USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Willey's semi-centennial book of Manchester, 1846-1896, comprised within the limits of the old Tyng Township, Nutfield, Harrytown, Derryfield, and Manchester, from the earliest settlements to the present time > Part 15
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
MANCHESTER BOARD OF TRADE.
IN the 60's Manchester had a board of trade. It Grenier, Clarence M. Edgerly, and R. D. W. held meetings for several years, was incor- Mckay. The preliminary meeting was largely porated July 14, 1877, and occupied for a time attended. Hon. George B. Chandler was chosen chairman, and C. M. Edgerly secretary. Enthusi- astic remarks in favor of a live board of trade were made by Mr. Chandler, Hon. Charles H. Bartlett, Col. John B. Clarke, Hon. David Cross, George A. Leighton, John C. French, Hon. P. C. Cheney, Col. B. C. Dean, Hon. James F. Briggs, and others. A second meeting was held Feb. 5, when a com- mittee, of which James F. Briggs was chairman, reported a constitution and by-laws, which were adopted. A committee to nominate officers re- ported the following list, which was elected : President, George B. Chandler ; vice presidents, Herman F. Straw, P. C. Cheney ; treasurer, Henry Chandler ; secretary, Edgar J. Knowlton ; direc-
CHARLES C. HAYES.
headquarters in Riddle block. Hon. Daniel Clark was president and Hon. H. K. Slayton, secretary. After accomplishing some good in the way of securing lower rates on coal freighted from the seaboard, and in some other directions, the or- ganization declined. A balance of $142 in its treasury was, by unanimous vote of surviving mem- bers, turned over to the present board of trade on Sept. 16, 1893.
In 1890 the need of a business organization resulted in a call for a public meeting to be held in City Hall Jan. 22, " for the purpose of organizing an association designed to aid and encourage new HERBERT W. EASTMAN. industries and the commercial interests of the city of Manchester." The call was signed by George tors, G. B. Chandler, Frank Dowst, John B. Variek, H. D. Upton, John C. French, Andrew B. Chandler, Hiram D. Upton, John C. French, Charles T. Means, George A. Leighton, William Bunton, Frank M. Gerrish, E. M. Slayton, and Corey, Alonzo Elliott, Frank P. Kimball, A. G. Frank P. Carpenter. Over sixty business men
124
125
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
signed the constitution at the first meeting. The route between Manchester and North Weare; it board was particularly fortunate in the selection of procured an earlier mail delivery in the city ; it in- sured the doubling of capacity of the East Man- chester shoeshop; it created the West Side com- pany, capital $35,000, which built a brick shoeshop 200X45, occupied by Crafts & Green, who em- ploy over 300 hands. its first officers. Hon. George B. Chandler was an enthusiastic believer in the advantages to be de- rived from a live organization of business men. He was possessed of a strong faith in the future of Manchester. He made an ideal presiding offi- eer, drew into his directory some able associates, The board of trade, in its early existenee, agi- tated the relaying of rails from North Weare to Henniker, which after long legal complications, was finally brought about in 1893. The board has continually urged the need of a first class electric railway system in the city. During the session of the legislature of 1895, the board took active preparations to secure a charter for an electric railway, but the present management expressly pledging the installation of a first class system im- mediately, the proposed charter was not obtained. As a result of this movement, Manchester is now supplied with as good an electric street railway system as is in operation in the entire country. The board of trade has also been especially active in the endeavor to secure a charter for a railroad from Milford to Manchester. and the new organization at once sprang into pop- ularity and immediately became a power for good in the Queen City. The chief objeet of the board, as defined in the constitution, is to " promote the prosperity of the Queen City of New Hampshire," or in other words, " to secure a union of the ener- gies, influence, and action of citizens in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the city of Manehes- ter ; to encourage all legitimate business enter- prises ; to collect and disseminate through the press and otherwise information respecting Manchester as a manufacturing city and a place of residence." Any person a resident of or having a place of business or owning real estate in Manchester may become a member. The board has standing com- mittees on finanee, manufacturing and mereantile affairs, municipal affairs, insurance, railroads and transportation, statistics, and new industries and enterprises.
As the first secretary, Edgar J. Knowlton began the work with a zeal which characterizes all his endeavors. He was an old newspaper worker, thoroughly acquainted with the citizens and the needs of the city. The membership the first year was brought up to 275, and by the concerted efforts of the officers, mueh good was aecom- plished. The advantages of the city were dis- played through industrial and other papers and by the publication of 5,000 copies of a handy little volume entitled "Statistics of the Queen City." The board collected and published information concerning the wholesale and retail trade of the city ; it took an active part in seeuring land for Stark park, and in the effort to get an equestrian statue of Gen. John Stark; it established mer- ehants' weeks; it has encouraged people to pa- tronize home industries ; it distributed 25,000 letter sheets containing valuable faets about the city ; it has advocated the establishment of a new county with Manchester as its eentre ; it secured a postal
Through the efforts of the board, directly or indirectly, numerous successful industries have been added to the eity. The one single shoeshop fostered by the board has grown to seven large shops, employing at least 2,000 hands and turning out over 10,000 pairs of shoes every day, and dis- tributing ncarly a million dollars yearly in wages.
The Manchester board of trade was the first in New England to establish a merchants' week. As a result, the retail trade is greatly stimulated each October, and thousands of people from all over the state, and even beyond New Hampshire, have become acquainted with the enterprise of our live business men. During the merchants' week of 1894 nearly 13,000 people came to Manchester on round trip tickets.
Secretary Knowlton, who had been elected mayor of the city, resigned his position with the board in May, 1891, and the directors unanimously elected Herbert W. Eastman his successor, who has been re-elected by each board of directors sinee. After serving two years, the first board of officers was succeeded by Edward M. Slayton as president ; Henry E. Burnham and Charles D.
10
1.6
WILLER'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
MeDuffie, vice presidents; and E. M. Slayton, merchant in New London and Salisbury for many James W. Hill, Henry B. Fairbanks, Charles M. years and a prominent citizen and a real estate Floyd, Frank W. Fitts, Horace Marshall, Charles C. Hayes, 1. Il. Josselyn, and Denis A. Holland, chrectors. Treasurer Henry Chandler has been continually re-elected. At the annual meeting in January, 1894, the following officers were elected : President, Charles C. Hayes; vice presidents, 1I. E. Burnham, James W. Hill ; directors, C. C. Hayes, William Marcotte, Fred B. Ellis, O. D. Knox, James P. Slattery, Charles E. Cox, Walter G. Africa, Edward F. Seheer, and Charles F. Green. owner in Manchester. Mr. Hayes received his carly education in the common schools of his native town and of Salisbury, and upon coming to Manchester, in 1869, attended the high school, graduating in 1875. After three years of mercan- tile experience he bought the store of the Co- operative Trade Association, which he condueted successfully for several years. In 1882 he began a general real estate, mortgage, loan, and fire insur- ance business, which has grown and prospered and which he has managed ever sinee. He is regarded as one of the best judges of real estate values in the eity, and he is often called upon to appraise property of that kind. He does an extensive busi- ness in buying and selling real estate and has assisted greatly in the development of suburban real estate. His business eonneetions are numcr- ous. He is viee president and director of the New Hampshire Trust Company, president of the Thomas A. Lane Company, president of the Orange Miea Mining Company, treasurer and director of the Kennedy Land Company, treasurer and dircetor of the Rimmon Manufacturing Com- pany, and elerk of the Manchester Shoe Manufae- turing Company. He was a director of the board of trade in 1892, vice president in 1893, and was unanimously eleeted its president in 1894, and re-elected in 1895. Under his management the board has grown rapidly in membership and in- fluenee, ranking today as one of the largest and most flourishing business organizations in New England. He is also president of the Manchester Fire Underwriters' Association. In Masonry Mr. Hayes has an honorable and exalted record. He is Past Worshipful Master of Washington Lodge, A. F. and A. M., member of Mt. Horeb Royal Areh Chapter, has been thriee Illustrious Master of Adoniram Couneil, Eminent Commander of Trinity Commandery, K. T., all of Manchester, and Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of New Hampshire. He is now in his second term as Most Worshipful Grand Master of Masons in New Hampshire. He is also a thirty-second degree Mason, being a member of E. A. Raymond Con- sistory of Nashua. In polities Mr. Hayes is an earnest Democrat. He has been president of the
The headquarters of the board were first in the rear of A. J. Lane's real estate office in City Hall building. Meetings of the board were held in City Hall. The need of larger and better quar- ters was apparent, and in September, 1891, two large rooms in Merchants Exchange were seeured, where the office of the secretary was established and meetings of the board were held. In May, 1894, headquarters were obtained on the sixth floor of the magnificent Kennard building, the finest business bloek north of Boston. A large room seating one hundred is handsomely furnished with tables, ehairs, desks, and pietures, and several desks are rented to business men who only necd desk room. Sliding doors open into a carpeted and finely furnished room for the use of directors, committees, ete. The headquarters are supplied with telephone, writing materials, daily, weekly, and trade papers, stoek reports, ete., and are open to members and the publie every day and three evenings each week. The board has a membership of over three hundred, comprising nearly every prominent business eoneern in the eity. Seeretary Eastman publishes quarterly the Board of Trade Journal, which has a large eireulation and is hand- somely printed and illustrated. The Manehester board is connected with the New Hampshire Board of Trade, of which Mr. Eastman is seeretary and treasurer.
Charles C. Hayes, president of the board and one of the most active and sueeessful young busi- ness men in the city, was born in New London, N. H., May 31, 1855. He is the son of John M. and Susan E. (Carr) Hayes, both of whom were natives of that town, his father having been a
127
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
Granite State Club and an active party worker for several years. In 1894, as Democratic candidate for mavor of Manchester, he received a flattering vote, including the support of numerous members of the opposing party. He is an eloquent and pleasing public speaker and presents his thoughts with force and clearness. As president of the First Baptist Society, he wields an influence in religious circles. Mr. Hayes was married, Jan. 1, 1885, to Belle J., daughter of John and Hannah B. (Tewksbury) Kennard, who died Aug. 1, 1890, leaving three children : John Carroll, now nine years old ; Louise K., aged seven, and Annie Belle, aged five.
Herbert Walter Eastman, secretary of the Manchester board of trade, was born in Lowell, Mass., Nov. 3, 1857. He attended the public schools of that city until 1870, when he went to Boston and was employed in a large wholesale and retail store. In 1873 he came to Manchester and went to the Lincoln grammar school, graduating in the class of 1874, taking the highest honors in pen- manship and drawing. Soon afterward he went to work in the Daily Mirror office, in spare hours studying wood engraving and making numerous illustrations for the daily and weekly editions. In 1875 he entered the employ of Campbell & Han- scom, of the Daily Union, and worked in every department from the pressroom to reportorial and editorial work and proof reading. When the Union was made a morning paper he was assistant local reporter, and in June, 1880, he was promoted to the city editorship, which he resigned in Jan- uary, 1881, because of ill health. Aug. 1, 1884, he became city editor of the Weekly Budget, writing also numerous articles on industrial and historical subjects. In 1886, with F. H. Challis, he pur- chased the Budget, and with him started the pub- lication of the Daily Press and was its city editor. In 1889 he sold his interest to Mr. Challis, but continued in charge of the local department till early in 1891, when he accepted a position as assistant secretary of the board of trade, the secretary, E. J. Knowlton, having been elected mayor of the city. In May, 1891, Mr. Knowlton resigned and Mr. Eastman was unanimously elected secretary of the board, and has been re- elected each year since. During his term as
secretary the board has gained nearly a hundred members and now has the largest membership and occupies the finest headquarters of any such organization in New England outside of Boston. By a system of renting desk room, originating with Secretary Eastman, the expenses of the board are very much reduced. He is a Past Grand of Wildey Lodge, and a member of Mount Washington En- campment, I. O. O. F., United Order of Friends, United American Mechanics, and Amoskeag Grange, P. of H., president of the Manchester Press Club, treasurer of the Coon Club, an organ- ization of newspaper men of the state, and presi- dent of the Manchester Cadet Veteran Associa- tion. He married, Jan. 9, 1890, Nellie Clough Eaton, daughter of George E. and Lucinda (French) Eaton of Candia, N. H.
GOVERNMENT BUILDING, MANCHESTER.
HON. JAMES A. WESTON.
H ON. JAMES A. WESTON was born in what is now Manchester, Ang. 27, 1827. Ile was the lineal descendant of a family promi- nent and influential in the colonization of New England, his ancestors coming originally from Buckinghamshire, England, carly in the seven- teenth century. In 1622 John Weston and his brother-in-law, Richard Green, came to Wey- mouth, then called Wiscasset, and aided in the formation of a colony. In 1644 a son of John Weston, whose name also was John, concealing himself in an emigrant ship until well out at sca, obtained a passage to America and joined his relatives in Massachusetts. He finally settled in Reading, Mass., and became distinguished for his services in the administration of the colonial gov- ernment. From him sprang the lincagc to which the subject of this sketch belongs. Amos Weston, father of Jamcs A. Weston, was born in Reading, Mass., in 1791. Hc moved to New Hampshire in 1803 and settled in a section of Manchester which was formerly a part of Londonderry. Hc was a farmer, and was prominent in the management of the town's business and affairs. In 1814 hc mar- ried Miss Betsey Wilson, a daughter of Colonel Robert Wilson of Londonderry, and granddaughter of James Wilson, who came from Londonderry, Ireland, and was one of those indomitable Scotch- Irish whose courage, thrift, and persistency bccamc such a factor in the growth of the new colony. ยท The childhood and youth of James A. Weston were spent on his father's farm, and his cducation was obtained in the district schools and academies of Manchester. Hc mastered thoroughly the profession of civil engineering while engaged in teaching school in Londonderry and Manchester. In 1846, while only nineteen years of age, he was appointed assistant engineer of the Concord Rail- road, and in 1849 he was made chief engineer of that road. As chief engineer he superintended the construction of the Manchester & Candia and the Suncook Valley railroads. In 1854 he married Anna S. Gilmore of Concord, by whom he had six children : Herman, Grace Helen, James Henry, Edwin Bell, Annie Mabel, and Charles Albert Weston, all of whom survive except Hcrman.
In politics he was always a Democrat. In 1862 he was a candidate for mayor, but was de- feated. In the following year he was again a can- didate and was again defeated by only a few votes, but in 1867 he was elected mayor over Hon. Joseph B. Clark. In 1868 he was again the un- successful candidate, but was elected in 1870 and in 1871. While mayor he conferred lasting benefit upon the city by the establishment of a system of water-works. As ex-officio member of the board of water commissioners he was untiring in his efforts to hasten to completion the important un- dertaking. Hc continucd until his death a mem- ber of the board, giving to that body the best results of his forcsight and experience. In 1870, by the almost unanimous choice of his party, Mr.
THE WESTON RESIDENCE.
Weston became the nominee for governor. Therc was no election by the people, although he received a plurality of votes. He was chosen governor by the legislature, however, and in 1872 he was again the gubernatorial candidate against
I28
131
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
Hon. Ezekiel A. Straw, but was defeated. In 1873 he was also defeated by the same candidate. He ran the fourth time, and was far ahead of his opponent, Gen. Luther McCutchins. There was no choice by the people, however, and Gov. Weston was again elected by the legislature. He served as chairman of the New Hampshire Cen- tennial Commission, and was appointed by con- gress a member of the board of finance. He was also chairman of the building committee of the soldiers' monument. Upon the establishment of the state board of health he was elected a member as sanitary engineer, holding that position until his death. Mr. Weston was actively interested in the financial and charitable institutions of Man- chester. He was trustee of the Amoskeag Savings bank, and in 1877 he was elected president of the City National bank, which has since been changed to the Merchants' National bank. He was treas- urer and one of the trustees of the Guaranty Savings bank from its incorporation ; treasurer of the Suncook Valley railroad and one of the pro- moters and director of the Manchester Street railroad ; one of the incorporators of the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company and has always, with the exception of a few years, been its president. In 1880 the supreme court appointed him chairman of the board of trustees for the bondholders of the Manchester & Keene railroad. In 1864 he was elected treasurer of Trinity Com- mandery, a position which he thereafter held, and he was treasurer of the Elliot hospital for many years. In 1871 Dartmouth College conferred on him the degree of master of arts. Gov. Weston died May 8, 1895, beloved and mourned by the entire community. June 11, the Manchester board of trade took appropriate action upon his death, a committee consisting of Mayor Clarke and ex- Mayors Bartlett and Knowlton reporting a series of highly eulogistic resolutions which were unani- mously adopted. Upon this occasion also Gen. Bartlett delivered an eloquent and beautiful tribute to the memory of the deceased, concluding as follows :
Like the great mass of our native population, born in the first half of the present century, Governor Weston first saw the light upon a New Hampshire farm. It was there that his life
habits were formed -- there that the generous and noble impulses which he inherited from an honorable ancestry found full and free development - there that the characteristics of the typical American citizen found that safe and secure anchorage which no subsequent contact with adverse influences in after life could shake or disturb. New Hampshire owes much to her farm-born boys and her farm-nurtured youth. They have largely molded her character and given to her the honored name she bears and her broad and enviable fame which is the pride of every citizen, but few among them all have made larger individual donations to her prosperity and renown than he whose name we honor tonight. During all his long connection with most important and diversified business affairs and his most notable career in public life, no man has ever said that he ever bowed to tempta- tion - was ever swerved by opportunity or ever looked on duty with an interrogation point in his eye. His dollars, were they few or many, were honest dollars - not a soiled one, not a dishonest one among them. His liberal fortune represents the honest earnings of a busy life, and the legitimate appreciation of wise and conservative investments. He never sought riches by any attempt to turn other men's wealth into his own pocket by any cunning, craft, or over-reaching. If any illustration of the truism that honesty is the best policy was needed, James A. Weston supplied it.
The proprieties of this occasion admit of only general allu- sions to his prominent characteristics. A recital of the business enterprises alone, with which from first to last he has been asso- ciated, would involve the compilation of a very respectable busi- ness catalogue and it would not be confined to Manchester alone, but other sections of the state have been largely benefitted and their prosperity and development substantially enhanced by his enterprise and foresight. His broad comprehension and excellent judgment poise enabled him to participate in a large number of business concerns, widely diverse in character. with great profit to himself and his associates. Success smiled upon all his undertakings - failure knew him not. To everything of private or public concern in which he enlisted, his hand was helpful - his judgment an anchor of safety and his name a pillar of strength. Manchester, his home as a boy and man - ever loyal and generous to her favored son - often summoning him to the helm in her own affairs -repeatedly pressing him to the front in the broader arena of the state - trusting and con- fiding in him always and everywhere - never disappointed, never deceived,- Manchester comes to the front and joins hands with his kin of blood in this great sorrow ; a sorrow that falls upon every home and hearthstone within her borders with the force of a personal bereavement.
These few words of tribute are ill suited to a life so full of good works, so rich in noble example and so fruitful in inspira- tion to the busy world it touched in so many relations. But Governor Weston will live in the things he did and the results he accomplished, and not in what we say of him. In these he will live on though the closed eye and the sealed lip may never more respond to the solicitation of human fellowship. Not only to us, but to those who will succeed us. his noble life work will remain the proudest memorial to the memory of James A. Weston.
HON. HENRY W. BLAIR.
H ION. HENRY W. BLAIR, born in Camp- Campton farmer. He attended the district school ton Dec. 6, 1834, is the son of William winters, and in 1851, when sixteen years old, began attending Holmes' Plymouth Academy, where he was first drawn into political affairs, in schoolboy fashion, there being warm contention among the students in those days of sprouting abolitionism. After two terms at Plymouth he at- tended the New Hampshire Confer- enec Seminary one term. Henry and Lois (Baker) Blair, being a direct de- scendant of James Blair, one of the original settlers of Nutfield, famous as an eight-foot high giant whose supreme contempt for the red men and their warfare went a great way toward proteet- ing the people and property of London- derry. His fore- fathers were prom- inent in the siege of For a year begin- ning in 1853, the am- bitious young student worked at making picture frames at Sanbornton Bridge (now Tilton) to earn money to put him- self through college. The man he worked for failed, owing Blair his year's wages. The young man caught the measles and was siek a long time, almost unto death. Meanwhile he had kept up his connections at the seminary by active society membership, and in the fall of 1854 attended that HON. HENRY W. BLAIR. institution another term. The next year he took another term at Plymouth, all the time supporting himself by teaching and in other ways. old Londonderry. Mr. Blair's mother was the granddaugh- ter of Moses Baker of Candia, who was a king's surveyor in the early days and later a member of the famous commit- tee of safety of the Society of the Cin- einnati, and was a captain at the battle of Bennington and the siege of Boston. It is plain, therefore, that New Hamp- shire's honored Blair is descended from Revolutionary stock on both sides of the family, as well as from the solid Seoteh- Irish pioneers who made the wholesome beginning that has meant so much to this section of the country.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.