Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 2.djvu/142

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130

��HON. MOODY CURRIER.

��surer of the Amoskeag Axe Company since its organization in 1S62 : a Director in the Manchester Gas Light Company since 1862 ; a Director in the Manchester Mills since the "organization of the cor- poration in 1874; Treasurer of the Con- cord & Portsmouth Railroad Company since 1856 ; Treasurer of the Concord Railway Company in 1871-'72; and is now Treasurer of the New England Loan Company, and President of the Eastern Railroad Company in New Hampshire.

He was Clerk of the New Hampshire Senate in 1843- , 44. and was elected a member of that body from the 3d District in 1856-*57, and was President of the Senate in the latter year. He was elected Councillor in 1860-'61, and was Chairman of the War Committee of the Council during the first fifteen months of the War of the Rebellion. In that position he ex- hibited great ability and energy, and ren- dered efficient service to the state and the nation. He entered with his whole soul into the business of raising and equipping troops, and won great praise from all parties for his efforts in this direction. The first eight regiments of infantry, the First New Hampshire Battery, together with four companies of cavalry and three companies of sharp-shooters, were or- ganized, equipped and sent to the front with the utmost dispatch, while Mr. Cur- rier was at the head of the War Commit- tee. In compliment to him, the rendez- vous qf the Eighth Regiment at Man- chester was named "Camp Currier."

Mr. Currier has been three times mar- ried. His first wife was Miss Lucretia Dnstin to whom he was married, Dec. 8, 1S36. His second wife, to whom he was married September 5, 1847, was Miss Mary W. Kidder. He was married to Miss Hannah A. Slade, his present wife, November 16, 1869.

He has had three children, one of whom, Charles M. Currier, survives, and is the Teller of the Amoskeag National Bank.

��Mr. Currier has an ardent temperament and versatile talent. His practical judg- ment is shown in the success of the bank- ing institutions which he has managed for many years, and also in the success of the various other enterprises with which he has been connected in an official capacity. He is methodical and cautious in his habits, and has always sustained the reputation of being honorable and upright in all his business relations.

He maintains a high rank as a scholar and, unlike many other men who have enjoyed the advantages of a liberal edu- cation, he has throughout his whole life taken a strong interest in the study of literature, science and philosophy. He retains a taste for the ancient classics and is quite familiar with the French, German, and several other modern lan- guages; he has written many pieces of poetry, at intervals of leisure, which are very creditable in taste and composition. He is an independent thinker upon all subjects, and though he is decided in his convictions and frank in the avowal of his opinions, cheiishesa tolerant spirit, and entertains the highest respect for those with whom he is obliged to differ.

By industry and prudence he has ac- quired a handsome fortune, and his resi- dence is a model of taste. He is liberal of his gifts to worthy objects and espec- ially to those which relate to intellectual culture. In 1876 he presented to the Manchester City Library upwards of 700 volumes of valuable books, — standard, classical, illustrated, ecclesiastical, and scientific. These books were numbered and classed in the catalogue of the libra- ry as the " Currier Donation." In ac- knowledgment of this generous gift, res- olutions of thanks to Mr. Currier were passed in both branches of the City Gov- ernment, and by the Board of Trustees of the City Library.

He has been for many years a member of the Unitarian Society of Manchester, and one of its most liberal benefactors.

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