Edson Hill (1807 - 1888)
Born at Northwood (NH); died at [unknown].
Businessman and state politician.
Portrait by U.D. Tenney, 1887, after photograph.
Presented to the State, 1891.

Edson Hill was the eighth child in his family. He went to "common school" in Northwood, then went to live in the household of Judge Harvey, a prominent local citizen. With Harvey's help Hill began to rise in local politics. He served as town clerk, moderator and town agent for Northwood, before becoming a town selectman (1836/7). He became a State Representative for Northwood (1839/40), and also served as postmaster for some years.

In 1840 Hill moved to Newmarket (NH); he served as Rockingham County Treasurer (1841/2). In 1843 Hill moved to Manchester (NH), where he went into partnership with J. Monroe Berry in the grocery business. The firm of Hill & Berry survived until 1850, when Hill moved to Concord. He had served as engrossing clerk to the State Legislature (I 847), and he served two years as a State Representative for Manchester (1849/50). He had also (1848) been elected a director of the newly chartered Amoskeag Bank.

In Concord Edson Hill served as State Treasurer (1850/3). In 1853 he was named Cashier for the new State Capitol Bank; he also served as Alderman for the Fifth Ward in the first Concord city government (1853).

In 1864 Manchester's Amoskeag Bank was merged into the Amoskeag National Bank; Hill was named director of the new bank. In 1867 Hill moved back to Manchester, and he lived in Manchester the rest of his life. He served a one year term as State Representative (1870), and he was an elector on the 1876 (Republican) Tilden-Hendricks presidential ticket; but most of Hill's time was given to the Amoskeag National Bank. He was also a trustee of Amoskeag Savings Bank, and People's Savings Bank. Hill was also a director of the Concord Railroad, and an associate of the international financier and Newport (NH) millionaire Austin Corbin. [It was Corbin who offered the State of New Hampshire one million dollars for the Concord Railroad, in exchange for no State oversight of the rail line. Governor Hiram Tuttle (1891/3) was opposed to the sale of the railroad, because it had been developed with public funds; the courts were asked for an opinion on the legality of the sale, and the courts supported Governor Tuttle. Public anger at the railroads' efforts to control state commerce was intense, and the legislature did not challenge the outcome.]

Reference: George F. Willey, ed., State Builders,......(1903).