In these days of varying fortune in business life, and in this country especially, where property is accumulated or lost more readily and frequently than in any other land, the beneficent nature of the institution of life assurance has come to be very generally appreciated. This institution, which, so far as its general establishment is concerned, is peculiarly an American one, is indeed a natural outgrowth of our social and business system, and is coming to be more fully recognized, from year to year, in one form or another, as the only medium through which men in general business, or most of the avocations of life, may make substantially sure provision for the support of their families or those depending upon them, in case of their own removal by death before acquiring a competency, or after the loss of the same through business reverses or adventitious circumstances. The man who stands before the public as a leading representative of an institution of such importance becomes properly a person of note in the business community; and when he is endowed with those powers and qualities of mind which naturally bring him into prominence in social and political circles and the general activities of life, he may well be classed among those who are esteemed representative men of the times in the state and section wherein he resides, and which is the field of his active labor. Such a man is the subject of this sketch. MARTIN VAN BUREN EDGERLY is a native of the town of Barnstead,--a town, by the way, which has sent out its productions into the world in the form of able, energetic men,--men of strong minds in strong bodies, who have made their mark in the world, and stand at the front in the various fields of activity in which they have engaged. In the domain of law, of theology, of politics, and of general business, the sons of Barnstead hold high rank, as is abundantly demonstrated by reference to the names of Lewis W. Clark, Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, John G. Sinclair, and John P. Newell. Mr. Edgerly was the fifth of nine children--five sons and four daughters--of Samuel J. and Eliza (Bickford) Edgerly, born September 26, 1833. Samuel J. Edgerly was a man of far more than ordinary intelligence and mental activity, who, but for the misfortune of disease, which impaired his physical powers in early life;, would have become unquestionably a leading spirit in public affairs. As it was, he was recognized by all with whom he came in contact in life as a man of strong mind and decided character. He was a descendant, upon the maternal side, and was named in honor of that Col. Samuel Johnson who was one of the early settlers of the town of Northwood, and of whom it is said, in sketching the history of that town, that upon the first night of his abode within its limits he slept upon the ground between two rocks, with a quilt or piece of canvas for covering. [Illustration: M. V. B. Edgerly]