Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men Part 4

But we have been drawn somewhat from the subject of this article. As we have stated, George Alfred Pillsbury was born in Sutton, N. H., August 29, 1816. He received a thorough common-school education in the rudimentary branches. Of a very quick and active temperament, he very early in life had a strong determination to enter business for himself.

At the age of eighteen he became a clerk to a Boston merchant. After a year's experience there, he returned to Sutton and entered into the manufacture of stoves and sheet-iron ware, in company with a cousin, John C. Pillsbury. He continued in this business until February 1840, when he went to Warner into the store of John H. Pearson, where he remained until the following July, when he purchased the business on his own account, and continued in it for some eight years. In the spring of 1848 he entered into a wholesale dry-goods house in Boston, and in 1849 again returned to Warner and engaged in business there until the spring of 1851, when he sold out his interest and went out of mercantile business entirely. During his residence in Warner he was postmaster from 1844 to 1849, was selectman in 1847 and 1849, town treasurer in 1849, and a representative to the general court in 1850 and 1851. He was also selected as chairman of the committee appointed to build the Merrimack county jail in Concord, in 1851-52, with the general superintendence of the construction of the work, which was most faithfully done.

In November, 1851, Mr. Pillsbury was appointed purchasing agent of the Concord Railroad, and commenced his duties in the following December, having in the meantime moved his family to Concord. For nearly twenty-four years he occupied this position, and discharged its duties with rare business ability, showing wise judgment in all his purchases, which amounted to more than three million dollars, and settling more cases of claims against the corporation for alleged injuries to persons and property than all the other officers of the road. He had great quickness of perception and promptness in action, two wonderful business qualities, which, when rightly used, always bring success.

During his residence of twenty-seven years in Concord, he gradually acquired a position which all may envy. Various positions of trust, both in public matters and as a private adviser, were discharged by him most faithfully. He was one of the committee appointed by the Union school-district to build the high school and several other school buildings. He was also interested in the erection of several of the handsome business blocks and fine residences in the city.

In the year 1864, Mr. Pillsbury, with others, established the First National Bank of Concord. From the first he was one of the directors, and in 1866 became its president, which position he held until his departure from the state. He was also more instrumental than any other person in organizing the National Savings Bank in 1867. Of the savings bank he was the first president, and held the position until 1874, when he resigned. During Mr. Pillsbury's management of the First National Bank, it became, in proportion to its capital stock, the strongest bank in the state. Up to December, 1873, when the treasurer was discovered to be a defaulter to a large amount, the savings bank was one of the most successful in the state; but this defalcation, with the general crash in business, required its closing up. Its total deposits up to the time mentioned exceeded three million dollars. The bank finally paid its depositors nearly dollar for dollar and interest, notwithstanding the large defalcation by its treasurer.

Mr. Pillsbury was elected a representative to the general court from ward five, in 1871 and 1872, and was appointed chairman of the committee on the apportionment of public taxes during the session of the legislature in 1872. For several years Mr. Pillsbury was a member of the city councils of Concord, and his intimate knowledge of public affairs led the people to twice elect him as mayor, a position the duties of which he discharged with that rare ability which had characterized all his other affairs; and it was during this time that he decided, after much consideration, and with deep reluctance, to leave Concord and move to Minneapolis, Minn., where he had already acquired large interests.

When this resolution was made public, it drew forth strong and wide-spread protests from the citizens and neighbors whom he had served so long, for they felt the state could illy afford to lose such a man.

But of this we will speak later.

During his residence in Concord he was identified with all measures to promote the public good. Both by his business judgment and his ready purse did he aid the benevolent and religious organizations. He was actively engaged in establis.h.i.+ng the Centennial Home of Concord, for the aged, making large contributions and serving at a trustee. He was also a generous giver to the Orphans' Home at Franklin, and was a trustee from the time of its foundation until he left the state. In 1876 he was appointed, by the city councils, chairman of a committee of three to appraise all the real estate of the city for taxation purposes. Several objects attest his generosity and public spirit, among which might be mentioned the gift to the city of the fine bell in the tower of the Board of Trade building, and the handsome organ in the First Baptist church,--a joint gift from himself and his son, Hon. Charles A.

Pillsbury, of Minneapolis. He also made several large contributions towards building and endowing the academy at New London.

Upon his preparing to leave Concord for the West, in the spring of 1878, expressions of regret came to him from all sources. Complimentary resolutions were unanimously adopted by both branches of the city government, and by the First National Bank, the latter testifying most emphatically to his integrity and superior business qualities. The First Baptist church, of which he was an active member during his residence in Concord, and its society also pa.s.sed similar resolutions. The Webster club, composed of some fifty of the leading citizens, also adopted resolutions regretting deeply his departure. A private testimonial signed by over three hundred of the leading citizens of all branches of business, all the members of the city government, all the banking officers and professional men, was presented, and on the eve of his departure an elegant bronze statue was presented to himself and wife by members of the First Baptist church. In church affairs and acts of private charity he had always shown a strong interest, which drew him friends from all cla.s.ses of people.

Coming to Minneapolis he was at once recognized, and from the moment he established himself there he took an a.s.sured position. He at once entered actively into the milling business (in which he had long been interested) in the firm of C. A. Pillsbury & Co., composed of himself, his brother, Gov. J. S. Pillsbury, and his two sons, Hon. C. A.

Pillsbury and Fred C. Pillsbury,--to-day the largest producers of flour in the world, operating five large flouring-mills with a capacity of seven thousand five hundred barrels per day. The business of this firm, while selling a large amount of flour in the United States, has been gradually directed to the European trade, supplying the foreign markets with the very best brands of breadstuffs. To-day there is not a European market in which their flour is not sold extensively and given the highest quotations.

Mr. Pillsbury, much against his wishes, has been crowded again into public life in Minnesota, and only a few weeks since, while on a trip to the Pacific coast, in company with President Villard, to look after the interests of the Northern Pacific Railroad, he was elected a member of the city council of Minneapolis. He is also president of the Board of Trade, vice-president of the Northwestern National Bank, president of the Minneapolis Free Dispensary, and president of the Minnesota Baptist State a.s.sociation.

Despite his years, Mr. Pillsbury has all the activity and impulses of a man of forty. He is a great friend of young men, aiding them not only by advice but in a practical manner, and, without seeking popularity, finding himself beloved by all. In the city of his adoption he has built himself a handsome residence with s.p.a.cious grounds. His love for his old home manifests itself in all his tastes, and in his residence he has wrought in the beautiful New Hamps.h.i.+re granite brought from his old home in Concord.

In 1841, Mr. Pillsbury married Margaret S. Carleton, a lady beloved by all, who has always busied herself in acts of goodness and benevolence.

No one has ever known her but to love her. From this marriage three children were born, two sons and a daughter,--Charles A., born October 3, 1842; Mary Adda, born April 25, 1848; and Fred C., born August 27, 1852. Mary Adda died May 11, 1849. Charles A. graduated at Dartmouth College in 1863; has been an active and successful business man in Minneapolis for the past twelve years, for the last four years has been a member of the state senate, and is a man greatly respected by all.

Fred C. is a practical business man, possessed of sound judgment, and is rapidly making his way in the world.

It is needless to speak of the qualities which have given a gentleman like George A. Pillsbury the position and influence of which we have spoken. They are apparent to all. Starting with integrity and great strength of purpose, possessed of a keen perception, a shrewd judge of men, and an impressive bearing, he has attained an eminence which all may admire. Well may New Hamps.h.i.+re point with pride to such a man.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Josiah Carpenter]

JOSIAH CARPENTER ESQ.

BY H. H. METCALF.

The men who make and whose lives ill.u.s.trate the material prosperity and progress of a nation or people are those, as a rule, whose life and labor have been devoted in the main to the financial, commercial, and business interests of the country. Politicians, stump-orators, and office-holders of long continuance in place and power, may attain greater celebrity or a wider transient popularity, and move more effectually for the time being the tide of public sentiment; yet the influence which moves the deep and silent yet strong and resistless currents which make for the substantial progress and development of the race, is that which is exercised by the active, energetic, and persistent man of business, whose ready and thorough conception of the demands of industry, trade, and finance, and whose prompt action at their behest, make him not only the master of his own fortune, but, to a great extent, that of others. Of this cla.s.s of men the subject of this sketch is a prominent representative in this state.

JOSIAH CARPENTER was born in the town of Chichester, May 31, 1829. His ancestry goes back in direct line to William Carpenter, who in the year 1638, at the age of sixty-two years, embarked with his son William, aged thirty-three, and his wife, Abigail, and their four children, for America, sailing in the s.h.i.+p "Bevis," from the port of Southampton, England, and making their home at Weymouth, Ma.s.s. From Joseph, one of the four children named, the line of descent runs through Benjamin, born January 15, 1657, John, born March 25, 1691, and John, born January 4, 1728, to Josiah, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and for whom he was named. The senior Josiah Carpenter was born in Stafford, Conn., October 6, 1762, being one of a family of five sons and two daughters. Himself and three of his brothers served in the patriot army in the war of the Revolution, one of the brothers being killed while on sentinel duty at Roxbury Neck. He graduated with the highest honors from Dartmouth College in the cla.s.s of 1787, studied for the ministry, and, November 2, 1791, was ordained and installed pastor of the First Congregational church in Chichester, which pastorate he retained for a period of nearly forty years, establis.h.i.+ng and maintaining a reputation for geniality, benevolence, and hospitality which gained for him the affectionate regard and esteem of his people. Throughout his entire career as a citizen and a minister of the gospel, he labored earnestly and diligently to advance every undertaking which had for its object the public good, or the advancement of the cause of religious truth, as he understood it. He married, April 13, 1790, Hannah Morrill, of Canterbury; and their children were Nancy, David Morrill, John Thurston, Clarissa, Hannah, and Oliver, none of whom are now living.

The second child--David Morrill Carpenter--was born in Chichester, November 16, 1793, and, after receiving a good academic education, commenced active life in his native town in the capacity of a country merchant, which business he followed with much success for many years; but subsequently turned his attention to agriculture, becoming the owner of an extensive farm, which he cultivated for several years in a most successful manner. Notwithstanding the constant demands of his private occupation, which, as his success demonstrated, were never neglected, a great portion of his time during the period of his active life was always claimed by the public duties imposed by his fellow-citizens. Almost continually for twenty-five years he held one or more town offices, being several years chosen as the representative of his town in the state legislature, the duties of which position he discharged with ability and fidelity. He served as a member of the board of commissioners for Merrimack county, and was also, for more than thirty years, one of the trustees of the Merrimack County Savings Bank of Concord; he was also for a long time a director of the Mechanics Bank of that city; and was almost invariably in attendance upon the weekly meetings of the boards of the respective inst.i.tutions. January 13, 1818, he was united in marriage with Mary, daughter of Jonathan Chesley Perkins, of Wells, Maine, who married Hannah Dennett, of Portsmouth, December 6, 1787, and shortly removed with his young wife to the town of Loudon in this state, adjoining Chichester, which was then almost a wilderness, where he cleared up a large farm, became a prosperous and influential citizen of the town, and reared a family of six children, of whom Mary, above mentioned, was the fourth. The children of David M. and Mary (Perkins) Carpenter were Charles H., Josiah, the subject of this sketch, Clara A., Sarah L., and Frank P., besides two daughters, who died in early life. In 1850, Mr. Carpenter removed to the town of Epsom, where he purchased a large farm, in the management of which his son Josiah was a.s.sociated with him, upon which he remained until he retired from active business, in 1858, in which year he removed to Concord, where he resided until his death, December 9, 1873, seven years subsequent to the death of his wife, who departed this life, November 4, 1866, at the age of sixty-eight years. A man of wide influence, universally exerted for good, he lived beloved and died respected. He had been a soldier in the war of 1812, enlisting at the outbreak of hostilities, although but a boy at the time; yet, like his father, who had served in the Revolution, he would never accept from the government the pension to which he was legally ent.i.tled.

Charles H., the eldest son and child of David M. Carpenter, resides in the town of Chichester, where he has always had his residence, and where he has won a reputation, not only as one of the successful farmers, but most prominent citizens, of the town and of the county. His farming property embraces more than a thousand acres of land. He is also quite extensively engaged as a dealer in real estate and lumber. Clara A., the eldest surviving daughter, is the wife of Samuel C. Merrill, a prosperous flour manufacturer and flour and grain dealer, of Paterson, N. J., formerly a well known wholesale merchant of Manchester. Sarah L.

married Prof. James W. Webster, of Maiden, Ma.s.s., a teacher of experience and ability, now and for many years past princ.i.p.al of the Hanc.o.c.k school, Boston, formerly a successful teacher in Concord. Frank P., the youngest son, is a member of the enterprising and well known firm of Drake & Carpenter of Manchester, who are extensively engaged in the wholesale flour and grain trade.

The subject of this sketch,--Josiah, the second son of David Morrill Carpenter,--although engaged to some extent in boyhood in a.s.sisting his father upon the farm, secured an academical education at Pembroke and Pittsfield academies, and at the New Hamps.h.i.+re Conference Seminary at Sanbornton Bridge (now Tilton). Very early in life he manifested an apt.i.tude for business, and engaged for some time in youth in the purchase and sale of live stock, not only in this section but at the Southwest. Returning home from Kentucky about the time his father removed to Epsom, he engaged with him in extensive farming operations in that town. He received, soon after, an appointment as deputy-sheriff for the county of Merrimack, and also for the counties of Belknap and Hillsborough, which position he held for several years, and in which he transacted a large amount of business. For three or four years previous to his father's removal to Concord, the entire management of the farm was substantially in his hands, which, together with his official business and individual enterprises in different directions, gave ample scope for his energy and capacity.

In 1858 the farm in Epsom was sold, and, his father having removed to Concord, Mr. Carpenter, in April of that year, established his residence in the town of Pittsfield, having been tendered and accepted the cas.h.i.+ers.h.i.+p of the Pittsfield bank. He discharged the duties of that position so satisfactorily that upon its conversion to a national bank, in 1864, he was continued as cas.h.i.+er and also made a member of the board of directors. He continued his residence in Pittsfield until the spring of 1877, remaining all the while in management of the bank's affairs, while at the same time engaging in various lines of business in his own behalf. Nor did he fail to devote attention to public affairs. Never a politician, but always a stanch Democrat, he took no little interest in the success of his party, as well as the welfare of the town and community. He was frequently intrusted with official responsibilities by his fellow-citizens of Pittsfield, and represented them in the legislature in 1862 and 1863.

In the fall of 1863, his health having become impaired from overwork, he went South to spend the winter, upon the advice of his physicians, going first to New Orleans, whence he made a trip up the river, where he had a fine opportunity for viewing the operations of the army in that quarter, the time being soon after Gen. Butler's occupancy of the city. Later in the season he visited Cuba, where he remained some time, returning in the spring greatly invigorated, and with improved general health. He was elected treasurer of Merrimack county in 1872, and again the following year, receiving at each election a support considerably in excess of his party vote. Long prominent in the councils of his party in his section of the state, he has served also, at different times, as a member of the Democratic state committee.

In March, 1877, desiring a more extensive field of business operation, Mr. Carpenter resigned his position as cas.h.i.+er of the Pittsfield National Bank and removed to the city of Manchester, where, with characteristic vigor and enterprise, he immediately set about the work of procuring a charter for and organizing the Second National Bank of Manchester, of which inst.i.tution he has been a director and cas.h.i.+er since its organization. The national bank being well established, he a.s.sisted in securing a charter for and organizing the Mechanics Savings Bank, of which he has been from the first a trustee and the treasurer.

Both these inst.i.tutions, under his skillful supervision, have attained a prosperous and flouris.h.i.+ng condition. Aside from his general banking operations, he has in Manchester, as elsewhere, dealt extensively in notes, bonds, and real estate, and has been, for the past few years, quite largely engaged in building. In company with ex-Gov. Smyth, he is proprietor of Smyth and Carpenter's block, on Elm street, the northern half of which has recently been completed. This block is four stories high and bas.e.m.e.nt; has a frontage, on Elm street, of two hundred feet, a depth of one hundred feet; contains ten stores on the first floor, with offices and tenements above; and is, beyond question, the largest brick block in the state in the owners.h.i.+p of any single firm.

Mr. Carpenter has always manifested an interest in educational affairs, and has been specially interested in the establishment and prosperity of the Holderness School for Boys, located at Holderness in this state, under the auspices of the Episcopalian denomination, with which he is a.s.sociated. He has been one of the trustees of this school from the inception of the enterprise, and is also the treasurer. He devoted much time and personal care to the work of remodeling the buildings at the outset, and, since then, to their enlargement as the growth and success of the school has demanded.

September 1, 1858, Mr. Carpenter was united in marriage with Georgianna b.u.t.ters Drake, born January 15, 1836, a lady of fine mental capacity and attainments, endowed with the graces and virtues essential to true womanhood, and at home alike in the social as well as the domestic circle. She was the only daughter and eldest child of the late Col.

James Drake of Pittsfield, a prominent citizen of that town, well known in public life, who filled various responsible offices, including that of state senator, and who died April 7, 1870. He was a descendant of the celebrated Sir Francis Drake, the English explorer and naval commander who was the first Englishman to circ.u.mnavigate the globe, and attained the rank of vice-admiral of the British navy. The family were among the earliest settlers of New England, and trace their ancestry more than six hundred years. The elder brother of Mrs. Carpenter--Frank J. Drake--is the partner of Mr. Carpenter's younger brother--Frank P.--in the firm of Drake & Carpenter, heretofore mentioned, while her younger brother--Nathaniel S.--is in business at Pittsfield.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter,---a daughter, Georgia Ella, born October 13, 1859, an accomplished young lady who resides with her parents, and a son who died in infancy. Their residence is a fine brick mansion, among the most substantial in the city, on north Elm street, at the corner of Sagamore.

Mr. Carpenter is now in the prime of life, though his business career has already been more extended and successful than that of most men of similar vocation who have been engaged a lifetime therein. Filling various positions of trust and responsibility, public and corporate, with the greatest acceptability; of sound judgment, strong will, quick perception and a practical, well balanced mind, and unquestioned integrity of action; enjoying the general confidence of the public, and in a special degree that of those persons obliged or accustomed to seek advice or a.s.sistance from others, in matters of business,--his success may indeed be regarded as far greater than that of those ordinarily known as fortunate business men, while there yet remains, in the ordinary course of life, ample time for farther successes and greater achievements.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Chas. Williams]

HON. CHARLES WILLIAMS.

BY O. C. MOORE.

It has long seemed to the writer that the successful organizer of modern industry deserved a high place in public estimation. The qualities usually found in such a person const.i.tute as rare a combination as can be found in any department of human activity. Those qualities are industry, probity, intelligence, judgment, and executive ability. These virtues will always be found to lie at the foundation of a well ordered and prosperous state. When to these are added enterprise and energy, there is little wanting either to the successful individual or to the growing community. It is to this cla.s.s of men that New England owes much of its pre-eminence to-day. What the pioneer settlers did to smooth the path for their successors; what the forefathers of the Revolution contributed to establish a new government and place it upon a self-supporting basis,--the men who established the industrial enterprises of New England have done for their posterity and the perpetuity of republican inst.i.tutions. If New England should be stripped to-morrow of her mills, shops, and foundries, and the wealth and inst.i.tutions that they in turn have created, New England would be but little more than an obscure and unenterprising hill country, with a diminis.h.i.+ng population and lessening influence. She would have a n.o.ble and inspiring history, but her glory would be departed.

HON. CHARLES WILLIAMS, the subject of this sketch, belongs to the unt.i.tled American n.o.bility of organizers of industry. He comes of an old industrial stock, and can trace his lineage back, through six generations of workers, to a stalwart ancestor in old Wales. The Williamses formed a large part of the population of Wales, "somewhat like the O's of Ireland and the Mac's of Scotland." It is an interesting fact that the ancestor of Oliver Cromwell, in the fourth remove, was a Williams, known as Morgan ap Williams, of Glamorgans.h.i.+re, Wales, a gentleman of property, who married a sister of Lord Thomas Cromwell, afterwards Earl of Ess.e.x. Carlyle speaks of the Protector as "Cromwell _alias_ Williams." The "Encyclopedia Americana" states positively that the genealogy of Cromwell is traced to Richard Williams, who a.s.sumed the name of Cromwell from his maternal uncle, Thomas Cromwell, secretary of state to Henry VIII.

However this may be, Richard Williams, the sixth remove in a direct line from the subject of this sketch, came to America from Glamorgans.h.i.+re, Wales, in 1632, and settled in Taunton, Ma.s.s. Among his descendants were Hon. John Mason Williams, a distinguished jurist of Ma.s.sachusetts; Gen.

Seth Williams, of Augusta, Me., a graduate of West Point, and a distinguished officer in the Mexican war; Hon. Ruel Williams, of Augusta, Me.; and Hon. Lemuel Williams, a member of congress from Ma.s.sachusetts. It is a coincidence of note that the occupation of the subject of this sketch, as well as that of his lineal descendants, follows the distinctive characteristic of the Welch ancestry.

Glamorgans.h.i.+re is famous for its iron and coal mines, and its iron-works are on the most extensive scale, it having sixty blast furnaces, some of which give employment to six thousand men.

The direct descent from Richard Williams of Taunton is as follows: Benjamin Williams, settled in Easton, Ma.s.s.; Josiah Williams, settled at Bridgewater, Ma.s.s. Seth Williams, the great-grandfather of Mr. Williams, was born at Bridgewater, May 21, 1722. At the age of eighteen he went to Easton, Ma.s.s., and took up one thousand acres of government land. He married Susannah Forbes, of Bridgewater, and built the homestead now standing in Easton. Edward Williams, his son, married Sarah Lothrop, of Bridgewater, in 1772, still retaining the "homestead," where Lieut. Seth Williams, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born January 29, 1776. He was a tanner by trade, and took part in the war of 1812. He married Sarah Mitchael, daughter of Colonel Mitchael, of Bridgewater, Ma.s.s., an active man in the Revolutionary war, and for many years a member of the legislature from Easton. They were married in 1800, and lived near the "homestead." They had eight children, Charles, the present subject, being the third son, born at Easton, August 1, 1816.

The first seventeen years of his life were spent on the farm, receiving such rudimentary education as could be obtained at a district school. At the age of eighteen he apprenticed himself to Gen. Shepherd Leach, proprietor of the "Easton Iron-Works," for the term of four years, to learn the foundry business, with a compensation of twenty-five dollars for the first year, fifty dollars for the second, seventy-five dollars for the third, and one hundred and twenty-five dollars for the fourth.

By the death of Gen. Leach the contract was surrendered; but young Williams still continued in the employ of his successor, Mr. Lincoln Drake, until the panic of 1837. In this stagnation of business at the East, he determined to go West, and purchased several hundred acres of land near Springfield, Ill. The now flouris.h.i.+ng capital of the state was then represented by a few dwelling-houses, one church, and a small hotel. This "New West" could then boast of no railroads, and the difficulty of getting produce to market, which was mainly by flat-boats down the Mississippi, offered but little attraction to farming, and he returned East. For two years he was employed in the foundry at North Chelmsford, Ma.s.s., and the subsequent three years in the Amoskeag foundry at Manchester, N. H.

Mr. Williams came to Nashua in 1845, at the age of twenty-nine, endowed with good health, correct habits, and an honorable ambition. In company with his elder brother, Seth, they established the foundry business, under the firm name of S. & C. Williams, erecting a building eighty by one hundred feet, and the business commenced. It was in the same year that two other important and still flouris.h.i.+ng industries were begun in Nashua,--the manufacture of shuttles and bobbins by J. & E. Baldwin, and the manufacture of mortise-locks and doork.n.o.bs by L. W. Noyes and David Baldwin. This was the day of small beginnings, and only twenty-five hands were employed in the foundry for several years. The business grew steadily, however, and everything seemed propitious. On the second of July, 1849, a fire broke out in the works, and, in spite of all exertions, the entire property was consumed, including all the patterns.

The total loss was estimated at forty thousand dollars. It was a staggering blow, as these young men had no insurance. Men of less courage and energy would have succ.u.mbed to such a misfortune; but on the very day of the fire the work of rebuilding was begun, and pushed with rapidity, a brick structure taking the place of the wood one destroyed.

The partners.h.i.+p of S. & C. Williams was dissolved in 1859, and the business has since been continued by Charles. His brother Seth has been extensively employed in similar business. The business of the Williams foundry in Nashua has steadily increased, and was never more extensive than to-day. The pay-roll shows one hundred and twenty-five hands employed.

Strict attention to business, unyielding integrity, and thorough mastery of his calling have been Mr. Williams's secret of success. He was one of five who organized the Second National Bank, and has since held the position of vice-president of the bank. Mr. Williams was elected a member of the common council soon after the organization of the city, in 1853, but from that time until 1876 he neither sought nor held any political office. In this centennial year, however, his party turned instinctively towards him as its most available candidate for mayor, and at the nominating caucus he received an almost unanimous nomination. The nomination was ratified, and Mr. Williams became the centennial mayor of Nashua. His administration was characterized by the same prudence, fidelity, and success that have crowned his business career. He was nominated for re-election, and the nomination was ratified at the polls by an increased vote and a largely increased majority. One of the social events of Mr. Williams's term of service was the visit of President Hayes and his cabinet to the city, and at the mayor's residence, which was elaborately decorated for the occasion, Mrs. Hayes held a public reception, which was attended by a great throng of people from the city and the surrounding towns.

In his domestic relations Mr. Williams has been one of the most fortunate and happiest of men. In 1846 he married Eliza A. Weston, a cultivated christian woman, and a devoted wife and mother, daughter of Capt. Sutheric Weston, of Antrim, N. H.; both are members of the First Congregational church, Nashua, Rev. Frederick Alvord, pastor. Three children have blessed the union. Seth Weston Williams, born April 15, 1849, a graduate of Yale College, cla.s.s of 1873, and of Bellevue Medical College, New York. After travel and study in Europe he returned to his native land, and had just entered on the practice of his profession, with the brightest prospects of usefulness and eminence, holding a responsible appointment in Bellevue Hospital, when, on a visit to Portland, he was attacked with congestion of the brain, which terminated his promising career at the age of thirty. The other children are Charles Alden Williams, born August 18, 1851, married October 26, 1881, Kate N. Piper; he was graduated from the scientific department at Phillips Academy, Andover, Ma.s.s., under Dr. William Taylor, in 1870, and further pursued the same course of study at the school of Technology in Boston, Ma.s.s., and will succeed his father in business; and Mrs. Marian Williams-Viets, born March 4, 1854, married, November 8, 1878, Herbert Allen Viets, of Troy, New York.

Feeling in himself the want of an early education, Mr. Williams spared no pains in bestowing superior advantages upon his children, all of whom received a liberal education. In 1873 he planned a year's travel abroad with his family, but the critical condition of business in the country at that time prevented his leaving home. The plan was carried out, however, under the care of Dr. Seth Williams, the trip covering the tour of the Continent, and of the Orient as far east as Damascus.