Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men Part 9

Mr. Wheeler was from the first one of the pillars of Republican strength in Strafford county; and when the party in Dover has needed some one to represent it with conspicuous ability it has very often called upon him.

He represented that city in the legislature in 1864, 1865, 1868, 1869, and 1870, and in 1876 was a member of the const.i.tutional convention of New Hamps.h.i.+re. In the house, he was on the judiciary committee in 1864, and its chairman in 1865, also chairman of the finance committee in 1868; and in the const.i.tutional convention was chairman of one of the four only leading committees, vis., that on the bill of rights.

In 1869 he was chosen speaker of the house, receiving nearly all the votes of his party in caucus, and much beyond his party vote in the house. He was rechosen in 1870, again receiving more than the vote of his party. As a member of the house, he was always recognized as a leader whose counsel it was safe to follow and whose opposition was generally fatal; and, as speaker, he was distinguished for his dignity, courtesy, and knowledge of parliamentary law. He was several times the leading Republican candidate for congress in the first district, and the peculiar methods by which other men were put into the place which the people demanded he should fill have disgraced and weakened the party in that section ever since.

In the year 1866, Mr. Wheeler received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Dartmouth College. He was president of the Dover National Bank from 1858 to 1874.

Mr. Wheeler married, December 31, 1848, Priscilla E., daughter of Joseph W. and Phebe (Wheeler) Clement, of Franklin, N. H. They have but one child,--Helen Maud,--born March 27, 1858. Mr. Wheeler is still in the prime of successful practice in Dover.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Edward Spalding]

HON. EDWARD SPALDING, M. D.

The subject of this sketch, born at Amherst, N. H., September 15, 1813, was the son of Dr. Matthias Spalding, who was of the fifth generation in direct descent from Edward Spalding, who came to New England about 1632, and settled first at Braintree, Ma.s.s., removing a few years later to Chelmsford, Ma.s.s., of which he was one of the earliest proprietors. Col.

Simeon Spalding married, for his second wife, Mrs. Abigail Wilson, whose maiden name was Johnson, the fourth generation in descent from Edward Johnson of Woburn, who came from Kent county, England. Matthias Spalding was one of the youngest of her children, born at Chelmsford, June 25, 1769, and graduated at Harvard College in 1798. Adopting the medical profession, he went abroad to perfect his education by attending lectures in London. Having a natural apt.i.tude for the practice of medicine and surgery, with this superior training, he was soon distinguished for his successful treatment of disease, and his services were widely sought.

In 1806, after the settlement of Matthias Spalding at Amherst, he married Rebecca Wentworth, daughter of Hon. Joshua Atherton, and sister of Charles H. Atherton, an eminent lawyer and father of Hon. Charles G.

Atherton, late United States senator. Mrs. Spalding was a woman of a refined nature and elegant manners. Of eight children, Edward was the first son and the fourth child. Favored in his parentage, he was also favored in the circ.u.mstances and companions.h.i.+ps of his early life. The society of Amherst embraced a number of families of superior talents and education. Among the children of these families he was an active, manly, and generous boy, fond of fis.h.i.+ng and athletic sports, and popular with his schoolmates.

When eleven years of age he was sent to Chelmsford, to be under the instruction of Rev. Abiel Abbott. At thirteen, he was one of a company of Amherst lads who became students at Pinkerton Academy, in Derry, then in charge of Abel F. Hildreth, a celebrated master in those days. While preparing for college, he was a.s.sociated with Jarvis Gregg, Stephen Chase, James F. Joy, and James McCollom, who were subsequently distinguished as scholars, becoming tutors in the college at Hanover, after graduation. In college young Spalding made good use of his opportunities, and counted among his friends and cla.s.smates at Dartmouth Rev. F. A. Adams, Ph. D., Prof. Joseph C. Bodwell, D. D., Hon. J. F.

Joy, LL. D., John Lord, LL. D., Judge Fowler of Concord, and Rev. E.

Quincy S. Waldron, president of Borromeo College, Md.

In the autumn following his graduation, in 1833, young Spalding went to Lexington, Ky., hoping to obtain employment as a teacher. The effort to establish a private cla.s.sical school in Lexington, though widely advertised, was not successful. The patronage did not answer to the promises of the ambitious prospectus, and, after a trial of a few weeks, the enterprise was abandoned as unremunerative. The West was not to be the scene of Dr. Spalding's life, nor teaching his employment.

Mr. Spalding returned to New England in the spring of 1834, and commenced the study of medicine in the office of his father at Amherst.

He attended three courses of lectures in the Harvard Medical School at Boston, and was graduated at that inst.i.tution in the summer of 1837.

Having spent a few months riding with his father, and observing his treatment of the sick, he decided to enter on what seemed a promising field for a physician at Nashua. Accepting an invitation from the elder Dr. Eldredge, he became a partner with him in practice. After this partners.h.i.+p was dissolved the business increased, and he gained for himself an extensive and valuable patronage. He enjoyed the confidence of a large circle of families, and his success as a physician had given him an enviable reputation. In the meantime he had been called to a.s.sume responsibilities of a fiduciary nature, involving such care and labor as seriously to interfere with his professional engagements. The transition to these new employments was the natural sequence of the excellent judgment and rare capacity for business which he manifested. The accuracy and prompt.i.tude with which his accounts were rendered to the probate, and the just consideration for the feelings and interests of all persons concerned in the settlement of the estates committed to his trust, brought such a pressure of occupation that he was compelled to relinquish his profession.

He had now been in practice twenty-five years, and satisfactory as his services as a physician had been to the community, he was yet to perform an imperative and valuable service by his judicious management of important trusts and his earnest co-operation in the direction and enlargement of new enterprises. In addition to his engagements in the settlement of large estates, he became interested in banking, manufacturing, and railroads, holding various offices of labor and responsibility in these inst.i.tutions and corporations. He was for several years treasurer of the Nashua Savings Bank and subsequently its president. He was one of the original projectors of the "Pennichuck Water-Works," of which company he is president. A director in both of the large cotton manufacturing companies which have contributed so much to the prosperity of the city, he has also fulfilled similar duties in other corporations elsewhere. For a time a director, he has become the president, of the Indian Head National Bank.

In munic.i.p.al and town offices he has performed important duties, taking a lively interest in the progress of popular education. He has been a member of the school committee a large portion of the time that he has lived in Nashua, and is now chairman of the board of education. A member of the New Hamps.h.i.+re Historical Society, his encouragement and a.s.sistance are gratefully acknowledged by several gentlemen who have been engaged in the preparation and publication of genealogical and town histories. He has also been actively engaged in building up the city library, of which he has been a trustee from the beginning of the enterprise.

Never seeking political preferment, and personally disinclined to the strife for political distinctions, he was elected mayor of the city in 1864, and served as delegate to the Baltimore convention in the same year. He was a member of the state convention for the revision of the const.i.tution in 1876, and councilor for two years during the administration of his Excellency Governor Prescott, 1878 and 1879.

In 1866 he was elected a trustee of Dartmouth College, a position which he still retains, and in which he has contributed to the substantial prosperity of the inst.i.tution by frequent, un.o.btrusive gifts, and the steady service of a loyal and judicious mind. He has also represented Dartmouth College as a trustee of the College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts during the whole period of its existence as a department of instruction.

On the 23d of June, 1842, Dr. Spalding was united in marriage with Dora Everett, second daughter of Joseph and Mary Appleton Barrett, of New Ipswich, a family a.s.sociated favorably with the history of the town so widely known by the character and achievements of its sons. By this marriage Dr. Spalding had three children, of whom two daughters are living; the second child, a son. Edward Atherton, died November 10, 1863, aged eleven years and two months. With this exception, the life of Dr. Spalding has been singularly exempt from afflictive changes. Happy in the circle of his kindred and the connections formed by marriage, his home has been a welcome resort to the youth of both families, while the older generation was tenderly cared for by the thoughtful and continued ministrations of this son and his companion.

As might be inferred from what has been said of the general esteem in which Dr. Spalding is held, he has many personal friends among men of thoughtful and scholarly habits. Himself a student, and thoroughly awake to whatever affects the nation's welfare, he has been a careful reader of current history. He has marked the progress of the various moral and political questions that agitate the minds of the people and shape the legislation of the country, with deep concern that the issues might be favorable to the principles of truth and righteousness. A sincere believer in the teachings of our Divine Lord, he has recognized as a Christian the claims of the country, as well as the claims of the city where he dwells. A liberal and constant contributor to the inst.i.tutions which are organized to extend the knowledge of Christ throughout the world, he is known as the patron and advocate of missions at home and abroad. For many years he has been the president of the New Hamps.h.i.+re Bible Society. He has cheerfully borne his full proportion of the expenses incident to the maintenance of the local inst.i.tutions of public wors.h.i.+p and religious instruction in the church and society with which he is connected. When the meeting-house of the First Congregational church was burned, he at once proposed to his friend, Mr. Isaac Spalding, that they two should each give ten thousand dollars towards the cost of rebuilding,--a proposition to which Mr. Spalding promptly a.s.sented, thus insuring the immediate erection of the commodious and pleasant edifice which that church now owns.

With such a variety of offices and engrossing employments still demanding his attention, we should antic.i.p.ate that the duties would become burdensome, and the skillful hand lose something of its cunning; but the Doctor is still vigorous and works easily. This continued capacity for labor is doubtless owing to the natural endowments of a man who has nurtured his forces by avoiding excesses on the one hand, and on the other by carefully husbanding his strength. He has not only arranged his business on system, but he has resolutely reserved to himself, annually, seasons of almost absolute rest. Retaining his early fondness for fis.h.i.+ng, for a few weeks in every year he has resorted to the mountain streams and inland lakes of northern New England for his favorite recreation. In these excursions he has sought the head waters of most of our rivers, and become acquainted with the grand and beautiful scenery of the mountain region. He has learned the haunts and habits of all the fish to be found in our streams, and of the birds that frequent our forests. By this method has he renewed his youth, while, with others of congenial tastes, he has made his knowledge tributary to the public good, by joint efforts to restore the migratory fishes to the waters of the state, from which, by artificial obstructions, they have been shut out. The board of fish and game commissioners for New Hamps.h.i.+re, of which Dr. Spalding is chairman, is an outgrowth of this joint endeavor that promises to enlarge the piscatory resources of the state.

With this record of the number and variety of trusts which are still in his hands, and the appointments that he must meet daily, and from week to week, it is evident that the Doctor is still capable of continuous labor. His grateful testimony addressed to his cla.s.smates is, "I have enjoyed almost uninterrupted health, and a degree of happiness and prosperity far beyond the common lot." The sources of his good fortune are not to be sought in extraordinary gifts or peculiar helps. Beginning life with a sound mind and sound body, he has cherished both by regular habits and studious industry. By fidelity and painstaking in business, by generous and considerate treatment of others, by using his influence and property in befriending the needy and helping young men struggling with adverse circ.u.mstances, by cheris.h.i.+ng the friends.h.i.+p of good men in all cla.s.ses of society, and in daily recognition of his need of guidance and wisdom from G.o.d,--he has escaped the envy and conflicts which beset a selfish and ambitious career. Happy in his employments, and enjoying the good that followed his exertions, men have witnessed his advancement with pleasure and sought to do him honor. His life ill.u.s.trates the value of those personal excellences which all may cultivate, and shows the readiness of mankind to recognize their worth. To such as are seeking to do right and serve their generation, the example is encouraging, and a.s.sures us that energy, integrity, and beneficence are not without rewards.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Yours truly

James A. Weston]

HON. JAMES A. WESTON.

By H. H. Metcalf.

Much has been written in praise of Manchester, the foremost city of the state in size and importance, in the extent and variety of its manufacturing establishments and in the energy, activity, and public spirit of its citizens. It has been called, also, the "city of governors," and four of the nine living ex-chief-magistrates of the state have their residence within its borders; while still another, residing in the immediate vicinity, is reckoned as substantially a Manchester man. Yet, after all, but one native of Manchester has ever held the office of governor of New Hamps.h.i.+re. What is far more remarkable is the fact, that of twenty men who have been chosen mayor of Manchester, one alone was born within its limits. He and Manchester's only native born governor are one and the same,--the subject of this sketch,--a man who, from the work he has accomplished, as well as from the distinction he has received at the hands of his fellow-citizens, has long been accorded a conspicuous position among the representative men of his city and state.

JAMES ADAMS WESTON was born in Manchester, August 27, 1827. He is a descendant of the seventh generation from John Weston, of Buckinghams.h.i.+re, England, who aided in establis.h.i.+ng the colony at Weymouth (then Wisca.s.set), Ma.s.s., where he went into mercantile business, being among the first to engage in the colonial trade.

Returning to England a few years subsequently, he suddenly died there; but in 1644, John Weston, a young son of the deceased, made his way to America, where he joined some of his kindred who had emigrated in the mean time. He finally settled in Reading, Ma.s.s., and was the progenitor of the family of which James A. Weston is a representative.[1]

In 1803, Amos Weston, a descendant of John, removed from Reading, with his family, and settled in Manchester, then Derryfield. He was a farmer by occupation, and located in the southeastern part of the town. This Amos Weston was a man of character and influence, and was a member of the committee, chosen in March, 1810, to pet.i.tion the legislature to change the name of Derryfield to Manchester. A son of the above, Amos Weston, Jr., removed with his parents to Derryfield, and located upon land adjoining that of his father, clearing up from the wilderness the farm since well known in Manchester as the "Weston place." He married Betsy, a daughter of Col. Robert Wilson, of Londonderry, a leading citizen of the town, whose father, James Wilson, came from Londonderry, Ireland, more than one hundred and fifty years ago, and settled at the place now known as Wilson's Crossing. Amos Weston, Jr., was a man of strong mind and sound judgment, and was much in the public service. He officiated as town clerk five years; as selectman, fifteen years, being eleven years chairman of the board; was three times the representative from Manchester in the legislature; and a member of the const.i.tutional convention of 1850. From his union with Betsy Wilson--an estimable and exemplary woman--five children resulted. Of these, the youngest, James A. Weston, is the sole survivor.

Like most sons of New Hamps.h.i.+re farmers, Mr. Weston pa.s.sed a considerable portion of his time in youth in tilling the soil; but secured a substantial education at the district school and the Manchester and Piscataquog academies. With a strong apt.i.tude for mathematics, he soon determined to apply himself to the study of civil engineering, with a view to making that his avocation in life, teaching school winters in the meantime. So rapidly did he prepare himself for his chosen occupation that at the age of nineteen years he was appointed a.s.sistant civil engineer of the Concord Railroad, and immediately (in 1846) commenced work in superintending the laying of the second track of that road. In 1849 he was promoted to the position of chief engineer, which he held for a long series of years. For several years, also, he discharged the duties of road master and master of transportation of the Concord and Manchester & Lawrence railroads. As chief engineer of the Concord & Portsmouth Railroad, he superintended the construction of a considerable portion of the line, as he subsequently did that of the Suncook Valley Railroad. As a civil engineer, he occupies a place in the front rank in his profession in New England; and his services have been in demand far beyond his ability to respond, in making surveys for proposed railways, water-works, etc. Prominent among the public works with which he has been connected in this capacity, may be mentioned the Concord water-works, supplying the capital city with water from Penacook lake, for which he made the survey, and whose construction he superintended.

In his political convictions and a.s.sociations, Mr. Weston has been a Democrat from youth. Never a machine politician, or even a zealous partisan, though a devoted supporter of the principles and policy of his party, he has won and held the personal respect of both friends and opponents in political affairs; so that, when a candidate for public office (which he has never been except at the urgent solicitation of those who regarded his candidacy essential to party success), he has never failed of strong popular support, measurably exceeding that of his party strength alone. In 1861 he was persuaded to accept the Democratic nomination for mayor of the city. Previous to this time Manchester had almost universally been regarded as a Republican or Whig city. The year previous to Mr. Weston's nomination the Republican candidate had been elected by nearly four hundred and fifty majority. He was defeated, however, by a majority of about two hundred and fifty; while the following year he came within eighteen votes of defeating the opposing candidate, ex-Mayor Theodore T. Abbot, who received on a former occasion a larger vote than had ever been cast for any other candidate.

Again, in 1867, Mr. Weston was pressed into service by his party a.s.sociates in the city, as a mayoralty candidate against Hon. Joseph B.

Clark, then mayor, and Republican candidate for re-election. This canva.s.s resulted in his election by a majority of two hundred and seventy-two, and by a larger vote than had ever been received by any previous candidate except that for Mayor Abbot, in 1855. At the next election the Republicans made a strong and determined effort to regain their ascendency in the city; but, although they had carried the city for Gen. Grant for president, at the election but a few weeks previous, by about six hundred majority, the ward returns at the munic.i.p.al election gave Mayor Weston a majority of seven votes over his Republican opponent, Hon. Isaac W. Smith. The "revising" process was resorted to, however, and the latter declared elected by twenty-three majority. In 1869, Mr. Weston defeated Mayor Smith by a good majority, and was re-elected the following year.

Naturally enough, Mayor Weston's remarkable success as the standard-bearer of his party in the city of Manchester, and the increased popularity he had secured by wise and efficient administration of munic.i.p.al affairs in that large and prosperous community, suggested him to the Democracy of the state at large as a most fit and available candidate for the gubernatorial nomination; and at the state convention, in January, 1871, he was made the nominee of the party for governor. The election resulted in no choice of governor by the people, though Mr. Weston received a decided plurality of the votes cast, and was chosen governor by the legislature in June following,--the Republicans thus losing control of the state government for the first time since their advent to power in 1855. Determined to retrieve their fallen fortunes, the Republican leaders, in 1872, brought to the front, as their standard-bearer and gubernatorial nominee, Hon.

Ezekiel A. Straw, agent of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, a man of great resources and unparalleled influence in manufacturing circles, not only in Manchester, but throughout the state. His defeat of Gov. Weston in the following canva.s.s was a matter of no surprise to either party; and his re-election the subsequent year naturally resulted. The Democracy, however, insisted on continuing Mr. Weston as their candidate; and in 1874 he secured a handsome plurality, and was again elected governor by the legislature. In December previous he had received the unusual distinction of a fourth election as mayor of his city, being chosen by a majority much larger than he had ever before received, reaching some six hundred votes. Although there was great partisan excitement in the state during Mr. Weston's second administration, his official integrity and thorough devotion to the welfare of the state were conceded even by his most determined political opponents; and no man holds in fuller measure the respect and esteem of the people, regardless of party, than does James A. Weston, the only living Democrat who ever occupied that position.

In the prosperity of his native city, in every material direction, Mr.

Weston has manifested a deep and abiding interest, and no man has labored more zealously or efficiently for the promotion thereof. In ill.u.s.tration may be cited the fact that to his efforts, individual and official, more than those of any other man, the city is indebted for the projection and completion of its superior water-works, by which an ample supply of pure water is secured from Lake Ma.s.sabesic. Various sources of supply had long been considered, but he had been, from the first, an advocate of the Ma.s.sabesic project, and his influence had done much to secure its favorable consideration. In 1871, while mayor of the city, he had the satisfaction of seeing definite action determined upon in that direction. Having been actively engaged in securing the necessary legislation, and becoming ex officio a member of the board of commissioners established to carry out the work, he devoted his efforts heartily to its inauguration, and no day of his life, probably, ever brought him more sincere gratification than that which witnessed the completion of this important work,--a source of daily blessing to the people of his city, and of just pride to those under whose advice and direction it was projected and executed, among whom he is properly regarded most prominent. He is still a member of the board of water commissioners; is chairman of the board of trustees of the Manchester cemetery fund, a member of the committee on cemeteries, and has long served as its clerk and treasurer.

Gov. Weston served as chairman of the New Hamps.h.i.+re centennial commission, was appointed by congress a member of the centennial board of finance, and his efforts contributed largely to the excellence of the New Hamps.h.i.+re exhibit and the general success of the exposition. He also served as chairman of the building committee of the Manchester soldiers'

monument, and has recently been appointed a member of the state board of health, established under the act of the last legislature.

With all his public and professional work, Gov. Weston has been for several years actively and prominently connected with important business interests. He was for some time one of the trustees of the Amoskeag Savings Bank, and some three years since was chosen president of the City National Bank, which was changed to the Merchants National Bank in October, 1880, at whose head he still remains. He was also the prime mover in the organization of the Guaranty Savings Bank of Manchester, which commenced business in December, 1879, of which he is clerk and treasurer, as well as one of the trustees. This inst.i.tution, under his administration, has been almost unprecedentedly prosperous, and is one of the most solid financial establishments in the city and state. He is treasurer of the Suncook Valley Railroad, and a director and clerk of the Manchester horse railroad, a corporation in whose establishment he was actively engaged. He has been chairman of the finance committee of the New Hamps.h.i.+re Fire Insurance Company from its organization until the present time; vice-president also until the resignation of the presidency by Gov. Straw, in January, 1880, since when he has been president. This flouris.h.i.+ng corporation--the only one of the kind in the state, whose capital stock is about to be increased to half a million dollars, and which already ranks with the most prosperous in the country--owes its success, in no small degree, to Gov. Weston's sound judgment and careful management. When, in August, 1880, after protracted litigation, the supreme court appointed trustees for the bondholders of the Manchester & Keene Railroad, who a.s.sumed control of the road, Gov.

Weston was selected as chairman of the board by which the road has since been operated.

In 1871, Gov. Weston received from Dartmouth College the honorary degree of Master of Arts. He has long been a member of the Masonic order, has taken all the degrees conferred in the Manchester bodies, and is now serving his eighteenth term as treasurer of Trinity Commandry, Knights Templar. For ten years past he has been a member of the well known military organization, the Amoskeag Veterans. His religious a.s.sociations are with the Franklin-street Congregational church, of which society he has long been an active member and treasurer. His residence has been in his native city from his birth until the present time, with the exception of seven years at Concord, from 1849 to 1856.

February 23, 1854, he married Anna S., daughter of Mitchel Gilmore, Esq., of Concord, a cultivated lady of strong domestic tastes, by whom he has an interesting family of five surviving children,--the eldest born, a son (Herman), having died at the age of four and a half years,--Grace Helen, born July 1, 1860; James Henry, July 17, 1868; Edwin Bell, March 15, 1871; Annie Mabel, September 26, 1870; Charles Albert, November 1, 1878. Their home, at the corner of Maple and Myrtle streets, is a s.p.a.cious yet modest and tasty dwelling, the abode of domestic comfort and social enjoyment.

Other men in New Hamps.h.i.+re have attained greater wealth and more varied public honors; but when all the elements of substantial success are considered, there are none, certainly, who outrank the subject of this sketch. Cautious, sagacious, and methodical; with a well balanced mind, and executive ability of a high order; scrupulously exact in the performance of every duty and the discharge of every trust, public or private; uniformly courteous in his intercourse with others, and mindful of every obligation to society and humanity,--the ample measure of success he has attained, and the general esteem in which he is held, are but the legitimate outcome of his life and conduct.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] A genealogy of the Weston families in America, prepared under the direction and patronage of Gov. Weston, is nearly ready for publication.