Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 7.djvu/49

 CORNELIUS VAN NESS DEARBORN.

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��■seventeenth year not yet completed, he taught the school of a neighboring district. His success warranted his -continuance as teacher in the vicinity for the five following winters. Con- tinuing his farm labors in summer, he in the meantime developed a mechan- ical capacity in the making of farm ■implements and the erection of buildings, — a natural aptitude which has been of great service in maturer years.

Soon after attaining the age of eighteen, Mr. Dearborn determined to enter upon a course of study pre- paratory to a professional life. Before leaving Corinth he commenced the study of law with Rodney Lund, a young man who had commenced practice in the vicinity. In March, 1854, at the suggestion of his mater- nal uncle, Dr. W. W. Brown, he came to Manchester, and renewed his law studies in the office of Hon. Isaac W. Smith, with whom he remained till his admission to the bar in the fall of 1855.

In December, 1855, he opened an office at Francestown. The town afforded a safe opening for a young practitioner, but not one for large profits. There was a time, after the close of the war of 181 2, when the trade of Francestown village exceeded that of any other locality in Hills- borough county. But the opening of the raih-oad to Nashua, and soon after to Manchester, entirely changed the ■centers of trade and business, and left Francestown to become a respect- able and very quiet village.

Hitherto Mr. Dearborn, while en- tertaining positive views, had not actively participated in political dis- •cussion. But the year 1856 witnessed the consolidation of the anti-slavery sentiment of the country. It had already so far concentrated its strength in New Hampshire as to have secured the state government and a imani- mous representation in congress. The nomination of John C. Fremont for president, in the summer of that year, chastened the organization of the anti-

��slavery elements of the entire north under the name of the Republican ])arty. In common with a majority of the intelligent young men of the state, Mr. Dearborn entered into this contest with all the zeal, vigor, and enthusiasm of one whose action is untrammeled by personal or partisan ends. The campaign which followed was the most brilliant and far-reaching in its results of any in the political history of the nation. No idea ever agitated the American mind to which calculating selfishness was more foreign. Even the great uprising which brought about the AVar of Independence was less free from selfish motives. And, though the general result in the presi- dential election of that year was ad- verse, yet in New Hampshire, as in every state north of Pennsylvania, the returns clearly showed that the cause of freedom had acquired an over- ruling strength.

In June, 1S57, Mr. Dearborn was united in marriage with Miss Louie Frances Eaton, daughter of Moses W. and Louisa S. Eaton, of Frances- town, and grand-daughter of Dr. Thomas Eaton, a physician of long and extensive practice, and one of the most extensive farmers of his time. In 1857 he was elected county treas- urer, and re-elected in 1858. It was the first public position he had held, and its duties were satisfactorily dis- charged.

In 1 85 8 he removed to Peterbor- ough, occupying the office of E. S. Cutter, Esq., who had recently been appointed clerk of the courts for Hillsborough county. He resided in Peterborough till 1865. During this time he was in partnership with Charles G. Cheney, and afterward with Albert S. Scott, both of whom have since died. He represented the town in the legislature in the years 1861 and 1862, being a member of the judiciary committee.

In the summer of 1865 he removed to Nashua, for the purpose of contin- uing the practice of his profession. An accidental purchase led to a change

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