Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men Part 29

In early life he was elected to various town offices; was commissioned a deputy-sheriff, and was a representative in the legislature from Hooksett in 1861 and 1862.

The appointment which brought him most conspicuously before the public was that of adjutant, inspector, and quartermaster general of the state, which he received from Gov. Gilmore, March 26, 1864. He was called to that office at a period when the republic was in one of the most serious crises of the great civil war, and when the loyal people of New Hamps.h.i.+re were putting forth every effort to enlist the men called for under the President's proclamation of the preceding month. On entering the office he found every department lamentably incomplete, but little matter having been collated in relation to the equipping of the troops or their achievements in the field, although the state had, up to that time, furnished twenty-six thousand soldiers. In truth, not a full set of muster-in rolls of any regiment was found in the office.

Notwithstanding these obstacles, and with no appropriation to draw upon, Gen. Head promptly entered upon the duties of his position, procuring the necessary outfit for the office, and upon his own responsibility employing clerks. He did this trusting in the legislature for re-imburs.e.m.e.nt, which it not only cheerfully made, but made all additional appropriations that were called for. The faithful manner in which all the clerical work was performed, the method and persistency shown in hunting up and placing on file the records of our soldiers, and the system exhibited in preserving and filing the valuable and extensive correspondence,--were all worthy of the greatest praise. The reports issued during Gen. Head's administration not only give the name and history of every officer and soldier who went into the service from our state, but they embrace biographical sketches of all the field officers who fell in battle or who died of disease during the war, together with a brief history of all the organizations, giving their princ.i.p.al movements from their departure to their return home. These books also include the military history of New Hamps.h.i.+re from 1623 to 1861, the data for which were gathered with great perseverance and under many discouragements from various sources in this and other states and from the rolls in the war department at Was.h.i.+ngton, thus making the united reports a work of inestimable value to the present and coming generations, and, at the same time, const.i.tuting an invaluable contribution to the martial history of the nation. He was the first adjutant-general in our country who conceived the idea of having handsomely engraved on steel, with attractive and appropriate symbols and of a size adapted to framing, a memorial certificate to be presented to all surviving officers and soldiers from our state, and to the widows or nearest relatives of those who gave their lives in the great struggle for the preservation of the republic. This testimonial was filled up with the name and rank, and also the regiment and company with which the men were connected, and the nature and length of their services. It will not be invidious to say that no other state had during the war an abler or more efficient and patriotic adjutant-general than New Hamps.h.i.+re, or one who was more devoted to the men on their way to the field, while there, or on their return after peace was declared. Many a veteran will remember with grat.i.tude his fatherly care of them after their discharge, and his good counsel and a.s.sistance in saving them from the hands of sharpers who were always in waiting to take advantage of the necessities of soldiers. From his own private means Gen. Head extended aid to all soldiers needing it; and to the credit of New Hamps.h.i.+re "boys in blue"

it should be recorded that he never lost a dollar by such confidence and generosity. It seems almost unnecessary to add that his constant and unwearied devotion to them secured for him not only their highest respect and warmest esteem, but won for him the enduring t.i.tle of "the soldier's friend."

In 1875 the celebrated controversy occurred in the old second senatorial district over the spelling of his name on the ballots, upon which technicality his votes, he having a plurality, were thrown out. His const.i.tuents, however, were determined that justice should be done him, and they gave him a handsome election the succeeding year, and re-elected him in 1877, when he was made president of the senate, discharging its responsible duties with rare efficiency and acceptability.

For some years Gen. Head had been mentioned in connection with the Republican nomination for governor, receiving votes in successive conventions. In that which nominated Gov. Benjamin F. Prescott, in 1877, Gen. Head's vote was a flattering one, and ranked second only to that of the successful nominee. At the convention in September, 1878, which was the first to select candidates for a biennial term, Gen. Head was nominated upon the first ballot by a decided majority. By reason of the third-party or "Greenback" movement, it was not expected by his most sanguine supporters that he would be elected on the popular vote, yet the result was that he was chosen over all by a majority of four hundred and eighty-eight. His election to the executive chair being for two years, he was, according to the custom of the party regarding the tenure of this office, not a candidate for renomination. In the brief review which the limits of this sketch allow of his gubernatorial administration, we find that it was throughout eminently successful; creditable alike to his own ability and fidelity, and to the fair fame of our state which he so honorably served.

During his term of office there arose many important measures and questions whose consideration demanded practical good sense, wisdom, and impartial judgment. The well known Buzzell murder case, which finally became one of the most celebrated in the criminal records of the world, had been twice tried when Gov. Head entered the executive chair. Buzzell was then awaiting execution, and thousands had pet.i.tioned for a commutation of his sentence. His Excellency and his official advisers gave a long and patient hearing to counsel for the state and for the defense, and to all others who desired to be heard, and then, after mature deliberation, refused the prayer on the ground that no new evidence had been presented that would warrant the changing of the decision of the court. Buzzell suffered the extreme penalty of the law, and the conclusion in his case was sustained by legal and public opinion. The project of a new state-prison which had been successfully inaugurated under his predecessor, was carried forward to its completion. The commissioners selected to superintend the work consulted with the governor at every step, and without even a whisper of extravagance or jobbery the building was finished, dedicated, and opened for use, and stands to-day, in thoroughness of structure and excellence of arrangement, second to no other penitentiary in the country. There came before Gov. Head many judicial and other appointments, all of which were made with the single aim of serving the highest interest of the state. During his term he made many official trips, and wherever he traveled he received those a.s.siduous attentions which he personally and as chief executive of the state merited. He attended the inauguration of President Garfield, the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary exercises at Boston, the Newtown, N. Y., centennial celebration, and military encampments in various states. It was also his pleasure to receive Governors Talbot and Long, of Ma.s.sachusetts, Governor Van Zandt, of Rhode Island, and many other distinguished dignitaries. His administration took its rank in history as one of the purest, wisest, and best that New Hamps.h.i.+re has ever had.

In the financial world, Gov. Head has been chosen to many responsible positions. He is a director of the Suncook Valley Railroad, in which enterprise he was one of the most active workers; is a director of the First National Bank of Manchester, and of the New Hamps.h.i.+re Fire Insurance Company; president of the China Savings Bank at Suncook, and a trustee of the Merrimack River Savings Bank, of Manchester.

In Masonic and kindred organizations he is one of the most conspicuous and influential members in New Hamps.h.i.+re, and, in fact, in the country.

He is on the rolls of Jewell Lodge, of Suncook, of which he is a charter member, and is a member of Mount h.o.r.eb Royal Arch Chapter, Adoniram Council, and Trinity Commandry, of Manchester. He is a member of the Supreme Council, having taken all the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, including the thirty-third, and all in the Rite of Memphis to the ninety-fourth; is an honorary member of the Boston Consistory, the largest Masonic body in the world, and ex-Ill.u.s.trious-Grand-Chancellor of the Sublime Consistory of New Hamps.h.i.+re. He was a charter member of Howard Lodge of Odd Fellows, and also belongs to the Hildreth Encampment, both of Suncook, and is now a charter member of Friends.h.i.+p Lodge, of Hooksett, and is a member of the Oriental Lodge of the Knights of Pythias of Suncook. He has been for a long time a member of the New Hamps.h.i.+re Historical Society, and is now its vice-president.

Although his own opportunity for mental improvement was somewhat limited, yet he has always been a stanch advocate of our public-school and higher educational systems. He is not a member of any church, but from youth he has been a regular attendant upon religious services, and has always given freely of his time, and contributed generously from his means, to the building up and advancement of Christian work.

Gov. Head was married, November 18, 1863, to Miss Abbie M. Sanford, of Lowell, Ma.s.s. They have had three children, of whom Lewis Fisher and Alice Perley are dead, while Annie Sanford, who is now at school in Bradford, Ma.s.s., is nearly fifteen.

The old log cabin to which reference has been made gave way a long time since to a framed structure, which, in turn, a few years ago was supplanted by an elegant brick mansion with French roof and attractive architecture, and whose interior has all modern appointments, with rich furniture and works of art. The house is surmounted with a tower, from which is obtained a delightful view of the Merrimack valley, and of distant mountains. It was built under Gov. Head's personal supervision, and in making so great an outlay he had in view the hope that after the period of business activity he might be permitted to spend there in happiness the closing years of his life.

Gov. Head is of commanding personal appearance, while in his bearing he is exceedingly courteous and agreeable. In him English and Scotch blood have united to form a character distinguished by strong and sound practical sense, diligence, determination, perseverance, and, above all, a high standard of honor and unswerving integrity. In the proud record of the eminent public men of our state, the name of Gov. Head has high and creditable rank.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Daniel Hall]

HON. DANIEL HALL.

BY REV. ALONZO HALL QUINT, D. D.

Of those towns in the state whose scenery is somewhat quiet, one of the most beautiful is Barrington. A small tract on its western border is level and not fertile, but most of its surface is gently rolling, two decided heights, however, affording beautiful views. The map shows it to be traversed by streams in every part, one important river being the outflow of Bow lake; and the map shows no less than fourteen ponds, some of them nearly two miles in length, and whose sh.o.r.es, often abrupt, are full of beauty. Magnificent pine forests of the first growth have been carefully preserved to the present generation, and fertile farms are numerous.

DANIEL HALL was born in this town, February 28, 1832, and, with slight exceptions, was the descendant of generations of farmers. His first known American ancestor was John Hall, who appears to have come to Dover, N. H., in the year 1649, with his brother Ralph, from Charlestown, Ma.s.s. Of this blood was the mother of Gov. John Langdon, Tobias Lear (Was.h.i.+ngton's private secretary), and others of like energy.

The emigrant, John Hall, was the first recorded deacon of the Dover First church, was town clerk, commissioner to try small cases, and a farmer, but mainly surveyor of lands. His spring of beautiful water is still "Hall's spring," on Dover Neck. His son Ralph was of Dover, a farmer; whose son Ralph, also a farmer, was one of the early settlers of Barrington; whose son Solomon, also a farmer, was of the same town; whose son Daniel, also a farmer, was father of Gilman Hall (his ninth child), who, by his wife Eliza Tuttle, was father of nine children, Daniel being the first born. The picturesque old house in which he was born, built by one Hunking, is still standing near Winkley's pond, an interesting and venerable landmark, but unoccupied and in a ruinous condition. Gilman Hall was early a trader in Dover, but for twenty-five subsequent years was farmer and trader in Barrington, his native town, on the stage road known as the "Waldron's Hill" road. He was representative, and for many years selectman. Daniel's mother was a descendant of John Tuttle, who was judge of the superior court for many years prior to the year 1700, residing in Dover.

Daniel Hall's life as a boy was on the farm. He went to the district school a long distance, through snows and heats, and by and by helped in the store. When older, from fourteen years onward, he drove a team to Dover, with wood and lumber, and sold his loads, standing on Central square. But he had a pa.s.sion for books, and a burning desire for an education. He learned all he could get in the district school, and when about sixteen years of age he secured two terms, about six months in all, in Strafford Academy,--one term under Ira F. Folsom (D. C. 1848), and one under Rev. Porter S. Burbank. In 1849 he was one term at the New Hamps.h.i.+re Conference Seminary, in Northfield, Rev. Richard S. Rust, princ.i.p.al. Then, for satisfactory reasons, he gave up all academies, returned home, set himself down alone to his Greek, Latin, and mathematics, and with indomitable perseverance prepared for college. He entered Dartmouth in 1850, probably the poorest fitted in his cla.s.s; but he had the fitting of a determined will, unconquerable industry, a keen intellect, and the fiber of six generations of open-air ancestors, and in 1854 he graduated at the very head of his cla.s.s, and was valedictorian. It is needless to say, perhaps, that the eldest of nine children had to practice economy, and teach district schools five winters in his native town; and that what small advances he had from his father were repaid, to the last dollar, from his first earnings.

In the fall of 1854 he was appointed a clerk in the New York custom-house, and held the place for some years. He had taken an early interest in politics, being by education a Democrat. But he had always been positively anti-slavery in sentiment. He was dissatisfied with the Kansas-Nebraska bill; and alone of all the clerks in the custom-house, and fearless of the probable result to himself, he openly denounced the Lecompton-const.i.tution policy of Buchanan, and supported Douglas. In consequence he was removed from office in March, 1858.

Returning to Dover, he continued the study of law--which he had commenced in New York--in the office of the eminent lawyer, Daniel M.

Christie, and on that gentleman's motion was admitted to the bar at the May term, 1860. He afterwards well repaid Mr. Christie's kindness by a eulogy, upon his decease, delivered before the court, and subsequently printed. It was regarded as an eloquent and appreciative tribute to Mr.

Christie's remarkable qualities of manhood, and extraordinary powers as a lawyer.

Mr. Hall, upon his admission to the bar, opened an office in Dover, and commenced practice. In the spring of 1859, just before the state election, in view of the great crisis coming upon the country, at an immense meeting in Dover, he (as did also Judge Charles Doe) withdrew from the Democratic party and cast in his allegiance with the Republicans. With them, where his conscience and political principles alike placed him, has his lot been cast ever since; and it is not improbable that that one addition, in later and critical years, turned the scale in New Hamps.h.i.+re's political destinies.

It was an episode in his life that in 1859 he was appointed, by the governor and council, school commissioner for Strafford county, and re-appointed in 1860. His early training in the country district school, his work as master in the winters, and his hard-earned higher education qualified him eminently for the practical duties of this office.

In the autumn of 1861, Mr. Hall was appointed secretary of the United States senate committee to investigate the surrender of the Norfolk navy-yard. This committee consisted of John P. Hale, Andrew Johnson, and James W. Grimes. Soon after, he was appointed clerk of the senate committee on Naval Affairs, at Was.h.i.+ngton, of which Mr. Hale was chairman. He served in this capacity until March, 1862; but he wished for more immediate partic.i.p.ation in the great struggle then in progress.

The conflict, which had its symptoms in the Lecompton strife, had become war, and the young man who had then sacrificed office for principle was ready for a still greater sacrifice. In March, 1862, he was commissioned aid-de-camp and captain in the regular army of the United States. He was a.s.signed to duty with Gen. John C. Fremont; but before he had time to join that officer, Gen. Fremont had retired from command, and Capt. Hall was transferred to the staff of Gen. A. W. Whipple, then in command at Arlington Heights, of the troops and works in front of Was.h.i.+ngton, on the south side of the Potomac. In September, 1862, a few days after the battle of Antietam, Gen. Whipple joined the army of the Potomac, and eventually marched with it to the front of Fredericksburg. On the 13th of December, 1862, he was in the battle of Fredericksburg, crossing the river with the third corps, and taking part in the sanguinary a.s.sault upon the works which covered Marye's Heights.

At the battle of Chancellorsville he was in the column sent out to cut Jackson's line as he moved in front of the army, and in the gallant action of the third division of the third corps, under Gen. Whipple, of whose staff he was a member, and was with that lamented officer when he fell mortally wounded. Capt. Hall was then a.s.signed to the staff of Gen.

Oliver O. Howard, commander of the eleventh corps, and with him went to Gettysburg. His position in that action was important. When Gen.

Reynolds, commanding the first corps, had advanced through the town and encountered the enemy, Gen. Howard, then moving up and about five miles to the rear, hearing the heavy firing, ordered Capt. Hall to ride forward as rapidly as possible, find Gen. Reynolds, ascertain the condition of affairs, and obtain his orders. Capt. Hall's fleet horse soon covered the distance, and he found Gen. Reynolds himself in an advanced and exposed position from the enemy's fire. He did his errand; Gen. Reynolds said he had met the enemy in force, and sent the order to Gen. Howard to bring up his corps with all possible dispatch. Scarcely had Capt. Hall got back through the town, when he was overtaken by the intelligence that Gen. Reynolds was mortally wounded, and near the cemetery he met Gen. Howard impatiently coming up in advance of his corps. Pa.s.sing Cemetery Ridge, Gen. Howard said, "That is the place to fight this battle," and directed Capt. Hall to take a battery from the leading division, and place it in position on the crest of the hill.

This was done, and that battery, the first planted on Cemetery Hill, remained on that spot through the three days of the conflict. When Gen.

Howard took his own place there, Capt. Hall was of course with him, and on the second day of the engagement was slightly wounded by a sh.e.l.l.

These details are given, simply to place on record, in this permanent form, his testimony to the justice of the claim made by the friends of Gen. Howard, that he was fully ent.i.tled to the thanks voted him by congress for selecting Cemetery Hill and holding it as the battleground of the great and glorious battle of Gettysburg.

In the latter part of 1863 his health suffered, and he was forced to leave the service in December, 1863. But in June, 1864, he was appointed provost-marshal of the first New Hamps.h.i.+re district, being stationed at Portsmouth, and here he remained until the close of the war. The affairs of the office were in some confusion, but his methodical habits soon reduced it to order. During his term of service, he enlisted or drafted, and forwarded, over four thousand men to the army. This service ceased in October, 1865. "He was one of the men," said a subst.i.tute broker to the writer of this sketch, "that no man dared approach with a crooked proposition, no matter how much was in it."

Mr. Hall resumed the practice of law in Dover, but in 1866 was appointed clerk of the supreme court for Strafford county, and in 1868, judge of the police court of the city of Dover. The duties of these offices were performed with his usual sense of justice, but in 1874, the Democratic party, being in power, "addressed" him out of both offices. In the mean time he had been judge-advocate, with the rank of major, in the military of New Hamps.h.i.+re, under Gov. Smyth, and held a position on the staff of Gov. Harriman, which gave him his usual t.i.tle of Colonel.

Col. Hall had long taken a deep interest in political affairs. To him they represented principles. In 1873 he was president of the Republican state convention at Concord. He had been for some years a member of the Republican state committee, when, in December, 1873, his abilities as a leader and executive were recognized in his selection as chairman of that committee. He so remained until 1877, and conducted the campaigns, state and national, of 1874, 1875, and 1876. These were critical years for the Republican party. The nearly even balance of parties in New Hamps.h.i.+re, the vigor and intensity with which the battles are always fought, and the skill necessary in every department, demand abilities and energies of the highest order. The years mentioned surpa.s.sed ordinary years in political danger to the Republicans. It is sufficient to say that Col. Hall conducted the last three campaigns to a triumphant issue. So decisive were the successive victories that the tide was turned, and from that time the state has not swerved from Republican allegiance.

In 1876, Col. Hall was chairman of the New Hamps.h.i.+re delegation to the Republican national convention at Cincinnati, being chosen at large, unpledged, and with scarce a dissenting vote. Seven delegates voted from first to last for James G. Blaine; but Col. Hall, with ex-Gov. Straw and Hon. Charles H. Burns, voted six times for Mr. Bristow, and on the decisive ballot for Rutherford B. Hayes.

In 1876 and 1877, Mr. Hall was, by appointment of Gov. Cheney, reporter of the decisions of the supreme court of New Hamps.h.i.+re, and in that honorable position published vols. 56 and 57, New Hamps.h.i.+re Reports.

In 1877 he succeeded Gov. Harriman as naval officer at the port of Boston. This office is co-ordinate with that of collector, upon which it is a check. Mr. Hall's business habits, his keen insight, his perfect accuracy, and the ruling principle of his life to do everything well and thoroughly, there came into operation. He quietly mastered the details as well as the general work of the department. Regularly at his post, his office became a model in its management, and was commended in the highest terms by the proper officers. When, therefore, his term expired, he was re-appointed for another four years, by President Arthur, with no serious opposition.

Mr. Hall married, January 25, 1877, Sophia, daughter of Jonathan T. and Sarah (Hanson) Dodge, of Rochester, and has one son, Arthur Wellesley Hall, born August 30, 1878. The beautiful house erected and occupied by him in Dover, and adorned with cultivated taste, has not its least charm in the steadily increasing library of carefully selected literature, to whose study he devotes the hours not required by official duties.

He attends the First church of Dover, the Congregational church, where his emigrant ancestor held office two centuries and a quarter ago. He is a radical teetotaler, and deeply interested in the cause of temperance.

It is his personal request to have his great love for the horse, and, indeed, for all animals, spoken of in this sketch.

Mr. Hall's gentle, courteous, and una.s.suming manners do not meet the common idea of the bold and sagacious politician. His modest conversation will suggest scholarly instincts, but requires time to show the breadth of his culture. Public addresses have, as occasions demanded, exhibited the thoughtful political student, a patriotic love of country, and the ripeness of the accomplished scholar. Fidelity to every engagement, good faith to every principle espoused, firmness in determination, and usefulness in every work undertaken, have insured him success. But in a life still so young, it is fair to a.s.sume that recognitions of public respect will be greater than any trusts yet given, or reputation achieved, in his profession, the field of long past battles, or the offices of public honor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: D. H. Goodell]

HON. DAVID H. GOODELL.

Olive Atwood Wright was one of a large family of children. Her parents, who lived in Sullivan, were very poor and found it difficult to provide for the many who were dependent upon them, and when Olive was fifteen years of age she left home and started for Boston in search of an opportunity to earn her own living. On arriving in that city she had just fifty cents, and finding no employment there she proceeded to Waltham, where the first cotton-factory in the country had just commenced operations. Here she found some old acquaintances; but they refused to recognize her on account of her poverty. She, however, obtained the privilege of working in the factory, and at the end of a year visited her parents with eighty times as much money in her pocket as she had when the stage left her in Boston. Eight years later she had saved from her earnings five hundred dollars, and having married a young farmer, Jesse R. Goodell, went to live with him upon the homestead which had belonged to his ancestors, in Hillsborough. This couple were the parents of DAVID H. GOODELL, who was an only child, and was born May 6, 1834. The family remained upon the Hillsborough farm until 1841, when it was sold and they removed to another in the adjoining town of Antrim.

The parents, who had had but very limited school privileges, felt keenly the importance of an education, and were desirous of having their son obtain one. They accordingly, when he had mastered the studies of the common school, sent him to Hanc.o.c.k Academy several terms, and then to New Hampton, and he graduated at Francestown in the summer of 1852, and in the fall entered Brown University. Here he took high rank as a scholar, winning a prize in mathematics, and marking within one degree of perfect in Latin; but his health failed him during the soph.o.m.ore year, and he was compelled to return to his home. The next year and a half he spent upon his father's farm, and, having recovered his health, resumed work as a teacher, in which he was engaged two terms at Hubbardston, Ma.s.s., one at New London Literary and Scientific Inst.i.tution, and one at Leominster, Ma.s.s.

A sedentary life did not agree with Mr. Goodell, however, and he again went to Antrim with the intention of making farming his permanent business. Soon after, the Antrim Shovel Company was organised, and he was called from the farm to act as its treasurer and book-keeper. A year later, in 1858, he was appointed general agent of the company, and served in this capacity six years, the three last as the agent of Treadwell & Co., of Boston, who had purchased the business of the original company. In 1864, Oakes Ames bought the business, including the patents covering the now famous Antrim shovel, and moved it to North Easton, Ma.s.s., and Mr. Goodell in company with George R. Carter, one of the firm of Treadwell & Co., began in a small way the manufacture of apple-parers. He invented what is known as the "lightning apple-parer,"

and put it upon the market through a New York house, which sold the first two years a few hundred dozen. This they considered a good business; but Mr. Goodell was not satisfied, and the next year took the road himself, and in three weeks' time he sold two thousand dozen, and made the invention known throughout the country.

In 1867 the factory was burned, and, as the firm carried no insurance, it lost everything; but in six weeks it had a new shop in operation, and was able to supply the demand for the next year, which rose to five thousand dozen. In 1870 another calamity overtook the enterprise. The firm of Goodell & Co. owed at that time seven hundred and sixty-one dollars, but it had indorsed, to accommodate one of the partners, the notes of Treadwell & Co. to the amount of fifty thousand dollars, and the failure of this firm sent both into bankruptcy. The result of this trouble was that Mr. Goodell bought the property himself, borrowed money and paid its debts, paid for it out of his first year's profits, and has since been able to greatly enlarge the business without signing a note for himself or anybody else, or accepting any of the pecuniary help which has been freely offered him.

Up to 1872 he directed his energies mainly to the manufacture and sale of parers; but in that year he helped organize the Wood Cutlery Company at Bennington, and in 1875 united it with his private business and transferred the whole to the Goodell Company, of which he owns a large share of the stock and is the manager and controlling spirit. The business of this company has steadily increased until it employs one hundred and fifty hands, and pays for labor more than fifty thousand dollars annually. It manufactures all kinds of table cutlery, Cahoon seed-sowers, apple and potato-parers, and cherry-stoners.