8. JOHN KIMBALL, the subject of this sketch, the son of Benjamin and Ruth (Ames) Kimball, was born in Canterbury, April 13, 1821. In infancy he was taken by his parents to Boscawen, where in early youth he had the educational advantages which the district schools of the town afforded. He enjoyed the privilege of attending the Concord Academy only one year, after which he was apprenticed with a relative to learn the trade of constructing mills and machinery. On attaining his majority, in 1842, his first work was to rebuild the grist-mill near Boscawen Plain. Afterward he followed the same business in Suncook, Manchester, Lowell, and Lawrence. In 1848 he was employed by the directors of the Concord Railroad to take charge of the new machine and car shops then building at Concord. He was appointed master mechanic of the Concord Railroad in 1850, and retained the position eight years, when he relinquished mechanical labor for other pursuits. As a mechanic, Mr. Kimball inherited a great natural aptitude, and has few superiors. His sound judgment and skill were in constant requisition in the responsible office in the railroad service he held for so many years; and the experience and training there acquired have been of great value to the city and state when his services have been demanded by his fellow-citizens. In 1856, Mr. Kimball was elected to the common council of the city of Concord. In 1857 he was re-elected, and was chosen president of that body. In 1858 he was elected a member of the state legislature; and was re-elected in 1859, serving as chairman of the committee on state-prison. From the year 1859 to the year 1862, Mr. Kimball served the city of Concord as collector of taxes and city marshal. In 1862 he was appointed, by President Lincoln, collector of internal revenue for the second district of New Hampshire, including the counties of Merrimack and Hillsborough, and held the office for seven years, collecting and paying over to the treasurer of the United States nearly seven millions of dollars.