Josiah Carpenter
JOSIAH CARPENTER ESQ.
BY H. H. METCALF.
The men who make and whose lives illustrate the material prosperity and progress of a nation or people are those, as a rule, whose life and labor have been devoted in the main to the financial, commercial, and business interests of the country. Politicians, stump-orators, and office-holders of long continuance in place and power, may attain greater celebrity or a wider transient popularity, and move more effectually for the time being the tide of public sentiment; yet the influence which moves the deep and silent yet strong and resistless currents which make for the substantial progress and development of the race, is that which is exercised by the active, energetic, and persistent man of business, whose ready and thorough conception of the demands of industry, trade, and finance, and whose prompt action at their behest, make him not only the master of his own fortune, but, to a great extent, that of others. Of this class of men the subject of this sketch is a prominent representative in this state.
Josiah Carpenter was born in the town of Chichester, May 31, 1829. His ancestry goes back in direct line to William Carpenter, who in the year 1638, at the age of sixty-two years, embarked with his son William, aged thirty-three, and his wife, Abigail, and their four children, for America, sailing in the ship "Bevis," from the port of Southampton, England, and making their home at Weymouth, Mass. From Joseph, one of the four children named, the line of descent runs through Benjamin, born January 15, 1657, John, born March 25, 1691, and John, born January 4, 1728, to Josiah, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and for whom he was named. The senior Josiah Carpenter was born in Stafford, Conn., October 6, 1762, being one of a family of five sons and two daughters. Himself and three of his brothers served in the patriot army in the war of the Revolution, one of the brothers being killed while on sentinel duty at Roxbury Neck. He graduated with the highest honors from Dartmouth College in the class of 1787, studied for the ministry, and, November 2, 1791, was ordained and installed pastor of the First Congregational church in Chichester, which pastorate he retained for a period of nearly forty years, establishing and maintaining a reputation for geniality, benevolence, and hospitality which gained for him the affectionate regard and esteem of his people. Throughout his entire career as a citizen and a minister of the gospel, he labored earnestly and diligently to advance every undertaking which had for its object the public good, or the advancement of the cause of religious truth, as he understood it. He married, April 13, 1790, Hannah Morrill, of Canterbury; and their children were Nancy, David Morrill, John Thurston, Clarissa, Hannah, and Oliver, none of whom are now living.
The second child—David Morrill Carpenter—was born in Chichester, November 16, 1793, and, after receiving a good academic education, commenced active life in his native town in the capacity of a country merchant, which business he followed with much success for many years; but subsequently turned his attention to agriculture, becoming the owner of an extensive farm, which he cultivated for several years in a most successful manner. Notwithstanding the constant demands of his private occupation, which, as his success demonstrated, were never neglected, a great portion of his time during the period of his active life was always claimed by the public duties imposed by his fellow-citizens. Almost continually for twenty-five years he held one or more town offices, being several years chosen as the representative of his town in the state legislature, the duties of which position he discharged with ability and fidelity. He served as a member of the board of commissioners for Merrimack county, and was also, for more than thirty years, one of the trustees of the Merrimack County Savings Bank of Concord; he was also for a long time a director of the Mechanics Bank of that city; and was almost invariably in attendance upon the weekly meetings of the boards of the respective institutions. January 13, 1818, he was united in marriage with Mary, daughter of Jonathan Chesley Perkins, of Wells, Maine, who married Hannah Dennett, of Portsmouth, December 6, 1787, and shortly removed with his young wife to the town of Loudon in this state, adjoining Chichester, which was then almost a wilderness, where he cleared up a large farm, became a prosperous and influential citizen of the town, and reared a family of six children, of whom Mary, above mentioned, was the fourth. The children of David M. and Mary (Perkins) Carpenter were Charles H., Josiah, the subject of this sketch, Clara A., Sarah L., and Frank P., besides two daughters, who died in early life. In 1850, Mr. Carpenter removed to the town of Epsom, where he purchased a large farm, in the management of which his son Josiah was associated with him, upon which he remained until he retired from active business, in 1858, in which year he removed to Concord, where he resided until his death, December 9, 1873, seven years subsequent to the death of his wife, who departed this life, November 4, 1866, at the age of sixty-eight years. A man of wide influence, universally exerted for good, he lived beloved and died respected. He had been a soldier in the war of 1812, enlisting at the outbreak of hostilities, although but a boy at the time; yet, like his father, who had served in the Revolution, he would never accept from the government the pension to which he was legally entitled.
Charles H., the eldest son and child of David M. Carpenter, resides in the town of Chichester, where he has always had his residence, and where he has won a reputation, not only as one of the successful farmers, but most prominent citizens, of the town and of the county. His farming property embraces more than a thousand acres of land. He is also quite extensively engaged as a dealer in real estate and lumber. Clara A., the eldest surviving daughter, is the wife of Samuel C. Merrill, a prosperous flour manufacturer and flour and grain dealer, of Paterson, N. J., formerly a well known wholesale merchant of Manchester. Sarah L. married Prof. James W. Webster, of Maiden, Mass., a teacher of experience and ability, now and for many years past principal of the Hancock school, Boston, formerly a successful teacher in Concord. Frank P., the youngest son, is a member of the enterprising and well known firm of Drake & Carpenter of Manchester, who are extensively engaged in the wholesale flour and grain trade.