194
��THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
��bankers can control appropriations, foreign relations, finance, commerce, manufactures and mines ; lawyers the judiciary : — the great departments of the government will run in a rut of their own momentum ; the shoulder of a giant is needed to raise the wheels from the rut. There is needed in the hails of congress, the statesman, the phil- anthropi ;t the hum u^tarian, the reform- er, the man with broad sympathies and tender nature, quick to respond to the wants of his countrymen.
Lately it was my privilege to occupy a seat in the gallery of the senate chamber and look down upon the senate of the United States. Con-
cuousin that assembly for the dignity of his bearing, the courtesy of his manners, and the charm of his per- sonality, was our honored senator, Hexrv W. Blair, a sketch of whose struggle in life from humble beginnings to his present eminent position, it is my purpose to lay before the readers of the Granite Monthly.
Henry William Blair, son of Wil- liam Henry and Lois (Baker) Blair, was born in Campton, December 6, 1834. On his father's side he traces his descent from a Scotch-Irish em- igrant ancestor, who first settled in Londonderry. The family, in com- pany with the Coxes, Shepards and Livermores, were among the first set- tlers of the Pemigewasset valley. Mr. William H. Blair was born in Camp- ton, was a teacher in his youth, mar- ried and settled in Campton, and died there December 8, 1836, from inju- ries received by the falling of the frame of a building. Mrs. Lois Blair was a descendant of the Bakers of Candia, of an influential family in Campton, a teacher before her marriage, a fine singer, -'gifted with remarkable mental endowments and rare sweetness of disposition." She died in 1846. Four children blessed their union :
1. Hannah Palmer Blair, born 1830 ; died 1843.
2. Moses Baker Blair, born 1832; died 1857.
��3. Henry W. Blair, born Dec. 6, 1834.
4. Lois Esther Blair, born May 27, 1837 ; married John Henry Giles, of Chelsea, Ma
The untimely death of the husband and father left his widow and family very poor ; they were obliged to sep- arate. At the early age of eight Henry was taken into the family of Richard Bartlett, of Campton, with whom he remained until he was seven- teen years of age, laboring upon the farm and enjoying the usual privileges of country common schools. He had a home with the Bartletts until he
��came ot age
��Mr. Biair often speaks of his home with the Bartletts, and always in terms of the highest respect, affection and gratitude. Mr. Bartlett was a nephew of William Bartlett, the merchant prince of New- buryport during the early years of the country, two of whose brothers, Eben- ezer and David, emigrated to Camp- ton and were among the most upright and honored of the earlier settlers of that town. Their descendants were numerous and influential in that vicin- ity and in every community where they have resided. Mr. Richard Bart- lett died in i860; Mrs. Bartlett, hon- ored and beloved by everybodv, is now the wife of Dea. Morris, of Mere- dith Village.
In the midst of the grand and sub- lime scenery of his native valley young Blair was maturing a noble character, a sound intellect, and a healthy body. He was a pupil of the Holmes academy, at Plymouth, two fall terms in 1851-52, and, under the instruction of the principal, Rev. James H. Shepard, made rapid progress in his studies. His ambition was aroused, his thirst for knowledge was insatiable, and he resolved to receive the benefits of a collegiate education, unaided save by his clear brain and active muscles. His struggle was heroic ; early and late he toiled with head and hands to accomplish his chosen purpose. From the time he was seventeen, he labored, taught school, canvass-
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