Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/192

 1 66 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

After clearing up his farm, recovering it from the primitive wilderness and reducing it to cultivation, Moody Bean lived many years to enjoy the fruits of his labor and died at an advanced age, a witness to the high honor which had been conferred upon his favorite son, and surrounded by the evidences of his own energy and toil, — the well-tilled fields which he had owned for so many years.

Young Benning M. Bean, was subjected in his early youth to the hardships of a pioneer life, and the deprivations incidental to a new settlement ; but early in manhood he evinced a love for learning and eagerly sought instruction from Parson Fowle, an Episcopal clergyman, who lived at Squam Bridge, in the town of Holderness. Teaching became his profession and he taught himself by teaching others. As a young man he won the reputation throughout the ad- joining settlements of being a very thorough and successful instructor.

In the year 1815, he was elected by the citizens of his native town to repre- sent them in the State legislature. The following year he received the com- mission of Justice of Peace and was reelected to the legislature. The family of which he was a member were Federalists, except himself; he was a Republi- can throughout his political career, and as a consequence a firm believer in democratic principals. In 181 7, he was again called upon to represent his town and was reelected in 1819, 1820, 182 1, 1823 and in 1824. In the elec- tion of the latter year he was summoned to ascend the political ladder, and was chosen State Senator. Again in 1825 he was sent to the Senate, and the following year he was elected for the third term. In 1S27 he was a member of the lower House, and in 1829 was a counsellor. That year he was a can- didate for presidential elector on the Jackson ticket, but the Whigs carried the State at that election and Mr. Bean had not the satisfaction of voting for the hero of New Orleans. In 1831, Mr. Bean was again elected senator and re- elected in 1832. During his last teim he was called upon as president to pre- side over the senate. In 1833, Mr. Bean was elected a Representative to Congress, and took his seat December 2, 1833. Associated with him were Dr. Joseph M. Harper, of Canterbury, Franklin Pierce, Henry Hubbard, of Charlestown, and Dr. Robert Burns, of Plymouth, in the House ; and Isaac Hill and Samuel Bell in the Senate. In 1835, Mr. Beau was again elected to Congress and served his two terms, when he very gracefully retired from active political life, leaving the field open for younger aspirants, and seeking in private life that rest to which his long and arduous service entitled him.

Mr. Bean was married first, May 31, 1812, to Eliza Ramsey, who died March 19, 18 13, leaving but one child, a daughter, to follow her mother in childhood. October 30, 1S17, he was married to Lydia Adams. They were the parents of six sons and four daughters ; lived together nearly fifty years, and both died in r866 ; the husband, February 9 ; the wife, October 23.

"Mr. Bean secured all his honors where he was born, lived and died, and among people who knew his parents, and all his relatives, and all his surround- ings. The plainest statement of his official record is his best biography. The points in his life are early beginning, steady promotion and the unfaltering confidence reposed in him to the end of life. I doubt if there is another case of a man of such poor early advantages receiving such uniform promotion to such great public satisfaction."*

Mr. Bean is remembered by his children as a kind husband, a good father and a conscientious man, of generous impulses, of sterling integrity, and con- trolled by^his ideas of right and wrong. He was a man of good executive abilities, sound judgment, honest, honorable, and enjoyed in a remarkable


 * Hon. John Weatworth.

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