Excerpt from Men of Progress: Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Leaders in Business and Professional Life in and of the State of New Hampshire Amidon, charles jacob, Woolen Manufac turer, Hinsdale, was born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, April 23, 1827, son of Otis and Nancy (cook) Amidon. He traces his descent from Roger Ainidon, a Huguenot, who escaping from siege of Rochelle, France, went to England, and subsequently coming to America, settled in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1636, and who was one of the original proprie tors of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Roger Amidon's great-grandson Jacob a Harvard student when the Revolution broke out, joined the army in time to fight at Bunker Hill, was captured by the British and afterwards confined on a prison ship in New York harbor. He settled in Chesterfield in 1782, and died there in 1839, aged eighty-six years. His son, Otis Amidon, farmer and merchant, was a man of prominence of the town, which he repeatedly represented in the Legislature, and by which he was honored with many local offices. The subject of this sketch received his education in the common schools of Chesterfield, at a time when the schools of Cheshire county were considered the best in the state, and he also attended Chesterfield Academy for many terms. In his early manhood he was a successful teacher, but in 1849 he formed a partner ship with the late Henry 0. Coolidge, the firm going into business at Chesterfield Center. In 1851 Mr. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.