USA > New Hampshire > Sketches of successful New Hampshire men > Part 6
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
In 1858 the farm in Epsom was sold, and, his father having removed to Concord, Mr. Carpenter, in April of that year, established his residence in the town of Pittsfield, having been tendered and accepted the cashiership of the Pittsfield bank. He discharged the duties of that position so satisfactorily that upon its conversion to a national bank, in 1864, he was continued as cashier and also made a member of the board of directors. He continued his residence in Pittsfield until the spring of 1877, remaining all the while in management of the bank's affairs, while at the same time engaging in various lines of busi- ness in his own behalf. Nor did he fail to devote attention to public affairs. Never a politician, but always a stanch Democrat, he took no little interest in the success of his party, as well as the welfare of the town and community. He was frequently intrusted with official responsibilities by his fellow-citizens of Pittsfield, and represented them in the legislature in 1862 and 1863.
In the fall of 1863, his health having become impaired from overwork, he went South to spend the winter, upon the advice of his physicians, going first to New Orleans, whence he made a trip up the river, where he had a fine oppor- tunity for viewing the operations of the army in that quarter, the time being soon after Gen. Butler's occupancy of the city. Later in the season he visited Cuba, where he remained some time, returning in the spring greatly invigorated, and with improved general health. He was elected treasurer of Merrimack county in 1872, and again the following year, receiving at each election a support considerably in excess of his party vote. Long prominent in the councils of his party in his section of the state, he has served also, at different times, as a member of the Democratic state committee.
In March, 1877, desiring a more extensive field of business operation, Mr. Carpenter resigned his position as cashier of the Pittsfield National Bank and removed to the city of Manchester, where, with characteristic vigor and enter- prise, he immediately set about the work of procuring a charter for and organiz- ing the Second National Bank of Manchester, of which institution he has been a director and cashier since its organization. The national bank being well established, he assisted in securing a charter for and organizing the Mechanics Savings Bank, of which he has been from the first a trustee and the treasurer. Both these institutions, under his skillful supervision, have attained a prosperous and flourishing condition. Aside from his general banking operations, he has in Manchester, as elsewhere, dealt extensively in notes, bonds, and real estate, and has been, for the past few years, quite largely engaged in building. In company with ex-Gov. Smyth, he is proprietor of Smyth and Carpenter's block, on Elm street, the northern half of which has recently been completed. This block is four stories high and basement; has a frontage, on Elm street, of two hundred feet, a depth of one hundred feet ; contains ten stores on the first floor, with offices and tenements above; and is, beyond question, the largest brick block in the state in the ownership of any single firm.
Mr. Carpenter has always manifested an interest in educational affairs, and has been specially interested in the establishment and prosperity of the Holder- ness School for Boys, located at Holderness in this state, under the auspices of
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JOSIAH CARPENTER, ESQ.
the Episcopalian denomination, with which he is associated. He has been one of the trustees of this school from the inception of the enterprise, and is also the treasurer. He devoted much time and personal care to the work of remodeling the buildings at the outset, and, since then, to their enlargement as the growth and success of the school has demanded.
September 1, 1858, Mr. Carpenter was united in marriage with Georgianna Butters Drake, born January 15, 1836, a lady of fine mental capacity and at- tainments, endowed with the graces and virtues essential to true womanhood, and at home alike in the social as well as the domestic circle. She was the only daughter and eldest child of the late Col. James Drake of Pittsfield, a promi- nent citizen of that town, well known in public life, who filled various respon- sible offices, including that of state senator, and who died April 7, 1870. He was a descendant of the celebrated Sir Francis Drake, the English explorer and naval commander who was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, and attained the rank of vice-admiral of the British navy. The family were among the earliest settlers of New England, and trace their ancestry more than six hun- dred years. The elder brother of Mrs. Carpenter-Frank J. Drake- is the partner of Mr. Carpenter's younger brother- Frank P .- in the firm of Drake & Carpenter, heretofore mentioned, while her younger brother-Nathaniel S .- is in business at Pittsfield.
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter, -a daughter, Georgia Ella, born October 13, 1859, an accomplished young lady who resides with her parents, and a son who died in infancy. Their residence is a fine brick mansion, among the most substantial in the city, on north Elm street, at the corner of Sagamore.
Mr. Carpenter is now in the prime of life, though his business career has already been more extended and successful than that of most men of similar voca- tion who have been engaged a life-time therein. Filling various positions of trust and responsibility, public and corporate, with the greatest acceptability ; of sound judgment, strong will, quick perception and a practical, well balanced mind, and unquestioned integrity of action ; enjoying the general confidence of the public, and in a special degree that of those persons obliged or accustomed to seek ad- vice or assistance from others, in matters of business, -his success may indeed be regarded as far greater than that of those ordinarily known as fortunate busi- ness men, while there yet remains, in the ordinary course of life, ample time for farther successes and greater achievements.
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HON. CHARLES WILLIAMS.
BY O. C. MOORE.
IT has long seemed to the writer that the successful organizer of modern industry deserved a high place in public estimation. The qualities usually found in such a person constitute as rare a combination as can be found in any depart- ment of human activity. Those qualities are industry, probity, intelligence, judgment, and executive ability. These virtues will always be found to lie at the foundation of a well ordered and prosperous state. When to these are added enterprise and energy, there is little wanting either to the successful individual or to the growing community. It is to this class of men that New England owes much of its pre-eminence to-day. What the pioneer settlers did to smooth the path for their successors; what the forefathers of the Revolution con- tributed to establish a new government and place it upon a self-supporting basis,-the men who established the industrial enterprises of New England have done for their posterity and the perpetuity of republican institutions. If New England should be stripped to-morrow of her mills, shops, and foundries, and the wealth and institutions that they in turn have created, New England would be but little more than an obscure and unenterprising hill country, with a dimin- ishing population and lessening influence. She would have a noble and inspiring history, but her glory would be departed.
HON. CHARLES WILLIAMS, the subject of this sketch, belongs to the untitled American nobility of organizers of industry. He comes of an old industrial stock, and can trace his lineage back, through six generations of workers, to a stalwart ancestor in old Wales. The Williamses formed a large part of the population of Wales, " somewhat like the O's of Ireland and the Mac's of Scotland." It is an interesting fact that the ancestor of Oliver Crom- well, in the fourth remove, was a Williams, known as Morgan ap Williams, of Glamorganshire, Wales, a gentleman of property, who married a sister of Lord Thomas Cromwell, afterwards Earl of Essex. Carlyle speaks of the Protector as " Cromwell alias Williams." The "Encyclopedia Americana" states positively that the genealogy of Cromwell is traced to Richard Williams, who assumed the name of Cromwell from his maternal uncle, Thomas Cromwell, secretary of state to Henry VIII.
However this may be, Richard Williams, the sixth remove in a direct line from the subject of this sketch, came to America from Glamorganshire, Wales, in 1632, and settled in Taunton, Mass. Among his descendants were Hon. John Mason Williams, a distinguished jurist of Massachusetts ; Gen. Seth Williams, of Augusta, Me., a graduate of West Point, and a distinguished officer in the Mexican war ; Hon. Ruel Williams, of Augusta, Me .; and Hon. Lemuel Will- iams, a member of congress from Massachusetts. It is a coincidence of note that the occupation of the subject of this sketch, as well as that of his lineal descendants, follows the distinctive characteristic of the Welch ancestry. Glam- organshire is famous for its iron and coal mines, and its iron-works are on the
48
HON. CHARLES WILLIAMS.
most extensive scale, it having sixty blast furnaces, some of which give employ- ment to six thousand men.
The direct descent from Richard Williams of Taunton is as follows : Ben- jamin Williams, settled in Easton, Mass .; Josiah Williams, settled at Bridgewater, Mass. Seth Williams, the great-grandfather of Mr. Williams, was born at Bridgewater, May 21, 1722. At the age of eighteen he went to Easton, Mass., and took up one thousand acres of government land. He married Susannah Forbes, of Bridgewater, and built the homestead now standing in Easton. Edward Williams, his son, married Sarah Lothrop, of Bridgewater, in 1772, still retaining the "homestead," where Lieut. Seth Williams, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born January 29, 1776. He was a tanner by trade, and took part in the war of 1812. He married Sarah Mitchael, daughter of Colonel Mitchael, of Bridgewater, Mass., an active man in the Revolutionary war, and for many years a member of the legislature from Easton. They were married in 1800, and lived near the "homestead." They had eight children, Charles, the present subject, being the third son, born at Easton, August 1, 1816.
The first seventeen years of his life were spent on the farm, receiving such rudimentary education as could be obtained at a district school. At the age of eighteen he apprenticed himself to Gen. Shepherd Leach, proprietor of the " Easton Iron-Works," for the term of four years, to learn the foundry business, with a compensation of twenty-five dollars for the first year, fifty dollars for the second, seventy-five dollars for the third, and one hundred and twenty-five dollars for the fourth. By the death of Gen. Leach the contract was surrendered; but young Williams still continued in the employ of his successor, Mr. Lincoln Drake, until the panic of 1837. In this stagnation of business at the East, he deter- mined to go West, and purchased several hundred acres of land near Springfield, Ill. The now flourishing capital of the state was then represented by a few dwelling-houses, one church, and a small hotel. This "New West " could then boast of no railroads, and the difficulty of getting produce to market, which was mainly by flat-boats down the Mississippi, offered but little attraction to farming, and he returned East. For two years he was employed in the foundry at North Chelmsford, Mass., and the subsequent three years in the Amoskeag foundry at Manchester, N. H.
Mr. Williams came to Nashua in 1845, at the age of twenty-nine, endowed with good health, correct habits, and an honorable ambition. In company with his elder brother, Seth, they established the foundry business, under the firm name of S. & C. Williams, erecting a building eighty by one hundred feet, and the business commenced. It was in the same year that two other important and still flourishing industries were begun in Nashua, -the manufacture of shuttles and bobbins by J. & E. Baldwin, and the manufacture of mortise-locks and door- knobs by L. W. Noyes and David Baldwin. This was the day of small begin- nings, and only twenty-five hands were employed in the foundry for several years. The business grew steadily, however, and everything seemed propitious. On the second of July, 1849, a fire broke out in the works, and, in spite of all exertions, › the entire property was consumed, including all the patterns. The total loss was estimated at forty thousand dollars. It was a staggering blow, as these young men had no insurance. Men of less courage and energy would have succumbed to such a misfortune; but on the very day of the fire the work of rebuilding was begun, and pushed with rapidity, a brick structure taking the place of the wood one destroyed. The partnership of S. & C. Williams was dissolved in 1859, and the business has since been continued by Charles. His brother Seth has been extensively employed in similar business. The business of the Williams foundry in Nashua has steadily increased, and was never more extensive than to-day. The pay-roll shows one hundred and twenty-five hands employed.
49
HON. CHARLES WILLIAMS.
Strict attention to business, unyielding integrity, and thorough mastery of his calling have been Mr. Williams's secret of success. He was one of five who organized the Second National Bank, and has since held the position of vice- president of the bank. Mr. Williams was elected a member of the common council soon after the organization of the city, in 1853, but from that time until 1876 he neither sought nor held any political office. In this centennial year, however, his party turned instinctively towards him as its most available candi- date for mayor, and at the nominating caucus he received an almost unanimous nomination. The nomination was ratified, and Mr. Williams became the centen- nial mayor of Nashua. His administration was characterized by the same prudence, fidelity, and success that have crowned his business career. He was nominated for re-election, and the nomination was ratified at the polls by an increased vote and a largely increased majority. One of the social events of Mr. Williams's term of service was the visit of President Hayes and his cabinet to the city, and at the mayor's residence, which was elaborately decorated for the occasion, Mrs. Hayes held a public reception, which was attended by a great throng of people from the city and the surrounding towns.
In his domestic relations Mr. Williams has been one of the most fortunate and happiest of men. In 1846 he married Eliza A. Weston, a cultivated chris- tian woman, and a devoted wife and mother, daughter of Capt. Sutheric Weston, of Antrim, N. H .; both are members of the First Congregational church, Nashua, Rev. Frederick Alvord, pastor. Three children have blessed the union. Seth Weston Williams, born April 15, 1849, a graduate of Yale College, class of 1873, and of Bellevue Medical College, New York. After travel and study in Europe he returned to his native land, and had just entered on the practice of his profes- sion, with the brightest prospects of usefulness and eminence, holding a respon- sible appointment in Bellevue Hospital, when, on a visit to Portland, he was attacked with congestion of the brain, which terminated his promising career at the age of thirty. The other children are Charles Alden. Williams, born August - 18, 1851, married October 26, 1881, Kate N. Piper ; he was graduated from the scientific department at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., under Dr. William Taylor, in 1870, and further pursued the same course of study at the school of Technology in Boston, Mass., and will succeed his father in business; and Mrs. Marian Williams-Viets, born March 4, 1854, married, November 8, 1878, Herbert Allen Viets, of Troy, New York.
Feeling in himself the want of an early education, Mr. Williams spared no pains in bestowing superior advantages upon his children, all of whom received a liberal education. In 1873 he planned a year's travel abroad with his family, but the critical condition of business in the country at that time prevented his leaving home. The plan was carried out, however, under the care of Dr. Seth Williams, the trip covering the tour of the Continent, and of the Orient as far east as Damascus.
HON. LEVI WINTER BARTON.
BY REV. J. W. ADAMS.
Ancestral excellence is an invaluable legacy. As a rule, "blood will tell," and the marked physical, mental, and moral traits of a prominent family are likely to re-appear in many successive generations. And, added to this hereditary wealth, comes the inspiration of a noble example, suggesting the possibility and the desirability of worthy, helpful living. The subject of this sketch was fortu- nate in this regard. In the garnered wealth of a vigorous, talented, and virtuous ancestry, he has " a goodly heritage."
From an abundance of reliable data, we extract only so much from the genealogical record as is necessary to the integrity of the direct lines from a very distant past to the present.
LEVI W. BARTON'S parents were Bezaleel Barton, 2d, and Hannah (Powers) Barton. Let us glance at the maternal ancestry.
The family of Power (or Le Poer, as formerly written) was of Norman ex- traction, and settled in England at the conquest of that kingdom by the Normans, under William, duke of Normandy, in the person of Power, or Le Poer, who is recorded in " Battle Abbey " as one of the commanders at the battle of Hastings, in 1066. Soon after, Sir John Le Poer resided in Poershayse, Devonshire, England.
In 1172, one of his descendants, Sir Roger Le Poer, went with Earl Stougbon in his invasion and partial conquest of Ireland, where he greatly distinguished himself, and received large grants of land. He was the ancestor of a succession of distinguished men, among whom were Sir Nicholas Le Poer, who had a sum- mons to parliament, in 1375, as Baron Le Poer, and Sir Richard, Sir Peter, Sir Eustace, and Sir Arnold Le Poer. The barony, descending by writ to heirs, female as well as male, is now held by the Marquis of Waterford. The Earl of Lynn, for a term of one hundred years, and the Marquis of Waterford, were of that descent, through Lady Catharine Poer. The family was also a distinguished one in England, from the Norman conquest down. In 1187, Richard Poer of this line, high sheriff of Gloucestershire, Eng., was killed defending the " Lord's Day ;" and Sir Henry Le Poer distinguished himself greatly as a commander under the Duke of Wellington. This remarkable family has outlived the dynas- ties of the Conqueror, the Plantaganets, the Tudors, and the Stuarts, and flourishes yet. Since the time of Queen Elizabeth, they have returned to their early orthography of Power; and finally, in America, have added the " s," making it Powers.
Walter Powers, the ancestor of all the Powers families of Croydon, N. H., was born in 1639. He came to Salem, Mass., in 1654. He married, January 11, 1660, Trial, daughter of Deacon Ralph Shepherd. They moved to Nashoba, and he died there in 1708. The town, in 1715, was incorporated by the name of Littleton (Mass.).
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HON. LEVI WINTER BARTON.
Of the nine children of Walter and Trial Powers, the eldest, William, was born in 1661, and married, 1688, Mary Bank.
Of the nine children of William and Mary (Bank) Powers, William, 2d, was b. 1691, in Nashoba, and m., 1713, Lydia Perham.
Of the four children of William, 2d, and Lydia (Perham) Powers, Lemuel was b. in 1714, and m. Thankful Leland, of Grafton, Mass., daughter of Capt. James Leland. All except the eldest of their children settled in Croydon, N. H .; and two of his sons served Croydon as soldiers in the Revolution. Although not an " original grantee of Croydon," he owned " proprietors' rights " at an early day, and often attended " proprietors' " meetings at the inn of his brother-in-law, Lieut. Phinehas Leland, as moderator. He died in Northbridge, Mass., 1792.
Of the ten children of Lieut. Lemuel and Thankful (Leland) Powers, Eze- kiel was b. in Grafton, Mass., March 16, 1745, and m., Jan. 28, 1767, Hannah Hall of Uxbridge, Mass., who was daughter of Lieut. Edward and Lydia (Brown) Hall. Levi W. Barton was her great-grandson. They came to Croydon in 1767. He was a prominent citizen, and held here many offices of trust. He was a man of industry and indomitable energy. He d. in Croydon, Nov. 11, 1808. His widow d. Oct. 21, 1835.
Of the seven children of Ezekiel and Hannah (Hall) Powers, Ezekiel, 2d (the first male child born in Croydon), was b. May 2, 1771. He m. Susannah Rice, Jan. 18, 1790.
Of the six children of Ezekiel, 2d, and Susannah (Rice) Powers, Hannah (mother of Levi W.) was b. Feb. 20, 1795, and m. Bezaleel Barton.
Edward Hall (the earliest ancestor of Lieut. Edward Hall, who settled in Croydon about 1774) was at Duxbury, Mass., in 1637, and d. at Rehoboth, Nov. 27, 1671. The direct line by generations is : 1st, Edward ; 2d, Benjamin ; 3d, Edward ; 4th, Lieut. Edward, b. in Wrentham, Mass., July 18, 1727; went with his father in 1740 to Uxbridge, where he held commissions under the king of Great Britain. He m., Aug. 17, 1747, Lydia Brown. About 1774 they came to Croydon, N. H., where he was moderator, March, 1775, tax-collector and constable, 1778, and selectman, 1784, 1785, and 1786. He d. in Croydon, Dec. 28, 1807. His widow d. Aug. 10, 1819. 5th, Hannah, b. Oct. 1, 1749, who m. Ezekiel Powers and settled in Croydon. At this point the Hall unites with the Powers genealogy, and the last-named persons were great-grandparents of Levi W. Barton.
The Bartons are of English descent. Without undertaking to be precise as to the details of kinship, we are able to identify the following as among their earliest ancestry in New England. Marmaduke Barton was in Salem, Mass., as early as 1638. Edward was in Salem in 1640. Rufus fled from the persecu- tion of the Dutch at Manhattan, N. Y., and settled in Portsmouth, R. I., in 1640, and died 1648.
Mrs. Eliza Barton testified in an important case at Piscataqua, N. H., in 1656. Edward, undoubtedly the one living in Salem in 1640, and husband of Eliza Barton, came to Exeter, N. H., in 1657, and died at Cape Porpoise, Jan., 1671. Benjamin Barton of Warwick, son of Rufus Barton, m., June 9, 1669, Susan- nah Everton. Edward Barton, son of Edward of Exeter, took the freeman's oath in 1674. Doctor John Barton (probably son of Doctor James Barton) m., April 20, 1676, Lydia Roberts of Salem, Mass.
James Barton, b. in 1643, came to Boston, Mass., before 1670. He d. in Weston, Mass., in 1729. Samuel Barton (probably son of Doctor James Barton) was b. in 1666. He testified in a witch case (in favor of the witch, be it said to his credit) in Salem, Mass., in 1691. Stephen Barton was at Bristol (then in Mass.) in 1690. Col. William Barton, b. in Providence, in 1747, - who with a
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HON. LEVI WINTER BARTON.
small body of men crossed Narragansett bay on the night of July 20, 1777, passed, unnoticed, three British vessels, landed, reached the quarters of the English general, Prescott, and captured him, and for which, history informs us, he received from congress the gift of a sword, a commission as colonel, and a tract of land in Vermont, -was a descendant of Samuel Barton and Hannah his wife, ancestors of the Bartons of Croydon. They were living in Framingham, Mass., as early as 1690, and moved to Oxford, Mass., in 1716, where his will was proved Sept. 23, 1738. Of their eight children, Samuel was b. in Framingham, Oct. 8, 1691; and m., May 23, 1715, Elizabeth Bellows.
Of the children of Samuel and Elizabeth (Bellows) Barton, Bezaleel was b. July 26, 1722, and m., April 30, 1747, Phebe Carlton, a lady noted for her beauty.
Of the children of Bezaleel and Phebe (Carlton) Barton, were Phebe (one of whose granddaughters was the wife of Dr. Judson), Bezaleel, Benjamin, and Peter who was b. at Sutton, Mass., Sept. 3, 1763, and went with his parents to Royalston, Mass., in 1764, where he m. Hepsibeth Baker, Nov. 12, 1789. Bezaleel Barton and his sons, Bezaleel, Benjamin, and Peter, served Royalston as soldiers in the Revolution. Bezaleel, senior, was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill.
Peter and Hepsibeth (Baker) Barton came to Croydon, N. H., in 1793, where he resided until 1824, when he removed to Sunapee, where he d. Sept. 24, 1825. He was chosen selectman of Croydon from 1801 to 1805, inclusive. He shared largely the confidence of the public, and was noted for his strict integrity. Of his thirteen children born in Croydon, Bezaleel, 2d, was b. July, 1794, and m. Hannah Powers, daughter of Ezekiel Powers, at which point the Barton and Powers genealogies unite.
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