Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 6.djvu/151

 JOSEPH CILLEY BURLEY

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��2. Harry Benjamin Burley, born May 26, 1867, has been admitted (1882) to the Chandler Scientific School of Dartmouth College.

3. Alice Burlev, born September 23, 1870.

4. Jennie Cilley Hurley, born September 10, 1872.

5. Benjamin Thomas Burley, born November 26, 1874.

THE EARM.

Before the year 1700, James Burley (II) settled in Exeter : his grandson, Thomas Burley (IV), during the last centurv, settled on the homestead farm now in possession of his great grand- son. The farm embraces about two hundred and sixty-five acres, ten of which are under cultivation, fiftv de- voted to grass, one hundred and forty to pasturage, the balance to a wood- lot. The soil is exceptionally rich and yields fine crops. Mr. Burley cuts from sixty to seventy tons of hay, keeps three horses, forty sheep, four cows, and fourteen oxen — the latter used for the most part in his lumber ope- rations. He also owns some four hun- dred acres of outlying woodland in Epping and adjoining towns, beside a joint interest in extensive tracts held with his partner, Mr. Dow.

THE OLD HOMESTEAD,

occupied by his father and grandfather, is a square, two-story structure, so frequently seen throughout New Eng- land, still standing a few rods north of his present residence, and facing to the south. A massive chimney rises from the middle. At present the house is unoccupied. Behind it are two large barns, well filled from last season's harvest.

THE RESIDENCE,

occupied by Mr. Burley and his family, is an attractive building of more mod- ern architecture than the old house. Its living room is lightened and bright- ened by two bay-windows, where the mistress of the home cultivates choice plants on which beautiful flowers bloom

��throughout the winter. This room is warmed by an open fire-place from which a generous back-log sends forth a genial warmth through the apart- ment : but the heat for the whole house is really generated in a boiler in the basement. Off from this room is the small office where Mr. Burley attends to the demands of business, and where he stores his books, the companions of his very few leisure hours.

The fields which surround the house are undulating, and to the south ex- tend like a lawn. In summer the view must be very sylvan ; in winter it is not tempting except in its promise of the spring.

EARLY LIFE.

Joseph C. Burley was an only son. He received the best education that the common schools of his native town afforded, and early in life became used to hard labor. He was chosen super- intending school committee when he came of age, showing thus early in life those qualities which recommend him to his townsmen. His first ven- ture away from home was to take charge of the station of the Boston & Maine Railroad, at Newmarket, in 1854. The death of his father, and the failing health of his mother, de- manded his return home to care for the farm and sustain her in her de- clining years.

BUSINESS CAREER.

He entered heartily into his work, and for the last quarter of a century he has been identified with all the leading enterprises and industries of his section of the state. For several years he was a director of the New- market Bank, organized under the laws of New Hampshire, and has continued a director ever since it accepted the charter of a national bank. Since 1878, he has been its president. Since its organization he has been president of the Epping Savings Bank. Early appreciating the advantages of railroad facilities he was an ardent advocate and promoter of the Nashua and Roch-

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