the machinist's trade at the Lowell Machine shop, afterward returning to Concord and entering the gun business, manufacturing chiefly rifles. The first company of sharpshooters, from New Hampshire, that entered the service of the Federal government in the War of the Rebellion, was equipped with the Eastman rifle, by order of Governor Berry, and the weapon had high renown for efficiency and durability. In 1873, Mr. Eastman sold out his business in Concord and left the city and the state, going to Philadelphia, where he embarked in the business of manu- facturing perfumery and toilet soaps, which under his management has been built up until now it is the largest of the kind in the state of Penn- sylvania, controlling a business of a quarter of a million dollars yearly. Of this company, the Eastman & Bros'. Co., Mr. Eastman is president. Mr. Eastman's success has been shared in by the state of New Hamp- shire, because of the pride of the state in the success of one of her sons. That Mr. Eastman's success has been so merited, has been the source of so much the more pride. Amid it all he has not lost sight of the Granite state, and his appearance here among the sons of New Hamp- shire justifies his reciprocation of the esteem and affection in which the state has always regarded him.
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John Wilkes, Drew. Bow Concord. XXX October 16. 184%
JOHN WILKES DREW.
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SILVESTER PRENTICE DANFORTH.
S ILVESTER PRENTICE DANFORTH was born in Boscawen, August 14, 1838, the son of Nathan Courser Danforth and Sophia Brown. He was educated at the Fisherville and Boscawen academies, and at the age of seventeen began work in Caldwell & Ams- den's furniture factory, remaining there for eleven years, and in that time becoming thoroughly familiar with every part of the business. At the age of twenty-eight he engaged for himself in the manufacture of furniture at Concord, and remained in that business until 1871, when he began the manufacture of exterior and interior finish stock with a partner, under the firm name of Kimball & Danforth, this relationship existing until 1888, when the firm of Kimball, Danforth & Forrest was formed, and engaged in general contracting and building. To this firm Mr. Danforth has given the most faithful endeavor, and through his efforts has raised it to the front rank among similar business enter- prises, their operations extending over a large part of New Hampshire, and their contracts each year amounting to many thousands of dollars. Mr. Danforth is a remarkably popular man, and has been his party's candidate for many an important office, and has always run far ahead of his ticket. These honors, however, have come to him unsolicited, for he is too busy a man to give heed to the demands of politics. In business circles Mr. Danforth is justly ranked as one of the most con- servative and solid business men in the community. He never under- takes that of which there can be the slightest doubt of complete fulfill- ment, and in fulfilling all that he undertakes no labor is deemed by him to be too severe. Mr. Danforth is a most pleasant gentleman, and numbers his friends by the hundreds. His genial manners have been a constant aid to him in business and political life, and his true and sterling worth has never failed him. In all that he has been called upon to do he has displayed marked qualities of honesty and integrity, of complete and unequivocal steadfastness.
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