USA > New Hampshire > State builders; an illustrated historical and biographical record of the state of New Hampshire at the beginning of the twentieth century > Part 21
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Eliza B. Adams, born in New Portland, Maine, was one of twelve children, of whom five died before reach- ing the age of ten years. The others were born as fol- lows: William, September 3, 1803; Sophronia, January I, 1807; Emeline, January 23, 1810; Ann, October 9, 1812; Albina, February 15, 1815; Viola F., April 5, 1818; and Eliza B., January 29, 1824.
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Mrs. Adams died at North New Portland, Me., of pneumonia, April 20, 1893, after a short illness of three days. She was a Universalist in religious belief.
Lemuel Williams, the grandfather of Mrs. Adams, was a native of Woolwich, Mass., now in Maine. Hav- ing enlisted in Colonel Nixon's regiment, he served during a part of the Revolutionary War. The children of Benjamin Adams were Sarah Frances, Ellen Maria, and Chancey. Sarah Frances, who married John P. Clark, a lumberman of Skowhegan, Me., has had six chil- dren, of whom five are living. Ellen Maria died at the age of two and one-half years.
Chancey Adams was educated in the district schools of North Anson, Me., and at Anson Academy, graduat- ing from the latter institution in the class of 1880. For six months after his graduation he was employed in the drug store at North Anson. Then, feeling the need of additional education, he entered Waterville Classical In- stitute (now Coburn Classical Institute, Waterville, Me.), and graduated from the same in 1881. In the autumn he became a student of Colby University (now Colby College) in Waterville, and, after completing the course, graduated in 1885. After this he taught for several terms in the district schools of Waldoboro and Embden and in the Phillips High School. Having de- cided to enter the medical profession, he attended the Portland Medical School and the Maine Medical School in Brunswick during the years 1888, 1890, and 1891, graduating (from the latter institution) in June of the last named year. From 1886 to 1891 he employed all his spare time in a drug store in the interests of his in- tended profession. After graduating from the Maine Medical School, he entered the United States Marine Hospital at Staten Island. Thence he went to Taunton, Mass., as assistant physician in the insane asylum of that city, where he remained until January 1, 1893. Desiring
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to qualify himself still further for the medical profession, he then went to New York City, and took a three months' course in the Post-Graduate Medical School and Hospital. After this, on September 26, 1893, he opened an office in Concord, where he has since been in active practice. Dr. Adams already occupies a front place in his chosen calling, and his ability and skill are acknowl- edged by his medical associates. He has been elected a member of the North Bristol (Mass. ) Medical Society, which made him a member of the Massachusetts State Medical Society. He also belongs to the Centre District Medical Society of New Hampshire and the New Hamp- shire State Medical Society. On January 25, 1897, he was elected City Physician of Concord for two years. On March 9, 1903, he was elected to the Board of Health of Concord for three years.
On January 9, 1893, Dr. Adams married Laurinda Clara Coombs of Gloucester, Mass. They have had three children; Benjamin W., who died in infancy; Ed- mund Chancey and Elizabeth Beimer. In politics the Doctor is a Democrat, and he cast his first Presidential vote for Grover Cleveland in 1884. In 1887 he was made a Mason in Northern Star Lodge, No. 28, A. F. & A. M., North Anson, Me., but is now a member of Blaz- ing 'Star Lodge, No. II, A. F. & A. M. of Concord; and of Concord Lodge, No. 8, K. of P., of Concord. Amply qualified by the services rendered to their country by his ancestry on both sides, Dr. Adams is also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution of Concord.
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CHARLES H. SAWYER.
Charles Henry Sawyer, governor of New Hampshire from 1887 to 1889, was born at Watertown, New York, March 30, 1840, the eldest son of Jonathan and Martha (Perkins) Sawyer. When he was ten years of age, his father removed to Dover, New Hampshire, where the son after spending six years in the public schools of that city, was entered as an apprentice in the Sawyer mills, established by his father, where he thoroughly acquainted himself by actual labor with every branch of the business, and at the age of twenty-six was made superintendent of the plant. In 1873, the company being incorporated, he became one of the owners and advanced successively to the posts of general director and president. During his administration of this industry it rose to a prominent position among the largest and strongest woollen manu- facturing corporations in the country, a result due in no small measure to the capacity and ability of the president of the company.
His marked adaptability to posts of executive manage- ment centred upon him the attention of his fellow-citizens, and while still a young man he served in both branches of the city government of Dover and for four terms was sent to represent that community in the state legislature, serving during the sessions of 1869 and 1870, 1876, and 1877, and filling important positions upon the largest committees of the house. In 1881, he was appointed aide- de-camp upon the staff of Gov. Charles H. Bell with the
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CHARLES H. SAWYER, Governor of New Hampshire, 1887-1888
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rank of colonel. In 1884, he was one of New Hamp- shire's delegates-at-large to the Republican national con- vention in Chicago, and in 1886, he was elected governor of the state. His term as chief magistrate covered a period of great activity in legislative lines, and Governor Sawyer's conduct of his great office was marked by con- spicuous adherence to his conscientious scruples and with high regard for the best interests of the commonwealth whose destinies so largely rested in his hands. He filled the office so as to win a noble reputation for diligence, honor and prudence.
In addition to the extensive interests represented in his private business, Governor Sawyer devoted himself actively to many other industrial and fiduciary interests in the city of Dover, and has served as a director in the Strafford National bank, a trustee of the Strafford Sav- ings bank, a director in the Somersworth Machine com- pany and the Dover Gaslight company, as president of the Eliot Bridge company, and as a director in the Ports- mouth & Dover railroad. ,
Governor Sawyer, now retired from active business life, still maintains his residence in Dover, and though rarely taking public part in matters which engross general attention, he still retains a deep interest in all that per- tains to New Hampshire's welfare and keeps in close touch with the movements of public thought in commer- cial and legislative circles. Surrounded by the evidences of his active career he leads a life of dignified leisure, sweetened by the respect and affection of that large body of his fellow-citizens, among whom he has spent so many years of beneficent activity.
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JANE ELIZABETH HOYT, M. D.
The daughter of Sewel Hoyt, native of Concord (Sugar Hill, near Hopkinton), and Hannah Elizabeth Nichols, of Boston, Mass.
Dr. Hoyt was born in Concord, Sept. 23rd, 1860. Educated in the public schools of the city from 1866 to 1878. At Wellesley College from 1879-1883. Began her medical course in the Autumn of 1886, at "The Woman's medical college of the New York Infirmary" (the Black- well college) in New York city. She was graduated after a four years course at the same institution, May 28th, 1890. She held the position as second assistant in the New York infant asylum, 61st Street and 10th Avenue, New York city, during her senior year in college, from May 1889-May 1890. This position was obtained through test examinations made under Profs. Garrigues, Chapin and Wendt, of New York City. (The position has only twice been given to an under graduate. )
After passing the summer of 1890 in England and Scotland she returned to America that autumn to serve as "resident physician" at Lasell seminary, Auburndale, Mass., while awaiting an appointment for service in the New England hospital. While at Lasell seminary, Sept. 1890-June 1891, nine months of daily morning service was given in the surgical room at "The Boston dispen- sary," Bennet street, under Harvard clinicians, Drs. E. O. Otis, J. Foster Bush and Briggs of Boston. Served as intern in the New England hospital, Boston, Mass. from June 1891-June 1892.
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JANE ELIZABETH HOYT, M.D.
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June, 1892 she sailed again for Europe to do special work at Vienna, Austria, and to visit the hospitals of Europe. The summer months were spent at Heidelberg in the study of the German language. She began work in the autumn at the university in Vienna under Pro- fessors Schauter, Herzfeld, Kaposy and Lukasieweiz and thus continued until January, 1893. Six months of gen- eral visiting of hospitals was given to the different cities of Germany and Italy, and to the cities of Zurich, Paris, London and Glasgow.
Returning to America. Dr. Hoyt began the practice of medicine in Concord, N. H., June 1893. She continued here in practice until after the death of her mother, when it seemed best to go abroad for the third time. Leaving Concord January 1899, she remained in foreign countries nearly three years. One and a half years were given to lectures in the Leipzig university, Germany, under Pro- fessors Chun (zoology), Wundt (psychology and history of philosophy), Schmarsow (history of art).
Sept. 23rd, 1900 (her 40th birthday) was spent seeing the Oberammergau passion play. Nine months werespent in Italy as a pastime in the study of the old masters in art. Three months were given to travel in North Africa, visit- ing Tunis, Algiers, the desert of Sahara, together with the intervening countries, which proved most instructive and broadening in its influence. Dr. Hoyt is now engaged, as occasion permits, in preparing for publication a volume containing the story of these travels, and also a series of articles upon the same topics. Those who have had the pleasure of reading the published letters written by Dr. Hoyt during her earlier foreign tours, will appreciate how much of pleasure this announcement contains for those who admire a free and graphic narrative style, coupled with habits of close observation.
In January, 1902, Dr. Hoyt again began the practice of her profession in Concord and in connection with office
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work has established a clinic at the north end of the city for the benefit of those who need medical assistance and are too poor to go to a physician's office.
Dr. Hoyt's father, born in 1807, was one of Concord's earliest architects and builders. Several of the houses planned and builded by him are standing in the city to- day. The old homestead, the present home and office of Dr. Hoyt, at No. 85 North State street, is one of them, and it is her purpose to leave this building to the city of Concord as a memorial to her father's name and work- manship, and as a home for working girls, to be known as "The Sewel Hoyt Memorial Home for Young Women."
Dr. Hoyt's father and mother were both descendants of fighters in the war of the American Revolution.
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CHARLES T. MEANS
CHARLES T. MEANS.
Charles Tracy Means was born in Manchester Jan. 20, 1855, the son of William Gordon Means and Martha Allen, and died January 25, 1902.
He was educated in the common schools at Andover, Mass., where he had resided as a youth, and at the Worcester Military Academy. He began his active career as a business man in Manchester with the Man- chester Locomotive Works, in which his father was pos- sessed of a large interest and in which the younger man mastered every detail of the business, finally rising to the management of the entire concern during the period of its greatest prosperity.
Mr. Means was naturally born into public life, and in 1883, was elected to represent his ward in the state legis- lature. Six years later he was chosen a member of the . state senate, and his services in both branches of the Gen- eral Court were marked by intelligent appreciation of the public needs and by a conscientious endeavor to discharge his duties to his constituents.
In 1892, Mr. Means was selected as a delegate-at-large to the national Republican convention at Minneapolis, and four years later he received the almost unprecedented honor of being again chosen to head the delegation-at- large to the national convention at St. Louis. In both of these bodies Mr. Means voted for Thomas B. Reed for the presidency, his relations with the Maine states- man having been close and intimate for many years.
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In 1900, at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Mr. Means was elected to represent New Hampshire upon the Republican National Committee, a position which his broad views of public questions, his wide relations with men of affairs and substance, his ardent political temperament, fitted him especially to adorn.
His death at the untimely age of forty-seven years re- moved one of New Hampshire's best-loved sons. Mr. Means was a man who attracted wide friendships, bind- ing his associates to him with the enduring bonds of firm affection. His domestic life was especially happy and beautiful. Marrying Oct. 18, 1883, Miss Elizabeth A. French, of Manchester, his home environment was both winning and affectionate. His natural thoughtfulness, courtesy and devotion to the interests of others found full fruition at home where in addition to those amenities of daily life in the bosom of his family he entertained with charming and liberal hospitality. These same character- istics, though naturally less fully expressed, marked Mr. Means's intercourse with all the world. Rising by his own efforts to eminence of position and fortune, he ever held in mind the humblest of his employees, and few men have ever conducted business on so large a scale as he and so endeared themselves to their subordinates. His death deprived the city of Manchester of a devoted son and a patriotic citizen, his party of a generous and enthusiastic supporter, and his own family of a large-hearted, tender and loving husband and father.
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HARRY GENE SARGENT
HARRY GENE SARGENT.
Harry Gene Sargent was born in Pittsfield Sept. 30, 1859, but when a boy moved with his parents to Hook- sett and a little later to Concord, where he received his public school education, graduating from the Concord High school in 1878. He registered as a student of law in the office of W. T. and H. F. Norris, and later attended the sessions of the Boston University law school. He completed his legal education under the direction of the late Hon. John Y. Mugridge, and was admitted to the bar in Aug. 1881, at once entering upon the practice of his profession in Concord, where he has since been actively and successfully engaged. For twelve years he practised alone and laid the foundation for those professional suc- cesses which have since attended him and the firms with which he has been identified. In 1893, he formed a part- nership with Henry F. Hollis, and three years later Ed- ward C. Niles became a member of the firm. In 1898, Mr. Hollis withdrew, and in 1900, Arthur P. Morrill, Esq., was admitted, and the firm name now stands Sar- gent, Niles & Morrill, the firm enjoying one of the largest and most varied practices in New Hampshire.
Mr. Sargent's professional career has been marked by steady advance and by no little brilliancy as an advocate, while as a counsellor he is most reliable. From 1885 to 1887, he was solicitor of Merrimack county, and from 1887 to 1901, was solicitor for the city of Concord, in each of these positions discharging his duties to the en-
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tire satisfaction of his constituents and winning for him- self a fine reputation for professional ability and skill. His practice is by no means confined to the courts of the state, where he ranks among the ablest attorneys, but extends to the courts of other states and the Federal courts of all classes of jurisdiction and to practice before legislative committees and other tribunals. In 1891, he was asso- ciated with Wayne McVeigh, late attorney-general of the United States, as counsel for Austin Corbin in an im- portant railroad controversy before the legislature of New Hampshire, and his arguments both before committees of the legislature and later before the full bench of the supreme court, to whom the legislature had referred the matter, were powerful. Mr. Sargent was also counsel for Coe and Pingree in the important litigation involving the title to the summit of Mount Washington, appearing both before the legislature and before the state and United States courts in this matter, and winning a most remark- able success.
In the fall of 1900, Mr. Sargent much against his de- sire, accepted his party's nomination for mayor of Con- cord. The city then being in the hands of his political opponents the campaign was an arduous and spirited one and the odds against him were tremendous, but at the head of a successful poll Mr. Sargent emerged triumphant from the contest and assumed the duties of his office in January, 1901. As chief magistrate of his city he has been exceptionally powerful and progressive. Under his vigorous guidance the city has undertaken its greatest public work since the date of the municipal water-works, in the erection of a new city hall. This enterprise al- though meeting a want long felt and widely recognized, was vigorously opposed by many of the most substantial and influential men of the city, and had a weaker hand than Mr. Sargent's been guiding the project it probably would have failed. But with quiet persistence he met the
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arguments of the opponents of the improvement, both before the city government and before the courts where the question was carried upon legal grounds, and won substantial recognition of the justice and legality of his position.
Outside his profession and his official circles, Mr. Sar- gent has been an active, energetic, public-spirited citizen. He is a trustee of the Margaret Pillsbury general hospi- tal, formerly president of the Snowshoe club, president of the Wonolancet club, a trustee of the Protestant Epis- copal church of New Hampshire, and a member of the leading social organizations of the city.
In 1901, upon the occasion of the Webster Centennial, Dartmouth college properly recognized Mr. Sargent's worth and ability by conferring upon him the degree of Master of Arts.
In January, 1903, Mr. Sargent was appointed by the Governor to the position of judge-advocate-general upon his staff, with the rank of brigadier-general.
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EUGENE F. McQUESTEN, M. D.
Eugene F. McQuesten, M. D. of Nashua, is a native of Litchfield, where he was born Oct. IIth, 1843, a de- scendant of a sturdy pioneer who emigrated from the north of Ireland, and settled in that town in 1775. Dr. McQuesten attended school in Litchfield and in the city of Nashua, and for three years was a student in the Academy at Pembroke. In 1863 he entered the sopho- more class at Dartmouth College, but did not graduate there, for in the following year he began thestudy of medi- cine at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, where in two years he accomplished the course prescribed for three years of study, and received his degree in 1866. For one year he practised in Lynn, Mass. and then came to Nashua where he became associated with Dr. Josiah G. Graves. In 1869 he entered into practice for himself and has drawn around him an increasingly numerous cir- cle of patients. Always alert to the latest developments of his profession Dr. McQuesten has taken several post graduate courses of study and is recognized as a special- ist in surgical practice. He is an active member of the New Hampshire Medical society and has been its presi- dent; is a member of the American Association of rail- way surgeons, and of the Nashua Medical society. Of this last named organization he was president for two years. He was one of the founders of the emergency hospital in Nashua, and to his lively interest in the insti- tution no little of its success is due. Dr. McQuesten is
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EUGENE F. McQUESTEN, M.D.
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also widely interested in the business interests of his home city, and is a director in the Indian Head National bank, and in the Nashua Trust Co. He is a member of the Unitarian church, a Mason and Knights Templar. Dr. McQuesten enjoys the confidence of the public to a most remarkable degree, having fairly won it by con- stant, faithful attention to his professional labors, and he is recognized by his brethren in medicine as a physi- cian and surgeon of no mean skill and learning. Though not a politician he has been a candidate for his party for mayor, and as a citizen of Nashua he has always lent his influence to the advancement of the interests and pros- perity of the community.
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JAMES E. KLOCK.
Principal James E. Klock of the New Hampshire State Normal school at Plymouth was born in Java, N. Y., March 27, 1855. He graduated at the State Normal School of Kansas with the class of 1875 and taught for four years in Lyon county, that state. In 1880 he was elected principal of the High school at Emporia and two years later was made superintendent of public instruction for Lyon county. In 1884, at the earnest request of the board of education, he returned to Emporia as superin- tendent of schools, a position which he held for six years. For a similar length of time he was at the head of the schools of Leavenworth, Kansas, resigning this superin- tendency for one at Helena, Montana. From Helena he came in 1900 to New Hampshire where he is doing a grand work and one fully equal to the high expectations raised by the reports of his success in the West.
Writing at the time of Mr. Klock's election, A. E. Winship, Ph. D., editor of the Journal of Education, Boston, said: "The New Hampshire Nor- mal school trustees have made a remarkably wise choice of principal. J. E. Klock of Helena is admirably qualified for the place; indeed, it would not be easy to find any one better qualified. I prophesy that he will make the Ply- mouth school as strong scholastically and professionally as any normal school in America; that New Hampshire will rally around him with enthusiasm; and that his grad- uates will be in demand far and near. Mr. Klock made
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JAMES E. KLOCK, PH.D.
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the schools of Emporia and Leavenworth, Kansas, equal to any in the country, and he has done the same for those of Helena. If he accomplishes as much for New Hamp- shire, and he should do more, he will take front rank among New England educational leaders."
As bearing upon the fulfilment of this prophecy the report of the trustees of the Normal School for 1902 may be quoted. They say: "It is a matter of sincere congrat- ulation that New Hampshire's one Normal school is led by a man of rare excellence as an instructor, administrator and organizer. Mr. Klock's native gifts, a kindliness of heart, a graciousness of speech and manner, an ability to read human nature and to rightly interpret human mo- tives, combined with the power of a cultured mind and long experience as an instructor and superintendent, make him a strong man in his profession and a very serviceable man for the state.
"During the two years that Mr. Klock has been at the head of our school his administration has been a most pronounced success, and it is conceded by all who have taken the pains to inform themselves, that the school is on a better footing, and promises better for the future, than at any time since its organization."
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ORLANDO BENAJAH DOUGLAS, M. D.
A newcomer in New Hampshire, but one who by his public spirit and eagerness to enter into all that contributes to the good of the community is fairly entitled to 'a place in any compilation of its best-known men, is Orlando Benajah Douglas, M. D., who was born in Cornwall, Vt., Sept. 12, 1836, of good Scotch stock, and the eighth generation born in New England. A country boy, he received the sturdy training given to farmers' sons, his early educational advantages being confined to those offered by the district school and by the seminary at Brandon, Vt. Upon these founda- tions, by diligent study and constant reading, he has built the superstructure of a fine mental training. At the age of 18, he began to teach school, but at his mother's desire, and in pursuance of his own ambition, at the age of 22, he took up the study of medicine, going to Brunswick, Mo., where he studied for two years and worked in an uncle's drug store. Soon the Civil War came on, and Dr. Douglas at great personal sacrifice, and living as he did in the midst of a community of strong Confederate sympathies, went to the nearest Union rendezvous with a half a dozen others of similar patriotic tendencies and enlisted in the 18th Missouri Volunteers which was organized by the order of Gen. Fremont. He served in that state for six months, and was later sent South to join the army of the Tennessee, participating in the great campaigns of that army and marching with Sherman to the sea.
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