childhood--a mother whose intelligence, forethought, and womanly virtues
had been the life and light of the household. He early joined his older
brothers in the labors of the farm, attending the district school for a
few weeks in summer, and ten or twelve weeks each winter. When fifteen
years old, he attended the spring term of the Corinth Academy, and
continued at intervals for several terms later. In the winter of
1848-49, his seventeenth year not yet completed, he taught the school of
a neighboring district. His success warranted his continuance as teacher
in the vicinity for the five following winters. Continuing his farm
labors in summer, he in the meantime developed a mechanical capacity in
the making of farm implements and the designing of buildings,--a natural
aptitude which has been of great service in maturer years.
Soon after attaining the age of eighteen, Mr. Dearborn determined to
enter upon a course of study preparatory to a professional life. Before
leaving Corinth he commenced the reading of law with Rodney Lund, a
young man who had commenced practice in the vicinity. In March, 1854, at
the suggestion of his maternal uncle, Dr. W. W. Brown, he came to
Manchester, and renewed his law studies in the office of Hon. Isaac W.
Smith, with whom he remained till his admission to the bar in the fall
of 1855.
In December, 1855, he opened an office at Francestown. The town afforded
a safe opening for a young practitioner, but not one for large profits.
There was a time, after the close of the war of 1812, when the trade of
Francestown village exceeded that of any other locality in Hillsborough
county. But the opening of the railroad to Nashua, and soon after to
Manchester, entirely changed the centers of trade and business, and left
Francestown to become a respectable and very quiet village.
Hitherto, Mr. Dearborn, while entertaining positive views, had not
actively participated in political discussion. But the year 1856
witnessed the consolidation of the anti-slavery sentiment of the
country. It had already so far concentrated its strength in New
Hampshire as to have secured the state government and a unanimous
representation in Congress. The nomination of John C. Fremont for
president, in the summer of that year, hastened the organization of the
anti-slavery elements of the entire North under the name of the
Republican party. In common with a majority of the intelligent young men
of the state, Mr. Dearborn entered into this contest with all the zeal,
vigor, and enthusiasm of one whose action is untrammeled by personal or
partisan ends. The campaign which followed was the most brilliant and
far-reaching in its results of any in the political history of the
nation. No idea ever agitated the American mind to which calculating
selfishness was more foreign. Even the great uprising which brought
about the war of Independence was less free from selfish motives. And,
though the general result in the presidential election of that year was
adverse, yet in New Hampshire, as in every state north of Pennsylvania,
the returns clearly showed that the cause of freedom had acquired an
over-ruling strength.
In June, 1857, Mr. Dearborn was united in marriage with Miss Louie
Frances Eaton, daughter of Moses W. Eaton, of Francestown, and
grand-daughter of Dr. Thomas Eaton, a physician of long and extensive
practice, and one of the most enterprising farmers of his time. In 1857
he was elected county treasurer, and re-elected in 1858. It was the
first public position he had held, and its duties were satisfactorily
discharged.
In 1858 he removed to Peterborough, occupying the office of E. S.
Cutter, Esq., who had recently been appointed clerk of the courts for
Hillsborough county. He resided in Peterborough till 1865. During this
time he was in partnership with Charles G. Cheney, and afterwards with
Albert S. Scott, both of whom have since died. He represented the town
in the legislature in the years 1861 and 1862, being a member of the
judiciary committee.
In the summer of 1865 he removed to Nashua, for the purpose of
continuing the practice of his profession. An accidental purchase led to
a change of occupation. The _Nashua Telegraph_ had for many years been
edited by Albin Beard, a genial, witty, and, withal, accomplished
writer. Under him, the _Telegraph_ had acquired a marked local
popularity. He died in September, 1862. Its present publishers were
inexperienced writers, and illy qualified to satisfy the admirers of its
former editor. The _Telegraph_ was rapidly deteriorating in value and
influence. The senior proprietor inquired of Mr. Dearborn what he would
give for his half of the establishment. A somewhat nominal price was
offered, and much to the surprise of Mr. Dearborn was accepted. He at
once entered upon the duties of editor and financial manager. Under his
direction the _Telegraph_ was rapidly recovering its patronage and
influence, but at the end of two years his health failed, and a change
of occupation became a necessity. He disposed of his interest to the
present editor, Hon. O. C. Moore, and resumed the practice of law.
Since his residence at Nashua. Mr. Dearborn has contributed largely to
the improvement of real estate, to the erection, of improved
school-buildings, and in his capacity as member of the board of
education to the reconstruction and greater efficiency of the public
schools. He was appointed register of probate for Hillsborough county in
1868, and held the office till 1874.
For several years he was treasurer of the Nashua & Lowell Railroad, and
is still one of the directors. In his official action he aided largely
in sustaining the measures which have placed that corporation in front
rank of profitable railways.
Nearly twenty years ago, while a resident of Peterborough, he was
appointed, by the governor, one of the Bank Commissioners of New
Hampshire. In that capacity he became acquainted with the extent and
peculiarities of the financial institutions of the state. In 1864 and
1865, he actively superintended, in his official capacity, the
converting of the state banks of discount into the national banks of the
present system. In March, 1866, he was appointed Examiner of the
National Banks for the state of New Hampshire, a position which he still
holds. He is the only person who has filled this position since the
organization of the national banking system.
In the discharge of the duties of Bank Examiner, official fidelity
requires that the investigation shall be thorough and exhaustive. That
during the past sixteen years but a single instance of defalcation has
occurred resulting in loss among the forty-nine national banks in the
state, is pretty conclusive evidence of a diligent and careful
supervision. From the length of time he has held the position, he has
become familiar with the indications of laxity, lenity, negligence, not
to mention recklessness, which mark the first steps of danger to a
banking institution; and his suggestions and warnings to bank officials
have not infrequently been of advantage to the public generally as well
as to stockholders, where no publicity has been gained through the press
or otherwise.
Personally, Mr. Dearborn is not an ostentatious, obtrusive, aggressive
man. He has no fondness for newspaper notoriety, no solicitude lest he
shall be overlooked by the public. In politics and religion he is
liberal and tolerant, conceding to others the utmost freedom of opinion.
Attending to his own duties, it is not his habit to interfere with the
personal affairs of others. But when attacked without reason or
provocation, no matter what his pretensions, his assailant will speedily
find that he has need for a prudent husbandry of all his resources.
Mr. Dearborn is a member of the Congregational church. His two children
are sons. The older, John Eaton, born November, 1862, is acquiring a
business education. The younger, George Van Ness, born August, 1869, is
attending the public schools. His house is pleasantly situated on Main
street, and is one of the desirable residences in the city. Still in the
prime of life, his many friends have no reason to doubt that in the
future, as in the past, he will be adequate to any responsibility which
may devolve upon him.
[Illustration: John Bracewell]
COL. JOHN BRACEWELL, A. M.
BY REV. GEO. B. SPALDING, D. D.
The subject of this sketch was born June 18, 1837, in Clitheroe,
England. Clitheroe is a busy cotton-manufacturing town on the Ribble,
and in the greatest cotton-manufacturing district of the world,
Lancashire.
The father, Miles Bracewell, from his early boyhood had been engaged in
printing calico, having served his apprenticeship with James Thompson &
Sons, who owned and managed the Primrose Print-Works. James Thompson was
a famous manufacturer, his enterprise and liberality being known
throughout Europe. For many years Miles Bracewell had charge of the
"color department" in the Primrose Print-Works. He afterwards went into
business for himself, and at the time of his death was the senior
partner and principal owner of two print-works,--one at Oakenshaw and
another at Kersal Vale.
It was while the father was in the service of James Thompson, that JOHN
BRACEWELL, then a very small boy, was regularly apprenticed to this
distinguished manufacturer. The institution of apprenticeship, in
anything like its English thoroughness, is little practiced in this
country. For a long period in England the term _apprentice_ was applied
equally to such as were being taught a trade or a learned profession.
The term of seven years was regarded as much a necessity for the learner
in any craft, as for the scholar seeking to attain the degree of doctor,
or master in the liberal arts. Although the laws which formerly made the
apprenticeship compulsory have been abolished in England, yet the
principle is universally recognized there in the form of a voluntary
contract. Of its immense advantages in the way of securing the most
thorough knowledge, and highest skill in the learner, no one can doubt.
Mr. John Bracewell, who probably to-day holds the foremost place among
those engaged in his business in this country, is a living argument for
the excellence of the apprentice system. He began his tutelage as a lad.
He began at the lowest round in the ladder of his advancement, and was
long and rigidly held at each last until he could safely mount the
higher one. There was a very superior French chemist employed in the
Primrose Works, and no little of the boy's studies were under him.
When eighteen years of age, Mr. Bracewell had established such a
reputation for proficiency in the mysteries of color that he was offered
a fine position in a great carpet manufactory in France, but his father
advised him to decline this flattering offer, feeling that the
responsibility was too great for one so young. That subtle but
irresistible influence which for so many years has been drawing such
tides of population from Europe to America was already settling the
question as to the country where this young man was to work out his
great success. Only a month after he had declined to go to France, he
received and accepted the offer of a position as assistant manager in
the Merrimack Print-Works, Lowell, Mass. There he remained five years
and a half, winning for himself a distinguished reputation by the energy
and skill of his management. Certainly it argues some unusual qualities
in his work while there, some extraordinary gifts and capacities in his
nature, that could have led the Cocheco Manufacturing Company to call
this young man of twenty-three years of age to its most responsible
position, that of superintendent of its print-works. There were no less
than thirteen applicants for this office. The directors, with entire
unanimity, made choice of this youngest of them all, and gave to him the
unlimited charge of the most important department of their great
industry. Soon after entering upon his new duties, Mr. Bracewell took
advantage of the suspension of work in the manufactory, made necessary
at that period of the civil war, to enlarge his scientific knowledge by
attending lectures on analytic chemistry at Harvard College. He studied
with great thoroughness this science during a five months' course, and
at the same time directed the many repairs and changes which were being
made in the print-works at Dover. With the beginning of the year 1861,
Mr. Bracewell took up his residence in Dover. The remarkable enterprise
and judgment of the new manager made themselves at once felt. For just
twenty years he continued in his position. These years witnessed a
series of brilliant successes. He showed himself to be a genius in his
profession. To his originating, creative mind he joins an unusual power
of adapting to his own uses suggestions coming from whatever source. By
his sheer abilities, his indomitable energy, his quickness of insight,
his tireless perseverance, and his perfect command of the minute details
of every branch of his work, Mr. Bracewell soon lifted the Cocheco goods
to the very head of their class, and held them there to the last day of
his service. The production of the print-works very nearly quadrupled
during this period.
In 1864, Mr. Bracewell was married to Mary Harriet Hope, of Lowell,
Mass., whose noble character death has made the more precious to many
friends. There were born to them three daughters and one son, all of
whom are living.
During Mr. Bracewell's residence in Dover he endeared himself to all
classes of people by his large-hearted liberality, his great geniality,
and his keen personal interest in whatever affected the welfare of the
city or the condition of every individual in it. He was an ardent
supporter of his church, which he greatly loved, and every good cause in
the community. He was quick to suggest, and ready to lead any movement
which was helpful to the material and moral advancement of Dover. With a
view of benefiting the city, and also as a sound investment for his own
advantage, Mr. Bracewell built, in 1879, a substantial and attractive
block, consisting of nine stores, which spans the Cochecho river. It
bids long to stand, a fitting monument of his public spirit and wise
foresight.
Though born and educated an Englishman, he became an ardent, patriotic
American citizen from the very day that he touched American soil. His
pride and hopes for America are as intense as any native son's. His love
for Dover is as tender and steadfast as though its air was the first he
breathed. The church with which he first united, he still regards as his
home. He long served her as a most efficient superintendent of its
Sunday-school, and when he was about to remove his residence from Dover,
out of a great desire to see the church freed from the burden of a debt
of thirteen thousand dollars, Mr. Bracewell, by his payment of a tenth
of the sum, led on others to such generous donations that the debt was
speedily extinguished.
Mr. Bracewell may still be regarded as a New Hampshire son, and a
citizen of Dover. His nature will not allow him to lose elsewhere the
very great interest which twenty years' sojourn here has created in him.
It may well be expected that he will some time return to permanently
abide among friendships whose preciousness he and his host of friends so
fully appreciate.
In January, 1881, Mr. Bracewell received an offer to go into business at
North Adams, Mass., and as the physicians thought his wife's health
would be better there than in Dover, he decided to make the change. The
directors of the Cocheco Manufacturing Company, by offer of an increase
of salary of from ten thousand to fifteen thousand dollars a year, and
other inducements, sought to retain Mr. Bracewell in their employment;
Mr. Bracewell, however, removed to North Adams, purchasing a third
interest in the Freeman Manufacturing Company of that place, and the
same success which was acquired in Dover has followed his abilities into
the great business which he represents at North Adams. The Windsor
calicoes, and other products of the Freeman Manufacturing Company,
already stand in the market among the foremost of their class.
In 1877, Mr. Bracewell received the degree of Master of Arts from
Dartmouth College,--a distinction well earned and worthily bestowed.
During Gov. Prescott's term of office. Mr. Bracewell served as a member
of his staff, with rank of colonel.
Mr. Bracewell's remarkable activity has not been shut into his business.
The intensity of his nature comes out to an undiminished degree in his
politics, his friendships, his public spirit, and his religious faith.
His sympathies are quick and universal; his enthusiasms are
communicative and inspiring; his affections are tender and loyal.
ALBERT H. HAYES.
Too many of the old homesteads of New Hampshire have gone to decay.
Deserted and dilapidated buildings, decrepit fences, and unharvested
crops of briers and weeds, where but a generation ago there were the
homes of comfort, industry, and thrift, tell a sad story of what our
state has done to supply the brain and brawn which have developed the
resources of others. But now and then there is a farm which has not only
been preserved, and made to retain its old-time attractions, but
improved, beautified, and adorned, by liberal outlays dictated by good
judgment and cultured taste, until it has become the envy of all who
admire elegant buildings, fertile fields, and fine flocks and herds.
Many of these are the property of men who grew up rugged, strong, and
self-reliant among our hills, went out in early manhood in quest of
greater opportunities than could be found or created at home, and,
having won fortunes abroad, have loyally brought them back to the town
of their nativity to rescue old firesides from irreverent ownership, to
erect upon old sites modern mansions, to coax from an unwilling soil
great crops, to furnish people with employment and courage, and to
return in a hundred ways substantial thanks for the privilege of having
been born in New Hampshire. Of this class is the Hayes farm in Alton,
now owned by Dr. ALBERT H. HAYES, who has brought back, from the golden
sands of the Pacific, the ample means which enable him to add to the
natural attractions of his lakeside birthplace all that money can
command in the creation and embellishment of a country home.
David Hayes, who was a sturdy farmer of Scotch descent and a native of
Strafford, purchased and settled upon a farm in Alton about the year
1790. He had three sons and three daughters, and in time the oldest son,
Joseph, succeeded him as the holder of the title to the farm. This son
married Betsey Brewster, a daughter of George Brewster, of Wolfeborough,
by whom he had eight children, of whom six still survive. The seventh
was born September 6, 1836, and named Albert Hamilton. His parents were
well to do and appreciated the value of an education, so that, as he
grew up, while he did his share of the work on the farm, he had the
advantage of the winter schools, and was afterwards sent to the
academies at New Hampton and Northfield. At the age of twenty-one he had
completed his studies at these institutions, and concluded that it was
easier to buy farm produce than to raise it, and that a place containing
more people and more money would suit him better than Alton, and, going
to Boston, commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Abner Ham, of that
city. Subsequently, he attended lectures at Columbia College in the
District of Columbia, and graduated at a Pennsylvania university.
Meantime he had served as a hospital surgeon in the army for two years,
and in 1870, having acquired the necessary funds, made a prolonged
European tour.
[Illustration: A. H. Hayes]
On returning to America, Dr. Hayes extended his travels through this
country, and in 1874, with an eye to business and pleasure, went to
California. Here he soon became acquainted with John W. Mackey, the
Bonanza king, and other prominent financiers on the coast, and as a
result formed a partnership with J. M. Walker, a former partner of
Mackey, under the firm name of Hayes & Walker. As a member of this firm,
and as an associate with Mackey, Mr. Hayes, during the next three years,
did an extensive banking and brokerage business, handling a vast amount
of money, and reaping handsome profits, which enabled him, a little
later, to buy largely of the stock of the Bonanza mines, which were then
pouring a steady stream of wealth into the laps of their owners.
Becoming convinced that this would not continue, and that other mining
properties were more desirable, he sold out his interest, and after a
long investigation bought outright the Red-Hill gravel mines, in Trinity
county, California. This purchase, which includes eleven hundred acres
of land, in which are located seven mines, and extensive water rights,
upon which in that country the value of a gold mine largely depends,
makes Mr. Hayes the sole owner of by far the largest and most valuable
mining property held by a single individual in the state of California,
and establishes his place among the few who have been able to seize and
hold the glittering prize for which so many have striven since the
western slope began to yield its treasures.
While thus seeking his fortune elsewhere, Mr. Hayes has retained his
residence in Alton and his lively interest in all that concerns the town
and state. The homestead upon which he was born is his, and he makes it
his home during the summer. He has expended a large amount in improving
it, a barn costing fifteen thousand dollars being among the latest
additions. When the house, which he has planned to match it, is erected,
the establishment will be one of the finest in the state.
In 1876, 1877, and 1878, Dr. Hayes represented Alton in the legislature.
He married, in 1877, Jessie B. Benjamin, daughter of E. M. Benjamin,
Esq., of San Francisco, a relative of Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisiana,
and a lady of rare literary attainments and social accomplishments.
Their only child--Lloyd Benjamin Hayes--was born May 21, 1880.
With so much success behind him, Mr. Hayes is still a young man, as
cheery and active and energetic as when he first left New Hampshire. He
has an extensive knowledge of the world, a wide circle of acquaintances
among those who shape the politics and business of the country, and
hosts of friends who have been won by his unfailing good nature,
liberality, and courtesy. He is pledged, when he has done making money,
to come back to New Hampshire and spend it.
HON. GEORGE COGSWELL, A. M., M. D.
BY JOHN CROWELL, M. D.
George Cogswell was born in the town of Atkinson, N. H., February 5,
1808. He came from that sturdy stock of ancestors whose history is so
closely interwoven with the early life and enterprise of New England. In
1635, John Cogswell, a prosperous Englishman of good estate and
standing, established a settlement in the town of Ipswich, now Essex,
Mass., on a grant of three hundred acres of land, which have remained in
the Cogswell name, in regular line, to the present time. His maternal
ancestor was Giles Badger, who settled in Newbury, Mass., the same year.
These families have been closely allied by marriage, and their
descendants have been prominent in church and state, in medicine and in
letters.