Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men Part 38

Flattering offers were made him by Judge Davis to remain and enter into practice with that eminent lawyer, at a large a.s.sured income. But Mr.

Spalding had already changed his purpose for life. He returned North, abandoned the law, and began the study of theology in the Union Theological Seminary in New York city in 1858. Here he remained two years. Here, also, he did regular editorial work on the _New York World_, of which his brother was founder, and subsequently wrote for the columns of the _New York Times_. This experience enabled him, later, to write, for five years, a large portion of the editorial leaders of the _Watchman and Reflector_. While in Union Seminary, his spirit of independence and industry was so strong that he supported himself entirely by his literary work. Leaving New York, he entered Andover Theological Seminary, where, after one year's study, he graduated in 1861. On the 5th of October of that year he was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in Vergennes, Vt., a position to which he had, in fact, been called before his graduation, as well as to another field. He resigned his successful pastorate at Vergennes, August 1, 1864, to accept a call to the Park church, Hartford, Conn., formerly Dr.

Bushnell's, where he was installed September 28. He resigned that charge, and was dismissed March 23, 1869, and was installed pastor of the First church in Dover, September 1, following.

This church is the second in point of age in this state, being organized in December, 1638, and preceded by Hampton only. The old Exeter First church itself later, became extinct in 1642, and the present First church of Exeter dates from 1698 only. The Dover First _parish_ dates from October, 1633, and is unquestionably the oldest in New Hamps.h.i.+re. A long line of able men has been on the roll of the pastors of that venerable church. Under none has it been so strong and so influential as under Dr. Spalding. Its numbers have largely increased; its pews are at a constant premium; its pew-occupants number men of the highest distinction in the state. Three years since, the whole of the handsome church edifice was refitted at an expense of over twelve thousand dollars, besides the amount necessary to purchase the pew property, and no debt remains. An elegant and commodious parsonage has also been purchased and paid for. Without disparagement to others, it is safe to say that public opinion accords to Mr. Spalding a foremost place among the ministers of New Hamps.h.i.+re. Certainly no pastor of the ancient First church ever had a greater public respect or a deeper personal affection.

His administration of a strong and thinking society goes on without even a ripple. He has been frequently called to attend distant councils, some of great and even national interest, and some where delicate questions required the wisest consideration; and in all cases his calm and deliberate judgment has had an influence inferior to none. One of these was the great Brooklyn Council, of national interest, in 1876.

In his preaching, one has to study him to get the secret of his influence. There is nothing in it to startle. There is no dramatic exhibition. It is the farthest possible from the sensational. There are never any protruding logical bones. He never indulges in any prettinesses of diction. But a critical a.n.a.lysis (the last thing one thinks of in listening to him) reveals the elements of his power. His themes are always elevated themes. One sees the most earnest convictions held in perfect independence and honesty; a natural development of thought in an always fresh and orderly way; a diction as clear as a pellucid brook; ill.u.s.trations drawn from wide observation, always simple and frequently beautiful; a genial, sometimes intense, glow pervading his whole discourse; and a dignified but simple manliness throughout.

Fully six feet in height, and with liberally developed physique, he impresses one at first mainly with the idea of manly strength. But it takes no great time to see that commanding intellectual abilities are fully parallel with his physique; and those who hear him, and especially those who know him, find an equal development of a generous nature which inclines always to sympathy, and with which he answers, in public and private, to every appeal to his helpful power. In doctrine he is understood to hold the main tenets of what is called _old_ theology, but as forces rather than dogmas, and liberally instead of severely applied.

Mr. Spalding's literary work has been extensive, but mainly upon current newspaper periodicals. This has given him, of course, a valuable directness and clearness of expression. A few sermons and other productions have been published: A sermon on G.o.d's Presence and Purpose in the War, November 26, 1863; a discourse commemorative of Gen. Samuel P. Strong, February 28, 1864; a discourse on the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Dover, May 18, 1873; a discourse commemorative of the character and career of Hon. John P. Hale, November 27, 1873, which the poet Whittier characterized in the highest terms,--a fine specimen of judicious a.n.a.lysis, in which he does justice to the pioneer of the anti-slavery cause in the United States senate,--a justice now lately apparently purposely ignored out of a desire to magnify a brilliant but later laborer. The Relation of the Church to Children, November 6, 1873.

The Dover Pulpit in the Revolution, July 9, 1876,--for which he searched and well used the ma.n.u.script of his eminent predecessor, Dr. Jeremy Belknap. The fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Conference of Churches of Strafford county, June 18, 1878. The Idea and Necessity of Normal-School Training, December 26, 1878. Annual Report of the Trustees of the State Normal School, June, 1879. Memorial on the Death of Garfield, September, 1881. Historical discourse on the one-hundredth anniversary of the Piscataqua a.s.sociation, October 26, 1881. On the death of Wells Waldron, November 13, 1881. On the death of John Riley Varney, May 5, 1882.

In addition, however, to his other work, he has been, and is, the editor of the _New Hamps.h.i.+re Journal_, a successful weekly in the interest of the Congregational churches, from which some of his keen editorials have met with favor throughout the country.

Mr. Spalding was a member of the const.i.tutional convention of New Hamps.h.i.+re which met January 8, 1877. He represented Dover in the New Hamps.h.i.+re house of representatives in 1877. He is also a trustee of the state normal school, by appointment of the governor and council, his first appointment, for two years, being made in 1876, and his chairmans.h.i.+p of that board commencing soon after and now continuing. He became a member of the school committee of Dover in 1875, and still continues, having been its chairman from 1876. He was chosen trustee and one of the executive committee of the New Hamps.h.i.+re Missionary Society is 1873; and still retains each position. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Dartmouth College in 1878.

Dr. Spalding married Sarah Livingston, daughter of Rev. Dr. John W.

Olmstead, manager and editor of the _Watchman and Reflector_; her mother, Mary, was daughter of Richard Montgomery Livingston, a lawyer of Saratoga, N.Y. Their children are Mary Livingston, Martha Reed, Catherine Olmstead (who died August 29, 1881, aged fourteen), Gertrude Parker, and George Brown.

JAMES F. BRIGGS.

BY HENRY M. PUTNEY.

John and Nancy (Franklin) Briggs were of that cla.s.s of working Englishmen who had the courage to flee from hard surroundings which no strength could overcome, and seek in a new world, among strangers, a chance to improve their condition. They were factory operatives at Bury, Lancas.h.i.+re county, England, where their son JAMES F. was born, October 23, 1827. When he was fourteen months old they took pa.s.sage on an emigrant s.h.i.+p for America, and after a rough voyage of more than seven weeks landed in Boston, March 4, 1829. Going direct to Andover, Ma.s.s., the father found employment in a woolen-factory there. From that place he removed to Saugus, where he worked a short time, and from thence to Amesbury, which was the family home until 1836. In the fall of that year the father, in company with two brothers, bought a small woolen-factory at Holderness, now Ashland, N. H., and, having established his home near by, commenced business on his own account, in manufacturing woolen cloths. But few operatives were needed to run this mill, and they were mainly the three proprietors and their children, among whom was the boy James, then a lad nine years old, who had begun to earn his living in a factory before the removal from Ma.s.sachusetts, the family circ.u.mstances being such that all had to contribute to its support as soon as they were able. He was continuously employed in the mill for the next five years; but during this time he had learned enough of books to make him ambitious to know more; and, as the affairs of the family were fairly prosperous, at the age of fourteen he was sent to the academy at Newbury, Vt., and afterwards to the one at Tilton. Being an expert operative, able to take the wool from the fleece and convert it into cloth, by working in the factory a part of each year he earned the money to pay his expenses at these inst.i.tutions one or more terms every year until 1848, when he arranged to commence the study of law with Hon.

William C. Thompson, at Plymouth; but in February of that year his father died leaving a family of eight children, six of whom were younger than James, in dest.i.tute circ.u.mstances. This affliction, which threw the care of the family largely upon the young man, compelled him to change somewhat his plans; but he did not for a moment lose sight of the object he had in view, and, as he could not enter the law office at Plymouth, he borrowed books from it and pursued his studies during such time as he could get at home, for a year, when he entered the office of Hon. Joseph Burrows, then a practicing lawyer at Holderness.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Yours truly

J. F. Briggs]

In 1849 the family removed to Fisherville, in order that the younger children might obtain employment in the factory there, and he completed his studies in the office of Judge Butler, from which he was admitted to the bar in 1851. A few months later he commenced the practice of law at Hillsborough Bridge, whither he went a perfect stranger, without money or reputation. But he had ability and energy, was willing to work, knew how to live within a small income until he could make it larger, and little by little he gained clients and friends, who gave him a lucrative practice, accepted his counsel, followed his leaders.h.i.+p, and established his reputation as the most popular and influential man of the town. In 1856, 1857, and 1858, he was sent by a nearly unanimous vote to represent Hillsborough in the legislature, where he was at once accorded a prominent position as a member of the judiciary committee, and the third year was honored by the nomination of his party for the speakers.h.i.+p. At this time he acted with the Democratic party, and continued to do so until the war of the rebellion, when he felt that all loyal men should unite to save the Union and maintain the national authority, and, having been nominated by the Democracy of his district for councilor upon a platform which enunciated peace-at-any-price doctrines, to which he could not a.s.sent, he declined the nomination, and from that day has been an ardent, active, and enthusiastic Republican.

While the Eleventh Regiment was being recruited, he tendered his services to the governor of the state and was appointed quartermaster on the staff of Col. Harriman. In this capacity he served through the battles of Fredericksburg, the military operations in Kentucky, and the Mississippi-river expeditions which resulted in the capture of Vicksburg and Jackson, for about a year, when he was prostrated by the malaria of the southern swamps, and compelled to resign and return to his home in Hillsborough.

During his absence in the field, and the illness which succeeded his return, his legal business had become somewhat demoralized, and on the recovery of his health he concluded to start anew in a wider field of action in Manchester, to which city he removed in 1871, forming a partners.h.i.+p with Hon. Henry H. Huse, which still exists. Manchester gave him a cordial welcome. Her mill operatives and other mechanics greeted him as an honored graduate of their school, who in his after triumphs had never forgotten the hard road by which he had journeyed to success; her lawyers and clients were already well acquainted with his professional abilities; her soldiers recognized him as an old companion in arms, and her politicians as an earnest Republican who could and would be a tower of strength in every campaign. Under these circ.u.mstances he did not have to wait for business or political preferment. Soon after opening his office he was appointed city solicitor, and in 1874 he was elected to the legislature from ward three. Two years later he was chosen senator from the Manchester district, and in the same year was sent to the const.i.tutional convention.

In all these positions he won reputation and friends to such an extent that in 1877 he was nominated for congress without substantial opposition, and elected by a large majority. At the expiration of his first term he was unanimously renominated, and after an exciting campaign was re-elected by a majority of eight hundred and forty-nine over the combined Democratic and Greenback vote. Two years afterwards it became a question whether he should be returned. The traditions and prejudices of the district were strongly against a third term. Four other able and deserving men were ambitious to succeed him, and he declined to push for the nomination, but accepted a call to take the stump in Maine, leaving it for his friends to determine whether his name should be used in the convention. To one of these, who wrote him that he ought to return from Maine and attend to his canva.s.s, he replied: "I am a.s.sured that I can be of considerable service here, and, as it is of vastly more importance that the cause shall triumph in this state next Monday than that I shall be renominated, I must remain and trust to you and others to decide whether it is best to send me back to Was.h.i.+ngton.

Whatever that decision may be, I shall be satisfied." The convention met just after the disastrous defeat of the party in Maine, and when it appeared that there was only a desperate chance for its nominee to be elected. It decided that if any man could succeed he could, and a few days after he took the stump. Manchester, which was counted a doubtful city when the convention a.s.sembled, gave him more than eight hundred majority, and the rest of the district swelled this to fourteen hundred and eighty.

In congress, Mr. Briggs has been from the first a faithful, hard-working member, always in his seat, tireless in serving his const.i.tuents, especially the veteran soldiers, and conscientiously devoted to the discharge of all his duties. In the forty-fifth congress he was a member of the committee on Patents; in the forty-sixth, of the committee on Naval Affairs; and in the present, the forty-seventh, is chairman of the committee on Expenditures in the War Department, and a member of the Judiciary and Reform in the Civil Service. No member of the house commands a more perfect confidence in his a.s.sociates, and few, if any, are able to accomplish so much. He succeeds at Was.h.i.+ngton as he did at home, by quiet, patient, persistent work, and is satisfied with results rather than with brilliant outbursts and noisy exhibitions of his rhetorical powers.

Mr. Briggs married Roxana Smith, the daughter of Obadiah and Eliza M.

Smith, of New Hampton, and has had three children, all of whom are living. The oldest, a son, was educated at West Point, and served four years in the army, when he resigned, and is now engaged in the manufacturing business in Trenton, N. J. Two daughters reside with their parents in Manchester.

In concluding this brief sketch, written without the knowledge of its subject, the author feels that it will fail to satisfy those who have known Mr. Briggs intimately without some direct reference to the qualities which characterize him in all positions in life. Prominent among these are his perfect fidelity, industry, steady courage, and thoroughness. It is natural for him to be true, impossible for him to be false. He is ambitious, and few prize more highly the honors they win; but he is incapable of the duplicity, demagogy, and all the cheap artifices by which some men succeed. His faithfulness to his convictions does not count cost or query about consequences to himself. He is as stanch and true a friend as ever lived, and he never cheats those whom he dislikes or despises. His generosity and devotion to his family are far-reaching and untiring. He is a public-spirited citizen, a kind neighbor, and a pleasant companion. He is always approachable, patient, and considerate. In every cause in which he enlists he is a hard worker and a free giver. He knows how to wait, and how to look beyond temporary reverses to the complete triumph which he always believes will crown and establish the right. He never frets, and never rests until the result is secure. His private life is without a stain, and the fierce light of the hottest campaign has disclosed no shadow of a blot upon his public record. His sympathies are with the people, and his head and hands are controlled by his heart. These qualities have made James F. Briggs what he is. They have supplied the place of early advantages, influential friends, and fortune. They have carried him from the woolen-mill, working for a few cents a day, to the national house of representatives, commissioned to speak and act for the largest and richest district in New Hamps.h.i.+re. They have made him strong at the bar, popular at the polls, and influential in congress.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Nath. W. c.u.mner]

NATHAN WENTWORTH c.u.mNER.

BY J. W. FELLOWS.

The ancestors of the c.u.mner family were of English origin. The name is first discovered in the period following the supremacy of the Norman rule,--the return from the dynasty of the Conqueror to the ascendency of the English-Saxon line. It was first spelled Comnor, and later c.u.mnor, meaning "hospitality to strangers," or a "place of hospitality," and comes through the Saxon branch. To this period may be referred the formation of many English family names,--often derived from some unimportant circ.u.mstance, or suggested by personal characteristics.

These became marks of distinction, new t.i.tles to manhood, and were proudly bequeathed by father to son,--"inherited sur-names."

During the century following the loss of Normandy, the Anglo-Saxon, as a written language, having been banished from courts and superseded in all legal papers by the Latin, became dearer to the common people as a spoken language, preserving their cherished objects and transmitting leading sentiments. It increased its power and volume by building new terms and means of expression, and particularly by multiplying its patronymics. In a comparatively short s.p.a.ce of time the language had become vernacular, and fairly ent.i.tled to be styled English, rich in the idioms and proper names of its own creation and outgrowth.

"The history of words," says Trench, "is the history of ideas," and he might have said of people and nations. They are not only the "vehicle of thought," but they tell anew the story of their times and enrich the great body of history with countless incidents of value and importance.

In studying their genealogy, the English-speaking people find the starting-point of many an ill.u.s.trious name in the peculiar circ.u.mstances of those mediaeval times,--the natural product of the mingling of different tongues, and the constant struggle between feudalism and servitude.

The famous old manor-house, c.u.mnor Castle, so celebrated in romance, once enjoyed the rent-fee and service of a large body of retainers, and carried for many a year, by reason of its feudal allotments, a numerous va.s.salage. Its walls have long since fallen into shapeless ruins, but the lands of its tenantry now embrace the beautiful village of c.u.mnor.

The families bearing this name have not been numerous in England, but have maintained their lineage with remarkable directness. The earliest trace of these people shows that they belonged to the industrial cla.s.ses,--the guilds-people, who in the latter part of the seventeenth century had attained such prominence as to nearly control the business interests of the great metropolis, and to whom the Lord Mayor of London was pleased to say on a memorable occasion, "While our gracious n.o.bility are the leaf and flower of the kingdom, ye are the st.u.r.dy trunk and branches."

The subject of this sketch belongs to the third generation in America.

His grandfather Robert Francis c.u.mner came to this country when about fifteen years of age, under circ.u.mstances of a very interesting character. In June, 1774, while walking in the streets of London, he was seized by a "gang of pressmen" from the s.h.i.+p Somerset, sent out to recruit his Majesty's marine. He was carried directly on board, forced to become one of the crew, and do the duty of a common sailor. He was not allowed the privilege of communicating with his friends, and no tidings from him or knowledge of his situation were received during the long cruise of the Somerset in distant waters, until she appeared in Boston harbor and took part in the battle of Bunker Hill. Her position and the service she rendered the British troops on that memorable day are well known in history. From her decks came the first fatal shot, and under the fire of her guns the broken and retreating ranks of royalists found protection.

The scenes of that b.l.o.o.d.y struggle made a deep impression upon the mind of young c.u.mner, and fixed his determination to take no part in the work of subjugation. Circ.u.mstances fortunately soon favored his settled purpose. The Somerset not long after the battle "got aground," probably somewhere in the lower part of Ma.s.sachusetts bay. During their efforts to get afloat, some of the crew went ash.o.r.e, among them the c.u.mner boy, who immediately availed himself of the opportunity to escape from his unwilling service. While following the highway into which he first came, near the sh.o.r.e where lay the stranded Somerset he was overtaken by a Quaker on horseback, who, learning his situation and purpose to obtain his freedom from the "British yoke," invited our young hero to "get up behind," and, throwing his gray cloak over the lad, soon carried him beyond the king's power.

He settled in Wareham, Ma.s.s., learned the tailor's trade and began the permanent business of his life. October 20, 1785, he married Miss Sylvia Sturtevant, whose family connections were very worthy and highly respected. Her father was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and fell on the battle-field fighting for independence. The Sturtevant people have received honorable mention in the annals of history, and their name is written among those who deserve well of their country. Not long after his marriage he moved to Sandwich, Ma.s.s., from that place to Wayne, in the state of Maine, where he resided during the remainder of his life. He was successful in business and became a prominent and highly respected citizen. He was a man of modest and retiring habits and exemplary character, but of indomitable will and inflexible adherence to what he believed to be right. If his life were the subject of our sketch, we could fill it with incidents showing his remarkable tenacity of purpose. Robert Francis and Sylvia c.u.mner had two children,--John, born January 19, 1788, and Polly, a few years younger. He died February 5, 1825, and his wife, March 26, 1826, and their remains were interred in the Evergreen cemetery in Wayne.

John c.u.mner was but a few months old when the family moved from Sandwich, Ma.s.s., to Wayne. He was of a sanguine active nature and early evinced the character of a sincere and zealous worker in religious matters. He obtained a fair education, and although to a certain extent compelled to work on the farm and devote himself to that kind of employment, his thoughts ran upon matters more congenial to his nature.

When about eighteen years of age he was employed by Gen. Landsell to take charge of his farm in Bridgewater, Ma.s.s., where he remained several summer seasons. During this time he became acquainted with Miss Hannah Thomas Bartlett, of Bridgewater, whom he married July 11, 1813. He settled in Wayne, upon the farm which became the homestead, and was so occupied by the family during his many years of labor and life in the ministry.

He was a.s.sociated with the society of the Methodist Episcopal church, and interested in the affairs of that denomination, at the early age of nineteen years, and soon after appointed a cla.s.s leader and licensed to preach. His labors were attended with marked success, and at the annual meeting of the general conference for Maine, in 1833, he was admitted to members.h.i.+p and received his first appointment. He continued in the active ministry until 1852, when failing health obliged him to cease labor; but his love for the church and his zeal in the cause of its established creeds continued unabated during his remaining years. He died February 5, 1861, closing a life of industry and devotion, in which he had accomplished more good than usually falls to the lot of man. His wife died December 5, 1852. She was very beautiful when young, and was much beloved and admired by her wide circle of friends. Possessed of an earnest and devotional nature, she entered with ardent sympathy into the plans and labors of her husband; faithfully bearing her share of life's varied duties,--firmly in the hour of trial, and with amiable companions.h.i.+p when prosperity filled the measure of their ambition. They had eleven children, two of whom died in infancy. Three others have deceased,--Maryetta in 1871, and Francis and James in 1881. The remaining members of the family are Cathamander, William B., John T., Nathaniel W., Charles W., and Benjamin G. c.u.mner.

NATHANIEL WENTWORTH, the youngest but two of the children of John and Hannah T. c.u.mner, was born at Wayne, November 28, 1829. His early life was devoted to obtaining an education in the vicinity of his home, pa.s.sing from the district to the private school in the town of Wayne, and to other schools and seminaries in the circuit where his father's appointments were made. During some portion of the season, for a few years he a.s.sisted the older brothers in cultivating the homestead farm, but at the age of sixteen he went to Wilton, Me., and engaged in learning the tailor's trade. He remained there about three years; then went to Waltham, Ma.s.s., staying there about one year and a half; then to Lowell, Ma.s.s., where he remained until 1851, when he came to Manchester, N. H., and entered the employ of B. F. Manning, then doing business in the store occupied in later years by the firm of c.u.mner & Company.

In January, 1854, Mr. c.u.mner became a partner in the business of merchant tailors and clothiers, the firm name being Manning & c.u.mner.

This arrangement continued until August, 1857. Mr. c.u.mner then withdrew and went to Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., as a member of the firm of F. Tenney & Co., proprietors of the National Hotel. In August, 1859, he returned to Manchester and purchased the stock and "good will" of the Manning store, and entered at once into business, in which he continued as the sole proprietor until 1865, when his brother Benjamin G. c.u.mner became a.s.sociated with him, forming the copartners.h.i.+p of c.u.mner & Company. At this time Mr. c.u.mner became also a member of the well known wholesale house of Sibley, c.u.mner, & Co., in Boston, having purchased an interest in the old house of Foster & Sibley, and devoted his attention largely to the wholesale trade. In 1868, Lyman E. Sibley retired and Mr. c.u.mner became the senior member, the name of the firm remaining the same.

In the great fire of November 9, 1872, their establishment was among the first to be burned, and the firm suffered a total loss of their immense stock; but their credit was so strong, and their energy and ability so widely recognized, that their business received no check, and the transactions of the house proceeded even upon a more extensive scale than before. In 1879 the firm became c.u.mner, Jones, & Co., which is the present style of the business. In 1881 he sold his interest in the business of c.u.mner & Co. in Manchester, which had enjoyed unvarying success and great prosperity from the beginning; and from that time devoted himself entirely to the Boston house. The business had so largely increased that it became necessary to give it his constant personal attention. The reputation of c.u.mner, Jones, & Co., in commercial circles, has become widely known, and its remarkable success an acknowledged fact.

Mr. c.u.mner has been eminently successful as a business man. Possessing in a large degree self-reliance and confidence in his own judgment, he selected an honorable calling and devoted himself to its duties and demands. He believed that industry and perseverance, with well matured plans, were certain to produce the most desirable results. He knew the energy and fidelity of his own character, and trusted to the safety of sound principle; and he has proved that his plans were wisely laid and his ways well chosen. At a comparatively early age he has acquired a competence, and in his position of senior member of one of the soundest and most prosperous, and at the same time conservative, wholesale houses in New England, his influence is always in favor of that healthy and reliable condition of trade which establishes public confidence and guarantees general prosperity.

And not only in connection with his partners.h.i.+p a.s.sociations is Mr.

c.u.mner known as a business man. In the circles where the leading merchants and importers of our New England metropolis are accustomed to meet and discuss the laws of trade and canva.s.s the prospects of the future, his judgment is greatly respected, and the intelligence and foresight with which he is able to advise are highly regarded. He bears an unblemished reputation as a man of honor and fairness, in all ways commanding universal respect and esteem,--a gentleman in the true significance of the term. In the wide range of personal distinction, among all the marks of honor and renown which the world affords, the t.i.tle of a true gentleman stands first, and he who bears it worthily need envy neither prince nor potentate.

As a citizen, Mr. c.u.mner has taken an earnest and unvarying interest in public affairs. Politically, his a.s.sociations have been with the Democratic party; but his views have been conservative, looking to the real purposes of the government rather than the aims and desires of party politicians. While residing in Manchester he held important offices in the munic.i.p.al government, was a faithful public servant, working zealously to promote the general interests and the common good of his const.i.tuents, of whom he deserved well.

Mr. c.u.mner became a member of the celebrated military organization, the Amoskeag Veterans, in the days of its origin, and has continued to do active duty through the entire term of its existence. He held the office of captain in 1870, and commander of the battalion, with the rank of major, in 1879 and 1880. During his members.h.i.+p he has served in countless capacities incident to the general management of the organization, and while commander did very effective service in promoting harmony and unity of purpose, and increased in a great degree the interest and efficiency of the corps.