Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men Part 31

Fox, a.s.sistant secretary of the navy during the civil war. Bishop Thomas M. Clark was the princ.i.p.al of this school. On account of a severe sickness, young Sawyer at sixteen years of age left school, and while recruiting his health made a visit to his brother, Alfred Ira Sawyer, who, after some experience as a dyer at Amesbury and Great Falls, had come in 1824 to Dover, N. H., where he was operating a grist-mill, a custom carding and cloth-dressing mill, converting this last into a flannel-mill. Jonathan remained in Dover two years, going to school and working for his brother. In the fall of 1835 he returned to Lowell. His mother, for the purpose of conferring upon her son a more complete education, sent him to the great Methodist school at Wilbraham, which at that time was a most flourishing preparatory school for the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn. Here he remained two terms, when, at nineteen years of age, returning to Lowell, he went into a woolen establishment as a dyer. Afterwards he went into this business on his own account, and continued in it until 1839.

During the latter part of this time he was not so engrossed in his business but that he found time to make frequent visits to New Ipswich, where Miss Martha Perkins, of Barnard, Vt., was attending school. In 1839 they were married, and went to Watertown, N.Y., where Mr. Sawyer became the superintendent of the Hamilton Woolen Company. After two and a half years, Mr. Sawyer went into business for the manufacture of satinets. In 1850, his brother Alfred having died at Dover, N. H., the year before, and the children being too young to carry on the business, Mr. Jonathan Sawyer a.s.sumed its control in connection with his brother Zenas. Two years later Zenas retired, and Francis A. Sawyer, who had been a prominent builder in Boston, became a partner with Jonathan, the object being to continue the manufacture of woolen flannels. In 1858 the property below known as the "Moses mill," another flannel manufactory, was purchased. This mill was enlarged in 1860 to four sets of machinery, again in 1863 to eight, and in 1880 and 1882 to sixteen sets. The old machinery is now completely replaced by new. The old mill, started in 1832, was in 1872 replaced by the present substantial structure, which contains fourteen sets of machinery, with preparing and finishing machinery for thirty sets in both mills.

Since 1866 the attention of these noted manufacturers has been entirely devoted to the manufacture of fine fancy ca.s.simere cloths and suitings.

Already they have established for these goods a foremost place in their cla.s.s. At the Centennial Exhibition, at Philadelphia, a medal and diploma were awarded the Sawyer goods, for their "high intrinsic merit."

The business has, since 1873, been carried on as a corporation, having a capital of six hundred thousand dollars. The corporation consists of the old firm of F. A.[7] and J. Sawyer, and Charles H. Sawyer, the present agent of the establishment. In 1866 this company made a bold innovation on the method that was so long in vogue among manufacturers, of consigning their goods to commission houses. The undertaking upon which this company entered, of selling their own goods, was met with great opposition; but their boldness and foresight have already been justified by the success which they have made, and the adoption of their methods by other manufacturers. This establishment can now look back upon a half-century of remarkable history. The unmarred reputation for strictest integrity which these managers have won, their far-reaching enterprise, and the unsurpa.s.sed excellences of their fabrics, have enabled them to prosperously pa.s.s through all the financial depressions and panics which so many times have swept over the country during this long period.

Mr. Jonathan Sawyer, with his vigor of mind and body still unimpaired, lives in his elegant mansion, which looks out upon a magnificent picture of wood and vale and mountain range, and down upon the busy scene of his many years of tireless industry. He loves his home, in the adornment of which his fine taste finds full play. When free from business he is always there. He loves his books, and his conversation shows an unusual breadth of reading in science, history, and politics. He is possessed of a strong, clear intellect, a calm, dispa.s.sionate judgment, and sympathies which always bring him to the side of the wronged and the suffering. At a time when anti-slavery sentiments were unpopular, Mr.

Sawyer was free in their utterance, and was among the first to form the Free-soil party. Since the organization of the Republican party, Mr.

Sawyer has been among its strongest supporters. He has persistently declined the many offices of honor and profit which those acquainted with his large intelligence and sagacity and stainless honesty have sought to confer upon him. He is abundantly content to exercise his business powers in developing still more the great manufactory, and his affections upon his large household and his chosen friends, and his public spirit in helping every worthy cause and person in the community.

The children of Mr. Sawyer, all of whom have grown up to maturity, are Charles Henry, Mary Elizabeth, Francis Asbury, Roswell Douglas, Martha Frances, Alice May, Frederic Jonathan.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] Francis A. Sawyer died June 16, 1881.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ASA CROSBY MD AND SONS]

DR. ASA CROSBY AND SONS.

BY S. P. HADLEY.

In giving a notice of Judge Crosby of Lowell, Ma.s.s., as originally contemplated, at his request and with the consent of the publisher, I am desired to give it in the character of a family notice, or rather of the father and sons, now all deceased except the judge.

DR. ASA CROSBY, the father, was born in Amherst (now Milford), N. H., July 15, 1765, and died at Hanover, N. H., April 12, 1836. He married Betsey Hoit, daughter of Judge Nathan Hoit, an officer in the Revolutionary war, and judge of the court of common pleas. He was in the sixth generation from Simon of Cambridge, Ma.s.s., who arrived in the "Susan and Ellyn" in 1635, the direct line being Simon, Simon, Josiah, Josiah, and Josiah his father, born in Billerica, Ma.s.s., November 24, 1730. Sarah Fitch, his mother, was born in Bedford, Ma.s.s., March 25, 1732. The Crosby families mostly inhabited Billerica, Ma.s.s., where many of the descendants still reside, although some lived in the ancient town of Braintree, Ma.s.s., and others on Cape Cod. His father settled in Amherst, N. H., where he died October 15, 1763. His mother lived until September 16, 1825. The following notice of Dr. Crosby, written by Prof.

R. D. Mussey of Dartmouth College, is taken from the _Boston Medical and Surgical Journal_, Vol. XIV.:--

"Dr. Asa Crosby was an uncommon man. At the age of twenty-one he commenced practice in Strafford county, N. H., and continued in full practice forty-six years. He was a distinguished member of the profession, both in physic and surgery; and in the latter branch he performed some very important and difficult operations. Indeed, for many years he was the princ.i.p.al operator for an extensive district of country. He was one of those self-taught men, whose force of intellect breaks through the most appalling obstacles, and rises unaided to skill and reputation. Although deprived of a systematic course of professional instruction, having commenced practice before medical schools were established in New England, he provided himself with a good library, and spent his leisure hours, and even moments, among his books. He drew around him young men as pupils, between twenty and thirty of whom may be reckoned as educated by him; and, what is much to his credit, many of them are now distinguished men.

"Dr. Crosby was for many years a member of the Church of Christ, and died in the full hope of a better life.

"The medical profession in New Hampshire is not a little indebted to Dr. Crosby, inasmuch as he was one of the few who interested themselves in procuring the charter of the State Medical Society, of which he was an active and zealous member for thirty years. The honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred on him by Dartmouth College in 1811."

JOSIAH CROSBY, M. D.

DR. JOSIAH CROSBY, third son of Dr. Asa Crosby, was born in Sandwich, N.

H., February 1, 1794, and died in Manchester, N. H., January 7, 1875. He married Olive Light Avery, daughter of Daniel Avery, a merchant and manufacturer of Gilford, N. H., February 9, 1829. He studied his profession with his father, and the distinguished Prof. Nathan Smith of Dartmouth College. His early practice was in Concord, N. H., and Lowell, Ma.s.s., but his professional life-work was in Manchester, N. H., from 1844 to his death. The following extracts are taken from an obituary notice of him read before the New Hampshire Medical Society by Dr. W. W.

Wilkins, of Manchester:--

"Here (Manchester, N. H.,) for thirty years he was the unrivaled head of the profession. Here he originated the method of making extensions of fractured limbs by the use of adhesive strips, which gave him a high reputation with surgeons in Europe as well as at home; and, later, he invented the 'invalid bed' which has so tenderly held the patient, without a strain or jar, while the bed-clothes could be changed or wounds cared for, or, by dropping a belt or two, prevent local pressure and irritation.

The skillful physician, the christian gentleman, and sympathizing friend were combinations of character in him rarely excelled.

"Those who have known Dr. Josiah Crosby, who have had the privilege of his acquaintance, been honored by his confidence, and felt the influence of his pure example, will feel more deeply than any words of mine express, the loss we have met in his death. Few men love their life-work as he did. The practice of medicine to him was no mere trade, no secondary means of obtaining something else that outranked it, but the chosen calling of his life, to which in his young manhood he gave not only his rare mental endowments, but the rich treasures of his heart; and with the weight of eighty years resting upon him, it was his greatest comfort that he could still labor in his chosen profession.

"His habits of study, that had been early formed, followed him into old age. New theories and discoveries in medical science were carefully criticised; the medical journals, to which he was a liberal subscriber, were read; and he was better posted in regard to the medical literature of the day than a majority of the young men in the profession.

"He exerted a strong influence on the profession itself. The quiet dignity of his character was felt by all who came in contact with him. No unguarded words pa.s.sed his lips in regard to members of the profession that were absent that would not have been as freely expressed in their presence.

"The same elements of character made him a superior surgeon. His operations were complete. He had abundant resources, and, if the ordinary methods of treatment failed, was ever ready to supply their place by extraordinary methods. His contributions to medical science were of a character that reflected the highest honor upon him as a physician and skillful surgeon, and placed him in no mean rank as a benefactor of his race.

"He never indulged in sports, or frequented watering-places. His church, his home, and his professional duties filled to the full his days and years, and too many sleepless nights. His sympathies for the sick, his great benevolence, his love of neighbor as of himself, formed the mainspring of his life labors.

"We have known him in his strength, and we shall always recollect him as the strong, self-reliant, active physician. We are more than grateful for his record. Life is the sum total of so many days and years, to which may be added the little real good one has been permitted to accomplish in a lifetime. Looking back over these fifty years, can we compute the worth of such a life?"

His widow still lives, as also his son, Dr. George A. Crosby, of Manchester, an eminent physician and surgeon.

JUDGE NATHAN CROSBY.

NATHAN CROSBY, fourth son of Dr. Asa Crosby, was born in Sandwich, N.

H., February 12, 1798; was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1820: read law with Stephen Moody, Esq., of Gilmanton, and Asa Freeman, of Dover, N. H., and was admitted to the bar in Strafford county in 1823. He practiced law a dozen years, mostly in Gilmanton, N. H., and Amesbury and Newburyport, Ma.s.s., until 1838, when he removed to Boston, at the call of the Ma.s.sachusetts Temperance Union, to conduct two important features of the temperance cause,--the acceptance of the teetotal pledge for the ardent-spirits pledge, and prohibition for license, and to organize societies based upon those principles throughout the commonwealth. He was also editor of the _Ma.s.sachusetts Temperance Journal_, the _Cold Water Army_ and _Temperance Almanac_, and various other publications.

Subsequently, in 1843, he removed to Lowell, and was employed by the manufacturing companies of that city to purchase the large lakes in New Hampshire whose waters supply the Merrimack river, and secured for the companies one hundred thousand acres of water. Before this service was fully accomplished, he received the appointment of standing justice of the police court of Lowell, upon the resignation of the late Hon. Joseph Locke, who had held the office thirteen years. Judge Crosby was qualified May 19, 1846. This position he still holds. He has rarely failed of holding the civil terms of the court during his entire period of service. In the discharge of the duties of a local magistrate,--a position peculiarly trying, placed, as those duties are, so near the people in all their differences, controversies, temptations, follies, and depravities,--he has been at all times humane, conscientious, incorruptible, and just, aiming to do right.

In all works of philanthropy and reform, no one has a kinder heart, or a more willing or generous hand. His frequent appeals to the public, through the press, upon the temperance issues of the day have been characterized by great power, earnestness, and practical wisdom, and have been widely read and approved. He has never held political office, but has been in the ranks of the Federal, Whig, and Republican parties.

He was the first man in the country to give one hundred dollars for the sanitary relief of Union soldiers in the late rebellion, and to form a soldiers' relief a.s.sociation, of which he was president during the war.

He was the first college graduate from the town of his birth, and the last of four of his cla.s.s who received the degree of Doctor of Laws.

His literary productions consist of "Obituary Notices for 1857 and 1858," in two volumes, "First Half Century of Dartmouth College,"

eulogies upon Judge Wilde and Hon. Tappan Wentworth, "Notices of Distinguished Men of Ess.e.x County, Ma.s.s.," the last being especially ill.u.s.trative of Choate, Cushing, and Rantoul, and letters and appeals to the citizens of Lowell upon the temperance issues of 1880 and 1881. He has a nervous, but animated and entertaining style. His "First Half Century of Dartmouth College" is a model in its way, while his "Crosby Family," a genealogical work, is not the dry and uninteresting reading such literature usually is, but is entertaining, even to the general reader, for its reminiscences of individuals, and its pleasant pictures of old times in New Hampshire.

He has always cherished a deep interest in Dartmouth College, and to no slight extent has, by personal effort, brought about events which have been of substantial benefit to that ancient seat of learning.

Judge Crosby has been twice married. His first wife, Rebecca Marquand Moody, was a daughter of Stephen Moody, Esq., of Gilmanton, by whom he had nine children, of which number five are now living, namely, Frances Coffin, wife of Dr. Henry A. Martin, of Boston; Hon. Stephen Moody Crosby, of Boston; Maria Stocker, wife of the late Maj. Alexander McD.

Lyon, of Erie, Penn.; Ellen Grant, wife of N. G. Norcross, Esq., of Lowell, and Susan Coffin, wife of Charles Francis, son of James B.

Francis, of Lowell, the distinguished engineer. His daughter, Rebecca Marquand, widow of the late Z. B. Caverly, United States _charge d'affaires_ at Peru, a highly accomplished and widely esteemed lady, was, with her daughter, lost on the "Schiller," a German steamer, off the English coast, in the spring of 1875,--a disaster which, at the time, created profound sorrow throughout the country. He married, May 19, 1870, Matilda, daughter of James Pickens, of Boston, and widow of Dr. J. W. Fearing, of Providence, R. I., who still lives.

Personally, the judge is a fine exemplification of the good results of temperance, self-care, and habitual good humor; and one meeting him for the first time, and noting his firm step and erect carriage, would hardly think him older than a man of sixty.

DIXI CROSBY, M. D.

DR. DIXI CROSBY, fifth son of Dr. Asa Crosby, was born in Sandwich, February 8, 1800, and died at Hanover, September 26, 1873. He married Mary Jane Moody, daughter of Stephen Moody, of Gilmanton, a distinguished lawyer, July 2, 1827. His academical preparation for his profession was quite limited; but being quick to learn, and with uncommon powers of memory, he made rapid progress in the study and practice of his profession and early became a prominent surgeon and physician, practicing in Gilmanton and Laconia till called to fill the chair of surgery in the Dartmouth Medical College, as successor of Professor R. D. Muzzey. He was placed at the head of the Medical College, in 1838, and held the place with great ability and distinction until nearly the time of his death.

His son, Prof. Alpheus B. Crosby, a young man of remarkable distinction, who died August 9, 1877, succeeded him. Another and older son is an eminent physician in Concord, N. H.

"Dr. Crosby, though a surgeon by nature and by preference, was in no modern sense a _specialist_. His professional labors covered the whole range of medicine. His professorship included obstetrics as well as surgery, and his practice in this department was exceptionally large. His surgical diocese extended from Lake Champlain to Boston. Of the special operations of Dr. Crosby we do not propose here to speak in detail. It is sufficient to mention that, in 1824, he devised a new and ingenious mode of reducing metacarpo-phalangeal dislocation. In 1836 he removed the arm, scapula, and three-quarters of the clavicle, at a single operation, for the first time in the history of surgery. He was the first to open abscess of the hip-joint. He performed his operations without ever having seen them performed, almost without exception. Dr.

Crosby was not what may be called a _rapid_ operator. "An operation, gentlemen," he often said to his clinical students, "is _soon_ enough done when it is _well_ enough done." And with him it was never done otherwise than _well_.

At the outbreak of the rebellion, Dr. Crosby served in the provost-marshal's office at a great sacrifice for many months, attending to his practice chiefly at night. As years and honors acc.u.mulated, Dr. Crosby still continued his work, though his const.i.tutional vigor was impaired by the severity of the New Hampshire winters and by his unremitting labor. At length, having reached man's limit of threescore years and ten, he withdrew from active practice, and in 1870 resigned his chair in the college.

Dr. Crosby furnishes a beautiful and rare instance of a completed life. He early fixed his aim,--he reached it; he did all he attempted, and he did it well. '_Nihil tetigit, quod non ornavit._'