mind, with general traits well suited to influence and shape praiseworthy tendencies in their sons. The mother of Millard Fillmore belonged to this class.

In the Historical Society Library, in Buffalo, there is a small portrait of the Rev. Gleazen Fillmore, a cousin of the President, which presents all the traits of face and body belonging to the family. Gleazen was a preacher of some ability, but did not rise to great prominence in the ministry. Still he was a man of even and reliable powers, and was highly respected both in and out of his ministerial calling. He died at an advanced age, in 1875. Gleazen, the son of Simeon, and Millard were the only members of the Fillmore family who chose learned professions, so-called, the others mainly being farmers. One of Mr. Fillmore's campaign biographers thus speaks of his parents:—

"Nathaniel Fillmore, the father of Millard, inheriting all the noble qualities of his ancestry, commenced life with nothing but an inflexible determination to succeed, for his heritage. He spent his early years in the place of his nativity; acquiring what knowledge his limited means would permit, and following the industrial pursuits to which he had been carefully reared. His vocation being that of a farmer, wholly dependent upon his own resources for whatsoever he acquired, he was in a position admirably calculated to develop a naturally good physical organization. His habits, from early youth, were exceedingly regular and temperate-so much so that he refrained entirely from the use of all stimulants.

"Phoebe Fillmore was a lady of prepossessing appearance, and richly endowed with the amiable qualities of

soul for which the ladies of New England were proverbial in the early days of the Republic.

"Though young in years, she fully understood the duties and responsibilities of a wife. Devotedly attached to her husband, she was ever careful to promote his happiness. With clear conceptions of her responsibilities as a mother, she was tenderly careful to instill into the minds of her children lessons of virtuous wisdom for their guidHow much influence the examples of such parents have had in shaping the career of their distinguished son eternity alone can tell. It is a remarkable fact, that, in the perusal of our great men's early histories, we find they all had excellent mothers."

ance.

CHAPTER II.

MILLARD FILLMORE-HIS EARLY LIFE-AN AUTOBIOG

RAPHY.

ILLARD FILLMORE, the second child and oldest son of Nathaniel Fillmore and his wife, Phoebe Millard, was born in Locke (now Summer Hill) Township, Cayuga County, New York, January 7, 1800. The following sketch of his early life, prepared by Mr. Fillmore himself, must be of more value than any that could be prepared by another hand. It was written by request of the Buffalo Historical Society, and under seal committed to its care, not to be opened until after Mr. Fillmore's death. At that date some sketches of the autobiography were published by Buffalo newspapers, but not until 1880 was it printed verbatim in the second volume of the Society's collections. Through the kindness of J. C. Beecher, a lawyer of Buffalo, and an intimate friend of M. P. Fillmore, this copy was taken for this work:

I have been requested to state some of the early incidents of my life for the benefit of the Buffalo Historical Society; and, in compliance with that request, I proceed at once to the task. Believing that a humble origin affords no just cause of concealment or shame-and certainly not, even when fortune has smiled, for vain boasting

and self-glorification-I shall content myself by stating that I am the second child and eldest son of Nathaniel Fillmore and Phoebe Millard. I was born in Locke (now Summer Hill), Cayuga County, New York, on the seventh day of January, 1800. My father was a native of Bennington, Vermont, and my mother was a native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. They were early settlers in what was then known as the "Military Tract." At the time of my birth my father and his brother Calvin, and their wives, occupied the same log house in the midst of the forest, having no neighbor nearer than four miles.

About two years after my birth my father met with what seemed, at the time, a great misfortune; but was (at least so far as I was concerned) a blessing in disguise. He lost all his property through a bad title to the land which he had purchased. I say this was a blessing in disguise, as the township where he had located being high and cold, was one of the poorest in the whole "Military Tract," and far removed from any thoroughfare or central point of business. In other words, it was completely shut out from all the enterprises of civilization and advancement, and remained so for more than half a century. My father then left the town and removed into what was then Sempronius (now Niles), in the same county. Here he took a perpetual lease of a small farm of about one hundred and thirty acres, wholly uncultivated, and covered with heavy timber. He built a small log house and commenced clearing the land; and it was at this place, and in these pursuits, that I first knew anything of life. That farm is about one mile west of Skaneateles Lake, ten miles from its outlet, and about one mile east of a little hamlet called New Hope.

I had, like most boys, a great passion for hunting and fishing, but my father was very unwilling to indulge it. He used to tell me that no man ever prospered who spent much of his time in hunting and fishing, and that those

employments were only fit for Indians, or white men no better than they. Consequently I had no gun, and could only enjoy the sport of shooting when I could borrow of a neighbor. Nevertheless, when I had any spare time I used to go down to the lake and fish and bathe in its limpid waters. It was, indeed, one of the clearest and most beautiful lakes which I have ever seen. The canoe seemed suspended in mid-air, and the fish could be seen at great depths.

The town of Niles, and especially that part of it, was then very sparsely settled. There were no schools, except such as were improvised for the summer, and taught by a woman of very limited education. The first that I recollect was at New Hope, in an old, deserted log house, which had been furnished with a few benches without backs, and a board for writing upon. Of course, nothing was taught but the most simple lessons in spelling and reading. When I was about ten years old a man was employed by the name of Amos Castle, who gave us some instruction in writing and arithmetic, and drilled us most thoroughly in "Webster's Spelling-book." I think I went through that book without missing in the spelling of a word, but I did not learn the definition of a single one. In fact, there was no such thing as a dictionary in school, and I had never seen one. From about the age of ten or eleven I could not be spared from the farm during the summer, and, therefore, only attended school for two or three months in the winter. Consequently, I forgot nearly as much in the summer as I learned in the winter. I, however, acquired some knowledge of arithmetic, and read Dwight's old geography of questions and answers, enough to have acquired some knowledge of geography, had there been any such thing as a map or atlas in school; but I never saw either until I was nineteen years of age.

When I was about twelve or thirteen some effort was