Chapter II: Part 2

Col. Kent was an active member of the organization known as the "Governor's Horse-Guards," which was formed for parade on the occasion of the annual inauguration of the governor, in which he held the office of major in 1860, and rode as colonel in 1863, 1864, and 1865.

In his association with, and labor for, the Republican party, Col. Kent was actuated by his opposition to the institution of slavery, which he regarded as prejudicial to the republic. He maintained his convictions earnestly, yet candidly, in his paper and on the stump. But after the war and the downfall of slavery, he favored the burial of past issues and sectional bitterness, and the restoration of fraternal relations, as essential to the general prosperity of the country. Regarding the policy of the administration as inimical to such result, he was unable to sustain it. He therefore disposed of his paper, which as a party organ he could not conscientiously carry to the opposition, and engaged in the development and organization of the Liberal movement, which resulted in the Cincinnati convention and the nomination of Horace Greeley for president in 1872. He participated in that convention, and was a member of the National and chairman of the State Liberal Republican committee in 1872 and 1873. In 1873 the Liberals ran an independent state ticket, but united with the Democracy on a common platform in 1874. The resolutions of the Liberal convention, announcing such purpose, were presented in the Democratic convention by Col. Kent, whose appearance and announcement elicited strong demonstrations of enthusiasm in that body. The campaign thus opened, ended in the election of a Democratic governor and legislature,--a result to which the earnest labors of Col. Kent largely contributed. In recognition of his efficient services, as well as acknowledged ability, he was accorded the Democratic congressional nomination in the third district in 1875, and again in 1877 and 1878. In each of the attendant canvasses, he spoke continuously, and ran largely ahead of his party vote, especially in his own town and vicinity. In all subsequent campaigns Col. Kent has heartily devoted his energies to the furtherance of Democratic principles, and has been active upon the stump in New Hampshire and outside the state, and always with numerous calls and large audiences.

Col. Kent is now fully engaged in the direction of his business concerns, which furnish an ample field for his energies and talent; yet he has in no degree abated his interest in public and political affairs. As has been said, he has given earnest encouragement to all enterprises calculated to promote the material welfare and prosperity of his section. In the advancement of educational interests he has also been earnestly engaged. He is a trustee and chairman of the executive committee of the corporation of Lancaster Academy, and is also a trustee of Norwich University, and president of the "Associated Alumni and Past Cadets" of that institution. In 1875 he addressed the Associated Alumni at their reunion, and in 1876, by request, delivered an address at commencement which for its eloquence and patriotic sentiments secured hearty and general commendation. He was, last year, one of the corporators of the Yorktown Centennial Association, named by the legislature of Virginia. He has long been prominent in the Masonic order, having passed the chair in North Star Lodge at Lancaster, and frequently been district deputy grand master. In 1868 and 1869 he was grand commander of the order of Knights Templars and appendant orders for the jurisdiction of New Hampshire. In 1880 he was made the recipient of a past masters badge of solid gold, from the Masons of his section.

Col. Kent was married, in Boston, January 11, 1859, to Berenice A. Rowell. They have two children, a daughter,--Berenice Emily,--born October 31, 1866, and a son,--Henry Percy,--born March 8, 1870. His religious associations are with the Episcopal church, and he is, with his family, a regular attendant upon the service of St. Paul's at Lancaster.

Of fine presence, genial and courteous manners, and strong personal magnetism, public spirited, generous, and obliging, his popularity in his section is great, as is evidenced by the large vote which he always receives when his name is upon the ticket, in his own town. Still young, endowed with strong mental powers, well known as a writer and public speaker, ambitious and courageous, it is fair to presume that he will yet attain still greater prominence and usefulness in public and private life.

_PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITES STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY._

Portrait taken at the age of seventy.]

MARSHALL P. WILDER, PH. D.

BY JOHN WARD DEAN, A. M.,

Librarian of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society.

There are few men in our community whose lives afford as striking an example of what can be achieved by concentration of power and unconquerable perseverance as does that of Col. WILDER. The bare enumeration of the important positions he has held, and still holds, and the self-sacrificing labors he has performed is abundant evidence of the extraordinary talent and ability, and the personal power and influence, which have enabled him to take a front rank as a benefactor to mankind.

MARSHALL PINCKNEY WILDER, whose christian names were given in honor of Chief-Justice Marshall and General Pinckney, eminent statesmen at the time he was born, was the oldest son of Samuel Locke Wilder, Esq., of Rindge, N. H., and was born in that town, September 22, 1798. His father, a nephew of the Rev. Samuel Locke, D.D., president of Harvard College, for whom he was named, was thirteen years a representative in the New Hampshire legislature, a member of the Congregational church in Rindge and held important town offices there. His mother, Anna, daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Crombie) Sherwin, (married May 2, 1797,) a lady of great moral worth, was, as her son is, a warm admirer of the beauties of nature.

The Wilders are an ancient English family, which the "Book of the Wilders," published a few years ago, traces to Nicholas Wilder, a military chieftain in the army of the Earl of Richmond at the battle of Bosworth, 1485. There is strong presumptive evidence that the American family is an offshoot from this. President Chadbourne in his life of Col. Wilder, and the author of the "Book of the Wilders," give reasons for this opinion. The paternal ancestors of Col. Wilder in this country performed meritorious services in the Indian wars, in the American revolution, and in Shays' rebellion. His grandfather was one of the seven delegates from the county of Worcester, in the Massachusetts convention of 1788, for ratifying the constitution of the United States, who voted in favor of it. Isaac Goodwin, Esq., in the Worcester Magazine, Vol. II. page 45, bears this testimony: "Of all the ancient Lancaster families, there is no one that has sustained so many important offices as that of Wilder."

At the age of four Marshall was sent to school, and at twelve he entered New Ipswich Academy, his father desiring to give him a collegiate education, with reference to a profession. When he reached the age of sixteen, his father gave him the choice, either to qualify himself for a farmer, or for a merchant, or to fit for college. He chose to be a farmer; and to this choice may we attribute in no small degree the mental and physical energy which has distinguished so many years of his life. But the business of his father increased so much that he was taken into the store. He here acquired such habits of industry that at the age of twenty-one he became a partner, and was appointed postmaster of Rindge.

In 1825, he sought a wider field of action and removed to Boston. Here he began business under the firm name of Wilder & Payson, in Union street, then as Wilder & Smith, in North Market street, and next in his own name, at No. 3, Central wharf. In 1837 he became a partner in the commission house of Parker, Blanchard, & Wilder, Water street, next Parker, Wilder, & Parker, Pearl street, and now Parker, Wilder, & Co., Winthrop square. Mr. Wilder is the oldest commission merchant in domestic fabrics in active business in Boston. He has passed through various crises of commercial embarrassments, and yet he has never failed to meet his obligations. He was an original director in the Hamilton, now Hamilton National, Bank, and in the National Insurance Company. The latter trust he has held over forty years, and he is now in his fiftieth year in the former. He has been a director in the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company for nearly forty years, and also a director in other similar institutions.

But trade and the acquisition of wealth have not been the all-engrossing pursuits of his life. His inherent love of rural pursuits led him, in 1832, to purchase a house in Dorchester originally built by Gov. Increase Sumner, where, after devoting a proper time to business, he gave his leisure to horticulture and agriculture. He spared no expense, he rested from no efforts, to instill into the public mind a love of an employment so honorable and useful. He cultivated his own grounds, imported seeds, plants, and trees, and endeavored by his example to encourage labor and elevate the rank of the husbandman. His garden, green-houses, and a forest of fruit-trees occupied the time he could spare from business, and here he has prosecuted his favorite investigations, year after year, for half a century, to the present day.

Soon after the Massachusetts Horticultural Society was formed, Mr. Wilder was associated with the late Gen. Henry A. S. Dearborn, its first president, and from that time till now has been one of its most efficient members, having two years since delivered the oration on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary. One of the most important acts of this society was the purchase of Mount Auburn for a cemetery and an ornamental garden. On the separation of the cemetery from the society, in 1835, through Mr. Wilder's influence, committees were appointed by the two corporations, Judge Story being chairman of the cemetery committee, and Mr. Wilder of the society committee. The situation was fraught with great difficulties; but Mr. Wilder's conservative course, everywhere acknowledged, overcame them all, and enabled the society to erect an elegant hall in School street, and afterwards the splendid building it now occupies in Tremont street, the most magnificent horticultural hall in the world. In 1840 he was chosen president, and held the office for eight successive years. During his presidency the hall in School street was erected, and two triennial festivals were held in Faneuil Hall, which are particularly worthy of notice. The first was opened September 11, 1845, and the second on the fiftieth anniversary of his birth, September 22, 1848, when he retired from the office of president, and the society voted him a silver pitcher valued at one hundred and fifty dollars, and caused his portrait to be placed in its hall. As president of this association he headed a circular for a convention of fruit-growers, which was held in New York, October 10, 1848, when the American Pomological Society was formed. He was chosen its first president, and he still holds that office, being in his thirty-third year of service. Its biennial meetings have been held in New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Boston, Rochester, St. Louis, Richmond, Chicago, and Baltimore. On these occasions President Wilder has made appropriate addresses. The last meeting was held September, 1881, at Boston, where he presided with his usual vigor and propriety, at the advanced age of eighty-three.

In February, 1849, the Norfolk Agricultural Society was formed. Mr. Wilder was chosen president, and the Hon. Charles Francis Adams, vice-president. Before this society, his first address on agricultural education was delivered. This was the first general effort in that cause in this country. He was president twenty years, and on his retirement he was constituted honorary president, and a resolution was passed recognizing his eminent ability and usefulness in promoting the arts of horticulture and agriculture, and his personal excellence in every department of life. He next directed his efforts to establishing the Massachusetts board of agriculture, organized, as the Massachusetts Central Board of Agriculture, at a meeting of delegates of agricultural societies in the state, September, 1851, in response to a circular issued by him as president, of the Norfolk Agricultural Society. He was elected president, and held the office till 1852, when it became a department of the state, and he is now the senior member of that board. In 1858 the Massachusetts School of Agriculture was incorporated, and he was chosen president; but before the school was opened congress granted land to the several states for agricultural colleges, and in 1865 the legislature incorporated the Massachusetts Agricultural College. He was named the first trustee. In 1871 the first class was graduated, and in 1878 he had the honor of conferring the degree of Bachelor of Science on twenty young gentlemen graduates. He delivered addresses on both occasions. In 1852, through his instrumentality, the United States Agricultural Society was organized at Washington. This society, of which he was president for the first six years, exercised a beneficial influence till the breaking out of the late civil war. He is a member of many horticultural and agricultural societies in this and foreign lands.

Col. Wilder, at an early age, took an interest in military affairs. At sixteen he was enrolled in the New Hampshire militia, and at twenty-one he was commissioned adjutant. He organized and equipped the Rindge Light Infantry, and was chosen its captain. At twenty-five he was elected lieutenant-colonel, and at twenty-six was commissioned as colonel of the Twelfth Regiment.

Soon after his removal to Boston he joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. In 1856 he was chosen commander of the corps, having four times previously declined nominations. He entered into correspondence with Prince Albert, commander of the Royal Artillery Company of London, founded in 1537, of which this corps, chartered in 1638, is the only offspring. This correspondence established a friendly intercourse between the two companies. In June, 1857, Prince Albert was chosen a special honorary member of our company, and twenty-one years later, in 1878, Col. Wilder, who then celebrated the fiftieth or golden anniversary of his own membership, nominated the Prince of Wales, the present commander of the London company, as an honorary member. They are the only two honorary members that have been elected by the company, and both were commanders of the Honorable Artillery Company of London when chosen. The late elegantly illustrated history of the London company contains a portrait of Col. Wilder as he appeared in full uniform on that occasion.

In 1839, he was induced to serve for a single term in the Massachusetts legislature as a representative for the town of Dorchester. In 1849 he was elected a member of Gov. Briggs's council, and the year following, a member of the senate and its president. In 1860, he was the member for New England of the national committee of the "Constitutional Union party," and attended, as chairman of the Massachusetts delegation, the National convention in Baltimore, where John Bell and Edward Everett were nominated for president and vice-president of the United States.

He was initiated in Charity Lodge No. 18, in Troy, N. H., at the age of twenty-five, exalted to the Royal Arch Chapter, Cheshire No. 4, and knighted in the Boston Encampment. He was deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and was one of the six thousand Masons who signed, Dec. 31, 1831, the celebrated "Declaration of the Freemasons of Boston and Vicinity;" and at the fiftieth anniversary of that event, just celebrated in Boston, Mr. Wilder responded for the survivors, six of the signers being present. He has received all the Masonic degrees, including the 33d, or highest and last honor of the fraternity. At the World's Masonic convention, in 1867, at Paris, he was the only delegate from the United States who spoke at the banquet.

On the 7th of November, 1849, a festival of the Sons of New Hampshire was celebrated in Boston. The Hon. Daniel Webster presided, and Mr. Wilder was the first vice-president. Fifteen hundred sons of the Granite State were present. The association again met on the 29th of October, 1852, to participate in the obsequies of Mr. Webster at Faneuil Hall. On this occasion the legislature and other citizens of New Hampshire were received at the Lowell depot, and addressed by Mr. Wilder in behalf of the sons of that state resident in Boston.

The Sons celebrated their second festival Nov. 2, 1853, at which Mr. Wilder occupied the chair as president, and delivered one of his most eloquent speeches. They assembled again June 20, 1861, to receive and welcome the New Hampshire regiment of volunteers and escort them to Music Hall, where Mr. Wilder addressed them in a patriotic speech on their departure for the field of battle.

The two hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the settlement of Dorchester was celebrated on the 4th of July, 1855. The oration was by Edward Everett; Mr. Wilder presided and delivered an able address. On the central tablet of the great pavilion was this inscription: "Marshall P. Wilder, President of the Day. Blessed is he that turneth the waste places into a garden, and maketh the wilderness to blossom as a rose."

In January, 1868, he was solicited to take the office of president of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, vacated by the death of Gov. Andrew. He was unanimously elected, and is now serving the fourteenth year of his presidency. At every annual meeting he has delivered an appropriate address. In his first address he urged the importance of procuring a suitable building for the society. In 1870, he said: "The time has now arrived when absolute necessity, public sentiment, and personal obligations demand that this work be done and done quickly." Feeling himself pledged by this address, he, as chairman of the committee then appointed, devoted three months entirely to the object of soliciting funds, during which time more than forty thousand dollars was generously contributed by friends of the association; and thus the handsome edifice. No. 18 Somerset street, was procured. This building was dedicated to the use of the society, March 18, 1871. He has since obtained donations amounting to upwards of twelve thousand dollars, as a fund for paying the salary of the librarian.

In 1859, he presided at the first public meeting called in Boston in regard to the collocation of institutions on the Back Bay lands, where the splendid edifices of the Boston Society of Natural History and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology now stand. Of the latter institution he has been a vice-president, and the chairman of its Society of Arts.

He was one of the twelve representative men appointed to receive the Prince of Wales in 1860, at the banquet given him in Boston; also one of the commissioners in behalf of the Universal Exposition in Paris, 1867, when he was placed at the head of the committee on horticulture and the cultivation and products of the vine, the report of which was published by act of congress.

In 1869, he made a trip to the South for the purpose of examining its resources; and in 1870, with a large party, he visited California. The result of Mr. Wilder's observations have been given to the public in a lecture before the Massachusetts state board of agriculture, which was repeated before the Boston Mercantile Library Association, the Amherst and the Massachusetts Agricultural colleges, Dartmouth College, the Horticultural Society, and the merchants of Philadelphia, and bodies in other places.

His published speeches and writings now amount to over eighty in number. A list to the year 1873 is printed in the "Cyclopedia of American Literature." Dartmouth College, as a testimonial to his services in science and literature, conferred upon him, in the year 1877, the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

The Hon. Paul A. Chadbourne, LL. D., late president of Williams College, in a recent memoir of Mr. Wilder remarks: "The interest which Col. Wilder has always manifested in the progress of education, as well as the value and felicitous style of his numerous writings, would lead one to infer at once that his varied knowledge and culture are the results of college education. But he is only another illustrious example of the men who, with only small indebtedness to schools, have proved to the world that real men can make themselves known as such without the aid of the college, as we have abundantly learned that the college can never make a man of one who has not in him the elements of noble manhood before he enters its halls."

In 1820, Mr. Wilder married Miss Tryphosa Jewett, daughter of Dr. Stephen Jewett, of Rindge, a lady of great personal attractions. She died on a visit to that town, July 21, 1831, leaving four children. On the 29th of August, 1833, Mr. Wilder was united to Miss Abigail, daughter of Capt. David Baker, of Franklin, Mass., a lady of education, accomplishments, and piety, who died of consumption April 4, 1854, leaving five children. He was married a third time on the 8th of September, 1855, to her sister, Miss Julia Baker, who was admirably qualified to console him and make his dwelling cheerful, and who has two sons, both living. No man has been more blessed in domestic life. We know not where there would be a more pleasing picture of peace and contentment exhibited than is found in this happy family. In all his pursuits and avocations, Mr. Wilder seems to have realized and practiced that grand principle which has such a bearing and influence on the whole course of life,--the philosophy of habit, a power almost omnipotent for good or evil. His leisure hours he devotes to his pen, which already has filled several large volumes with descriptions and delineations of fruits and flowers proved under his own inspection.

The life of Col. Wilder is a striking instance of what an individual may accomplish by industry, indomitable perseverance, and the concentration of the intellectual powers on grand objects. Without these, no talent, no mere good fortune could have placed him in the high position he has attained as a public benefactor. He has been pre-eminent in the establishment and development of institutions. Few gentlemen have been called upon so often, and upon such various occasions, to take the chair at public meetings or preside over constituted societies. Few have acquitted themselves so happily, whether dignity of presence, amenity of address, fluency of speech, or dispatch of business be taken into consideration. As a presiding officer he seems "to the manner born." His personal influence has been able to magnetize a half-dying body into new and active life. This strong personal characteristic is especially remarked among his friends. No one can approach him in doubt, in despondency, or in embarrassment, and leave him without a higher hope, a stronger courage and a manlier faith in himself. The energy which has impelled him to labor still exists.

In closing this sketch, we may remark that a complimentary banquet was given him, September 22, 1878, on the eightieth anniversary of his birth. On this occasion the Rev. James H. Means, D. D., his pastor for nearly thirty years, the Hon. Charles L. Flint, secretary of the board of agriculture, the Hon. John Phelps Putnam, judge of the Massachusetts superior court, and others paid tributes to the high moral character, the benevolent disposition, and the eminent services of the honored guest of the evening.

Judge Putnam closed as follows: "Our dear old friend, we greet you. On this auspicious occasion we wish you many returns of your natal day. _Serus in coelum redeas_,--late may you return to the heavens. And when that day comes, on which, in the onward march of life you shall fall by the way-side, may you fall as falls the golden fruit in this autumn time,--

'Sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.'"

HON. JOHN M. PARKER.

BY WM. H. STINSON.

Among the many worthy sons of the old Granite State who by their business enterprise, executive ability, and genial manners have won a position on her honored roll, appears the name of JOHN MCGAW PARKER, who was born in Goffstown, September 17, 1824, the eldest son of William Parker by his second marriage, one of the early settlers of the town. His mother, Hannah Adams, of Derry, was a most estimable lady, whose christian influence over her family of three children was most enobling. She was a descendant from that honored and illustrious family whose representatives were called to the executive head of our nation. She died February 26, 1869, having reached the age of four score years. We trace the ancestry of his father to Josiah Parker, who came from England to Cambridge, Mass., prior to 1700. His son, Rev. Thomas Parker, was the first settled pastor at Dracut, Mass., where he died in 1765. A son of his settled in Litchfield, this state, from whose family sprung the father of the subject of this sketch.

During his early youth, young Parker received such training and advantages as were offered by the district school, united with the best of home influences. At the age of eleven years he was placed in the academy at Hopkinton, by his father, who was desirous of giving his son the benefit of a business education; the following year he entered old Derry academy at Derry, where his education was completed.

Displaying much aptitude for business, his father, who was engaged in the lumbering and the mercantile trade, as well as farming, placed him in his store as clerk; the succeeding year he was clerk in a store at Concord, but the next year, 1839, he returned to his home, taking charge of the business of his father, who was in failing health, and who died on the 9th of August following, at the age of sixty-four years.

His father's death necessitated changes in home affairs, and in March, 1840, he entered the store of William Whittle, at Goffstown, where he remained until twenty-one years of age; he then returned once more to his home and went into the mercantile trade at his father's old stand. This was in 1843; he continued the same until 1847, when he formed a partnership with his younger brother, David A., under the firm name of J. M. & D. A. Parker, which union continues at the present time. In addition to the mercantile and agricultural interests, they have engaged extensively in the wood and lumber business, and as the "lumber kings" in their section of the state their business has grown and developed into one of no inconsiderable magnitude, requiring the investment of a large capital which has accumulated through their indomitable energy and business sagacity, backed by a judgment of such soundness as years of experience can but give. The building of the N. H. Central Railroad, now the Manchester & North Weare road, chartered in 1848, added greatly to their business facilities for the transportation of their wood, bark, and lumber, which enterprise received their earnest encouragement.

On the 30th of November, 1854, he married Letitia C., second daughter of the late Capt. Charles Stinson, of Dunbarton, who was born March 9, 1835. Their married life has been a truly happy one, and such a kindly home as all members of the household will ever revert to with the fondest of recollections. They have three children: Charles Stinson, born November 3, 1855; Henry Woodman, born February 26, 1859; Frank Adams, born June 1, 1866. The two former, Charles and Henry, inheriting their father's traits of character for business, are merchants at Goffstown village, while Frank is pursuing his studies at Gilmanton Academy.

Since the organization of the Republican party, Mr. Parker has ever been a zealous advocate of its principles, and his abilities have been recognized most honorably by his political party in their public preferments. In 1855 he was elected a commissioner for his county, and re-elected in 1856; and a member of the state senate in 1858 and 1859. Among his associates in this body were Hon. Walter Harriman, Hon. John G. Sinclair, Hon. Austin F. Pike, and Hon. John D. Lyman. He represented his town in the legislature in 1869. In 1876, without consultation and greatly to his surprise, he was selected as the nominee, by his party, for councilor from his district, and owing to his popularity received a majority of the suffrages at the election following, in the face of a Democratic majority of six hundred in the district the year previous; and was re-elected in 1877. At the institution of the state board of equalization, in 1879, he was commissioned by the court as one of the five members; re-appointed in 1881, and selected as president of the board.

When the Guaranty Savings Bank of Manchester was organized, in 1879, he was elected its president, a position still retained; and is also a member of the board of directors of the Merchants National Bank of the same city.

Mr. Parker filled the position of postmaster at the Goffstown office during a period of four years; and he has a wide reputation in all the surrounding towns as one of the most successful auctioneers, where his services are ever in demand. Being possessed of a judicious and candid mind, he is often called to act in the capacity of referee, where his mature judgment has assisted in the friendly adjustment of disputed and antagonistic questions which threatened the peace and harmony of families, neighborhoods, and towns.

His business prosperity enables him to exercise a liberal spirit towards objects and institutions that tend towards worthy ends; and he is certainly one of the most industrious of men, whether attending to the demands of the farm, the store, the lumber interests, selling of estates, or to the almost countless calls from his public and minor private duties that come crowding to his immediate notice. In all matters of a public nature he has ever taken an active interest, especially in the growth of enterprise in his native town.

Mr. Parker's love for social life allows the years to sit lightly. Of a happy, open disposition, ever approachable, at his delightful residence at Parker's station, Goffstown, presided over by his amiable and generous-hearted wife, a cordial welcome is assured all who enter his hospitable doors.

HON. CHARLES H. BARTLETT.

CHARLES HENRY BARTLETT was born in Sunapee, N. H., October 15, 1833. He is the fourth son of John and Sarah J. (Sanborn) Bartlett, and is a lineal descendant, in the eighth generation, of Richard Bartlett, who came from England to Newbury, Mass., in the ship "Mary and John," in 1634.

The original orthography of the name was Barttelot, which is still preserved by the family in England, whose ancestral home in Stopham, Sussex county, has remained in possession of the family for nearly a thousand years, and the present occupant, Hon. Walter B. Barttelot, is the member of parliament from that county.

In the same ancestral line is found the name of Hon. Josiah Bartlett, who, as a delegate in the continental congress from New Hampshire, was the first man to vote "yea" on the passage of the declaration of independence, July 4, 1776, and the second to affix his signature thereto. All the Bartletts whose names appear in the annals of our state trace their lineage to the same ancestry.

Mr. Bartlett has four brothers,--Joseph S., who resides in Claremont, and Solomon, John Z. and George H., who reside in Sunapee; and two sisters,--Mrs. Thomas P. Smith and Mrs. John Felch. His parents are still living, at the advanced age of eighty-two years, in the enjoyment of an ample competency, the fruits of a long life of earnest and cheerful labor, and the practice of a stern, self-denying economy, the characteristic of the best type of our New England husbandry.

Mr. Bartlett's early life was mainly spent upon his father's farm, laboring through the summer season and attending school during the winter. He early developed a decided taste for literary pursuits, and from childhood devoted a liberal share of his leisure moments to the perusal of such books as were accessible to him. He also contributed liberally to the current literature of the day, and showed remarkable facility in both prose and poetic composition. He received his academic education at the academies at Washington and New London, after which he commenced the study of law in the office of Metcalf & Barton at Newport. He studied subsequently with George & Foster at Concord, and with Morrison & Stanley at Manchester, being admitted to the bar of Hillsborough county, from the office of the latter, in 1858. In that year he began the practice of his profession at Wentworth, N. H., and in 1863 removed to Manchester, where he has since resided. For some two years he was law partner with the late Hon. James U. Parker, the partnership terminating with the retirement of the latter from active business. In June, 1867, he was appointed, by Judge Clark, clerk of the United States district court for the New Hampshire district, since which time he has not actively practiced his profession, but has devoted himself to the duties of his office, which became very onerous and responsible upon the passage of the bankrupt law, about the time of his appointment. The holding of this office under the government of the United States has disqualified him from accepting any office under the state government. He was clerk of the New Hampshire senate from 1861 to 1865, Gov. Smyth's private secretary in 1865 and 1866, treasurer of the state reform school in 1866 and 1867. In the same year he was unanimously chosen city solicitor, but declined a re-election, owing to his appointment as clerk of the district court. In 1872 he was elected, as the nominee of the Republican party, mayor of the city, and served till February 18, 1873, when he resigned in accordance with the policy of the national government at that time, which forbade United States officials from holding state or municipal offices. His cheerful co-operation with the administration in this matter, though at the sacrifice of a most conspicuous public position, was handsomely recognized by President Grant, through Attorney-General Williams. His last official act as mayor was to order the city treasurer to pay the amount due him for salary to the Firemen's Relief Association. Mr. Bartlett has been a trustee of the Merrimack River Savings Bank from 1865 to the present time, and a trustee of the People's Savings Bank from its organization in 1874. He is also a director in the Merchants National Bank. He was the master of Washington Lodge of Freemasons from April, 1872, to April, 1874, and now holds the position of United States commissioner, to which he was appointed in 1872. The only positions of trust he has held since his appointment as clerk of the United States court, are as a member of the last constitutional convention, and chairman of the commission appointed by the governor and council to investigate the affairs of the New Hampshire Insane Asylum.

Mr. Bartlett married, December 8, 1858, at Sunapee, Miss Hannah M. Eastman, of Croydon, N. H., by whom he had one son, Charles Leslie, who died at the age of four years, and one daughter, Carrie Bell, a member of the Manchester high school.

Clarke's "History of Manchester," from which the foregoing facts are gathered, closes its biographical sketch of Mr. Bartlett as follows: "Mr. Bartlett has a keen, well balanced mind, whose faculties are always at his command. He thinks readily, but acts cautiously, and seldom makes a mistake. Hence he has been financially successful in almost everything he has undertaken. He is one of the most practical lawyers in the State, and was for several years in charge of the law department of the _Mirror_, giving general satisfaction, and his withdrawal, when his business compelled it, was a source of much regret to the readers of that paper."

In 1881, Dartmouth College conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts.

HON. MOODY CURRIER, LL. D.

Forty years ago, when Manchester, now the metropolis of New Hampshire, was little more than a wasting waterfall and an unpeopled plain, a few young men who had the sagacity to see, the courage to grapple with, and the strength to control the possibilities of the location, made it their home. One of these was MOODY CURRIER, who was then seeking for a spot in which a willing hand and a busy brain could carve out a successful career. His boyhood had been spent upon a farm, where he supported himself by work during the day, and gratified his desire for knowledge by studying by the light of pitch-knots in the evening. In this manner he fitted himself to enter Hopkinton Academy, and by similar methods worked his way into and through Dartmouth College, where he graduated with high honors in 1834. During his collegiate course he earned enough by teaching and other work in the vacations to pay his expenses, but his graduation found him without funds, and, as the readiest way to lay the foundation of his fortune, he taught school at Concord one term and the Hopkinton Academy one year, and then accepted an invitation to take charge of the high school at Lowell, Mass., where he remained until 1841. Meantime he had read law, and in the spring of that year came to Manchester, was admitted to the bar, and formed a partnership with Hon. George W. Morrison for the practice of his profession, which continued for two years, when it was dissolved, and he pursued his business independently until 1848. During this time he had acquired a large and lucrative practice, and while attending to the interests of his clients had established a reputation as one of the safest and most sagacious financiers in the young city, which led the founders of the Amoskeag bank, when that institution was organized, to elect him its cashier. He accepted the position, and from that time has been prominently identified with many of the largest and most successful moneyed corporations in the city and state. He was cashier of the Amoskeag bank until it was re-organized as a national bank, when he was elected its president, which position he still occupies. He has been treasurer of the Amoskeag Savings Bank since its foundation, in 1852, a director of the People's Savings Bank and of the Manchester Mills since their organization. He was a director of the Blodget Edge Tool Company, and a director and treasurer of the Amoskeag Axe Company, during the existence of those corporations. He was treasurer of the Concord Railroad in 1871 and 1872; has been treasurer of the Concord & Portsmouth Railroad since 1856, president of the Eastern Railroad in New Hampshire since 1877, treasurer of the New England Loan Company since 1874, and a director of the Manchester Gas-Light Company since 1862; and has held many other places of responsibility,--in all of which his prudence, foresight, and good judgment have grasped the opportunities which have eluded so many, avoided the whirlpools in which so many have been ingulfed, and secured for stockholders and depositors regular and satisfactory dividends.

While thus adding to the fortunes of others, he has not been unmindful of his own, and is one of the wealthy men of the state, able to command whatever money will buy, and to give liberally to any cause that commends itself to his judgment. But while it has been the business of Mr. Currier to manage vast moneyed concerns, the demands of his calling have not been permitted to choke out his love of books and study. The literary tastes, and habits of close and tireless application, which inspired the boy to struggle for and obtain a liberal education, survive in the man, and have made him a persistent student until he is one of the most accomplished scholars in the state.

While a teacher at Concord, he edited a literary journal in that city, and after coming to Manchester published and edited, for several years, a weekly newspaper. Since he became a banker he has spent much of his leisure in his well filled library, finding his recreation in adding to his knowledge of the classics, mastering the problems of exact science, and exploring the fields of _belles-lettres_. He has written, for his own amusement, many poems of much merit, a volume of which was published for circulation among his friends in 1879, and he is a master of the art of expression in terse and polished prose. His scholarly attainments were recognized by Bates College in 1880, which conferred upon him the degree of LL.D.

As a citizen, Mr. Currier occupies a high place in the city with whose material growth he has been so largely identified. He is an earnest advocate of whatever tends to her advancement, a judicious counselor, and a liberal giver. He was one of the founders of her city library, to which he has made large donations, that, with one of her public fountains, attest alike his generosity and his judgment; and there have been few projects for her improvement which have not found in him a strong and ready helper.

Prior to 1852 he acted with the Democratic party, which elected him clerk of the state senate in 1843, 1844, but the agitation of the slavery question enlisted him in the ranks of the Free-soil forces, and from the organization of the Republican party he has been one of its most earnest and effective supporters. In 1856 and 1857 he was a member of the senate, being its president the latter year; and in 1860 and 1861, was a member of the governor's council, and chairman of the committee for raising and equipping the troops necessary to fill the state's quota in the war of the rebellion. In this position his business ability and methods were of great service, and to him, at least as much as to any other one man, is due the creditable reputation which the state won in that trying period.

In 1876 he was one of the presidential electors who cast the vote of New Hampshire for Hayes and Wheeler, and in 1879, had he permitted his friends to use his name, would have been a prominent candidate for the governorship in the state convention that year, as he was in the primary meetings.

Mr. Currier has been married three times. He has no children living. He resides in an elegant home in Manchester, in which are reflected his cultivated tastes and ample fortune. Though able to look back upon a long career, he is in the enjoyment of excellent health and the full strength of his manhood, and while carrying the business burdens that would crush most men, finds leisure to enjoy the fruits of his industry, frugality, and judgment.

HON. AMASA NORCROSS.

Amasa Norcross, A. M., of Fitchburg, Mass., was born in Rindge, N. H., January 26, 1824. His father, Daniel Norcross, was a farmer in New Hampshire, and was the grandson of Jeremiah Norcross, the immigrant ancestor of the family, who arrived in this country in the year 1642, and settled at Watertown, Mass. Daniel Norcross was a man of sterling integrity, a large land-holder, and the incumbent of many offices of honor and trust. His wife, _nee_ Mary Jones, was also a native of New Hampshire.

Amasa Norcross received an excellent academic education, first in the academy of his native town, and subsequently in a similar institution at New Ipswich, N. H. Selecting the profession of law for the life exercise of his talents and energies, in 1844 he became a student in the office of the Hon. Nathaniel Wood of Fitchburg, and in 1847 was admitted to the bar. Since that time he has pursued his professional labors in the city where he now resides. He is to-day the senior member of the Fitchburg bar, and for many years he has been a recognized leader of the legal fraternity in that section of the state.

In 1858, 1859, and 1862, Mr. Norcross was a member of the Massachusetts house of representatives, having been elected thereto on the Republican ticket. In 1858 he was a member of the committee of probate and chancery, of which Governor Andrew, then a member of the house, was chairman; and in 1859 and 1862 he was a member of the judiciary committee. In August of the last-named year, he was appointed, by President Lincoln, United States assessor for the ninth congressional district of Massachusetts. The district was large, comprising seventy-two townships. He filled the office with signal ability and satisfaction for ten years, and until the office of assessor was abolished by act of congress. In 1862 the authorities of Dartmouth College conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts.

In the session of 1859, Mr. Norcross was appointed a member of the joint committee of the senate and house of representatives to examine and amend the report of the commissioners appointed to codify the laws of the state. He gave to this work his entire attention for several months, when report was made by the committee to the adjourned session of the legislature, held in the autumn of that year. Upon this committee were several distinguished lawyers, among whom were Gen. Caleb Cushing and Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. In 1874 he was a member of the Massachusetts senate and chairman of the judiciary committee of that body. He was also chairman of the committee on federal relations. To him was assigned the honor of drafting the report which recommended rescinding the resolutions of censure upon Charles Sumner which had been passed by the legislature of Massachusetts. Previous efforts to relieve that distinguished statesman from that burden had failed; this succeeded. The rescinding resolutions reached Senator Sumner at Washington a few days before his death, and doubtless contributed materially to soothe his last hours.

In the fall of 1876, Mr. Norcross was elected representative to congress on the Republican ticket, over his political opponent, S. O. Lamb of Greenfield. In 1878 he was elected a second time, over the candidates of two political parties. He has been an active member of the Republican party since its organization, and is now serving his third term in congress, having been again re-elected in 1880. In the several conventions resulting in his nomination and election, he was always supported by the better elements in his party.

Local affairs have always received a proportionate share of Mr. Norcross's attention. On the organization of the city government of Fitchburg, in 1873, he received the honor of first election to the mayoralty of the new city. He was re-elected the following year. In the administration of its affairs his executive ability was marked. Necessary public improvements were effected, and all bear tokens of his excellent judgment and skill. With financial and other public organizations he has been, for many years, prominently identified. He is a director in the Rollstone National Bank of Fitchburg, in the Worcester North Savings Institution, and in the Fitchburg Fire Insurance Company.

The interest of Mr. Norcross in benevolent and educational institutions has been deep and constant, and he has done much for their advancement. He took an active part in organizing the Fitchburg Benevolent Union, was its first president, and he is now one of its life members. For fifteen years he has been a trustee of the Lawrence Academy at Groton, Mass. By act of the legislature of Massachusetts he was made one of the original members of the corporation known as the Cushing Academy, located at Ashburnham, and by the same act was designated as the member authorized to call the first meeting of the trustees, of which board he is still a member. He has contributed largely to the organizing and building up of this now flourishing academy. For more than thirty years the labors of Mr. Norcross connected with his large legal practice have been arduous and continuous.

In June, 1852, he was married to S. Augusta, daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca Wallis, of Ashby, Mass. She died March 4, 1869.

HON. GEORGE ALFRED PILLSBURY.

BY FRANK H. CARLETON.

New Hampshire is a small state, yet her sons and daughters are scattered far and wide. They have not only built up a prosperous and influential commonwealth at home, furnishing a talent and genius too great to be circumscribed by territorial lines, but they have greatly aided in laying the foundations and building up the newer sections of our country. Let any person pass through the mighty West, and thence to the great Northwest which to-day is doing vastly more than any section to supply the world with bread, and he will be surprised to find the great number of sons of New Hampshire who have attained reputation, position, and influence. In the highest ranks of commerce, at the bar, and from the pulpit, they wield a great influence. Their names are too numerous to be enumerated, yet it is to but few that the distinction is given of being distinguished in two states, and these as far apart as Minnesota and New Hampshire. To this small but honored class belongs the subject of this brief sketch, GEORGE ALFRED PILLSBURY, one of a family whose name suggests high qualities.

The family history has been traced as far back as Joshua Pillsbury, who settled a grant of land at what is now Newburyport, Mass., in the year 1640,--a grant which for over two hundred and forty years has been in the possession of the Pillsbury family. Following him, next came in the line of descent Caleb Pillsbury, who was born January 26, 1717, for several years and at the time of his decease a member of the Massachusetts provincial legislature. Caleb Pillsbury left a son Micajah, who was born in Amesbury, Mass., May 22, 1763, and married Sarah Sargent. The result of this union was four daughters, and four sons--Stephen, Joseph, John, and Moses. With this family Micajah Pillsbury removed to Sutton, N. H., where he remained until his death, in 1802, occupying various positions of town trust. His wife survived him several years. Of these sons, Stephen Pillsbury was a Baptist clergyman, who died in Londonderry. The other brothers, including John Pillsbury, the father of the subject of this sketch, were all magistrates of the town of Sutton. The youngest sister married Nathan Andrews, a gentleman well known in the annals of Sutton.

John Pillsbury was born in 1789. He was prominent in the town affairs of Sutton, being a selectman for several years, and representing the town in the state legislature. He was also a captain in the militia in those days of the fife and drum, when a commission had a significance. On April 2, 1811, he married Susan Wadleigh, daughter of Benjamin Wadleigh, a settler in Sutton in 1771. Benjamin Wadleigh was a descendant of Robert Wadleigh of Exeter, a member of the provincial legislature of Massachusetts. On the maternal side the ancestry was good. The maternal grandmother was the daughter of Ebenezer Kezar, who, it is related, concealed the girl whom he afterwards married, under a pile of boards, at the time Mrs. Duston was captured, in 1697. He was identified with the early history of Sutton in many ways.

As we have said, John and Susan Pillsbury were the father and mother of the subject of these lines. They were a hardy, vigorous, and exemplary parent stock. To them were born five children, to wit: Simon Wadleigh Pillsbury, born June 22, 1812; George Alfred, August 29, 1816; Dolly W., September 6, 1818; John Sargent, July 29, 1827; and Benjamin Franklin, March 29, 1831. All of the children received the common-school education of those days; but Simon W., whose natural fondness for study distinguished him as a young man, gave his attention to special branches of study, particularly mathematics, in which he became known as one of the best in the state. He delivered the first public lecture in Sutton on the subject of temperance. But too much study wore down his health, and he died in 1836, cutting short a promising future.