History of Boscawen, (Merrimack County) New Hampshire United States of America

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Biographies:

Nathaniel Greene, journalist, was born in Boscawen, N.H., May 20, 1797. He attended the common schools and in 1809 apprenticed himself to the proprietor of tire New Hampshire Patriot in Concord. Subsequently he became editor of the Concord Gazette, and in 1814 took the management of the New Hampshire Gazette at Portsmouth. He conducted the Haverhill, Mass., Gazette, 1815-17, and in May of the latter year established the Essex Patriot. In 1821 he removed to Boston, Mass., and there established the Boston Statesman which subsequently became the leading Democratic journal of the state. He was postmaster of Boston, 1829-40 and 1845-49. He then went to Paris, France, where he lived till 1861 engaging in literary work. On his return to the United States he made his residence in Boston. Besides numerous poems and other contributions to periodicals, mostly under the pen-name "Boscawen," he published a number of translations including: History of Italy, by G. Sforzosi (1836); Tales from the German (1837); Tales From the German. Italian and French (1843); and Improvisations (1852). He died in Boston, Mass., Nov. 29, 1877.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Moody Currier, governor of New Hampshire was born in Boscawen, N.H., April 22, 1806. His parents were in humble circumstances and he was brought up to farm work, employing his leisure time in studying. He prepared himself for college and was graduated at Dartmouth in 1834 with high honors. After graduation he was principal of the school in Lowell, Mass., for several years, devoting his leisure to the study of law, and was admitted to the bar of Hillsboro county, N.H., in 1841. He practised in Manchester, N.H., for several years and then abandoned the law for finance. He established and was president of the Amoskeag bank, the Amoskeag savings bank and the Amoskcag national bank. He also established the People's savings bank. He was very largely engaged in the manufacturing and railroad interests of the state. He was state senator for two terms; president of the senate in 1857; governor's councillor; presidential elector in 1876, and governor in 1885-87 He was learned in ancient and modern literature, in reading and writing the French,. Spanish, German and Italian languages, and in the sciences. He received the degree of LL. D. from Bates in 1881 and from Dartmouth in 1885. He published a volume of poems in 1880. He died in Manchester, N.H., Aug. 23, 1898.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John Adams Dix, soldier and statesman, was born in Boscawen, N.H., July 24, 1798; son of Lieut.-Col. Timothy and Abigail (Wilkins) Dix, grandson of Lieut. Timothy Dix of the American army, 1776-84, and postmaster of Boscawen, 1801-09; great-grandson of Jonathan and Sarah (Shattuck) Dix of Littleton, Mass.; and a descendant of Anthony Dix, Plymouth, Mass., 1623, free-holder, 1631, and free-holder of Salem, Mass., 1632. Col. Timothy Dix was a selectman of Boscawen, a representative in the state legislature, a prominent merchant in the place, an early promoter of education, and lieutenant-colonel in the U.S. army, and died while in active service at French Mills, Canada East, Nov. 14, 1813. His wife, Abigail Wilkins of Amherst, Mass., was the daughter of a captain in the provincial service, who lost his life on the expedition under General Montgomery against Quebec. John Adams Dix acquired his elementary education at the academy at Salisbury, N.H., and at Phillips Exeter academy. Here he was prepared for admission to the College of Montreal, where he continued the study of Latin and Greek and spoke only the French language. The war of 1812 determined the boy of fourteen to join the army as cadet in his father's regiment, the 14th U.S. infantry, stationed at Baltimore, Md., where he also attended St. Mary's college. He was promoted ensign, March 8, 1813, marching with his regiment to Sucker Harbor and serving on the Canada frontier. He was promoted 2d lieutenant and made adjutant in a battalion of the 21st infantry in 1814, was ordered to Portsmouth, N.H., and appointed adjutant to Colonel Walbach in command of Fort Constitution. In 1818 he was assigned to the command of Fort Washington on the Potomac opposite Mount Vernon. In January, 1819, he was made regiment quartermaster at Fort Columbus, New York harbor, and in March, 1819, an aide-de-camp to Gen. Jacob Brown in command of the northern military department of the United States, stationed at Brownville, N.Y., where he took up the study of law. In the winters the commanding general was in Washington and here young Dix continued his study of law under William Wirt, and was admitted to the bar, but did not practice at the national capital. In May, 1826, he was appointed by President J. Q. Adams, special messenger to Copenhagen with dispatches from the state department. Upon his return he was ordered to Fort Monroe and spent the winter there, and on July 29, 1828, he resigned his commission as captain in the 3d regiment of artillery, U.S. army, and in order to regain his health settled in Cooperstown, N.Y., where he took up the practice of law. In 1830 he removed to Albany, N.Y., having been appointed adjutant-general of the state by Governor Throop. He was appointed secretary of state and state superintendent of common schools in place of Azariah C. Flagg, promoted to the comptrollership, and he held the office, 1833-39. He was an active member of the "Albany Regency," a Democratic state organization led by Silas Wright, Edwin Croswell, Peter Cagger, Dean Richmond and others. The defeat of the party in 1840 terminated his official life for the time and he engaged as editor-in-chief of The Northern Light, 1841-43. He was elected to the state assembly in 1841 and spent 1843-44 in Madeira, Spain and Italy. In 1845 the Democratic legislature of New York elected him U.S. senator for the unexpired term of Senator Silas Wright, who had been elected governor of New York. Upon the resignation of Senator Wright, Governor Bouck, on Dec. 1, 1844, had appointed Henry Alien Foster to fill the vacancy, and in January, 1845, Dix took the seat, completing the term March 3, 1849. In the U.S. senate he advocated holding the territory of Mexico until the government of that country would make a satisfactory treaty of peace and fix an acceptable boundary, and was chairman of the committee on science. In 1848 he became the Free-soil Democratic candidate for governor of New York and was defeated in the election by Hamilton Fish. He was the first choice of President Pierce for secretary of state, but political pressure prevented the nomination and he was made assistant treasurer of the United States at New York in 1853, with the understanding that he should be appointed U.S. minister to France. This promise was not, however, carried out by the President and Mr. Dix resigned the treasurership and visited Europe with his family. He supported Buchanan and Breckenridge in the presidential campaign of 1856 and Breckenridge and Lane in 1860. President Buchanan appointed him postmaster of New York in place of Isaac V. Fowler, defaulter, in 1860. He declined the portfolio of war and accepted that of the treasury, Jan. 9, 1861, succeeding Philip F. Thomas of Maryland, whom the President had appointed on the resignation of Howell Cobb, and he served till the close of the Democratic administration. It was while at the head of the treasury department that he sent his historic message to Lieutenant Caldwell at New Orleans, La., to arrest the commander of the revenue cutter, adding to the message: "If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." He was president of the Union defence committee of New York city from its formation in 1861 and on April 24, 1861, he presided over the great meeting in Union Square, New York, which determined the attitude of that municipality and of the entire north in reference to supporting the new administration. He organized and sent to the field seventeen regiments of state militia and was appointed by Governor Morgan one of the four major-generals to command the state troops. He was commissioned major-general, U.S. volunteers, by President Lincoln in June, 1861, and General Scott ordered him to the command of the department of Arlington and Alexandria, Va., but political favoritism succeeded in transferring him, July 20, 1861, to the less important post of the department of Maryland, which, after the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, became the base of operations on the Potomac and the key to the military situation. General Dix's energy and military judgment stamped out secession sentiment in Baltimore and all of Maryland. In May, 1862, he was transferred to the command of Fort Monroe, Va. He declined the nomination for governor of New York, offered him by the Federal Union central committee, Oct. 20, 1862. He was in command of the 7th army corps of 10,000 men, in the movement up the York river to the White House, in June, 1863, where he succeeded in cutting off Lee's line of communication with the Confederate capitol and in destroying bridges, capturing Confederate troops, including Gen. W. H. F. Lee, and obtaining control of the whole country between the Pamunkey and the Rappahannock rivers. At this juncture, when the city of Richmond was almost within his grasp, General Dix was ordered to fall back and send all his available troops to the defence of Washington and the Pennsylvania borders, then threatened by the combined Confederate forces. This order from General Halleck was dated July 3, 1863, and was promptly complied with. At the same time a draft was ordered in New York and the draft riots, made possible by the withdrawal of the state militia to prevent the invasion of the northern states by the Confederate army, had taken place. General Dix was ordered to supersede Gen. J. E. Wool as commander of the department of the east, and his energetic action prevented further disturbance and restored business confidence in the metropolis. He continued in command till the close of the war, when he accepted the presidency of the Union Pacific railroad company. In 1866 he was appointed by President Johnson U.S. naval officer at New York and the same year U.S. minister to France to relieve John Hay, charg? d'affaires at that court. He returned to America on the accession of President Grant in 1869. In 1872 he was elected by the Republican party governor of the state of New York. He was defeated of re-election in 1874, largely through political intrigue in the party. He was married, May 29, 1826, to Catherine, niece and adopted daughter of John Jordan Morgan of New York, and two of their seven children survived him, one of these being the Rev. Morgan Dix, rector of Trinity church. His civil offices include: vestryman of Trinity church, comptroller of Trinity corporation, deputy of the general convention of the Protestant Episcopal church, an original trustee of the Astor library by appointment of John Jacob Astor, president of the Mississippi & Missouri railway company (1853), first president of the Union Pacific railroad company (1863-68), and president of the Erie railway company (1872). He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Union in 1873, and was honorary chancellor of the college in 1874. His published works include: Resources of the City of New York (1827); Decisions of the Superintendents of Common Schools (1837); A Winter in Madeira and a Summer in Spain and Florence (1850, 5th ed., 1853); Speeches and Occasional Addresses (2 vols., 1864); Dies Ir?, translation (1863, rev. ed., 1875); and Stabat Mater, translation (1868). His memoir written by his son, the Rev. Morgan Dix, was published in 1888. He died in New York city, April 21, 1879.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

George Thomas White Patrick, educator, was born in North Boscawen, N.H, Aug. 19, 1857: son of John and Harriet (White) Patrick; grandson of William and Mary (Gerrish) Patrick, and of Thomas and Mary (May) White, and a descendant of Matthew Patrick, of Scotch-Irish stock, who settled in Western (Warren), Mass., about 1731, and of William White, who came from Norfolk county, England, to Massachusetts in 1610. He was graduated from the State University of Iowa, A.B., 1878, and from Yale university, B.D., 1885, took a post-graduate course in philosophy and psychology at Johns Hopkins, 1885-87, and received from there the degree of Ph.D. in 1888, having been twice appointed to a fellowship in philosophy in that institution. In 1887 he became professor of philosophy in the State University of Iowa; in 1902 was the editor of the university's Studies in Psychology, and became the head of its department of philosophy and psychology. He was married, Nov. 28, 1889, to Maud, daughter of William and Jeannette (Buck) Lyall. He was a student at Leipzig university, 1894. He is the author of: The Fragments of the Work of Heraclitus of Ephesus (1889), and many contributions to scientific periodicals, notably the Popular Science Monthly.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor