170 THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 



out, at the age of 26, he became a member of the Union 

 Drill Club, of which he was a lieutenant. This organiza- 

 tion went to the front, as Company " F," 23d Mass. Vol. 

 Inf., in November, 1861 G. M. Whipple, Capt., Charles 

 H. Bates, 1st Lieut., George R. Emmerton, 2d Lieut. 

 In this capacity he shared the fortunes of Burnside's North 

 Carolina campaign, till mid-summer of 1862, when he 

 was taken sick, and came home an invalid, whose hold on 

 life was thought to be very uncertain. His recovery was 

 so slow that he was unable to accept the promotion that 

 awaited him, and, unwilling to occupy a position, the 

 duties of which he was unable to perform, he reluctantly 

 resigned. 



After the war, he was associated for a time with his 

 brother, Capt. E. Augustus Emmerton, in the manufact- 

 ure of bleaching powders, in Boston. Subsequently, the 

 partnership was dissolved and both entered the mercantile 

 house of the late John Bertram, whose daughter Mr. 

 Emmerton married. Upon the retirement of Captain 

 Bertram, our last great merchant, he became the junior 

 partner of the firm of Ropes, Emmerton & Co., which has 

 since conducted the extensive business with Zanzibar, 

 Madagascar and the Red Sea ports, founded by Captain 

 Bertram, owning the barques Taria Toppan, Glide and 

 Essex. Mr. Emmerton acquired wealth, and about a 

 year ago completed extensive changes in the old mansion, 

 owned and occupied for many years by the late William 

 Pickman, making of it a most elegant house, in which he 

 and his family resided at the time of his death ; he showed 

 his affection and interest for his fellow-citizens, even in 

 this, that none but Salem mechanics were employed upon 

 the building and none of the work done was by contract. 



He served on the Board of Aldermen in 1877, '78, '79, 

 '80, and was the first to hold the office of President of the 



