THE STATE SENATE OF 1879-80.
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��Mann is unmarried. He is a member of Burns Lodge, F. &r A. M.,at Littleton, and Franklin Chapter, at Lisbon.
Alfred M. Shaw, of the Third, or Lebanon District, is a native of Maine, having been* born in the town of Po- land, in that state, May 3, 18 19, and is therefore just sixty years of age. His father was Francis Shaw, a merchant of Poland. He received a common school and academical education, learned civil engineering, and subse- quently became largely interested as a railway contractor. He has been en- gaged to a greater or less extent in the construction of numerous railway lines in different parts of New England and New York, including, among others, the Boston & Providence, Old Colony, Kennebec & Portland, Air Line (from Rochester to Syracuse), Sugar River, and Peterborough roads. He has been for twenty years the regular civil engi- neer of the Northern Railroad. He has also been engaged in extensive building contracts outside of railroad work. He is pre-eminently a man of enterprise and action, and retains his youthful vigor in a marked degree. He has been for many years a resident of Lebanon, but previously had his resi- dence in Cambridge, Mass., and in the town of Andover, in this state, where, in Dec. 1848, he married Caroline D. Emery, a daughter of William Emery, of that town. He is a Republican, but not an intense partizan, and has been considerably in public life. He served in the Legislature in 1862 and 1863, and was one of the Presidential electors for this state in 1868, a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1876, was a member of the Senate last year, and was also appointed a member of the commission to build the new State Prison, in the duties of which position he is still engaged. He is a man of action rather than words, and his judg- ment in practical matters is regarded as reliable. He has served this year upon the .Committees on Railroads, Incorporations, and Military Affairs, being chairman of the former, a position usually of much importance and labor, and more than ordinarily so this year.
��teaching and farnring until he engaged in
��Senator Shaw is at present a Director of the Northern Railroad, and also of the Nashua & Lowell. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His religious associations are with the Methodist denomination. He has two children, both sons, the eldest of whom is engaged in flour manufacturing at Lebanon.
Hiram Hodgdon, of Ashland, Sena- tor from Plymouth District, No. Four, was born in the town of North field, Oct. 21, 1832, his father being John L. Hodgdon, a farmer of that town. He secured a first-class academical educa- tion, graduating at the N. H. Confer- ence Seminary, and was engaged in
1857, when mercantile business at Holderness village, now Ashland, where he has since resided and continued in trade, with the exception of two years in the real estate business in Chicago, 111. — 1870 and 1 87 1. He has recently, in company with a brother, engaged extensively in stock raising in Nebraska, and left home before the close of the late legislative session, to look after his interests there. He has not been en- gaged in public life, heretofore, with the exception of town offices, but was a member of Gov. Cheney's staff dur- ing his gubernatorial incumberncy. In the Senate he served upon the com- mittees on Military Affairs, Agriculture, and Roads, Bridges and Canals, being chairman of the latter.
Col. Hodgdon married in June, 1858, Miss Martha S. Webster, daughter of Nathaniel Webster, of Danville, but has no children. He is a member of Mt. Prospect Lodge, F. & A. M., at Ashland, and a liberal contributor to the support of the Free Baptist church at that place, and an active member of the society.
Isaac N. Blodgett, of Franklin, who represents the Fifth, or Laconia Dis- trict, has been prominent at the bar and in public life for several years past. He was born in the town of Canaan, Nov.. 6, 1838. His father was the late Hon. Caleb Blodgett, a prominent citizen of Grafton county, who served
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