The interest of Mr. Norcross in benevolent and educational institutions has been deep and constant, and he has done much for their advancement. He took an active part in organizing the Fitchburg Benevolent Union, was its first president, and he is now one of its life members. For fifteen years he has been a trustee of the Lawrence Academy at Groton, Mass. By act of the legislature of Massachusetts he was made one of the original members of the corporation known as the Cushing Academy, located at Ashburnham, and by the same act was designated as the member authorized to call the first meeting of the trustees, of which board he is still a member. He has contributed largely to the organizing and building up of this now flourishing academy. For more than thirty years the labors of Mr. Norcross connected with his large legal practice have been arduous and continuous. In June, 1852, he was married to S. Augusta, daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca Wallis, of Ashby, Mass. She died March 4, 1869. [Illustration: Geo. A. Pillsbury] HON. GEORGE ALFRED PILLSBURY. BY FRANK H. CARLETON. New Hampshire is a small state, yet her sons and daughters are scattered far and wide. They have not only built up a prosperous and influential commonwealth at home, furnishing a talent and genius too great to be circumscribed by territorial lines, but they have greatly aided in laying the foundations and building up the newer sections of our country. Let any person pass through the mighty West, and thence to the great Northwest which to-day is doing vastly more than any section to supply the world with bread, and he will be surprised to find the great number of sons of New Hampshire who have attained reputation, position, and influence. In the highest ranks of commerce, at the bar, and from the pulpit, they wield a great influence. Their names are too numerous to be enumerated, yet it is to but few that the distinction is given of being distinguished in two states, and these as far apart as Minnesota and New Hampshire. To this small but honored class belongs the subject of this brief sketch, GEORGE ALFRED PILLSBURY, one of a family whose name suggests high qualities.