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Alpheus Harding Jr. (January 12, 1818 – October 13, 1903)Alpheus Harding Jr
at familysearch.org was a US politician and bank president. He was a member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...
and the
Massachusetts Senate The Massachusetts Senate is the upper house of the Massachusetts General Court, the bicameral state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Senate comprises 40 elected members from 40 single-member senatorial districts in the ...
.


Early years

Harding was born in
New Salem, Massachusetts New Salem is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 983 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. History New Salem was first settled in 1737 and was off ...
in 1818. He was the son of Rev. Alpheus and Sarah Bridge Harding. His father was a minister in New Salem for more than 40 years. Harding attended the academy at New Salem, and entered
Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
in 1833, leaving the next year, because of sickness.


Career

In 1835, he worked as a store clerk and continued to work in the mercantile industry for 21 years in
Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...
and
Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...
counties until 1856. During this time, he served as postmaster of New Salem for 10 years, and town clerk and treasurer for about another 10 years. He was also at various times the chairman of the boards of selectmen, assessors and overseers of the poor. He was a member of the House of Representatives from New Salem in 1851-52. He again represented New Salem in the Legislature of 1853. Since 1856, he was a member of the Board of Trustees of New Salem Academy. In the same year, he was appointed cashier of the Miller's River Bank of Athol. When the name changed to be the Miller's River National Bank, Harding was made president, an office he held for 26 years. In 1863 and 1867, he represented the towns of Athol and Royalston in the State Legislature. While a member of the House, in 1867, he obtained a charter for the Athol Savings Bank, becoming its treasurer until January 1892, when he became president. In 1879 and 1880, Harding was a Massachusetts State Senator. In 1880, he was a delegate to the National
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Convention. He assisted in the formation of the
Free Soil Party The Free Soil Party was a short-lived coalition political party in the United States active from 1848 to 1854, when it merged into the Republican Party. The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery into ...
, but subsequently became a Republican.


Personal life

He was married on September 6, 1842 to Maria P. Taft, of
Dudley, Massachusetts Dudley is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,921 at the 2020 census. History Dudley was first settled in 1714 and was officially incorporated in 1732. The town was named for landholders Paul and Will ...
. Their children included: Ella and William. Alpheus Harding died at his home in Boston on October 13, 1903.


See also

* 101st Massachusetts General Court (1880)


References

* ''This article includes text incorporated from D.P. Toomey's "Massachusetts of today: a memorial of the state, historical and biographical, issued for the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago" (1892), a publication now in the public domain.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Alpheus 1818 births 1903 deaths People from New Salem, Massachusetts Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Massachusetts state senators American bankers Amherst College alumni Massachusetts Republicans Massachusetts Free Soilers Massachusetts Democrats 19th-century American businesspeople