Chapter XIII: Part 13

Mr. Dearborn is a member of the Congregational church. His two children are sons. The older, John Eaton, born November, 1862, is acquiring a business education. The younger, George Van Ness, born August, 1869, is attending the public schools. His house is pleasantly situated on Main street, and is one of the desirable residences in the city. Still in the prime of life, his many friends have no reason to doubt that in the future, as in the past, he will be adequate to any responsibility which may devolve upon him.

COL. JOHN BRACEWELL, A. M.

BY REV. GEO. B. SPALDING, D. D.

The subject of this sketch was born June 18, 1837, in Clitheroe, England. Clitheroe is a busy cotton-manufacturing town on the Ribble, and in the greatest cotton-manufacturing district of the world, Lancashire.

The father, Miles Bracewell, from his early boyhood had been engaged in printing calico, having served his apprenticeship with James Thompson & Sons, who owned and managed the Primrose Print-Works. James Thompson was a famous manufacturer, his enterprise and liberality being known throughout Europe. For many years Miles Bracewell had charge of the "color department" in the Primrose Print-Works. He afterwards went into business for himself, and at the time of his death was the senior partner and principal owner of two print-works,--one at Oakenshaw and another at Kersal Vale.

It was while the father was in the service of James Thompson, that JOHN BRACEWELL, then a very small boy, was regularly apprenticed to this distinguished manufacturer. The institution of apprenticeship, in anything like its English thoroughness, is little practiced in this country. For a long period in England the term _apprentice_ was applied equally to such as were being taught a trade or a learned profession. The term of seven years was regarded as much a necessity for the learner in any craft, as for the scholar seeking to attain the degree of doctor, or master in the liberal arts. Although the laws which formerly made the apprenticeship compulsory have been abolished in England, yet the principle is universally recognized there in the form of a voluntary contract. Of its immense advantages in the way of securing the most thorough knowledge, and highest skill in the learner, no one can doubt. Mr. John Bracewell, who probably to-day holds the foremost place among those engaged in his business in this country, is a living argument for the excellence of the apprentice system. He began his tutelage as a lad. He began at the lowest round in the ladder of his advancement, and was long and rigidly held at each last until he could safely mount the higher one. There was a very superior French chemist employed in the Primrose Works, and no little of the boy's studies were under him.

When eighteen years of age, Mr. Bracewell had established such a reputation for proficiency in the mysteries of color that he was offered a fine position in a great carpet manufactory in France, but his father advised him to decline this flattering offer, feeling that the responsibility was too great for one so young. That subtle but irresistible influence which for so many years has been drawing such tides of population from Europe to America was already settling the question as to the country where this young man was to work out his great success. Only a month after he had declined to go to France, he received and accepted the offer of a position as assistant manager in the Merrimack Print-Works, Lowell, Mass. There he remained five years and a half, winning for himself a distinguished reputation by the energy and skill of his management. Certainly it argues some unusual qualities in his work while there, some extraordinary gifts and capacities in his nature, that could have led the Cocheco Manufacturing Company to call this young man of twenty-three years of age to its most responsible position, that of superintendent of its print-works. There were no less than thirteen applicants for this office. The directors, with entire unanimity, made choice of this youngest of them all, and gave to him the unlimited charge of the most important department of their great industry. Soon after entering upon his new duties, Mr. Bracewell took advantage of the suspension of work in the manufactory, made necessary at that period of the civil war, to enlarge his scientific knowledge by attending lectures on analytic chemistry at Harvard College. He studied with great thoroughness this science during a five months' course, and at the same time directed the many repairs and changes which were being made in the print-works at Dover. With the beginning of the year 1861, Mr. Bracewell took up his residence in Dover. The remarkable enterprise and judgment of the new manager made themselves at once felt. For just twenty years he continued in his position. These years witnessed a series of brilliant successes. He showed himself to be a genius in his profession. To his originating, creative mind he joins an unusual power of adapting to his own uses suggestions coming from whatever source. By his sheer abilities, his indomitable energy, his quickness of insight, his tireless perseverance, and his perfect command of the minute details of every branch of his work, Mr. Bracewell soon lifted the Cocheco goods to the very head of their class, and held them there to the last day of his service. The production of the print-works very nearly quadrupled during this period.

In 1864, Mr. Bracewell was married to Mary Harriet Hope, of Lowell, Mass., whose noble character death has made the more precious to many friends. There were born to them three daughters and one son, all of whom are living.

During Mr. Bracewell's residence in Dover he endeared himself to all classes of people by his large-hearted liberality, his great geniality, and his keen personal interest in whatever affected the welfare of the city or the condition of every individual in it. He was an ardent supporter of his church, which he greatly loved, and every good cause in the community. He was quick to suggest, and ready to lead any movement which was helpful to the material and moral advancement of Dover. With a view of benefiting the city, and also as a sound investment for his own advantage, Mr. Bracewell built, in 1879, a substantial and attractive block, consisting of nine stores, which spans the Cochecho river. It bids long to stand, a fitting monument of his public spirit and wise foresight.

Though born and educated an Englishman, he became an ardent, patriotic American citizen from the very day that he touched American soil. His pride and hopes for America are as intense as any native son's. His love for Dover is as tender and steadfast as though its air was the first he breathed. The church with which he first united, he still regards as his home. He long served her as a most efficient superintendent of its Sunday-school, and when he was about to remove his residence from Dover, out of a great desire to see the church freed from the burden of a debt of thirteen thousand dollars, Mr. Bracewell, by his payment of a tenth of the sum, led on others to such generous donations that the debt was speedily extinguished.

Mr. Bracewell may still be regarded as a New Hampshire son, and a citizen of Dover. His nature will not allow him to lose elsewhere the very great interest which twenty years' sojourn here has created in him. It may well be expected that he will some time return to permanently abide among friendships whose preciousness he and his host of friends so fully appreciate.

In January, 1881, Mr. Bracewell received an offer to go into business at North Adams, Mass., and as the physicians thought his wife's health would be better there than in Dover, he decided to make the change. The directors of the Cocheco Manufacturing Company, by offer of an increase of salary of from ten thousand to fifteen thousand dollars a year, and other inducements, sought to retain Mr. Bracewell in their employment; Mr. Bracewell, however, removed to North Adams, purchasing a third interest in the Freeman Manufacturing Company of that place, and the same success which was acquired in Dover has followed his abilities into the great business which he represents at North Adams. The Windsor calicoes, and other products of the Freeman Manufacturing Company, already stand in the market among the foremost of their class.

In 1877, Mr. Bracewell received the degree of Master of Arts from Dartmouth College,--a distinction well earned and worthily bestowed. During Gov. Prescott's term of office. Mr. Bracewell served as a member of his staff, with rank of colonel.

Mr. Bracewell's remarkable activity has not been shut into his business. The intensity of his nature comes out to an undiminished degree in his politics, his friendships, his public spirit, and his religious faith. His sympathies are quick and universal; his enthusiasms are communicative and inspiring; his affections are tender and loyal.

ALBERT H. HAYES.

Too many of the old homesteads of New Hampshire have gone to decay. Deserted and dilapidated buildings, decrepit fences, and unharvested crops of briers and weeds, where but a generation ago there were the homes of comfort, industry, and thrift, tell a sad story of what our state has done to supply the brain and brawn which have developed the resources of others. But now and then there is a farm which has not only been preserved, and made to retain its old-time attractions, but improved, beautified, and adorned, by liberal outlays dictated by good judgment and cultured taste, until it has become the envy of all who admire elegant buildings, fertile fields, and fine flocks and herds. Many of these are the property of men who grew up rugged, strong, and self-reliant among our hills, went out in early manhood in quest of greater opportunities than could be found or created at home, and, having won fortunes abroad, have loyally brought them back to the town of their nativity to rescue old firesides from irreverent ownership, to erect upon old sites modern mansions, to coax from an unwilling soil great crops, to furnish people with employment and courage, and to return in a hundred ways substantial thanks for the privilege of having been born in New Hampshire. Of this class is the Hayes farm in Alton, now owned by Dr. ALBERT H. HAYES, who has brought back, from the golden sands of the Pacific, the ample means which enable him to add to the natural attractions of his lakeside birthplace all that money can command in the creation and embellishment of a country home.

David Hayes, who was a sturdy farmer of Scotch descent and a native of Strafford, purchased and settled upon a farm in Alton about the year 1790. He had three sons and three daughters, and in time the oldest son, Joseph, succeeded him as the holder of the title to the farm. This son married Betsey Brewster, a daughter of George Brewster, of Wolfeborough, by whom he had eight children, of whom six still survive. The seventh was born September 6, 1836, and named Albert Hamilton. His parents were well to do and appreciated the value of an education, so that, as he grew up, while he did his share of the work on the farm, he had the advantage of the winter schools, and was afterwards sent to the academies at New Hampton and Northfield. At the age of twenty-one he had completed his studies at these institutions, and concluded that it was easier to buy farm produce than to raise it, and that a place containing more people and more money would suit him better than Alton, and, going to Boston, commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Abner Ham, of that city. Subsequently, he attended lectures at Columbia College in the District of Columbia, and graduated at a Pennsylvania university. Meantime he had served as a hospital surgeon in the army for two years, and in 1870, having acquired the necessary funds, made a prolonged European tour.

On returning to America, Dr. Hayes extended his travels through this country, and in 1874, with an eye to business and pleasure, went to California. Here he soon became acquainted with John W. Mackey, the Bonanza king, and other prominent financiers on the coast, and as a result formed a partnership with J. M. Walker, a former partner of Mackey, under the firm name of Hayes & Walker. As a member of this firm, and as an associate with Mackey, Mr. Hayes, during the next three years, did an extensive banking and brokerage business, handling a vast amount of money, and reaping handsome profits, which enabled him, a little later, to buy largely of the stock of the Bonanza mines, which were then pouring a steady stream of wealth into the laps of their owners. Becoming convinced that this would not continue, and that other mining properties were more desirable, he sold out his interest, and after a long investigation bought outright the Red-Hill gravel mines, in Trinity county, California. This purchase, which includes eleven hundred acres of land, in which are located seven mines, and extensive water rights, upon which in that country the value of a gold mine largely depends, makes Mr. Hayes the sole owner of by far the largest and most valuable mining property held by a single individual in the state of California, and establishes his place among the few who have been able to seize and hold the glittering prize for which so many have striven since the western slope began to yield its treasures.

While thus seeking his fortune elsewhere, Mr. Hayes has retained his residence in Alton and his lively interest in all that concerns the town and state. The homestead upon which he was born is his, and he makes it his home during the summer. He has expended a large amount in improving it, a barn costing fifteen thousand dollars being among the latest additions. When the house, which he has planned to match it, is erected, the establishment will be one of the finest in the state.

In 1876, 1877, and 1878, Dr. Hayes represented Alton in the legislature.

He married, in 1877, Jessie B. Benjamin, daughter of E. M. Benjamin, Esq., of San Francisco, a relative of Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisiana, and a lady of rare literary attainments and social accomplishments. Their only child--Lloyd Benjamin Hayes--was born May 21, 1880.

With so much success behind him, Mr. Hayes is still a young man, as cheery and active and energetic as when he first left New Hampshire. He has an extensive knowledge of the world, a wide circle of acquaintances among those who shape the politics and business of the country, and hosts of friends who have been won by his unfailing good nature, liberality, and courtesy. He is pledged, when he has done making money, to come back to New Hampshire and spend it.

HON. GEORGE COGSWELL, A. M., M. D.

BY JOHN CROWELL, M. D.

George Cogswell was born in the town of Atkinson, N. H., February 5, 1808. He came from that sturdy stock of ancestors whose history is so closely interwoven with the early life and enterprise of New England. In 1635, John Cogswell, a prosperous Englishman of good estate and standing, established a settlement in the town of Ipswich, now Essex, Mass., on a grant of three hundred acres of land, which have remained in the Cogswell name, in regular line, to the present time. His maternal ancestor was Giles Badger, who settled in Newbury, Mass., the same year. These families have been closely allied by marriage, and their descendants have been prominent in church and state, in medicine and in letters.

The father of the subject of this sketch, Dr. William Cogswell, was a medical practitioner of wide reputation, noted for his executive and judicial abilities. He was appointed chief surgeon of the military hospital at West Point during the Revolutionary war, closing his service in 1785, when he settled in Atkinson, N. H., practicing his profession until the close of his life, January 1, 1831. His mother was Judith Badger, daughter of Gen. Joseph Badger, Sen., of Gilmanton, N. H. She was a woman of great force of character, of devout piety and strong faith. When in her ninety-fourth year, after her earthly vision had become dim, the name of Jesus would light her face with a radiant glow of loving recognition. This devout woman united with the church in Atkinson in 1810, on which interesting occasion her husband and their three oldest children joined her in the act of consecration; and on the same day their six younger children were baptized by the pastor, Rev. Stephen Peabody. The youngest of these nine children died in infancy. All of the remaining eight became professors of religion, and lived to a good old age, in the enjoyment of the honors and dignities of the high official trusts committed to them. Of this large family, the subject of this sketch alone survives (1882), vigorous in his threescore years and ten, and actively engaged in the discharge of the duties of his several official trusts.

Dr. George Cogswell received his preliminary education at Atkinson Academy, where his love for scientific investigation soon became manifest. He commenced the study of medicine with his father, whose wise instruction and safe counsel did much to shape the future career of the aspiring student. In his desire for a wider culture in the line of his chosen profession, he became a private student to Reuben D. Mussey. M. D., L.L. D., and for two years enjoyed the instruction of this distinguished lecturer on anatomy and surgery. Early in 1830, he became a pupil of John D. Fisher, M. D., of Boston, who, at that time, was the most noted auscultator in New England. Dr. Fisher showed his confidence in his ambitious student by giving him the main practical charge of the House of Industry, at that time located in South Boston. The grateful pupil held the most intimate relations with his distinguished teachers during their lives.

In 1830 he was graduated Doctor of Medicine from Dartmouth College, with the honors of his class, and the same college conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts in 1865.

Dr. Cogswell at once commenced the practice of his profession in Bradford, Mass., in August, 1830, and soon entered into a large and successful business. He brought to his work the discipline of hard and intelligent study, and his great desire was to advance the standard of medical practice in Essex county. He was the first physician in "Essex North" who made intelligent use of auscultation and percussion in the diagnosis of disease.

In his desire for a wider knowledge in the range of his profession, especially in the line of surgery, he visited Europe in the fall of 1841, spending the succeeding winter in visiting the hospitals of Paris, and in attending the lectures of the distinguished men who at that time had attained a position in medical science surpassing, in point of investigation and practical analysis, that of any other city. In the following spring he visited the principal cities of Italy, and for a while studied in the hospitals of London. On his return to Bradford he at once resumed the practice of his profession. He boldly and successfully attempted capital operations in surgery, and became the leading surgical operator and consulting physician for a large circuit. He fitted up a well appointed dissecting-room, and the advantages of his instruction were sought by many students, who can attest to the thoroughness of his teaching, especially in the department of surgical anatomy. His knowledge of technical anatomy was quite remarkable, and sometimes his students would contrive a plot to "stump" the "old doctor" by an intricate quizzing upon some obscure nerve or vessel. The attempt always proved futile; but the cunning students did not enjoy the fire of questions that followed from their teacher, who all too easily perceived the "soft impeachment." The term "old doctor" was applied by the students before their preceptor was thirty years old. In 1844, Dr. Cogswell was offered a professorship in the medical department of one of the leading colleges of New England, which he declined.

He early manifested his interest in the elevation of the standard of medical practice, by suggesting to his professional brethren the importance of a local organization, and through his efforts the Essex North Medical Association was formed, composed of the leading physicians in the northern portion of the county. This society has had a vigorous growth, and is now merged into the Massachusetts Medical Society, under the title of the "Essex North District Medical Society." Although retired from active practice, he retains his membership in this society, and regularly attends the quarterly meetings, participating in the scientific and practical discussions, and manifesting a lively interest in the success of the younger members.

Dr. Cogswell has been called upon to fill many positions of responsibility and trust; and since he retired from the active duties of professional life his whole time has been absorbed in the transaction of business of a public and private nature. He was elected president of the Union Bank in Haverhill, Mass., at its organization, in 1849, and was elected to the same office when that institution became the First National Bank, in 1864, which position he still retains. For many years he has been vice-president of the Haverhill Savings Bank, and was for a time a successful railroad president.

He was an active member of the Chapman-Hall meeting in Boston, which organized the Republican party in Massachusetts, with which party he has ever been in full accord. In 1852 he was a member of the electoral college of Massachusetts, which gave the vote of the state for Gen. Winfield Scott; and also a member of the college of 1864, which gave the vote of the state for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. He was a delegate from the sixth district of Massachusetts to the Chicago convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for president in 1860. In 1858 and 1859, he was a member of the executive council of Massachusetts, with Nathaniel P. Banks as governor. In 1862 he was appointed, by President Lincoln, collector of internal revenue for the sixth district of Massachusetts. After holding this office for four years, he was removed by President Johnson, without cause; but was again appointed to the same office by President Grant, in 1870, which position he held until 1875, when this district was consolidated with two other districts. This was one of the largest and most important paying districts in the country, and under the administration of Dr. Cogswell its affairs were conducted with marked efficiency, and with absolute correctness.

Dr. Cogswell has always taken a deep interest in educational matters, and he has given some of his best service to the management of important schools. He has been, for a long time, a trustee of Atkinson Academy, and is also a trustee of the Peabody Academy of Science, in Salem, Mass. But the crowning work of his life in the department of education has been in connection with Bradford Academy. For nearly fifty years he has been a trustee of this famous school, and during most of this time has had the entire management of its financial affairs. His efficiency in this work is best illustrated by the success of the school in all its departments. The splendid appointments of this academy for the higher education of young ladies, the ample grounds, the perfection of the school edifice, the excellence of the teachers, and the scope of its curriculum, give it a prominence and a power not excelled by any similar institution in the land. It may be safely estimated that Dr. Cogswell, by his long connection with this, the oldest school for young ladies in the country, has had a wider personal experience in matters of internal management, in consultation with teachers, and in advising with reference to pupils, than any man connected with an institution of this character; and he has the pleasure, with his associate trustees, of seeing this school, by the generosity and interest of its many friends, placed upon an enduring foundation. He was elected, in 1869, a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is also a member of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society.

In the great reforms that have occurred during the last half-century, Dr. Cogswell has given his influence by judicious advice and consistent example. He commenced active life with the temperance movement, and by precept and example has ever advanced the cause. He was also an ardent supporter of the anti-slavery movement from the beginning of that great controversy.

Dr. Cogswell is evangelical in his religious convictions, and has never departed from the traditions of his ancestors. In 1831 he became, by profession, a member of the First Parish Congregational church in Bradford, and has always been identified with its growth and prosperity.

In 1860 he assisted in forming the "Haverhill Monday Evening Club," a private organization limited to twenty-five members. This club is composed of gentlemen of literary tastes, residing in Haverhill and Bradford, and the meetings afford delightful recreation in the discussion of literary, scientific, and social topics. This is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Massachusetts, and its unique character has suggested similar organizations in many neighboring cities.

In 1831 he married Abigail Parker, daughter of Peter Parker, Esq., of East Bradford, now Groveland. Her ancestors were noted for intellectual ability and force of character. She was born September 6, 1808, and died July 23, 1845. The children of this marriage are as follows:--

Abby Parker, born September 25, 1832; graduated at Bradford Academy; married Hon. George F. Choate, judge of probate and insolvency of the county of Essex, Mass., October 20, 1869.

George Badger, born September 15, 1834; fitted for college under the tuition of Benjamin Greenleaf, and at Gilmanton Academy; entered Dartmouth College in 1851; followed the sea before the mast from 1853 to 1855, sailing up the Mediterranean, and around the world. In the winter of 1855-56 he attended Harvard Medical School, and graduated as M. D. from Dartmouth College in 1857; from 1857 to 1859, was resident physician in charge of the state almshouse at Bridgewater, Mass. He settled in North Easton in 1860, where he now resides, enjoying a large and successful practice; was surgeon of the Twenty-Ninth Massachusetts regiment during the war; was on the staff of Gen. Wilcox as acting medical inspector of the ninth army corps, and for two months was incarcerated in Libby prison; medical director of Massachusetts Department, G. A. R., in 1874 and 1875. He received the honorary degree of A. M. from Dartmouth College in 1880. He married Catherine Babson Brown, of Bradford, February 18, 1858.

William Wilberforce, born January 22, 1837; died August 5, 1837.

William, born August 23, 1838. He fitted for college at Phillips (Andover) and Kimball Union academies; entered Dartmouth College in 1856; made a voyage around the world, before the mast, in 1856 and 1857, doubling Cape Horn and Cape of Good Hope; graduated at Harvard Law School in 1860, and admitted to the practice of law the same year; entered the United States military service in 1861, as captain of volunteers; promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1862, to colonel in 1863, and brevet brigadier-general in 1864; discharged from service July 28, 1865; commander of the post at Atlanta during its occupation by Gen. Sherman's army; was under Banks in Shenandoah valley, Pope in Virginia, McClellan at Antietam, Hooker at Chancellorsville, Sherman at Chattanooga, Atlanta, Savannah, Raleigh, and at the final surrender; commander Massachusetts Department, G. A. R., 1870; senior vice-commander United States military order, Loyal Legion, of Massachusetts, 1870; was four times wounded, once severely. He now resides in Salem, Mass., and was mayor of that city from 1867 to 1869, and from 1872 to 1873, inclusive; member of the house of representatives in 1871 and 1872, and in 1881 and 1882. He married, June 20, 1865, Emma Thorndike Proctor, who died April 1, 1877. He was again married December 12, 1881, to Eva M. Davis, of Salem. Dartmouth College conferred on him the honorary degree of A. M. in 1878.

Sarah Parker, born March 23, 1843; graduated at Bradford Academy. In 1871 she made an extended tour in Europe, in company with her brother-in-law, Judge Choate.

In 1846, Dr. Cogswell married Elisabeth Doane, youngest daughter of Hon. Elisha Doane, of Yarmouth. Judge Doane was a man distinguished for wisdom and exactness, belonging to one of the most respected and cultivated families on Cape Cod. The following are the children of this marriage:--

Elisha Doane and Susan Doane, born September 22, 1847. Susan died November 29, 1847; Elisha died April 6, 1850.

Doane, born April 29, 1851; graduated at Phillips Academy, Andover, and at Dartmouth College in the class, of 1874; studied medicine two years at Harvard Medical School; is now extensively engaged in agriculture, on one of the largest farms in Essex County.

Caroline Doane, born August 2, 1852; graduated at Bradford Academy; and in 1878 visited the most interesting portions of England, Scotland, and the continent of Europe.

In 1878. Dr. Cogswell made his second visit to Europe, and was at the World's Fair, in Paris, during that year. He included in his travels the mountains and lakes of Switzerland, and portions of Germany, Belgium, and Holland. He also visited the rural districts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, giving much attention to the agricultural capabilities and resources of the countries through which he passed, and manifesting, at the age of seventy, the same enthusiasm in all objects of interest that characterized his former visit, thirty-six years before.

Amid his multiplied cares and duties, Dr. Cogswell has found time to devote no little attention to agriculture; and his broad acres, on the sunny slope of "Riverside," give evidence of successful labor. There, amid the rural retirement of his country home, he passes the summer months of his green old age, with his delightful family, receiving his friends with the easy, cordial grace of old-time hospitality. His interest in all that relates to the welfare of the people among whom he has lived for half a century remains unabated. The public schools, the intellectual and social life of the town, improvements in agriculture, and the dignity and proprieties of local management,--all claim his attention and enlist his co-operation; and to him belongs the noble prestige of the honored and beloved fellow-citizen.

"His prosperous labor fills
The lips of men with honest praise;
And, sun by sun, the happy days
Descend below the golden hills."

HON. CHARLES A. PEABODY.

Hon. Charles. A. Peabody, of New York city, was born in Sandwich, in Strafford (now Carroll) county, N. H., on the 10th day of July, A. D. 1814, and was the son of Samuel and Abigail Peabody, who were natives of Boxford, Essex county, Mass. His paternal grandfather was Richard Peabody, of Boxford, an officer in the war of the Revolution, who had a command at Ticonderoga and elsewhere. His mother, whose maiden name was Wood, was the daughter of Jonathan Wood, also of Boxford. His maternal grandmother's name was Hale. Her family claimed to be descended from a branch of the family of Sir Matthew Hale. On his father's side he is descended from Welsh ancestry. The name of Peabody (as tradition of heraldry has it) is composed of two words,--_pea_, meaning mountain, and _boadie_, meaning man,--and signifies mountain man, or man of the mountains. It was first borne by a chieftain of a clan in the mountains of Wales. After the battle between Nero and Boadicea, about the year 61, the Queen's forces, although routed, refused to surrender, and such of them as escaped the sword of the Romans fled to the mountains, and there maintained a wild independence under a chieftain, who, from that fact, acquired the name of Peabody, or man of the mountains.

The father of our subject, who was a lawyer of fine talents, and much respected as a gentleman of high moral and social qualities and much general culture, was graduated from Dartmouth College in the class of 1803. He was a college-mate of Daniel Webster and Ezekiel the cherished brother, whose name Daniel desired always to have associated with his own. An intimacy between himself and Ezekiel, contracted in college, continued throughout their lives. He lived and practiced law in Sandwich, Epsom, and Tamworth, N. H., at different periods of his life; and, after retiring from business, moved to Andover, Mass., in his native county, for the better education of his younger children, about 1843, where he died in 1859. His wife survived him, and died at Andover in 1872.

The subject of this sketch--the oldest of ten children--was educated partly by private tuition at his father's house, partly in Massachusetts, and partly in the classical schools (academies) in the northern part of New Hampshire,--at Wolfeborough, Gilford, Sanbornton (now Tilton), and Gilmanton. He fitted for college with the intention of entering Dartmouth, the _alma mater_ of his father. Failure of health at the critical time defeated that purpose, however, and had almost unlimited control over his movements and destiny for a time much longer than the term of a college course. In the years 1832 and 1833 he lived most of the time in Beverly, Mass., where he taught and studied as health and circumstances permitted. In 1834 he went to Baltimore, attracted by advantages of climate over northern New Hampshire, and the greater facilities afforded there for his temporary occupation of teaching, by which to support himself and render needed pecuniary aid in the education of younger members of the family. There he pursued the study of law in the office of Nathaniel Williams, at that time attorney of the United States for the district of Maryland. He remained in Maryland a little more than two years, when he returned to New England and entered the law school of Harvard University. He remained there until 1839, when he went, in November of 1839, to the city of New York, where he has since resided. There he entered an office as a student, introduced by the late Rufus Choate, of Boston. But he soon commenced business as a practitioner at the bar. In 1846 he married Julia Caroline Livingston, daughter of James Duane Livingston, of the city of New York.

Mr. Peabody continued the practice of law in the city of New York, taking no active part in politics, but always observing with interest the course of events in the general government, and especially those connected with slavery and the slave power. He was an unconditional Whig, and his residence at the South in early life had given him such knowledge of slavery, in its effect on the slave, the owner, the free population, white and colored, and on general prosperity, that he early formed very positive opinions concerning it and its very great evils. On this, as on all other subjects, he was conservative and temperate in his opinions and feelings, taking no part in extravagant denunciations of those engaged in it, but always deprecating such courses as being, to his mind, not only inexpedient and unwise, but also unjust. With the strongest possible convictions against slavery on all grounds, moral and economic, he counseled moderation in the treatment of it. He was ever opposed to intemperate agitation, as tending to no good, but liable to lead to great evil. He was for years prior to the formation of the Republican party an active member of the Union Safety committee in New York, a body of conservative gentlemen of the highest character, organized to repress acrimonious treatment of the subject, as tending to alienate the different sections of the country, and to imperil the peace and possibly the integrity of the nation.

When the Republican party was organized, adopting as its principles on the subject of slavery that it might remain undisturbed where it then existed, but should on no condition be extended into territory where it did not then exist, he accepted those views as the best terms for freedom to be obtained peaceably, and perhaps the best the lovers of freedom were warranted under the constitution in demanding. In 1855 he was a member of the convention which organized the Republican party of the state of New York. In the same year he was the candidate of the Republican party for election as justice of the supreme court of the state, to succeed Robert H. Morris, but his party was in the minority. In the same year (1855) he was appointed, by the governor of the state, justice of the supreme court, as the successor of Henry P. Edwards, deceased. In 1856 he was appointed justice of the supreme court of the state to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of James R. Whiting. In 1857 he was again the candidate of the Republican party for justice of the supreme court, but the party was not sufficiently strong to elect him. He served on the bench of the supreme court the terms for which he was appointed, and received more than the votes of his party at the times he was nominated for election.

While serving as justice of the supreme court, and when his term in that court was about to expire, he was offered, by the governor, the appointment of city judge. This would have made him judge of the court of general sessions, the principal criminal court of the city, having jurisdiction of cases of the highest class. This appointment he did not accept. In 1858 he was appointed, by the governor of New York, commissioner of quarantine, to succeed Ex-Gov. Horatio Seymour, with authority to abolish the then present station and erect a new one elsewhere, as the commission might decide. His associates in this commission were men of the highest character, and the commission was one of importance at the time,--just after the quarantine buildings had been destroyed by a terror-stricken mob, and the wildest fears that contagious diseases might be transmitted from such a station had taken possession of many minds.

In 1862 he was appointed, by Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, judge of the United States Provisional Court for the state of Louisiana. This court was called into existence by the necessities of the federal government in respect to its foreign relations, after the conquest of New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana by the army of the United States, during the late war of the rebellion, and while that territory was held in military occupation. A large part of the population of New Orleans and Louisiana was persons of foreign birth and allegiance, having claims on their respective governments for the protection of their rights. Those governments, when appealed to, made demands through their ministers, resident at Washington, on the government of the United States, and the number and importance of these claims had become so great that the state department was much embarrassed by them. Mr. Seward, secretary of state, had been more than half his time since the conquest occupied by them, and they had, in some instances, assumed such proportions as to threaten seriously the relations of the government with foreign powers. In this condition of things it was resolved to constitute a tribunal which should be empowered to decide all these questions, and keep them from the department. Accordingly, the government resolved to establish a court at New Orleans, which should have power to hear and determine every question which could possibly arise out of human transactions, and to make the decisions of that court conclusive of the rights of all parties. To effect that purpose, the following order was made by the President of the United States:--

EXECUTIVE ORDER,

ESTABLISHING A PROVISIONAL COURT IN LOUISIANA.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, }
WASHINGTON, October 20, 1862. }

The insurrection which has for some time prevailed in several of
the states of this Union, including Louisiana, having
temporarily subverted and swept away the civil institutions of
that state, including the judiciary and the judicial authorities
of the Union, so that it has become necessary to hold the state
in military occupation; and it being indispensably necessary
that there shall be some judicial tribunal existing there
capable of administering justice, I have, therefore, thought it
proper to appoint, and I do hereby constitute, a Provisional
Court, which shall be a court of record for the state of
Louisiana, and I do hereby appoint Charles A. Peabody, of New
York, to be a provisional judge to hold said court, with
authority to hear, try, and determine all causes, civil and
criminal, including causes in law, equity, revenue, and
admiralty, * * * his judgment to be final and conclusive. And I
do hereby authorize and empower the said judge to make and
establish such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the
exercise of his jurisdiction, and to appoint a prosecuting
attorney, marshal, and clerk of the said court, who shall
perform the functions of attorney, marshal, and clerk, according
to such rules and regulations as may be made and established by
said judge. * * * A copy of this order, certified by the
Secretary of War, and delivered to such judge, shall be deemed
and held to be a sufficient commission. Let the seal of the
United States be hereunto affixed.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, _Secretary of State_.

The powers conferred by this order, it will be seen, are as great as can be conferred by sovereignty itself,--"to hear, try, and determine all causes, civil and criminal, including causes in law, equity, revenue, and admiralty, * * * his judgment to be final and conclusive." Under this commission, Judge Peabody proceeded to organize his court by appointing his prosecuting attorney, marshal, and clerk. Thus organized in New York, the court proceeded, by government transport, to New Orleans, and commenced business. It was immediately filled with causes of the first magnitude, and continued throughout its existence to attract almost all of that class of business. The court held that it had jurisdiction not only of cases originating in it, but that it had power to review on appeal cases originating in other courts. It also ordered causes pending and undecided in other courts transferred to itself, and there decided and ended them. A cause pending in the circuit court of the United States, on appeal from the district court of the United States, was transferred by order of this court and decided. (The Grapeshot. 9 Wallace 129). Mr. Seward, as he and Chief-Justice Chase were dining with Judge Peabody, speaking of the supreme court of the United States, said for the ear of the chief-justice: "His court has some power in time of peace, no doubt, but none in time of war. It is limited to a small class of cases, and in those usually to appellate jurisdiction, and in all cases it is bound by law prescribed for its guidance; in none of which respects was Peabody's court under any limitation;" and (turning to Judge Peabody) he added: "Why, Peabody, all the power of his court is not a circumstance to what you had in Louisiana."

The executive department of this court was no less remarkable than its jurisdiction. The marshal had at his command, by order of the departments of war and navy, all needed aid from the army and navy. A personal escort of soldiers as large as needed on land, and transports and gunboats on water, were always at his disposal, and nothing was needed beyond the exhibition of the process of the court to command their services. Escorts of a thousand and more cavalry were in the service of the marshal at times, and similar facilities were afforded by the gunboats and transports on the rivers, bayous, and lakes of that aqueous state. Even private commercial vessels plying on the Mississippi river and other waters of the state were, by order of the war department, compelled to stop and take on board any deputy of the marshal, at any place where he should demand it by showing his signal, and to stop and land him wherever he demanded it. This they were required to do at all places, however exposed, and where vessels were not otherwise allowed to land for business purposes, on account of exposure to the enemy. The relief to the department of state was complete; for from the time the court commenced business nothing was heard there of controversies which had burdened and alarmed the department previously, and the success of the court in other respects was equally complete, commanding the respect and confidence of the community,--the disloyal as well as the loyal. This office he resigned in 1865, and the court was terminated in July, 1866, on his recommendation, by an act of congress.

In 1862, to meet an emergency, and to avoid having the business of that court interrupted by business of a different character, he was appointed judge of a criminal court in New Orleans, in which for several months he dispensed all the criminal justice administered in the city of New Orleans and the part of Louisiana held by the federal army, excepting only capital cases, which were always tried in the more dignified court held by him. In 1863, while holding the United States provisional court, he was appointed chief-justice of the supreme court of Louisiana,--the appellate court of last resort. In 1865 he was appointed, by the President of the United States and confirmed by the senate, attorney for the United States for the eastern district of Louisiana. That office he declined to accept, and he returned to the practice of his profession in New York as soon as he felt at liberty to retire from the United States provisional court.

In 1870 he was nominated by the Republican party for surrogate of the county of New York, on which occasion he was not elected; but he ran many thousands of votes ahead of his ticket, and lacked less than thirteen thousand of an election, while the majority against the ticket generally, which was headed by Gen. John A. Dix for mayor, himself an honored son of New Hampshire, was more than fifty-four thousand.

He is now, and has been since its organization many years ago, a member of the "Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations," an association, as its name imports, devoted to the advancement of the law governing nations in their intercourse with each other, composed of publicists and advanced students of the science of government from nearly every nation of Europe, and from some of the most enlightened nations of Asia, as well as America. In the proceedings of that body he has taken an active part, attending its meetings, which occur annually, and are held in the different cities of Europe, as Ghent, Geneva, the Hague, Bremen, Antwerp, London, Berne, Frankfort-on-the-Maine, Cologne, Liverpool. He has always been a member of the executive committee, and is now vice-president of the association for the United States, in which office he succeeds Charles Francis Adams and the late Reverdy Johnson. He has traveled extensively in Europe, having visited it frequently in the summer vacations of business, and last year (1881), after attending the congress of the Association for the Reform of the Law of Nations, at Cologne, he attended an International Geographical congress at Venice, as a delegate from the American Geographical Society. He is now pursuing his profession in New York, as he has always done since he commenced there, except for the times he has been acting as judge.

In his religious preferences he is Episcopalian. While living in New Orleans, in 1863, 1864, and 1865, he was a member of the vestry of Christ church there, and he has been for many years, and now is, senior warden of Christ church, North Conway, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Judge Peabody has married twice. The first time, as before stated, to Julia Caroline Livingston, daughter of James Duane Livingston, of the city of New York, the mother of his children. His second marriage was to Maria E. Hamilton, with whom he is now living. This lady, daughter of John C. Hamilton, is a grand-daughter of Alexander Hamilton, the favorite aid and trusted counselor of General Washington in the Revolutionary war, the first secretary of the treasury of the United States, the organizer of that department, and in large measure of the government of the United States.

By his first marriage he had five children, who are now living,--four sons and one daughter. His sons are all graduates of college and professional schools. Three of them are lawyers, one is a physician, and all reside in the city of New York. One of them bears the name of Glendower (Philip Glendower), after the Welsh chieftain, Owen Glendower, in recognition of the Welsh origin of the family.

As has been said, Judge Peabody was the oldest of ten children, having had five brothers and four sisters, all natives of New Hampshire. Of his brothers, only one survives with him, Dr. William F. Peabody, of San Francisco, a doctor of medicine, a biographical sketch of whom should form a part of this volume. Dr. Peabody was for a time Professor of Languages in Mount Hope College, Baltimore, following thither his older brother while the latter was teaching and studying his profession there. The Doctor studied his profession in Baltimore, and practiced there for a time; but in the very early days of California emigration removed thither, where he still resides, commanding much respect as a gentleman of high moral and social character and much literary taste, as well as an able physician. Two of his brothers, George B. Peabody and Enoch W. Peabody, after the subject of this sketch, the pioneer of the family, had located in New York, became shipmasters of distinction in the "old" or "Black Ball" line of Liverpool packets sailing from New York, in the days when those ships were the pride of the nation, and the command of one was equivalent to a certificate of the highest character for efficiency and reliable qualities. Of the sisters, three survive and live in Andover, Mass., the last place of residence of their parents.

NOTE.--Judge Peabody's judicial life has been sufficiently
varied and uncommon to attract remark. He has been twice justice
of the supreme court of the state of New York, by appointment of
the governor, and was offered a place on the bench of another
court, which he did not accept; he has been appointed judge of
three different courts by the federal government of the United
States; he has been three times the nominee and candidate of his
party for other judicial places,--twice for the bench of the
supreme court of the state of New York, and once for surrogate
of the city and county of New York.

GILMAN CHENEY.

The postal, passenger, and express cars, representing respectively government, corporate, and private enterprise, constitute a trinity which has annihilated space and made possible the business progress of the last fifty years. The third is the creature of a few men, among whom the Cheney brothers of New Hampshire are most conspicuous.

Their grandfather, Deacon Tristram Cheney, was one of the early settlers of Antrim, he having come from Dedham, Mass., in 1769, and located near the Hillsborough line. His son Jesse, who married, first, Miss Blanchard, of West Deering, and, afterwards, Deborah Winchester, of Hillsborough, located his homestead near Cork Ridge, on what is known as the Dimond Dodge place, where there were born to him nine children, of whom Benjamin P., James S., and Gilman are the three who have made "Cheney's Express" a familiar phrase in every city and village in New England and Canada.

Gilman was the fifth child. He was born January 25, 1822, and until he was eighteen years of age worked at farming in the vicinity of his native town. At that age he had a little knowledge of books, a strong constitution, and an abundant stock of courage and ambition, with which he left home to make a place for himself in the business world. For the next ten years he was slowly gathering capital, experience, and knowledge of men and things in the cotton-mills of Nashua, Newburyport, and Manchester; and, while filling his place to the satisfaction of his employers, he could not find there the opportunity he wished, and, in search of a wider and more promising field for action, went to California. Here he crowded three years very full of adventure and business success, and then returned to assist his brothers in extending the express system, which was then in its infancy. He was assigned to the Canadian division, and, establishing his headquarters at Montreal, he gave himself heartily to the work, and has since been thoroughly identified with the enterprise. His position is that of superintendent of the Canadian Express Company, which covers the territory and controls the express business between Detroit, Mich., and the seaboard at Portland, Halifax, and St. John's, and also an ocean route by the Allan line of steamships to Europe. He is also largely interested in the American and Wells & Fargo express companies.