Financier legislator politician representative senator
Edward Henry Rollins was born at Rollinsford, New Hampshire, United States, eldest of the six children of Daniel and Mary (Plumer) Rollins. On both sides of the family he was of good colonial stock, his father being a descendant of James Rawlins who came to New England in 1632, and settled at Ipswich, Massachussets Edward spent his youth on his father's farm and once declared that no one knew better "the sorrows of hill-farm husbandry than I did until my twenty-first year. "
His early education was scanty, and while he began preparation for Dartmouth, lack of means obliged him to relinquish his ambition for a college education. He was an omnivorous reader, however, and overcame many of his early handicaps, writing and speaking with facility and vigor.
After leaving home he spent several years as clerk in a Concord drug store, school-teacher, and employee of a wholesale drug firm in Boston. In 1847 he bought a drug business in Concord, New Hampshire, United States, with which he was associated until 1861.
His business prospered, his store became a rendezvous for local politicians and party workers, and the proprietor, an antislavery Whig, was soon a rising politician. He was a state committeeman for the Whig party in its moribund years, 1850-53, and passed via the Know-Nothing route into the new Republican organization. He was elected to the lower house of the legislature in 1855 and became speaker a year later. He performed important services in the merger of Know-Nothings, Free Soilers, Whigs, and antislavery Democrats into a coherent and enthusiastic party. The even balance of party strength and the fact that New Hampshire elections came in the spring made the state a pivotal one in national affairs and the work of Rollins attracted much attention. He was chairman of the Republican state committee from 1856 to 1861, resigning in the latter year because of his election to Congress. He served three consecutive terms in the House and proved himself a conscientious committeeman, a stalwart supporter of war measures, and an indefatigable worker for the interests of his state and constituents. After the expiration of his third term he was again elected chairman of the state committee, serving from 1868 to 1872, and exercising a great influence on campaigns and policies when no longer a member. A textbook on party methods and practices could be written from his experiences in keeping New Hampshire in the Republican column. A profound believer in Republican principles, opposed to conciliation with the South, a conservative with scant tolerance for reform in any guise, but personally honest and fearless, he was distinctly a product of the era. He was a skillful manager of caucuses and conventions, an adept distributor of patronage and spoils, but emerged unsmirched from the political scandals of the period. In 1869, through the influence of Oakes Ames, a personal friend, he became assistant treasurer of the Union Pacific Railroad and secretary of its board of directors; two years later he was promoted to the post of treasurer. He had no connection with the Credit Mobilier organization but his relationship to the railroad company caused increasing opposition to his candidacy for the United States Senate, and after his election for the term 1877-83 he deemed it advisable to sever it. In the Senate he followed much the same course he had pursued earlier in the House. His failure to secure a reflection, due to the popularity of the doctrine of rotation which he had done much to foster and to the increasing restiveness of other leaders under the dominance of the Rollins machine, was a severe disappointment and led to his gradual retirement from active politics. On his return to Concord he became increasingly active in New Hampshire business affairs, heading the banking firm of E. H. Rollins & Sons. From 1886 to 1889 he was president of the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad. A paralytic stroke from which he never recovered was probably the result of severe work over a long period of years. He retained an interest in farming, was a breeder of choice live stock, and did much for the agricultural improvement of the state.
A profound believer in Republican principles, opposed to conciliation with the South, a conservative with scant tolerance for reform in any guise, but personally honest and fearless, he was distinctly a product of the era.
He was a skillful manager of caucuses and conventions, an adept distributor of patronage and spoils, but emerged unsmirched from the political scandals of the period.
On February 13, 1849, he married Ellen Elizabeth West.
He died at Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire, United States, survived by four children, one of them being Frank West Rollins
