BIOGRAPHY OF THE GENERAL NATT HEAD of Manchester NH
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Information located at http://www.nh.searchroots.com/Manchester
On a web site about GENEALOGY AND HISTORY OF MANCHESTER NEW HAMPSHIRE 
TRANSCRIBED BY JANICE BROWN 
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The original source of this information is in the public domain, 
however use of this text file, other than for personal use, is 
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SOURCE:
Manchester, A Brief Record of its Past and A Picture of Its Present, 
including an account of is settlement and its growth as town and city; 
a history of its schools, churches, societies, banks, post-offices, 
newspapers and manufactures; a description of its government, police 
and fire department, public buildings, library, water-works, 
cemeteries, streets, streams, railways and bridges; a complete list of 
the selectmen, moderators and clerks of the town and members of the 
councils, marshals and engineers of the city, with the state of the 
cote for mayor at each election; the story of its part in the war of 
the rebellion with a complete list of its soldiers who went ot the war; 
and sketches of its representative citizens; Manchester N.H.; John B. 
Clark; 1875
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page 410
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GENERAL NATT HEAD
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Natt Head was born at Hooksett, NH May 20, 1828 and is the son of
Col. John and Anna (Brown) Head. He was one of a family of five
children--Hannah A., wife of Col. Josiah Stevens of this city; the
late Sally B., wife of Hall B. Emery of Pembroke NH; Natt, the subject
of this sketch; William F., of Hooksett; John A., who resides in Iowa.
His father, who died in 1836, was a farmer and largely engaged in
lumbering. He, in company with his brother, William F., succeeded to
do his father's business and they are extensive farmers, lumber-dealers,
and manufacturers of brick in Hooksett, and, in company with Frank 
Dowst, contractors and builders in Manchester. THey have furnished a
large part of the brick used in this city for the past fifteen years.
  Mr. Head, as the contractor, build several miles of the old
Portsmouth railway, which ran from Suncook to Candia, build the new
railway and bridges from Suncook to Hooksett and the Suncook Valley
railway from Suncook to Pittsfield.  When the soldiers' military
asylum near AUgusta, Me., was burned, he was sent to assume the charge
of the institution during the illness of the deputy governor and
afterwards rebuilt the asylum. He has filled various town offices,, was
appointed in 1857 deputy sheriff, and was a representative from
Hooksett in the state legislature in 1861 and 1862. In 1863 and 1864
he was the chief of Gov. GIlmore's staff and in 1864 was chosen
adjutant-, inspector- and quartermaster-general of the state, which
office he held until 1870. He was the Republican candidate for state
senator from the Second district, in 1875, but there was no election 
by the people.
  Gen. Head was for a long time a director of the New Hampshire
Agricultural Society and has been its president for ten or a dozen
years, and for the past four or five years has been a director of the
New England Agricultural Society.  In 1869 he was appointed by Gov.
Stearns a trustee of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and
the Mechanic Arts. From his father, who was for many years an officer
in the state militia, and from his grandfather, Capt. Nathaniel Head,
who served as an office through the Revolutionary War, Gen. Head
inherits military taste and spirit. In 1847 he was appointed fife-major
in the Eleventh regiment of the state militia and served four years,
and in later times he was the chief bugler of the Governor's Horse
Guards. He was the commander of the Amoskeag Veterans of Manchester in
1869, 1870, 1871 and 1872, is an honorary member of the Boston Lancers
and is the first sergeant in command of the first company of infantry
in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston.
  Gen. Head is a prominent Free Mason, being a member of Washington
Lodge, Mount Horeb Royal Arch Chapter, Adoniram Council and Trinity
Commandry of Manchester. He is also a member of the Supreme Council,
having taken all the degress of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite,
including the thirty-third, and all the degrees in the Rite of Memphis
to the ninety-fourth. He is also a member of Howard Lodge and
Hildreth Encampment of Odd Fellows, at Suncook, and a member of Oriental
Lodge of the Knights of Pythias of the same place.
  Gen. Head has been a director of the Suncook Valley Railroad since
it was organized, and the president of the China Savings Bank at
Suncook since it was started.  He was a director of the Merrimack River
Bank from 1860 until it was merged in the First National bank and has
been a director of the latter since it was formed in 1865.
  Gen. Head married, November 18, 1863, Miss Abbie M. Sanford of
Lowell, Mass., by whom he has had three children,--Annie Sanford,
Lewis Fisher and Alice Perley.  The son died March a4, 1873.
  Gen. Head stands conspicuous for social, genial qualities, for good
nature and strong, sound sense. He is always practical, his opinions
are good on all topics to which he has given any attention and he never
ventures opinions on subjects with which he is not familiar. He is a
successful business man and won a lasting popularity among soldiers and
citizens during the late war by his earnest and liberal efforts in his
position as adjutant-general of the state.  Few men have so wide a
circle of strong personal friends. He has been talked of for some of
the highest offices in the gift of the people of the state and for
some years past has had votes at all the nominating conventions of his
party for governor.


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