Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/14

 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.

��sand bushels per day, most of which were exported to Germany. At present the demand is much less than formerly, yet even now one manufactory supplies him with 80,000 bushels per annum, and his present sales aggregate 125,- 000 bushels yearly. In 1879 he be- came interested in the manufacture of furniture, and now employs, at his man- ufactory in Keene, one hundred men in that industry. About eighteen months ago he purchased a woolen mill at Lebanon, where sixty hands find constant and remunerative em- ployment.

FARMER ANT) BANK DIRECTOR.

Mr. Hale owns a farm of three hun- dred acres in Keene, and another of equal extent in Newbury, Vt., and, not- withstanding the multiplicity of his other duties, he takes quite an interest in agricultural pursuits, and possesses a vast amount of practical knowledge in that department of labor. He is a director of the Citizens Bank, of Keene, and of the Wachusett Bank, in Fitch- burg, Mass.

RAILROAD ENTERPRISES.

For many years Mr. Hale has been largely interested in railroads, and at different times has been a large owner of stock. At present he owns one half of the Point Shirley railroad. He was deeply interested in the construc- tion of the Manchester & Keene rail- road, confessedly one of the most necessary roads in the state. The im- portance of the enterprise can be j udged from the following extract from a letter in the Boston Journal, of August 29 :

w - Look at what Mr. Hale and his asso- ciates have accomplished in building the Manchester & Keene railroad. Here was an enterprise, confessedly a disas- trous failure until they came to its res- cue. Messrs. Hale, Colony. Frye. and rteruten put $200,000 into the road, de- pending on the gratuities voted by the towns for their reimbursement. In ad- dition to this, Messrs. Hale and Colony put in :;, 20,000 each, additional, which they will never recover, and regard as a total loss. The gratuities have not yet been paid, except a part of one. While

��the road is oik; of the best running roads in the state and of inestimable value to Marlboro*, llarrisvillc and Hancock in particular, Messrs. Hale and Colony are waiting to-day for the $120,000 which they risked in the road. $40,000 of which they will never recover. This road, it will be remembered, shortens the dis- tance between the capital of the state and the south-west side by forty-eight miles, and is really the most useful rail- road there has been built in New Hamp- shire for many years.''

RELIGIOUS AND BENEVOLENT CHARAC- TERISTICS.

As a young man Mr. Hale united with the Methodist Church, but on his settlement in Dublin, where there was no organization of that denomination, he joined his lot with the Congrega- tionalists, of which church he is now an honored member. His benefac- tions have been numerous and gen- erous. While he is verv reticent concerning such matters, it is well known that he has been instrumental in educating a Congregational clergy- man, a missionary, a physician, and a young lady, the latter at Holyoke Sem- inary, in addition to which he gave at one time $12,000 toward building a Congregational church in Keene. He has been ail his life a friend to the needy and unfortunate, giving em- ployment to many destitute ones when their services were not really required, out of kindly sympathy. He is a friend to every good cause, and by ex- ample and precept has helped to lift men from the degradation of intem- perance and similar vices. The only secret society of which he is a mem- ber is the Masonic order, which he joined twenty years ago, taking the necessary degrees to become a Master Mason.

DOMESTIC RELATIONS.

In the year 1850, at the age of twenty-seven, he married Amelia M. Hayes, of Dublin, and the union proved to be a very happy one. Two children have been born to them, both of whom have attained their majority.

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