Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/272

 MARCY

HARDEN

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Brown in 1808, taught school at Newport, R.I., studied law, and removed to Troy, N. Y., where he was admitted to the bar. He served as a lieuten- ant in a company of infantry recruited in Troy, and marched to the northern frontier and took

part in the action at St. Regis, Oct. 23, 1812, securing the first prisoners taken on land, and the first flag captured in the war. He joined Gen- eral Dearborn, and in 1814 was ordered to New York, having attained the rank of captain. He resumed his law practice in Troy, and was re- corder of the city, 1816-18, when he was removed by Governor Clinton, on account of his friendship for Daniel D. Tonipkins. He was editor of the Troy Budget, an anti-Clinton journal of influence, 1818-21. Through the Van Buren influence he was appointed in January, 1821, adjutant-gen- eral of the state militia. He was elected state comptroller on the ticket with Joseph C. Yates for governor in 1823; was appointed associate justice of the supreme court of New York in 1829 by Governor Throop, and presided at the special circuit held in Lockport in 1830, for the trial of the abductors of William Morgan, charged with exposing Masonic secrets; was U.S. senator, 1831- 33; served as chairman of the judiciary commit- tee, and answered in debate both Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. He resigned his seat in 1833 to accept the position of governor of the etate of New York, to which he had been elected in 1832, and he served through three terms, 1833-39. In 1838 he was defeated by William H. Seward. During his term as governor the Whig party was formed, the rise of the anti-slavery party took place, and in 1837 occurred the great financial panic. He was appointed by President Van Buren in 1839 one of the board of commissioners to examine and decide upon certain Mexican claims then pending against the government, and served 1839-42. He was chairman of the Demo- cratic state convention at Syracuse, 1843. He removed to Albany, N.Y., and lived in retirement until the accession of James K. Polk to the presidency, March 4, 1845, when he became sec- retary of war in his cabinet. His t^rm of office embraced the entire period of the war with Mexico, and his duties were uncommonly arduous. In 1848 he supported Gen. Lewis Cass for the presidency, and at the close of Polk's administra-

tion he retired from public life. He was a can- didate for nomination for President at the Demo- cratic national convention at Baltimore, June 1, 1882, and upon the nomination of Franklin Pierce he gave him his hearty support in the campaign and President Pierce made him secretary of state in his cabinet. Important questions came before him while secretary, such as the Danish sound dues, the enlistment question, Central American aifairs, and the complex questions surrounding the release of Martin Koszta by Capt. Duncan N. Ingraham (q.v.). He went to Ballston Spa, N.Y., in 1857, and prepared for an extended tour in Europe. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Brown university in 1833 and from Union college in 1839. He died suddenly in Ball- ston Spa, N.Y., July 4, 1857.

MARDEN, George Augustus, editor, was born in Mt. Vernon, N.H., Aug. 9, 1839; son of Ben- jamin and Betsey (Buss) Marden; grandson of Nathan and Suzanna (Stevens) Marden, and of Calvin and Sarah (Abbot) Buss, and a descendant of Bray Wilkins of New Salem, Mass., in witch- craft times. His father was a tanner and shoe- maker and he was taught the shoemaker's trade. He was graduated from Dartmouth college, 1861, having paid his way by working at his trade and by teaching. He enlisted in Berdan's U.S. sharp- shooters in November, 1861, was promoted 2d sergeant, Dec. 12, 1861, and served during the Peninsula campaign under McClellan. He was commissioned 1st lieutenant and made regimental quartermaster, July 10, 1862, and from January to August, 1863, served on staff duty as acting assistant adjutant-general of the 3d brigade, 3d division, 3d corps. He was mustered out in September, 1864, studied law in Concord, N.H., 1865, and was employed on the Concord Daily Monitor. He prepared a history of each of the New Hampshire military organizations, published in the adjutant-general's report for 1866. He was married, Dec. 10, 1867, to Mary P., daughter of David and Harriet (Nourse) Fiske of Nashua, N.H. He was assistant editor of the Boston Ad- vertiser in 1867; a proprietor and editor of the Lowell Courier, 1867-95, and editor-in-chief of the Courier and Citizen from 1895. He was a Republican member of the Massachusetts house of representatives in 1878, clerk of the same, 1874-82, and a member and speaker of the house, 1883-84. He was a delegate to the Republican national convention of 1880; was elected to the Massachusetts senate in 1885; was treasurer and receiver-general of Mas.sachusetts, 1889-94, and was apiK)inted assistant U.S. treasurer at Boston, April, 1899. He was made a trustee of the Mas- sachusetts Agricultural college in 1888, and was president of the Dartmouth alumni association in 1889.