built close together. Only an intelligent study of a map of the city will give one an idea of its plan. It was not modeled after the city of Philadelphia. from Lowell to clothe the world. Of woolen goods, more than eight million yards. Nearly three million yards of carpeting are made in the city every year, and a fabulous number of shawls. Over seventeen millions of dollars Thirteen million pairs of stockings were are invested in manufacturing. There the last year's product. The Southern are one hundred and fifty-three mills, States contribute yearly thirty-four over eight hundred thousand spindles, thousand tons of cotton, which is here and twenty thousand looms. The mills made into the most delicate fabrics. give employment to thirteen thousand The calico and printed goods made in female operatives and ten thousand Lowell in the year 1882 would twice male operatives. Two hundred million encircle the earth at the equator-and yards of cotton goods are yearly sent then all would not be used to do it. THE GRANITE MONTHLY. A NEW HAMPSHIRE MAGAZINE. Devoted to Literature, Biography, History, and State Progress. No. 12. VOL. IX. DECEMBER, 1886. BANKS AND BANKERS OF CONCORD. It is now more than eighty years since the banking business was introduced into Concord. June 18, 1806, Timothy Walker, Caleb Stark, John Bradley, John Mills, Robert Harris, Ebenezer Peasley, Richard Ayer, William Whittle, William A. Kent, Joshua Darling, Thomas W. Thompson, Aquila Davis, John Chandler, Baruch Chase, Joseph Towne, and Joseph Clough and their associates were incorporated by the name of the President, Directors, and Company of the CONCORD BANK. There immediately arose dissension in the board of directors as to the location of the bank, the party favoring the "north end" being led by Hon. Timothy Walker; the party favoring the "south end" being led by Colonel William A. Kent. As a result two banks went into operation under the same charter, each claiming exclusively to be the Concord Bank, one called the Upper Bank, the other the Lower Bank. Mr. Walker was the first president of the Upper Bank, and Samuel Sparhawk was the first cashier. Mr. Towne was president, and Mr. Kent was cashier, of the Lower Bank. The division led to considerable litigation, which after a while was amicably settled, and the two banks continued to do business until the charter expired in 1826, when the Upper Bank obtained a new charter and took the name of the Merrimack County Bank. The Lower Bank also obtained a new charter, and continued to do business until it failed in 1840. THE MECHANICKS BANK was incorporated July 5, 1834. Its original incorporators were Peter Renton, Abner B. Kelley, Horatio Hill, Joseph W. Harper, Nathaniel G. Upham, Abel Baker, Benjamin Evans, William Low, Joseph Low, Cyrus Barton, Ralph Metcalf, Nathaniel Curtis, James Minot, Arnold Carroll, Moody Kent, Ezra Carter, William Richardson, and Isaac F. Williams. The original officers were Nathaniel G. Upham, president; George Minot, cashier; N. G. Upham, Peter Renton, Horatio Hill, J. M. Harper, N. Curtis, and A. B. Kelley, directors. The original capital was $100,000. The charter of the bank was extended June 22, 1853, and its affairs were closed in 1865. The last officers were Josiah Minot, president; Charles Minot, cashier. MINOT & Co., consisting of Josiah and Charles Minot, commenced banking business in January, 1866. Their business was incorporated January 3, 1880, as the Mechanicks National Bank, with a capital of $100,000. Josiah Minot was the first president; B. A. Kimball, vice-president; James Minot, cashier; Josiah Minot, Benjamin A. Kimball, Joseph B. Walker, Edward H. Rollins, Charles H. Amsden, John M. Hill, and Sargent C. Whitcher, directors. At present Benjamin A. Kimball is the president; Joseph B. Walker, vice-president; James Minot, cashier; and B. A. Kimball, J. B. Walker, Josiah Minot, C. H. Amsden, E. H. Rollins, John Kim ball, and J. M. Hill are directors. The three last named directors have received notice in former numbers of the GRANITE MONTHLY. A few lines here may not inappropriately be devoted to the quiet and gentlemanly cashier, with whom the business public in their dealings with the bank come most in contact. JAMES MINOT, son of Jonas and Ann (Bartlett) Minot, and grandson of James Minot of Bristol, was born April 12, 1843, in Clarkson, Monroe county, New York, and received his education at the Collegiate Institute, in Brockport, New York. In August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in the 140th Regiment New York Volunteers, and went to the front. He served with his regiment through many hard fought battles, including Chancellorsville, until He was ex in the first day's battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, he was severely wounded, and captured by the enemy. He had a bit of experience in Southern prisons until he was parolled the following September. changed in January, 1865, and received an honorable discharge, on account of wounds received at the Wilderness, the following June. In November, 1865, he entered a banking office in Brockport, where he remained nearly two years, or until he came to Concord, in April, 1867, and went into the employment of his uncles, Minot & Company. Upon the organization of the Mechanicks National Bank, in January, 1880, he was appointed cashier. He married May 15, 1874, Fanny E., daughter of Hazen and Martha A. (Drew) Pickering, of Concord. He is an Odd Fellow, a member of the South Congregational church, and belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, of which organization he is a member of the National Council of Administration. Mr. Minot belongs to a family many members of which have been noted financiers, and he sustains the family reputation. One sees in him a representative veteran of the grand old army of the Potomac, modest, quiet, brave, fearless, patriotic, intelligent, such as the South at first under-estimated, but soon learned to dread from their dauntless courage and cool determination. THE NATIONAL STATE CAPITAL BANK was organized January 26, 1853, as the State Capital Bank. The first directors were Samuel Butterfield, Abram Bean, R. N. Corning, Hall |