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��THE STATE SENATE OF 1S79-S0.
��from the old ninth district, and during the legislative session of the following summer he was recognized as a leading member of the senate on the side of the majority and occupied the respon- sible position of chairman of the Judi- ciary Committee, there being no law- yer among the Republican senators that year. He also served upon the Finance Committee and the Committee on Towns.
Entering the present senate with a legislative experience more extended than that of any other member of the body he naturally exercised a strong influence in shaping its action, if not so conspicious in debate as some of the new members. He served as chairman of the Committee on Education, and was also a member of the Judiciary Committee and of the Committee on Manufactures.
Mr. Amidon's name has been fre- quently mentioned in connection with the congressional nomination of his party in the third district, and it is not improbable that, whenever the nomina- tion shall be accorded to his section of the district, he will find a strong sup- port, should he choose to be regarded as a candidate.
Mr. Amidon was married in May, 185 1, to Miss Mary J. Harvey, daughter of Loring Harvey, Esq., by whom he has three children living, two sons and a daughter.
Charles H. Burns, senator from the fifteenth or Peterborough district, was born in the town of Milford, January 19, 1835, being a son of Charles A. Burns, a farmer of that town, now de- ceased. He completed his education at the New Ipswich Academy, under the instruction of Prof. Quimby, and having determined to enter the legal profession he entered the law office of the late Col. O. W. Lull, in his native town, where lie diligently pursued his studies, and finally attended the Law School of Harvard University, where he graduated in the class of 1858. In May of that year he was admitted to the Suffolk bar in Boston, the late Chief Justice Shaw presiding, and in October following he was admitted to the New
��Hampshire bar, and in January, 1859, he located at Wilmot, where he has since remained in the practice of his chosen profession, to which he has been thoroughly devoted, and in which he has achieved enviable distinction and success.
A decided Republican in his polit- ical convictions, although never neg- lecting his professional business, he has frequently rendered his party efficient service upon the stump, where he has gained the reputation of being one of the ablest campaign speakers in the state. He was a delegate at large to the Republican National Convention at Cincinnati in 1876, and represented the New Hampshire delegation in the Committee on Resolutions. He was selected to preside at the last Repub- lican State Convention, holden in Con- cord September 10, 1878, and upon assuming the chair, made a forcible and earnest speech, in which he enun- ciated decided hard money doctrines, notwithstanding the apparently discour- aging result of the election in Maine on the preceeding day. Referring to this address in its report of the con- vention the Boston Journal said : "Although Mr. Burns' ability and schol- arship have for years been known to the public, yet it is only justice to him to say that his address today was the grandest effort of his life and places him in the very front rank of the earn- est, eloquent and impassioned speakers of our state."
Mr. Burns was elected to and dis- charged the duties of the office of Treasurer of Hillsborough County in 1864 and 1S65. In 1S76 he received an appointment as County Solicitor from Gov. Cheney, which office he still holds, having been elected thereto by the people at the late election under the amended constitution. In 1873 he was a member of the senate, from the old seventh district, in which body he- was at once accorded a leading posi- tion and served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to which position he was promptly assigned by President Gallinger in making up the committees of the present senate, and was also
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