A History of the Kidder Family from A.D. 1320 to 1676; Including a Biography of Our Emigrant Ancestor, James Kidder, Also a Genealog of His Descenda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1886 edition. Excerpt: ...of. "As the effect of severe toils in the east winds and a small salary, my health, never robust, gave way, and I felt during that autumn that a more congenial climate might soon be a necessity. With a desire to try some better opportunity for advancing my own prospects, I decided to try the South, and in November, 1826, more than fifty years ago, I purchased some goods, loaded a small schooner, and sailed for Wilmington, N. C. In this voyage I was accompanied by my brother Edward, then about 20 years old. After a very stormy and unpleasant passage of more than twenty days we reached our destination, and renting a store commenced business, without knowing a person in the place. As the town was then very sickly in the summer, we could only do business for about six months in the year. Every May we closed up our affairs and visited the North. This plan we followed for about eight years, but my health seemed gradually to decline, and as my brother had an opportunity to become a partner in a large establishment there, I closed up our concern and returned to Cambridge, Mass., where my mother then resided. "After about two years my health gradually improved, and I commenced business on India St., where, with some intervals, I continued till 1868, a period of nearly forty years, being engaged mostly in the southern trade. In 1845, with my partners B. F. and Charles Copeland, we purchased of the Barings, of London, a very large tract of land on the Schoodic Lakes in eastern Maine. It contained over a hundred thousand acres, and was more than thirty miles in extent. It was a dense forest, and proved a very profitable investment. Had we held it, it would have given us a large fortune. "Ever since 1834 I had made my home on Columbia...