professional aims, he went to Franklin, entered upon the study of the
law in the office of Nesmith & Pike, and in 1854, on admission to the
bar, became at once the junior partner with Mr. Pike, in the office
where he had read his profession, Mr. Nesmith at that time retiring from
the office and extensive business which he had so honorably founded and
built into its large proportions. In 1863, Mr. Barnard withdrew from the
firm and established himself alone in his profession in the same
village, rapidly rising into the very large, wide, and lucrative
business which for more than eighteen years has allowed him not so much
as a week, or scarcely a day, of vacation in the year. During this
period he has had as many students in his office constantly as the
circumstances of his office would admit, and has nearly all the time had
a partner in a temporary way. His partner now is his eldest son, William
M. Barnard, who graduated at Dartmouth College with superior rank, in
1876, at the age of twenty years; studied his profession in his father's
office and at the Boston Law School; and was admitted to the bar and
into partnership with his father in 1879. In relation to the business of
the office, it is perfectly safe to add that there has been no time
within the last fifteen years in which there has not been a formidable
amount of business piled up awaiting attention, notwithstanding the most
sleepless and indefatigable industry which Mr. Barnard has brought to
his duties. For the last ten years he has not only regularly attended
all the courts in the counties of Merrimack, Belknap, and the Plymouth
sessions of Grafton, but has constantly attended the United States
circuit courts, practicing in bankrupt, patent, and revenue cases.
The esteem in which Mr. Barnard is held by the immediate community in
which he lives may be casually mentioned. Though never seeking office,
he has been often chosen to places of responsibility by his townsmen. In
1860 and 1862 he represented the town of Franklin in the legislature;
and in all political contests in the town in which he has been candidate
for the suffrages of his townsmen he has always run much ahead of the
party ticket. In 1865 and 1866 he was a member of the state senate,
presiding over that body in the latter-named year; in 1870 and 1871 he
was a member of the governor's council; and in 1872 was a member of the
Republican national convention at Philadelphia. He was solicitor of
Merrimack county from 1867 till declining re-appointment in 1872, the
position being again tendered to him and declined in 1877. He was a
firm, earnest supporter of the homestead-exemption law of 1850, which
was opposed by most of the profession through the state, and introduced
the resolution in the house which first gave the members a daily paper.
As a member of the senate in 1867, he took a profound interest in the
amendment of the federal constitution prohibiting slavery, making an
able and effective argument in its support in that body.
In the cause of education he has always been a foremost friend in
Franklin and throughout the state. His own early struggles have
doubtless contributed to make him peculiarly a friend of the common
school, and his experience as a teacher in his early years gives him
practical wisdom in the cause. While studying his profession in
Franklin, he was from year to year employed in the Teachers' Institutes,
which did a large work in awakening higher ideas of the mission of the
common school in New Hampshire during that period, and in that business
he was in nearly every county of the state. In 1867, the honorary degree
of Master of Arts was conferred upon Mr. Barnard by Dartmouth College.
Mr. Barnard has been prominently identified with all the leading
industries which have been established in Franklin, and which have so
remarkably built up the town within the last twenty years; procured the
charters and helped organize all the great corporations; has been a
continuous trustee of the Franklin Library Association since its
establishment, more than fifteen years since, and a trustee of the
Franklin Savings Bank since its establishment, in 1865; legal counsel of
the Franklin Falls Company from its organization, in 1864, and the last
eight years its local agent; and is a director and vice-president of the
Franklin National Bank, recently organized in that town.
As a lawyer, Mr. Barnard ranks very high in the profession, his advice
being eagerly sought by the humblest client and the most influential
corporations; but no person, however poor, with a meritorious cause, was
ever turned away from his office to make room for a richer or more
powerful client. His client's cause becomes his, and his whole energy is
directed to winning for his employer what he believes he should have.
His terse and logical arguments are especially powerful before a jury;
and his eloquent voice has been often heard in legislative halls,
leading and guiding the law-making assemblies, and in political
meetings, sustaining the motives and policy of his party.
In the social, humane, and religious work of the community, he has
always been active and efficient, generous almost to a fault in every
good enterprise; and in these spheres of duty he has ever had the
efficient co-operation of a cultivated, and, it is not too much to add,
a model Christian wife,--Amelia, only child of Rev. William Morse, a
Unitarian clergyman of Chelmsford, Mass., at the time of the
marriage,--to whom he was married November 8, 1854. Mr. Morse, now
deceased, was one of the pioneer clergymen of the Unitarian faith in
this country, was many years pastor of the Callow-Hill-street church,
Philadelphia, and an able and excellent minister. His wife was
Sophronia, daughter of Abner Kneeland, of Boston, an able and upright
man, whose trial on the technical charge of blasphemy, but really for
the publication of heretical religious doctrines, was a most noted
episode in New England forty years ago. Mrs. Morse was a noble woman.
Mr. Morse and his wife resided during the last years of their pleasant
lives in Franklin, near their daughter, who watched with singular
tenderness over the closing years of the parents to whom she is indebted
for superior training as well as superior ability. Their union has been
blessed with seven children, six of whom, four sons and two daughters,
are living.
[Illustration: Respectfully
William P. Riddle]
WILLIAM P. RIDDLE.
The lives men live and the character of communities lived in are
retroactive. Written or unwritten, the good and ill of them swell the
tide of human progress, which ebbs and flows by force of individual
influences. Time and place are accidental to birth, but often determine
conditions that shape fortune. In New England, in the last century, men
achieved and wore the iron crown, and their descendants inherited traits
of mental and moral character that make material for biography.
The subject of this sketch was of the third generation of his family in
the town of Bedford, N. H., the place of his nativity. In origin the
family Was of Anglo-Norman extraction. The name of Riddle appears in the
English and Scotch genealogies, and is traceable back into the ninth
century. Gaen Riddle, of Scotch descent, the head of his branch of the
family in this country, came over and settled in Bedford, N. H., about
the year 1737, and was one of the original settlers of that town.
WILLIAM P. RIDDLE, of whom is the present memoir, was the grandson of
Gaen Riddle, and the son of Isaac,--a man of prominence in the affairs
and events of his time and locality. William P. inherited in a marked
degree his father's characteristics. Born on the 6th day of April, 1789,
during the period of the formation of our constitutional government, he
became early imbued with the ideas of nationality. His youth was passed
at the district school, upon the farm, and about his father's business,
in which he displayed aptness and activity. At the old Atkinson Academy,
in New Hampshire, he ultimately acquired what education it was his
privilege to obtain, and for a short time taught school in his native
town.
In 1811, Mr. Riddle located in Piscataquog, a village in Bedford,
situated on the Merrimack river, and now apart of the city of
Manchester. There he took charge of his father's mercantile affairs.
Business soon increased in importance, which led to the formation of the
partnership of Isaac Riddle & Sons, in 1817. This firm eventually
extended its business operations throughout central New England. They
owned and carried on stores, warehouses, lumber-yards, saw and grain
mills at Bedford and Piscataquog, and also operated cotton and nail
factories, and lumber and grain mills, on the Souhegan at Merrimack. At
the latter place they erected dwelling-houses, stores, and a hotel,
whence it came to be known as Riddle's Village, and was an active and
thriving place.
During this time the project of constructing the "Union Locks and
Canals," on the Merrimack river, was inaugurated,--an enterprise which
rendered that river navigable for boats and barges to the capital of the
state of New Hampshire, and opened up water communication with Boston.
With this achievement Mr. Riddle became identified, manifesting energy
and foresight. Taking advantage of the facilities thus afforded for
inland navigation, the firm of Isaac Riddle & Sons established a
warehouse in Boston, together with a line of canal-boats, and in
connection with their other extensive business entered actively into the
carrying-trade. This water transportation was continued by Mr. Riddle
after the dissolution of his firm in 1830, and until the opening of the
Nashua & Concord Railroad.
At the decease of his father, the old firm was dissolved, and Mr. Riddle
assumed and carried on the business in his own name, both at Merrimack
and Bedford. He supplied the region round about with merchandise, and
furnished lumber largely for the cities of Nashua, Lowell, Newburyport,
Boston, and Providence, supplying the navy-yard at Charlestown with
spars and ship-timber, Boston, and Lowell, and other large cities with
lumber for public buildings and bridges, and the railways of New England
with ties and contract lumber, and shipped railroad sleepers to the West
Indies. The old "yellow store" at Piscataquog Bridge was the scene of
many of these transactions. It was a busy mart. Here were bought and
bartered domestic products, wood, timber and lumber from all the
outlying country, in exchange for groceries and merchandise, which in
turn were transported down the Merrimack to the markets of
Massachusetts.
During this latter period of his business activity, Mr. Riddle also
dealt extensively in hops, buying them throughout New Hampshire,
Vermont, and Canada, and shipping and marketing them in Boston, New
York, and Philadelphia, and in some instances exporting them. In 1846 he
was appointed inspector-general of hops for New Hampshire, the culture
of which having become of important concern to the farmers of the state.
In this capacity he was favorably known and respected among hop-growers
and merchants of New England. In 1848 the Piscataquog steam-mills were
erected by him, and successfully operated for several years. Thus were
continued and carried on mercantile pursuits and business enterprises
until his retirement, about the year 1860, filling up a busy life of
upwards of half a century.
Early in life Mr. Riddle evinced a taste for military affairs. At the
age of twenty-five years he organized a company known as the Bedford
Grenadiers, and was chosen its first captain. Five years afterwards he
was promoted to the rank of major of the "Old Ninth Regiment." The next
year he became lieutenant-colonel, and on June 15, 1824, was promoted to
the colonelcy of the regiment, and was in command for seven years. The
"Old Ninth" was then composed of ten full infantry companies, two rifle
companies, one artillery company, and one cavalry company, and for
discipline and efficiency ranked first in the state. In June, 1831, Col.
Riddle was promoted brigadier-general; and on the 25th of June, 1833,
was further promoted to the rank of major-general of the division, which
military office he held till his resignation. Thus he had filled all the
offices of military rank within the state.
Mr. Riddle married, in 1824, Miss Sarah Ferguson, daughter of Capt. John
Ferguson, of Dunbarton,--a soldier of the Revolution who fought at
Bunker's Hill. Of this union there were seven children. After his
marriage he continued to reside in Piscataquog, living on the present
homestead till his death.
In civil life, Gen. Riddle also held offices of trust. He was
representative at the legislature, county road commissioner, justice of
the peace and of the quorum, trustee of institutions, on committees of
public matters, and frequently moderator at the town-meetings. In 1820
he was chairman of a committee chosen to build Piscataquog
meeting-house, a matter of some church importance to the town of
Bedford; and some twenty years later he was on the committee to remodel
it into an academy, of which he was made and continued a trustee, and in
which he exercised a lively interest. It was his pleasure to promote
public education in every way. The common school, the academy, and the
college received his patronage and fostering consideration. As the
town's committee, he superintended the early construction of bridges
across the Piscataquog and Merrimack rivers; in 1825, rebuilt the
McGregor bridge, now the location of the new iron bridge on Bridge
street, Manchester; and at a later period was the president of the
Granite Bridge Company, which erected the lattice toll-bridge at
Merrill's Falls.
In the "Masonic Fraternity," Mr. Riddle was prominent, becoming a member
of the order in 1823. The following year he helped found the Lafayette
Lodge in Piscataquog, being a charter member. He gave liberally to the
support of this lodge, both in funds and effort, supplying it with a
hall for meetings and work for twenty-five years. He was the last
surviving member of its early projectors. The old Lafayette Lodge was
among the very few in the state during the anti-Mason troubles that held
its regular communications unbroken. He was also a member of the Mt.
Horeb Chapter, and of Trinity Commandry of Knights Templar.
About agriculture he found time to exercise his taste. He owned several
farms, and cultivated them with success, experimenting with crops, and
giving results to the public. He was a patron of the state and county
fairs, and sought in many ways to advance and encourage the best
interests of husbandry. Hop-raising was a specialty with him, and
through his methods and example the culture of hops within the state was
extended and improved.
In 1854, after the incorporation of the city of Manchester, at a time
when there seemed to be little interest manifested in military affairs
in the state, Gen. Riddle undertook and assisted in the organization of
the Amoskeag Veterans, now so well known and respected. In its origin
the corps was a military association, composed of many of the most
prominent and worthy citizens of the community. From such an association
a battalion was formed, and Gen. Riddle chosen its first commander. The
success of this movement gave an impetus to the military spirit of the
day, and was the means of inaugurating a new militia system for the
state. The Veterans, as is well known, uniformed in continental style,
and to-day enjoy a wide reputation for their unique and quaint
appearance on parade, their martial bearing, and soldierly mien, and for
the character of the rank and file. In the fall of 1855, upon the
invitation of President Pierce, the Amoskeag Veterans visited Washington
and became guests at the White House, freely enjoying its hospitality,
and receiving official honor. While there they made a notable pilgrimage
to the tomb of Washington at Mount Vernon. On its return, the battalion
attracted much public notice. At Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York,
it received special attention and entertainment. During the late war the
Veterans showed patriotism, both in deed and sentiment, and otherwise
promoted the national cause.
In politics, Mr. Riddle was a Whig, during the existence of the party;
and subsequently became a Republican. Though not a politician, he took
an earnest and active interest in the public affairs of the country.
Respecting the constitutional rights of all sections, he most faithfully
upheld the integrity of the nation. With him, liberty of thought,
speech, and action was a fundamental and inherent idea. To him the
history and traditions of the American people were a sacred heritage,
and the constitution and union were solemn and paramount obligations,
inseparable and indissoluble. In political faith, he believed the nation
co-existed in perpetuity, and that the people were the source of all
sovereignty; that parties and policies were expedients,--essential, but
subordinate to principle and the fundamental concerns of the state. In
the early discussions prior to the outbreak of the late rebellion, he
took an earnest and serious interest. He regarded secession as
treasonable heresy, and odious. During the war he was an ardent
supporter of the government, and threw all his influence in its behalf.
With deep faith in free institutions, and the power of the nation, he
"never despaired of the Republic." Upon the close of hostilities, peace
was welcomed by him as the harbinger of a redeemed country.
Though nurtured under Scotch Presbyterian influences, Mr. Riddle was
ultimately a Unitarian in his religious faith. He was prominent among
the founders of the Unitarian society at Manchester, and exercised much
personal regard for its success. Liberal in his views, he was always
actuated by principle, and aimed at consistency in Christianity. The
Sermon on the Mount was to him an abiding force. Dogma was subordinated
to faith; and faith enlightened by reason. A patient listener to
religious teaching, he molded his own opinions. In his last days he was
wont to say, that, upon a retrospection of his life, he "did not wish to
change anything." Simplicity of character, charity, and hospitality were
marked traits in life. Energy, efficiency, and integrity characterized
his whole career. In private life he was much respected, and fully
sustained the confidence of his fellow-men. In public life he was
identified with every worthy achievement of his time. Few men of his
generation and nativity have lived more active lives, and few will leave
for a memorial a wider record of usefulness and enterprise.
In the full possession of his faculties, at the ripe age of eighty-six
years, the subject of this sketch passed quietly away, on the 18th day
of May, 1875. The church he helped to build and to sustain was the scene
of his obsequies. In the cemetery at Bedford, by the place of his birth,
within the old family tomb, he was interred, amid the kindly offices of
friends, and the associations with which he had so long been identified.
Such is the brief portrayal of a life and character, which in some
degree was the logical outcome of the rugged circumstances that beset
the early settlements of New Hampshire.
The causes which led to the establishment of civil and religious liberty
in New England equally wrought out the characteristics of the people.
Bedford, Londonderry, Antrim, were primarily a part of the wilds, and
the "rock-ribbed" hills, that were subdued and made habitable by the
indomitable energy and frugal industry of those early pioneers. Their
descendants, partaking somewhat of their own robust virtues, have in
turn impressed the higher culture and the later institutions of the
country. In those old towns may yet be traced the lineaments of the
ancestry which so eminently struggled for "conscience' sake." Perhaps to
no influence more than that of the New England mothers' is attributable
the steady, underlying moral force which pervaded that elder
civilization.
Well may it be said, that "New Hampshire was a good state to emigrate
from,"--for those communities which have had the good fortune to be the
recipients of such an emigration.
[Illustration: John B. Clarke.]
JOHN B. CLARKE.
BY JOHN W. MOORE.
Among the various pursuits of the American people there can be no one
which ranks higher in a literary point of view than journalism. Once the
orator, the teacher, the learned adviser, and the judge had the greater
influence among the people; but now the newspaper, as a power in
civilization and culture, exceeds all other influences, for journalism
has become, in this country, a most potent agency for good, and editors
now, far more than statesmen, teachers, or ecclesiastics, are the guides
of current opinion. It was at one time a common saying in England, that
"America is too much governed by newspapers." Thomas Jefferson, hearing
this assertion, answered, "I would rather live in a country with
newspapers and without a government, than in a country with a government
but without newspapers." The well managed newspaper of to-day is not
only a recorder of events, but it occupies itself with all the thoughts
and doings of men, the discoveries of science, the treasures of
literature, the progress of art, the acts of heroes, and the sayings and
doings of Christendom. Sustained by the people, and laboring for them,
it has the power to make and unmake presidents, control parties, build
up free institutions, and regulate the minutest details of daily life;
it becomes in one sense school-master, preacher, lawgiver, judge, jury,
and policeman, in one grand combination. Among the influential
newspaper-men of this country who are now, and who for thirty years past
have been, busy in publishing journals, speaking for truth, honesty,
liberty, religion, and good government, is found the subject of this
sketch, JOHN BADGER CLARKE, the well known, genial, liberal,
enterprising, able, and very successful editor and publisher of the
Manchester, New Hampshire, _Daily Mirror and American_, and the _Weekly
Mirror and Farmer_.
John Badger Clarke was born at Atkinson, January 30, 1820, and was the
junior of six children--five sons and one daughter--of Greenleaf and
Julia (Cogswell) Clarke. Atkinson was a good town to be born in, and an
excellent place in which to gain religious, moral, and educational
instruction. The direct ancestors of the present Clarke family were from
Atkinson; and from that excellent farming town the children of Greenleaf
Clarke went forth on their way to college and to places of
responsibility, and to high callings in life,--the ancestors being known
as intelligent, honored, enterprising, patriotic people, conscientiously
religious, after the Puritan faith.
Julia Cogswell, the mother of Mr. Clarke, was the daughter of Dr.
William and Judith (Badger) Cogswell, and sister of Rev. William
Cogswell, Hon. Thomas Cogswell, Hon. Francis Cogswell, and Hon. George
Cogswell, biographical sketches of whom appear in this book. She was a
woman of great intellectual powers, a fine scholar, and was preceptress
of Atkinson Academy at the time when John Vose, author of a treatise on
astronomy, was principal.
The Badger family, connected with the Clarkes and Cogswells, are
descendants of Giles Badger, who settled at Newbury, Mass., in 1643.
Gen. Joseph Badger, born at Haverhill, Mass., January 11, 1722, and who
died April 4, 1803, in the eighty-second year of his age, was active in
the Revolution, a member of the provincial congress, and of the
convention which adopted the constitution. After removing to Gilmanton,
N. H., he held many town offices, was made a brigadier-general, was a
member of the state council, and was a stanch supporter of the
institutions of learning and religion. Hon. William Badger, born in
Gilmanton, January 13, 1779, was a representative, senator, president of
the senate, and governor of the state in 1834 and 1835. He was also an
elector of president and vice-president of the United States in 1824,
1836, and 1844; was an associate justice of the court of common pleas
from 1816 to 1821, and for ten years high-sheriff of the county. Hon.
Joseph Badger, Jr., son of the general, was born in Bradford, Mass.,
October 23, 1746; was distinguished as a military officer for thirty
years, passing from captain to brigadier-general. He served in the
Revolutionary war, and was present at the capture of Burgoyne. He died
at Gilmanton, January 15, 1809, aged sixty-two. His wife was a daughter
of Rev. William Parsons, and their marriage was the first one recorded
in Gilmanton.