CLASS OF 1861
The class of 1861 numbered fifty-eight members at graduation in July of that year. The Chandler School was at that time a separate institution, and its graduates appeared in the General Catalogues of the College prior to about 1895 in a class by themselves. None of the latter group are now alive.
Of the fifty-eight men who received the degree of. A.B., seven were living on January 1, 1926, as follows: George A. Bruce, Brookline, Mass. George W. Estabrook, Brookline, Mass. James P. Gilman, Reck Rapids, lowa. Harlan W. Page, Northfield, Minn. Edward D. Redington, Evanston, Ill. Galen B. Seaman, Daytona, Fla. William J. Tucker, Hanover, N. H.
The average age of these men at the beginning of 1926, was 87 years, 4 months, 14 days.
Bruce and Estabrook are retired lawyers, the former retiring from a successful practice many years ago, having distinguished himself as an officer in the War of the Rebellion. He was at one time president of the Massachusetts Senate at the same period that his classmate in College, George A. Marden, was the speaker of the House of the same legislature.
Estabrook continued in the practice of the law, making his specialty in the real estate branch of his profession, until three years ago. His only son graduated from Dartmouth in 1902. Estabrook has been a thoroughly loyal son of his Alma Mater, has always attended the reunions of his class, and has been one of the most popular members of the Boston Alumni Association.
J. P. Gilman was one of the oldest members of the class, and is now in his 92d year. He resides in Rock Rapids, lowa. After his graduation he came to that state and was employed in the engineering department of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway for several years, when he left the state for a season, continuing in the same occupation in Texas and Arkansas for several years thereafter, returning for a permanent residence in 1875, settling in Rock Rapids in the northwestern county in the state. He staked out the town site, taking in part payment for his services a block of land in the town, where he built himself a home in which he has resided since. He has been a widower for many years, and though he raised a family of five children, has preferred, until quite recently, to live alone. He purchased a farm of 80 acres adjoining the town soon after he settled there, of which he had personal supervision until he was nearly ninety years of age. He has never been back to Dartmouth to a class reunion, but the present Secretary of the class has kept in touch with him, and he has always manifested great interest in the progress of the College.
Of the seven surviving members of the class, the one who has been the most useful, certainly in the cause of education and in the community where he has resided for more than half a century, is Harlan W. Page of Northfield, Minn. Following the teacher's profession for a short time after graduation, and a brief period as a clerk in the U. S. Treasury at Washington, he was, nearly a year, clerk for his classmate Redington, the latter being a paymaster in the Army in 1864-65. Redington was ordered to Springfield, Ill., in June, 1864, to pay mustered out troops, and Page went with him. On the muster-out of the paymaster in December, 1865, by reason of the close of the war, Page decided to remain West, and after a brief stay in lowa, took up a residence in Austin, Minn., where he engaged in private banking, afterwards incorporating as a national bank, of which he became the cashier. He became at an early date greatly interested in the educational problems of the state, and at the incorporation of Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., he was elected a trustee, and has held the position for fifty-five years. In the early history of the college he was elected financial secretary and treasurer. In 1910 he was retired on the Carnegie Foundation, but has been busy since as an adviser and helper in many ways to the president. Because of his long residence and his activities in the secular and religious activities of the community, he might well be considered the first citizen of the place. While a resident of Austin he represented the town in the legislature and was both president and treasurer of the school board. He never sought office, but whenever he was a candidate he never was defeated. On his retirement from the offices he held in the college, the ALUMNI MAGAZINE had this to say of him: "Training and experience added to a temperament especially adapted to the duties of his position have made him the right man in the right place. He has been the wise and able counselor whose wise and timely presence and suggestion have helped all with whom he came in contact, whether on the board or with the faculty, students or townspeople. Modest, retiring, self-effacing, he is at the age of 88 a splendid representative of the alumni of Dartmouth College."
Galen B. Seaman. Soon after graduation Seaman settled in Milwaukee, Wis., and was admitted to the bar in 1865; was engaged in general practice till 1873, but subsequently confined his activities to real estate and probate law. Before taking up the practice of the law, he was for three years principal of one of the city schools. He served a term or two in the Wisconsin legislature, and was also Assessor of internal revenue. About twenty-five years ago he retired from active business and removed to Daytona, Fla., where he still resides. In 1911 he wrote the Secretary that he was killing time by running a newspaper, keeping up a pretty good garden, and caring for a few hundred hens. He was mayor of Daytona in 1908-1909, and procured the construction of an excellent system of water works for the city. Seaman is a born optimist and has a keen sense of humor. He lost his sight over a year ago, becoming totally blind, but did not sit down in despair. He invented a contrivance which has enabled him to write a very legible hand at 88 years of age.
William Jewett Tucker. The best beloved member of the class and of all the alumni of the College is its President Emeritus, William Jewett Tucker, whose record as minister, teacher, college president, and administrator is so well known, not only by the alumni of his Alma Mater, but by the educational world. Coming to the presidency of Dartmouth when there were changing conditions in regard to education and many new problems to engage his attention, he became the founder of the New Dartmouth, and for sixteen years of strenuous and unremitting service was laying foundations for the successful administration of the present incumbent of the presidency. Laid aside through many years of great invalidism, but with keen mental powers preserved, he can confidently rest assured that he has the love of all the alumni of the no longer "Small College", but of a national institution, which is a monument to his wisdom and far-seeing vision.
Edward D. Redington. The Secretary of the class has led a not altogether prosaic life. After a brief term of teaching in the academy where he prepared for college, he enlisted in 1862 in a Vermont regiment, serving in that during the nine months' period of enlistment. Subsequently, from February, 1864, to December 1, 1865, he served as paymaster, U. S. A., under a commission signed by President Lincoln. In the fall of 1866 in the line of his previous occupation he was appointed paymaster of the Kansas Pacific R. R., which was being built from Kansas City to Denver, the terminus then being Junction City, Kansas. He held this position till 1871, engaging then in the lumber business till 1875 at Lawrence, Kansas, when the scourge of grasshoppers forced him to change his habitat, when he removed to Chicago, where and in Evanston he has since resided. During all these years, in light and shadow, he has been more or less interested in civic and church affairs, and has been loyal to the college of his love. From 1895 to 1905 he was a trustee of the college, and somewhat active in turning the attention of prospective students desiring an Eastern training to his Alma Mater. He has had three sons graduate there; and while, when two of them entered in 1896, there were less than a half dozen from the state of Illinois, the enrollment now from this year s catalogue numbers 134. From 1897 to 1907 Redington was a jury commissioner of Cook County (which embraced Chicago), serving four terms. This was a non-political office under a new law, and the appointment was made by the judges of the Courts of record of the county. For nearly thirty-eight years Redington has been connected with the Chicago office of the Provident Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia, and was in active business till 1925. He has never had any special hobby, but his avocation now is in keeping close touch by correspondence with the other six members of his class who still survive, and keeping his pulse on what is transpiring at the College on Hanover Plain.
Secretary, 512 Lake St., Evanston, Ill.
