Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/420

 382 HE GRANITE MONTHLY.

Concord, N. H., June 15, 1865. A month later he was engaged in manu- facturing shoes at Londonderry, and successfully prosecuted the business there until the need of larger buildings induced hmi to remove his enterprise to Derry Depot. In 186S, he was elected a commissioner in Rockingham county, on the Republican ticket. In this position; he performed extremely valuable service in organizing a system in the conduct of county affairs which embraced a new method of caring for the paupers at the county farm. His good judgment seems equal to every requirement that presents itself. Chiefly through his influence and eftbrt came the appropriation for the erection of the Asylum building for the accommodation of the insane poor of the county, with results as good as at the asylum at Concord. While saving largely in ex- pense, the enterprise has proved the soundness and practicability of the plan. In fact while patients were as well treated as they were previously at extrava- gant expense at Concord, the cost of the asylum building was saved the first year it was occupied.

Col. Pillsbury was the original mover in the effort to check the overwhelm- ing extent of the "tramp" nuisance in New Hampshire. The action he inau- gurated culminated in the law for the suppression of trampage, that has accom- plished such good in the Granite State, and that has been so generally copied in other states. To his energy and enterprise New Hampshire people rightly credit a large part of the remarkable growth of the village at Uerry Depot, from an insignificant hamlet to one of the most busy, thriving and beautiful inland villages of New England.

In Londonderry Col. Pillsbury has served as moderator at town meetings about nineteen years. He has also represented his town in the legislature, is a justice of the peace, chairman of the board of trustees of the Leach library, at Londonderry, and a Mason. He is a republican of life long stand- ing, and a member of the Presbyterian church, and has been for many years a trustee of ihe society of that denomination in that town. He is not a sec- tarian. His spirit is liberal and broadly tolerant. He once paid the expense of frescoing a Methodist meeting-house when the society occupying it probably expected no aid from a Christian brother of another denomina- tion. Col. Pillsbury is a member of the well known " New Hampshire Club," whose membership includes many of the leading men of the State. A more public spirited man is not known in New Hampshire. His notal^le business success is due, among other reasons, to his industry, his high sense of honor, his heartiness, and his especially remarkable talent for systematizing, and for the organization and prompt execution of plans. His almost invariably accu- rate judgment of men is the secret of his power to fit the right man in the right place when positions of responsibility and importance are concerned. Personally, Col. Pillsbury is exceedingly attractive and cordial in manner. A true gentlemanly feeling characterizes his intercourse with all so fortunate as to meet him either in business or society.

He has represented his town in the legislature. After the removal of his business to Derry Depot, several years ago, he formed a connection with the house of E. P. Phillips & Co., which continued until the dissolution of that firm and the close of their business in Derry. Soon after this event he became agent for the noted firm of Clement, Colburn & Co., now Colburn, Fuller & C^., of Boston, shoe manufacturers at Derry Depot. During this agency the business has increased from an annual trade of seventy- five thousand dollars, to the figure of over half a million dollars per annum. About five hundred persons are now employed in the immense establishment of the firm at Derry Depot. Additions to the building will afford room for about one hundred more workmen now needed. Nearly six hundred different styles of boots and

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