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 32
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Mr. Donahue is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, Patrons of Husbandry and the Foresters of America, in which for four years he served as Grand
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Secretary for New Hampshire and later as Grand Trus- tee. Among the social organizations of which Mr. Dona- hue is a member are the White Mountain Commercial Travelers, Amoskeag Veterans and the Monadnock Cycle Club of Keene, a business men's club of that city of which he is an ex-president and honorary member. He is one of the incorporators of the Elliot City Hos- pital of Keene and of the Cheshire County Savings Bank.
Mr. Donahue has been active in politics also, having taken part in every campaign since attaining his majority. He is recognized as a brilliant public speaker and has addressed audiences in many of the cities and towns of the state. He has the distinction of having delivered the address at the first Peace Jubilee held in New Hampshire on the return of the soldiers from the Spanish War. In the New Hampshire Legislature of 1903 Mr. Donahue represented ward two of Manchester and was chairman of the important committee on insurance, which was one of the busiest committees of the session. Both in the committee room and on the floor of the House, Mr. Donahue earned the reputation of being an able legislator, being quick, eloquent and powerful in debate, so that he will be remembered as one of the most potent factors in the Legislature of 1903.
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JOHN H. ROBERTS.
Massachusetts is not alone in her appreciation of that sterling manhood that has come to her from the rugged hillsides of the Granite State, for New Hampshire ever maintains the keenest possible interest in those absent sons and daughters who have gone beyond her borders to participate in the affairs of other states.
Among the multitude of men of New Hampshire birth who have made their mark amid the busy and varied scenes of the old Bay State is Major John H. Roberts of Malden, in that state.
Major Roberts was born in Ossipee, the shire town of Carroll County, in 1839, and he was educated in the com- mon schools of the city of Dover.
In early manhood he drifted to Massachusetts and became a ship fitter. His ability and proficiency in this calling secured recognition from those in authority, and he finally became master ship fitter at the Charlestown Navy Yard and foreman for twenty years.
Major Roberts has been twice married. In 1870 he married Miss Marestea Corey. Three daughters, Rosa- mond E., Etta May and Maud, were born of this mar- riage. In 1897 he married Emily A. Gallup. In frater- nal organization he is a member of Joseph Webb Lodge, F. and A. M., and of Hancock Commandery, Knights Templar. In church affiliations he is a Unitarian. The nature of his position in the service of the United States Government has precluded him from holding political positions.
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JOHN H. ROBERTS
EDWIN G. EASTMAN
EDWIN G. EASTMAN.
Attorney-General Edwin G. Eastman, of Exeter, is a type of the earnest, clearheaded and sound-hearted New Hampshire lawyer. He was born in the town of Grantham, Nov. 22nd, 1847, and received his education in the common schools of the town, supplemented with a. course at Kimball Union academy, at Meriden, and Dartmouth college, from which latter institution he grad- uated in the class of 1874. Adopting the law as his profession he studied with A. P. Carpenter of Bath, and in 1876 he was admitted to the bar. In September of that year he began the practice of his profession in Exeter and was for a time a partner of the late Gen. Gilman Marston. In 1876 Mr. Eastman was elected a representative from Grantham, and he was a member of the state senate in 1889. He served as solicitor for Rockingham county from 1883 to 1887, and in 1891 was appointed attorney-general of the state, upon the death of the late Daniel Barnard of Franklin, and still holds (1903) that responsible office. Of Mr. Eastman it may be said that the position he holds at the bar he has merited by character, industry and ability. Nothing has come to him without effort, but much study and patient effort has brought to him merited reward. As solicitor of the county of Rockingham and as attorney- general of the state he has had to do with many im- portant civil and criminal cases. To their consideration he has brought a great habit of industry and a sincere devotion to his duties to the public. In the prepara- tion of his cases he has left nothing undone that would secure the ends of justice. As an advocate before a jury
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Attorney-General Eastman is very effective. His con- vincing method of summing up the evidence and his evident sincerity and directness of purpose predisposing the jurymen to a favorable consideration of his views. Mr. Eastman is a man quick and almost impulsive in forming conclusions, but with a judgment so trained and experienced that it seldom goes astray, and his advice is valued as that of a thoroughly conscientious, sagacious and well-informed man. His political career was credit- able and he is often mentioned as qualified for service in the national legislature.
Mr. Eastman is greatly interested in the business affairs and prosperity of the community of which he is a part. He is one of the directors of the Exeter Manufacturing co., Vice-president and director of the Exeter Banking co., and Vice-president and trustee of the Union Five Cent savings bank of Exeter, besides being interested in other enterprises.
He lives in a handsome and comfortable home in Exeter, and with characteristic love for his native town spends his summers at Grantham. In his legal practice he finds it necessary to keep offices in Concord as well as Exeter. In fine, Attorney-General Eastman is a worthy successor to the long line of distinguished lawyers who have filled the office of attorney-general.
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Elent Lerned
EBENEZER LEARNED, M.D.
A physician of the old school closely identified with the life of central New Hampshire in the earliest decades of the nineteenth century, was Ebenezer Learned, M. D., a descendant of a fine old New England family, and born in Medford, Mass., Oct. 13, 1762. Displaying an early fond- ness for natural science and analytic research, he was given a liberal education and graduated from Harvard college with honors in 1787, being a classmate of Presi- dent John Quincy Adams and others afterward noted in the history of the country, with whom throughout his life he maintained an active correspondence.
Upon graduation he taught for several years in the academy at Leominster, Mass., and then studied medicine with Dr. Edward A. Holyoke at Salem, Mass., one of the most remarkable members of the profession then living. In 1795, he established himself in practice at Hopkinton in this state, then an important centre, being the shire town of Merrimack county, the seat of the state govern- ment and the home of much cultured society.
Of striking personal appearance and possessing re- markable professional attainments, Dr. Learned's success was instantaneous. His expectations were more than real- ized, and for nearly forty years he was the leading figure in his profession throughout a large section of country. He ever availed himself of all the advantages afforded for study and research, and his professional library was large and valuable. He made regular and extended visits to Boston where he kept in touch with the scientific progress of the day, and he was recognized in his profession as a man of scholarship and professional skill. In 1820, he re- ceived the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine from
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Dartmouth college, and was the first delegate sent from the New Hampshire Medical society to that institution. In this society he was active and prominent, and held all of its offices excepting the presidency, to which he was to have been elected under precedent in the year of his death.
As a citizen, Dr. Learned was a promoter of all good objects and was a leader in all efforts for the diffusion of knowledge or the advancement of science, giving liberal- ly of his means and time for the success of such move- ments. He organized several literary and benevolent societies and was the founder of Hopkinton Academy, be- ing its president and generous patron during his entire life. Under his administration of its affairs the academy prospered greatly, the teachers whom he selected were masters in the art of instruction, and the pupils for several years numbered two hundred. He was one of the pro- moters of the Merrimack county agricultural society and its first president, and he frequently lectured on agricul- ture, botany and allied topics, many of his suggestions and conclusions being far in advance of his time, as for example, he was the first in his section to make use of dry air for the preservation of fruits and vegetables.
In politics Dr. Learned was affiliated with the liberals and Whig parties, and in 1812, he was local president of a widely organized political society called the "Washing- ton Benevolent Society." In that year he delivered the annual address before its state convention.
He was reared in the Unitarian faith and adhered to this creed through his life, although he gave equally to all the churches in the town, and in his will remembered the pastors of each of them. Among other bequests was one for the foundation of the juvenile library in West Cambridge, now Arlington, Mass., which was probably the first public library in that state. He was twice mar- ried. He died October 6, 1831, leaving a wife and eight children.
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JOHN WILLEY
JOHN WILLEY.
Among the widely known and sincerely respected resi- dents of the town of Jackson throughout the last sixty odd years of the nineteenth century was John Willey, farmer, man of affairs and local preacher in the church of his chosen faith. He was a native and life-long resi- dent of the state and one more typical of the old-time life of state and community it would be difficult to find.
Born in Barnstead, December 20, 1827, he went as a young man to Jackson and immediately identified him- self with the progress and affairs of the town which its founders had placed amid the foothills of the White' Mountains. As a boy he had displayed a decided apti- tude for knowledge, and gained marked proficiency as a pupil in the schools of Barnstead, and later, when en- rolled as a student in the old-time and famed Gilmanton academy. Upon the completion of his course at the academy he taught school, and also gave instruction in penmanship, an art in which he early became an adept and known in all the region about Jackson.
Not only was he known as boy and man for intellec- tual attainment, but for his skill and strength as an ath- lete and ability in' the general list of field sports. A man of many gifts, he successfully essayed public speaking, and proved himself versatile in writing upon various subjects and topics of the times. His natural and ac- quired abilities in all-round scholarship led to his taking an active and prominent part in the political affairs of his times, and likewise led to his acquiring a deal of legal knowledge, which caused him to become a trusted ad- viser and counsellor. He was known for his strong
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and sturdy common sense and sound judgment in all matters that arose in the community. From his indus- trious boyhood days to the closing hours of an honored old age, he was a close and ardent student of the Bible, and his store of biblical lore was hardly surpassed by any of his contemporaries anywhere in New Hampshire. He not only read his Bible in the spirit of the faithful disciple he was, but as an intelligent expounder of its teachings and doctrines. He traveled in the Way him- self and influenced and exhorted others to do likewise. In religion he was an Adventist, and it was in this de- nominational belief that he became a local preacher, and many was the occasion that he filled the pulpit of the vil- lage church. For more than a score of years he served as the superintendent of the Sunday school in his church, and in all the ecclesiastical life of his town he was a vital and vitalizing factor. His life throughout was an em- bodiment of that sterling manhood and yeomanry that made possible the splendid humanity of the state.
At the age of twenty-four he married Miss Eliza J. Dearborn of Jackson and eleven children came to bless this union, eight sons and three daughters. Mrs. Willey and five of the sons are living. Of the sons, Charles F. is a hotel keeper in Lexington, Mass .; Alvin S. is a resi- dent of Manchester; Nelson S. is the landlord of the Squamscott House, Exeter; while George Franklyn is the well-known newspaper and book publisher and author of Manchester. The youngest living son is Clarence K. of Merrimack, and proprietor of the Monomack House in that town.
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IRA H. ADAMS, M. D.
IRA H. ADAMS, M. D.
It was given to Ira H. Adams to live but a brief fifty- one years, yet so diligently did he improve his allotted moments upon earth that he accomplished as great a measure of work as do most men who live the; Psalmist's span of days and years. Choosing the medical profes- sion as a life calling, he zealously engaged in all its ex- actions and responsibilities with the single aim in view of doing good and ameliorating the condition of his fellow- men. His was a generous heart, a sympathetic mind, and abounding spirit of love toward the sick and the afflicted. It was said of him: "He was a man of large heart of love. A man who was a true friend."
He was born in the town of Pomfret, Vermont, Au- gust 10, 1846, the son of James and Eunice (Mitchell) Adams. He attended the public schools of his native town and a preparatory school in Meriden. In the fur- therance of his purpose to become a physician he entered the medical department of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, and later became a student in the medical school of Dartmouth College, from which he graduated. In 1874, at the age of twenty-eight, he began the practice of medicine in Hooksett, but after a short while removed to the town of Derry, which was ever after his home.
Upon taking up his residence in Derry he identified himself, and actively so, with all that was designed for the good of the town. He quickly gained a reputation for his learning and skill as a physician. His rugged hon- esty, his sterling manhood and all around ability won for him the utmost respect and ardent admiration of his fellow townsmen. Again it was said of him: "As you
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came to know him you felt that he was no common man. He was wise, learned and sympathetic. His hand and heart were always open to do good."
As a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows Dr. Adams attained to high rank in that organiza- tion and extended his circle of acquaintances throughout and beyond the State. He passed through all the chairs to that of grand patriarch and grand representative to the sovereign grand lodge. Odd Fellows everywhere had come to recognize him as one of their foremost members.
His church affiliation was as a member of St. Luke's Methodist Episcopal Church of Derry, and as one of this flock he was active, zealous and devout. He was a co- worker with the pastors of the churches, striving ever to give spiritual as well as bodily comfort and cheer. Whole souled, cheerful, sincere and ever striving to do good to his fellow mortal, it was but natural that upon his death the whole town should mourn him as its own dead. He passed away on September 15, 1897, at the age of fifty- one. The entire town, as it were, attended the funeral of their beloved friend and physician. No other citizen of Derry, at his death, was ever the object of such general sorrow. People of all denominations, nationalities and worldly conditions followed him to the grave. His sepul- chre was a mound of flowers, expressions of the loving regard of friends.
August 31, 1875, Dr. Adams married Miss Louise S. Perley of Lempster, who with two children survive him. A son, Richard Herbert, is an esteemed citizen of Derry, while the daughter, Jennie Louise, is the wife of George Franklyn Willey, the author-publisher of Manchester.
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SAMUEL B. TARRANTE
SAMUEL B. TARRANTE
In this year of 1903 it is but thirty-three years since Samuel B. Tarrante was born in that city of England called Chester, the founding of which was practically coeval with the beginning of the Christian era and where successively dwelt the Romans, Britons, Saxons, and Danes. In all the near two thousand years of its corporate existence ancient Chester has been renowned for its architecture, its ecclesiastical life, its wall that girdles the city and still as perfect and entire as in the days of the Roman and the Briton; yet above all is it re- nowned for its generations of great and learned and suc- cessful men and women.
Young Tarrante was but three years old when he passed, with his parents, Samuel and Eliza (Burwell) Tarrante, through the gates of his native Chester and sailed away for America with Montreal as the objective point. The childhood years of the boy were passed in the Canadian city, attending the city schools until into his teens, when he became a clerk in a store. While yet a boy he drifted to Holyoke, Mass., and there continued his calling as a clerk. Returning to Montreal he engaged with his father to learn the hair goods business in all its phases and ramifications. It was the ancestral calling of the family, as it had been continued for five generations after the custom which has for so long obtained in Eng- land.
After the completion of his apprenticeship and at the close of a service as a journeyman in Montreal, he ac- cepted an offered position in a Lawrence (Mass.) hair
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goods store. Beginning in a subordinate position, he displayed such a degree of efficiency, tact and business ability that he was advanced through grade after grade until he became manager of the store, with his duties and responsibilities equal to all they would have been had he been proprietor of the store. It was an excellent school for the young man, then just in his early twenties. His industry was of the incessant type, well regulated and directed with a splendid method. He made it a rule to save a stated portion of his salary and religiously adhered to this rule. Adept as he was classed in his chosen call- ing, he was ever a student in his business and ever alert to learn more of its features and details. The lapse of a few years found him possessed of a snug little sum of money, and impelled onward, not only by an ambition but a determination to be further along in the highway of commercial success than he was yesterday, he came by this same force within him to engage in business on his own account in the city of Manchester.
It was in 1898 that he opened a store in Manchester and founded a business that has been so wisely managed as to become in the short space of five years the largest of its kind in all New England and that has placed him among the foremost merchants in all New Hampshire. Indeed, facts as they are fully warrant and permit the assertion that he is one of the most conspicuously success- ful men of affairs that his home city of Manchester, with all its great commercial and industrial interests, has known in the present generation.
The true explanation of Mr. Tarrante's success is not to be found in any "run of luck," nor by the aid of influ- ential friends, but is wholly owing to his proficiency in knowing all that pertained to his business, and in its skil- ful, wise and persistent application to the work in hand. In addition to his Manchester store he owns and oper- ates stores in Lawrence and New Bedford, Mass. Pos-
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sessing brilliant executive talents and fine powers of com- prehension, he keeps the details of all his stores in con- stant sight of his business eye, thus having entire famil- iarity with every transaction. A natural born merchant and business man, even the management of his several stores does not engross his whole attention, but he finds time to enter extensively into other enterprises. He has large realty holdings in the city of Manchester and town of Derry, and besides identification with real estate, he has to do with the financing of a wide range of undertak- ings. Uniformly prosperous in his many interests, it is because he engages in them only after he has eliminated all haphazard and chance features.
In September, 1898, Mr. Tarrante married Miss Min- nie Elizabeth Herzog of Lawrence, Mass. One son, Samuel C., has been born of this union. Mr. Tarrante in fraternal organizations is an Odd Fellow, a Patriarch Militant and a member of the Patrons of Husbandry, and the Franklin Street Congregational is the church home of the family.
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GEORGE FRANKLYN WILLEY
Nestling among the foothills of the White Mountains in the state of New Hampshire is the little town of Jackson, a gem of human life in a setting of awe-inspir- ing grandeur and magnificence. To its immediate north and north-west, Black Mountain lifts its mighty propor- tions, a curtain as it were that tempers the bleak and pitiless North winds of winter and serves as a soul inspir- ing prelude to the still grander drama that Nature unfolds behind this curtain.
Hither to this region came the rugged, honest and fearless pioneer ere the closing decades of the eighteenth century and here he fixed his habitation and abiding place upon earth. He was in the depths of a primeval forest, but his right arm was strong, his mind clear and his purpose distinct. But above all the factors in the daily life and action of this son of the Puritans was his abiding, unhesitating faith that the One who made the great White Hills would bless the means he was employing to make for himself and his a home at their feet. It was not the custom of the Puritan nor of his descendants to pray the. God of nature for a blessing through super- natural channels, but always to bless the means and the agencies he himself would employ for its accomplishment.
The pioneer in the White Mountain territory delved from the rising to the setting of the sun and in this work of home building he developed his physical and mental beings along lines that were in sweetest consonance with physiological law. There was but one sequel to this daily routine; a sequel as inevitable as divine truth itself, and that is progress; and progress is accomplishment; accom-
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GEORGE FRANKLYN WILLEY
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plishment-success. The success that the pioneer won in the fastnesses and at the gateways of the White Moun- tains was, in its highest and best type, in the form of a manhood capable of standing in the most exalted places
BIRTHPLACE OF GEORGE FRANKLYN WILLEY - WINTER
known in human life. It was 'a manhood that has kept American human life ever progressive and never retro- gressive. A manhood that springs from a recognition and appreciation of the fact that life is a duty, not a dream nor a pastime. The dutiful and devoted Ruth forsook the ease of her own home and followed the
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fortunes of Naomi, regardless of the frowning prospect. She accepted and took up with a cheerful heart the first labor that presented itself in the land of her mother-in- law,-the gleaning of the fallen straws after the reapers. The fidelity to a trust, the recognition of duty, brought to her and her line an undreamed of reward. Ere four generations had passed, her descendants were upon the throne of David and a line of mighty kings succeeded, culminating with the coming of the Messiah.
The keynote of the old regime in New England was the cheerful acceptance of duty and the performance of work and from this have proceeded that strength and power which have builded a mighty empire. That ster- ling and resourceful manhood and womanhood that had its birth amid the hills of New Hampshire has been a potent and incalculable factor in the development of the nation's rich and innumerable resources, as it has for generations gone forth from its native hearths out into new fields and new states. This force that has made itself felt from the Atlantic to the Pacific, had its incep- tion in the Puritan ideas, that life was a duty and in labor alone is accomplishment and progress. It was this identi- cal idea that controlled and actuated the daily life of Ruth.
Of this latest generation that has come down out of the mountain region into the plains below, is George weary one not sustained by that abounding faith that characterized the daily life of the early settlers. Unlike the great multitude, however, Mr. Willey has remained Franklyn Willey, whose forbears were among those who directed labor obstacles that would have made faint and cleared the primeval forest and built up the town of Jackson, braving every danger and overcoming by well within the limits of his native New Hampshire, instead of seeking a field of action beyond its borders. In the kaleidoscopic changes of the country's material life, he believed he saw within the realms of his own state, as
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