By Muriel Bristol | November 2, 2023
Continued from Milton’s NH State Representatives – 1803-1902
New Hampshire’s legislature or General Court is a bicameral one. It has lower and upper houses, known respectively as the House of Representatives and the Senate. All of its officers, including its Governor and his Executive Council, are elected simultaneously for two-year periods known as “biennia.”
This period marks the beginnings of preliminary primary elections, rather than local party caucus meetings, prior to the general election for these seats.
New Hampshire’s State House now furnishes material for a daily despatch to the outside newspapers on the candidacies for office there declared under the new primary law. For example, Clarence K. Car of Andover filed his application for a place as Democratic nominee Thursday morning, while at noon Colonel Bertram Ellis of Keen walked into the secretary of state’s office to deposit one hundred dollars and make his declaration. Announcements of legislative candidates come to light daily. That direct primaries work better than the caucuses is yet to be demonstrated in any part of the Union, but New Hampshire’s experience, as a piece of Yankee-land, may well be awaited with interest (Boston Evening Transcript, July 23, 1910).
In the reconstructed New Hampshire State House, dedicated yesterday, we trust the changes have not removed that famous guide, whose chief bon mot was delivered when pointing to the picture of Franklin Pierce: “This is the picture of the only President of the United States that New Hampshire ever had or ever will have” (Boston Evening Transcript, October 26, 1910).
Milton’s NH State Representatives elected during this period were:
1903-04, John E. Townsend, r; 1905-06, Fred B. Roberts, r; 1907-08, Haven R. Jewett, r; 1909-10, Carl E. Pinkham, d; 1911-12, John W. Avery, d; 1913-14, Joseph D. Willey, d; 1915-16, James J. Buckley, r; 1917-18, Moses G. Chamberlain, r; 1919-20, George E. Jordan, r; 1921-22, Fred S. Hartford, r; 1923-24, Frank D. Stevens, r; 1925-26, Seth F. Dawson, Jr., r; 1927-28, Moses G. Chamberlain, r; 1929-30, Fred B. Roberts, r; 1931-32, Moses G. Chamberlain, r; 1933-34, Fred B. Roberts, r; 1935-36, Stanley C. Tanner, d; 1937-38, George W. Longley, r; 1939-40, Lyman Plummer, r; 1941-42, 1943-44, George W. Longley, r; 1945-46, 1947-48, 1949-50, 1951-52, 1953-54, John E. Horne, r.;
(Where sources provided party affiliations they have been included after the Representative’s name ([d]=democrat, and [r]=republican)).
And here may be found some details of the State House’s construction and several remodeling and upgrade projects.
Concord’s First State House. THE CORNERSTONE of the first state house was laid September 24, 1816.
Three thousand dollars were originally appropriated by the legislature to commence operations. The inhabitants of Concord donated the original two acres of land. Granite for the building was hewn by convicts at the state prison and was delivered free of charge to the state by the citizens of the city.
On the eighteenth of July, 1818, the gilded eagle atop the dome was raised to its place in public ceremony. The building was completed in 1819 with a total expenditure of nearly $82,000.On September 20, 1864, ground was broken for enlargement of the state house and the building was ready for occupancy at the convening of the legislature on June 6, 1866, at a cost of $200,000. The changes made increased the depth of the building on the west side and added a French roof story on the west side and one on the north and south wings. It enlarged representatives’ hall and the senate chamber. The outward appearance of the building was materially improved by the construction of the portico and the removal of the doors leading into the north and south wings. A third remodelling and new addition was completed in 1910, when the enlarged New Hampshire state house was opened to public inspection and formally dedicated October 25 of that year. The cost for this project was $280,000 (Concord Monitor (Concord, NH), August 1, 1949).
References:
Scales, John. (1914). History of Strafford County, New Hampshire and Representative Citizens. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=nGsjAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA512
SeacoastNH. (1998). All about the Old NH Statehouse [in Portsmouth]. Retrieved from www.seacoastnh.com/all-about-the-old-nh-statehouse/?showall=1
Milton Observer 