USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > The Londonderry celebration. Exercises on the 150th anniversary of the settlement of old Nutfield, comprising the towns of Londonderry, Derry, Windham, and parts of Manchester, Hudson and Salem, N.H., June 10, 1869. > Part 7
USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Hudson > The Londonderry celebration. Exercises on the 150th anniversary of the settlement of old Nutfield, comprising the towns of Londonderry, Derry, Windham, and parts of Manchester, Hudson and Salem, N.H., June 10, 1869. > Part 7
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Londonderry > The Londonderry celebration. Exercises on the 150th anniversary of the settlement of old Nutfield, comprising the towns of Londonderry, Derry, Windham, and parts of Manchester, Hudson and Salem, N.H., June 10, 1869. > Part 7
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Derry > The Londonderry celebration. Exercises on the 150th anniversary of the settlement of old Nutfield, comprising the towns of Londonderry, Derry, Windham, and parts of Manchester, Hudson and Salem, N.H., June 10, 1869. > Part 7
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Windham > The Londonderry celebration. Exercises on the 150th anniversary of the settlement of old Nutfield, comprising the towns of Londonderry, Derry, Windham, and parts of Manchester, Hudson and Salem, N.H., June 10, 1869. > Part 7
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Salem > The Londonderry celebration. Exercises on the 150th anniversary of the settlement of old Nutfield, comprising the towns of Londonderry, Derry, Windham, and parts of Manchester, Hudson and Salem, N.H., June 10, 1869. > Part 7
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banker at Corning, N. Y., and Hannah W., who lives at Westfield.
Mr. Patterson has large acquaintance with the leading men of the day, and has been eminently successful in ac_ quiring wealth, position and influence. His large fortune enables him to dispense the most liberal charities, and no man is more judicious or generous in their bestowal. Of course he has many friends, and thousands have enjoyed the genial companionship and kindly hospitalities of him- self and his accomplished family, at his mansion on the shores of Lake Erie.
HON. JAMES WILLIS PATTERSON.
JAMES WILLIS PATTERSON springs from some of the best stock of the people who originally settled Londonderry. Alexander Patterson, the emigrant, one of the origi- nal settlers of the northern section of the town, was a man of character, as the records of the town show,-a re- port in his handwriting and signed by him, as the chairman of an important committee of reference, being found among the papers, of as early date as 1748. His wife, Elizabeth Arbuckle, was the only woman whose name appears on the call of Rey. David MacGregor.
Joseph Patterson, grandfather of the Senator, married Susannah Duncan, whose mother, Naomi Bell, was a sister of Hon. John Bell, the father of Governor John and of Senator Samuel Bell.
William Patterson, son of Joseph and father of the Sen- ator, settled upon a farm in Henniker, and there the sub- ject of this sketch was born, July 2, 1823, his mother, Frances Mary Shepard, being a second wife.
The early education of Senator Patterson, with the ex-
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ception of a term or two at the academy, to which he traveled a distance of more than three miles, was gleaned from the limited advantages of a district school, the income of the farm allowing nothing more. He always worked during the summers upon the farm, from early boyhood, till the family removed to Lowell, when he went into a cotton mill. The agent of the mill, John Aiken, Esq., of Andover, Mass., however, soon becoming interested in his character, took him into his counting-room, and was ever after his friend and adviser.
The family returning to the farm after an absence of some years, this son went with them, worked upon the farm one season, and kept the district school in Henniker village, with marked success, in the winter. The next year found him in Lowell, in the counting-room with his friend again, where he remained two or three years, in a restless, dissatisfied state of mind, till, with the approval of his employer, he started out determined to go to college. In a year and a half, with a most inadequate preparation, acquired in part under an incompetent teacher, but mostly with no teacher at all, he entered Dartmouth College, where he took the lead of his class, graduating with the first honor in 1848.
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From college he went to Woodstock, Connecticut, taking charge of an academy and studying law at the same time. There he formed a warm and permanent intimacy with Henry Ward Beecher, who used to spend the summer months in that town, and under his persuasions he was induced to turn from the Law to Theology. In 1851 he entered the Theological Seminary of New Haven, and under the rigid exactions of the celebrated Dr. Nathaniel Taylor, completed the course in half the prescribed time, more than paying his expenses meanwhile by instructing a private class of ladies in the city.
In 1852 he was called back to Dartmouth as Tutor in Mathematics ; in 1854 was promoted to the professorship
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in that department, and in 1859, when the chair of Astron- omy and Meterology was founded, he was promoted to that professorship, the duties of which he continued with emi- nent efficiency to discharge till his congressional life com- pelled his resignation.
His first work in public life was as Secretary of the Board of Education, and the eminent capacity which, from 1858 to 1862 inclusive, he brought to this arduous position, attracted the attention of the state, contributing unquestionably to his speedy entrance into larger honors. In 1862 he was in the State Legislature, at once assuming a leading position. In 1863 he was elected a Representa- tive in Congress, reelected in 1865, and chosen Senator in 1867, for the term ending in 1873. In the present Con- gress he is serving as a prominent member of the leading Committee on Foreign Relations, second on the Committee on the District of Columbia, and Chairman of the Joint Committee on Retrenchment.
Senator Patterson, though one of the readiest and most attractive orators in that body, does not often address the Senate. He does not speak, except when a clear sense of duty calls upon him, never permits himself to make a set speech without thorough preparation, deals chiefly with fun- damental principles, and commands invariably the close at- tention of his associates. He is a close student, laborious in the committees, gives his whole energies to his public duties, and no senator has achieved a higher standing than he occupies, who has not been longer than he a member of that body. His duties upon the District Committee for years have brought him into familiar relations with the people of the District, and it is not too much to say that no senator ever stood higher than he in their estimation. His rare eloquence, not only upon the stump, but in the higher ranges of literature and of statesmanship, has beset him in every direction with calls for addresses, from his first appearance in public life, and the manner in which he
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has always met every call which he has accepted, has mul- tiplied the importunities. No member of Congress is so eagerly sought in the District when the dignities and the graces of eloquence are in requisition, in behalf of any good work, and no member secures larger or choicer audi- ence, this being the more striking from the fact that his popular appeals are essentially to the understanding, not the mere sounding captivations for the ear. Some of his efforts in the Senate have attracted great attention, his argument in the matter of the consular service being one of the earliest of his elaborate speeches, its exhaustive character producing a revolution in that system. Some of his more recent efforts upon the great leading questions of states- manship have been of still more breadth and power.
Senator Patterson married Sarah Wilder, of Meredith, N. H., a lady of talents and education, and they have one child, a son of some dozen years of age. The portrait of Senator Patterson in this volume, will be recognized by those familiar with him as an exceedingly life-like, ac- curate likeness.
HON. FREDERICK SMYTH.
Ex-GOVERNOR FREDERICK SMYTH, chief officer and manager of the Merrimack River Savings Bank, and of the First National Bank of Manchester, was born in Candia, March 9, 1819. His earlier years, in the intervals of time not devoted to common school and academic education, were occupied in farm labor.
In 1838 he began in Manchester as a clerk, and soon commenced business for himself. In 1849 he was chosen City Clerk, which office he held for three years, when he was made Mayor of the city, a position to which he was elected three times in succession. Among the permanent
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results of these years, may be named the Free Public Library, the New Passenger Station, the Falls Bridge, and the annexation of Amoskeag and Piscataquog. In 1864, at the desire of both parties, he was again chosen to the same office.
In 1855 he was appointed chairman of a Board of Com- missioners, one of whom was the late Judge Harvey, to locate and build a House of Reformation for Juvenile Of- fenders, a work successfully accomplished in the face of / much opposition.
In 1861 he made a brief European tour, acting as com- missioner to the World's Fair in London, where he was one of the jurors, and also in behalf of the United States Agricultural Society, visiting kindred associations in Great Britain and on the Continent.
In 1865 Mr. Smyth was chosen Governor of the state by the largest majority for twenty-five years. He was tri- umphantly reelected in 1866, and the same year was ap- pointed by Congress one of the managers, for a term of six years, of the National Asylum for Disabled Soldiers. A very general desire was manifested that he should be a candidate for a third gubernatorial term, but he positively declined.
In recognition of his services in behalf of Dartmouth College, that institution conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts, and made him a trustee of the Agricultural College.
In 1844 Mr. Smyth married Emily, daughter of the late John Lane, Esq., of Candia, a lady highly esteemed by her many friends for her noble qualities of mind and excel- lences of character. He is perhaps as good an example of a thoroughly self-made man as the limits of the old " Chestnut Country " can show, and is a proof of the fact that it is not necessary to emigrate from New Hamp- shire to find a sphere for enterprise and energy.
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GEN. AARON F. STEVENS.
AARON FLETCHER STEVENS was born August 19, 1819, in Londonderry (now Derry), N. H. He was the only son of Captain John F. and Martha Stevens, who had but a short time previous removed from Massachusetts to that town. There were three daughters, Martha M., Mary Ann and Permilia, the latter two of whom are still living.
Captain Stevens was a man of great activity and indus- try, and both parents entertained the strongest desire for the education and improvement of their children. The father had for some twenty years been in sea-faring pur- suits, and had been left by the vicissitudes of fortune with limited means when he retired, at the earnest solicitation of the mother, from the adventurous life of a mariner to the quiet of the country.
A residence of ten years in Londonderry gave the elder children more than an ordinary advantage for an educa- tion. . In 1828 the family removed to Manchester, N. H., and from thence to Peterborough, where the eldest daugh- ter died, at the age of twenty-seven years. In 1838 the family settled in Nashua, where the parents died, and where the son has ever since resided.
The early portion of General Stevens's life was passed in alternate labor and study. His aspirations for a classical education and professional life were checked by want of means, and at the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to the trade of a machinist, and for several years pursued the occupation in connection with school teaching in the winter and occasional terms of study at the Nashua academies. In 1842 he commenced the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1845, and at once entered upon a rge and in- creasing practice, which continued until he left the state for the field, at the breaking out of the Rebellion. .
Mr. Stevens filled the office of Solicitor of Hillsborough
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county for five years, represented Nashua in the House of Representatives four years, and was active in politics as a Whig and Republican from his earliest majority.
At the breaking out of the Rebellion he volunteered his services, which were at once accepted, and he left for the seat of war as Major of the First New Hampshire Volun- teers. On the 19th of May, 1861, just before leaving for the field, he was married to Adelaide M., daughter of Ed- ward A. Johnson, Esq., of Nahant, Mass. The following year he was commissioned as Colonel of the Thirteenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers, a superb regi- ment, whose fortunes he followed until the close of the war, participating with them in all their battles.
In the campaign of 1864 he commanded a brigade on the right of Grant's line in front of Petersburg. In Sep- tember of that year, while leading his command in the assault upon Fort Harrison, he was severely wounded, rendering him a cripple for life.
General Stevens was with his regiment mustered out of service in June, 1865, and resumed his practice at Nashua. In March, 1867, he was elected to Congress by the people of the Second District, and reelected to the Forty-first Con- gress in 1869. He has always preserved his acquaintance with the citizens of his native town, and joined with great interest and pleasure in the exercises of our anniversary.
SAMUEL H. TAYLOR, LL. D.
THE emigrant ancestor of Samuel Harvey Taylor, whose name was Matthew, came to Londonderry in the emigra- tion of 1722. He held the title deeds of his broad acres from Lieutenant-Governor John Wentworth, to whom a large farm in the southeasterly part of the town had pre-
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viously been granted by the original proprietors. This same tract was fifty years before the property and in pos- session of John Leverett, Governor of the Massachusetts Colony, from 1673 to 1679. He held this land under grant from that Colony, and it is called in the records a " wildernesse farme of one thousand acres," and there is little doubt that a half filled cellar, northerly of and near to Leverett's bridge, marks the site of a cabin built by some adventurer in the interest of Governor Leverett.
Dr. Taylor is a lineal descendant from Matthew in the third generation, and on these domains, once the posses- sion of governors, he first saw the light. He was born October 3, 1807, the eldest son of the late Deacon James Taylor, a man of great energy of character and high Chris- tian principle. Like most of the Derry boys, Harvey, as he was familiarly called, in remembrance of the maiden name of his great-grandmother, fitted for college at Pink- erton Academy. He entered the Sophomore Class in Dartmouth, in 1829, and graduated in 1832. The same year he entered the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass., and graduated in 1837. He was assistant teacher in Phillips Academy in 1834-5, tutor in Dartmouth College in 1836-7, and has been Principal of Phillips Academy, at Andover, Mass., from 1837 to the present time.
He has prepared, from the German, " Krebs's Guide for Writing Latin ;" "Kühner's Elementary Greek Grammar ;" and, in connection with Professor B. B. Edwards, “ Küh- ner's Larger Greek Grammar." He has also published a "Memorial of Joseph P. Fairbanks;" "Method of Classical Study ;" and "Classical Study: Its usefulness illustrated by Selections from the Writings of Eminent Scholars," with an Introduction by himself. Since 1852, during these varied employments, Dr. Taylor has been one of the editors of the " Bibliotheca Sacra."
He married Caroline P. Parker, daughter of the late
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James A. Weston.
J.H JUIFORD'S LITHI 490 WASHINGTON ST. HOSTUN
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Rev. Edward L. Parker, December 8, 1837, and has three children living: James Edward, George Harvey, and Arthur Fairbanks. Charles Henry, the third child, died at the age of eleven years.
HON. JAMES A. WESTON.
THE ancestors of the Weston families in this country came from Buckinghamshire, England, early in the seventeenth century. Their name occurs frequently in the records of colonial affairs during that period, and in connection with such events as to indicate that they were of leading positive character. One of these men is mentioned as a prominent representative to the first General Court in Massachusetts, as one of the founders of the first Baptist church in America, and as a man of such integrity and ability as to "occasion the prayers of all good people that his life should be of much duration." They came to New England during the time when large companies, often of kins-people influ- enced by the controversy between Parliament and Charles I., sought together a home in the "new land," and were probably of the same or kindred families.
Hon. James A. Weston, of Manchester, N. H., is the lineal descendant from John Weston, who came to America in 1644, and finally settled in Reading, Mass., in 1652. His genealogy * includes men who have been prominent and useful in promoting the public welfare, and distin-
* John Weston, born in Buckinghamshire, England, 1631, settled in Read- ing, Mass., 1652.
John Weston, born at Reading, 1661.
Samuel Weston, born at Reading, 1689.
Jonathan Weston, born at Reading, 1731.
Amos Weston, born at Reading, 1767; moved to Manchester, N. H., 1803. Amos Weston, born at Reading, 1791.
James A. Weston, born at Manchester, 1827.
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guished for their superior financial and executive ability.
His grandfather, Amos Weston, came to New Hampshire in 1803, and settled on what is known as the "Old Weston farm," situated in the southeasterly part of Manchester, about two and one-half miles from the City Hall. It is in a section which was formerly a part of Londonderry.
His father, Amos Weston, Esq., who will long be remem- bered for the faithful and efficient discharge of every duty, and as prominent and influential in shaping and completing public enterprises and transacting the business of town and county in that judicious manner upon which so much of common prosperity depends, purchased lands and made him a home adjoining their family homestead, where he continued to reside until 1853, when he moved to the cor- ner of Myrtle and Maple streets, in the city proper, at which place he lived during the remainder of his life.
In 1814 he married Betsey Wilson, who was the daughter of the well-known Col. Robert Wilson, and granddaughter of James Wilson, who came from Londonderry, Ireland, about 1728, and settled at the place now known as Wilson's Crossing, in Londonderry, N. H. Colonel Robert Wilson was born about 1730, and succeeded his father in the pos- session of their original farm, where he resided during his life. Betsey Wilson was born on the same old place, Feb- ruary 21, 1788, where she resided until her marriage. She died March 12, 1856. Amos Weston died June 1, 1858.
Mr. Weston, the subject of this sketch, was the youngest of five children, and is the only surviving member of the family of Amos and Betsey Weston. He was born on the "old Weston farm," August 27, 1827, where he remained most of the time until 1846, engaged in assisting his father upon the farm, except when attending school and teaching. He was educated chiefly at the district school and at the Manchester and Piscataquog academies, but pursued his studies,- devoting his attention to his chosen profession,
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civil engineering,-at home, until he became highly pro- ficient in that science. He taught school in Manchester and in Londonderry.
In 1846 he was made assistant engineer, and commenced work on the Concord railroad, laying the second track. In 1847 he moved to Concord, N. H., and was appointed chief engineer of that road, which position he has held ever since. For several years, in connection with the office of engineer, he acted as road master and master of transpor- tation on the Concord and Manchester and Lawrence roads.
In 1854 he married Anna S. Gilmore, daughter of Mitchel Gilmore, Esq., of Concord, and in 1856 removed to Manchester, where he has since resided, devoting him- self principally to his profession. As chief engineer, he superintended the construction of the Manchester and Candia railroad and the Suncook Valley railroad, and aided very essentially, by skillful and judicious management, in bringing those important works to a state of completion in the shortest possible time. He has attained a position of eminence in his profession, as one of the most proficient and accomplished civil engineers in the country.
Mr: Weston was the Democratic candidate for the may- oralty of Manchester, N. H., in 1862 and 1863, winning in the vote more than the party strength, and although the Democrats were greatly in the minority, was elected to that office for 1868, and again for 1870. No one of the many distinguished gentlemen who have held that position has conducted the affairs of the city more successfully than he, or discharged the various duties of an executive officer with more courtesy and consideration, as well as energy and decision, than have marked his official services.
He is of retiring, undemonstrative manners, yet of posi- tive and well-formed opinions, and asserts himself more in results than by display and efforts for notoriety. His character is best illustrated by his profession of the civil engineer, upon whose skill and accuracy so many vast
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undertakings depend. In vain to attempt the mighty works now being wrought out in every direction wherever the interests of mankind demand, if not planned and per- fected with certainty by the engineer. All these wonderful achievements may be fully appreciated by the world, but the silent labor of those master minds wherein they were projected and first constructed will never be sufficiently honored.
LETTERS.
THE following letters were received from gentlemen who had been invited to be present at the celebration, but who were unable to attend :
[From Rev. Dr. McClure.]
LONDONDERRY, IRELAND, June 4, 1869.
MY DEAR SIR :
I have been from home some time, attending the meet- ings of the General Assemblies in Edinburgh. This must be my apology for not writing to you sooner. Many thanks for your kind letter of invitation. However delightful it would be to be present at your one hundred and fiftieth anniversary, I must deny myself the pleasure. My occu- pations at home are so pressing and numerous that I can- not leave. The citizens of the parent Londonderry, in Ireland, will be greatly interested in your proceedings, and we trust everything will go on prosperously and well. I will be very glad to have, either by letter or newspaper, an account of the ceremonies.
Very sincerely yours, WILLIAM MCCLURE.
R. C. MACK, Esqr., Londonderry, N. II.
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[From Rev. Timothy G. Brainerd.]
GRINNELL, IOWA, June 3, 1869. R. C. MACK, Esq .:
Dear Sir,-The invitation to be present and join with the thousands who will meet and celebrate the tri-semi- centennial of the settlement of "Old Londonderry" is received. Circumstances forbid my being present in body, though I shall be in spirit, on that occasion.
It would afford me great pleasure to see the faces, and exchange congratulations with so many friends, and to re- view with them God's dealings with the early settlers and their descendants during some five generations.
Nearly thirty years ago, an aged Scotcli Irish woman as- sured me that the men of my parish of that day had greatly degenerated from their fathers. But is this so? Have not the sons been worthy of their sires ? Will not the descend- ants of these, whether found in "Nutfield," or scattered abroad throughout the land, compare favorably with the descendants of any colonists who have settled in this coun- try? Are they not now, and have they not always been, true patriots and the unflinching supporters of civil and religious liberty ? Have they not always planted and sus- tained, side by side, the institutions of learning and re- ligion ?
I write not these things to flatter, but to remind the rising generation that these are the traits of character which have rendered their ancestors illustrious, and given them a world-wide renown, and that if they will honor the blood which flows in their veins, they must be like them and do like them. Then, when another one hundred and fifty years have rolled away, their posterity will gather in greater numbers on this consecrated ground to bless their memories and to swear eternal fealty to the grand princi-
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ples of their fathers, which have suffered no dim eclipse, but have grown brighter as the centuries circle round.
With sentiments of respect and loving remembrance to old acquaintances, I remain,
Yours truly,
TIMOTHY G. BRAINERD.
[From Hon. William W. Campbell.]
CHERRY VALLEY, NEW YORK, June 3, 1869. R. C. MACK, Esq. :
Dear Sir,-I have a partiality for such celebrations as you propose for the 10th instant. They tend to keep green and fresh the memories of a noble race of men. The de- scendants of the men who planted the settlement of Lon- donderry may refer with pride to their colonial ancestry. Their sturdy independence, their devotion to the cause of education and a pure religion, placed them at least on a level with the best of the early Puritan colonists.
I would be pleased to unite with you as a pilgrim wor- shiper at the shrine of my fathers, on the coming anniver- sary ; but I have been absent from home all the past winter and spring, and cannot now leave again.
Very respectfully, WILLIAM W. CAMPBELL.
[From Hon. James Wilson.]
KEENE, June 6, 1869.
MY DEAR SIR :
Yours of the 4th instant came to hand last evening. It has been my fixed purpose to be at Derry on the 10th in- stant, ever since I knew of the proposed celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of
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the town, but I am compelled to advise you that it is, and will be, I fear, out of my power to fulfill that purpose.
I shall never forget my old Scotch Irish ancestry, and shall be with you in spirit on that day.
Yours truly,
JAMES WILSON. R. C. MACK, Esq., Derry.
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[From Rev. Dr. Fitz.]
IPSWICH, MASS., May 24, 1869. R. C. MACK, EsQ. :
My Dear Sir,-I was very much gratified to receive your beautiful circular and your very respectful note. You may be assured that my feelings are all interested in the occasion of the observance of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of "Nutfield."
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