Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/106

 86 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

The localion of the mansion is fine. It is situated in the midst of a charm- ing country, near the centre of a valuable estate of seven hundred acres. A large garden is in the rear. Several cottages are on the ])lace, inhabited by the laborers and their families. The barns are new, and have all the modern im- provements.

A quarter of a mile from the house is the church of St. John's, a miniature edifice of Gothic style. Here the people of the neighborhood congregate on Sundays. The service is Episcopalian. The church has an organ. The roof is groined, and the windows are of stained glass. Sitting in the chancel, with the solemn, dim fight about you, it is easy to evoke from the past the company of fair, stately women and gallant gentlemen, who from the old mansion have wended their way to this house of worship. Noble company have congregated there, the proud, the learned, the gifted ; graceful feet have tripped up the aisles ; and fair faces bent reverently as the white robed rector knelt at the throne of grace. But we wander.

The owner of this mansion was one of the wealthiest men of his day in New Hampshire. He was rich in lands, and merchandise, and ships, and mills. An English gentleman would have been content to live in ease and afiluence on such a goodly heritage. But Stark was no Englishman. He was a live and enterprising Yankee. He took good care of his farm, but he also directed much of his attention to mercantile pursuits. He owned stores at Haverhill, Mass., and mills at Pembroke, N. H. He was for a time interested in naviga- tion, and owned several vessels in the English and East India trade. For several years he was an importing merchant at Boston. He made several visits to England, and for a time resided in the West Indies. The war of 1812 put an end to his commercial enterprises, and he then devoted his attention to manufacturing. His cotton mills at Pembroke yielded him vast profits. He was State Senator several terms from his district, from 18 15 to 1825. In the latter year he entertained the Marquis de LaFayette and his suite at his home in Pembroke, when the illustrious guest of the nation made his tour in New Hampshire. At the ceremony of the laying of the corner stone of the Bunker Hill monument. Major Stark was the youngest surviving actor in that battle who made an appearance.

In 1830, having disposed of his interest in the cotton manufactory. Major Stark went to Ohio to prosecute the claims of the family to lands granted to Gen. Stark for military services. In this he was successful, after a tedious litiga- tion. He was intending to return to New Hampshire after recovering this valuable estate, but this was prevented by his sudden death. His death was probably hastened by his energy and activity, exercised at an advanced age in life. He had attended court at New Philadelphia, on the i6ih of August; the 1 7th was an intensely hot day, and he rode a hard travelling horse from Dover to his residence, twenty-three miles, in three hours. The following week he was attacked by a disease in the head and suspension of his faculties. He rapidly grew worse, and on the 26th of August, 1838, he died, in Oxford, Ohio. His age was seventy-eight years and nine months. His remains were carried to Dunbarton for burial.

Major Stark had the widest acquaintance with characters of note, probably, of any man of his time in New Hampshire. He was on terms of intimacy with most of the officers of the Revolution, and those of the War of 181 2, and was personally acquainted with all the Presidents, from Washington to Harrison, inclusive. At the ceremony of Gen. Jackson's first inauguration as President of the United Slates, he was one of the twelve Revolutionary veterans who stood by the side of the Chief Magistrate. The Major had the reputation of being one of the best mifitary critics in the nation, and during the war of 18 12 he

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