Nathaniel Upham

Nathaniel Upham (June 9, 1774 – July 10, 1829) was an American politician and a United States representative from New Hampshire. He was born in Deerfield, in the Province of New Hampshire, on June 9, 1774, into a family long established in New England. The Upham family first came to what would become the United States in 1635, when John Upham settled in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Nathaniel was born six generations later to Rev. Timothy Upham, pastor of the Congregationalist church in Deerfield, and his wife. He was one of two sons; his younger brother, Timothy Upham, later served as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army during the War of 1812.

Upham pursued classical studies in his youth and attended Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1793, reflecting the family’s emphasis on education and public service. After his schooling, he turned to commerce and engaged in mercantile pursuits in several New Hampshire communities. He began in Gilmanton in 1794, moved his business to Deerfield in 1796, then to the port city of Portsmouth in 1801, and finally settled in Rochester in 1802, where he continued his commercial activities thereafter. These varied mercantile enterprises helped establish his local prominence and laid the groundwork for his entry into public life.

Upham’s political career began at the state level. He served as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1807 to 1809, participating in the legislative affairs of the state during the early years of the nineteenth century. His growing reputation led to higher responsibilities, and he served as a governor’s counselor in 1811 and 1812, advising the state’s chief executive during a period marked by rising tensions that culminated in the War of 1812. Through these roles he became a recognized figure in New Hampshire’s Republican, or Democratic-Republican, political circles.

As a member of the Republican Party representing New Hampshire, Upham contributed to the legislative process during three terms in the United States Congress. He was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Fifteenth Congress and was reelected to the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Congresses, serving from March 4, 1817, to March 3, 1823. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history, encompassing the so‑called “Era of Good Feelings,” when questions of national expansion, economic policy, and internal improvements were prominent. In this capacity he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his New Hampshire constituents at the federal level. Upham declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1822, thereby concluding his congressional career after three consecutive terms.

After leaving Congress, Upham returned to Rochester, New Hampshire, where he resumed his involvement in local affairs and became particularly interested in educational work. His commitment to education was reflected not only in his own earlier classical training but also in the paths pursued by his children, several of whom achieved distinction in intellectual and professional fields. He remained in Rochester for the remainder of his life, continuing to be regarded as a leading citizen and former national legislator.

Upham’s family connections extended his influence into subsequent generations of American public and intellectual life. His eldest son, Thomas Cogswell Upham, became a dominant figure in nineteenth‑century American academic psychology, a writer of devotional literature, and a noted biographer of the French mystic Madame Guyon. Another son, Nathaniel Gookin Upham, served as an associate justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court and was himself a state legislator, continuing the family tradition of public service. Upham’s daughter Mary married twice; her first husband was David Barker Jr., and after being widowed she married Eben Coe. With Coe she had two children, including Thomas Upham Coe, who became a prominent physician and lumber baron in Bangor, Maine. Mary was also stepmother to Henry Willard Coe Sr., a pioneer settler in California and among the first to export hops from that region; his son later became the namesake of Henry W. Coe State Park, the largest state park in Northern California.

Nathaniel Upham died in Rochester, New Hampshire, on July 10, 1829. His life spanned the transition from colonial America to the early decades of the United States, and through his mercantile pursuits, state service, and three terms in Congress, as well as through the notable careers of his descendants, he left a lasting imprint on both New Hampshire and the broader nation.