Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men Part 6

RODNEY WALLACE, of Fitchburg, Ma.s.s., was born in New Ipswich, N. H., December 21, 1823. He is the son of David and Roxanna Wallace, who spent the latter years of life at Rindge in the same state.

Whether the family is of English or Scotch origin is extremely difficult to decide. If the orthography of the last century is correct, then it is English; if not, Scotch. The point possesses more genealogical than real importance. People are free to change their names as they list, and have always exercised that privilege; and under either garb the name has been borne by n.o.ble and distinguished men in the Old World.

The first of this family who came to this country settled in Ipswich, Ma.s.s. Benoni Wallis removed from this place to Lunenburg, Ma.s.s., and there married, on the 2d of July, 1755, Rebecca Brown, of Lynn. They continued to reside in Lunenburg until her death, August 25, 1790. He died March 15, 1792. David Wallis, son of Benoni, was born October 10, 1760. He married Susannah Conn, and died in Ashburnham, January 14, 1842. David Wallace, son of David and Susannah (Conn) Wallis, was born in Ashburnham, July 14, 1797. He married, July 8, 1821, Roxanna Gowen, of New Ipswich, and removed to Rindge in 1846, where he died May 29, 1857. She died in Fitchburg, February 27, 1876. In the exercise of his own right and discretion, he restored what he doubtless held to be the original spelling of his name, and always wrote it Wallace.

Rodney Wallace, when twelve years of age, went from home to work upon a farm for the sum of forty dollars for the first year, with the privilege of attending school eight weeks in the winter; and from this time until arriving at the age of twenty he worked for wages, attending school from eight to ten weeks in the winter. His education was thus acquired, during the few winter months, in the common country schools of that time. From the age of twenty until his removal to Fitchburg, he was employed and intrusted with business for the late Dr. Stephen Jewett, of Rindge, N. H.

In 1853 he removed to Fitchburg and became a member of the firm of Shepley & Wallace, wholesale dealers in books, stationery, etc., which firm, under this name and the name of R. Wallace & Co., became one of the best known firms in this line of business in New England. After several years of successful management of that business, he withdrew from the firm, engaged in the manufacture of paper, and connected himself with several other manufacturing interests in Fitchburg. In whatever interest Mr. Wallace has been engaged, he has not only been fortunate in its pecuniary issues, but also in the speedy command of the confidence and respect of his a.s.sociates. True moral principle has been united with unquestioned probity, business tact, and liberal, intelligent management, and he is held in high estimation, both as a citizen and as a friend. His usefulness has been approved by long, earnest, and efficient service; and his liberality, by unostentatious but generous donations to the support of many laudable undertakings.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Rodney Wallace]

In 1865, Mr. Wallace entered into the business of manufacturing paper with three other gentlemen, under the name of the Fitchburg Paper Company. One by one these gentlemen sold their respective interests to Mr. Wallace, and in 1868 he became sole owner of the entire property.

From that time until the present day he has carried on the business under the old firm name of the Fitchburg Paper Company. He has, since he became sole owner, made large additions of land to the property, rebuilt the original mill and filled it with the most improved machinery, erected a new mill with the latest improvements of every kind, and built additional store-houses, etc., until he has increased the producing capacity from two thousand five hundred pounds per day, to sixteen thousand pounds of hanging, card, and glazing paper per day of twenty-four hours. The mills, the ample store-houses, the out-buildings and dwelling-houses make up a little village, wanting nothing but distance from the city to claim a name of its own.

For the direction of several monetary and corporate interests his services have been frequently sought. He has been president and director of the Fitchburg Gas-Light Company since 1864; a director of the Fitchburg National Bank since 1866; partner in the Fitchburg Woolen Mill Company, with the Hon. Wm. H. Vose and Hon. Rufus S. Frost, since 1867; a director of the Putnam Machine Company since 1864; and has just been chosen director of the Parkhill Manufacturing Company, recently organized for the manufacture of ginghams. For several years he has been a trustee of the Fitchburg Savings Bank, a director of the Fitchburg Mutual Fire Insurance Company, president of the Fitchburg Board of Trade (four years), a director of the Fitchburg Railroad Company, and a trustee of Smith College, Northampton, Ma.s.s.

Though thoroughly patriotic and keenly alive to the importance of current issues, the magnitude of the private and corporate interests committed to his care would not permit the alienation of close personal attention from them to political matters, and whatever offices he has held have sought him, instead of his seeking them.

He was a selectman in the years 1864, 1865, and 1867, and a representative to the general court in 1874, but declined a re-election the following year, on account of ill health. He was a member of the governor's council in 1880 and 1881, and has just been re-elected to serve in the same position the present year.

Mr. Wallace was married, on the 1st of December, 1853, to Sophia, youngest daughter of Thomas Ingalls, Esq., of Rindge. She died June 20, 1871, leaving two sons. The eldest, Herbert I., born February 17, 1856, is a graduate of Harvard College, cla.s.s of 1877; and the younger, George R., obtained his education in the Fitchburg high school, and a two years' special course in the Inst.i.tute of Technology, Boston. They are both now with their father. Mr. Wallace married, for his second wife, Sophia F. Bailey, of Woodstock, Vt., on the 28th day of December, 1876.

GEN. SIMON G. GRIFFIN.

BY REV. A. B. CRAWFORD.

GEN. GRIFFIN was born in Nelson, N. H., on the 9th of August, 1824. His ancestors, as far back as they can be traced, were prominent men in the communities where they lived, gifted with more than ordinary intellect and force of character.

His grandfather, Samuel Griffin, Esq., came from Methuen, Ma.s.s., soon after the Revolutionary war, married a daughter of Rev. Jacob Foster, at that time the settled minister at "Packersfield," now Nelson, and took up his residence in that town. His superior abilities soon brought him forward to fill responsible positions, and for many years he represented the town in the legislature, and held the highest town offices. Both he and the General's maternal grandfather, Nehemiah Wright, were patriot soldiers in the Revolutionary army, and both were present at the battle of Bunker Hill.

His father, Nathan Griffin, was equally gifted with the earlier progenitors of the race; but, losing his health in the prime of his manhood, the care of rearing the family of seven children fell upon the mother. Her maiden name was Sally Wright,--one of the loveliest of her s.e.x, both in person and character,--and the General owes much to her wise counsels and careful training. She died recently, at the age of ninety-four, in the full possession of her mental faculties.

When but six years of age, in consequence of the illness of his father, the boy was sent to live for some years with his uncle, Gen. Samuel Griffin, of Roxbury, N. H. He, too, had a decided talent for military affairs, had been a volunteer in the war of 1812, was prominent in the state militia, and was fond of repeating the military histories and descriptions of battles and campaigns that he had read, thus producing a deep and lasting impression on the mind of the lad. But never, after he was seven years old, could the boy be spared from work on the farm to attend school during summer. Ten or twelve weeks each winter at the district school was all the "schooling" he ever had; but his leisure hours were spent in reading and study, and, in spite of his want of advantages, at eighteen years of age he began to teach with marked success. He had also read much history, and the lives of the great military chieftains of ancient and modern times; and thus by inheritance, and by his early training and reading, he had become unconsciously fitted for the special work before him, and had cultivated the patriotic spirit and ability for military affairs which have won for him an honorable place among the distinguished soldiers of our state, and made him, as confessed on all sides, one of the best volunteer officers in the war of the rebellion.

Continuing his studies while teaching winters and working on the farm summers, he mastered all the higher English branches usually taught in colleges, studied Latin and French, and went through a large amount of miscellaneous reading. In 1850 he married Ursula J., daughter of Jason Harris, Esq., of Nelson; but soon after the birth of a son, the following year, both mother and son died. Returning to his former occupation of teaching, he took up the study of law, and while thus engaged represented his native town two years in the legislature, serving the second term as chairman of the committee on education.

[Ill.u.s.tration: S. G. Griffin

Brig. & Brevet Maj. Genl. U.S.A.]

He was admitted to the bar in 1860, and had just begun the practice of his profession at Concord when the war broke out. Throwing aside his law-books, he took up the study of military tactics, joined a company then forming at Concord, under the first call for troops,--volunteering as a private, but when it came to organization was chosen captain,--and finding the quota of New Hamps.h.i.+re full under the first call, immediately volunteered, with a large number of his men, for three years or the war, under the second call. Recruiting his company to the maximum, he joined the Second Regiment at Portsmouth, was mustered into the United States service in June, 1861, and commanded his company at the first battle of Bull Run, handling it with coolness and bravery, although it was under a sharp fire, and lost twelve men, killed and wounded. It was the celebrated "Goodwin Rifles," Co. B, 2d N. H. Vols., armed with Sharp's rifles, by the exertions of Capt. Griffin and his friends,--the only company sent from the state armed with breech-loaders.

In 1861 he was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel of the 6th N. H. Vols., and joined that regiment at its rendezvous in Keene. The regiment was a.s.signed to Burnside's expedition to North Carolina, and landed at Hatteras island in January, 1862. In March it removed to Roanoke island, and on the 7th of April, Lieut.-Col. Griffin was sent in command of an expedition, composed of six hundred men with five gunboats, to break up a rebel rendezvous near Elizabeth City, N. C. Landing at daybreak the next morning, he attacked and broke up the camp, capturing seventy-four prisoners, three hundred and fifty stands of arms, and a quant.i.ty of ammunition. On the 19th of April, at the battle of Camden, N. C., he commanded his regiment, which formed the reserve. At the critical moment he moved it forward in line of battle, within short musket range, halted the line, gave the command to fire, and the regiment poured in a volley with wonderful coolness and precision. The enemy broke and fled, and the battle was won.

On the 22d of April, 1862, he was commissioned colonel of the regiment.

a.s.signed to Reno's division, which was sent to aid Pope in Virginia, he commanded his regiment at the second Bull Run, where it was ordered, with its brigade, to attack the enemy in a piece of wood. Forcing their way for some distance, they received a murderous fire in front and from the left flank and rear. Thinking it must be friends firing into them by mistake, Col. Griffin took the colors and waved them in that direction, but the fire only came the sharper; and finding himself nearly surrounded by an immense force, and deserted by the other regiments, he gave the order to retreat, and brought off the remnant of his men, bearing the colors himself.

At the battles of Chantilly and South Mountain he commanded his regiment; and at Antietam, after one attempt to carry the bridge in front of Burnside had been made and failed, Col. Griffin was ordered to make the a.s.sault with his own regiment and the Second Maryland. The charge was gallantly made, but the approaches were difficult, the enemy's fire destructive, and the column was checked; but re-enforcements were brought up, and the bridge was carried, and the Sixth New Hamps.h.i.+re, with Col. Griffin at its head, was the first to plant its colors on the heights beyond. For gallantry in this action he was recommended for promotion to brigadier-general. At Fredericksburg he commanded his regiment, which again suffered severely in the a.s.sault on the heights. Soon after that battle he obtained a leave of absence, and was married to Margaret R. Lamson, of Keene, N. H., with whom he is still living, and by whom he has two sons.

Early in the year 1863, the ninth corps was transferred to the department of Ohio, and Col. Griffin was placed in command of the second brigade, second division, serving in Kentucky. From there the first and second divisions were sent to aid Grant at Vicksburg; and, upon the fall of that city, Sherman moved upon Jackson, Miss., the capital of the state, driving Johnston before him. While approaching the town, Col.

Griffin was at one time in command of the advanced line, consisting of three brigades, when a sharp attack was made by the enemy, at three o'clock in the morning, with a view to breaking our lines by surprise, but was repulsed with considerable loss. Returning to Kentucky, he took command of the second division, and marched over the c.u.mberland mountains, joining Gen. Burnside at Knoxville. Several regiments of the corps had been left in Kentucky, and Col. Griffin was sent to conduct them forward to Knoxville. Before they had started on the march, however, Kentucky itself was threatened with raids, in consequence of our defeat at Chickamauga, and Col. Griffin and his troops were retained for the defense of that state. While on that duty his regiment re-enlisted for three years, or the war; and in January, 1864, he was ordered with it to Covington, Ky., where they were remustered into the United States service, and immediately proceeded to New Hamps.h.i.+re on their thirty days' furlough, granted by the terms of re-enlistment.

In the spring of 1864, the ninth corps re-a.s.sembled at Annapolis, under Gen. Burnside, and Col. Griffin was a.s.signed to the command of the second brigade, second division. On the 5th of May the corps joined the army of the Potomac, on the Rapidan, and at two o'clock on the morning of the 6th, Col. Griffin was sent with his brigade to attack the enemy, and later in the day made a brilliant charge in repelling an attack made on the second corps. At Spottsylvania Court-House, May 12, Gen. Hanc.o.c.k made the a.s.sault at four o'clock in the morning. Griffin occupied the right of the ninth corps, on the left of Hanc.o.c.k, though some distance from him, with orders to support that officer. Promptly at four o'clock Griffin advanced with his brigade in line of battle, and made directly for the point of attack indicated by the sound of Hanc.o.c.k's guns. As he approached, he galloped forward to see just where to make the connection. Pa.s.sing out of a wood into an open field, he found Hanc.o.c.k's troops wild with excitement over their success, but with organizations completely broken up by the charge they had made. Looking across a valley to a slope beyond, he saw a large force of rebels advancing rapidly to make a counter attack. Hastening back to his command, he brought it forward into position just in time to take that advancing column in front and flank with a destructive fire. Other brigades came up and formed on his left, and for five hours a terrific fire was kept up, and the furious onslaught of three Confederate divisions was repulsed. The loss on each side was fearful, but Hanc.o.c.k's corps, and possibly the army, was saved from being swept away, and a victory was won. By this gallant act Col. Griffin "won his star," being made a brigadier-general of volunteers by President Lincoln, on the recommendation of Generals Burnside and Grant, and confirmed by the senate without debate, reference, or a dissenting vote.

On the 18th he made a reconnoissance with his brigade, and handled it with coolness and skill in the fights of North Anna, Tolopotomy Creek, Bethesda Church, and Cold Harbor. On the arrival of the army in front of Petersburg, June 15, he was placed in command of two brigades, and made a skillful attack on the enemy's advanced lines at daylight next morning, capturing one thousand prisoners, fifteen hundred stands of arms, four pieces of artillery, with caissons, horses, and ammunition, and opening the way into Petersburg had supports been ready in time. At the battle of the "Mine" he commanded his brigade, and did every thing that could be done in his place to insure success; also at the Weldon Railroad, Poplar Grove Church, and Hatcher's Run.

At the final breaking of the lines in front of Petersburg, on the 2d of April, 1865, after charging the enemy's picket line and capturing two hundred and forty-nine prisoners during the night previous, he formed his brigade near Fort Sedgwick, in column by regiments, with three companies of pioneers in front armed only with axes to cut away the _abatis_. Just at daybreak, at a preconcerted signal, in connection with Gen. Hartranft on his right and Col. Curtin on his left, he led his column to the charge. Nothing could exceed the coolness and intrepidity with which officers and men pressed forward under a terrific fire of grape, canister, and musketry; for our artillery had opened and given the enemy warning. Tearing away the _abatis_, they dashed over the parapet, seized the guns, captured hundreds of prisoners, and held the line. The loss was frightful, but the backbone of the rebellion was broken; and when the news of the a.s.sault reached Richmond, on that Sunday morning, Jefferson Davis crept out of church and stole away, a fugitive; and Petersburg and Richmond were occupied by our troops next morning. For gallantry in that action Gen. Griffin was brevetted a major-general of volunteers, and succeeded to the command of the second division, ninth corps, holding that position till the close of the war, with the exception of a short time while he was president of an examining board of officers at Was.h.i.+ngton. He joined in pursuit of the rebel forces, and his division formed a part of the column that encompa.s.sed Lee and compelled him to surrender. Returning with the army and encamping at Alexandria, he led his division in the Grand Review, on the 23d of May; and when the last regiment of his command had been mustered out, he also, in August, 1865, was mustered out of the service of the United States.

Gen. Griffin's service had been a most honorable one. Brave, able, and patriotic, he was always in demand at the front, and his service was of the most arduous kind. He took an active part in twenty-two great battles, besides being engaged in numberless smaller fights and skirmishes, and his troops were never under fire, or made a march of any importance, except with him to lead them. Yet he never received a scratch, although he had seven ball-holes through his clothes, and had two horses killed and five wounded under him in action; and he never lost a day's duty from sickness,--the result, no doubt, of temperate habits. As an example of the severity of his service in Grant's campaign of 1864, he left Alexandria with six regiments, reporting twenty-seven hundred fighting men. At the close of the campaign he had lost three thousand men, killed and wounded,--three hundred more than his whole number,--new regiments having been a.s.signed to him, and the older ones filled up with recruits.

At the close of the war the government appointed him a field officer in one of the regiments in the regular army; but he had no desire for the life of a soldier when his country no longer needed his services, and he declined the offer. In 1866, 1867, and 1868, he represented Keene in the New Hamps.h.i.+re state legislature, serving the last two years as speaker of the house, which position he filled with marked ability, showing rare talent as a presiding officer. In January, 1866, he presided over the Republican state convention; and Dartmouth College that year conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts, _causa honoris_. In 1871 he was nominated for congress by the Republicans of the third district, but the opposition carried the state that year, and, although making a good run, he was defeated by a few votes. Renominated in 1873, he was again defeated by a small majority.

The habits of study so diligently cultivated by Gen. Griffin in youth have never been laid aside, but are still kept up in the midst of an active and busy life, he being engaged in large enterprises in the South and West. As a public speaker he is able, graceful, and convincing, and his work always shows thorough preparation, correct taste, and sound judgment. In a book of Garfield's speeches, with a short sketch of his life, published by a firm in St. Louis, a few memorial addresses, selected as the best delivered in the country, are inserted as a supplement, and Gen. Griffin's, delivered at Keene, and the same day at Marlborough, is found among them.

In his home, where he is cordially seconded by Mrs. Griffin, there is a tender and affectionate union of the members, a courteous hospitality, a library rich in choice books which are read and known, and all the comforts and enjoyments of a true New England home; and from that home abundant good works go out that make for the well-being of a community.

[Ill.u.s.tration: D. L. Jewell]

COL. DAVID LYMAN JEWELL.

BY J. N. McCLINTOCK.

The chief industry of the flouris.h.i.+ng village of Suncook is the manufacture of cotton cloth. The China, the Webster, and the Pembroke mills are three great establishments under one management, built on the banks of the Suncook river, and operated princ.i.p.ally by its power, where this cla.s.s of goods is made. About these mills, which give steady employment to over fifteen hundred operatives, has grown up a substantial village, with fine public buildings, s.p.a.cious stores, elegant private residences, and long blocks of neat tenement-houses, inhabited by a liberal and public-spirited cla.s.s of citizens, and governed by a wise and judicious policy which renders this community comfortable, attractive, and law-abiding. The man to whose clear head and skillful hand is intrusted the management of this great corporation, of such vital importance to the village of Suncook, is a genial gentleman of forty-five, Col. DAVID L. JEWELL, a brief outline of whose life it is my purpose to sketch.

DAVID LYMAN JEWELL, son of Bradbury and Lucinda (Chapman) Jewell, was born in Tamworth, N. H., January 26, 1837. In the midst of the grandest scenery of New England, under the shadows of the Ossipee mountains, and in view of bold Chocorua, our friend was ushered to this earthly pilgrimage. Colonel Jewell is a descendant of Mark Jewell, who was born in the mirth of Devons.h.i.+re, England, in the year 1724, and died in Sandwich, N. H., the 19th of February, 1787. He descended from the same original stock as Bishop John Jewell of Devons.h.i.+re.

Mark Jewell came to this country in 1743, married, and located in Durham this state; he was the father of three sons, Mark, Jr., Bradbury, and John. Mark. Jr., was the first white man that settled in Tamworth, in 1772, on what is now called "Stevenson's Hill," removing soon after to "Birch Intervale," as known at the present time. He married Ruth Vittum, of Sandwich, in 1776; they were the parents of sixteen children. He was prominent in all town affairs, and sometimes preached, and was familiarly called among his fellow-townsmen "Elder" or "Priest" Jewell.

Bradbury, son of Elder Jewell, married Mary Chapman in 1806, by whom he had two sons, Bradbury and David.

Bradbury Jewell, a pupil of Samuel Hidden, was a teacher of considerable note, and his memory is tenderly cherished to-day by many of his pupils throughout the state. While engaged in teaching he pursued a course of medical studies, and in 1839, having completed them, collected his worldly goods and removed to Newmarket, a place presenting a larger field for practice. There he commenced in earnest his chosen profession; but, being of a delicate const.i.tution, the exposure incident to a physician's life soon told upon his limited strength; he was taken sick, and died "ere the sun of his life had reached its meridian," leaving his widow, with two little children, in indigent circ.u.mstances, to combat with a cold and selfish world. A wealthy merchant of the place, having no children, wished to adopt young David, offering to give him a college education and leave him heir to his worldly possessions; but with a mother's love for her offspring Mrs. Jewell refused the offer, and resolved to rear and educate her children as well as her limited means would allow. Being a woman of undaunted spirit, she opened a boarding-house for factory operatives, when factory girls were the intelligent daughters of New England farmers, who regarded this new industry a most favorable opportunity for honorable employment.

Having brothers in Ma.s.sachusetts, and thinking to better sustain herself and children, Mrs. Jewell removed to Newton Upper Falls, Ma.s.s., following the same occupation there. In that village young Jewell first attended school, the teacher of which was a former pupil of his father.

To render his mother more substantial a.s.sistance than he could afford her by doing irksome ch.o.r.es, he went to work in the factory when but nine years of age, receiving for a day's work, from quarter of five in the morning until half past seven in the evening, the very munificent sum of sixteen cents a day, or one dollar a week. He worked nine months and attended school three, every year, until he was nearly thirteen years of age, when the close confinement was found detrimental to his health, and he was taken from the mill and placed on a farm. The next three years he pa.s.sed in healthful, happy, out-door work. Returning home from the farm strong, robust, and vigorous, he re-entered the mill, where he was variously occupied, becoming familiar with the operations of the numerous machines in each department, but more particularly those pertaining to the carding-room, where his step-father, Thomas Truesdell, was an overseer, learning as he pursued his work, gradually and insensibly, things that to-day are of incalculable benefit for the business in which he is now engaged. He little thought, however, when moving his stool from place to place in order to facilitate his labor, he would some day be at the head of similar works many times greater in magnitude than those in which he was then employed. His inherited mechanical taste developed by his life among machinery, and when he was seventeen years of age he gladly entered a machine-shop. Here his ready perception of form rendered his work attractive and his improvement rapid.

Before completing his apprentices.h.i.+p he felt keenly the want of a better education, and determined to obtain it. His exchequer was very low, but having the confidence of friends he readily obtained a loan, and in the spring of 1855 he entered the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Ma.s.s. The princ.i.p.al, after a casual examination, said: "Well, you don't know much, do you?" Being quick at repartee young Jewell replied: "No, sir; if I did, I would not be here." This brief sip at the fountain of knowledge only increased his thirst for more, and in September of the same year he entered the state normal school at Bridgewater, Ma.s.s., under the regime of Marshall Conant, a life-long friend and counselor. Mr. Jewell from the first was a favorite among his cla.s.smates,--courteous, genial, pleasant in disposition, something careless withal; physically vigorous, and always the first at athletic sports when relieved from study.

Mathematics, of which he was very fond, and natural philosophy were his favorite branches of study, and free-hand drawing his delight, as slates, book-covers, and alb.u.ms attested. While in school he made rapid advancement in knowledge, and graduated in the spring of 1857, having acquired, as his diploma reads, "a very creditable degree of knowledge of the several branches taught therein. Besides these attainments, Mr.

Jewell possesses a tact and skill for rapid sketching and delineation which give life to his blackboard ill.u.s.trations."

To show the forethought possessed by him in a marked degree, before graduating he had secured a school to teach in New Jersey, and the day after the closing exercises were over he started for his new field of labor. He taught with great success in New Jersey and also in New York, some three years. One school of which he was princ.i.p.al numbered three hundred scholars, and employed five a.s.sistant teachers, most of whom were his seniors in years. Like his father, he gained an enviable reputation as a teacher, and his credentials speak of him in the highest terms, as a competent, faithful, and pleasing instructor, and a most excellent disciplinarian. One superintendent of schools remarks: "He was the best teacher that has been employed in the town for thirty years."