Page:One of a thousand.djvu/398

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

3§4 LOTHROP. LOTHROl', Mr. Loring was married at Salem, November 5, 1S51, to Mary 'I'., daughter of Dr. Thomas and Sophia (Palmer) Pick- man, who died December 20, 1862. His second marriage was in New York, June 10, 1880, to Mrs. Anne S. Hildreth, daughter of Isaac T. and Elizabeth (Putnam) Smith. LOTHROP, DANIEL, son of Daniel and Sophia (Home) Lothrop, was born in Rochester, Strafford county, N. H., August it, 1S31. On the paternal side he is descended from Mark Lothrop, who settled in Salem January 1 i, 1644, his line subsequently joining that of Priscilla and John Alden, of the " Mayflower." On the maternal side he is a lineal descendant from William Home, of Home's Hill, Dover, N. H., who was killed in the Indian massacre of June 28, 1689. Mr. Lothrop as a student was quick, and possessed of a singularly retentive mem- ory. He was in mathematics a young prodigy. At the age of fourteen he was prepared for college, but by advice of friends he was restrained from entering so early upon that connection. While wait- ing, circumstances thrust him into the arena of business. On reaching his decision to remain out of college for a year, he assumed charge of the drug store of his brother, who, de- siring to attend medical lectures in Phila- delphia, invited him to carry on the business during his absence. The store became his college, where his love for books soon led him to introduce them as an adjunct to the business. When seven- teen years of age, he hired ami stocked a store in New Market, N. H. Having this in successful operation, he called a third brother, who about this time was admitted to the firm, and left him in charge of the new establishment, while he established a similar store at Meredith Bridge, now called Laconia. These three brothers for more than forty years have remained in co-partnership, with absolute unity of in- terests, though in distinct lines of business and located in different cities. Mr. Lothrop has passed through various activities and widely divergent fields of operation. In 1850 he bought the stock of books held by Elijah Wadleigh, Dover, N. H., enlarged the business and made it a literary centre. He established branch stoles in many places, books being the principal stock ; made an extended trip West, grasping the vast possibilities of that country; opened a store in St. Peter, Minn., and later on a banking house, of which his uncle, Dr. Jeremiah Home, was cashier ; in his book and drug store he placed one of his clerks from the East, B. F. Paul, now one of the wealthiest men in Minnesota Valley, and established two other stores in the same section of the country. In the years following, 1857 and DANIEL LOTHROP '58, years of financial panic, the conduct- ing of his extensive business demanded all his elements of good generalship. Mr. Lothrop, when he had placed his western branch houses on a good footing, came East, and for the next four years directed his enterprises from the quiet book store in Dover. Soon after the close of the civil war he closed up his various en- terprises in order to concentrate his force for the accomplishment of his long-ma- tured plan of publishing for the people. He set himself to work to create a greater demand for home and town libra- ries. He determined to publish nothing sensational, nothing save good, strong, attractive literature. His headquarters were planted in Boston. He was success- ful, and to-day he is broadening his field in many directions, gathering the rich thought of many men of letters, science and theology among his publications. When the time was ripe, he issued the " Wide Awake," a magazine of popular