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He had resolved in early youth to adopt the profession of teaching, his first
attempt being a school at Gilmanton, New Hampshire, when he was sixteen years of age.
In the light of modern ideas, he now questions whether he taught or simply kept the
school.
Before graduating, he was engaged to take charge of the Grammar School at
South Hingham, Massachusetts, and entered upon his duties there in August, 1864.
He remained there until the Spring of 1866, when, in a competitive examination,
he was the successful candidate for the position of Principal of the Cradock Grammar
School at Medford, Massachusetts. He was soon after elected Principal of the High
School at Needham, Massachusetts, but for good and sufficient reasons he declined the
position and remained at Medford until November, 1868, at which time he removed to
Winchester, Massachusetts, and assumed the duties of Principal of the Grammar School.
While there, he was presented with a handsome gold watch, which would indicate the
esteem in which he was held. Although he had a liberal salary among a very intelligent
and appreciative people, he preferred to teach in a school of higher grade, and accepted
an invitation to become Master of the High School at Hingham, Massachusetts. In the
Summer of 1872, he moved to his present field of labor. In this ancient and honorable
town there had been an Academy for nearly seventy-five years; but as it did not meet the
growing wants of all its people, the town made a very liberal appropriation to establish a
free High School. He had the pleasure of organizing the school in September, 1872, and
has been its only Principal.
In the Fall of 1873, he was invited and urged to return to Winchester,
Massachusetts, as Principal of the High School, but thought best to decline.
With no further fluctuations of place, he has been, for the past twelve years,
anchored to the South Shore, so near to Plymouth Rock that he frequently hears from
the Pilgrim Fathers.
He feels a pride, in common with other residents of Hingham, that the town is
taxed more proportionately for educational purposes than most towns in Massachusetts,
and has the reputation of supporting good schools. They also have the oldest church in
the United States used for public worship, and have given the State two noble
Governors, Andrew and Long.
He is still teaching, and hopes to die in the harness. He has been absent from
school but three or four days on account of sickness since leaving college, and, were he
to begin life again, would select the same calling, from which it may be inferred that he
does not find it irksome. His school has a good physical apparatus and chemical
laboratory, and he aims to teach according to the latest and best methods.
He has been honored with no title but pedagogue, and although living where
governors are made, does not expect or aspire to be one.
He has twice been elected President of the Plymouth County Teachers'
Association, and has read papers on educational topics before local, county and state
organizations. He is a Trustee of the Hingham Public Library.
He is a deacon in the Evangelical Congregational Church of Hingham. In politics,
he has always been a Republican.
He was married October 30, 1869, to Miss Louisa Attelia Slader, daughter of the
late Edward A. Slader, of Nashua, New Hampshire.
He says: "Let me add by way of advice to my bachelor classmates, especially my
old chum,' that the step has proved a wise one, for in my wife I have a devoted
companion and an invaluable aid."
They have no children.
Source: "Memorialia
of the Class of '64 in Dartmouth College" complied by
John C. Webster, Shepard & Johnston, Printers, 1884,
Chicago
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