Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/349

 THE STATE SENATE OF 1879-80.

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��THE STATE SENATE OE 1879-80.

��Edward Gustine, Senator from the Keene district, No. thirteen, was born in the town of Winchester, September 2, 1 8 19, being now sixty years of age, the past twenty years of his life having been spent in Keene, where he now resides. His father, Edward Gustine, was a merchant. He received a com- mon schooleducation, learned the busi- ness of a machinist and has been mainly engaged, since entering active life, as a gas and water engineer. He has had contracts for extensive works, both gas and water, at different places in this state, Massuchusetts, Vermont and New York, all of which have been carried out in a thorough and satisfac- tory manner.

A decided Republican, though never an active politician, Mr. Gustine has not been largely in public life, but served as a member of the House in 1865 and again in 1875 an< ^ 1S76, acting as chairman of the Committee on State Prison the latter year, and was also a member of the last Constitu- tional Convention. He enjoys the full confidence of his fellow citizens re- gardless of party, and whenever a can- didate for office receives many votes of those opposed to him upon political questions. In the Senate he served upon the Committee on Incorporations, Banks, and Manufactures, being chair- man of the latter. He frequently par- ticipated in debates, and, although making no pretentions to oratory, his suggestions, practical in their character, were not without influence.

Mr. Gustine married Miss Sarah H. Worcester, of Lebanon, Maine, by whom he has two children, a son and daughter. The son, Edward W. Gus- tine, is engaged in ( mercantile busi- ness in Keene. In religion he is a Unitarian and an active member of the society in Keene. He has long been prominent in the Masonic organizations, local and state, having been Master of both lodges and High Priest of the

��Chapter at Keene, and was Grand High Priest for New Hampshire in 1870 and 1 87 1, and has held various other honorable positions in masonic bodies. Thoroughly public spirited and a friend of all progressive enter- prises, he has contributed in no small degree to the prosperity of the flourish- ing city in which he resides.

Charles J. Amidon, of the Cheshire District, No. fourteen, is a native of the town of Chesterfield, a son of Otis Amidon, a merchant of that town, born April 23, 1827. He received his early education in the common school and at Chesterfield Academy, then a well known literary institution. He became interested in politics in youth, uniting with the Whig party and casting his first vote for Gen. Taylor for President. In 1849, at twenty-two years of age, he was appointed postmaster at Ches- terfield, and held the office until his removal to Hinsdale in 1S51, in which town he has since resided, and is en- gaged in manufacturing, doing an ex- tensive business, giving employment to about eighty hands, in the production of cassimere and other woolen goods.

Mr. Amidon was appointed a Bank Commissioner by Gov. Ralph Metcalf, holding the office for the term of three years. He has served several years as a member of the board of selectmen of the town of Hinsdale and represented the town in the Legislature in 1 86 1-2- 3-4, serving as chairman of the com- mittee on Claims the first three years, and of the Committee on Towns and Parishes in 1864. He was elected a representative again in 1876 and re- elected the following year, when he served as chairman of the Railroad Committee. He held the office of postmaster at Hinsdale for twelve suc- cessive years, from 186 1. He was also. a delagate to the Constitutional Con- vention in 1876, and took a prominent part in the deliberations of that body. In March, 1878, he was chosen Senator

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