USA > New Hampshire > Sketches of successful New Hampshire men > Part 37
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1. Sir John Ap Adam, Knt., Lord Ap Adam, member of Parliament from 1296 to 1307.
2. Sir John Ap Adam Kt.
3. Sir John Ap Adam.
4. William Ap Adam.
5. Sir John Ap Adam.
6. Thomas Ap Adam.
7. Sir John Ap Adam, Knt.
8. Sir John Ap Adam, alias Adams.
9. Roger Adams.
10. Thomas Adams.
11. John Adams.
12. John Adams.
13. John Adams.
14. Richard Adams.
15. William Adams.
16. Henry Adams who settled in Braintree, (now Quincy ), Mass., and died 1646.
17. Edward Adams, of Medfield, Mass.
18. John Adams, of Medway, Mass.
19. Abraham Adams, of Brookfield, Mass.
20. Jesse Adams, of Brookfield, Mass.
21. Dr. Charles Adams, of Antrim, N. H.
22. Hon. Charles Adams, Jr., A. M., North Brookfield, Mass.
23. Charles Woodburn Adams, North Brookfield, Mass.
24. Charles Joseph Adams, North Brookfield, Mass.
From Henry Adams (16), who settled in Braintree, descended the presidents. He had a large family besides the Edward named above, and among them a son Joseph, born in 1626, who married Abigail Baxter. These last had a son
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HON. CHARLES ADAMS, JR., A. M.
Joseph, born December 24, 1654. Of this second Joseph, the second son was Dea. John Adams of Braintree. Dea. John married Susanna Boylston, of Brookline, Mass., and their oldest son was John Adams, born October 19, 1735, second President of the United States. His oldest son was John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States, and father of Hon. Charles Francis Adams.
Dr. Charles Adams, the twenty-first generation from Ap Adam of Wales, was son of Jesse and Miriam (Richardson) Adams, of Brookfield, Mass., and was born in that place, February 13, 1782. His early years were spent on the farm with his father. His education was chiefly acquired in the district school and Leicester Academy. He then taught some two years in Half Moon, N. Y. On his return, in 1803, he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Asa Walker, of Barre, Mass., with whom he remained in practice one year after com- pleting his studies. He came to Antrim, N. H., and began practice in the early summer of 1807, coming to take the place of Dr. Nathan W. Cleaves, whose early and much lamented death occurred in April of that year. Dr. Adams married, February 13, 1809, Sarah McAllister, of Antrim, daughter of James and Sarah (McClary) McAllister. She was a woman of excellent tastes and superior mind, of rare patience in toil and trial, and of a sweet and winning Christian spirit, -all of which made her conspicuously worthy and attractive. She was of pure Scotch descent and strict Presbyterian opinions. She was a mother whose children might well "rise up and call her blessed." Dr. Adams was a favorite in Antrim ; was early in town office ; was a successful physician ; was a great reader, full of information ; and was looked upon by contemporaries as an original and able man. He moved from Antrim to Oakham, Mass., in 1816, where he died of old age, March 6, 1875.
Hon. CHARLES ADAMS, JR., A. M., the subject of this sketch, was born in Antrim, January 31, 1810 ; in that part of the town then known as " Woodbury Village," having only eight or ten houses all told, now the large and flourishing village of South Antrim. Here he had his first schooling, under charge of Fanny Baldwin and Daniel M. Christie, afterwards Hon. Daniel M. of Dover. Of those early school-days he retains a vivid remembrance ; and he is the last of that group of scholars, or nearly the last, now living. After removal from Antrim, he continued and completed a common-school education at Oakham ; was at a select school six months under Rev. John Bisbee, of Brookfield, Mass .; then he studied eight months with Rev. Josiah Clark, of Rutland, Mass .; and this was the limit of his opportunity for education. Then, though quite young, he was in a store about five years in Petersham, Mass., obtaining much practical knowledge in the course of his work. He is what called a self-made man. Few men can be found better versed in literary matters, or political economy, or the history of our land. He has been familiar with distinguished men, and is one we count winsome in the social hour, with a fund of information on most topics of con- versation ; with apt quotation, or vigorous repartee ever ready on his tongue. Hence he is one of the most agreeable, genial, and gentlemanly of men. He was some years book-keeper, and afterwards partner, in the immense boot and shoe-manufacturing establishment of North Brookfield (now employing from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred hands), from which company he retired just before the war.
With singular continuance, Mr. Adams has been kept in offices of trust by the people of his adopted town and state. He was clerk of North Brookfield (now of about forty-five hundred inhabitants) ten years ; representative in the Mas- sachusetts house four years ; on the executive council of Massachusetts four years ; treasurer of the state of Massachusetts five years ; and member of the senate of that state four years. And in all these cases the office sought the man,
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HON. CHARLES ADAMS, JR., A. M.
not the man the office. The writer of this knows that some of his friends were almost angry with him because he would not consent to run for congress, when the way was clear and an election sure. It is simply the truth to say that he has been in public life more than a quarter of a century ; that he is a man of fixed principles and irreproachable character, a vigorous hater of shams and corruption, and held in honor throughout his adopted state.
During his administration as treasurer and receiver-general of the common- wealth, it became necessary, in arranging its financial matters, to negotiate, sign, and deliver in England, a large amount of its bonds, and Mr. Adams was com- missioned by the governor and council to go to London for that purpose. After having successfully accomplished the objects of his mission, he took the oppor- tunity of traveling for a short time on the continent of Europe, as well as in Great Britain, and especially in Scotland. In the latter country he had an ardent and loving interest, which was increased by travel there, and has lost nothing in subsequent years. He is a Scotch antiquarian of much reading and research.
Mr. Adams has always been greatly attached to his native town, Antrim, -- cherishing with undiminished love the rocks and the hills upon which he looked in childhood. His visits are frequent to the old town; he still retains his mem- bership in the old Presbyterian church ; clearly remembers the old faces ; loves the old ways ; was a great helper in preparing the recent History of Antrim, and was a willing contributor to its embellishment. With all the rest, he has been something of a musician, being a member of the church choir (North Brookfield, Mass.,) more than forty years, -for many years its leader. And in these traits his children follow him, as they are gifted with rare musical taste and skill.
Mr. Adans married, May 8, 1834, Eliza, daughter of Hon. Joseph Cum- mings, of Ware, Mass .; and they have three surviving children, - Charles Woodburn and George Arthur, of North Brookfield, and John Quincy, of Bos- ton. An only daughter, Ellen Eliza, married Frank A. Smith, and died at West Brookfield in 1866.
The degree of A. M. was conferred on Mr. Adams by Dartmouth College in 1878. And it may be added that such men as Mr. Adams are continually reflecting honor upon our rocky New Hampshire, from which they went forth. Their success goes to prove, that, with an eager mind, good ready common sense, persevering application, and inflexible honesty, the boys of the Granite State may win high places among men. We see by this biography, that, if the man be good enough, the place will seek the man. Truth and uprightness, backed by good abilities, are pretty sure to be appreciated.
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GOV. BENJAMIN F. PRESCOTT.
BY COL. WILLIAM E. STEVENS. .
THE first person by the name of Prescott in the province of New Hampshire, was James, who came from Dryby, in the county of Lincolnshire, in England, and settled in Hampton, in 1665. On his arrival he began farming operations in what is now Hampton Falls, upon the farm now known as the " Wells Healy place," and remained there until he moved to Kingston, in 1725, when that town was granted to him, and others. In 1668 he married Mary, daughter of Nathan- iel and Grace Boulter, who was born in Exeter, May 15, 1648. From this couple sprang the Prescotts in New Hampshire. James was the second cousin of John, who came to Massachusetts and settled in Watertown in 1640, from whom sprang the Prescotts mainly in that state, and among them Col. William, the hero of Bunker Hill, and his grandson, William H. Prescott, the eminent scholar and historian. James is represented to have been an influential man, honest in his dealings, upright in character, sound in judgment. His opinions were sought and respected. They had nine children, five sons and four daughters. Their fourth child was Jonathan, who was born August 6, 1675. When he grew up, he settled in that part of Hampton, which, since 1737, has been known as Ken- sington. In 1696 he was at Fort William and Mary and remained there some time, and in 1710 served under Capt. John Gilman in a scouting party. He had
four sons and two daughters. His first child was named Jonathan. He was married, April 3, 1721, to Judith, daughter of Ebenezer and Judith (Sanborn) Gove. He was appointed, by Gov. Benning Wentworth, captain in a company, in the celebrated expedition against Louisburg, on the island of Cape Breton, under Sir William Pepperell. While on this expedition he died of fever on the 19th of January, 1746, leaving eleven children, four sons and seven daughters. His eighth child was named Nathan Gove Prescott, and was born March 13, 1735. He married, February 24, 1757, Patience Brown, of Kensington. Near the time of his marriage he moved to Epping and began work as a farmer and blacksmith. His brother Micah settled near him, on the opposite side of the road, and was engaged in the same occupation. They both signed the " Associ- ation Test," in 1776, with two hundred and seven others in the town.
Nathan Gove Prescott had five children, three sons and two daughters, born upon the farm where he settled. He died November 13, 1825, aged nearly ninety-one years. Nathan was his first child, and was born June 25, 1759. He became a carpenter and went to Monmouth in the province of Maine, but returned to New Hampshire and died at an advanced age. He married Anna Wells and had nine children, four sons and five daughters. His fourth son was Asa, who was born in Deerfield, May 2, 1787. He was a farmer and blacksmith. He married Polly Clark, of Greenland, and by this marriage had nine children, six sons and three daughters. He died in Epsom, March 27, 1867, aged nearly eighty years. His oldest son was named Nathan Gove Prescott, after his great-
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282
GOV. BENJAMIN F. PRESCOTT.
grandfather. He was born upon the homestead, November 1, 1807. He became a farmer and was successful in his work. He possessed excellent judgment on all matters relating to his occupation, and was considered by all who knew him as an excellent and thrifty farmer with the limited means at his command. He was honest, frugal, and upright. His word was never questioned, his judgment was relied upon, and his opinion respected and valued by his townsmen. On the 9th day of May, 1832, he married Betsey Hills Richards, daughter of Captain Ben- jamin and Mehitable (Hills) Richards, of Nottingham, who was born December 21, 1811. She is a lady of fine presence, vigorous constitution, and cultivated manners. She still resides in Epping with her son. Her husband, Nathan Gove Prescott, died July 7, 1866, aged nearly sixty years. They had only one child, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN PRESCOTT, who was born on the family homestead, February 26, 1833. Thus the line of ancestry has been traced from 1665.
The families on both sides can point to a fair and honorable record. The subject of this sketch inherited from his paternal and maternal line a strong con- stitution and great power of endurance, which have aided him much in his career. Like the rest of the boys in his neighborhood, he attended the district school a few months in the summer and winter, and worked upon the farm the remainder of the time. He made commendable progress in his studies, and as soon as his age would allow, his parents, feeling the want of a liberal education themselves, determined to give their son the advantages of the higher seminaries of learning. In the fall of 1847 he was sent to Blanchard Academy, in Pembroke, where he remained a portion of the time till 1850, when he entered Phillips Academy, in Exeter. He remained at this distinguished institution until the summer of 1853, when he entered the sophomore class in Dartmouth College, from which he grad- uated in 1856. While at Exeter he delivered an oration before the " Golden Branch," a literary society, at its annual anniversary, which at the time was well received. While in college, in the winter of 1855, he taught school in Chester. At his graduation he had an oration, and was for a time president of the United Fraternity, a public society in the college. After his graduation, in the fall and winter of 1856 he taught two district schools and one private school in Epping, and in February, 1857, he entered as a student in the law firm of Henry A. & Abel H. Bellows, in Concord, and after studying the requisite time was admitted to the bar, in August, 1859. He began the practice of his profession in Concord, and remained in it until May, 1861, when he became associate editor of the Independent Democrat, during the absence of Hon. George G. Fogg, United States minister to Switzerland, until the summer of 1866.
Mr. Prescott was, from his youth, strongly opposed to the institution of slavery, and on reaching his majority allied himself with the Republican party, and cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont. His father was also a Whig and then Republican. About 1858 or 1859 he was elected secretary of the Republican state committee, succeeding the Hon. William E. Chandler, and filled that position for fifteen years, during which time many of the important' and successful political campaigns were conducted.
While connected with the Independent Democrat, he was appointed a special agent of the United States Treasury Department for New England, his duty being, unless otherwise directed, to examine and report upon the custom-houses and their business, light-houses, revenue-cutters, sub-treasury and marine hospi -. tals. He held this position less than three years, and was removed early in the administration of Andrew Johnson because he openly denounced the policy and course of the President. He served as secretary of the colleges of electors for New Hampshire in 1860, 1864, 1868, 1872, 1876 and 1880 ; he was elected secretary of state in June, 1872, 1873, 1875, and 1876. On the 10th of Jan-
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GOV. BENJAMIN F. PRESCOTT.
uary, 1877, Mr. Prescott received the nomination as the Republican candidate for governor, and on the second Tuesday of March following was elected, by a majority of thirty-six hundred and thirty-two over his competitor, Hon. Daniel Marcy, of Portsmouth. On the 9th day of January, 1878, he was unanimously renominated at the state convention in Concord, and on the second Tuesday of March following was re-elected by a majority of nine hundred and fifty-six over his regular competitor, Hon. Frank A. Mckean, of Nashua, and a plurality of fifteen hundred and twelve. On June 16, 1862, he was elected a resident mem- ber of the New Hampshire Historical Society, and was for several years vice- president of the same. In 1876 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of Great Britain, also president of the Bennington ( Vt.) Battle Monu- ment Association, also president of the Provident Mutual Relief Association. On May 6, 1880, he was elected a delegate-at-large to the Republican conven- tion in Chicago, and while there was chosen chairman of the New Hampshire delegation. On the 8th of December, 1881, he was elected an honorary member of the Marshfield Club in Boston. In 1874 he was appointed a trustee of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, and in 1878 he was elected a trustee of Dartmouth College, both of which positions he holds at the present time.
While governor, he was frequently called upon to address public and private gatherings, and when it did not interfere with his official duties he seldom failed to respond. His first address was at Epping, on the occasion of a public recep- tion given him by the citizens of the town, without distinction of party, on the day after his inauguration. The occasion was brilliant and highly complimentary. He also was present at the inauguration of Rev. Samuel C. Bartlett, D. D., LL.D., as president of Dartmouth College, and gave an address of welcome to this emi- nent scholar. The governor visited, with a large detachment of the state militia and distinguished citizens of the state, the centennial celebration of the battle of Bennington, Vt., and spoke there for the state at the banquet on that memorable occasion. He was also at state and town fairs, and meetings of various kinds held within the limits, and without the state, on all of which occasions he acquit- ted himself creditably, both in matter and manner, his style of speech being graceful and forcible.
Gov. Prescott was married, June 10, 1869, to Mary Little Noyes, daughter of Jefferson and Nancy (Peart) Noyes, of Concord. Mrs. Prescott was born in Atkinson, May 6, 1839. She is a lady of refined manners and a favorite in society. They have had only one child, who takes his father's name. He was born June 16, 1879, upon the family homestead. Gov. Prescott is an excellent and successful farmer, and has a large farm under a high state of cultivation. In 1876 he erected a spacious dwelling-house and other buildings. He has a large and well selected library.
Under Gov. Prescott's administration the laws of the state were revised, the new prison constructed, the militia re-organized, and judicial appointments made. The prison was built within the appropriation. In all his official acts Gov. Pres- cott was animated by a purpose single to the welfare of the state, and upon his retirement to private life, at the end of his term, he took with him the respect of its people, irrespective of party or sect. Pre-eminently a man of the people, with- out ostentation or pride of place beyond that which is befitting one who has filled the office of chief magistrate, he has always been as approachable to the humblest citizen as to the most exalted personage.
From the beginning of his public life, Gov. Prescott has taken a deep inter- est in all that appertains to the welfare of his native state. For its institutions of learning he has shown a high regard. His alma mater, Dartmouth College,
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GOV. BENJAMIN F. PRESCOTT.
is an object of solicitude, and no other son has done more for her in proportion to his means and influence. Many of the portraits of eminent graduates, presi- dents, and benefactors that now adorn the walls of the college, were procured through his thoughtful and persistent efforts. The portraits and marble busts that grace the hall in Phillips Academy, in Exeter, with one or two exceptions, were secured to it through his indefatigable zeal and wise action. This declara- tion will apply with equal truth to the collection of portraits by eminent artists in the state-house, and also the Historical Society at Concord. His interest in the history of the state is very keen, and few of New Hampshire's sons have done more to vindicate the fame of her Revolutionary heroes, and secure for them and their state the credit withheld by partial or poorly informed historians.
Gov. Prescott has a fine presence. Erect of body, with broad massive shoul- ders indicative of great physical strength; features regular, strongly marked and of kindly expression; agreeable manners, genial and open-hearted; out-spoken at all times, but never censorious; hospitable, and considerate ; a strict partisan, but never intrusive or arrogant; impatient of shams, but a firm friend of all philanthropic undertakings, -he has filled with credit to himself and luster to his state and country every place of honor and trust to which the favor and good judgment of his fellow-citizens have called him.
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HON. HENRY WILLIAM BLAIR.
AMONG the many strong and self-reliant men and women who went out from the old Scotch-Irish colony of Londonderry to establish homes in other sections of the state were the Livermores, Shepherds, Coxes, and Blairs, who were the first settlers in the Pemigewasset valley, where they and their descendants have ever since exerted a controlling influence.
The Blairs located in Campton, where the father of New Hampshire's senator of that name was born and grew to manhood. He was an excellent scholar, a talented musician, an accomplished military officer, and a man of great bodily strength and agility who was a recognized leader in the town. His wife was Lois Baker, a descendant of the Bakers of Candia, a family noted in colonial and revolutionary times, and for many years one of the most respected and in- fluential in Campton. She was a very fine singer, and was gifted with remark- able mental endowments and rare sweetness of disposition. Both Mr. and Mrs. Blair were teachers in their youth, but after their marriage located themselves upon a farm in their native town, where they lived happily until he was fatally injured by falling timbers, while engaged upon the frame of a building. He died December 8, 1836, leaving three children : a daughter, Hannah Palmer Blair, aged six years ; a son, Moses Baker Blair, aged four years; and a son, HENRY WILLIAM BLAIR, aged two years. A fourth child, Lois Esther Blair, was born soon after his death. Of these, the oldest daughter died in 1843, and the oldest son, a young man of remarkable abilities, in 1857.
The death of Mr. Blair left his widow very poor, and finding it impossible to support the children in her old home she was obliged to separate them. The two eldest were "put out" to live in the families of neighboring farmers, while she kept with her the youngest son, Henry, and the infant daughter, until he was six years of age, when she arranged with Samuel Keniston, a leading citizen of Campton, to take him for one year, and, carrying the little girl with her, journeyed by stage to Lowell in quest of work in the factories there, by which she might obtain the means to support and educate her children. This venture was not a pecuniary success, as her small earnings were nearly all absorbed in necessary expenses ; and in the summer of 1842 she returned to Campton, and soon after removed with the two young children to Plymouth, where for the next year she supported them by sewing.
At this time the boy Henry W., who was born December 6, 1834, was seven years of age, bright, active, and able to make himself useful on a farm ; and he attracted the attention of Richard Bartlett, one of the prosperous farmers of Campton, who offered to take him and give him a home in his house, with what small educational advantages the district school afforded, in return for such ser- vices as a boy of his build and mettle could render. Thither he went in May, 1843, to begin to earn his own living, and for several years his home was with Mr. Bartlett, who treated him kindly and generously. In 1846 Mrs. Blair died, and from that time on the boy fought the battle of life aided only by such friends
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HON. HENRY WILLIAM BLAIR.
as he made for himself, and inspired by a purpose to show himself a worthy son of his noble parents, whose memory he has always reverently cherished. Writing of them many years after, when the people of New Hampshire had conferred upon him the highest honor in their gift, he said: "I owe very much to my parents, who, though poor, were among the best that a child ever had; and to them I have always applied Cowper's proud tribute to his own : -
' My boast is not that I deduce my birth From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth, But higher far my proud pretensions rise, The son of parents passed into the skies.'"
Until he was seventeen he worked hard upon a farm summers, and attended the district school winters, and in the autumns of 1851 and 1852 the Holmes Academy at Plymouth, of which Rev. James H. Shepard was principal. His earnings the following winter enabled him to still further gratify his longings for an education by going to the New Hampshire Conference Seminary for one term in the spring of 1853. As this exhausted his means, in the hope of obtaining more he worked for a mechanic one year, and was expecting soon to resume his studies, when his employer failed in business and he lost his wages. Before he could secure another situation he was prostrated by a severe illness, which left him broken in health, and compelled him, after a long struggle, to abandon his purpose of obtaining a collegiate training. The next three years he worked upon a farm, taught school in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, tramped through this state selling books, and did whatever honest work his health would permit, in the hope of gaining strength and money enough to complete his academical course, studying, in the meantime, two terms at Northfield and one at Plymouth, when it became evident that his strength was unequal to the task he had set himself, and he yielded to the advice of Samuel A. Burns, an eminent scholar and teacher, who took a warm interest in him, and May 1, 1856, entered the office of William Leverett, an able Plymouth lawyer, as a student. Three years afterwards he was admitted to the bar, and, associating himself with his instructor, began practice as the junior member of the firm of Leverett & Blair ; and, devoting himself to his profession with the same industry, perseverance, and ability which enabled him to enter it, he soon gained an enviable reputation as a lawyer. The next year he was appointed solicitor of Grafton county, which was his first public office.
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