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��HON. ONSLOW STEARNS.
��treat the matter in hand in a thoroughly practical and businesslike manner, ex- ercising the same judgment and dis- crimination as in the management of his private and business affairs. Al- though firmly attached to his party, he was less a partisan in the exercise of his official functions than many of his pred- ecessors had been, and was the first Republican governor of New Hamp- shire to nominate a Democrat to a po- sition upon the Supreme Bench, which he did in 1870, when Hon. Wm. S. Ladd of Lancaster was made an asso- ciate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Judge Nesmith. This ac- tion, although denounced by many of his Republican friends, is now regarded by all as having been wise and judi- cious, inasmuch as the ultimate out- come has been a thoroughly non-parti- san judiciary in our state, and a univer- sal desire and determination to maintain the same.
The cause of education found in. Mr. Stearns a warm friend, and in the wel- fare of Dartmouth College, which insti- tution in 1857, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts, he took special interest. His first public address after assuming the gubernato- rial office, was upon the occasion of the college centennial, wherein he took de- cided ground in favor of such liberal aid from the state as might be necessary to make the institution permanently effec- tive for the public good.
In religious sympathies and convic- tions Mr. Stearns was a Unitarian, and was an active and influential member of the Unitarian Society of Concord, dur- ing his long residence in the .city, con- tributing liberally for the support of public worship, upon which he was a constant attendant, and for all its aux- iliary purposes and objects. Thor- oughly public-spirited, he never failed to give material support to all measures
��which seemed to him calculated to ad- vance the interests of his adopted city as well as the state at large, nor were his social duties in the least neglected, notwithstanding the pressing cares of public and business life.
The long and arduous labor of his life was not without its substantial re- ward, and he became the possessor of an ample fortune, enabling him to dis- pense a liberal hospitality. Among the many distinguished persons entertained in his elegant mansion, were two incum- bents of the chief magistracy of the United States — General Grant and Mr. Hayes, each of whom became his guest when visiting our State Capital. The estate which he left at his decease, amounted to upwards of three hundred thousand dollars in value, and exceeds any ever left by any other individual in the county of Merrimack, as the result of his own labors.
Mr. Stearns was united in marriage- June 26, 1845, with Miss Mary A. Hol- brook, daughter of Hon. Adin Hol- brook of Lowell, Mass., and with her, established a home in Concord the fol- lowing year, in the location where he continued to reside, making numerous improvements from time to time, throughout his life. Five children, a son and four daughters are the fruit of this union. The son, Charles O. Stearns is engaged in the office of the Old Colony Railroad in Boston. The eldest daughter, Mary, is the wife of Brevet Brigadier General John R. Brooke of the United States Army now engaged in the frontier service ; the second daughter, Margaret, is now Mrs. Ingalls of North Adams, Mass. ; the other daughters, Sarah and Grace, re- main with their mother at the family residence in "Concord, where the hus- band and father, after a brief illness of a few days, quietly departed this life, December 29, 1878.
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