Nathan W. Gove (1817 - 1871)
Born at Chester (NH); died at Concord (NH).
Civil War veteran; state civil servant.
Portrait by Wyatt Kimball, probably after c. 1870 photograph.
Presented to the State, date unknown.
Location: Legislative Ofice Building, Room 210

Nathan W. Gove was appointed New Hampshire Deputy Secretary of State in time for the Summer 1857 session of the State Legislature (by Secretary of State Lemuel N. Pattee). The position appears to have been only for that legislative session, for Gove was reappointed to the position September 24, 1857. At this time his duties were expanded to include Clerk to the Secretary of State, and Deputy Librarian. His only pay record for the period shows fifty dollars paid June 26, 1858, at the start of the Summer 1858 legislative session. Gove had been replaced as Deputy Secretary of State two weeks earlier (by Allan Tenney; Thomas L. Tullock was the new Secretary of State.) Gove's living expenses appear to have been covered by his serving as Register of Deeds for the City of Concord (1858/62); he was also a Justice of the Peace (1857).

Gove signed up for the Civil War as a "2nd Class Band Musician" in the Third Regiment of the Home Guard, for a three-year enlistment, August 26,1861. Despite his age - forty-four - and his small height - 5'5" - Gove appears to have been a good fife player, for he became Principal Musician of his regiment (October 1, 1861). He served out the Civil War as a musician in Company F of the Eighteenth Regiment, Regular Army. He was "mustered out", June 10, 1865.

Returning to post-War Concord Gove served as Deputy Secretary of State for Secretary of State Walter Harriman. The State government was meeting night and day to try to repair the state's finances, which had been bent into unrecognizable shapes by the expenditures of wartime. [In an effort to meet these challenges the Council "voted, that all the public lands in the State of New Hampshire be offered for public sale" (Council Records, vol. 12, p. 158). October 15, 1867 Council Records note, "Sold all the public lands in Grafton, Carroll and Coos Counties for the sum of $25,000 to H [illegible] M. Chase of Whitefield" (ibid., p. 269)]. Gove continued to work as Deputy Secretary of State during 1868/9, faithfully recording the workings of Governor and Council during the administration of Governor Onslow Stearns. The pace of work and meetings was such that no Secretary of State was formally appointed during this time, so Gove continued in his position as Deputy Secretary of State until 1870, when he was finally appointed Secretary of State. But still, there are no records of regular pay. How did Gove survive?

By 1870, Secretary of State Nathan W. Gove was possibly feeling the pains of old age. On June 20, 1870 Gove recorded, "...that I have constituted and appointed James B. Gove, Esq. of Henniker, in the county of Merrimack Deputy Secretary of State, to hold such office during my pleasure, agreeably to Section 7 Chapter 13 of the General Statutes...." (Council Records, vol. 12, p. 330).

An answer to the question of how the New Hampshire Secretary of State was paid emerged in 187 1, when the state unexpectedly got a Democrat as governor. Governor James Weston acted with alacrity to remove Republicans from state patronage jobs. The Sheriff of Rockingham County and his (Republican) counterparts in other counties were replaced; Justices of the Peace, Notaries and other public officials were replaced by Democrats, the governor and three supporting members of the five-man Governor's Council approving Democrats presented to them for approval.

Secretary of State Nathan W. Gove was now out of office and had only a few months longer to live. On August 9, 1871 it was "Voted - that the Secretary of State inform the Bondowners of Nathan W. Gove, late Secretary of State, that no payment has been made by him to the State of the money collected by him on Commissions during the period he held such office, and that the money aforesaid is still due to the State." (Council Records, vol. 12, p. 451). On December 12, 1871 the committee appointed by Council reported that monies collected by Nathan W. Gove between June 30, 1870 - June 30, 1871 totaled $916 (ibid., p. 468). The Secretary of State was "instructed to notify the State Treasurer of the facts, and that the said Treasurer notify the bondsmen and widow of the late Secretary of State of the amount now due the State..." Ibid.) James B. Gove, late Deputy Secretary of State, certified that the committee report was "in my opinion ... a correct summary." (Ibid.)

References: James 0. Lyford, ed., History of Concord (1896); Council Records and Acts as noted.