HON. SAMUEL TYLER. 
 
 Born in Henniker, N. H., February 25, 1797. 
 Died in Portland, Maine, January 17, ^879.
 
 UCSB LIBRARY 
 
 A MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 HELD AT THE 
 
 FEBRUARY 20, 1879. 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 
 Introductory Remarks E. B. BEAN. 
 
 Prayer Rev. C. H. SMITH. 
 
 Address Rev. E. S. JORDAN. 
 
 Resolutions.. ..S. B. BEAN. 
 
 LEWISTON I 
 
 PRINTED AT THE JOURNAL OFFICE. 
 
 l8 79 .
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 It is eminently fitting, when a man like SAMUEL TYLEK, 
 whose history and interests for fourscore years were so 
 closely allied with this town, is removed by death, that the 
 citizens should unite in some expression of their sense of his 
 high merit and of their own great loss. 
 
 Having met, with this object in view, it seems appropriate 
 to pass in review some of the more prominent events of his 
 life and traits of his character. And we wish to bear in 
 mind what, if he could have foreseen our action, would best 
 have accorded with his wishes in regard to it ; and especially 
 should we avoid that grave offense to his well-known feel- 
 ing, of indulging in indiscriminating praise. 
 
 In connection with a service commemorative, in part, 
 of the philanthropic relations of Mr. TYLER to this people, 
 there comes readily to our thought the grateful plea of the 
 Jewish elders in behalf of the Centurion who sent them to 
 beseech Christ for the healing of his servant : " That he 
 was worthy for whom He should do this, for he loveth our 
 nation, and he hath built us a synagogue." 
 
 Little is known of this Centurion beyond what is here 
 recorded ; his love for the people among whom he dwelt, 
 and the proof he gave of his interest in them in building 
 for them a house of worship. He was not a native of 
 Capernaum ; neither was he to whom, with slight change, 
 the words of the Jewish elders are applicable by us, a native 
 of this town, though he was brought here so young that he 
 could remember, as he desired to remember, no other early 
 home.
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 SAMUEL TYLER was born in Henniker, N. H., but so 
 entirely did he regard himself a son of Brownfield, that 
 some of his near relatives never heard him allude to Hen- 
 niker as his native place, and had always supposed, till after 
 his decease, that this was the place of his birth, as well as 
 that where he passed his childhood and youth, and some of 
 his mature r years. His parents removed with him to this 
 town the year the nation was in mourning for the death of 
 its first President. He would have been eighty-two years 
 of age had he lived till the twenty-fifth of the present 
 month. 
 
 His opportunities to attend school during his childhood 
 were very limited, the nearest school-house being a long 
 distance from his home. But he early learned to conquer 
 difficulties, and he persevered in acquiring the rudiments of 
 such branches of study as were at that time taught in the 
 common schools. 
 
 At the age of sixteen, then a tall and enterprising lad, 
 he enlisted as a private soldier in the last war with England. 
 He was detailed as a personal attendant to Capt. Rufus K. 
 Goodenow, also of this town, with whom he served out his 
 time of one year. The temptations incident to army life, 
 boy though he was, he firmly resisted. 
 
 In 1824 he married Miss Elizabeth Spring of this town, 
 a lady loved and honored during a long life, and among a 
 wide circle of friends and acquaintances, for the sweetness 
 of her disposition, and the clear good sense, the fidelity and 
 conscientious thoroughness which she brought to the per- 
 formance of her varied and responsible duties. 
 
 This town was their home till 1825, when what seemed 
 a favorable opening, induced Mr. TYLER to remove to Saco. 
 After a short period of indifferent success he decided to go 
 to Portland. Here also his hopes were disappointed. Sub- 
 sequently he tried, I have heard him say, more than a dozen 
 different enterprises, and abandoned them all, having prose- 
 cuted them, in turn, till it became evident to him that they
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 were unsuited to his tastes or habits. Providence, " whose 
 footsteps are not known," was leading him better than he 
 knew, and suffered all his plans to fail that the wiser divine 
 plan might take their places. 
 
 At the age of thirty-two years he came to a decision 
 which manifested at once the breadth and the heroic temper 
 of his mind. It is a trite saying that apparently slight 
 causes often bring about great results. It was the merest 
 trifle that led Mr. TYLER to take the important step of 
 seeking, in South America, a theatre for the exercise of 
 his talents in acquiring a support for his family, and in 
 building up the modest fortune which, we have reason to 
 believe was, at that time, the height of his ambition. 
 That undertaking has been compared, it seems to me not 
 inaptly, to that of the discoverer of North America, who 
 was induced to sail on his first vo} r age of discovery by cir- 
 cumstances which, to an ordinary mind, would have seemed 
 trivial. He had heard from a relative that a piece of curi- 
 ously carved wood had been found on the shore, where it 
 had been washed by a westerly gale. An old pilot told him 
 of having once picked up, at sea, a carved paddle, more 
 than a thousand miles west of Portugal. These and other 
 similar facts, together with his geographical knowledge, 
 led him to the conclusion that there must be land to the 
 west, and to the west he sailed. 
 
 It was a statement found in an old geography, that the 
 soil of the Argentine Republic was, in general, exceedingly 
 fertile, and that the country abounded in herds and flocks, 
 while the inhabitants were indolent and improvident, that 
 led this pioneer in a great commercial enterprise to believe 
 that a man who was willing to endure hardship and toil, 
 might obtain a competence in that distant land more surely 
 and speedily than in the thronged avenues of business 
 activity in his own. But it was then practically an unknown 
 country, concerning which no one could give him any 
 definite information. He must go, if at all, ill-informed as
 
 he was, committing himself to the guidance of circumstances 
 of the most uncertain character. He resolved to make the 
 venture, sustained in the struggle of severing himself from 
 all he held dear family, friends, and country we who 
 knew him can well believe, by the steadfast purpose which 
 marked so conspicuously his whole career, to conquer re- 
 bellious fortune by nobly deserving her favor. 
 
 When a gentleman of some note as a scholar had been 
 elected to the Presidency of a New England college, and an 
 acquaintance dissuaded him from accepting the position, ex- 
 pressing his apprehension that, constituted as he was, he 
 would not succeed in it, his prompt reply was, " I will 
 succeed." We can, without difficulty, fancy this penniless, 
 solitary stranger, as, fifty years ago for the first time he 
 walked the streets of Buenos Ayres, fortifying his heart in 
 - the face of difficulties and discouragements with the stern 
 resolve, " I will succeed." 
 
 If the story of what he endured, and what he accom- 
 plished, could be faithfully told, it would be but another 
 illustration of the adage that truth is stranger than fiction. 
 On his arrival in that strange city of one hundred thousand 
 inhabitants, he found himself with only half a dollar in 
 money, without a friend or acquaintance, and knowing no 
 word of the language. After some search and delay he fell 
 in with a resident of the city who concluded to give him 
 employment at work performed by peons, the lowest class of 
 laborers, ranking little above slaves. But he was glad to 
 engage in any honest labor that would give him a support. 
 He could not turn back ; he must open a way forward. In 
 this employment he continued for a considerable time, hav- 
 ing no advantage over his humble fellow-laborers except as 
 his superior intelligence enabled him to substitute for theirs, 
 methods by which he could perform more easily and rapidly 
 the same work. 
 
 We have admired his commanding presence, his noble 
 bearing, which would have distinguished him at any
 
 C 7 ) 
 
 European court. We can picture him to ourselves as he 
 appeared among those ignorant, degraded sons of toil, him- 
 self toiling manfully with hand and brain, but with what 
 different thoughts, aspirations, hopes ! Born to lead, with a 
 taste that nothing could degrade, he found advantage in 
 circumstances the most unpromising, and gathered tribute 
 of practical wisdom from the dreariest experience. This 
 labor with peons, I have an impression, he made, in the end, 
 an apprenticeship to the business from which, in part, his 
 large fortune was realized. 
 
 He remained in the country, on his first visit, between 
 three and four years long enough to lay the foundation of 
 the very extensive business afterwards carried on by him- 
 self and others between Buenos Ayres and the United 
 States. He has been widely known as the pioneer of the 
 South American trade, but few were aware until recently 
 that to him belonged the credit of shipping, nearly half a 
 century ago, the first cargo of wool ever brought from 
 Buenos Ayres to an American port. 
 
 This trade, so inaugurated, has been, I need scarcely say, 
 a profitable one to both countries, not to speak of its ad- 
 vantage, as a source of wealth, to Mr. TYLER and to many 
 of his friends and acquaintances. He was engaged in it, 
 going and returning, and transacting his large business, for 
 thirty-three years a period equal to the life-time of a 
 generation. 
 
 Sixteen years ago he went to South America for the last 
 time, having made in all twelve voyages ; Mrs. Tyler ac- 
 companying him six times, sharing in his inevitable dangers, 
 fatigues, and privations, as she ever did in his varied and 
 abundant charities. 
 
 Both these friends, as we have proofs innumerable, con- 
 tinued to cherish, in all their changes and adventures, the 
 warmest interest in their own people. The well-being of 
 the town which was their early home was a matter of con- 
 stant concern to them. Although no man perceived more
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 clearly or felt more keeiily than Mr. TYLER its .faults and 
 deficiencies, yet no one had its reputation and prosperity 
 more at heart. No sooner did he decide to give up his 
 business beyond the equator, than he arranged to carry out 
 what appears to have been a long-entertained purpose of 
 setting on foot some scheme by which the town could be 
 built up and beautified. Nor need I do more than call 
 attention to the improvements he directly or indirectly 
 caused to be made. The village and adjacent neighborhoods 
 will never lose the impress of his taste and bounty. 
 
 One is reminded of the effect which Peter Bayne ascribes 
 to the arrival of Howard, the philanthropist, at the little 
 village of Cardington, which, he says, " had been the abode 
 of poverty and wretchedness, but after Howard came to 
 reside in it, year by year the village of Cardington showed 
 a brighter face to the morning sun, year by year you might 
 see new and different cottages spring up, little kitchen 
 gardens behind, little flower gardens before, neat palings 
 fronting the road." " The inhabitants sent their children 
 lo school, and Cardington became one of the neatest villages 
 of the kingdom. If you asked one of the villagers to what 
 or whom it owed all this, the answer would have been t John 
 Howard." 
 
 If the question were asked of the people of this town, 
 to whom it is most indebted for the improvements made 
 during the past few years, all as one would give the name 
 of your philanthropist, SAMUEL TYLER. 
 
 I have heard him say that it had been his habit from 
 boyhood to select the wisest and best men he knew as 
 models. In his turn he became a worthy model for others. 
 Hard as he worked for his material possessions, he strove 
 even harder for a true manhood. If at any time he had 
 suspected that he was esteemed chiefly on account of his 
 wealth or social position, it would have caused him keen 
 chagrin. 
 
 It was much to have in town, so many years, a man 
 conspicuous for honesty and sincerity, whose word was
 
 never doubted, who was superior to deception, whose prin- 
 ciples were as fixed as his own mountains. Perhaps one of 
 the strongest motives which persuaded him to go to an 
 unknown land, was that he might be able to meet the 
 demands out-standing against him, and pay, as he did, the 
 first moment his means allowed, principal and interest. 
 
 We can well understand what those who knew him in 
 South America assure us of, that his word came to be 
 another name for truth, among the natives, who were 
 accustomed to assert of this or that which they reported to 
 be true, " it is so, for Mr. TYLER says it is so." 
 
 His integrity 
 
 " stood the test of fortune, 
 Like purest gold, that, tortured in the furnace, 
 Comes out more bright, and brings forth all its weight." 
 
 One could as easily imagine George Washington taking the 
 place of Benedict Arnold, as SAMUEL TYLER turning traitor 
 to his sense of right. 
 
 His fidelity to his convictions appeared in his charities. 
 When Providence crowned his hazardous undertakings with 
 success, he would seem to have regarded himself as elected 
 an almoner of the divine bounty ; the property he had been 
 enabled to accumulate, as placed in his hands to be dispensed 
 according to his best judgment. Holding, thus, his wealth 
 in trust, it was a perplexing problem to him, how most 
 judiciously to distribute it ; and he surveyed all fields that 
 he might find in what soil the scattered seed should promise 
 the most abundant harvest. 
 
 The fountain of benevolence was full, and no lack of 
 appreciation, no ingratitude, could long keep in check its 
 out-flowing tide. Having himself tasted the cup of sorrow, 
 he knew how to sympathize with the afflicted. Having 
 known the burden of poverty, he could be counted among 
 the righteous who " consider the cause of the poor." While 
 he felt all the antagonism of an active, forceful nature, 
 toward thriftlessness and improvidence, he could not for- 
 bear relieving the want which was their natural result.
 
 The reverence for law, so apparent in him, developed, 
 no doubt, by years of severe discipline, gave him the 
 appearance, at times, of exaggerating the importance of self- 
 help in comparison with special divine aid. And he might 
 not have prayed, like Elijah on Carmel, that God would, 
 without human means, consume the sacrifice ; but he would, 
 like the same prophet, have stretched himself on the little 
 son of the widow, that he might second the divine power 
 in warming the child to life. 
 
 He accepted the inspired definition of pure religion and 
 undefiled before God and the Father ; but, while it was his 
 honest intention to " prove all things " and " hold fast that 
 which is good," mere traditions, precedents, old or new, 
 creeds, ancient or modern, were not, with him, a final 
 authority. He wished to see all who loved mercy, did 
 justly, and walked humbly with God, joining in worship, 
 and uniting, as brethren, in a persevering endeavor to make 
 the world wiser and better. 
 
 When he proposed to convey this church, in legal form, 
 to a corporate body, he used this language : " My only 
 desire and intention, in doing this, is, that the house may be 
 occupied, and the privileges which it affords to all be 
 improved. I trust that you, in your wisdom, may manage 
 all matters relating to the house in such a manner that all 
 the people in this vicinity may feel that they have the right 
 and privilege, in common with you, to occupy the house on 
 all proper times and occasions, and that it is, and shall be, 
 free to all who will go there and occupy the same in common 
 with you." 
 
 Had he been asked his creed, he might have replied in 
 the language of St. James, " I will show you my faith by 
 my works." In the words of the venerable Whittier, whose 
 life is as benevolent, and whose sympathies are as broad as 
 were his own, he could say, 
 
 " Lord and Master of us all, 
 
 Whate'er our name or sign, 
 We own thy sway, we hear thy call, 
 
 We test our lives by thine."
 
 ( 11 ) 
 
 We a*re aware that we shall violate a rule by which 
 himself was governed, if, while we consider his excellences, 
 we lose sight of what he regarded as his grave faults. He 
 inherited a somewhat excitable temperament, which was the 
 source of more annoyance to himself than to any one else. 
 He was accustomed to compare his physical system to an 
 engine, declaring that it required all his skill and attention 
 as an engineer to control and direct it. It was riot singular 
 if, sometimes, on life's tempestuous voyage, the fire kindled, 
 the pressure great, he was driven temporarily from the track 
 marked out for himself; if he was betrayed into some act 
 or expression which he disapproved ; but the undue ardor 
 was of short continuance, and then he hastened to make 
 reparation. If his quick feelings were the gales which 
 impelled him from the direction he wished to take, his 
 sensitive conscience was the needle which immediately 
 pointed him back to his course. 
 
 But he has gone from us. We shall look in vain for the 
 venerable form whose presence seemed to shed a certain 
 worth and dignity upon the community. He will come to 
 us no more ; but he has left a monument to himself. 
 
 Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Church, 
 in London, was buried in a vault under the edifice he had 
 built, and on a black marble slab was the inscription, " If 
 you seek my monument, look around you." So have we 
 only to look around us to see SAMUEL TYLER'S monument. 
 This house is his monument. 
 
 Better educational facilities, and numberless improve- 
 ments among us, are his monument. 
 
 In the deeper admiration which he inspired in us for 
 self-reliance, for industry, for enterprise, for integrity, for 
 benevolence for all manly virtues is found his monument. 
 
 And so will the memory of himself, as he was, be his 
 fittest and most enduring monument.
 
 UCSB LIBRARY 
 
 RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 Whereas, As citizens of the town and vicinity of Brownfield, we 
 have longjaeen familiar with the noble life of the late Hon. SAMUEL 
 TYLER. 
 
 Whereas, As a community we have been recipients of his nu- 
 merous and generous public and private benefactions. 
 
 Resolved, That we wish to express on this occasion our warm 
 appreciation of his many virtues as a man, a townsman, a neighbor, 
 and fellow-citizen. 
 
 Resolved, That we have known him as a man whom people of all 
 sects, parties, and classes delighted to honor. 
 
 Resolved, That we shall long hold in affectionate remembrance 
 his life and labors of love. 
 
 "He rests with the immortals, his journey has been long; 
 For him no wail of sorrow, but paean full and strong; 
 So well and bravely has he done the work he found to do 
 To justice, freedom, duty, God, and man, forever true." 
 
 Resolved, That no less do we appreciate, honor, and cherish the 
 memory of her who was his companion in labors of charity, Mrs. 
 Elizabeth S. Tyler, who preceded her honored husband but a few 
 months to her reward. 
 
 J. L. FRINK, Rec. Sec.
 
 A 000 61 1 272 6