The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1871-09-06
Sudden Death Of Hon. lahv 4, ras.

"seii IN better health than for some week
past. He retired at the usual hour, and lei
asleep at once. At half past he awoke MIS-
foor, complaining of intense pain IN MS lei
shoulder extending down the lett arm. Ht
had for some months noticed aud occasionally
| spoken of a numbness in the left hand, indi
| eating defective circulation, and there is M
doubt that he died OF disease of the heart, az
gravated perhaps by rheumatism which has
long been lurking in his system. Mrs. Poor
Immediately called her daughter and sent fol
DIR. Gilman the family physician, but before
either OF them could arrive-betore the young
lady could descend from her chamber to her
fathers room-blr. Poor was dead.
| Mr.. Poor was son of DR.. Poor, who tied
IN Andover, Me. in 1904, aud raised family Of
four sons and daughter. The daughter mar
rled Rev. Thos. I. Stone; two of the sons, Syl-
vanus and Ebridge, still reside in their .p alive
town; Henry V. is the edi. or of the Railway
journal, and we record the death OF the fourth,
VINO was born in 1903, and consequently was
o3 years of age. One of his fathers sisters
married the late Jacob McGaw of Bangor,
and subject of this notice became an inmate of
OF his family at an early age, and acquired his
education at an academy, under the eye of his
uncle. On leaving school he began the study
OF law in his uncle's office, was admitted to the
bar, became the partner of Mr.. McGaw, and
subsequently succeeded to the large law bust
ness of the firm. He married daughter of
Hon. Thomas A. Hill of Bangor, distin-
| guished member of the bar and the ante Ma
sonic candidate for Governor of Maine in 1888
| and 1884. Mr.. Poor's wife lived but few
| years after her marriage, and his second wife
! was daughter of Hon. Benjamin Orr of
Brunswick. His third wife, whom he uar-
ried but few years ago, was resident of
Cincinnati. She, with daughter by one of
the marriages. survives him. -4 q.
Mr.. Poor was the father of the railroad sys-
tenn in Maine, particularly in its relations to
British North America When the railway
line from Boston to Portland was completed in
1912, public attention was directed to an ex-
tension of the advantages of a railroad system
to the interior of Maine and ultimately con-
nection with the Canadas. Mr.. Poor early es-
poused the cause and labored with his pen in
the columns of the Bangor newspapers to pro-
mote such an enterprise. In 1874 he removed
to Portland and at once became an able and
persistent friend of the Atlantic and st. Law
renee railroad scheme then fairly naugurated
under the leadership of the late Judge Preble.
la September of that year Messrs. Preble and
Josiah s. Little were appointed by the citi-
zens of Portland to visit Montreal and procure
if possible the concurrence and aid of the peo-
pie of Canada to open between the two com
tries great international highway. A recon-
noisance by the late James Hall, G. E., follow
ed, and charter for the company, with
capital OF 100000 was granted on the 10th OF
February, 1915. While the bill was before the
Maine Legislature Mr.. Poor went to Montreal
to stir up the public mind there, and was fol-
lowed by Judge Preble. Success crowned their
efforts and on the 18th OF March the Canadian
government granted a charter for connecting
road and the Messrs. Eoor and Preble return
ed to Portland with copy of it. The persis-
tent opposition of Massachusetts merchants
and capitalists to this measure was sufficient
to appal ordinary men, but the spirit and ener-
gy of such men as Poor and Preble and their
companions surrounded this great obstacle,
and would have conquered lift had been more
formidable. The next year Mr.. Poor orginat-
ed plan for the establishment of large ma
chine establishment, in connection with the
construction and operation OF Maine railroads,
and the Portland Company was chartered and
established and for a.quarter of century it has
been a valuable auxiliary to our manufactures
The building of Commercial street originated
with Mr. Poor during the construction of the
Montreal railway, and it is mainly to his eff
forts that the work was inaugurated and prose-
cuted to a successful termination.
The extension of the railroad system OF
Maine by a line to Bangor, st. John and Hall
fax, was an idea which occupied Mr.. POor's
busy brain long before the line to Montreal was
finished. In 1850 he was chairman of the COM
mittee of arrangements for great rail way con-
vention in Portland, at which Gov. Hubbard
presided and delegations were present Fl ON all
parts of the State, and from MASSACHUSETTS, the
Canadas, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
The convention was in session for three days
and adjourned, according to the temporary re-
port, with three notable and astounding cheers
for the success of the European and North
American railroad" The chairman of the ex-
ecutive committee chosen by the convention,
to facilitate the progress of the work, was John
A. Poor OF Portland. The necessary charters
were procured, and in 1852 the English con-
tractors. Jackson, Peto, Brassey ard Belts,
who had taken the Grand Trunk from Mon
treal to Toronto with the branch from Rich
mond to Quebec, offered to advance 80 per cent.
of the money needed to complete the broad
gauge line from Waterville to Halifax, intend
| grand whole. The Grand Trunk company by
| this arrangement were to have a perpetual
| lease of the whole line, and that condition de-
| feated an arrangement which would doubtless
| have secured the immediate construction of the
| road When the Grand Trunk scheme was
| brought out in the spring of 1853, the offerings
! amounted to nine times the capital of the COM
| pany. 9at .
| Meantime Mr. Poor did not allow this gi-
| gantic scheme to slumber. He labored persist
emily fnr its cOnSummatiOn The road tn Ran
COR was completed in 1856 and five years later
New Brunwick had constructed the line from
St. John to Shediac In 1864 the legislature OF
| Maine granted to the enterprise 800 900 acres
| of public lands on the Penobscot and St John
waters, subject to a claim of Massachusetts, for
| $3.50 900, and all the claims of the State against
the general government prior to 1860. In 1865,
/ the legislature of Massachusetts released her
| claim on the Maine lands and bestowed upon
| the road their claims against the general gov
| ernpent held jointly with Maine. In 1867
| work began upon the line east of Bangor, and
now, nearly five years later, the great enter
prise ia approaching completion.
The last great work Of Mr.. Poors fertile
brain was the project for grand Trans-conti-
mental line from Portland to the Pacific coast
vie Rutland, Oswego and Chicago. The his
tory of his labors, and the progress of the en-
| terprise are too fresh in the public mind to
need extended notice in this place.
In 1853 Mr.. Poor established the State o.
| Maine newspaper, of which he was the editor
and controlling spirit for six or seven years
| 1t was independent in politics, though leaning
TO the Wing side, and was especially devoted
to the development of the resources of the
State. Subsequently, Mr.. Poor had a very
brief editorial connectionswith the Daily Ad
| vertiser.
The Boston journal, in notice of Mr.. Poor
| says:
Long before the mass of his fellow citizens
| were awake to the fact he announced that
| Portland is the natural seaport of the Cana
| das "a declaration repeated by him so Otter
| as to cause amusement among those who did
| not comprehend the true interests of theil
State. Mr.. Poor, however, never faltered be.
fore ridicule nor succumbed to indifference
| In season and out of season-before meeting o
| merchants, and in remote towns, often in the
most Indictment season of Maine winter
, | through the press and by individual persua
| sion-he urged his ideas, until he had the sat
. | isfaction OF seeing them embodied in the At
lautic and ST. Lawrence road 1.-THE rucens o
3 | what is now better known as the Grand Trunl
, | railway A volume might be written OF Mr.
| PeOr's efforts in this direction-a volume Wor
| thy to stand on the same shelf with the life o
! | Stephenson and the accounts of the Othe
t great pioneers of railroading on both sides o
the water.
He had not his superior in the country as
general railroad statician. He was an activ
member of the Maine Historical Society; ant
| under its auspices he published in 1862 -
5 | Vindication of the Claims of Sir Fernand
Gorges as Founder of English Colonization il
| New England" and he delivered the addres
at the Popham celebration in 1868.
The Daily Advertiser Of last evening, sum
up some of Mr.. Poor's characteristics in tn