it is readily accessible, and those who cannot make a longer stay can there pass a day or two to advantage. Those who have more time at their command, can profitably stop over for a time, either in going or coming, at Warner, and visit Kearsarge Mountain, to the summit of which there is now an excellent carriage road. This is one of the finest mountains in the State, and its summit affords a more extended prospect than any other in New England south of the White Mountain region.
As this number of the Granite Monthly goes to press the centennial celebration of the battle of Bennington is in full progress. Hundreds—we may even say thousands—of the citizens of New Hampshire are on the ground, participating in the patriotic demonstration, including a large delegation of our citizen soldiery. As the Granite State was well represented upon the same ground a hundred years ago—as the valorous deeds of her sons under their heroic leader, John Stark, then made the field of Bennington immortal—it is indeed most fitting that the State should be well represented upon this centennial occasion, and that a conspicuous part in the exercises should be assigned to her representatives—a part which will be performed with honor, as was the case upon the previous great occasion.
Our enterprise is receiving very general commendation from those of our people to whose notice it has been brought. The utility of a State Magazine seems to be recognized by a considerable portion of our leading citizens, though there are of course a variety of opinions as to the plan upon which it should be conducted, and the ground it should cover. It is our aim to meet, as far as may be, the average demand, and in this we believe we have succeeded as well as could be expected under the circumstances. While expressing our thanks for the encouragement and assistance already received, we would also suggest that it is in the power of our friends to do much toward making our enterprise a success. Contributions of historical, biographical, local or general interest, will be most acceptable, while that substantial encouragement which takes the form of an increase in the subscription list will always be duly appreciated. In this connection we suggest that each subscriber to the Monthly call the attention of friends and neighbors, who are not subscribers, to the publication, with a view to inducing them to become such. In this way great assistance can be rendered with very little effort.
In the biographical sketch of Col. Henry O. Kent with which this number of the Monthly is opened, in referring to his ancestry it might have been mentioned that the old family homestead in Newbury, settled by Col. Jacob Kent of the French and Revolutionary Wars, has always remained in the family, and is now owned by Capt. Clark Kent. Col. Jacob Kent, well known as a former U. S. Marshal of Vermont, formerly landlord of the Coossuck House at Wells River, and prominent in social and political affairs in that State, now resides with his brother Clark, on the old place.
Gen. Loren Kent, who was Adjutant and Colonel of the Twenty-ninth Illinois Regiment, and distinguished himself at Pittsburg Landing and Mobile, was Provost Marshal of Grant's Western army, was made Brigadier General, and died Collector of the port of Galveston, Texas, of yellow fever, in 1866, was a cousin of Col. Kent, a son of his father's brother Adrial Kent. He was born on Parker Hill, Lyman, but went west with his father when quite young. Another cousin, James S. Kent, son of John C. Kent, a native of Lyman Plain, (now Monroe), served in Berdan's regiment of Sharp-shooters, and was killed at Gettysburg.
