PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD.
The Chandlers of New England are the descendants of William Chandler,
who came from England in the days of the Puritan immigration--about
1637--and settled in Roxbury, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The Chandlers of Bedford, N. H., are the posterity of one of his
descendants, Zechariah Chandler of Roxbury, who was among the grantees
of Souhegan-East in the right of his wife, the daughter of a soldier
in King Philip's War. They were the conspicuous English family in that
Scotch-Irish Presbyterian settlement, and their farm is the only one in
that town which is still in possession of the lineal descendants of an
original grantee. That Zechariah Chandler was a man of some means is
shown by this document, which is still on record and reads curiously
enough in the biography of a most inveterate and powerful opponent of
slavery and the slave power:
BOSTON, November 11, 1740.
Received of Mr. Zechariah Chandler, one hundred and ten pounds, in
full, for a Negro Boy, sold and delivered him for my master, John
Jones.
£110 WM. MERCHANT, Jun'r.
This slave was taken to Bedford, but soon freed by his owner, when he
assumed the name of Primas Chandler. Although past the usual military
age, in 1775 he enlisted as a private in the service of the colonies,
was captured by the British at "The Cedars" and was never afterwards
heard from by his friends. He left a wife and two sons in Bedford, but
his family has since become extinct.
The first settlers in Bedford located chiefly on the rocky and hilly
territory which is now the central and most thickly inhabited portion
of the town. East of this, in the smooth and fertile intervale of
the Merrimack, judging by the names on the most ancient maps, the
settlers were chiefly of English descent, and among them was Thomas
Chandler, the son of Zechariah, and the first actual occupant of the
land granted to his father. He married Hannah, a daughter of Col. John
Goffe, by whom he had four children--three daughters and a son named
also Zachariah, who married Sarah Patten, the second daughter of Capt.
Samuel Patten. This Zachariah, the grandfather of his namesake, the
Senator, died on April 20, 1830, at the age of 79, and his widow died
in 1842, aged nearly 94. From them were descended the two families of
Chandlers, who in the present generation have been prominent in Bedford.
The oldest son of Zachariah was named Thomas, and was born August 10,
1772. He had four children--Asenath, who married Stephen Kendrick, of
Nashville; Sarah, who married Caleb Kendrick; Hannah, who married Rufus
Kendrick, a well-known citizen of Boston; and Adam, who now lives in
Manchester, where also reside his three sons, Henry and Byron, who are
connected with the Amoskeag National Bank, and John, who is a prominent
merchant of that city. The only daughter of Zachariah, Sarah, remained
single, and lived at the old homestead, which had become her property,
until her death in 1852. Throughout that whole region she was known for
years as "Aunt Sarah."
[Illustration: THE CHANDLER HOMESTEAD, AT BEDFORD, N. H.]
Samuel, the second son of Zachariah, was born May 28, 1774, and
married Margaret Orr, the oldest daughter of General Stark's most
trusted officer, Col. John Orr. They had seven children, one of whom
died in infancy. Those who reached maturity were Mary Jane, who was
successively married to the Rev. Cyrus Downs, the Rev. David P. Smith,
and the Rev. Samuel Lee, and who is still living, the last surviving
member of the seven, at the present homestead; Annis, who married
Franklin Moore and became a resident of Detroit; Samuel, Jr., who,
after four years at Dartmouth and Union colleges, lost his health
and died in Detroit in 1835; Zachariah, the subject of this memorial
volume; and John Orr, who, after graduating at Dartmouth, spent one
year in Andover Theological Seminary, came in feeble health to Detroit
where he was tenderly cared for by his brother, and finally went by way
of New Orleans to Cuba, where he died in January, 1839, his remains
being subsequently removed to the Bedford burying-ground. The father,
Samuel, died in Bedford on January 11, 1870, at the age of 95, and the
mother in 1855, at the age of 81.
The Chandlers during the three generations from Thomas to Samuel were
thus allied by marriage to three of the most noted families, not only
in Bedford but in New Hampshire, the Goffes, Pattens and Orrs. They
were generally long-lived, although consumption developed in different
generations, and were always prominent in town and church matters. The
Thomas Chandler who first settled in Bedford was one of the signers
of the petition for incorporation in 1750, and was conspicuously
connected with all local movements at that time. His grandson Thomas,
the Senator's uncle, was in the Legislature several terms, and in
Congress from 1829 to 1833, being elected as a Jackson Democrat. His
name is frequently mentioned in the records of the church where he was
choir-leader and where he formed a class for instruction in sacred
music. He was also selectman for many years, and held other positions
in connection with the town government. He as well as his father "kept
tavern" on one of the main New England thoroughfares of those days, and
both were widely known through that region. Samuel, the father of the
Senator, played the first bass-viol ever used in the church choir, and
helped to stem the tide of indignation with which the introduction of
this "ungodly" instrument was met by the more rigid members of that
orthodox Presbyterian body. His name often appears in the records
as clerk of the church, selectman, and town clerk. He was for over
twenty years consecutively a justice of the peace, and in his hands
was usually placed such business as the settlement of estates. In the
list of town officers the name of Chandler appears almost every year,
and in almost all church and public gatherings for over a century some
member of this family was present among the active and public-spirited
citizens.
[Illustration: THE BIRTHPLACE OF ZACHARIAH CHANDLER.]
The first house built on the Chandler farm was on the east side of
the river road, and not far from the present homestead. It was torn
down many years ago, but the cellar was visible until within a
comparatively recent period. The second house was built before the
Revolutionary War, by the grandfather of the Senator, and this is
still standing, though it has been remodeled and modernized. It was
used as a tavern and court-house during that war. In this the second
Zachariah and his wife lived for many years, and in this they and their
daughter Sarah died. During their declining years they were cared for
there by the mother of Rodney M. Rollins, the present occupant and
owner of the place, and the house, with forty acres of land, was willed
to Mrs. Rollins by "Aunt Sarah" previous to her death. This was the
first alienation from the possession of the family of any part of the
Chandler farm. Although the house has been remodeled, it retains many
of its old features, and one apartment at the northwest corner has been
preserved nearly as it was at the time of the Revolution. It is called
the Revolutionary room, and has still in its furniture some of the
chairs that were there a hundred years ago, and among its fixtures an
ancient buffet, carved by hand and unchanged except by paint since 1776.
On the opposite side of the road, fronting the east, and in sight of
the Merrimack, where it takes its broad sweep above Goff's Falls, is
the present Chandler homestead, which was built by Samuel Chandler in
1800, before his marriage. It remains to-day almost precisely as first
constructed, and seems good for half a century more. Its rooms are
large, and the ceilings unusually high for a farm-house of the earlier
times. The front portion contains four large apartments on the lower
floor, and in the rear are the dining-room, the kitchen, the pantry,
and store-rooms. In the second story are five bed-rooms, with closets
and additional store-room, and above these is a spacious attic. Among
the furniture are chairs and chests of drawers of pro-revolutionary
times, one of the ancient four-post bedsteads common a hundred years
ago, and brass andirons which would delight the eyes of a lover of
antique relics. Here still lives the Senator's oldest sister, and here
the family of seven were born.
In the ancient family bible, printed in 1803 and preserved by Mrs. Lee,
is an entry of a birth, of which this is a fac-simile:
[Illustration: Zacharias Chandler
Born Decʳ. 10ᵗʰ 1813]
It will be noticed that the given name is written Zacharias. Mrs. Lee
still speaks of her brother as Zacharias, and his name is also so
printed in the Chandler genealogy in the centennial history of Bedford.
The Senator in his signatures simply used the initial of his first
name, but he ultimately adopted the ancestral Zachariah, and that was
the name which he made famous, and by which he will be known in this
biography.
Zachariah Chandler's father and paternal grandfather, Samuel and
Zachariah, are described as spare men of medium stature, but energetic
and full of endurance. His mother, Margaret Orr, was tall and powerful;
her distinguished son resembled her in face, and inherited from her
many of his most vigorous traits. She was a woman of great strength
of character and robust sense, and exercised a large influence over
her children. Her family was a remarkable one; her father was the
conspicuous man of his day in his part of New Hampshire; her brother,
Benjamin Orr, became the foremost lawyer of Maine early in the
present century, and served one term from that State in Congress; her
half-brother, the Rev. Isaac Orr, was a man of many accomplishments
and a diverse scholarship, a prolific writer on scientific and
philosophical topics, and with a claim on the general gratitude as the
inventor of the application of the air-tight principle to the common
stove.
The boy Zachariah was healthy, strong, quick-tempered, and
self-reliant, and the contrast was marked between his sturdiness
and the constitutional feebleness of his short-lived brothers. The
traditions of his childhood, still fondly cherished by his surviving
sister, all show that from his cradle he was ready to fight his own
battles, and that his "pluckiness" was innate. One juvenile anecdote
related by Mrs. Lee will illustrate scores that might be repeated: His
father's poultry-yard was ruled by a large and ill-tempered gander, the
strokes of whose horny beak were the dread of the smaller children. The
oldest brother was one day driven back by this fowl while attempting to
cross the road, when the young "Zach.," then three years old, called
out "Do, Sammy, do, I'll keep e' dander off," and rushed into a pitched
and victorious battle with the "dander," during which his brother made
good his escape.
His rudimentary education was obtained in the little brick school-house
at Bedford, which remains substantially unchanged and is still used.
Here he attended school regularly from the age of five or six until he
was fourteen or fifteen. He had an excellent memory, and was a good
scholar, standing well with others of his age. He was a leader in the
boys' sports, always active, and entering with zest into every frolic.
Of these days, one of his early playmates--now the Rev. S. G. Abbott,
of Stamford, Conn.--thus writes: "The death of Mr. Chandler revives
the memories of half a century ago. The old brick school-house where
we were taught together the rudiments of our education; the country
store where his father sold such a wonderful variety of merchandise
for the wants of the inner and outer man; the broad acres of field
and forest in the ancestral domain where we used to rove and hunt;
his uncle's 'tavern,' the cheerful home of the traveler when there
were no railroads, situated on a great thoroughfare, constantly alive
with stages, teams, cattle, sheep, swine, turkeys, and pedestrian
immigrants--all these form a picture as distinct to the mind's eye as
if a scene of the present. No unimportant feature of that picture in
my boyish memory was a rough-built, overgrown, awkward, good-natured,
popular boy, who went by the never-forgotten, familiar sobriquet of
'Zach.' He never forgot it. After more than forty years' separation,
when I called on him in the capitol, and apologized for calling him
Zach., in his old, rollicking way he said 'Oh, you can call me _old_
Zach., that's what they all call me out West.'"
[Illustration: THE SCHOOL-HOUSE AT BEDFORD, N. H.]
In his fifteenth and sixteenth years he attended the academies at
Pembroke and Derry, with his older brother, who was fitting for
college. In the winter following he taught school one term in the
Piscataquog or "Squog" district. As is the rule in country schools,
many of the pupils were about as large as the teacher, and the "Squog"
boys had the reputation of being especially unruly. The usual disorders
commenced, but after some trouble the energetic young man from the
Chandler farm established his supremacy, and the scholars recognized
the fact that there was a head to the school. Mr. Chandler always spoke
with interest of his brief experience in teaching, although he never
claimed any particular success in that calling. While he was thus
employed the teacher of the brick school, in which he had been so long
a pupil, was a Dartmouth sophomore who in his "boarding around" was
especially welcome at the house of Samuel Chandler. This was James F.
Joy, who then formed with the young Zachariah an intimacy, which ranked
among the causes that determined Mr. Joy's own selection of Detroit as
a home, and lasted through life.
In the latter years of his school life young Chandler worked on the
farm through the summer, and the last season that he was home he took
entire charge, employing the help and superintending the labor. Thomas
Kendall, who was with him during three summers, and who is still living
in Bedford, says, "Zach. was a good man to work and a good man to
work for." He was just in his dealings with the men, but vigorous as
an overseer, and himself as good a "farm hand" as there was. Stories
are still told of his achievements in mowing contests with the men.
He had no liking, as had many of his fellows, for hunting or fishing,
but he was fond of athletic sports, and was the best wrestler in town.
"Whoever took hold of Zach.," says Mr. Kendall, "had to go down."
During one of the last years of his residence at Bedford, Mr. Chandler
was enrolled in the local militia company and turned out at the
"general muster." He did not, however, succeed in bringing himself
to perfect obedience to the orders of the young captain, whom he
knew he could easily out-wrestle and out-mow, and was arrested for
insubordination. He was kept under arrest through one afternoon, but
the court-martial which had been ordered for his trial was recalled
and he was released. He was afterwards for a short time on the staff
of the commanding officer, General Riddle, but his removal from New
Hampshire took place at about this time. After his Janesville, Wis.,
speech, two days before his death, Mr. Chandler was called upon by
the Captain Colley who had placed him under arrest nearly fifty years
before. Mr. Colley is now a resident of Rock county, Wis., and had
driven a long distance to listen to his old-time subordinate, or rather
insubordinate, and to revive with him old memories.
In the year 1833 Zachariah Chandler entered the store of Kendrick
& Foster of Nashua, and in September of that year, moved by the
same impulse that has sent so many New Englanders into the growing
territories, turned his face Westward, and in company with his
brother-in-law, the late Franklin Moore, came to the city, which from
that time to his death was his home. He had not then shown in any
marked degree the qualities which made his future success so eminent,
and was apparently simply a good specimen out of thousands of the
energetic, determined, and sagacious young men, who, leaving more
sterile New England, have subdued the forests, moulded the politics and
conducted the business of half a dozen Western States.
For the old homestead and its occupants, and for the town of Bedford,
Mr. Chandler always entertained a warm affection. He was a good
correspondent, and his home letters, which until his entrance into
public life were frequent and long, breathed a genuine feeling of
filial and brotherly affection. After his election to the Senate, with
the voluminous correspondence which his official position involved,
his letters to the old home became less frequent, but to the last
he kept up occasional communication with the surviving friends at
his birthplace. During his father's life he visited Bedford twice
or more each year, and after his father's death made at least one
annual journey there. In 1850, when the centennial celebration of the
incorporation of the township occurred, Mr. Chandler was among those
invited to be present, and sent the following letter of regret:
DETROIT, May 16, 1850.
GENTLEMEN:--I regret exceedingly my inability to accept your kind
invitation to be present at your Centennial Celebration of the
settlement of the good old town of Bedford. It would have afforded
me great pleasure to meet my old friends upon that occasion, but
circumstances beyond my own control will prevent. The ashes of the
dead, as well as the loved faces of the living, attract me strongly
to my native town, and that attachment I find increasing each day
of my life. Permit me, in conclusion, to offer: "_The town of
Bedford_--May her descendants (widely scattered through the land)
never dishonor their paternity."
Be pleased to accept, for yourselves and associates, my kind
regards, and believe me,
Truly yours,
Z. CHANDLER.
His later visits were looked forward to with much interest, not only by
his relatives, but by the neighbors, to whom a talk with him was one of
the events of the year. He was there always genial and friendly, kept
up his acquaintance with the old residents, and thoroughly enjoyed his
association with them. His last visit to the homestead was after the
close of his campaign in Maine, in August, 1879. He then met many of
his boyhood friends, and enjoyed a ramble over the undulating fields
which stretch from the central hills toward the banks of the Merrimack.
And as he drove for the last time down the road from the house of his
birth toward Manchester, he pointed to a pine grove which skirts the
northern border of the Chandler farm, and said to his companion, "That,
to me, is the most beautiful grove in the world."
New Hampshire has been prolific in strong men with the granite of
its hills in the fibres of their characters. Bedford itself has been
the birthplace of scores of the leading men of the thriving city of
Manchester; of Joseph E. Worcester, the lexicographer; of Benjamin
Orr, of Maine; of David Aiken, Isaac O. Barnes, and Jacob Bell, of the
Massachusetts bar; of the Hon. David Atwood, of Wisconsin; of Judge
A. S. Thurston, of Elmira, N. Y.; of Hugh Riddle, of the Rock Island
Railroad, and Gen. George Stark, of the Northern Pacific; of the Rev.
Silas Aiken, of the Boston pulpit; and of others of large influence in
their generations. But upon no one of its sons was the impress of its
peculiar history so indelibly stamped as upon the young man who left
it to aid in founding a powerful State amid the Great Lakes, and who
became the foremost representative of that State's vigorous political
conviction and purpose.