Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men Part 15

[Ill.u.s.tration: Thos. P. Pierce]

COL. THOMAS P. PIERCE.

BY HON. JOHN H. GOODALE.

Most of the success and thrift which during the past thirty years have attended the manufacturing interests of New Hamps.h.i.+re are due to the untiring industry and intelligent foresight of that cla.s.s of self-reliant, progressive business men who, starting in life with ordinary advantages, have had the nerve to seize and the capacity to improve the opportunities within their reach. Prominent among this cla.s.s of enterprising and valuable citizens of this state is the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this page,--HON. THOMAS P. PIERCE.

Col. Pierce was born in Chelsea, Ma.s.s., on the 30th of August, 1820. He came from Revolutionary stock on both the father's and mother's side.

After limited training in the public schools, he learned the trade of carriage and ornamental painting in Boston.

In 1840, the subject of this sketch came to Manchester, which was then springing into existence as a manufacturing village, under the auspices of the Amoskeag Land and Water Company. Three years previous the first improvements were begun, and it was now a bustling town of six hundred families, gathered from every section of northern New England. With much of the rush and recklessness of a newly grown community, there were then germs of that energy which has since made Manchester an eminently prosperous city. Young Pierce, not yet of age, worked as a journeyman at his trade, and by his unvarying courtesy and cheerful spirit was a favorite among his a.s.sociates. He was an active member of the famous Stark Guards,--a military organization of which Hon. George W. Morrison and Walter French, Esq., were successively in command.

There is no more exhaustive test of a young man's stamina than life in a rapidly growing manufacturing village. One literally goes in and out in the presence of the enemies' pickets, though they may not be intentional enemies. The temptation to excess is constant and persistent. Often the most brilliant and sagacious fall victims. It is to the credit of Thomas P. Pierce that he pa.s.sed the ordeal unscathed. In the summer of 1842 it was his good fortune to marry Miss Asenath R. McPherson, the daughter of a farmer in the adjoining town of Bedford.

The war with Mexico began in 1846. When it was decided that an army under Gen. Scott should be raised to march to the city of Mexico, it was ordered that a regiment of infantry should be raised in New England. Mr.

Pierce at once volunteered as a private, and was soon after commissioned, by President Polk, as second lieutenant of one of the companies of the New England regiment. The command of this regiment was first a.s.signed to Franklin Pierce; but on his promotion to the command of a brigade it was given to Truman B. Ransom, a brave and accomplished officer from Vermont.

Early in the summer the brigade under Gen. Pierce was ordered to proceed to the eastern coast of Mexico, and to land in the vicinity of Vera Cruz, to be ready to co-operate with the main army under Gen. Scott in the march to the Mexican capital. The troops disembarked on the 28th of June,--a most unfavorable season of the year. The heat was so intense on the lowlands that to march between nine o'clock in the morning and four in the afternoon was impossible. With the exception of a few of the officers, the entire force was made up of new recruits. It occupied two weeks to secure mules for army transportation. On the 14th of July the movement toward the city of Mexico began, and, on reaching the foothills, every bridge and fortified pa.s.s was strongly guarded by hostile Mexicans. There was constant skirmis.h.i.+ng, and the enemy, from the cliffs and thickets, made annoying and sometimes dangerous attacks.

The climate, the difficulties of marching, and hards.h.i.+ps of a military life in a strange country bore heavily on the inexperienced soldiery.

Amid these perplexities, the tact, the genial spirit, and untiring attention to the wants of his comrades won for Lieut. Pierce a high regard and strong personal attachment. In the sharp conflicts which occurred on reaching the table-lands, Lieut. Pierce took an active part.

At the battle of Contreras, fought August 19, he was personally complimented by Col. Ransom for bravery,--himself soon after a martyr to his personal valor.

Reaching the higher lands, Gen. Scott found the flower of the Mexican army entrenched among the cliffs of Churubusco. To leave the enemy in the rear was to hazard everything; and in the dangerous task of dislodging and utterly routing them the New England regiment bore a conspicuous part. In his report of the battle, Gen. Scott placed the name of Lieut. Pierce on the list of those recommended for promotion on account of gallant and meritorious conduct. The storming of Chepultepec soon followed, in which the New England regiment had literally to cross a succession of ridges and ravines, exposed to a deadly fire from the enemy among the crags. The a.s.sault was successful, and the surrender of the Mexican capital immediately followed. In this action, and in the details of patrol service during the winter, while the city was occupied by the American army, Lieut. Pierce was officially commended for the vigilant discharge of his duties.

The campaign in Mexico, with its varied experiences, had, without doubt, a marked and favorable effect upon the subject of this sketch. The novelty of climate and productions, the grandeur of the scenery, and the immense natural resources of that region were not lost upon him. But of still greater value was the experience gained from a.s.sociation with men of large attainments, positive ideas, strong will, and comprehensive views. The majority of the army officers in that campaign were of this character; and the young soldier, at the close of the war, returned home in March, 1848, with higher aims and a better and truer estimate of the duties and responsibilities of life.

Col. Pierce again engaged in business at his trade, in Manchester, which, in the meantime, had been incorporated a city. In 1849 he became a member of the city government; and in the same year was appointed a member of Gov. Dinsmoor's staff. Upon the inauguration of Gen. Franklin Pierce as president, in March, 1853, he was appointed postmaster at Manchester. This position, in the largest and most prosperous city of the state, was one of unusual labor and responsibility. Col. Pierce filled the office for eight years, and to the entire satisfaction of the citizens of all parties.

On the breaking out of the rebellion, in 1861, Col. Pierce was selected by Gov. Goodwin as commander of the Second New Hamps.h.i.+re regiment, of the three months' troops. Having satisfactorily discharged his duties, he retired after the term of enlistment was changed to three years. The next year, September, 1862, unexpected difficulties having arisen, Gov.

Berry telegraphed to Col. Pierce to take command of the Twelfth New Hamps.h.i.+re regiment, then completing its organization at Concord. How well he accomplished the duty a.s.signed him was expressed in a statement, signed by the officers of the regiment, at the time of his withdrawal, in the following words:--

"Your generous and patriotic course in a.s.suming temporary command of the regiment during a period of great excitement and confusion, thereby saving it from dissolution and the state from disgrace, merits our admiration and sincere thanks."

In 1866, Col. Pierce removed to Nashua, for the purpose of engaging in the manufacture of card-board and glazed paper. Since then he has been an active member and one of the directors of the Nashua Card and Glazed-Paper Company,--one of the most successful business enterprises in the state, and which, in the variety and excellence of its products, is not surpa.s.sed by any corporation of its kind in the country. Col.

Pierce is also a director of the Contoocook Valley Paper Company in Henniker, a director of the Second National Bank and president of the Mechanics Savings Bank at Nashua.

In 1874, Col. Pierce was elected a member of the New Hamps.h.i.+re state senate, the only candidate of his party ever elected from that district; and in 1875 and 1876 he was sheriff of Hillsborough county. While unwavering in his attachment to, and support of, the Democratic party, he is not rabid in his policy or partisan in his a.s.sociations. When President Hayes visited Nashua, in 1877, he was selected by the city government as chairman of the committee of arrangements; and no citizen took a more efficient part in securing a proper observance of the obsequies of President Garfield. He and his family are attendants of the Universalist church.

In his social and domestic relations, Col. Pierce has been fortunate. Of his two children, the eldest, Mrs. Julia M., wife of William N. Johnson, resides at West Henniker, where her husband is a paper manufacturer; his son, Mr. Frank Pierce, is a.s.sociated with him in business.

A few years since, having purchased the homestead of the late Gen. J. G.

Foster, he built a s.p.a.cious and elegant residence. Situated on an acclivity on the north side of the Nashua river, surrounded by ample grounds and stately trees, it is a home of rare attractions. Col. Pierce is still in the prime of active life, and his past record, as well as his present position, is a guarantee that he will ably and faithfully meet the responsibilities of the future.

COL. MARTIN V. B. EDGERLY.

BY H. H. METCALF.

In these days of varying fortune in business life, and in this country especially, where property is acc.u.mulated or lost more readily and frequently than in any other land, the beneficent nature of the inst.i.tution of life a.s.surance has come to be very generally appreciated.

This inst.i.tution, which, so far as its general establishment is concerned, is peculiarly an American one, is indeed a natural outgrowth of our social and business system, and is coming to be more fully recognized, from year to year, in one form or another, as the only medium through which men in general business, or most of the avocations of life, may make substantially sure provision for the support of their families or those depending upon them, in case of their own removal by death before acquiring a competency, or after the loss of the same through business reverses or advent.i.tious circ.u.mstances. The man who stands before the public as a leading representative of an inst.i.tution of such importance becomes properly a person of note in the business community; and when he is endowed with those powers and qualities of mind which naturally bring him into prominence in social and political circles and the general activities of life, he may well be cla.s.sed among those who are esteemed representative men of the times in the state and section wherein he resides, and which is the field of his active labor.

Such a man is the subject of this sketch.

MARTIN VAN BUREN EDGERLY is a native of the town of Barnstead,--a town, by the way, which has sent out its productions into the world in the form of able, energetic men,--men of strong minds in strong bodies, who have made their mark in the world, and stand at the front in the various fields of activity in which they have engaged. In the domain of law, of theology, of politics, and of general business, the sons of Barnstead hold high rank, as is abundantly demonstrated by reference to the names of Lewis W. Clark, Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, John G. Sinclair, and John P.

Newell. Mr. Edgerly was the fifth of nine children--five sons and four daughters--of Samuel J. and Eliza (Bickford) Edgerly, born September 26, 1833. Samuel J. Edgerly was a man of far more than ordinary intelligence and mental activity, who, but for the misfortune of disease, which impaired his physical powers in early life;, would have become unquestionably a leading spirit in public affairs. As it was, he was recognized by all with whom he came in contact in life as a man of strong mind and decided character. He was a descendant, upon the maternal side, and was named in honor of that Col. Samuel Johnson who was one of the early settlers of the town of Northwood, and of whom it is said, in sketching the history of that town, that upon the first night of his abode within its limits he slept upon the ground between two rocks, with a quilt or piece of canvas for covering.

[Ill.u.s.tration: M. V. B. Edgerly]

When a lad of twelve years, Col. Edgerly removed with his parents to Manchester. He attended the public schools for a time, but at an early age entered the service of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, being engaged at first in the mills and afterwards in the machine-shop; but, after several years, becoming dissatisfied with the dull routine of mechanical labor, and desirous of testing his powers in the field of business, in October, 1856, at the age of twenty-three, he embarked in trade as a joint proprietor of a drug-store with Mr. Lewis H. Parker. He was thus engaged but a short time, however, removing the following year to the town of Pittsfield, where he soon established himself in the insurance business, taking the agency of various companies, fire and life. This, it may be truly said, was the actual starting point in his career. He found in this business a field of labor congenial to his tastes, and peculiarly adapted to the development and exercise of the distinctive powers of mind and body with which he is endowed; and he entered into his work with heart and soul. He was not long in discovering the special line of effort to which he was best adapted, and which gave the best promise of substantial success in response to such effort; nor were the managers of the business in question long in ascertaining, from the character of the work already accomplished, the direction in which their own advantage lay; and so it came about in a short time, that after a visit to the company's office in Springfield, made upon the solicitation of the president, Col. Edgerly became exclusively the agent of the Ma.s.sachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, relinquis.h.i.+ng all other agencies, and devoting his entire efforts to the interests of the company.

So thorough and satisfactory was the work which he accomplished, that a year later he was given the general agency of the company for the state of New Hamps.h.i.+re, with headquarters at Manchester, to which city he removed with his family, when, in 1863, he was given charge of the business for Vermont and northern New York in addition to this state.

Under his efficient management and supervision the business of the company increased to a remarkable degree in the entire territory of which he had control, until the net annual receipts in premiums upon new policies, in New Hamps.h.i.+re alone, had risen from substantially nothing in 1859, when he first commenced work, to nearly seventy-five thousand dollars in 1866, representing the proceeds from the issue of a thousand policies, covering an aggregate insurance of more than a million and a half of dollars. This remarkable success was due, not simply to the work of personal solicitation, in which line Col. Edgerly has no superiors, but more especially to the keen discernment and ready knowledge of men with which he is endowed, enabling him to select proper agents and judiciously supervise their work.

In 1868 he accepted the position of superintendent of the company's agencies throughout the country. For two years he labored as none but a physically robust and mentally active man can, establis.h.i.+ng agencies and working up the business of the company throughout the West, while retaining and directing his own special work in the East. This double labor was too arduous, even for a man of his powers, and in 1870 he resigned the position of superintendent, and confined his work to his former field in New Hamps.h.i.+re, Vermont, and northern New York. In September, 1874, however, he was induced to accept charge of the company's agency in Boston, in addition to his other duties, and since that date he has divided his time and labor between the two positions, efficiently directing the work of both, and largely increasing the business at the Boston office. In January last he was made a member of the board of directors of the company which he has so long and faithfully served, and which owes its prosperity, in no small degree, to his intelligent efforts.

Col. Edgerly has been a Democrat from youth, and has ever manifested a lively interest in political affairs, although he has had neither the time nor inclination to enter, to any extent, upon the duties of public position, even had it been in the power of his party to confer the same.

He has, however, in such time as he was able to command, done a great deal of party work in different campaigns; and in 1874 was elected a member of the board of aldermen, although his ward was strongly Republican at the time, thus demonstrating his personal popularity and the esteem in which he is held in the community where he resides. He has frequently served as a member of the Democratic state committee, and as treasurer of the same, and a member of the executive committee; also, as chairman of the Democratic city committee in Manchester. He was a delegate from New Hamps.h.i.+re to the Democratic national convention at Baltimore, in 1872, which nominated Horace Greeley for the presidency, and was the New Hamps.h.i.+re member of the Democratic national committee from 1872 to 1876. Again, in 1880, he was chosen a delegate-at-large to the national convention of his party. In 1871 he was appointed, by Gov.

Weston, chief of staff; and in 1873 and 1874 he held the position of commander of the Amoskeag Veterans, of which organization he has long been an active and popular member. In 1874 he was appointed, by President Grant, an alternate commissioner to represent New Hamps.h.i.+re at the centennial exposition and celebration in Philadelphia.

Actively and closely as he has been engaged in his chosen line of business, Col. Edgerly has lent his aid and judgment to some extent to the encouragement and direction of other business enterprises. He has been many years a trustee of the Merrimack River Savings Bank and a director of the Suncook Valley Railroad, of which latter enterprise he was among the active promoters. He was also, for a time, a director of the City National Bank. In his religious a.s.sociations he is an Episcopalian, and is an active member and officer of Grace church in Manchester. He is also a member of the Odd Fellows and Masonic bodies in the city of his residence.

March 7, 1854, Col. Edgerly was united in marriage with Miss Alvina Barney of Danbury, by whom he has had three children, two of whom are now living, a son and daughter,--Clinton Johnson, born December 16, 1857, and Mabel Clayton, born October 18, 1859.

Col. Edgerly is a man of fine personal appearance, genial manners, and a ready appreciation of the demands of friends.h.i.+p and society, as well as those of business. There are few men of greater personal popularity in his city or state, and none who command more fully the confidence of those with whom they are brought into relations.h.i.+p, whether in business or in social life. Yet under fifty years of age, he has, it may naturally be a.s.sumed, many years of successful effort yet before him, and many more in which to enjoy the substantial reward of his labor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ICHABOD GOODWIN.

_GOVERNOR OF NEW HAMPs.h.i.+RE 1859-60._]

HON. ICHABOD GOODWIN.

BY FRANK GOODWIN.

Mr. Goodwin is the eldest son of Samuel Goodwin and Nancy Thompson Gerrish, and was born in that part of Berwick which is now North Berwick, in the state of Maine. He is descended, on both father's and mother's side, from families of very great colonial importance. The great-grandfather of Mr. Goodwin, Capt. Ichabod Goodwin, is said, by the writer of the genealogy of the Berwick Goodwins, in the _Historical Magazine_, to have been the most remarkable man who ever lived in that town. He distinguished himself at the battle of Ticonderoga, and we learn from the _London Magazine_ that he was especially mentioned in Maj.-Gen. Abercrombie's report to Secretary Pitt.

On his father's side, his ancestors figured conspicuously in the wars before the Revolution, and up to the period of the Revolution were of the families upon whom devolved the magisterial work and honor of the times. On his mother's side he is likewise descended from families which for a century, and up to the time of the Revolution, performed a large share of the duties of public office; and some of the most conspicuous names in the colonial history of Maine and New Hamps.h.i.+re are to be counted among his maternal ancestors.

To mention the names of Champernoun, Waldron, and Elliot, none more familiar to those informed upon colonial history, is but to recall the persons from whom, on the maternal side, he is lineally descended, or with whom his maternal ancestors were closely allied by ties of family connection. The ante-revolutionary importance of the people from whom he comes is well ill.u.s.trated by the fact that the name of his maternal grandfather, Joseph Gerrish, stands first on the triennial catalogue of Harvard College in the list of graduates of the year 1752, a cla.s.s which numbered a Quincy among its graduating members. The significance of this fact, as bearing upon the status of his mother's family at that time, is, that the names of the members of the cla.s.ses of that day are published in the triennial catalogue of Harvard in the order of the social importance of the families to which the members respectively belonged.

At the time of Mr. Goodwin's birth, which was just before the beginning of the present century, the state of things which the Revolution had brought about had had ample time to crystallize. Whether it was through the great changes that under the new order of things had taken place in the political, social, and commercial affairs of the country, or whether from those inherent causes under the operation of which families conspicuous and influential in one period drop out of notice and are lost to the eye of the historian, the annalist, and perhaps even of the town chronicler, Mr. Goodwin's family, at the time of his birth, were simply plain farming people, highly respected within the limits of the little country town in which they lived, but no longer among the noted, or influential, or wealthy people of Maine. The country had, by the close of the last century, taken a considerable stride onward in prosperity as well as in numerical growth, and the bustle and hum of industry, pouring itself into new channels of prosperity, had pa.s.sed by many of the families which in the earlier era had been the foremost in developing the resources of the country, in leading the yeomanry in war, in presiding over the tribunals, and sitting in council as civic magistrates.