Biography of Frank T. Vaughan

Frank T. Vaughan, one of the younger lawyers of Newport, was born May 4, 1864, in Woodstock, Vt., son of Edwin and Elizabeth L. (Tenney) Vaughan. The father, who graduated at the Albany Law School, New York, followed the legal profession, and at the time of his death was Judge of Probate. Edwin Vaughan commenced his law practice in New York City; but in 1859 he removed to Claremont, N.H., and entered into partnership with Colonel Alexander Gardner. In 1861 he enlisted in the New Hampshire Battalion of the First Rhode Island Volunteer Cavalry, and was afterward transferred to the … Read more

Biography of Henry M. Baker

Henry M. Baker, of Bow, Merrimack County, lawyer and Congressman, and son of Aaron Whittemore and Nancy (Dustin) Baker, was born in Bow, January 11, 1841. He comes of patriotic and heroic ancestry. His great-great-grandfather, Captain Joseph Baker, a Colonial surveyor, married Hannah, only daughter of Captain John Lovewell, the famous Indian fighter, who was killed in the battle of Pigwacket, May 8, 1725. A few years later the township of Suncook, or Lovewell’s town, which included much of the present town of Pembroke, was granted by Massachusetts to the surviving participants and the heirs of those killed in that … Read more

Biography of Frederick S. Kohler, M. D.

The wise system of industrial economics which has been brought to bear in the development of Nampa has challenged uniform admiration, for while there has been steady advancement in material lines there has been an entire absence of that inflation of values and that erratic “booming” which have in the past proved the eventual death knell to many of the localities in the west, where “mushroom towns” have one day smiled forth with “all modern improvements” and practically on the next have been shorn of their glories and of their possibilities of stable prosperity until the existing order of things … Read more

Biography of Prof. George Bush

George Bush, one of the most eminent Biblical scholars and Orientalists of his time in America, was born in Norwich, Vt., June 12, 1796, a son of John and Abigal (Marvin) Bush, and grandson of Capt. Timothy Bush. The boyhood of George Bush was mostly passed in Hanover, New Hampshire, whither his father removed when he was quite young. The son gave early indications of superior intelligence. His eldest sister says “he had a ravishing love of books from her first remembrance of him.” He frequented the College library at Hanover and would bring home ponderous volumes, almost as large … Read more

Biography of Robert M. Funkhouser, M. D.

Dr. Robert M. Funkhouser, a physician and surgeon of St. Louis who has also been connected with the educational activities of the profession and who is now largely concentrating his time and energies upon surgery, was born in St. Louis, December 10, 1850. His father, Robert M. Funkhouser, was a native of Illinois and of Swiss descent, the family being founded in America by John and Christopher Funkhouser, who came to the new world in 1698 and first settled in Fredericktown, Virginia. Among the ancestors of the family were five who participated in the Revolutionary war. The family is also … Read more

Biography of Roderick H. Tait

Roderick H. Tait, president of the Tait & Nordmeyer Engineering Company of St. Louis, was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, March 31, 1866, and is a son of George and Cynthia A. (Tupper) Tait. The father, now deceased, was a native of Scotland and a cabinet-maker by trade. During the last twenty years of his life he was a resident of Halifax. His wife, a native of Canada, was born in Nova Scotia, and is still living. Their family numbered nine children, five sons and four daughters, of whom Roderick H. was the third In order of birth. In the … Read more

Biography of Honorable Daniel Buck

Daniel Buck came to Norwich in 1784 or ’85, and opened the first lawyer’s office in town, on the hill near the old center meeting house, then just being completed and there continued to live and transact business for twenty-five years, or until he removed to Chelsea in 1809. Norwich then contained probably about one thousand inhabitants, but no village, there being at that time not over three or four dwellings where Norwich village now stands. But little is known of Mr. Buck previous to his coming to Norwich. He was born at Hebron, Conn., November 9, 1753, and was … Read more

Biography of Maurice Sinclair Sherman

In the present-day development of the publicational plans of the Springfield “Union,” one of the foremost of the long established newspapers of Massachusetts and of New England, Maurice Sinclair Sherman, editor-in-chief of that journal, himself a successor to many editors who had already borne a notable share in the history of publicity in the Bay State, is a thoroughgoing interpreter of the value of the news and of the newspaper of to-day. That the “Union” continues in its robust and progressive pace with the demands of these times, as it ever has in other eras of its career, is due … Read more

Biography of John W. Staples, M.D.

John W. Staples, M.D., a prominent physician of Franklin Falls, N.H., and a native of Wells, Me., was born January 25, 1855. His parents, John and Ann (Wells) Staples, also natives of Wells, belonged to families that had lived in that town for a number of generations. John Staples, who was a farmer, spent his life in the place of his birth, and died in 1879. His wife had died in 1877. They had four children, one of whom died in infancy. The others were: Albert, who died when nine years old; Moses, a farmer in Wells; and John W., … Read more

Biography of Albert P. Davis

Albert P. Davis, attorney-at-law and one of the most active, prominent, and pushing citizens of Warner, was born May 2, 1835, in the village of Waterloo, Merrimack County, N.H. The Davis family originated in Wales, from whence the first ancestor in this country emigrated in 1638, settling in Amesbury, Mass. Gideon Davis, the great-grandfather of Albert P., and a nephew of Francis Davis, who led in the early settlement of the town, was born in Amesbury, where he lived until after his marriage with Mary Cheney. In 1784 he came to Warner, and, taking up a large tract of timber … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Harold E. Smith

Smith, Harold E.; patent lawyer; born, Lebanon, N. H., May 2, 1882; son of Wilbur F. and Marie Antoinette Sargent Smith; educated, Dartmouth College, A. B., 1903, A. M., 1906; National University Law School, LL. B., 1908; LL. M., 1909; George Washington University, M. P. L., 1909; married, Washington, D. C. Oct. 5, 1909, Annie Stratton; one son; instructor in physics at Dartmouth College, 1903-1906, asst. physicist, National Bureau of Standards, 1906; examiner U. S. Patent Office, 1906-1910; member of firm of Hull & Smith, patent lawyers, junior partner; member Hanover Scientific Ass’n; member Gamma Alpha and Sigma Nu Phi … Read more

Biography of John Henry Albin

John Henry Albin, one of the best known lawyers of Concord and an ex-member of the New Hampshire legislature, was born in Randolph, Vt., October 17, 1843, son of John and Emily (White) Albin. His ancestors on the father’s side resided in Randolph for one hundred and fifty years, and his mother’s family is one of the oldest in Merrimack County. He came here with his parents when he was twelve years old. Having completed his elementary education in the public schools of this city, he entered Dartmouth College in the fall of 1860, and graduated from that institution in … Read more

Biography of Albon Loverin

Albon Loverin, a prominent farmer of Northfield, is a native of Springfield, N.H. He was born May 24, 1851, son of Austin C. and Lavina A. (Morrill) Loverin. The father, who was a farmer, died in 1868. He was twice married. The children of his first marriage were: Elijah W. and Gilbert, both of whom are now deceased. His second wife, Lavina, a native of Wilmot, bore him six other children, namely: Oliver B., who resides in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Sarah, who is the wife of George Morgan, of Springfield, N.H.; Ara M., who is a hotel keeper of Concord; … Read more

Biography of Frederic Gregory Mather

FREDERIC GREGORY MATHER AN ALBANIAN whose name shines with no dim lustre in the republic of letters, is Frederic G. Mather. Born in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, on the nth day of August, 1844, he is a son of Samuel Holmes Mather, LL. D., of that city. This cultured gentleman was born in Jj 1813, at Washington, N. H.; his father was Dr. Ozias Mather of fl East Haddam, Conn. In 1835, a year after his graduation from Dartmouth College, Samuel H. Mather removed to Cleveland, when the city was a village of only four thousand inhabitants, today it … Read more

Biography of William Hall

William Hall, a retired merchant of Plainfield, was born in Cornish, N.H., February 28, 1846, son of Israel and Elizabeth D. (Demming) Hall. He is a descendant of Willis Hall. His grandfather, Jonathan Hall, who was a native of Connecticut, was the first of the family to ascend the river for the purpose of settling. Jonathan, who was an extensive farmer, married Mercy Cady; and his children were: Israel, Sophia, Alfred, and Susan, all of whom were born in Windsor, Vt. Sophia married Sullivan Blood, of Windsor, and with her husband made the journey from Vermont to Missouri by horse … Read more

Biography of Charles M. Babbitt

Charles M. Babbitt, the well-known contractor and builder of Franklin Falls, was born in Hanover, N.H., son of Isaac and Wealthy (Lovejoy) Babbitt. His grandfather, Asa Babbitt, who came from England, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and spent the greater part of his life upon a farm in Hanover, dying in 1837. Isaac Babbitt and his wife, both natives of Hanover, were prosperous farming people. Isaac died in 1878, and Wealthy in 1894. They were the parents of twelve children, namely: Marinda, now deceased, who married William Ward, a merchant of Lebanon, N.H.; Isaac Sylvester, who married … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Willard Grant Aborn

Aborn, Willard Grant; manufacturer; born Wakefield, Mass., Sept. 23, 1870; son of George W. and Mary Frances Pennel Aborn; educated Wakefield High School; Academy at Monson, Mass.; graduated from Dartmouth College in 1893, degree of A. B., and A. M. in 1896; married, Chicago, Ill., Sept. 23, 1896, Miss Florence Louise Higgins; issue, one daughter Mary Louise and one son John Russell; spent summer vacations during college education working at engineering on water work construction; spent two yrs. in that line of work after graduation; in summer of 1895 worked for Spaulding-Pepper Tire Co., of Chicopee Falls, Mass., 1896, sec’y … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Theodore Elijah Burton

Burton, Theodore Elijah; U. S. senator to March 3, 1915; born, Jefferson, O., Dee. 20, 1851; son of Rev. William and Elizabeth ‘(Grant) Burton; A. B., Oberlin College, 1872, A. M. 1875; (LL. D., Oberlin, 1900, Dartmouth, 1907, Ohio University, 1907); unmarried; admitted to bar, 1875, and since in practice at Cleveland; member 51st (1889-1891), and 54th to 61st (1895-1911) congresses; 21st Ohio Dist.; resigned from 61st Congress, March 4, 1909; U. S. senator, 1909-1915; chairman Inland Waterways Commission, 1906-1908; chairman National Waterways Commission; member National Monetary Commission; Republican nominee for mayor, Cleveland, 1907; delegate Republican National convention, 1904, 1908 … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Robert H. Rolfe

Robert H. Rolfe, the courteous and efficient cashier and advertising manager of the Republican Press Association at Concord, N.H., was born here, October 16, 1863, and is the son of Henry Pearson and Mary Rebecca (Sherburne) Rolfe, of this city. In his boyhood he attended the public schools of Concord, and, after graduating from the high school, entered Dartmouth College, where he was graduated in the class of 1884. He then for a short time engaged in the study of law; but, feeling more inclination for a business career, he abandoned the thought of a profession, and entered the employ … Read more

The Founding of Dartmouth College

The founding of Dartmouth College at Hanover in 1769 was an event of great interest and importance to the early settlers of Norwich. Besides the advantages it promised for the convenient higher education of their children, advantages to which they were fully alive, as shown by their liberal subscriptions in land and money to its endowment, the building up of such an institution in the immediate neighborhood created an instant demand for labor and supplies of every kind. The president, Doctor Wheelock, through his Indian pupil, Samson Occum, and other agents, had collected in England and Scotland several thousand pounds … Read more