Daniel Hall
HON. DANIEL HALL.
BY REV. ALONZO HALL QUINT, D. D.
Of those towns in the state whose scenery is somewhat quiet, one of the most beautiful is Barrington. A small tract on its western border is level and not fertile, but most of its surface is gently rolling, two decided heights, however, affording beautiful views. The map shows it to be traversed by streams in every part, one important river being the outflow of Bow lake; and the map shows no less than fourteen ponds, some of them nearly two miles in length, and whose shores, often abrupt, are full of beauty. Magnificent pine forests of the first growth have been carefully preserved to the present generation, and fertile farms are numerous.
Daniel Hall was born in this town, February 28, 1832, and, with slight exceptions, was the descendant of generations of farmers. His first known American ancestor was John Hall, who appears to have come to Dover, N. H., in the year 1649, with his brother Ralph, from Charlestown, Mass. Of this blood was the mother of Gov. John Langdon, Tobias Lear (Washington's private secretary), and others of like energy. The emigrant, John Hall, was the first recorded deacon of the Dover First church, was town clerk, commissioner to try small cases, and a farmer, but mainly surveyor of lands. His spring of beautiful water is still "Hall's spring," on Dover Neck. His son Ralph was of Dover, a farmer; whose son Ralph, also a farmer, was one of the early settlers of Barrington; whose son Solomon, also a farmer, was of the same town; whose son Daniel, also a farmer, was father of Gilman Hall (his ninth child), who, by his wife Eliza Tuttle, was father of nine children, Daniel being the first born. The picturesque old house in which he was born, built by one Hunking, is still standing near Winkley's pond, an interesting and venerable landmark, but unoccupied and in a ruinous condition. Gilman Hall was early a trader in Dover, but for twenty-five subsequent years was farmer and trader in Barrington, his native town, on the stage road known as the "Waldron's Hill" road. He was representative, and for many years selectman. Daniel's mother was a descendant of John Tuttle, who was judge of the superior court for many years prior to the year 1700, residing in Dover.
Daniel Hall's life as a boy was on the farm. He went to the district school a long distance, through snows and heats, and by and by helped in the store. When older, from fourteen years onward, he drove a team to Dover, with wood and lumber, and sold his loads, standing on Central square. But he had a passion for books, and a burning desire for an education. He learned all he could get in the district school, and when about sixteen years of age he secured two terms, about six months in all, in Strafford Academy,—one term under Ira F. Folsom (D. C. 1848), and one under Rev. Porter S. Burbank. In 1849 he was one term at the New Hampshire Conference Seminary, in Northfield, Rev. Richard S. Rust, principal. Then, for satisfactory reasons, he gave up all academies, returned home, set himself down alone to his Greek, Latin, and mathematics, and with indomitable perseverance prepared for college. He entered Dartmouth in 1850, probably the poorest fitted in his class; but he had the fitting of a determined will, unconquerable industry, a keen intellect, and the fiber of six generations of open-air ancestors, and in 1854 he graduated at the very head of his class, and was valedictorian. It is needless to say, perhaps, that the eldest of nine children had to practice economy, and teach district schools five winters in his native town; and that what small advances he had from his father were repaid, to the last dollar, from his first earnings.
In the fall of 1854 he was appointed a clerk in the New York custom-house, and held the place for some years. He had taken an early interest in politics, being by education a Democrat. But he had always been positively anti-slavery in sentiment. He was dissatisfied with the Kansas-Nebraska bill; and alone of all the clerks in the custom-house, and fearless of the probable result to himself, he openly denounced the Lecompton-constitution policy of Buchanan, and supported Douglas. In consequence he was removed from office in March, 1858.