the district school and Lancaster Academy, and graduated from Norwich
Military University in the class of 1854, receiving later the degree of
A. M. He studied law with Hon Jacob Benton, and was admitted to the bar
at Lancaster in May, 1858. Soon after, he became the proprietor of the
_Coos Republican_, and assumed the editorial and business management of
that paper, his strong interest in political affairs and the fortunes of
the Republican party, with which he was actively indentified, impelling
him to this step, in taking which he relinquished the prospect of a
successful and distinguished career at the bar. In the management of the
_Republican_, both financial and editorial, he displayed rare skill and
ability. His leading articles were always strong, vigorous, earnest, and
secured for his paper, notwithstanding its remote location from the
Capital, an influential position among the party journals of the state.
It is safe to say that from the time when he assumed its management
until 1870, when he sold it,--a period of twelve years,--no paper in the
state rendered more efficient support to the party with which it was
allied, or advocated more heartily all measures tending to advance the
material prosperity of the section in which it was located, than did the
_Coos Republican_ under the direction of Col. Kent.
Since 1870 he has attended to a large and growing general office
business, to which he had previously given more or less attention, and
also to the interests of the Savings Bank for the County of Coos, for
which institution he secured the charter in 1868, and of which he is and
has been a trustee and the treasurer. He is also an owner and manager of
the Lancaster paper-mill; is treasurer of the Pleasant Valley Starch
Company, and is president of the Lancaster and Kilkenny Railroad
Company, a corporation organized to develop the resources of the
adjoining forest town of Kilkenny. The encouragement of local enterprise
and industry has, indeed, always been one of his characteristics.
As has been indicated, Col. Kent entered political life as a Republican,
and was an active advocate of the cause and policy of that party, with
pen and voice, until after the election of Gen. Grant to the presidency.
In 1855, when but twenty-one years of age, he was chosen assistant clerk
of the house of representatives, and re-elected the following year. In
1857 he was chosen clerk of the house, discharging the duties of that
office, for three successive years, with a readiness and efficiency
which have never been excelled by any incumbent. In those days the
previous question was not in vogue, and roll-calls were frequent. So
familiar did Col. Kent become with the roll, which embraced over three
hundred names, that he called it from memory, and it is related that,
having called the roll nineteen times in one day, it became so impressed
upon his mind that he called it over at night in his sleep, after
retiring at the Eagle. In 1862 he was chosen a representative from
Lancaster, and served with marked ability, his previous experience as
clerk admirably fitting him for the discharge of legislative duties. He
served that year as chairman of the committee on military affairs; a
position of great importance, considering the fact that we were then in
the midst of the war period. His next appearance in the legislature was
in 1868, when he served as chairman of the committee on railroads, and
again in 1869, when he was at the head of the finance committee. During
each year of his legislative service he occupied a prominent position
among the leaders of his party in the house, displaying marked ability
in debate, and energy and industry in the committee-room.
In 1858 a commission was appointed, by the states of Maine and New
Hampshire, "to ascertain, survey, and mark" the boundary between them.
The line had been established in 1784, and revised in 1825, when Ichabod
Bartlett and John W. Weeks were the commissioners on the part of New
Hampshire. The duty of representing this state upon the commission of
1858 was assigned to Col. Kent, and the work was performed during the
autumn of that year, through the wilderness, from the Crown Monument, as
far south as the towns of Fryeburg and Conway. Col. Kent's connection
with this work is perpetuated in the mountain bearing his name, on the
northeastern frontier, laid down on the state map of 1860, and in
subsequent surveys. In 1864 he was one of the presidential electors of
this state, and from 1866 to 1868 inclusive, he was one of the bank
commissioners.
At the outbreak of the rebellion Col. Kent volunteered in aid of the
Union cause. He was ordered to Concord by Gov. Goodwin, commissioned
assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of colonel, and assigned to
duty in the recruiting service. Raising a company in a few days at
Lancaster, he was ordered to Portsmouth, where he aided to organize and
send out the Second Regiment and to fit the garrison at Fort
Constitution. He continued on duty as assistant adjutant-general (the
only one ever appointed in New Hampshire) until after the earlier
regiments had left the state; but when a call was issued for three
additional regiments from New Hampshire, in the fall of 1862, he was
commissioned colonel of the Seventeenth, which was raised mainly by his
personal efforts and upon the strength of his name, and organized and
thoroughly drilled and disciplined under his command. Under the
exigencies of the service, however, and by orders received from the
secretary of war, the regiment was consolidated with the Second, whose
ranks had become heavily depleted, the men being transferred and the
officers necessarily mustered out, the governor in "general orders,"
regretting the necessity for this action and complimenting the
Seventeenth for its high discipline and soldierly demeanor. As it was,
few men, if any, in the state, did more than Col. Kent to promote the
efficiency of the service, and to maintain the reputation of New
Hampshire for prompt and patriotic effort in the Union cause,--a cause
which he sustained by pen and voice and active personal effort
throughout the entire struggle. He has been connected with the Grand
Army of the Republic since its organization, is past commander of his
Post, and is a frequent and popular speaker at the Veterans' reunions
and on Memorial-day occasions.
Col. Kent was an active member of the organization known as the
"Governor's Horse-Guards," which was formed for parade on the occasion
of the annual inauguration of the governor, in which he held the office
of major in 1860, and rode as colonel in 1863, 1864, and 1865.
In his association with, and labor for, the Republican party, Col. Kent
was actuated by his opposition to the institution of slavery, which he
regarded as prejudicial to the republic. He maintained his convictions
earnestly, yet candidly, in his paper and on the stump. But after the
war and the downfall of slavery, he favored the burial of past issues
and sectional bitterness, and the restoration of fraternal relations, as
essential to the general prosperity of the country. Regarding the policy
of the administration as inimical to such result, he was unable to
sustain it. He therefore disposed of his paper, which as a party organ
he could not conscientiously carry to the opposition, and engaged in the
development and organization of the Liberal movement, which resulted in
the Cincinnati convention and the nomination of Horace Greeley for
president in 1872. He participated in that convention, and was a member
of the National and chairman of the State Liberal Republican committee
in 1872 and 1873. In 1873 the Liberals ran an independent state ticket,
but united with the Democracy on a common platform in 1874. The
resolutions of the Liberal convention, announcing such purpose, were
presented in the Democratic convention by Col. Kent, whose appearance
and announcement elicited strong demonstrations of enthusiasm in that
body. The campaign thus opened, ended in the election of a Democratic
governor and legislature,--a result to which the earnest labors of Col.
Kent largely contributed. In recognition of his efficient services, as
well as acknowledged ability, he was accorded the Democratic
congressional nomination in the third district in 1875, and again in
1877 and 1878. In each of the attendant canvasses, he spoke
continuously, and ran largely ahead of his party vote, especially in his
own town and vicinity. In all subsequent campaigns Col. Kent has
heartily devoted his energies to the furtherance of Democratic
principles, and has been active upon the stump in New Hampshire and
outside the state, and always with numerous calls and large audiences.
Col. Kent is now fully engaged in the direction of his business
concerns, which furnish an ample field for his energies and talent; yet
he has in no degree abated his interest in public and political affairs.
As has been said, he has given earnest encouragement to all enterprises
calculated to promote the material welfare and prosperity of his
section. In the advancement of educational interests he has also been
earnestly engaged. He is a trustee and chairman of the executive
committee of the corporation of Lancaster Academy, and is also a trustee
of Norwich University, and president of the "Associated Alumni and Past
Cadets" of that institution. In 1875 he addressed the Associated Alumni
at their reunion, and in 1876, by request, delivered an address at
commencement which for its eloquence and patriotic sentiments secured
hearty and general commendation. He was, last year, one of the
corporators of the Yorktown Centennial Association, named by the
legislature of Virginia. He has long been prominent in the Masonic
order, having passed the chair in North Star Lodge at Lancaster, and
frequently been district deputy grand master. In 1868 and 1869 he was
grand commander of the order of Knights Templars and appendant orders
for the jurisdiction of New Hampshire. In 1880 he was made the recipient
of a past masters badge of solid gold, from the Masons of his section.
Col. Kent was married, in Boston, January 11, 1859, to Berenice A.
Rowell. They have two children, a daughter,--Berenice Emily,--born
October 31, 1866, and a son,--Henry Percy,--born March 8, 1870. His
religious associations are with the Episcopal church, and he is, with
his family, a regular attendant upon the service of St. Paul's at
Lancaster.
Of fine presence, genial and courteous manners, and strong personal
magnetism, public spirited, generous, and obliging, his popularity in
his section is great, as is evidenced by the large vote which he always
receives when his name is upon the ticket, in his own town. Still young,
endowed with strong mental powers, well known as a writer and public
speaker, ambitious and courageous, it is fair to presume that he will
yet attain still greater prominence and usefulness in public and private
life.
[Illustration: Marshall P. Wilder
_PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITES STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY._
Portrait taken at the age of seventy.]
MARSHALL P. WILDER, PH. D.
BY JOHN WARD DEAN, A. M.,
Librarian of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society.
There are few men in our community whose lives afford as striking an
example of what can be achieved by concentration of power and
unconquerable perseverance as does that of Col. WILDER. The bare
enumeration of the important positions he has held, and still holds, and
the self-sacrificing labors he has performed is abundant evidence of the
extraordinary talent and ability, and the personal power and influence,
which have enabled him to take a front rank as a benefactor to mankind.
MARSHALL PINCKNEY WILDER, whose christian names were given in honor of
Chief-Justice Marshall and General Pinckney, eminent statesmen at the
time he was born, was the oldest son of Samuel Locke Wilder, Esq., of
Rindge, N. H., and was born in that town, September 22, 1798. His
father, a nephew of the Rev. Samuel Locke, D.D., president of Harvard
College, for whom he was named, was thirteen years a representative in
the New Hampshire legislature, a member of the Congregational church in
Rindge and held important town offices there. His mother, Anna, daughter
of Jonathan and Mary (Crombie) Sherwin, (married May 2, 1797,) a lady of
great moral worth, was, as her son is, a warm admirer of the beauties of
nature.
The Wilders are an ancient English family, which the "Book of the
Wilders," published a few years ago, traces to Nicholas Wilder, a
military chieftain in the army of the Earl of Richmond at the battle of
Bosworth, 1485. There is strong presumptive evidence that the American
family is an offshoot from this. President Chadbourne in his life of
Col. Wilder, and the author of the "Book of the Wilders," give reasons
for this opinion. The paternal ancestors of Col. Wilder in this country
performed meritorious services in the Indian wars, in the American
revolution, and in Shays' rebellion. His grandfather was one of the
seven delegates from the county of Worcester, in the Massachusetts
convention of 1788, for ratifying the constitution of the United States,
who voted in favor of it. Isaac Goodwin, Esq., in the Worcester
Magazine, Vol. II. page 45, bears this testimony: "Of all the ancient
Lancaster families, there is no one that has sustained so many important
offices as that of Wilder."
At the age of four Marshall was sent to school, and at twelve he entered
New Ipswich Academy, his father desiring to give him a collegiate
education, with reference to a profession. When he reached the age of
sixteen, his father gave him the choice, either to qualify himself for a
farmer, or for a merchant, or to fit for college. He chose to be a
farmer; and to this choice may we attribute in no small degree the
mental and physical energy which has distinguished so many years of his
life. But the business of his father increased so much that he was
taken into the store. He here acquired such habits of industry that at
the age of twenty-one he became a partner, and was appointed postmaster
of Rindge.
In 1825, he sought a wider field of action and removed to Boston. Here
he began business under the firm name of Wilder & Payson, in Union
street, then as Wilder & Smith, in North Market street, and next in his
own name, at No. 3, Central wharf. In 1837 he became a partner in the
commission house of Parker, Blanchard, & Wilder, Water street, next
Parker, Wilder, & Parker, Pearl street, and now Parker, Wilder, & Co.,
Winthrop square. Mr. Wilder is the oldest commission merchant in
domestic fabrics in active business in Boston. He has passed through
various crises of commercial embarrassments, and yet he has never failed
to meet his obligations. He was an original director in the Hamilton,
now Hamilton National, Bank, and in the National Insurance Company. The
latter trust he has held over forty years, and he is now in his fiftieth
year in the former. He has been a director in the New England Mutual
Life Insurance Company for nearly forty years, and also a director in
other similar institutions.
But trade and the acquisition of wealth have not been the all-engrossing
pursuits of his life. His inherent love of rural pursuits led him, in
1832, to purchase a house in Dorchester originally built by Gov.
Increase Sumner, where, after devoting a proper time to business, he
gave his leisure to horticulture and agriculture. He spared no expense,
he rested from no efforts, to instill into the public mind a love of an
employment so honorable and useful. He cultivated his own grounds,
imported seeds, plants, and trees, and endeavored by his example to
encourage labor and elevate the rank of the husbandman. His garden,
green-houses, and a forest of fruit-trees occupied the time he could
spare from business, and here he has prosecuted his favorite
investigations, year after year, for half a century, to the present day.
Soon after the Massachusetts Horticultural Society was formed, Mr.
Wilder was associated with the late Gen. Henry A. S. Dearborn, its first
president, and from that time till now has been one of its most
efficient members, having two years since delivered the oration on the
occasion of its fiftieth anniversary. One of the most important acts of
this society was the purchase of Mount Auburn for a cemetery and an
ornamental garden. On the separation of the cemetery from the society,
in 1835, through Mr. Wilder's influence, committees were appointed by
the two corporations, Judge Story being chairman of the cemetery
committee, and Mr. Wilder of the society committee. The situation was
fraught with great difficulties; but Mr. Wilder's conservative course,
everywhere acknowledged, overcame them all, and enabled the society to
erect an elegant hall in School street, and afterwards the splendid
building it now occupies in Tremont street, the most magnificent
horticultural hall in the world. In 1840 he was chosen president, and
held the office for eight successive years. During his presidency the
hall in School street was erected, and two triennial festivals were held
in Faneuil Hall, which are particularly worthy of notice. The first was
opened September 11, 1845, and the second on the fiftieth anniversary of
his birth, September 22, 1848, when he retired from the office of
president, and the society voted him a silver pitcher valued at one
hundred and fifty dollars, and caused his portrait to be placed in its
hall. As president of this association he headed a circular for a
convention of fruit-growers, which was held in New York, October 10,
1848, when the American Pomological Society was formed. He was chosen
its first president, and he still holds that office, being in his
thirty-third year of service. Its biennial meetings have been held in
New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Boston, Rochester, St. Louis,
Richmond, Chicago, and Baltimore. On these occasions President Wilder
has made appropriate addresses. The last meeting was held September,
1881, at Boston, where he presided with his usual vigor and propriety,
at the advanced age of eighty-three.
In February, 1849, the Norfolk Agricultural Society was formed. Mr.
Wilder was chosen president, and the Hon. Charles Francis Adams,
vice-president. Before this society, his first address on agricultural
education was delivered. This was the first general effort in that cause
in this country. He was president twenty years, and on his retirement he
was constituted honorary president, and a resolution was passed
recognizing his eminent ability and usefulness in promoting the arts of
horticulture and agriculture, and his personal excellence in every
department of life. He next directed his efforts to establishing the
Massachusetts board of agriculture, organized, as the Massachusetts
Central Board of Agriculture, at a meeting of delegates of agricultural
societies in the state, September, 1851, in response to a circular
issued by him as president, of the Norfolk Agricultural Society. He was
elected president, and held the office till 1852, when it became a
department of the state, and he is now the senior member of that board.
In 1858 the Massachusetts School of Agriculture was incorporated, and he
was chosen president; but before the school was opened congress granted
land to the several states for agricultural colleges, and in 1865 the
legislature incorporated the Massachusetts Agricultural College. He was
named the first trustee. In 1871 the first class was graduated, and in
1878 he had the honor of conferring the degree of Bachelor of Science on
twenty young gentlemen graduates. He delivered addresses on both
occasions. In 1852, through his instrumentality, the United States
Agricultural Society was organized at Washington. This society, of which
he was president for the first six years, exercised a beneficial
influence till the breaking out of the late civil war. He is a member of
many horticultural and agricultural societies in this and foreign lands.
Col. Wilder, at an early age, took an interest in military affairs. At
sixteen he was enrolled in the New Hampshire militia, and at twenty-one
he was commissioned adjutant. He organized and equipped the Rindge Light
Infantry, and was chosen its captain. At twenty-five he was elected
lieutenant-colonel, and at twenty-six was commissioned as colonel of the
Twelfth Regiment.
Soon after his removal to Boston he joined the Ancient and Honorable
Artillery Company. In 1856 he was chosen commander of the corps, having
four times previously declined nominations. He entered into
correspondence with Prince Albert, commander of the Royal Artillery
Company of London, founded in 1537, of which this corps, chartered in
1638, is the only offspring. This correspondence established a friendly
intercourse between the two companies. In June, 1857, Prince Albert was
chosen a special honorary member of our company, and twenty-one years
later, in 1878, Col. Wilder, who then celebrated the fiftieth or golden
anniversary of his own membership, nominated the Prince of Wales, the
present commander of the London company, as an honorary member. They are
the only two honorary members that have been elected by the company, and
both were commanders of the Honorable Artillery Company of London when
chosen. The late elegantly illustrated history of the London company
contains a portrait of Col. Wilder as he appeared in full uniform on
that occasion.
In 1839, he was induced to serve for a single term in the Massachusetts
legislature as a representative for the town of Dorchester. In 1849 he
was elected a member of Gov. Briggs's council, and the year following, a
member of the senate and its president. In 1860, he was the member for
New England of the national committee of the "Constitutional Union
party," and attended, as chairman of the Massachusetts delegation, the
National convention in Baltimore, where John Bell and Edward Everett
were nominated for president and vice-president of the United States.
He was initiated in Charity Lodge No. 18, in Troy, N. H., at the age of
twenty-five, exalted to the Royal Arch Chapter, Cheshire No. 4, and
knighted in the Boston Encampment. He was deputy grand master of the
Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and was one of the six thousand Masons who
signed, Dec. 31, 1831, the celebrated "Declaration of the Freemasons of
Boston and Vicinity;" and at the fiftieth anniversary of that event,
just celebrated in Boston, Mr. Wilder responded for the survivors, six
of the signers being present. He has received all the Masonic degrees,
including the 33d, or highest and last honor of the fraternity. At the
World's Masonic convention, in 1867, at Paris, he was the only delegate
from the United States who spoke at the banquet.
On the 7th of November, 1849, a festival of the Sons of New Hampshire
was celebrated in Boston. The Hon. Daniel Webster presided, and Mr.
Wilder was the first vice-president. Fifteen hundred sons of the Granite
State were present. The association again met on the 29th of October,
1852, to participate in the obsequies of Mr. Webster at Faneuil Hall. On
this occasion the legislature and other citizens of New Hampshire were
received at the Lowell depot, and addressed by Mr. Wilder in behalf of
the sons of that state resident in Boston.
The Sons celebrated their second festival Nov. 2, 1853, at which Mr.
Wilder occupied the chair as president, and delivered one of his most
eloquent speeches. They assembled again June 20, 1861, to receive and
welcome the New Hampshire regiment of volunteers and escort them to
Music Hall, where Mr. Wilder addressed them in a patriotic speech on
their departure for the field of battle.
The two hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the settlement of
Dorchester was celebrated on the 4th of July, 1855. The oration was by
Edward Everett; Mr. Wilder presided and delivered an able address. On
the central tablet of the great pavilion was this inscription: "Marshall
P. Wilder, President of the Day. Blessed is he that turneth the waste
places into a garden, and maketh the wilderness to blossom as a rose."