HISTORY OF MANCHESTER, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE PART II - BANKING, MILLS & MANUFACTURING ---------------------------------- Information located at http://www.nh.searchroots.com On a web site about GENEALOGY AND HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE and its counties TRANSCRIBED BY JANICE BROWN Please see the web site for my email contact. ---------------------------------- The original source of this information is in the public domain, however use of this text file, other than for personal use, is restricted without written permission from the transcriber (who has edited, compiled and added new copyrighted text to same). ======================================================== SOURCE: History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Co., 1885 CHAPTER V - Page 65 The Amoskeag National Bank-- The Manchester National Bank-- The Merchant's National Bank-- The First National Bank-- Second National Bank-- The Manchester Savings-Bank-- Merrimack River Savings-ank-- Guaranty Savings Bank-- The Asmoskeag Savings-bank-- The People's Savings-Bank. THE MANUFACTURING INTERESTS: The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company-- Stark Mills-- Manchester Mills-- Langdon Mills-- Amory Manufacturing Company-- Namaske Mills--Deary Mills--P.C. Cheney Paper Company-- Amoskeag Paper-Mill-- Manchester Locomotive Works-- Manchester Gas-Light Company-- Forsaith Manufacturing Company-- Other Manufacturers THE AMOSKEAG NATIONAL BANK--The Amoskeag Bank was incorporated June 24, 1848, and commenced business in October of the same year, with a capital of $100,000. This was increased August 5, 1850 to $150,000, and, August 7, 1854 to $200,000. The first board of directors were elected October 2, 1848, as follows: Richard H. Ayer, Samuel D. Bell, Mace Moulton, Stephen D. Green, John S. Kidder, Stephen Manahan and Edson Hill. Richard H. Ayer was chosen president and Moody Currier cashier. February 14, 1853, Walter French succeeded Mr. Ayer as president and officiated until his death, which occurred in a railway accident, at Norwalk, Conn., the same year. May 9, 1853, John S. Kidder was chosen president and officiated until the bank was discontinued. The first and only cashier was Moody Currier. The Amoskeag National Bank was organized November 1, 1864, with a capital of $100,000 which was increased, June 12, 1865, to $200,000. The first board of directors was as follows: Moody Currier, John S. Kidder, Stephen D. Green, Edson Hill, Henry Putney, Adam Chandler, Daniel Clark, Darwin J. Daniels and Horace Johnson. Moody Currier was chosen president and G. Byron Chandler cashier, both of whom still hold their respective offices. HON. MOODY CURRIER, L.L.D., the present Governor of New Hampshire and one of the leading bankers and capitalists of the State, has been the architect of his own fortune, and by his energy, clear busienss foresight and indomintable will, has risen from a penniless laborer on the rocky farms of Merrimack County to the present exalted and honorable position he occupies among the citizens of his native State. The rudiments of his education were acquired at home, in the evening, after the day's work was done, and in this manner he fitted himself to enter Hopkinton Academy. From thence he went to Dartmouth College, where he graduated with high honors in the class of 1834. Hon. Daniel Clark, of this city, also graduated in this class. After leaving college, he taught school one term at Concord and one year at Hopkinton Academy, and then became principal of the High School at Lowell, Mass, where he remained until 1841. In the spring of that year, having, in the mean time, read law, he came to Manchester, was admitted to the bar and formed a partnership with Hon. George W. Morrison for the practice of his profession. This partnership continued about two years when it was dissolved, and Mr. Currier pursued his profession alone until 1848, acquiring a large and lucrative practice. During this time he had developed rare skills as a financier, and upon the organization of the Amoskeag Bank, in 1848, was elected its cashier, a position which he retained until its reorganization as a National Bank, in 1864, when he was chosen president of the bank, and is the present incumbent. Mr. Currier has led an active life and has been prominently identified with many of the largest and most successful monied institutions in the city and State. He has been treasurer of the Amoskeag-Savings-Bank since its incorporation in 1852, a director of the People's Savings Bank and of the Manchester Mills since their organization. He was a director of the Blodgett Edge Tool Company and a director and treasurer of the Amoskeag Axe Company. He was also treasurer of the Concord Railroad in 1871 and 1872; has been treasurer of the Concord and Portsmouth Railroad since 1856; president of the Eastern Railroad in New Hampshire since 1877; treasurer of the New England Loan Company since 1874; director of the Manchester Gas-Light Company since 1862, besides holding various other positions of trust and responsibility, in all of which he has been eminently successful. Notwithstanding he has been actively engaged in the management of large financial operations, he has found time to indulge his taste for literary pursuits, and is one of the most accomplished scholars in the State. While a teacher in Concord, he edited a literary journal and later edited and published a weekly paper in this city. His tastes have led him into the realm of poetry, and in 1879 a volume of his poems was published for private circulation. Politically, Mr. Currier is a Republican. Prior to 1852, however, he affiliated with the Democratic Party, which elected him clerk of the State Senate in 1843, and 1844. He subsequently became a Free-soiler and has been a member of the Republican party since its organization. He was a member of the Senate in 1856 and 1857, and in the latter year president of that body. In 1860 and 1861 he was a member of the Governor's Council and chairman of the committee for raising and equiping troops to fill New Hampshire's quota of men in the War of the Rebellion. In 1876, Mr. Currier was one of the Presidential electors who case the vote of New Hampshire for Hayes and Wheeler. In 1884 he received the nomination of his party for the gubernatorial office, and was elected by a majority vote. There were three candidates in the field. He has been married three times, but has no children living. Mr. Currier is one of Manchester's leading and most honored citizens, and all measures tending to advance the welfare of the city have found in him an earnest supporter. THE MANCHESTER NATIONAL BANK--The Manchester National Bank was chartered in December, 1844 and organized in 1845 with the following directors: Samuel D. Bell, Hiram Brown, Jacob G. Cilley, Isaac C. Flanders, Walter French, William C. Clarke, and Nathan Parker. At the annual meeting in July, 1845, the following board of directors was chosen: James U. Parker, Samuel D. Bell, David A. Bunton, Hiram Brown, Jonathan T.P. Hunt, William C. Clarke and Isaac Riddle. The bank began operations September 2, 1845, with a capital of $50,000 which was subsequently increased to $125,000. The first officers were James U. Parker, president and Nathan Parker, cashier, both of whom officiated during the existence of the bank. It was organized as a national bank in April 1865, under the style of the Manchester National Bank, with the following officers: Nathan Parker president; Charles E. Balch, cashier; Nathan Parker, Benjamin F. Martin, Phinehas Adams, Gilman H. Kimball, John H. Maynard, David A. Bunton and Horace P. Watts, directors. The original capital of the bank was $100,000 which was increased, April 2, 1872 to $150,000. Nathan Parker, the first president, has continued as such to the present time, and Charles E. Balch, the first cahiser, remained in that position until his death, October 18, 1884. He was succeeded by Walter M. Parker. The present board of directors is as follows: Nathan parker, Horace P. Watts, Phinehas Adams, B.F. Martin, John H. Maynard, N.S. Clark, William J. Hoyt, and Walter M. Parker. THE MERCHANTS' NATIONAL BANK--This bank was organized as a State bank under the name of City Bank in 1853 with the following directors: Isaac C. Flanders, William C. CLarke, Oliver W. Bailey, Samuel W. Parsons, Andrew G. TUcker and William H. Hill; President, Isaac C. Flanders; Cashier, Edward W. Harrington. In 1865 the bank was converted into a national bank under the name of the City National Bank, when Hon. Clinton W. Stanley was elected president to succeed Mr. Flanders, resigned. In 1876, Daniel W. Lane was elected cashier, to succeed E.W. Harrington, deceased. The original capital was $100,000 which has been increased to $150,000. January, 1879, Hon. James A. Weston was elected president, to succeed Hon. Clinton W. Stanley. In 1880 the name of the bank was changed to the Merchant's National Bank. The present board of directors are Hon. James A. Weston, John C. French, Hon. Nathan P. Hunt, Bushrod W. Hill, Hon. John M. Parker, Hon. Charles H. Bartlett and William C. Rogers. Officers: President, Hon. James A. Weston; Cashier, Daniel W. Lane. ***** THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK was incorporated under the name of the Merrimack River Bank, July 14, 1855, Ralph Metcalf being Governor of the State. The charter was granted for the term of twenty years from July 15th, and was accepted August 1st by the following board of grantees: William Whittle, William G. Means, John H. Moore, Peter P. Woodbury, Frederick Smyth, William P. Newell, Timothy W. Little, Wiliam Patten, Isaac Tompkins, Isaac W. Smith, Frederick G. Stark, John Ordway, George W. Converse, Josiah C. Eastman, William Shepherd, D.J. Daniels, C.W. Baldwin, Jacob G. Cilley, Alonzo Smith, David cross, Phinehas Adams, Francis H. Lyford, B.F. Martin, William Richardson, Waterman Smith, Frank A. Brown, Alpheus Gay Jr., Joseph B. Clark, John M. Parker, Henry T. Mowatt, George W. Bailey, William Perkins and their associates. The first meeting of the grantees took place at the office of Frederick Smyth, No. 4 Smyth's Block. Suitable by-laws were adopted, the capital stock, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, divided into fifteen hundred shares and the requisite machinery for the successful working of the new institution was provided. The first organization was as follows: Directors, William G. Means, William P. Newell, William Whittle, Waterman Smith, John H. Moore, B.F. Martin, David Cross; President, William G. Means; Cashier, Fredrick Smith; Clerk, John D. Irving. The Bank of Commerce, in Boston, was selected as a place of deposit. The discount of notes was authorized November 1, 1855, and the first loan was made to the agent of the Manchester Mills. By November 7th the capital stock had all be subscribed and paid in. In 1856 the board of directors was re-elected and in November of that year William Whittle resigned and Phinehas Adams was chosen in his place, and there was no further change until 1859, when Mr. Means resigned as president, and was succeeded by John Frederick Smyth, the present incumbent. John Frederick Smyth was cashier of the bank from its incorporation, in 1855, to 1884, when he was succeeded by the present cashier, Mr. Charles F. Morrill. On the 22d of March 1865, the stockholders voted to reorganize, under United States laws, as the First National Bank of Manchester, and the old board of officers continued until the annual meeting in the following January, when they were re-elected. The present officers and directors are as follows: Hon. Frederick Smyth, president; Hon. David Cross, vice-president; Charles F. Morrill, cashier; John P. Goggin, clerk; Directors, David Cross, Joseph B. Clark, Thomas Wheat, Frederick Smyth, F.B. Eaton, Frank Dowst, Joseph F. Kennard. The clerks in employ, in the order of time in which they are named, are as follows: John D. Irving, now insurance commissioner, Toldedo, Ohio; Samuel T. Foster, died in Washington D.C.; H.A. Viarly, banker in Boston, Mass.; George Gage, now bank commissioner for New Hampshire; George B. Lord, now at St. Louis, Mo.; W.R. Walker, in savings-bank at Concord NH; Josiah Morrill, died while in the employ of the bank; John Porter, resigned on account of ill-health. The charter was obtained against the most strenuous opposition on the part of other resident bankers, and was regarded as a person triumph of Mr. Smyth. The fact once accomplished, however, all opposition subsided, and the business relations have ever been harmonious with his fellows. His fortunate investments and always conservative management have gained for the bank an enviable reputtation, second to none in the State. FREDERICK SMYTH (bio)--The subject of this sketch was born March 9, 1819, in Candia, Rockingham County. His ancestors, as far as we have any record, were thrifty farmers, and he was early inured to the toils of farming on the homestead, in the northwest part of that picturesque town. The common school and the High School gave him all they have to give; a single term at the Phillips Academy, in Andover, Mass., completed his brief study of text-books, and his education thenceforth continued in the larger school of men and affairs. For a short time he was a partner in trade at Candia with Thomas Wheat now a distinguished physician of Manchester. The field, however, was too limited to satisfy his ambition, and in 1839 he sought and found employment in the establishment of George Porter, Esq., who did a large business in the sale of general merchandise in Manchester. During the days of his clerkship he was librarian of a reading club, of which Samuel D. Bell, John A. Burnham, John Porter, and others were members, when the "North American Review," the "Southern Literary Messenger," the "Knickerbocker Magazine," etc. were placed within his reach. This appears to have been the germ of the Manchester Athenaeum. After about two years he entered into company with John Porter, Esq., and bought out his employer. This was the beginning of a brief but successful mercantile career, which terminated with his election as city clerk in 1849. While in trade he was very scrupulous in regard to his financial obligations. In the panic of 1847 every firm doing business on the street went under, except two, and one of those was that with which Mr. Smyth was connected. Like others, he was compelled to trust out large quantities of goods, and was unable to command much capital. He went to his Boston creditors, frankly told them his situation, said he did not want to fail, and so impressed them with his evident sincerity of purpose that they promised him all the goods and time he wanted. The event justified their confidence, and to-day no man who knows him needs to be told that his word is as good as his bond. He was elected city clerk by the usual party majority, and did his work so acceptably that he was re-elected by a City Council two-thirds of whose members were politically opposed to him. The "American and Messenger," of that date said: "This is a compliment to Mr. Smyth, which has been well merited by his faithfulness and courtesy during the last year." His manifest efficiency in city affairs, and the thoroughness with which he mastered ever detail, suggested his fitness for mayor, and he was accordingly nominated, and elected to that office in March 1852. He was re-elected for two successive years thereafter, and again at a time of peculiar importance in municipal affairs, in 1864. A distinguishing mark of his first year's administration will ever remain in the trees which adorn our parks and streets. He advocated an act of the City Council, which passed in spite of considerable opposition, authorizing trees to be set on all the public streets, parks and lands, and every year since, with but few exceptions, he has personally inspected the trees, and notified the proper authorities when any of them needed replacing. With this good work some, but not all, his successors in office, have sympathized. In July and October of Mayor Smyth's first year the Whig party lost its two great leaders,--Henry Clay and Daniel Webster,--and the attention of the citizens was called to some fitting expression of feeling in both cases by a brief message from the mayor. His first election was by Whig votes over the opposition of Democrats and Free-Soilers; his second by Whig and Free-Soil votes, and an increased majority; his third with very little opposition, and his fourth with virtually none at all. During his second year the Amoskeag Falls bridge was rebuilt, and parts of Goffstown and Bedford were annexed to the city. The most honorable monument, however which still stand to his name is the part he took in the foundation of a free public library. In the first instance, the conception belongs to the late Hon. Samuel D. Bell, but it is very doubtful if that idea would ever have been realized without the active and persistent efforts of the mayor. The city government of that day was composed of men mostly practical in their ideas, but with little faith in the value or necessity of literary culture. Workingmen were opposed to all needless expenditures in city affairs, and it required tact and wise handling to get a measure which called for an annual expenditure of two thousand dollars, with a certaintly of future increase, framed into a law, and it was largely due to the confidence they had in their chief executive officer that they supported the measure. When Mayor Smyth was about retiring, as he supposed finally, at the end of his third year, the following resolution, offered by the Hon. S.D. Bell, March 7, 1854, was unanimously voted: "Resolved, That the thanks of the trustees of the City Library be presented to the Hon. Frederick Smyth for the early, decided and successful exertions made by him, as chief magistrate of the city, for the establishment of a free public library." In 1855 he was appointed by Governor Metcalf and Council chairman of commissioners for juvenile offenders, the late ex-Governor Harvey, of the United States Circuit Court, and the late Hon. Hosea Eaton, being his associates. The signal success of this institution is well known to every intelligent citizen, but many have doubtless forgotten the storm of partisan obloquy through which it was piloted to public favor. From the first Mr. Smyth thoroughly believed in it, and in his remarks at the dedication, in 1858, he said: "This institution to-day dedicated, supplies a need of the State, that incipient crime may not become confirmed wickedness; that the jail and prison may not forever harden and fix what they were designed to prevent." The importance of this occasion can hardly be over- estimated, if we look at the sad proportion of young persons on the criminal list in our and other States. If we investigate the results of means which it is now proposed to use, that society may be saved from the curse of their vicious lives, and themselves from the greater curse of mental and moral destruction, we shall find that the cost in dollars and cents dwindles in comparison into utter insignificance. He was able, also, to announce that "the building has been completed within the amount appropriated, that no contractor had failed to perform his work, that not one cent of the amount had been expended except through legitimate channels and for duly authorized purposes." Governor Haile, in the course of his reply, complimented the commission upon the fidelity with which their work was done. In the years 1857-58 Mr. Smyth was a member of the House of Representatives in the State Legislature, and was also made treasurer of the Reform School, in the good management of which he took great interest. His executive ability and reputation as a good financier caused him to be selected as the treasurer of the New Hampshire Agricultural Society, and the ten years during which he held that place were years of the society's greatest usefulness. He was also a director in the United States Agricultural Society, and a manager of the three great fairs held in Richmond, Chicago and St. Louis by the National Association, and also vice-president of the American Pomological Society, which, under the lead of the venerable Marshal P. Wilder, has done so much to improve American fruits. Meantime, men were not wanting who believed in our mayor's fitness for the highest office in the State, and in the convention which nominated Ichabod Goodwin, in 1859, he stood fourth on the list of candidates. In 1860 he was president of the State Republican Convention, and was soon after appointed by Secretary Chase one of the agents to obtain subscriptions to the national loan. In 1861 he was appointed as one of the agents on the part of the United States to the International Exhibition at London, where Her Majesty's commissioners made him a juror; by the jury he was made reporter, a position which gave him some advantages not easily obtained in knowledge of the exhibition. He wrote some private letters home, and his impressions of matters and things abroad were published in the "New Hampshire Journal of Agriculture," then under the editorial management of the writer of this sketch. It was war-time, as we all known, and he wrote, "In regard to American affairs, I do not think there is a particle of danger of any interference from England, or has ever been; most people sympathize with Americans and the North, when they understand the issue." It was found on Mr. Smyth's arrival that only three of our commissioners were present, and nothing had been done to place our department in readiness. Patriotic resident Americans contributed about three thousand dollars, and work began in earnest. Very much of the favorable exhibit we made on that occasion if fairly due to a few men, who with Mr. Smyth, did double duty. His position as juror enabled him to do much toward securing a recognition of the merits of goods exhibitied by the Langdon Mills, and by the Manchester Print Works, both of which took a medal. He was also, by virtue of his place, admitted to many social entertainments, one of the most interesting of which was that given by Lord and Lady Salisbury, at Hatfields, where he met Gladstone and Disraeli, the two foremost men of England. In company with C.L. Flint, Esq., secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, he visited France, Germand, Switzerland, and Italy, and managed to compass a great deal of sight-seeing into a brief space of time. While at Rome, tidings from home were far from assuring, and Mr. Smyth deemed it his duty not to prolong his tour. He landed at New York in September, when matters had already begun to take on a more favorable look for the Union. He was then cashier and principal financial manager of the Merrimack River Bank, of which he is now president, and also of the Merrimack River Savings-Bank. His faith in the government led him to invest largely in bonds and to accept the charter for the bank of discount, which thenceforth became the First National Bank of Manchester. At that time few monied men or banks in town cared to follow his example, but the event justified his sagacity. Mr. Smyth's course in finance has been strictly conservative; he has never dabbled in fancy stocks or in merely speculative matters for himself or for his bank, and the reputation thus acquired enabled him, as will be senn, to lift the State from a condition in which it was compelled to pay exorbidant interest to one not inferior to that of any in the Union. In May 1863 a fair was held at Manchester in aid of the Sanitary Commission. Mr. Smyth was chairman of that committee, and gave the use of his hall and his zealous personal efforts to promote its success. The sum raised was about four thousand dollars. In the years that followed he did his best to keep up with the spirit and courage of the people. With others, he went down to the battle-field of Gettysburg, and labored among wounded and dying soldiers, and, in consequence of exposure at the time, was confined to a sick-room all the ensuing fall. In May of the next year, however, he again went to the front, and after the battle of the Wilderness rendered efficient aid as before. He has since received many testimonials of gratitude from men who owed, under God, their lives to him on that occasion. In this year (1863) he was again elected mayor of Manchester, under what circumstances and to what end, let another say. The "Daily Mirror and American," of November 28, 1864 in its leading editorial, said,-- "A year ago this month the Governor and Council of New Hampshire wisely recommended the towns and cities of this State to cash the Government boynty of $302, payable in installments, and fill up their quotas. The advice was taken. It took between three and four millions of dollars of ready money to carry out the idea. It drained every bank, and made, for the time being, the best securities seems of no account in raising money. Manchester was in trouble; she needed more funds than could be had, and, with all her wealth, seemed like a beggar... In this critical condition of financial affairs the question of mayor of this city came up. The field was canvassed again and again, and each time the report would be 'Hon Frederick Smyth is the man, but he won't take it.' It was a necessity that the chief executive of the city should have the confidence of business men and be familiar with financial matters. Finally, the pressure was so great that some of our leading citizens went to him and convinced him that it was his duty to accept of the onerous position one year. He reluctantly assented, with a distinct understanding that he should not again be called upon for that place. Some ten years ago he was three times elected to fill the office of mayor, each year with increased majorities, and time had shown that his municipal record grew higher and brighter as new opportunities to judge of its merits presented themselves, and a year ago he was elected for a fourth term without show of opposition, an event unprecedented in our municipal history, or in that of any city in the State. It was a wise choice. From the moment he took the mayor's chair harmony prevailed in every department of the city government. He is a peacemaker. He believeds that a 'house divided against itself cannot stand,' and has the power of discerning almost intuitively the average sense of mankind, what is generally called common sense, and hence is a natural leader of the people." Such was the opinion and feeling concerning Mayor Smyth at home, where he was best known. But this feeling, also, had obtained to a considerable extent throughout the State, and his friends had for some time determined to present his name as a candidate for the highest office in their immediate gift. In the Republic Convention, therefore, of January, 1865, he received two-thirds of an informal ballot, which was then made unanimous by acclamation. He was elected by a majority of over six thousand, the largest majority given to any Governor for twenty-four years. He entered upon no easy task. The State was beginning to feel severely the stress of the time. Gradually a great debt had accumulated, regiment after regiment had been promptly equipped and sent into the field, the banks had advanced money quite to the extent of their courage, and nearly to that of their ability. In the open market we met the gold bonds of the government, free from taxes; the same trouble pulsed through all the arteries of the body politic, and the people of the State always careful and conservative in all its expenditures beheld with something like dismay this mountain of obligation, swollen into millions. It was almost impossible to get money for current expenses. A previous Legislature had authorized the issue of three and one-half millions of six per cent. State bonds, payable in currency; only four hundred and twenty-four dollars had been taken. Governor Smyth, in his first message, recommended the issue of bonds better calculated to meet the exigencies of the case, and that current expenses be provided for by taxation. As a matter of interest to capitalists, he took care to set forth the resources of the State, its prudent habit in expenditures and the hostility to repudiation in every form, which our people had inherited from a frugal, patriotic and god-fearing ancestry. "We must," he said, "now observe the most rigid economy in expenditure and bring the expenses to a peace basis as soon as possible. Our people are naturally economical, and hold sacred all pecuniary obligations." He compared, in a very effective manner, the agricultural products of a State which had hitherto borne the reputation of producing only men with those of some of the more fertile members of the Union, to our decided advantage. He called to mind the unrivaled water-power, with its present and prospective improvement, and urged that attention to the latent wealth of the State which due regard to our prosperity demanded. Besides these matter which had to do with the immediate restoration of State credit, he took advanced Republican ground in regard to our obligations to the freedmen and to the maintenance of the authority of the national government. He indicated in a few words the fact that our indebtedness had its full compensation. "From the outbreak of the Rebellion, New Hampshire has stood firmly by the flag; and knowing what we do to-day of the scope and aim of the great conspiracy and of the infamous means which brought about its inception and urged on its progress, can any one regret that the State was so far true to her honored name and her noble memories as to offer without stint of her name and means for the re-establishment of national authority?" In the first three months of his administration he raised over one million dollars on favorable terms, a large amount of which was obtained in Manchester. From that time forward the financial affairs of the State received the most scrupulous attention. In the haste and waste of war unavoidable confusion at times arose in accounts between the several States and the general government, and it was not only then impossible to pay our debts, but equally to get our dues. Governor Smyth's large acquaintance with men gave him influence at headquarters, and he suffered no opportunity to pass to advocate the claims of his State. As will appear from the following extract from the "Providence Journal," all States had not been so fortunate: "At the close of the war he (Governor Smyth) found the suspended and disallowed accounts of the State against the general government of over one million of dollars. These disallowances and suspensions were mainly in the expenditures growing out of earlier military operations previous to his accession to office. Governor Smyth did not busy himself to fix charges of petty larceny against one officer, or of wholesale robbery against others. He did not assume that every man who was charged with fitting out the first regiment sent from the State had stolen all that he couldn't duplicate vounchers for on official paper. On the contrary, he urged upon the accounting officers at Washington the impetuous zeal with which the State had responded to the call of the government; he represented the impossibility of complete exactness in the accounts. Under such circumstances he exerted himself to obtain vouchers where his predecessor had omitted to secure them, and to explain their absence when they could not be procured. ... In this way he saved hundreds of thousands of dollars to the treasury of the State, and put no stain on its fair fame." Among other things relating to the prosperity of the State, the Governor took up and advocated with zeal the restoration of the fisheries. He quoted the opinion of Agassiz and others, that our waters could be restocked at no great expense. In his second annual message he was able to state that the Legislature of Massachusetts had been induced to move in the matter. On our own part, it was provided by law of June, 1865, that no dam or weir should be erected on the Connecticut or Merrimack Rivers, or upon the Pemigewasset, Ammonoosuc, Winnipiseogee or Baker's Rivers, without suitable fishways below the boundaries of the State. In the following October the Governor announced, by proclamation, that the law, by its terms, was to be enforced. The attorneys of the several corporations concerned, however, on the one pretext or another, managed to delay the consummation of this useful act until a very recent period. This first year of Governor Smyth's administration was a busy one. Our soldiers were returning from the war; it was the Governor's pride to receive them with something of the enthusiasm and warmth which he felt was their due. He urged that State aid should be extended to sick or disabled soldiers, and on this ground protested against the removal of the Webster Hospital, then maintained by the general government, at Manchester. Something of this effective service in behalf of the volunteers, no doubt, pointed him out as one peculiarly fitted to serve on the board of managers of the National Home for disabled volunteer soldiers, the establishment of which, on so grand a scale, rendered State aid unnecessary. To this important place he was appointed by vote of Congress in 1866. His associates were the President, Chief Justice and Secretary of War, ex-officio; Major-General B.F. Butler; Major-General John H. Martindale, Rochester, NY; Hon. Louis B. Gunckel, Dayton, Ohio; General Thomas O. Osborn, Chicago, IL; Hon. Hugh L. Bond, Baltimore, MD; Dr. Erastus B. Wolcott, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Major- General John S. Cavender, St. Louis, MO; Major-General James S. Negley, Pittsburgh, PA. Governor Smyth was one of the vice-presidents of the board. He was reappointed in 1872 for a second term of six years. Acting on his often-expressed idea that no man ought to take an office of the kind unless he was willing to devote to the discharge of his duties all the time and effort required, he has been a very efficient manager, traveling many hundreds of miles annually on visits of inspection at Dayton, Milwaukee, Hampton and Augusta, and to be present at meetings of the board in Washington, besides giving his personal attention to the admission of soldiers to the Eastern Branch, all this without other compensation than that which arises from a consciousness of duty done. General B.F. Butler, in a letter written from Boston, said, not long since: "I know I shall echo the opinion of all his associates when I say Governor Smyth was one of the most valuable members of the board. His accurate business knowledge, the skill and ability displayed by him in adjusting complicated accounts, caused the board to put upon him more by far than his share of the work. General Gunckel, of Dayton, Ohio, said: "Every one who visits these Homes recognized the peculiar fitness of the selections made, especially for the Central and Northwestern Branches; but few people even in Ohio and Wisconsin knew how largely this result, as well as the saving of thousands of dollars in the purchase, was due to the taste and judgement, the Yankee tact and shrewdness, of New Hampshire's ex-Governor. In the management and control of an institution caring for eight hundred disabled soldiers, and expending a million and a quarter annually, there was especial need of just such a man as Governor Smyth, and I do not exaggerate when I say that through the watchfulness and care, the courage and determination, of Governor Smyth, thousands, yes tens of thousands, of dollars were saved to the government and people." An extract from an address of Governor Smyth, at the Dayton Home, in 1868, shows somewhat of the spirit he brought to the discharge of his duties. It was on the occasion of laying the corner-stone of the Veteran Soldiers' Chapel,-- "This little church which we quarry from this beautiful stone, and begin to build, here to-day, is a token of allegiance, a signet of loyalty, both to the rightful authorities of the land and to the Supreme Ruler over all. The best and truest citizen, the world over, is he who first discharged his duty to his God, and under Him to the laws of the land. . . A memorial like this holds out no threat and conveys no taunt to a vanquished foe; it says as it means,--peace to all who will have peace,--but as a symbol of the highest authority, it also proclaims a law to be obeyed. Liberty without law is worse than worthless, for it means the liberty of the mob and of riot, and by it the weak are oppressed and the poor made poorer yet... But I hope that this building also will convey to you the idea that the four cold bare walls of an asylum is not all that the country owes or will give to its defenders. She recognizes, let us all hope and believe, the hand of an all-wise God in every act of this great drama, while compelled to take the sword to prserve a liberty unsullied by violence and law made with regard to the rights of every man, she offers to her citizens, everywhere, a fireside safe from intruding wrong, and a worship and a Bible free to the humblest." In September, 1865, the New England Agricultural Society held its annual session in Concord. Governor Smyth delivered the address, and among other distinguished gentlemen present upon the platform were the late Governors Andrew, of Massachusetts, and Buckingham, of Connecticut. In his introductory remarks, Governor Smyth said: "I cannot claim to teach you as a practical farmer, but I can claim to have made a constant endeavor, in my humble way, to keep alive agricultural enterprise and to stimulate agricultural investigation. It has always been my firm conviction that the safety of the State and the prosperity of the people require as a foundation an intelligent knowledge of agriculture; and while I have been obliged to admire the practical operations of others, and to search in fields not of my own for the results of well-managed experiments, I have learned to respect the great art which feeds and clothes us, and secures for us all the comfort and beauty of adorned and civilized life upon a subdued and cultivated earth." The address, as a whole, was received with very marked favor, and the volume of the "Society's Transactions" in which it was published met with a large sale. In some remarks following, Governor Andrew took occasion to thank the speaker for his eloquent words, and called for cheers, first for "His Excellency, Governor Smyth, and next for Governor Smyth's address." During this and the succeeding year he gave many brief talks at county and other fairs, always evincing the liveliest interest in the welfare of the State. At Milford, in the course of his remarks, he said, "I know it is often said that 'New Hampshire is a good State to emigrate from,' and perhaps it is generally believed that our young men can better their fortunes by turning their backs upon their mother State and seeking elsewhere for larger returns and richer rewards for their labors and enterprise. For one, I do not share in this feeling. I believe that ours is not only a good State to be born in, but a good State to live in, and to die in, and that one great concern of the fathers and mothers should be to awaken in the hearts of their sons and daughters a feeling of attachment and affection for, and, of pride and interest in, the homes of their childhood and the State of their fathers." In 1876 he delivered the annual address at the Vermont State Fair, in St. Albans. At the end of his first year his nomination for a second term followed as a matter of course. A Connecticut paper, in advocating the election of General Hawley, said: "New Hampshire, in her State election of the 13th inst., has nobly led the way in re-electing her patriotic chief magistrate by so handsome a majority, considerably larger than was given Mr. Lincoln in 1864;" and it is also quoted, with marked approval, that passge in his message beginning, "The question of negro suffrage is one of those defenses behind which slavery will yet entrench itself, and by which it will seek to regain some fragment of the power it has justly lost." The second year of Governor Smyth's administration was in all respects as satisfactory as the first. The State debt was funded at a lower rate of interest than was offered by the general government. The revision of the statues, the reorganization of the militia, measures looking to the restoration of fish to our waters, and the publication of ancient State papers are among some of the matters of general interest. I have before me an autograph letter form the late Rev. Dr. Bouton, thanking the Governor in the most complimentary manner for the interest he had manifested in the preservation of these important papers. One very pleasant incident of the year was the visit of scholars and teachers of the public schools of Manchester, on the Governor's invitation, to the State institutions at Concord. On two occasions during his occupancy of the Governor's chair he spoke at the dinner of the New England Society in New York, in brief but effective efforts, which were received with emphatic demonstrations of applause. So successful was the administration that, contrary to precedent, many of the influential and respectable journals of the State, among which were the "National Eagle," the "Concord Statesman," the "Dover Enquirer," the "Portsmouth Journal," and the "Keene Sentinel," advocated his nomination for a third term. The Governor, however, declined to be considered a candidate, and his letter to that effect was published in the "Statesman" in January 1867. A brief extract or two from some of the papers of the day will serve to show the assumptions of this sketch, not unwarranted by public opinon: Said the "Boston Journal:" "Governor Smyth's administration has been highly successful, not only in a financial point of view, which is demonstrated by statistics, but in all other respect." The "Commercial Bulletin:" "He has been as vigorous and careful of the interests of the people, as if those concerns were personal to himself, and successfully sought so to manage the financial affairs of the State that its credit stands as well as any other commonwealth." The "Daily Monitor:" "To-day Governor Smyth resigns his trust with the proud consciousness of leaving nothing uncertain or unsettled with diligence, business tact and untiring zeal could close up and arrange, nor has Governor Smyth's administration been merely a financial success; he has neglected no single public interest; himself a practical example of all the virtues which constitute a good citizen, he has interested himself in every movement which looked to the welfare of the community and the promotion of industry, temperance and good morals among the people." It is a significant fact that in a time of mucy party feeling the Governor was able to say, in his valedictory: "Whatever may have been the difference of opinion among us, there has been no factious opposition from any source to measures necessary for the public good, but I have uniformly recieved the hearty co-operation of all parties in this difficult work." Only once during his two years' administration did he consider it necessary to interpose his veto, and the House sustained him, one hundred and thirty-two to six. Another fact indicative of confidence in the executive was the appropriation, on motion of a distinguished political opponent, of fifteen hundred dollars to defray expenses incurred while on business for the State, and for which he had refused to take anything from the contingent fund. The appropriation was advocated by leading men of the opposition and unanimously voted. It was also declared by one of the journals "that no hostile criticism had been made from any source upon the conduct of affairs." It was extensively quoted, and, as far as I am aware, has never been contradicted. Mr. Smyth now found it expedient to devote his time to the interest of the banking institutions of which mention has been made, and to his personal business affairs. In 1876 he was an active member of the Constitutional Convention, when several important amendments were made to the State constitution, including the removal of the Religious Test Act. One of his marked characteristics is an unwearied industry, and it seems to be the opinion that one who does much can always find time to do more. Among the appointments he still holds are the following: president and director of the Concord Railroad, trustee and treasurer of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, director and treasurer of the Manchester Horse Railroad, director of the National Agricultural Society, vice-president of the American Pomological Society, president of the Northern Telegraph Company, president of the Franklin Street Congregational Society, trustee and treasurer of the Northern Telegraph Company, president and manager of the First National Bank of Manchester, trustee and treasurer of the Merrimack River Savings-Bank. In 1866 the faculty of Dartmouth College conferred upon him the degree of A.B. In the spring of 1878 he was appointed by President Hayes one of the commissioners on the part of the United States for New Hampshire to the International Exhibition at Paris. He left home, accompanied by his wife, in April, and reached Paris, after a few days in London, early in May. On the 14th of that month they left Paris for an extended tour, visiting the principal points of interest in Egypt, the Holy Land, Turkey and Greece, returning by way of Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Austria and Germany, to Paris in September. Some interesting extracts from private correspondence were published in the "Mirror" and "Farmer," in the course of which the condition and work of the American Missions was spoken of. He was much impressed with the value of this work to the growing civilization of Eastern nations, and has frequently expressed his opinion to that effect in various addresses since his return. Ex-Governor and Mrs. Smyth were the recipients of many attentions from ministers and consuls resident abroad, particularly at Constantinople and Athens. At Paris they were among the few invited guests at the dinner of the Stanley Club to General Grant, and were also present at the reception given by the American Legation to "General and Madame Grant." With a trio of other ex-Governors,-- Hawley, Hoffman and Fenton, -- he was made an honorary member of the Stanley Club. Soon after the return of Mr. and Mrs. Smyth from this foreign tour they visited Cuba and Mexico. The Mexican trip was exceptionally agreeable from the fact that they were invited to join the party of Major-General Ord, and so were made guests of the republic. A banquet was given their party at Vera Cruz, at which General Trevino, son-in-law of General Ord, and many distinguished official were present. The trip to the city of Mexico by rail was accompanied by a guard of honor, and they had every facility for seeing all that was most desirable in the ancient capital of the Aztecs. Mrs. Smyth, particularly was the recipient of many attentions from the courtly Mexican officers. As souvenirs of this journey they brought home quaint specimens of Mexican manufacture,--onyx tables, feather-work, images of street occupations, etc.,--to add to the interesting collection at the Willows. In December, 1882, ex-Governor and Mrs. Smyth sailed again for Europe in the royal main steamship, "Servia," spent Christmas near London and the New Year's day in Paris. From Paris they journeyed leisurely through Switzerland in a season memorable for destructive floods in the valley of the Rhone, and went by the Mt. Cenis Tunnel to Turin and Genoa. From thence to Nice, Marseilles, and by the Gulf of Lyons across the Pyrenees to Barcelona, in Spain. In that country they spent some time visiting Saragossa, Madrid, Toledo, Cordova, Grenada, Malaga, Seville, and Gibraltar. From Gibraltar they crossed over to Tangiers, on the African coast, and returning, took ship from Malta and Alexandria. This latter city was half in ruins from the recent British bombardment. From Cairo they ascended the Nile to the first cataract, passing through Lower, Middle and Upper Egypt to Nubia, visiting on the way the old temples and tombs of Denderah, Luxor, Karnac, Thebes, Assouan and other famous places. Then, after visiting the battle-field at Tel-el-keber, they passed through the Suez Canal and landed at Jaffa, the ancient Joppa. After visiting the principal points of interest in the Holy Land,--Jerusalem, Jericho, the Jordan, and the Dead Sea, etc.,--they went on, via Tyre and Sidon, to Beirut, Damascus and the ruins of Baalbec, Cyprus and Antioch. From thence by steamer along the coast of Asia Minor, touching at Troas, Smyrna, Ephesus and other places, they reached Constantinople. After an interesting stay of some days they crossed the Black Sea to Varna, and went through Bulgaria and Romania to Bucharest. From thence, through Hungary, Austria, Bavaria and Germany, returning to Paris. During this trip, as on other occasions, they received numerous attentions, and Governor Smyth had an interesting interview with the Khedive. They brought home many articles of value, curiousities and special manufactures of the countries visited. On this occasion, also, the Governor made a successful ascent of the great pyramid and explored the labyrinth within. This occured on the last day of his sixty-third year. In February, after their return, Governor Smyth prsided at a very large meeting in Smyth's Hall which was addressed by Hon. John E. Redmond, M.P. for Wexford, Ireland. He introduced the eloquent "Home Ruler" in a brief speech, saying that he believed in "Your purpose to raise up the lowly and oppressed and weaken the bonds of the oppressor," and sharply arraigned England for her course in Ireland as well as in other lands, as he had observed it when abroad. In September of the same year Mr. Smyth tendered a reception to the Hon. James G. Blaine, the Republican candidate for the Presidency. A dinner was given at the Willows, on Thursday, September 4th, when Mr. Blaine met with some of the most distinguished citizens of New Hampshire, and in the evening the house and spacious grounds were brilliantly illuminated and thrown open to visitors. A fine military band occupied a position on the lawn, and it was estimated that fully ten thousand people passed in to see the candidate. At this very time, and in the midst of all this joy and popular acclaim, a shadow was settling over the two lives which for forty years had been as one. The beautiful lady of the house, who that night and day had entertained her guests with all her old-time interest and vivacity, was within a few day stricken with a fatal illness. To so large a degree had Mrs. Smyth been identified with her husband's public career and success that no sketch of the life of one of the most eminent citizens of New Hampshire would be complete without mention of her. Emily (Lane) Smyth was born in Candia [NH] July 22, 1822, and was the daughter of John Lane and Nabby (Emerson) Lane, and the granddaughter of Colonel Nathaniel Emerson, who fought under Stark at Bennington. Her father was a man of prominence in town. She was a near neighbor to her future husband, and was a bright and ready scholar in the schools of the district and in the town High School. Her school- days were completed at a young ladies' seminary in Charlestown, Mass., and she taught school for several terms thereafter in Candia, Chester and Manchester with marked success. She was married December 11, 1844 and brought to her new position some most admirable qualities. Her excellent good sense, intelligent comprehension of public affairs, vivacious manner, rare personal beauty and entire freedom from any affectation of pride gave her at once a popularity which, widened and extended as her husband's success introduced her into other circles. Receptions given by Governor Smyth at Concord, in which she was so conspiculously charming, are still remembered as among the leading social events of the State, and she has entertained at her hospitable board some of the most distinguished people in the United States, including Chief Justice Chase, Chief Justice Waite, and his family, President Hayes and wife, the wife and daughter of General and President Grant, Vice-Presidents Colfax and Hamlin, General Chamberlain of Maine, Henry Ward Beecher and wife, and General Butler has been a frequent guest. At home and at ease in the highest circles she was nowhere more delightful and more engaging than in the houses of her old neighbors, to whom she was a perpectual joy. Industrious and possessing great ability, she has accomplished much during her life-time that courts for truth and goodness. Her ear was ever open to the call of distress, and she was one of the most efficient workers in the various benevolent organizations of our city and State. That the impression Mrs. Smyth made upon persons of both sexes and of all stations in life was no passing and ephemeral effect, is shown by the letters of a memorial volume printed for private circulation only, but which contains most remarkable testimony to her character and worth. Governor Smyth fully appreciated the worth of his helpful companion, and for nearly forty years their mutual devotion was a noble example of the beauty and sacredness of the marital relation. Her health had for the most part been so good, and her manner was always so hopeful and cheery that no immediate alarm was felt at her condition. A few weeks, however, developed fatal symptoms, and in spite of all that the best medical science of the country and the care of skillful nurses could do, Mrs. Smyth died January 14, 1885. The obsequies at the Franklin Street Church called out an immense concourse of people eager to bring tributes of affection and to do honor to the lovely character of the departed. For many years Mr. Smyth has had an extensive acquaintance with the public men of the time. It will be remembered that six months prior to Mr. Lincoln's nomination for the Presidency he introduced him from the platform in Smyth's Hall as the next President, and with Mr. Lincoln, and in after-days with his great war minister, Stanton, he was on most friendly terms. His conservative course in finance, his reputation as a safe adviser and his general good judgement on public affairs has caused his counsel to be often sought in high quarters. A truth which forms a large part of every man's experience ought never to lose its freshness. There is no royal road to success. Ex-Governor Smyth has had the advantage of good health; a sound constitution and great power of endurance; but he is one of the most industrious men in the State, and the mans by which he has achieved his position are open to every young man of equal energy, self-denial, high aim and conscious rectitude of purpose. Some of the results which he set himself to attain were beset with difficulties; but he was not discouraged by opposition or disheartened by delay. **** THE SECOND NATIONAL BANK The Second National Bank was chartered in 1877. The first board of directors, which has not changed since, was as follows: Aretas Blood, Josiah Carpenter, Frank P. Carpenter, John Hoyt, and N.S. Bean. Mr. Blood was elected president and Josiah Carpenter cashier positions which they still employ. The bank has a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. ARETAS BLOOD, son of Nathaniel and Roxellana (Proctor) Blood was born in Weathersfield, Vermont, October 8, 1816. When he was but three years of age his parents removed to Windsor, Vt., where he remained until seventeen years of age, improving the meagre advantages afforded by the common schools of those days. He was then apprenticed to the trade of blacksmith, which he worked at about two years and a half and then became a machinist. In 1840 he journeyed to Evansville, Indiana, where he worked at his trade until June 17, 1841, when he started eastward in search of employment. He stopped at city after city, but each time was disappointed in his hopes. He traveled on, however, still in his quest of work, and it was not until he reached North Chelmsford, Mass., that he found employment for his ready and willing hands. After remaining here a short time he subsequently went to Lowell as a machinist in the Lowell Machine-Shop. Here he remained seven years and then went to Lawrence, where he commenced the manufacture of machinist's tools for the large machine-shop then in process of erection at that place. Here the character of the man asserted itself. His ability demanded greater scope, and soon after he assumed the management of the establishment there and began the manufacture, by contract, of tools, turbine-wheels, locomotives, stationary engines, etc. His untiring energy had at last found its reward. He was master of the business. September 7, 1853, he came to Manchester and established the Vulcan Works, under the name of Bailey, Blood & CO., for the manufacture of locomotives. Business was first commenced in Mechanics' Row, but in the spring of 1854 buildings were erected on the present location and in the same year the company was incorporated as the Manchester Locomotive-Works with Oliver W. Bailey as agent. He was succeeded in 1857 by Mr. Blood, who has since resided in Manchester and has given his personal supervision to the business. The locomotive-works are located on Canal Street and cover about six acres. The machine-shop is a substantial building, parallel with Canal Street, two stories in height, four hundred and thirty feet in length and eighty-four in width. The wood-shop is also a two-story building, one hundred feet long and forty feet wide; the blacksmith- shop is three hundred and sixty-five feet long and fifty feet wide; the boiler-shop, two hundred and five feet long and fifty-two feet wide. There is also a large brick building, two hundred and thirty by thirty-six feet, for making brass castings and building steam fire- engines. In the spring of 1872, Mr. Blood purchased the steam fire-engine business of the Amoskeag Company, good-will, patents, etc., and now manufactures the "Amoskeag Engine," which is the old engine in name only, as it has been entirely remodeled and is now one of the most complete, perfect and efficient engines manufactured. There are now over six hundred and fifty of these engines in use. Here are also built all kinds of hose-carriages, fire appartus, etc. Mr. Blood has proved one of the most successful locomotive-builders in the country, twelve hundred and twenty-three having been turned out at these works. A thorough machinist and a man capable of handling a large force of men and conducting large business operations, he has commanded success, and the Manchester Locomotive Works are one of the representative institutions of manufacturing New England. Mr. Blood is also director in the Ames Manufacturing Company, of Chicopee, Mass; president of the Globe Nail Company of Boston; and treasurer of the Nashua Iron and Steel Company, which is doing the largest business of its kind in New England. He was a director in the Merrimack River Bank from 1860 until its name was changed to First National Bank in 1865; and until 1868 a director of the latter; was a director in the Manchester National Bank from 1874 until 1877, and from 1877 to present time has been president of the Second National Bank. September 4, 1845, he united in marriage with Miss L.K. Kendall, and their family consists of two children,--Nora, wife of Frank P. Carpenter, of this city, and Emma, who resides with her parents. Politically, Mr. Blood is a Republican. His first vote was cast for General Harrison, but he has been a member of the Republican party since its organization, although never an active politician. He has been twice elected alderman, and was chairman of the electors who cast New Hampshire's vote for Garfield and Arthur. THE MANCHESTER SAVINGS-BANK was chartered July 8, 1846, and organized with Samuel D. Bell president, and the following board of trustees: John A. Burnham, George Porter, David Gillis, William P. Newell, Hiram Brown. Nathan Parker was chosen treasurer and has held the office to the present time. Mr. Bell resigned in 1847, and the succeeding presidents have been as follows: Hiram Brown, William P. Newell and Hon. Daniel Clark. The present trustees are as follows: Nathan parker, Charles F. Warren, B.F. Martin, Charles Wells, M.W. Parker, Charles D. McDuffee and Stephen N. Bourne. Present amount of deposits, four million five hundred thousand dollars. THE MERRIMACK RIVER SAVINGS-BANK was incorporated June, 1858, under the name of the Manchester Five-Cent Savings Institution, and the charter was issued to the following board of grantees: Phineas Adams, Joseph B. Clark, John Ordway, Warren Paige, Waterman Smith, John L. Kelley, George Porter, B.F. Martin, Daniel Clark, Harry Leeds, Frank A. Brown, Samuel Upton, John B. Chase, C. Sackrider, Daniel W. Fling, Brooks Shattuck, David Gillis, John H. Goodale, William Crane, Henry T. Mowatt, Stephen Palmer, Ezra Huntington, Calvin Boyd, Josiah S. Shannon, John B. Clarke, David Cross, John M. Parker, George Thompson, Frederick Smith, Charles H. Campbell, George W. Thayer, Charles C. Parker, F.B. Eaton, James M. Varnum, THomas G. Holbrook, R.N. Batchelder, James S. Cheney, Israel Dow, Ebenezer Ferren, Isaac Riddle, M.O. Pearson, W.W. Leighton, Thomas Wheat, E.W. Harrington, Varnum H. Hill, Alonzo Smith, William Richardson, and their associates and successors. In 1865 the name was changed by act of Legislature to that which it now bears. The first meeting for the adoption of by-laws, choice of officers, etc. was held July 14, 1858, and the following board of officers chosen: President, Waterman Smith; Vice-Presidents, E.W. Harrington, George Porter; Treasurer and Clerk, Frederick SMyth; Trustees, B.F. Martin, Joseph B. Clark, Isaac W. Smith, William B. Webster, F.A. Brown, George Thompson, Peter S. Brown, Frederick Smith, Josiah S. Shannon, John L. Kelley, James M. Varnum, Alonzo Smith, Thomas Wheat, Warren Paige, Albe C. Heath, E.S. Peabody, John B. Clarke, Joseph A. Haines. The first deposit was made August 2, 1858. The business has been transacted in the rooms occupied by the First National Bank, and its details attended to by the clerks employed in that institution. Waterman Smith remained president until 1884, when he was succeeded by Hon. Frederick Smith, the present incumbent. Hon. Frederick Smyth continued as treasurer until 1884, when, upon assuming the presidency of the bank, he was succeeded by C.F. Morrill. The present members of the corporation are as follows: Jos. B. Clark, Waterman smith, Jno. L. Kelly, George Porter, B.F. Martin, Daniel Clark, Henry Leeds, Samuel Upton, John B. Clarke, Daniel W. Fling, David Gillis, John H. Goodale, William Crane, David Cross, John M. Parker, George Thompson, Frederick Smyth, F.B. Eaton, James M. Varnum, Ebenezer Ferren, M.O. Pearson, W.W. Leighton, Thos. Wheat, Joseph Kennard, Joseph L. Stephens, E.M. Topliff, A.J. Lane, Charles Williams, John Porter, C.F. Morrill, T.L. Livermore, G.P. Whitman, John H. Andrews, A.W. Quint, John P. Goggin. President, Frederick Smyth; Vice-Presidents, Joseph B. Clark, F.B. Eaton; Treasurer and Clerk C.F. Morrill. The amount of deposits, January 1, 1885, were $1,882,825.38 GUARANTY SAVINGS-BANK was incorporated in 1879 with the following incorporators: Nathan P. Hunt, Robert M. Shirley, William R. Patten, H.K. Slayton, Alonzo Elliott, James A. Weston, Jesse Gault, J.W. Hildreth, Horace Pettee, George W. Weeks, James F. Briggs, George A. Bailey, John C. Ray, Patrick A. Divine and Rufus H. Pike. The first officers were as follows: President, John M. Parker; Treasurer and Clerk James A. Weston. The present amount of deposit is six hundred and twenty five thousand dollars. The first board of trustees were James A. Weston, Alonzo Elliott, Nathan P. Hunt, John P. Moore, David A. Parker, Patrick A. Devine, Hiram K. Slayton, John Kennard, Bushrod W. Hill. Present board of trustees are John M. Parker, Alonzo Elliott, Nathan P. Hunt, John P. Moore, David A. Parker, John Kennard, Hiram K. Slayton, Bushrod W. Hill, James A. Weston. THE MECHANICS SAVINGS BANK was organized in 1877 with the follwoing Trustees: Aretas Blood, Josiah Carpenter, Frank P. Carpenter, N.S. Bean and George Dodge. Mr. Blood was the first president and was succeeded by Henry E. Burnham on October 1, 1880. Mr. Josiah Carpenter has been treasurer from the beginning. There are also two savings-banks--The People's and the Amoskeag-- located in the Amoskeag Bank building. *********************** MILLS / MANFACTURING *********************** THE AMOSKEAG MANUFACTURING COMPANY, one of the largest corporations in New England, was incorporated under its present name in 1831. Manu- facturing, however, had been carried on at this point with indifferent success since 1809. In that year Benjamin Pritchard, who had built the first cotton-mill in New Hampshire (in New Ipswich) in 1803, came to Amoskeag Falls, and in company with Ephraim, David, and Robert Stevens, built a small mill at Amoskeag village. In the following year these enterprising men organized a stock company under the name of the Amoskeag Cotton and Wool-Factory. The first move in this direction was as follows: "We, the Subscribers, Owners & proprietors of a large Tract of Land in Goffstown, in the county of Hillsborough, Joining on the Amoskeag falls, in the Merrimack river, with the water privilege Sufficient for carrying on the Manufcaturing of cotton & wool at all Seasons of the year, and having began the works by cutting a Canal for Carrying the water, erecting Buildings Convenient for Said Factory & preparing a considerable part of the Machinery, have agreed to form a Company for improving said Privilege by dividing the Same into one hundred Shares, by receiving from Said Company a fair price for the privilege, and the Labour Expended, which, if not agreed upon by Said Subscribers & the Company, to be apprised by men appointed by Said parties, and a Good Title by the Subscribers. "Signed by Ephraim Stevens, Benjn. Prichard, Robert & David Stevens. "Goffstown, January 18, 1810." To this paper was attached a caption of a subscription and signatures as follows: "We the Subscribers, Agree to take the Several Shares in the above mentioned privilege & factory annexed to our names, respectively, agreeable to the above proposals. "Benjamin Prichard, Goffstown, 25 shares James Parker, Bedford, 2 shares William Parker, Bedford 3 shares Jotham Gillis, Goffstown, 1 share William Parker Jr. Bedford, 1 share Wiliam Walker, Goffstown, 1 share Ephraim Harvill, Bedford, 1 share Samuel P. Kidder, Goffstown, 1 share Robert McGregore, Goffstown, 5 shares Joseph Richards, Goffstown, 1 share Seth Bartlett, Goffstown, 1 share Ephraim Stevens, Goffstown, 1 share David L. Morrill, Goffstown, 2 shares Isaac Hardy, Goffstown, 1 share Moses Hall, Goffstown, 1 share Benjamin Allcock, Goffstown, 1 share Alenson Prichard, Goffstown, 3 shares Elnathan Whitney, Goffstown, 2 shares David Sargent, Goffstown, 1 share John G. Moor, Manchester, 1 share The following notice was then issued: "Notice is hereby given that a meeting of the proprietors of the Amoskeag Cotton & wool Factory will be holden at Col. Robert McGregores on Wednesday, the 31st day of January instant, at one of the clock, P.M. for the purpose of taking into consideration the regulation of Said Factory & dispose of shares not sold. All persons who wish to become proprietors are requested to attend, when and where they may be accomodated with Shares. "Benjamin Prichard, Goffstown, January 25, 1810" January 31, 1810 the company organized with Joseph Richards, of Goffstown, as president, and Jotham Gillis, of Goffstown, as clerk. March 2, 1810, Messrs. Ephraim and Robert Stevens executed a bond to this company, agreeing to keep their dam in repair, and to furnish the "Wool and Cotton Manufactory" a certain quantity of water at all seasons of the year. The first mill was put in operation in 1810, but it was without pickers or looms. The cotton was picked and the yarn woven in the neighborhood. It is said that a smart weaver might earn thirty-six cents per day! This company was not successful, and after 1815 little was done until 1825, when the majority of the stock was purchased by Dr. Oliver Dean, Lyman Tiffany and William Sayles. Dr. Dean was made agent and from this time forward manufacturing at this point has been a continued success. July, 1831, the present company was incorporated, it having up to this time been a private enterprise. July 13th, the act was accepted, which allowed a capital of one million dollars, and on the following day the first officers of the new corporation were chosen: Lyman Tiffany, president; Lyman Tiffany, Ira Gray and Willard Sayles, directors; Ira Gray, clerk; Oliver Dean, agent and treasurer. With Larned Pitcher, these were the five men who accepted the charter on the evening of July 13, 1831. The property of the old firm (says Mr. Clarke, in his excellent "History of Manchester") was exchanged for stock in the new company, and the latter acquired by purchase a title to the land on both sides of the river, mostly, however, on the east side, where engineers had decided were the best sites for mills and the best tracks for canals. In 1835 the new organization bought the property and interest of the Bow Canal Company, the Isle of Hooksett Canal Company, the Amoskeag Locks and Canal Company and the Union Locks and Canal, all of which, as their names imply, had built canals at different points on the river. The Hooksett Manufacturing Company was merged with the Amoskeag in 1836 and the Concord Manufacturing Company shared the same fate the next year. The Amoskeag Company thus had obtained a full title to all the water-power on the river from Manchester to Concord and all the land in Manchester on the Merrimack available for mill-sites. It was also in the possession of large tracts of land adjacent to the river and extending for some distance from it. Having thus cleared the way, they soon began operations in earnest. In 1836 the wooden dam which had hiterto checked the river's flow at Amoskeag Falls was thoroughly repaired in order to answer the purposes of a coffer-dam, and the next year was begun the construction of a wing-dam of stone, with guard-locks on the east side, which was completed in 1840. At the same time the father from the river of the two present canals was built by Lobdell & Russell. In 1838 a contract was made with Russell, Barr & Co. (of which firm Issac C. FLanders, afterwards president of the City Bank, now Merchants' Bank, was a member), to construct the "lower canal," and the contract was fulfilled. The first building put up on the east side of the river was what was then the Stark Mills counting-room, at the foot of Stark Street, part of which was temporarily used for a counting-room by the land and water-power department of the Amoskeag Company. The next was the one desginated as, "No. 1, Stark Block," where the agents and clerks of the mills boarded with S.S. Moulton till November 1839, when the Manchester House was finished. The first mills built on the east side were what were then No. 1 and No.2 Mills of the Stark Corporation, which were erected for that company in 1838 and 1839. At that time a number of men who have since been well known in Manchester were in the pay of the Amoskeag Company. Hiram Brown, afterwards mayor of the city, was employed to oversee the stone-work; Phinehas Stevens, was its millwright and wheelwright; John D. Kimball was an overseer of carpenter-work; T.J. Carter was the resident engineer; Henry S. Whitney was an overseer of general out-door work; Warren Paige had charge of the lumber-yard; Nahum Baldwin, Daniel L. STevens and Charles Hutchinson were employed in the planing-mill; George F. Judkins managed the saw-mill, and Samuel Boice was employed in it; Samuel B. Kidder had charge of the locks and canals; Andrew Bunton and Levi Sargent were contractors for stone; John H. Maynard was the head carpenter; Jonathan T.P. Hunt and Joseph E. Bennett were employed as masons in the building of the mills. The company laid out the site of a town with a main street running north and south, parallel with the river, with other streets running parallel with this and across it, reserving land for public squares, and in 1838, having divided part of its land into lots suitable for stores and dwellings, sold it, bringing into the market by this and subsequent sales a large part of the land on which the city of to-day stands. In 1838 they sold a site and privileges for mills to a new company which had been incorporated as the Stark Mills, and built for them, in this and subsequent years, the factories they now occupy. After the burning of their old mills at Amoskeag, they funished in 1841, the two new ones just below the Stark Mills for their own use, and added to them in subsequent years as their needs required. In 1845 they sold land and built mills and a printery for a new corporation which had been organized as the Manchester Mills. To meet a demand for machinery for their own mills and those they erected for others, they built in 1840 a machine-shop, in 1842 a foundry, and in 1848 replaced both these by new and larger ones, beginning at that time the manufacture of locomotives, building new shops for mechanical purposes when needed. In 1859 was begun the manufacture of the famous Amoskeag steam fire-engines. Some time after they had finished mills for the larger corporations already mentioned they built, for the convenience of individual enterprises, a building known as "Mechanics' Row," at the northern end of the canals, and also sold land and erected shops for small corporations which were subsequently organized. They carried out meanwhile their original idea of the city, building boarding-houses and tenements for their own operatives, and those of the other corporations, giving away land for churches and public buildings, selling it to manufacturers and business men, and continuing a liberal policy to the present time. The first directors of the company were Lyman Tiffay, Ira Gay, and Willard Sayles, elected in 1831. The following is a list of officers from 1831 to 1885: 1831: Lyman Tiffany (president), Ira Gay, Willard Sayles, directors; Ira Gay, clerk; Oliver Dean, treasurer and agent; 1833: George Daniels, clerk. 1834: Harvey Hartshorn, treasurer and agent; Lyman Tiffany, Oliver Dean, Willard Sayles, directors. 1836: P.T. Jackson, Lyman Tiffany, William Appleton, George Bond, Samuel Frothingham, Daniel D. Broadhead, George Howe, Oliver Dean, directors; Francis C. Lowell, treasurer; Hiram A. Daniels, clerk. 1837: Robert Read, clerk; William Amory, treasurer; Oliver Dean, Willard Sayles, George Howe, Francis C. Lowell, Samuel Frothingham, John A. Lowell, Samuel Hubbard, Daniel D. Broadhead, WIlliam Appleton, directors. 1838: Francis C. Lowell, president; William G. Means, clerk; George W. Lyman, Nathan Appleton and James K. Mills succeeded Samuel Frothingham, John A. Lowell and Daniel D. Broadhead as directors. 1840: David Sears succeeded Samuel Hubbard as director. 1842: Joseph Tilden succeeded Francis C. Lowell as president and director. 1847: William Amory succeeded Willard Sayles as director. 1851: Robert Read succeeded William Amory as director. 1853: Gardner Brewer succeeded Joseph Tilden as director; Oliver Dean succeeded Joseph Tilden as president; E.A. Straw succeeded William G. Means as clerk. 1856: Jona. T. P. Hunt succeeded Robert Read as director. 1857: David Sears resigned as director. 1861: Oliver Dean, George Howe, George W. Lyman, William Appleton, Gardner Brewer, Jona. T.P. Hunt, directors. 1862: William Appleton, deceased. 1865: Daniel Clark succeeded Jona. T.P. Hunt as director. 1866: T. Jefferson Coolidge and Thomas Wigglesmith were added to the directors. 1871: Oliver Dean and George W. Lyman having declined re-election and George Howe having ceased to be a stockholder, William Amory, John L. Gardner and William P. Mason succeeded them as directors; Gardner Brewer succeeded Oliver Dean as president. 1874: Charles Amory succeded Gardner Brewer, deceased, as director; Daniel Clark succeeded Gardner Brewer, deceased, as president. 1875: William W. Bremer succeeded Charles Amory as director. 1876: T. Jefferson Coolidge succeeded William Amory as treasurer; William Amory succeeded Daniel Clark as president. 1877: John L. Bremer succeeded William M. Bremer as director; George Dexter and E.A. Straw were added to the directors. 1879: Thomas L. Livermore succeeded E.A. Straw as clerk and agent. 1880: Channing Clapp succeeded T. Jefferson Coolidge as treasurer; Channing Clapp succeeded E.A. Straw as director. 1865: Herman F. Straw succeeded Col. Livermore as clerk and agent. The company once owned fifteen hundred acres of land on the east side of the river. They own land on the west side also. The present dam at Amoskeag Falls was built in 1871 by the company, after Mrs. Straw's plans and under his personal supervision. Its predecessor had lasted thirty-four years, had become leaky and unsafe, was built low and in the wrong place. The old one ran straight across, but the one which took its place curved around so as to give a wider entrance from the river, was built two feet higher and farther down the stream It is in two parts, the main dam, from the west side to the bridge, being four hundred and twenty feet long, and the canal wing, from the bridge to the gate-house, being two hundred and thirty feet long. It is eight feet wide at the top, averages twelve feet in height, and cost, all things included, about six thousand dollars. The upper canal extends from the basin at the dam to the weir at the foot of Central Street, where it empties into the lower, and is five thousand four hundred and eighty feet long. The lower begins at about the same place, and extends to the weir below the Namaske Mills, where it empties into the river. It is six thousand nine hundred feet long, and runs a part of the way over the track of the old Blodget Canal. Till 1855 the canal was connected with the Merrimack, near the old McGregor bridge, by a set of locks, the company having been under obligation to keep the canal open to the public as when it was owned by the Amoskeag Locks and Canal Company; but the Legislature of 1855 gave permission to discontinue the locks. The openings of the canals at the guard-gates are five hundred and ten feet square. The canals' width at their head is seventy-three feet, and at the weirs fifty feet, with an average dpeth of ten feet. The fall from the upper to the lower canal is twenty feet, and from the lower canal to the river thirty-four feet. No. 1 and No. 2 Mills are nothernmost, and are exact duplicates of each other. THey were the first mills upon the Amoskeag corporation, were built separately, one hundred and fifty-seven feet long by forty- eight feet wide, and six stories high in 1841, but in 1859 and 1860 were united in what is called No. 6 Mill, eighty-eight feet long by sixty wide. No. 3 Mill, directly to the south of this triple combination, was built in 1834, and thoroughly rebuilt in 1870. It is five stories in height and four hundred and forty-two feet long, while its width varies from sixty-five to seventy-two feet. At its south end is a three-story picker-house, one hundred and thirty-five feet long by sixty wide. At the upper end of the mills, on the lower level, is a low building, four hundred and seventy-two feet long and thirty wide, used as a bag-mill, which has forty bag-looms. No. 4 Mill was built in 1846 and enlarged in 1872. The original building was seven stories high, two hundred and sixty feet in length by sixty in width In the fall of 1872 an extension was built in the rear, one hundred feet long and sixty feet wide. In the rear, also, are two picker-houses, three stories high, fifty-six feet in length by thirty-seven in width. No. 5 Mill is just north of the one last mentioned. It is two hundred and fifty-eight feet long by sixty wide, and has a picker-house sixty-two feet in length by forty-four in width, in the rear. The building at the north of No. 5 Mill, occupied as a dye-house and gingham-mill, consists of a centre-piece and two wings. The south wing is the dye-house, and is two hundred and three feet long, sixty-seven feet wide and three stories high. The middle part is one hundred and twenty feet long, sixty-seven feet wide, three stories high and is occupied by dressing-machinery for ginghams. The north wing is of the same length and breadth as the dye-house, but four stories high. A mill was built in 1874, just at the north of these buildings and parallel with them. It is two hundred and sixty feet long, sixty-eight feet wide and four stories high. The bleachery and napping-houses, for belaching and napping flannels, are in a small building, one hundred and ten feet in length and thirty-six in width, in the rear of the old gingham-mill and near the river. In 1874 the company erected the mill of the Amory Manufacturing Company, In 1880 they built a large dye-house, two hundred and eighty by fifty feet, two stories, and in 1881 a new mill with forty-four thousand spindles. In 1880 the old machine shop which originally stood on the bank of the river was taken down and the new machine-shop erected, one hundred and ninety by fifty three, three stories high. The machine-shops up to 1872 manufactured the celebrated Amoskeag fire-engine. In that year the business was sold to the Manchester Locomotive Works. There are also seven cotton-houses, one hundred by seventy feet, three stories high. The mills are driven by seventeen turbine wheels, six and eight feet in diameter, which are sufficient to run all machinery in ordinary stages of water. In addition to this power, there is also one pair of engines of eight hundred horse-power in No. 3 Mill; one pair of two thousand horse-power to drive the machine-shop. There are forty-eight boilers, one-half for high pressure, to be used when engines are run and exhaust steam is used for heating and drying. These engines are only run in low water. The other twenty-four boilers of an old type, are only used when the engines are not run, because suited to lower pressure. These boilers have all been placed in a great boiler-house, about two hundred and fifty by fifty sheet, on the west side of the river, next to the coal shed, which is a new one built of brick, with a capacity for twenty thousand tons, having three railroad tracks from which the coal is unloaded. On this side of the river also a chimney has been erected two hundred and fifty feet high. The steam is carried across the river in a pipe twenty inches in diameter and two thousand five hundred feet long, which crosses the river on two bridges, distributing steam to the whole establishment. The mills are lighted by electricity, the first light (Weston & Brush) having been put in February 1880. The corporation runs ten mills, including Namask Mill, and eight hundred tenements. This immense establishement has six thousand looms, uses forty thousand bales of cotton and twenty thousand tons of coal per year, and manufactures annually sixty million yards consisting of ticking, denims, stripes, ginghams, cotton flannels and cheviots. Employs five thousand persons, with a monthly pay-roll of one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. The present officers are as follows: William Amory, Daniel Clark. T. Jefferson Coolidge, Thomas Wigglesworth, George A. Gardner, William P. Mason, John L. Bremer, Channing Clapp.... [missing page 80] page 81 ker and Harry Ellis Sraw, and Albert W. and Herman Ellis Thompson. His rapidly-failing health and strength obliged Mr. Straw to retire from the active management of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in 1879, and at the annual meeting of the proprietors of the company next following, this resolution was unanimously adopted,-- "Resolved, That the Hon. E.A. Straw, agent of this comopany at Manchester, having sine our last annual meeting been compelled by ill health to resign his office, in which for about forty years, in many different capacities, he has served the corporation from its infancy with signal ability, fidelity and skill, we owe it to him and ourselves to put upon record the testimony of our high appreciation of the value of those services, our sincere regret at his resignation, our deep sorrow for the cause, our cordial thanks for his long-continued and excellent management of our affairs in this city, and our earnest wishes that, free from pain or suffering, he may pass the remaining years of his life improved in health, prosperous and happy." The Hon. Daniel Clark, on rising to second the resolution said,-- "Mr. President and Gentlemen,--It is with migle feelings of pleasure and of pain that I second the resolution. It is now forty years, and more, since I came to Manchester. I came in a one-horse wagon to a one-horse town, to a town, in fact, having no horses at all. As you know, sir, the canal was not then finished. It was a muddy trench. They were blasting stone and laying them in the walls and throwing out the dirt. THere was not a mill then finished. The walls of one of the Stark Mills were up, the roof was covered in; but there were no windows in the mill, and I think, no machinery. There was not a school-house; there was not a church; there was not a hotel; there was not a place to lay my head; and I went away over into what was then Goffstown, now Amoskeag village, to find a place to board. There had been a land sale the fall before, and the hill yonder was covered over with stakes, denoting the corner-lots and where the streets were to go. There was not a street well made that I can remember seeing, and a butcher's cart coming along got stuck in the sand not far from where Elm Street now is, soon after I came here. "Soon after I came there appeared upon the scene a young man, healthy, compactly built, about nineteen or twenty years of age, with a fresh, ruddy countenance, with an air of assurance, but without arrogance, who manifested such industry and energy and pluck as gave promise of his future brilliant success. I think, sir [addressing the president of the meeting], I think on a former occasion you used the work 'luck' instead of pluck. I think you must prefix a 'p' to the word and make it 'pluck.' "This gentleman, soon after coming to this city, went into the Amoskeag Company's employ as assistant engineer. I think his chief was a gentleman distinguished for his scientific attainments. From that time forth that young man has been in the employ of this company. Under his industry, skill, direction and perseverance, it has grown from the beginning that I have indicated to what is now. I do not mean to say that he has done thie entirely alone, for he has received the aid of others, and, fortunately, of yourself. Of that I have spoken on a former occasion; but for forty years he has been steadily engaged in the service of this company. There isnothing here, sir which does not bear the impress of his hand. Certainly the river has acknowledged his power, for he has twice dammed it and turned it out of its course. There is not a railroad about us, sir, in which his skill and wise counsel have not been manifested; there isnot here a highway or public building in which his management has not been discernible. We have our gas-light company, of which he has been president for many years. I speak of these as showing the honorable services of this man to the community as well as to this company. We have the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company, the only stock insurance company in the State, of which he has been the president. We have built here the city water-works, bringing the sweet waters of the Massabesic to our city, of which he was one of the chief movers. There is not a school-house here, filled with happy scholars, that he has not in some way assisted; there is not a church here to whose support he has not given his aid. We have a library, a free library, to which every operative, man, woman or child, who can procure some one to say that he or she is a fit person to be intrusted with its books, can go to receive its benefits. I may say here that there is no man in this city to whom the city owes so much for the library, I think I may say it, sir, as to your late agent. I once said, sir, I think, here, that the library seemed to me like an aviary of sweet singing birds, and at morn and noon and eve they flit away to the homes of tired labor. They perch upon the window-sills upon the table and the chair and the shelf and the mantle and the pillow, and sing their sweet songs in the ear of tired labor, and it is beguiled of its pain and sinks to rest. In the morning labor rises refreshed; it takes up its burden, and thus ever goes on the round; and at night labor is again tired, and as it goes to its home the sweet singing birds are there to welcome it and solace the hours of weariness. None can say how much labor owes to Governor Straw. No one can know, except those here, how much this company, how much this city, how much we all, owe to this same man. "And now, Mr. President, I cannot forbear to say for myself, that, through all these forty years that I have been besides my friend yonder, he has never forfeited my esteem, my respect, my affection and my love, and I think I have always received his; and you may judge, Mr. President, how said it is to me to see him now, like some great ship that has buffeted the waves and sailed forth triumphantly, laid upon the shore. I am glad to see that she lies to easily and so quietly, and may it be a great while before her timbers shall be broken up and she disappear in the sand. "But, Mr. President, generations pass away, and I see now not ten men in this city that were here when I came. I stand almost alone. I stand with you, sir, and with a few others; but our friends and we shall soon pass away, for such is the common lot. "I do not know that I have anything further to add, but to repeat what my friend has said in the resolution. Long may it be before the sun shall finally go down on my friend. May his last days be his best days; and when his sun shall finally set, may the rays stream to the zenith in one bright flame, a fitting emblem of a well-spent life." After a long and weary sickness, Governor Straw died October 23, 1882, but his memory is still green in the State he served, in the city he helped to build and among the friends he loved. On the afternoon of his funeral business was generally suspended throughout the city, the Amoskeag Mills were closed, and hundreds of his fellow-citizens visited the Unitarian Church, where the body lay in state. Mr. Straw was emphatically a great man, not only in his profession, in which he towered far above nearly all others, but in all the various positions to which he was called. He was not known as a brilliant or sharp man. He had littl eneed of the helps which other men gain by dazzling or outwitting friends or foes; for there was a massiveness about him, a solid strength, which enabled him to carry out great plans by moving straight on over obstancles which other men would have been compelled to remove or go around. His mind was broad, deep and comprehensive; he had rare good judgment, great self-reliance and a stability of purpose which seldom failed. He was peculiarly fitted for the management of vast enterprises. His plans were far-reaching and judicious, and his executive ability was equal to the successful carrying out of whatever his mind projected and his judgment approved. For twenty-five years he carried business burdens which would have crushed almost any half-dozen strong men. He was agent of the Amoskeag corporation, having in his charge its millions of dollars, its thousands of operatives, its acres of streets and buildings, its numerous water-powers and all its costly extension and improvements, besides the daily operations at its factories. He was Governor of the State, and answered for two years all the exactions made upon the occupant of that position. He was a railroad president, president of an insurance company, president of the gas company and a director and leading spirit in several other moneyed institutions. He was a public-spirited citizen, whose time was always at the service of the community in which he lived; but with all these duties, he neglected none, postponed none, failed in none. He had great opportunities and he left no one of them unimproved. In the management of the Amoskeag corporation he found room for the display of manificient abilities, and the uninterrupted success and growth of that corporation, not only in seaons of general prosperity, but at times when nearly all others failed, attest how grandly he planned and how well he executed. As Governor, he entirely justified the confidence that secured his election, giving to the people the full benefit of his integrity, industry, sound sense and great business abilities, and leaving a record which will always be a credit to the State; and in the discharge of the numerous other public trusts committeed to him, he added constantly to his reputation as a man in whose hands any interest was both safe and fortunate. He had great knowledge of men and read character at a glance, so that in selecting his hundreds of assistants he seldom made a mistake. He possessed vast stores of information upon a multitude of subjects, which he had acquired by extensive reading and observation, and was able to use it upon occasion with great effect. He had decided views upon all current events and all matters connected with his business, and could state his opnions most clearly, compactly and convincingly. He spoke easily, but without any attempt at rhetorical display, and wrote without apparent effort in plain, vigorous language, which contained no surplusage. He was a willing and liberal helper to any object which he approved, and there was nothing narrow or bigoted about him to confine his benefactions to his own sect, party or nationality. He was a genial, entertaining and always instructive companion, a good neighbor and a true friend. Manchester was proud of E.A. Straw, and, whenever occasion offered, delighted to honor him. He has been one of her citizens during most of her history as a city, and it is safe to say no other man contributed more to her rapid growth and progress in all profitable and pleasant directions than he. He always remembered, too, that he was a citizen of Manchester, and did not allow any antagonism between her interests and those of the corporation he represented, but worked constantly and zealously for the good of both. Her people were not slow to respond to this feeling, and there exists from the start the utmost cordiality and unity of purpose, which have contributed in no small degree to the advantage of both city and corporation. For his potent influence in this director, Governor Straw will long be gratefully remembered. *** STARK MILLS *** This corporation was chartered in 1838, with a capital of five hundred thousand dollars, and commenced operations in the same year. In 1845 the capital was increased to seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, in 1846 to one million, in 1847 to one million two hundred and fifty thousand. They own fifteen acres of land, occupied for mills, boarding-house and overseers' blocks, etc. THe goods manufactured are cotton and linen, the latter product being in the form of crash and toweling, while the cotton goods are sheeting, drillings, duck and bags, the latter being known as the "seamless bags," being woven in one piece. PHINEHAS ADAMS was agent from 1847 to 1881. He was succeeded by Mr. S.N. Bourne, the present agent. President, William Amory; Clerk, C.A. Hovey; Treasurer, Edmund Dwight; Directors, Wiliam Amory, J. Ingersoll Bowditch, Lewis Downing Jr. T. Jefferson Coolidge, John L. Bremer, J.Lewis Stackpole, Roger Wolcott; Agent, Stephen N. Bourne. ** MANCHESTER MILLS This corporation was organized in 1839, with a capital of one million dollars, for the manufacture of dress goods. The Amoskeag Company had previously made the fabric for delaines in their mill at Hooksett, but the printing was done elsewhere. In 1845 the first mill for the printing of delaines was erected, which went into operation the next year. In 1847 the property was sold to a corporation which was chatered the previous year, with a capital of one and a half million dollars, under the name of Merrimack Mills, which was afterwards changed to the Manchester Print-Works, and its capital increased to eighteen hundred thousand dollars. In 1872 it was reincorporated under the name of the Manchester Print-Works and Mills, with a capital of two million dollars, and in 1874 the name was changed to the Manchester Mills. The corporation owns about forty-three acres of land in all, a part of which is on the west side of the river. It has six mills, containing two thousand seven hundred looms, and leases forty mill-powers of the Amoskeag Company. The goods manufactured are principally worsted dress goods and prints. President, Samuel R. Payson; Clerk, Josiah S. Shannon; Treasurer, John C. Palfrey; Directors, Samuel R. Payson, William H. Hill, Moody Currier, Benjamin P. Cheney, William O. Grover, Joseph H. White, Jacob Edwards; Agent, Charles D. McDuffie; Superintentent of Printing Department, Benjamin C. Dean. *** LANGDON MILLS--This corporation was chartered in 1857, and organized in 1860. Its capital stock was two hundred thousand dollars, which was subsequently increased to five hundred thousand. It has two mills, one of which was formerly used as a paper-mill, the other having been built in 1868 by the company. Eight hundred looms and thirty-seven thousand five hundred spindles are operated. They manufacture shirtings and sheetings. President, William Amory; Clerk, William L. Killey; Treasurer, Charles W. Amory; Directors, William Amory, Henry B. Rodgers, John R. Brewer, John L. Brewer, William P. Mason, C.W. Amory; Agent, William L. Killey. *** THE AMORY MANUFACTURING COMPANY was chartered July 1, 1879, with a capital of nine hundred thousand dollars. During that year building operations were vigorously pushed, and the mill was finished and work commenced in the fall of 1880. The mill has fifty-six thousand spindles and fourteen hundred and twenty looms, and employs eight hundred operatives. The goods manufactured are find and medium shirtings, sheetings, and jeans. President, William Amory; Clerk, Gilbert P. Whitman; Treasurer, C.W. Amory; Directors, William Amory, Daniel Clark, T. Jefferson Coolidge, John L. Bremer, G.A. Gardner, Channing Clapp, F.I. Amory; Agent, G.P. Whitman. *** NAMASKE MILLS--This corporation was organized as the Amoskeag Duck and Bag-Mills in 1856, and ten years later the name was changed to Namaske Mills. In 1875 the property passed into the hands of the Amoskeag Company, by whom it is now managed. The goods manufactured are principally ginghams and shirting flannels. Mr. William B. Webster, the superintendent for many years, resigned in October 1883. He was succeeded by Mr. J. Walter Wells. *** DERRY MILLS--This corporation was organized in 1865, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. Mrs. S.R. Payson is now proprietor, and George F. Lincoln the agent. The property comprises three mills on the Cohas Brook, at Goffe's Falls. *** THE P.C. CHENEY PAPER COMPANY carries on an extensive business in the manufacturing of manilla and card-board paper in its mills at Amoskeag. This company also does a large business in waste of all kinds, and has a large trade in paper manufactured elsewhere. It has pulp-mills at Goffstown and Peterborough. *** page 83 PERSON C. CHENEY *** The Cheney Genealogy is traced from England to Roxbury (Boston Highlands), Mass., and from Roxbury to Newburyport, some of the family being there as early as 1680. Deacon Elias Cheney, born in Old Newbury, February 20, 1741, settled quite early in life in Thornton, N.H. and died there in 1805, at the age of eighty-six. Deacon Elias Cheney, son of the above, and father of Deacon Moses Cheney, also lived and died in Thornton. The latter died in Ashland (formerly Holderness) in 1875. Person Colby Cheney, was the son of Deacon Moses and Abigail (Morrison) Cheney, who were types of the God-fearing, God-serving, clear-headed and strong-bodied men and women of the earlier days. Their intelligence, industry and integrity won the respect of all with whom they ever had acquaintance. THey taught their children (five sons and six daughters) by precept and example, how to succeed in broader fields, and gave them as an inheritance, in the place of great wealth, good sense, true hearts and willing hands. Of the sons, Rev. Oren B. Cheney (founder and president of Bates College, Lewiston, me.) is the oldest. THe second son if Moses Cheney, a retired paper manufacturer, now living in Henniker NH. THe third is the late Charles G. Cheney, a graduate of Dartmouth, class of '48, who read law with Nesmith & Pike, of Franklin, and settled in Peterborough, dying in 1862. The fifth is Elias H. Cheney, proprietor of the "Lebanon Free Press," and at the present time a State Senator. The subject of this paper is the fourth son. He was born in Holderness (now Ashland) February 25, 1828. In 1835 his father, one of the pioneers in the paper-making industry of New Hampshire, sold his mill in Holderness and moved to Peterborough, where he, in company with the late A.P. Morrison, his brother-in-law, purchased a small mill. In this mill, in the schools of Peterborough, in Hancock Academy and in Parsonfield (Me) Seminary (then taught by his oldest brother) he received the education and training which have enabled him to reach the prominent positions he has occupied in business, political and social life. Early learning paper-making in all its deatils, at the age of seventeen he was placed in charge of the establishment by those who had purchased it of his father, who at this time returned to Holderness. In this position he succeeded so well that in eight years, in company with two other gentlemen, he built another mill, of which, at a later day, he became sole proprietor. He continued to make paper at Peterborough, gradually enlarging his business and engaging to some extent in other enterprises, until 1866, when he formed a partnership with Thomas L. Thorpe, of Manchester, for the sale of paper stock and the manufacture of paper, the mills of the company being located in Amoskeag, in Manchester and at Goffstown. This partnership was succeeded by one of which Mr. Cheney, Dr. E.M. Tubbs and Hon. Ira Cross were members, and upon the death of Dr. Tubbs, in 1878, by the P.C. Cheney Company, which now owns and operates the pulp-mills at Peterborough and Goffstown, the pulp and paper-mill at Amoskeag, and extensive timber tracts in the town of Washington. The mills of the company produce seven tons of paper daily, and give employment to one hundred and fifty operatives. Of this company Mr. Cheney, who was its creator and who owns most of its stock, is treasurer and manager. It is one of the largest, best- known, most reliable and popular business concerns of the State. Its name is everywhere synonymous with honesty, honor and solvency. The qualities which have enable Mr. Cheney to build up this great industry hold it steady in hand and keep it strong and growing in the worst of panics, as well as in good times, characterize him in all the relations of life, and make him a controlling power wherever good advice is wanted and hard work is to be done. These same qualities made him a leader in the Republican party in its early days, and they have kept him among the few to whom it always looks for help when wise councils and judicious management are required to insure success. In 1853 he represented Peterborough in the Legislature. In 1861-62 his time and money were freely and zealously spent to make for New Hampshire the record which is her greatest glory. In 1862 he offered his services to the government, and was assigned to duty as quartermaster of the Thirteenth Regiment. Exposure and overwork in the Fredericksburg campaign brought on a long and dangerous illness, from which his friends did not expect him to rally. The nursing of a devoted wife, however, brought him back to life, and after a long period of suffering, to health and strength, but not until the cuase of the Union was won and the war was over. In 1864 he was elected railroad commissioner and served three years. When he removed to Manchester, in 1867, the people of that city gave him a hearty welcome. In 1871 the Republicans, being then out of power in city and State, insisted on his accepting a mayoralty nomination, and, finally consenting, he was elected mayor by a large majority, his election paving the way for the redemption of the State the next spring. Mr. Cheney declined a renomination for mayor in 1872. In 1875 the Republican State Convention met under most discouraging circumstances. Their opponents had carried the State the year before, and had entrenched themselves in power by ever device known to political cunning, audacity and determination. Many Republicans were of the opinion that it was useless to try to elect a State ticket, and all of them felt that it was only with a leader of great resources and dauntless courage that they had even a fighting chance. Mr. Cheney being nominated as such a leader, with great reluctance accepted the nomination. How wisely the convention judged was shown by the result, which was the defeat of the Democratic candidate for Governor and the election of a Republican Senate and House. There being no election of Governor by the people, Mr. Cheney was chosen by the Legislature. The next year he was nominated and re-elected by a handsome majority of the popular vote. In the long line of executives, the State has had none who discharged the duties of the office more faithfully, with better judgement or more to the satisfaction of all classes, and he retired universally esteemed. He has since devoted himself to his private business, declining further political preferment. He is always ready and willing, however, to render any service which may contribute to the success of the party in whose principles he thoroughly believes. Mr. Cheney is a Unitarian whose faith is reflected in his works. He is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the order of Odd-Fellows. He married, in 1850, Miss S. Anna Moore, who died January 8, 1858, leaving no children. In June, 1859, he married Mrs. Sarah White Keith, to whose devotion, grace, and accomplishments he owes much of his success and happiness in his busy life. He has one child, Agnes Anna Cheney, born October 22, 1869, who is now at school in Washington. He resides in an elegant home in Manchester, in which a hearty and refined hospitality greets every visitor, and from which there goes out to every good cause that his neighbors and fellow-townsmen are engaged in, generous and unostentatious help. *** The AMOSKEAG PAPER-MILL is one of the best in the State with the finest machinery and all modern improvements. The proprietors are John Hoyt & Co. *** OLZENDAM'S HOSIERY MILL is located in Mechanic's Row *** MANCHESTER LOCOMOTIVE-WORKS -- For an account of this establishment see biography of Aretas Blood *** MANCHESTER GAS-LIGHT COMPANY was chartered in 1850. Capital stock, one hundred thousand dollars. The works are situated in the southern part of the city, near the Manchester and Lawrence Railroad, on a lot of land four hundred feet square. The company has also, at the north end, near the Langdon corporation, a gas-holder ot regulate the supply and pressure. The annual product of gas is about sixty-five million cubic feet, together with five thousand chaldrons of coke and one thousand barrels of coal-tar. *** MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURES--Lowell's Iron Foundry, corner of Auburn and Canal Streets; Corey's Needle-Works, corner of Concord and Maple Streets; James Baldwin & Co., West Manchester, bobbins, spools, shuttles, etc.; Austin, Johnson & Co., door, blind, sash and bracket- making; A.C. Wallace, West Manchester, boxes; Manchester Chair Company, chairs and tables; Kimball & Gerrish, corner Elm and Bridge Streets, roll-skin manufacturers; Hutchinson Brothers, iron and wood-working machinery; George A. Leighton, Forsaith's building, manufacturer of knitting-machines; Sanborn Carriage Company and J.B. McCrillis & Son, carriages; Bisco & Denny, card-clothing manufactures; Carney & Co., brewers, at Bakersville; C.B. Bradley, Mechanics' Row, and John T. Woodward, Franklin Street, roll-covering; S.A. Felton and the Manchester Brush Company, brooms and brushes; the Granite State Plating Company; Manchester Pottery-Works; J.A.V. Smith, manufacturer of fliers; Forsaith Machine Company, and others. *** SAMUEL CALDWELL FORSAITH--Robert Forsaith, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a farmer and lived in Goffstown, N.H. He married Elizabeth Caldwell, who bore him seven children. Samuel C. was born in Goffstown September 29, 1827. His boyhood was passed on the farm, where he assisted in the work. His educational advantages were those afforded by the common schools of his native town. At an early age he became interested in mechanical work, was quick to comprehend the intricacies of machinery, and at the age of fifteen had constructed and set up on the bank of the river near his home a miniature saw-mill, complete in all its parts and in running order. At the age of seventeen he left home and went to Manchester, N.H., then a town of about five thousand inhabitants, and entered the machine-shop of the old Amoskeag Mill as an apprentice. His close attention to his duties here showed his fondness for his chosen trade, and his subsequent success showed the wisdom of his choice. His frugal habits enabled him to live on a salary that at the present time would not suffice for even the most unskilled labor. Thrown out of employment by a destructive fire, he next works in Stark Mills until September 1, 1850, when he went to Milford, N.H. to take charge of the machine repair-shops connected with the cotton-mills of that place, remaining eight years, when he went to Biddeford, Me., as foreman of the Saco Water-Power Machine-Shop, where he stayed for two years. In 1860 he determined to go into business on his own account, and with this purpose in view, returned to Manchester and hired an upper room in the shop of the Manchester Scale-Works. In this room, without other capital than his determination to succeed, he started. His first job here was the manufacture of hay-cutters, in which he was so successful that he resolved to make a push for business, and sent out a large number of cards announcing that he was prepared to do all kinds of job-work. Gradually his business increased, and at the end of the year he was furnished employment for four journeymen. During the second year he secured a vacant shop adjoining the scale-works which he soon found none too large to accomodate him. Soon after moving into the new quarters he bought a patent machine for folding newspapers. The original owners had been unable to make the machine work. Mr. Forsaith saw that the design was practical, and set about perfecting it, which he did successfully. In order to make the folder a financial success it must be put to practical test, and to this end Mr. Forsaith visited the chief newspaper offices in the leading cities, representing the merits of the machine, and succeeded in placing a sufficient number to warrant a very general test. Perfect satisfaction was given, and the orders for these machines came in fast. Besides the manufacture of the folders, the building of circular saw-mills, shafting, mill-gearings, water-wheels, etc., gave constant employment to the regular force of twelve workmen. That he might meet the requirements of his job-work, and also to keep pace with the demand for the folders, in 1863, Mr. Forsaith took a lease of the entire scale-works and enlarged his working force. In 1867, becoming crowded for room, a new shop was built, which is now the main building of the present set of buildings, which cover an acre and a half, filled with busy mechanics and machinery for meeting the multiplying demands of what has come to be the largest business of its kind in the State. In 1872, Mr. William E. Drew (who had been an apprentice in his shop) was taken into partnership. The concern does its own printing, and issues quarterly an edition of some twelve thousand catalogues, which are mailed to all parts of the world. The pay-roll of this establishement furnished an average of four thousand five hundred dollars per month. In May 1884, the business had become so extensive and the care and responsibilities so great that it was decided to organize this great industry into a stock company under the general laws of New Hampshire, capitalizing with two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, and the company is now under the management of officers chosen by the board of directors, and is in a flourishing condition. The history of this industry, from its small beginning to its present magnitude, is a fitting and well-deserved tribute to the energy, thrift and good judgment of Mr. Forsaith, and shows what a resolute purpose can accomplish. In politics Mr. Forsaith was a Democrat, and took an active part in the councils of this party. He was also a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, an Odd-Fellow, an officer of the Amoskeag Veterans and a charitable and kind-hearted citizen, whose loss will be felt wherever he was known. Mr. Forsaith was twice married--first, to Nancy W. Pierce, February 20, 1848, from which union there were three boys,--Frank P., George B., and William, who are now living. Nancy W. died April 21, 1871. His second wife was Clara J., daughter of Colonel J.C. and Clara J. Smith, to whom he was married December 23, 1875. From this union there are also three boys,--Samuel C., Jr., born December 16, 1876; Clarence S., born February 19, 1878; Darwin J., born October 19, 1880. In the winter of 1884, Mr. Forsaith took a trip to the Bermuda Islands, accompanied by his wife, seeking rest and recreation, and after a short visit returned to his home in Manchester, and after a short stop he started to visit the World's Fair at New Orleans, where he had a large exhibit. On his journey home, while on the cars, he was stricken with apoplexy. On reaching the city of Philadelphia he was taken to the hospital of the Jefferson Medical College, where he died March 23, 1885. His funeral, from his late residence, in Manchester, was attended by the various civil and military organizations of which he was a member and by many of the prominent citizens of Manchester. (end)