HON. OLIVER PILLSBURY.
BY HON. J. W. PATTERSON.
William Pillsbury, from whom most and probably all of the Pillsburys of this country have descended, emigrated from Dorchester, England, and settled in old Newbury, now Newburyport, Mass., about the year 1641.
Oliver Pillsbury, the subject of this sketch, sprung from this line. He was born in Henniker, N. H., February 16, 1817. His parents, Deacon Oliver Pillsbury and Anna Smith Pillsbury, were both persons of unusual physical and mental strength. The writer recalls distinctly, after a lapse of more than thirty years, the amiable expression and serene dignity of Mrs. Pillsbury, and the masculine thought and deep, solemn voice of the deacon as he led the devotions of the religious assemblies of the people. He was one of the strong men of the town and a pillar in the church. Others might veer and drift, but we all knew that the deacon was anchored within the veil, and was as sure to outride the storm as the hill upon which he had fixed his home. He was a man of strong powers, a stern will, and constant devotion to the great ends of life as he saw them. The qualities of both parents were transmitted in large measure to their children. Our state has produced but few men who were the peers in intellectual strength and moral courage to their first born, Parker Pillsbury. Not many men in our country, indeed, in the years that preceded the civil war, struck heavier blows for, or clung with a more courageous, self-sacrificing devotion to, liberty than he. Those of us who knew him could hear the deep undertone of the deacon's voice in his, and knew he would conquer or die. In the roll-call of the imperishables in the great struggle for liberty, his name will be heard among the first.
Of such stock is Oliver, the fifth son of Dea. Oliver Pillsbury. During the first seventeen years of his life he experienced the usual fortune of the sons of New England farmers,—a maximum of hard work and a minimum of schooling; but at that time, having been overtaken by a lameness which threatened to be permanent, he was sent to the academy, that he might prepare for duties suited to his prospective infirmity. He entirely recovered, but this circumstance gave a new drift to his life. For nearly five years he pursued his studies with unabated interest and industry, giving thoroughness and a practical character to his acquisitions by teaching during the winter months. Mr. Pillsbury had few equals and no superiors among those who taught at that time in our public schools. He was master both of his school and his studies, and had the faculty of inspiring his pupils with his own spirit. Many who have since done good work in life look back with gratitude to those years of pupilage.
In 1839, Mr. Pillsbury left New England and went to New Jersey, where he opened a tuition school, there being no free schools in the state at that time. There, though an entire stranger, he gained the confidence of the whole community at once, and held it during eight years of successful work. During the last six years of this time he taught the academy at Bound Brook, Somerset county. While there he married Matilda Nevius, who died in 1847, leaving a young daughter, an only child. The position which Mr. Pillsbury acquired among the educators of New Jersey may be learned from the fact that he was prominent among the few gentlemen who held the first school convention at the capital, over which he presided, and which was followed by similar conventions in other cities. The movement thus begun resulted in the establishment of public instruction in that state. To have been a leading spirit in the accomplishment of so beneficent a work, in a sojourn of only eight years, should be a perpetual honor to the life of any man.
At the end of this time, Mr. Pillsbury's health having become impaired, he returned to his native place, where he purchased the paternal homestead and entered again upon the work of his boyhood. For seventeen years he followed the life of a farmer, but did not move in its old empirical ruts. He applied the knowledge and improved methods which modern investigation has given to agriculture, and in a little time doubled the productive power of his farm. The successful factor in every industry is brains, and in this case even New Hampshire farming proved no exception to the rule.
In 1850, Mr. Pillsbury contracted a second marriage with Miss Sarah Wilkins, of Henniker, his present esteemed and accomplished wife.