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Biographical  History  of 
Massachusetts 


Biographies  and  Autobiographies  of  the 
Leading  Men  in  the  State 


Samuel  Atkins  Eliot,  A.M.,  D.D. 

Editor-in-Chief 


Volume  I 


With  opening  chapters  on 

What  Massachusetts  Stands  for  in  the  History  of  the  Nation 
By  Edward  Everett  Hale,  S.T.D.,  LL.D. 


MASSACHUSETTS  BIOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY 

BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS 
I913 


Copj^righted,  1911,  by 
Massachusetts  Biographical  Society 

All  rights  reserved 


THE  •  PLIMPTON  •  PRESS  •  NORWOOD  •  MASS  •  U  •  S  •  A 


1198117       ■ 

BIOGRAPHICAL    HISTORY    OF 
MASSACHUSETTS 


SAMUEL  A.   ELIOT 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 

ADVISORY  BOARD 

HON.  JOHN   Q.  A.   BRACKETT Arlington 

Ex-Governor. 

EDWARD   H.   CLEMENT,   L.H.D Boston 

Editor  Boston  Transcript 

WILLIAM  W.  CRAPO,   LL.D New  Bedford 

President  Wamsutta  Mills 

LOUIS  M.  DEWEY Westfield 

Genealogist 

SAMUEL  A.   GREEN,   LL.D Boston 

Vice-President  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 

HON.  JOHN   R.  THAYER Worcester 

Member  of  Congress 

WILLIAM  ROSCOE  THAYER,  A.M Cambridge 

Editor  Harvard  Graduates  Magazine 

CALEB  B.  TILLINGHAST,  A.M Boston 

State  Librarian 

JOHN   C.  CROSBY Pittsfield 

Associate  Justice  Superior  Court 


"  There  is  properly  no  history,  only  biography."  —  Emerson. 

"  There  can  be  no  true  criticism  of  a  great  American  which  is  not  founded 
upon  the  knowledge  of  his  work  in  daUy  life.  Whether  it  be  in  the  diary  of 
the  frontiersman  or  in  the  elegant  studies  of  the  university." 

—  Edward  Everett  Hale. 

"  To  study  the  lives  of  great  men  is  to  read  history  from  the  personal,  vital 
point  of  view;  thus  history  becomes  real,  living,  and  interesting  to  many  for 
whom  abstract  history  possesses  no  charms."  —  Wm.  R.  Harper. 

"  Present  to  the  boy  such  men  as  he  himself  would  like  to  be."  —  Herbart. 

"  Give  us  men  of  Light  and  Leading."  —  Lord  Beaconsfield. 

"  The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man." — Shakespeare. 

"  Man  alone  is  interesting  to  man."  —  Goethe. 

"  Universal  history,  the  history  of  what  man  has  accomplished  in  this 
world,  is  at  the  bottom  the  history  of  the  great  men  who  have  worked  here." 

—  Carlyle. 

"  A  sage  is  the  instructor  of  a  hundred  ages." 

—  Mencius,  Chinese  Philosopher. 

"  The  function  of  the  great  man  is  to  explain  the  age,  and  of  the  age  to 
explain  the  man."  —  Barnes. 

"  The  history  of  the  race  is  but  that  of  the  individual  '  writ  large.'  " 

—  Lewes. 


Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 
We  can  make  our  lives  subhme." 

Longfellow. 


EDITOR'S   PREFACE 

IT  is  a  perfectly  legitimate  curiosity  with  which  people  ask  about 
the  facts  and  motives  and  incentives  of  a  notable  life.  In  every 
man  of  distinction  men  see  what  is  possible  for  all  humanity. 
A  life  first  lived,  then  written,  and  then  read,  is  the  best  source  of 
inspiration  for  other  lives. 

We  do  not  know  the  real  history  of  any  age  or  country  until  we 
have  clearly  seen  its  characteristic  men.  To  know^  the  heart  of  any 
event  we  must  see  it  revealed  in  the  achievements,  passions,  and 
hopes  of  individuals. 

The  men  whose  struggles  and  successes  are  described  in  this 
book  are  not  all  men  of  great  historic  significance,  or  of  special  and 
peculiar  gifts.  They  are  men  who  have  displayed  the  virtues  that 
have  made  Massachusetts  the  sturdy  and  self-reliant  Common- 
wealth that  it  is;  men  who  possess  the  healthy  and  universal  qualities 
of  human  nature  that  are  close  to  the  heart  of  all  sorts  and  condi- 
tions of  men.  These  lives  are  near  enough  to  the  average  life  of 
humanity  to  have  lifting  power. 

The  reader  of  these  brief  biographies  will  find  his  own  resolutions 
and  ideals  reinvigorated;  his  own  intentions  realized,  and  his  own 
manhood,  not  swamped,  but  vitalized  and  given  new  direction.  He 
will  broaden  his  horizon  and  learn  how  to  enter  into  S5^mpathy  with 
occupations  and  pursuits  that  before  seemed  uninteresting.  One 
realm  of  human  endeavor  after  another  will  become  vivid  as  it  is 
seen  through  the  enthusiasm  of  men  who  have  there  worked  and 
suffered  and  won. 

The  selection  of  the  names  included  in  this  and  the  succeeding 
volumes  has  been  made  by  the  Advisory  Committee.  Most  of  the 
men  described  are  now  active  in  business  and  professional  careers, 
but  a  few  sketches  have  been  added  of  men  whose  achievements  are 
still  fresh  in  memory.  The  biographies  have  been  prepared  by 
experienced  writers,  and  are  in  no  small  degree  autobiographical, 


EDITOR'S    PREFACE 

for  each  man,  in  answer  to  questions,  has  described  in  his  own  way 
his  inheritances  and  environment,  and  the  facts  of  his  career. 

The  portraits  in  this  book  increase  its  value.  Said  Thomas 
Carlyle:  "Often  I  have  found  a  portrait  superior  in  real  instruction 
to  half  a  dozen  written  biographies,  ...  or  rather,  let  me  say,  I 
have  found  that  the  portrait  was  as  a  small  lighted  candle  by  which 
the  biographies  could  for  the  first  time  be  read,  and  some  human 
interpretation  be  made  of  them." 

The  volume  is  submitted  to  the  public  in  the  confidence  that 
the  careers  herein  described  will  be  found  stimulating  to  patriotism 
and  potent  to  cheer  and  inspire  other  lives. 


ofcu^i^c^c.^^  (2.  ce<i^^ 


INTRODUCTION 

WHAT  MASSACHUSETTS   STANDS   FOR  IN  THE 
HISTORY  OF  THE  NATION 

THE  popular  institutions  which  grew  up  almost  of  them- 
selves in  Massachusetts,  succeeded  so  weir  that  they  became, 
one  may  say,  the  object  lessons  for  the  different  American 
States,  as  they  came  into  being.  For  this  continent,  Massachusetts 
became  somewhat  what  Switzerland  became  in  Europe,  —  an  ex- 
ample of  Government  of  the  people,  for  the  people,  by  the  people. 
After  the  death  of  Winthrop  till  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  no  special  Leader  of  the  people  can  be  named  who 
directed  or  gave  form  to  the  political  or  religious  institutions  of  the 
colony  and  province.  But  when  an  exigency  came  that  exigency 
was  met  as  well  as  they  knew  how  to  meet  it.  If  a  plan  for  finance 
or  commerce,  or  manufacture  worked  well,  why  it  worked  well  and 
it  became  permanent.  If  it  did  not  work  well,  why,  it  did  not  work 
well,  and  it  was  forgotten.  What  followed  was  that  the  quaint 
charter  of  a  trading  company  developed  into  the  government  of 
a  State  which  was  independent.  The  appointment  by  the  Crown 
of  a  Governor-general  of  New  England  became  merely  the  occa- 
sion of  petty  local  controversy,  but  the  State  governed  itself.  Mr. 
Choate  was  quite  within  the  strictest  bounds  of  history  when  he 
said  that  she  showed  to  the  world  a  church  without  a  bishop  and 
a  State  without  a  king. 

What  she  had  of  the  rights  and  privileges  of  an  independent  na- 
tion appeared  when  she  declared  war  against  George  Third,  who 
thought  himself  the  strongest  monarch  of  his  time.  In  the  war 
which  followed  this  State  swept  the  sea  with  her  ships  and  crippled 
the  commerce  of  England.  For  long  periods  in  the  war,  Massachu- 
setts had  more  seamen  engaged  against  King  George's  navy  than 
were  serving  in  that  navy  against  her. 

As  history  is  made  up  by  the  lives  of  the  men  who  direct  history, 
the  volumes  in  the  reader's  hands  are  offered  as  a  valuable  contri- 


INTRODUCTION 

bution  to  the  history  of  the  three  centuries  which  have  passed  since 
Captain  John  Smith  pronounced  the  home  of  the  Massachusetts 
Indians  to  be  the  Paradise  of  New  England.  The  name  Massachu- 
setts seems  to  appear  first  in  literature  when  the  Massachusetts 
Indians  are  thus  spoken  of  by  him  in  1615. 

He  names  the  Massachusetts  Indians  among  forty  or  fifty  other 
communities  which  he  had  seen  or  heard  of  in  his  voyage  along  the 
shores  of  what  he  called  Massachusetts  Bay.  He  sometimes  spells 
the  word  with  u  in  the  third  syllable  and  sometimes  with  the  let- 
ters ew.  The  name  was  then  applied  to  a  group  of  Indians  who 
lived  around  what  we  call  the  Blue  Hills,  —  Malta  and  chusett, 
meaning  the  Great  Hills.  Smith  says  that  "their  home  is  the  par- 
adise of  those  parts."  The  name  of  the  bay  has  extended  since  in 
familiar  use  so  that  it  now  comprehends  the  great  bay  between  Cape 
Ann  on  the  north  and  Cape  Cod  on  the  south-east.  Gosnold  had 
coasted  the  shore  of  that  bay  as  early  as  1602.  But  he  does  not 
Tjse  the  name  Massachusetts.  The  natives  of  those  shores  were  ac- 
quainted in  a  way  with  Europeans  from  the  visits  of  French  and 
English  fishermen. 

In  1621,  when  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  established  by  a  resi- 
dence of  a  few  months  in  Plymouth,  they  sent  a  party  to  explore 
the  shore  north-west  and  north  of  them  and  they  speak  of  this  voy- 
age as  their  voyage  to  the  Massachusetts.  The  phrase  meant  to 
them  what  it  meant  to  Smith,  the  region  immediately  west  of  the 
present  city  of  Boston.  And  nine  years  later,  when  in  1630,  John 
Winthrop  came  up  the  bay  to  judge  of  its  resources  for  his  colony, 
he  speaks  of  going  "from  Salem  to  Massachusetts." 

The  company  under  whose  charter  he  had  led  out  his  party  of 
emigrants  had  been  called  the  Massachusetts  Company  in  that  char- 
ter two  years  before.  The  Massachusetts  charter  was  granted  by 
Charles  the  First  to  a  company  of  Puritan  adventurers  who  fur- 
nished the  capital  for  the  undertaking.  Some  of  them  were  from 
London,  and  the  east  of  England,  and  some  more  were  friends  of 
John  White,  of  Dorchester,  in  the  south-west  of  England.  They 
had  purchased  from  an  older  company,  named  the  New  England 
Company,  such  rights  as  they  had  in  the  premises.  The  charter  of 
1628,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  the  present  State  of  Massachu- 
setts, gave  what  we  should  call  sovereign  rights  to  a  territory  run- 
ning from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.     Its  boundary  on  the  north 


INTRODUCTION 

was  to  be  a  line  three  miles  north  of  the  Merrimac  River,  and  on  the 
south,  a  line  three  miles  south  of  Charles  River,  From  the  geo- 
graphical points  which  showed  the  northern  limit,  and  the  southern 
limit  of  this  grant,  the  boundaries  were  to  run  west  till  it  struck 
the  South  Sea,  the  name  then  given  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  South- 
ward, from  the  very  beginning,  it  was  understood  that  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  old  colony  of  Plymouth  was  the  southern  boundary 
of  Massachusetts. 

In  fact,  no  very  accurate  account  was  kept  in  London  of  these 
grants.  And  when  it  subsequently  proved  desirable  to  assign  to 
the  Duke  of  York  that  territory  which  is  still  called  New  York,  its 
eastern  limit  ran  north  to  Canada,  and  thus  were  extinguished 
practically,  our  claims  by  royal  patent  to  the  States  of  Michigan 
and  Wisconsin  and  other  sovereignties  west  of  them  as  far  as  Ore- 
gon. The  kindred  title  of  Connecticut  to  territory  west  of  her  sur- 
vived far  enough  to  give  to  that  State  the  property  which  is  still 
called  "the  western  reserve"  in  the  State  of  Ohio. 

The  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  thus  chartered  was  united 
with  the  colony  of  Plymouth  under  the  second  charter  in  the  year 
1691.  As  the  province  of  "Massachusetts  Bay"  with  which  was 
connected  the  Province  of  Maine,  Massachusetts  declared  war 
against  the  King  in  the  next  century.  When  in  1780  she  estab- 
lished her  own  constitutional  government,  the  word  bay  was  dropped 
from  the  title  and  it  is  as  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  that 
she  is  one  of  the  United  States  formed  by  the  Federal  Constitution 
in  1787. 

The  space  occupied  by  the  State  upon  the  map  is  not  consider- 
able. As  Mr.  Everett  said  on  a  celebrated  occasion  of  the  domin- 
ions of  the  House  of  Hapsburg,  it  is  but  a  speck  on  the  map  of  the 
world.  But  from  the  very  first  she  has  made  herself  known  in 
the  rest  of  the  world,  and  her  sons  feel  that  the  rest  of  the  world 
has  profited  by  what  she  has  taught  them.  In  the  volumes  in 
the  reader's  hands  some  attempt  is  made  to  show  her  influence  in  the 
development  of  the  civilization  of  the  world  as  some  of  her  dis- 
tinguished sons  have  lived  for  mankind. 

It  should  be  remembered  by  all  who  read  American  history  or 
American  biography  that  the  colonists  who  came  into  i\Iassachusetts 
Bay  with  Winthrop  and  those  who  followed  them  in  the  next  ten 
yeai-s  were  led  by  idealists  who  had  very  distinct  views  as  to  the 


INTRODUCTION 

government,  whether  of  the  church  or  of  the  State.  These  views 
were  the  advanced  views  of  their  time,  and  that  reader  is  very  much 
in  the  dark  who  supposes  that  the  radicaHsm  of  these  men  is  to  be 
traced  simply  in  their  theological  or  ecclesiastical  opinions.  No! 
They  were  Independents  of  the  Independents;  they  were  such  men 
as  Cromwell  delighted  in.  Those  of  them  who  chose  to  go  back  to 
England  to  join  in  the  great  contest  of  the  century  generally  allied 
themselves  at  once  to  Cromwell's  party,  the  party  of  the  Independ- 
ents. In  many  instances  they  led  that  party.  As  their  ecclesias- 
tical leaders  in  the  Westminster  Assembly  proved  to  be  leaders 
in  the  proposals  for  the  church,  so  such  men  as  Hopkins  and 
Sedgwick  proved  to  be  leaders  in  the  direction  of  the  war 
and  of  Cromwell's  administration.  Edward  Hopkins,  the  same 
whose  prizes  are  now  distributed  at  Harvard  College  every  year,  the 
godfather  of  Hopkinton  in  Massachusetts,  was  the  head  of  Crom- 
well's Board  of  Admiralty,  which  continues  as  the  Board  of  Admi- 
ralty of  England  to  this  day.  It  was  under  his  direction,  for 
instance,  that  the  English  took  Jamaica  which  they  hold  to-day. 

The  accurate  reader  should  recollect  that  the  term  New  England 
for  the  States  which  grew  up  east  of  New  York  is  first  used  by  John 
Smith  after  his  voyage  of  1614.  It  is  now  of  no  great  importance 
but  it  is  worth  remark  that  the  name  Mattachusetts  with  tt  instead 
of  ss  in  the  firet  syllable  is  retained  in  official  documents  almost  al- 
ways for  the  first  century.  In  the  Algonquin  dialects  these  letters 
are  sometimes  interchanged,  as  where  Miss-issippi  means  the  great 
river  to  this  day.  The  root  is  the  same  as  that  used  in  Massachu- 
setts, —  the  great  mountain. 

About  ten  thousand  persons  crossed  the  ocean  westward  under 
the  impulse  given  by  the  Massachusetts  Company  within  the  first 
ten  years  after  John  Winthrop's  voyage.  But  when  in  1642,  Har- 
vard College  sent  out  eight  young  men  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts,  four  of  them  "returned  home,"  as  they  would  have  said, 
meaning  to  England.  They  went  back  to  play  their  part  in  the 
country  in  which  they  were  born,  so  soon  to  lose  its  name  as  a  king- 
dom. And  in  the  twenty  years  which  followed,  one  of  the  writers 
of  the  time  says  that  more  persons  had  emigrated  from  New  England 
to  old  England  than  had  come  westward  expecting  to  find  homes 
here. 

So  close  was  Cromwell's  interest  in  the  New  England  of  that  day 


INTRODUCTION 

that  after  his  conquest  of  Jamaica,  he  wrote  an  official  letter  to  the 
magistrates  of  Massachusetts  to  propose  to  them  that  the  New 
England  Colony  should  remove  to  Jamaica.  In  a  conversation  with 
Governor  Leverett,  of  which  we  have  Leverett's  account  in  detail, 
"His  Highness,  the  Protector"  urged  his  plan  upon  the  New  Eng- 
landers.  Leverett  replied  sturdily  that  in  no  plantation  of  Eng- 
land were  settlers  so  well  established  as  in  New  England.  And  the 
General  Court,  at  Leverett's  suggestion,  wrote  a  respectful  letter 
to  the  Protector  on  the  12th  of  October,  1656,  declining  his  proposal. 
From  the  whole  of  the  interesting  correspondence  it  is  evident  that 
the  State  of  Massachusetts  was  well  established,  that  its  rulers  were 
confident  that  they  could  hold  their  position,  and  that  while  they 
wished  to  deal  with  the  Protector  with  all  courtesy,  they  felt  that 
they  were  in  no  way  dependent  upon  the  home  government. 
Their  complete  satisfaction  with  this  position  appeared  definitely 
when  Philip's  War  broke  out  in  1674.  They  never  asked  the  gov- 
ernment of  England  for  a  soldier  or  an  ounce  of  powder  or  of  lead, 
nor  for  the  slightest  assistance  of  any  sort  by  which  they  should 
maintain  their  position  here. 

The  reader  must  remember  from  the  date  of  the  very  first  settle- 
ment that  every  Englishman  in  Plymouth  or  in  Massachusetts  was 
here  because  he  did  not  want  to  be  in  England.  They  did  not  like 
the  way  in  which  things  were  done  in  England.  They  came  here 
because  they  did  not  like  it.  And  they  found  very  soon  that  they 
had  white  paper  to  write  upon.  If  the  English  forms  were  disagree- 
able, why,  they  could  drop  the  English  form  and  who  should  say 
nay?  An  amusing  instance  is  that  of  the  halberds  which  poor 
Governor  Winthrop  tried  to  use  in  his  escort  on  state  occasions.  The 
halberds  were  "unpopular,"  as  we  should  say  to-day.  Winthrop 
had  to  order  his  own  servants  to  carry  them,  and  from  that 
moment  there  were  no  halberdiers. 

It  is  true  that  they  could  hardly  appeal  to  the  authority  of  Eng- 
land if  the}^  would.  Often,  the  early  settlers  were  six  months  with- 
out news  from  England.  But  we  must  observe  also  that  they  did 
not  want  to  appeal  there.  Years  after  Winthrop's  settlement, 
when  they  were  asked  to  show  the  royal  colors  on  the  arrival  of  one 
of  the  King's  ships,  they  had  no  royal  colors  to  show.  They  did  not 
want  to  have  any. 

This  is  to  say,  in  other  words,  that  they  could  carry  out  their 


INTRODUCTION 

own  plans  for  self-government.  And  they  did.  When  the  hun- 
dred persons  who  established  Plymouth  arrived  in  Provincetown, 
in  August,  1620,  they  met  together  and  the  men  signed  the  compact 
which  has  become  famous,  by  which  they  agreed  to  obey  their  own 
governor  and  to  make  their  own  laws.  Very  soon  they  had  to 
make  deeds  and  wills  which  transferred  real  property  from  one 
owner  to  another.  Now,  this  matter  of  probate  of  wills  was  one  of 
those  which  in  England  was  left  to  the  ecclesiastical  courts,  —  and 
is  left  so  to  this  day.  But  these  people  had  come  here  because  they 
detested  the  English  church  and  its  establishments.  The  people, 
therefore,  established  their  own  courts  of  registry  and  for  the  pro- 
bate of  wills.  The  system  which  they  established  has  gone  over 
all  America  and  no  ecclesiastic,  as  such,  has  anything  to  do  with  it. 

Cases  not  unlike  this  turned  up  constantly  in  the  early  legisla- 
tion of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts.  That  court  attended 
to  such  affairs  and  very  soon  had  to  make  their  own  code.  As  early 
as  May,  1635,  it  was  agreed  that  a  committee  should  "  frame  a  body 
of  grounds  of  laws  in  resemblance  to  a  Magna  Charta  which  being 
allowed  by  some  of  the  ministers  and  the  General  Court  should  be 
received  for  fundamental  laws."  In  1641,  what  is  now  known  as 
the  "Body  of  Liberties"  of  Massachusetts  had  got  itself  prepared. 
Nineteen  copies  of  it  were  made  and  they  were  sold  to  the  separate 
towns  for  ten  shillings  a  piece  for  each  copy.  The  session  of  the 
General  Court  for  December  continued  three  weeks  and  established 
the  code  by  authority.  But  this  code  did  not  satisfy  the  people 
and  from  year  to  year  the  "  Body  of  Laws "  was  enlarged  and  im- 
proved upon  until  they  were  printed  in  1660. 

Now  of  this  Body  of  Laws,  as  Hon.  Francis  Calley  Gray  says 
"  in  the  main,  it  is  far  in  advance  of  the  times  and  in  several  respects 
in  advance  of  the  common  law  of  England  to  this  day."  The  author, 
John  Ward  of  Ipswich  had  studied  the  English  law  carefully.  He 
knew  what  he  was  about,  and  if  he  went  beyond  its  requisitions,  so 
much  the  worse  for  the  common  law  of  England.  The  common 
law  of  New  England  meant  to  go  farther. 

From  the  restoration  of  the  royal  family  in  England,  down  to 
the  outbreak  of  the  American  Revolution,  there  intervenes  a  cen- 
tury of  history  in  which  so  far  as  political  allegiance  went  the  men 
of  Massachusetts  were  not  apt  to  repair  to  England  to  establish 
their  homes.     For,  simply,  while  the  principles  of  feudalism  had,  on 


INTRODUCTION 

the  whole,  prevailed  in  England,  the  principles  of  the  Common- 
wealth had  prevailed  in  New  England.  The  Anglican  Church  was 
the  Established  Church  of  old  England,  the  Congregational  Church 
was  the  Established  Church  of  New  England.  Such  reasons  there 
were  for  chilling  the  ardor  with  which  the  New  Englandere  of  the 
first  generation  "went  home"  as  a  resident  on  the  Pacific  coast 
to-day  may  go  back  to  the  Atlantic  coast  to  die. 

But  the  commercial  relations  of  New  England  M-ith  Old  England 
were  still  very  close.  The  first  governor  of  Massachusetts  had  had 
the  wisdom  to  see  what  were  the  remarkable  facilities  of  the  bay 
for  the  building  of  ships.  He  tempted  some  of  the  first  shipbuilders 
of  the  time  to  come  to  America,  and  from  this  time,  for  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  the  export  of  ships  was  a  great  feature  in  our  in- 
dustries. When  Lord  Bellomont  became  the  Governor-general  of  New 
England,  at  the  end  of  that  century,  he  wrote  home  in  an  official 
letter  that  the  maritime  commerce  of  the  port  of  Boston  was  larger 
than  that  of  all  Scotland,  that  more  ships  were  built  and  owned  here 
than  sailed  from  all  the  ports  of  Scotland. 

The  colonies,  however,  were  still  receiving  most  of  their  man- 
ufactured articles  from  England.  Inventories  and  advertisements 
show  that  after  the  year  1700  the  Massachusetts  people  were  reading 
English  books  and  were  sometimes  reprinting  them.  Bunyan  tells 
us  that  the  first  edition  of  the  ''Pilgrim's  Progress"  was  reprinted 
in  America.  Alas,  not  a  single  copy  of  the  edition  seems  to  have 
escaped  the  destructive  hands  of  so  many  readers.  Cotton  Mather 
printed  the  "Magnalia"  in  London.  The  first  edition  bears  the  date 
of  1702.  Its  circulation,  however,  was  of  course,  principally  in 
New  England  and  no  American  edition  was  printed  until  1820. 
Among  theologians,  Jonathan  Edwards's  work  on  "The  Will"  had 
attracted  attention  in  England  and  was  reprinted  there. 

It  was,  then,  with  a  certain  surprise  that  the  thoughtful  men 
in  England  read  the  first  American  State  Papers  which  appeared 
in  1760  and  later  down  regarding  the  subjects  at  issue  between  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts  and  the  King  of  England.  Papers 
written  by  such  men  as  the  two  Adamses,  James  Otis,  and  Frank- 
lin might  challenge  comparison  easily  with  any  writings  of  any  Eng- 
lishmen of  their  time.  And  these  papers  came  from  a  colony  which 
had  been  most  known  in  General  Wolfe's  despatches  and  which  sent 
to  England  ships  and  furs  and  potash  and  fish.     As  Sir  George  Tre- 


INTRODUCTION 

velyan  has  recently  shown  us,  the  friends  of  America  in  England 
at  that  time  were  more  in  number  than  the  advocates  of  the  Crown's 
proposals.  Among  them  there  was  a  little  handful  of  officers  who 
had  served  in  the  colonies  who  were  not  surprised  by  the  dignity 
and  effectiveness  of  the  State  Papers  which  came  from  America  in 
the  next  thirty  years. 

This  ignorance  was  due  not  simply  to  the  condescension  which 
Mr.  Lowell  observes  with  which  to  his  time  all  Europe  regarded  all 
America.  It  was  the  personal  ignorance  in  each  continent  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  other.  Illustrations  of  this  ignorance  may  be 
found  even  in  Lord  Chatham's  well-known  speech  in  which  he  re- 
views the  American  State  Papers  and  in  Edmund  Burke's  acknowl- 
edged surprise  when  he  studied  the  resources  of  New  England.  It 
is  pathetic,  indeed,  to  read  in  the  diaries  of  the  loyalists  who  took 
up  their  homes  in  London  while  the  Revolution  went  on,  that  the 
men  of  England  regarded  them  with  a  sort  of  pity,  only  too  plainly 
expressed,  and  wondered  what  was  their  business  in  England. 

Such  considerations,  although  briefly  stated,  are  enough  to 
account  for  the  pride  with  which  Massachusetts  men  look  back  on 
their  own  history.  They  have  been  encouraged  in  their  pride  in 
the  history  of  the  Commonwealth  by  thoughtful  men  in  all  parts 
of  the  world.  Carlyle  said  truly  that  "Democracy  announced  on 
Bunker  Hill  that  she  is  born  and  will  envelope  the  whole  world." 
And  in  one  way  and  another,  that  statement  is  assented  to  by  the 
modern  students  of  history.  I  was  in  London  in  1859,  when  we 
heard  the  news  of  John  Brown's  attack  on  Harper's  Ferry.  At 
that  time  the  London  Times  was  the  most  constant  enemy  of  lib- 
eral institutions;  and  yet  that  journal,  in  a  leading  editorial  said, 
"the  sympathy  of  the  people  of  Massachusetts  has  a  title  to  the 
consideration  of  the  world.  No  community  of  which  we  have  any 
knowledge  approaches  in  enlightenment  or  morality  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  this  part  of  the  Union." 

"Had  it  not  been  for  the  Puritans,  political  liberty  would  prob- 
ably have  disappeared  from  the  world." 

This  is  the  brief  summary  by  Mr.  John  Fiske  of  the  demonstra- 
tion with  which  he  shows  that  the  settlement  of  Plymouth  and 
Massachusetts  was  not  simply  one  little  chapter  in  the  series  of  in- 
teresting adventures,  but  that  it  laid  the  foundation  of  what  we  call 
constitutional  liberty  in  all  the  world.     In  the  carefully  considered 


INTRODUCTION 

chapters  in  which  this  distinguished  philosopher  introduces  his  book 
on  the  beginnings  of  New  England,  he  justifies  completely  the  epigram 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Zincke  to  which  Charles  F.  Adams  and  Edwin  D. 
Mead  have  called  such  wide  attention.  Every  event  in  history  is  to 
be  judged  of  more  or  less  importance  according  as  it  is  more  or  less 
closely  connected  with  the  voyage  of  the  Mayfloiver. 

The  leading  men  in  Massachusetts  and  the  men  who  have  written 
their  biographies  in  these  volumes  are  well  aware  that  for  victory 
Massachusetts  is  different  in  foundation  and  in  principle  from  the 
history  of  any  other  part  of  the  world.  They  are  apt  to  acknowl- 
edge, with  a  proper  pride,  this  distinction  of  their  position.  They 
are  often  charged  with  arrogance  because  they  are  willing  to  acknowl- 
edge it.  But  we  cannot  help  that.  History  is  history.  And  we  of 
Massachusetts  gladly  accept  its  verdict  with  the  belief  that  Gov- 
ernment of  the  people,  for  the  people,  by  the  people,  as  it  is 
attempted  now  in  the  world  finds  some  of  its  earliest  and  most 
important  lessons  in  our  history. 


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■4 

^       ABIEL   JACOB    ABBOT 

ABIEL  JACOB  ABBOT,  treasurer  of  the  Abbot  Worsted 
Company  of  Westford,  Massachusetts,  and  a  member  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  National  Association  of  Wool 
Manufacturers  —  the  powerful  organization  which  guards  the 
interests  of  this  great  textile  industry  —  is  a  business  man  of  envi- 
able standing  in  his  part  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  born  in 
Westford  in  1850,  on  January  8,  the  anniversary  of  Jackson's  memo- 
rable victory  at  New  Orleans,  and  has  lived  in  Westford  nearly  all 
of  his  busmess  life.  Mr.  Abbot's  father  was  a  lawyer,  John  W.  P. 
Abbot,  distinguished  not  only  for  his  professional  knowledge  but 
for  his  business  sagacity  and  public  spirit.  The  mother  of  Abiel 
Jacob  Abbot  was  Catharine  Abbot.  The  family  name  in  Massa- 
chusetts was  first  borne  by  George  Abbot,  who  emigrated  from 
England  about  the  year  1636,  and  settled  in  Andover.  It  is  one 
of  the  sterling  families  of  the  country  —  a  race  of  devout,  thrifty, 
energetic  New  Englanders.  They  have  been  successful  in  material 
affairs,  but  not  so  much  engrossed  by  them  as  to  be  unmindful  of 
the  duties  of  citizenship.  Public  spirit  has  always  characterized  the 
line  to  which  Mr.  Abbot  belongs.  His  family,  too,  has  always  been 
possessed  of  more  than  average  intellectual  strength,  and  has  con- 
tributed to  the  State  more  than  its  quota  of  scholars  and  profes- 
sional men. 

Mr.  Abbot's  father  believed  in  teaching  his  son  the  importance 
of  business  methods  and  the  value  of  economy.  He  did  not  wait 
until  the  youth  was  about  to  enter  life  on  his  own  account,  but 
inculcated  these  principles  at  home,  and  their  effect  upon  the  busi- 
ness success  which  Mr.  Abbot  has  since  won  is  great  and  manifest. 
The  influence  of  his  mother  in  shaping  his  character  and  stimulating 
wholesome  ambitions  in  the  youth  was  also  very  strong.  He  went 
for  the  finishing  of  his  education  to  the  academy  at  Exeter,  New 
Hampshire,  to  Westford  Academy  and  to  the  Highland  Military 
School  at  Worcester,  Massachusetts.     At  eighteen  years  of  age,  by 


ABIEL  JACOB  ABBOT 

his  own  wish  —  not  desiring  to  undertake  the  profession  of  his 
father  —  he  entered  the  office  of  the  Robey  Manufacturing  Company 
of  Chelmsford,  Massachusetts.  His  training  at  home  and  at  school, 
his  private  reading  and  study  and  the  acquaintance  which  he  had 
already  gained  with  men  in  active  life  gave  him  a  good  equipment 
for  the  exacting  business  of  manufacturing. 

Until  1873  Mr.  Abbot  remained  with  the  Robey  Manufacturing 
Company  at  Chelmsford.  Then  he  returned  to  Westford  and  went 
into  business  there  in  the  house  of  Abbot  &  Company.  In  1876  he 
became  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Abbot  &  Company,  and  held  this 
partnership  until  1900,  when  he  became  treasurer  of  the  Abbot 
Worsted  Company,  the  post  he  holds  at  the  present  time.  From 
1892  to  1898  Mr.  Abbot  served  as  chairman  of  the  school  committee 
of  Westford,  and  from  1892  to  the  present  time  he  has  been  a  mem- 
ber, as  has  been  said,  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  National 
Association  of  Wool  Manufacturers. 

Mr.  Abbot  is  a  Unitarian  in  his  religious  faith,  and  for  twenty- 
seven  years  has  served  the  First  Parish  Church  of  Westford  as  its 
clerk  and  a  member  of  the  executive  committee.  He  is  a  Republi- 
can in  politics,  but  has  contented  himself  with  upholding  by  his 
vote  and  influence  the  principles  of  the  party  to  which  he  is  devoted, 
and  has  not  desired  to  secure  political  office. 

A  gentleman  of  scholarly  tastes,  Mr.  Abbot  is  particularly  well 
informed  in  English  history,  the  plays  of  Shakespeare  and  the  biog- 
raphies of  eminent  men,  and  he  has  broadened  his  mind  through 
unusual  opportunities  of  observation  as  a  traveler.  He  has  visited 
every  State  in  the  Union  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and  most  of  the 
Western  States,  Canada,  Mexico,  and  the  islands  of  the  Atlantic. 
He  has  journeyed  extensively  also  in  Europe  and  in  Egypt,  and  for 
a  number  of  years  has  made  it  his  practice  to  go  abroad  every  second 
year. 

At  his  home  Mr.  Abbot  finds  pleasure  in  many  out-of-door  sports. 
He  is  fond  of  sailing,  canoeing,  baseball,  riding  and  tennis,  and  for 
the  sake  of  health  and  the  all-around  development  which  these 
pastimes  give  he  devotes  to  them  no  small  share  of  his  time  outside 
of  the  exactions  of  business. 

Mr.  Abbot  was  married  on  April  22,  1880,  to  Mary  Alice  Moseley, 
daughter  of  Edward  S.  and  Charlotte  Moseley,  who  is  descended  from 
John  Maudesley,  or  Moseley,  who  came  from  England  with  the  first 


ABIEL  JACOB   ABBOT 

pioneers  to  Dorchester  in  1630.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Abbot  have  three 
children  —  Edward  M.  Abbot,  who  is  engaged  in  manufacturing, 
John  M.  Abbot,  who  is  in  the  banking  business,  and  a  daughter. 

Mr.  Abbot's  sons  have  their  father's  success  in  business  as  an 
example  and  encouragement  to  them.  His  advice  to  the  young 
men  of  his  community  is  "  to  be  diligent  in  all  things,  upright  in 
business,  scrupulous  in  speech  and  habits,  and  unselfish,  thinking 
not  always  of  themselves  but  of  their  obligations  to  their  fellow- 
men  and  their  duty  to  be  helpful  to  the  community  about  them." 
This  is  not  only  Mr.  Abbot's  counsel  to  others,  but  the  substance 
of  the  principles  on  which  he  has  sought  to  order  a  life  which  has 
proved  to  be  one  of  beneficence  to  his  native  town  and  State. 


N 


HOMER   ALBERS 


HOMER  ALBERS,  a  Boston  lawyer  with  a  reputation  for 
handling  cases  of  large  importance,  formerly  a  member  of 
the  Faculty  of  the  Boston  University  Law  School,  and 
lecturer  on  Business  Law  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology, was  born  at  Warsaw,  Illinois,  February  28,  1863.  His 
father,  Claus  Albers,  who  was  born  November  25,  1817,  and  died 
January  23,  1892,  was  the  son  of  John  Dietrich  and  Sophia  (Lange) 
Albers,  and  in  1836  came  from  Zeven,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Hanover. 
On  March  5,  1839,  he  married  Rebecca  Knoop,  who  was  born  Decem- 
ber 26,  1818,  immigrated  to  America  from  Zeven  in  1838,  and  died 
July  9,  1896. 

For  many  years  Claus  Albers  was  a  prominent  flour  manufacturer 
at  Warsaw.  He  was  a  man  of  great  uprightness  and  exactness  in 
his  life  and  his  dealings  with  others,  and  of  thoroughness  in  his  work. 
The  training  of  his  sons,  which  received  first  the  strong  moral  and 
spiritual  influence  of  their  mother,  had  also  his  own  earnest  atten- 
tion. To  teach  them  the  value  of  money  and  that  no  honest  work  is 
degrading,  he  gave  them  no  allowance  until  they  went  to  college,  but 
paid  them  for  manual  labor  at  his  country  place,  house  and  flour 
mill.  To  gain  something  they  had  to  do  something  —  a  practical 
schooling,  the  value  and  importance  of  which  they  were  able  to 
appreciate  in  later  years. 

In  due  time  Homer  Albers  attended  the  public  schools  —  inclu- 
ding the  High  School  of  Warsaw.  He  then  entered  the  Central 
Wesleyan  College  at  Warrenton,  Missouri,  and  after  the  usual  course 
he  graduated  in  1882  with  the  A.B.  degree,  receiving  the  honorary 
A.M.  degree  in  1885.  From  the  age  of  six  years  he  had  expressed 
a  determination  to  become  a  lawyer.  With  this  purpose  still  in 
view,  he  went  from  college  to  the  Boston  University  Law  School, 
and  graduated  from  this  institution  in  1885,  receiving  the  LL.B. 
degree.  It  was  while  at  the  Law  School  that  he  encountered  his 
first  real  difficulties.      His  father  failed  in  business,  and  from  that 


HOMER  ALBERS 

time  he  was  obliged  to  pay  his  own  expenses,  which  he  did  by  work 
as  evening  librarian  of  the  Social  Law  Library  of  Boston  and  by 
tutoring  in  law. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  County  Bar  in  1885,  when  his 
work  began  as  attorney-at-law  in  Boston.  At  the  autumn  term  of 
that  year  he  was  engaged  as  instructor  in  the  Boston  University 
Law  School,  and  soon  thereafter  was  made  a  member  of  the  Faculty 
and  a  lecturer  in  the  same  institution.  His  marked  success  in 
teaching  and  in  practice  soon  gained  him  distinction.  In  1900,  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  having  established  a  Depart- 
ment of  Business  Law,  Mr.  Albers  was  selected  as  eminently  fitted  to 
conduct  the  course,  which  he  has  continued  to  do  from  that  time  to 
the  present.  He  has  declined  offered  professorships  in  law  in  Michi- 
gan University  at  Ann  Arbor  and  in  the  Northwestern  University. 

He  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  State  Ballot  Law  Commission 
in  1899,  and  reappointed  by  successive  governors  until  the  expira- 
tion of  the  term  in  1905.  When  the  Massachusetts  Legislature 
created  two  additional  justices  of  the  Superior  Court  in  1903,  there 
was  a  lively  contest  for  the  new  places.  The  appointment  of  Mr. 
Albers  was  strongly  urged  by  Judge  James  R.  Dunbar  and  other 
prominent  men  of  the  bench  and  bar,  and  he  was  named  in  the  first 
appointment  of  a  justice  ever  made  by  Governor  Bates.  Mr.  Albers, 
however,  felt  obliged  to  decline  this  unsought  honor. 

As  attorney  for  Thomas  W.  Lawson,  Mr.  Albers  has  had  a  varied 
experience  with  many  intricate  and  perplexing  affairs;  and  he  has 
also  acted  as  attorney  for  C.  I.  Hood  &  Company,  the  Wells  &  Richard- 
son Company,  and  other  houses  having  important  legal  business. 
He  conducted  the  celebrated  gas  cases  in  the  Legislature.  He  has 
had  numerous  trade-mark  cases  in  different  parts  of  the  United 
States,  and  a  great  variety  of  other  business  calling  for  legal  acumen, 
ability  and  discretion  of  the  highest  order. 

Mr.  Albers  is  a  steadfast  Republican  in  politics.  He  is  well 
known  in  professional  and  social  life,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Uni- 
versity Club  of  Boston  and  of  the  Boston  Art  Club,  the  old  Massa- 
chusetts Club,  and  the  Brae  Burn  Country  Club.  He  attends  the 
Episcopal  Church.  He  is  fond  of  travel,  from  which  he  gets  his  most 
delightful  relaxation,  but  also  finds  enjoyment  in  such  sports  as  golf. 
His  residence  is  now  in  Brookline;  his  office  in  Boston. 

He  was  married  June  26,  1889,  to  Minnie  M.  Martin,  daughter 


HOMER  ALBERS 

of  Charles  H.  and  Sarah  (Goodell)  Martin,  granddaughter  of  Hiram 
and  Salome  (Dunham)  Martin,  and  of  Harry  and  Lucinda  (Weaver) 
Goodell. 

One  so  successful  as  a  teacher  and  a  practical  business  man  is 
unusually  well  qualified  to  offer  suggestions  for  the  strengthening 
of  sound  ideals  in  our  American  life.  To  young  people  Mr.  Albers 
would  advise:  "First,  good  character;  second,  work;  third,  more 
work."  And  he  adds:  "Don't  merely  do  enough  work  to  fill  your 
position;  if  that  is  all  you  do,  you  are  not  entitled  to  a  better  position." 


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^ 


EDWIN   FARNSWORTH   ATKINS 

EDWIN  FARNSWORTH  ATKINS,  merchant,  sugar  planter 
and  manufacturer,  capitalist,  was  born  in  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts, January  13,  1850.  His  father,  Elisha  Atkins,  was 
a  son  of  Joshua  and  Sally  (Snow)  Atkins,  grandson  of  Samuel  and 
Ruth  (Lombard)  Atkins  and  a  descendant  from  Henry  Atkins,  the 
Pilgrim,  who  came  from  England  to  New  England  in  1639  and  settled 
in  Plymouth;  of  Edmund  Freeman,  the  Pilgrim,  who  came  from 
England  about  1650  and  located  in  Sandwich,  Plymouth  Colony. 
Elisha  Atkins  was  a  merchant  in  Boston  and  married  Mary  E.  Free- 
man, daughter  of  William  and  Elizabeth  (Shepherd)  Freeman, 
granddaughter  of  Elkana  and  Mary  (Myrick)  Freeman,  and  a 
descendant  from  Elder  William  Brewster  of  the  Mayflower,  the 
Pilgrim  father  of  the  English  settlement  in  Leyden,  Holland,  1608, 
and  of  the  Plymouth  settlement  in  America  in  1620. 

Edwin  Farnsworth  Atkins  was  brought  up  largely  in  the  country, 
instructed  in  private  schools  in  Boston  and  became  a  clerk  in  his 
father's  office,  in  Boston,  in  1867.  He  adopted  the  business  of  his 
father  through  personal  preference  and  he  spent  much  of  his  life 
in  Cuba  devoted  to  the  development  of  sugar  planting  and  manu- 
facturing. He  became  the  owner  of  the  Soledad  Estate  at  Cienfuegas, 
Cuba,  and  personally  managed  its  large  interests,  both  as  a  producer 
on  Cuban  soil  and  as  a  shipper.  As  a  sugar  refiner  he  was  for  ten 
years  the  president  of  the  Bay  State  Sugar  Refinery  Company  of 
Boston,  and  later  a  director  of  the  Boston  Sugar  Refining  Company; 
after  the  death  of  his  father  in  1888,  he  succeeded  him  as  a  direc- 
tor and  vice-president  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway  system,  which 
position  he  held  up  to  the  time  of  its  reorganization.  He  is  president 
of  the  Soledad  Sugar  Company;  the  Trinidad  Sugar  Company,  Cuba; 
the  Boston  Wharf  Company  (real  estate) ;  the  Aetna  Mills  (woolen); 
and  a  director  of  the  Eliot  National  Bank,  the  American  Trust 
Company,  the  Guarantee  Company  of  North  America,  and  the 
West  End  Street  Railway  Company.     He  is  a  director  of  the  Boston 


EDWIN   FARNSWORTH  ATKINS 

Merchants'  Association.     The  Degree  of   Master  of  Arts  was  con- 
ferred upon  him  June  24,  1903,  by  Harvard  University. 

He  was  married  October  11,  1882,  to  Katharine,  daughter  of 
Frank  and  Helen  (Hartshorn)  Wrisley,  of  Boston,  and  the  three  chil- 
dren born  of  this  marriage  are  Robert  Wrisley,  June  2,  1889,  Edwin 
Farnsworth,  Jr.,  April  21,  1891,  and  Helen  Atkins,  June  28,  1893. 
Mr.  Atkins's  home  is  at  Belmont,  Massachusetts.  He  generally 
spends  the  winter  months  on  his  plantation  in  Cuba.  His  political 
affiliation  is  with  the  Republican  party,  in  the  counsels  of  which  he 
is  an  aggressive  champion  of  tariff  reform.  His  religious  faith  is 
that  of  the  Unitarian  denomination.  He  is  a  member  of  many 
of  the  social,  business  and  political  clubs  of  Boston,  New  York 
and  Cuba. 


cUy-r7_o^    a 


FREDERICK  AYER 

FREDERICK  AYER  was  the  son  of  Frederick  Ayer,  a  com- 
missioned officer  in  the  War  of  1812,  a  man  highly  esteemed 
by  his  fellow  citizens  on  account  of  his  fine  character  and 
integrity.  On  his  father's  side  he  descends  from  John  Ayer,  who 
came  from  England  and  settled  in  Haverhill  in  1632,  removing  to 
Saybrook  early  in  the  eighteenth  century.  His  mother,  Persis 
(Cook)  Ayer,  was  a  descendant  of  the  Cook  family  which  came  from 
England  and  settled  at  Cambridge,  later  moving  to  Preston,  Con- 
necticut, where  she  was  born. 

Mr.  Ayer  was  born  on  the  eighth  day  of  December,  1822,  and  at 
an  early  age  was  sent  to  the  public  schools  in  Ledyard,  Connecticut, 
and  completed  his  education  at  a  private  academy  in  Baldwinsville, 
New  York.  He  then  entered  the  store  of  John  H.  Tomlinson  & 
Company,  of  the  latter  place,  as  a  clerk.  Soon,  however,  he  was  sent 
to  Syracuse,  New  York,  as  manager  of  a  store  belonging  to  the  same 
firm,  which  later  took  him  into  partnership.  Three  years  later  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  Hon.  Dennis  ]\IcCarthy,  under  the  firm 
name  of  McCarthy  &  Ayer,  which  continued  about  eleven  years, 
Mr.  Ayer  withdrawing  from  this  firm  in  the  spring  of  1855  for  the 
purpose  of  joining  his  brother.  Dr.  James  C.  Ayer,  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  business  of  Ayer's  Proprietary  Medicines,  the  firm  being 
J.  C.  Ayer  &  Company;  later,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Ayer,  incorporated 
as  the  J.  C.  Ayer  Company.  Mr.  Frederick  Ayer  was  elected  the 
first  treasurer  of  this  corporation,  holding  this  office  until  1893,  when 
the  pressure  of  other  interests  forced  him  to  resign.  In  1871  with 
his  brother,  James  C.  Ayer,  Frederick  Ayer  bought  a  controlling 
interest  in  the  stock  of  the  Tremont  Mills  and  Suffolk  Manufacturing 
Company  of  Lowell,  consolidating  the  two  companies  under  the 
name  of  the  Tremont  and  Suffolk  Mills. 

In  June,  1885,  Mr.  Ayer  purchased  at  auction  the  entire  property 
of  the  Washington  Mills  at  Lawrence,  Massachusetts,  and  subse- 
quently formed  a  corporation  known  as  the  Washington  Mills  Com- 
pany, and  became  its  treasurer. 


FREDERICK   AYER 

The  American  Woolen  Company  was  organized  by  Mr.  Ayer  on 
March  29,  1899,  he  being  the  first  president  of  this  corporation  and 
continuing  in  that  office  until  1905. 

Mr.  Ayer  has  had  many  diversified  interests  and  has  assisted 
largely  in  the  development  of  new  enterprises,  for  which  his  advice 
and  cooperation  are  much  valued.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  New  England  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  and  served 
as  one  of  its  directors  until  1896,  when  he  resigned  from  the  board 
and  was  succeeded  by  his  son. 

Mr.  Ayer  was  one  of  the  organizers  and  for  several  years  treasurer 
of  the  Lake  Superior  Ship  Canal  Railway  and  Iron  Company,  which 
owned  upwards  of  four  hundred  thousand  acres  of  timber  and  mineral 
lands  in  the  Upper  Peninsula  of  Michigan,  and  was  one  of  its  direc- 
tors until  its  property  was  taken  over  by  the  Keweenaw  Associa- 
tion, on  whose  board  of  managers  he  remained  for  some  years  when 
he  resigned  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son.  He  was  also  one  of  the 
builders  of  the  Portage  Lake  Canal,  which  runs  from  Keweenaw 
Bay  across  Keweenaw  Point,  Michigan,  connecting  Keweenaw  Bay 
with  Lake  Superior.  This  canal  was  afterwards  sold  to  the  United 
States  Government. 

To-day  Mr.  Ayer  is  vice-president  and  director  of  the  American 
Woolen  Company  (New  Jersey);  president  and  director  American 
Woolen  Company,  of  New  York.  Director  Boston  Elevated  Railroad 
Company;  vice-president  and  trustee  Central  Savings  Bank,  of  Lowell, 
Massachusetts;  director  Columbian  National  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany; director  and  vice-i^resident  of  the  International  Trust  Com- 
pany; director  American  Loan  and  Trust  Company;  president  and 
director  J.  C.  Ayer  Company;  president  and  director  Lowell  &  An- 
dover  Railroad;  director  Tremont  and  Suffolk  Mills;  director  United 
States  Mining  Company.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Lowell 
and  Andover  Railroad,  and  has  ever  since  been  its  president. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Algonquin  Club,  Beacon  Society  and 
Country  Clubs  of  Boston.     His  favorite  exercise  is  horseback  riding. 

In  1858  Mr.  Ayer  was  married  to  Miss  Cornelia  Wheaton  at 
Syracuse,  New  York.  She  died  in  1878.  There  were  four  children 
of  this  marriage,  Ellen  W.,  James  C,  Charles  F.  and  Louise  R. 
Mr.  Ayer  was  married  again  to  Miss  Ellen  Banning  at  St.  Paul, 
Minnesota.  The  children  of  this  marriage  are  Beatrice  B.,  Katharine 
and  Frederick,  Jr. 


1198117 


0-£^     /^,      (f^c^Jl, 


HOLLIS    RUSSELL    BAILEY 

HOLLIS  RUSSELL  BAILEY,  lawyer,  chairman  of  the  board 
of  bar  examiners  of  Massachusetts,  was  born  in  North 
Andover,  Essex  County,  Massachusetts,  February  24,  1852. 
His  father,  Otis  Bailey,  lived  in  the  old  Governor  Bradstreet  house, 
once  the  home  of  Anne  Bradstreet,  the  first  female  poet  of  America. 
He  was  a  farmer  and  butcher,  a  deacon  in  the  Unitarian  Church, 
held  several  town  offices  and  was  a  man  of  public  spirit,  integrity 
and  frugality.  He  married  Lucinda  Alden,  daughter  of  Alden  Loring 
and  Lucinda  (Briggs)  Loring,  of  Duxbury,  Massachusetts,  and  a 
descendant  of  Thomas  Loring,  of  Axminster,  England,  who  came  to 
Hingham  about  1635,  and  of  John  Alden  of  the  Mayfloiver,  1620. 
James  Bailey,  the  progenitor  of  the  family  to  which  Hollis  Russell 
Bailey  belongs  was  born  in  England  about  1612  and  came  to  Rowley 
about  1640  and  his  descendant,  Samuel  Bailey,  Jr.,  was  killed  in 
the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  June  19,  1775. 

Hollis  Russell  Bailey  was  a  strong  and  active  child,  fond  of 
out-door  life,  including  fishing  and  hunting,  and  from  his  earliest 
years  was  constantly  engaged  on  the  farm  in  strenuous  manual  labor 
when  not  in  school.  He  claims  that  this  mode  of  life  had  the 
effect  to  make  him  strong,  self-reliant,  industrious  and  persistent.  His 
mother's  influence  in  these  early  days  also  made  for  truth,  sobriety 
and  willingness  to  work.  His  models  and  ideals  of  great  men  were 
derived  from  reading  biographies  and  autobiographies  and  his  study 
of  Goodwin's  Greek  Moods  and  Tenses  helped  him  in  writing  clear 
English.  He  was  obliged  to  earn  money  while  in  college  to  meet 
his  expenses.  He  attended  Punchard  Free  School,  Andover;  John- 
son High  School,  North  Andover;  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  where 
he  was  graduated  in  1873,  and  Harvard  University,  where  he  gained 
his  A.B.  degree  in  1877,  LL.B.  1878,  and  A.M.  1879,  the  latter 
degree  being  given  after  a  post-graduate  year  at  the  Harvard  Law 
School.  He  also  studied  law  with  Hyde,  Dickinson  and  Howe. 
Speaking  of  his  choice  of  a  profession  he  says:    "I  had  no  strong 


MOLLIS   RUSSELL   BAILEY 

bent  for  the  law.  I  could  have  pursued  medicine  or  engineering  with 
equal  pleasure.  The  influence  of  my  oldest  sister,  Miss  Sarah  Loring 
Bailey,  largely  determined  my  choice  and  first  roused  my  ambition 
to  seek  for  success  in  the  legal  profession.  Outside  my  own  fam- 
ily, my  college  associates  were  possibly  the  most  helpful  factors  in 
stimulating  and  shaping  my  life." 

He  was  admitted  to  the  Massachusetts  Bar  in  1880  and  began  a 
general  practice  throughout  New  England,  with  an  office  in  Boston 
at  No.  30  Court  Street.  He  served  for  a  short  time  as  private  secre- 
tary to  Chief  Justice  Horace  Gray  of  the  Massachusetts  Supreme 
Judicial  Court.  He  was  married  February  12,  1885,  to  Mary  Persis, 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  Charles  H.  Bell  and  Sarah  A.  (Oilman)  Bell, 
of  Exeter,  N.  H.  Her  father  was  at  one  time  governor  of  New  Hamp- 
shire and  United  States  Senator.  One  child  was  born  of  this  mar- 
riage, Gladys  Loring  Bailey.  They  lived  in  Boston  up  to  1890  when 
they  removed  to  Cambridge.  He  served  as  chairman  of  the  City 
Committee  of  the  Non-Partisan  Municipal  party  of  Cambridge,  for 
one  year,  1902;  is  conveyancer  for  the  Cambridge  Savings  Bank; 
clerk  of  the  First  Church  in  Cambridge  (Unitarian);  in  1900  became 
a  member  of  the  board  of  bar  examiners  of  Massachusetts,  and  in 
1903  became  chairman  of  the  board.  While  in  Harvard  he  was 
elected  one  of  the  "first  eight"  to  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  in  1876,  and 
was  second  marshal  in  1877.  He  was  also  elected  to  membership 
in  the  Cambridge  Club;  the  Colonial  Club  of  Cambridge,  where  he 
served  for  a  time  as  a  member  of  the  committee  on  admission;  the 
American  Free  Trade  League;  the  Bailey-Bayley  Family  Associa- 
tion, serving  as  its  president;  the  Bostonian  Society;  the  American 
Bar  Association.  He  left  the  Republican  party  when  James  G. 
Blaine  was  nominated  for  president  in  1882,  and  from  that  time  has 
acted  with  the  Democratic  party.  His  youthful  athletic  exercise 
was  playing  baseball  and  his  recreation  fishing  and  hunting.  At 
college  he  was  a  track  athlete,  entering  the  three-mile  w^alking  race 
and  earning  second  place.  He  failed  to  pass  the  bar  examination  in 
June,  1879,  but  was  successful  in  January,  1880.  He  says:  "Every 
lawyer  loses  some  cases.  I  have  always  tried  to  be  what  is  called 
a  'good  loser.'"  To  young  men  he  says:  "Be  honest;  be  truthful; 
be  public-spirited;  be  tolerant;  be  industrious." 


JOHN    BASCOM 


THOMAS  BOSCOMBE  emigrated  from  England  and  settled 
in  1635  in  Roxbury.  As  the  population  of  the  State  in- 
creased his  descendants  went,  by  slow  stages,  farther  west. 
In  the  sixth  generation,  Aaron  Bascom,  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
College,  was  called  as  the  first  pastor  to  the  Congregational  Church 
in  Chester,  Hampshire  County.  Here  he  spent  his  entire  life,  a 
forceful  man  of  the  Puritanical  type.  He  had  a  family  of  eight 
children.  Three  sons,  Samuel,  John  and  Reynolds,  graduated  at 
Williams  College.  John  Bascom  graduated  in  1807,  and  at  Andover 
Theological  Seminary  in  1811.  He  married  Laura  Woodbridge,  the 
daughter  of  Major  Theodore  Woodbridge,  of  the  Revolutionary 
Army.  The  Woodbridges  were  a  distinguished  family  of  Connecti- 
cut, of  long  standing  and  especially  associated  with  the  ministry. 
He  became  a  home  missionary,  first  in  Northern  Pennsylvania  and 
later  in  Central  New  York.  He  was  located  during  the  later  years 
of  his  life  at  Genoa,  Cayuga  County.  He  died  early,  leaving  a  family 
of  small  children  in  straitened  circumstances.  After  a  little,  the 
family  left  its  country  home  and  removed  to  the  adjoining  village 
of  Ludlowville.  The  daughters  were  Harriet,  Mary  and  Cornelia. 
The  son,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  John.  Mary  was  unusually 
ambitious  and  pushing.  She  secured  admission  to  the  Willard 
Seminary,  Troy,  paying  expenses,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
school,  by  the  proceeds  of  instruction  given  later.  She  secured  the 
admission  of  her  two  sisters,  and  all  three  taught  for  a  series  of  years 
in  the  South.  They  made  the  way  open  and  easy  for  the  education 
of  their  younger  brother. 

John  was  born  in  Genoa,  May  1,  1827.  He  prepared  for  college 
at  Homer  Academy,  of  which  his  sister  Mary  was  at  that  time  the 
woman  principal.  The  widowhood  of  his  mother  and  the  limited 
resources  of  the  family  gave  him,  in  all  his  earlier  years,  an  abundance 
of  work  at  home.  The  local  libraries  of  New  York,  just  being  estab- 
lished by  the  State,  served  him  an  excellent  turn.     He  graduated 


JOHN   BASCOM 

at  Williams  in  1849,  in  a  large  class,  which  has  produced  able  men. 
He  spent  the  first  year  after  graduation  in  Hoosick  Falls  as  princi- 
pal of  Ball  Seminary.  The  second  year  was  spent  in  the  study  of  law 
at  Rochester;  and  the  third  in  Auburn  Theological  Seminary.  He 
was  then  called  to  a  tutorship  at  Williams,  which  he  occupied  one  year 
and  part  of  the  succeeding  year.  His  eyes  then  failed  him,  and  it  re- 
quired a  half  dozen  years  before  he  gained  even  a  partial  use  of  them. 
He  completed  his  theological  course  at  Andover,and  was  invited  to 
the  professorship  of  rhetoric  at  Williams  in  1855.  This  position  he 
held  for  nineteen  years,  and  was  then  called  to  the  presidency  of  the 
University  of  Wisconsin,  where  he  remained  between  thirteen  and 
fourteen  years.  Finding  the  duties  more  burdensome  than  he  could 
bear,  he  resigned  in  1887  and  returned  to  Williams,  where  he  has 
since  given  instruction  in  political  and  social  subjects. 

He  married  Abbie,  the  daughter  of  Rev.  Sylvester  Burt,  of  Great 
Barrington,  in  1853.  She  dying  shortly  after,  he  was  married  to 
Emma  Curtiss,  daughter  of  Orren  Curtiss,  of  Sheffield,  a  woman 
especially  resourceful  and  aidful,  and  who  had  achieved  a  position 
as  a  successful  teacher.  They  have  celebrated  their  golden  wedding. 
There  are  three  living  children,  George,  Jean  and  Florence,  all  gradu- 
ates of  the  University  of  Wisconsin.  Florence  was  the  first  woman 
to  receive  the  degree  of  Ph.D.  from  the  Johns  Hopkins  University, 
and  the  first  to  be  appointed  on  the  United  States  Geological  Survey. 
She  is  professor  of  geology  at  Bryn  Mawr  College. 

The  earlier  instruction  given  by  Professor  Bascom  at  Williams 
College  was  successful,  but  not  as  successful  as  that  given  at  the 
University  on  subjects  more  congenial  to  his  taste,  those  associated 
with  psychology.  On  these  topics  he  v/as  able  to  make  a  deep  and 
permanent  impression.  In  his  college  course  he  was  proficient  in 
mathematics  and  physics.  Not  till  senior  year  did  he  show  that 
taste  for  philosophy  which  has  been  his  predominating  intellectual 
quality.  He  has  been  an  extended  author,  chiefly  under  this  philo- 
sophical impulse.  He  has  published  a  number  of  books  which  have 
grown,  directly  or  indirectly,  out  of  the  instruction  given  by  him: 
a  treatise  on  Political  Economy,  on  Rhetoric,  on  Esthetics,  on  Psy- 
chology, —  later  rewritten  and  published  as  "  Science  of  Mind  "  — 
on  Ethics,  on  Natural  Theology.  In  connection  with  his  later  in- 
struction in  Political  Science  he  published  "  Growth  of  Nationality 
in  the  United  States."     He  has  added  to  these  publications  a  num- 


JOHN   BASCOM 

ber  of  volumes  expressive  of  his  religious  thought :  '*  Science,  Phi- 
losophy and  Religion  "; ''  The  Philosophy  of  Religion  ";  "  The  Words 
of  Christ  ";  '^  The  New  Theology  ";  "  Evolution  and  Religion  ";  "  the 
Goodness  of  God."  The  first  of  this  series  was  given  as  a  course  of 
Lowell  Lectures;  the  last,  as  lectures  before  the  Divinity  School  at 
New  Haven.  The  book  on  English  Literature  was  also  delivered  as 
Lowell  Lectures. 

To  these  volumes  he  has  added  others  prompted  by  his  interest 
in  philosophy : "  Problems  in  Philosophy" ;  "Growth  and  Grades  of  Litel- 
ligence";  "An  Historical  Interpretation  of  Philosophy."  His  interest 
in  sociology  has  been  the  outgrowth  of  the  religious  and  philosophical 
temper  and  has  given  occasion  to  two  volumes:  "Sociology  and  Social 
Theory."  These  books  have  been  chiefly  published  by  Putnam's 
Sons.  To  these  more  lengthy  works  he  has  added  more  than  one 
hundred  and  forty  published  addresses  and  articles  for  quarterlies 
and  reviews.  They  have  all  sprung  from  a  constant  study  of  the 
serious  problems  of  life  and  reflection  on  them.  His  influence  on 
young  men  could  not  but  be  colored  by  these  earnest  processes  of 
thought,  nor  fail  with  many  of  them  to  be  of  a  lasting  character. 

He  added  to  fifty  years  of  teaching  the  equivalent  of  about 
twelve  years  of  ministerial  work.  In  his  earlier  instruction  at 
Williams  he  had  charge  of  a  church  in  the  neighboring  town  of 
Pownal.  The  open  spaces  in  these  occupations  were  covered  by 
writing.  Not  being  a  man  of  robust  endurance  he  maintained  his 
health  and  discharged  his  duties  by  promptitude,  rigid  temperance 
and  much  activity  in  the  open  air.  His  relaxations  were  gardening, 
tramping,  riding  —  many  miles  on  horseback. 

Starting  with  a  severe  orthodox  faith  he  occupied  his  life  in 
reshaping  it,  not  to  suit  the  times,  but  to  meet  the  growing  knowl- 
edge of  the  woi'ld.  Though  he  encountered  the  sharp,  nipping 
atmosphere  which  comes  to  those  who  change  their  religious  views 
more  rapidly  than  their  neighbors,  he  has  maintained  his  connection 
with  the  Congregational  Church,  suffering  no  open  censure. 

His  chief  educational  work  and  personal  labor  has  been  in  philoso- 
phy. Starting  with  intuitionalism,  he  has  been  led  to  interpret, 
correct  and  expand  it  in  direct  contact  with  the  facts  of  the  world. 
His  chief  merit  lies  in  this  reconciliation  of  empiricism  with  the 
rational  insight  of  the  mind,  yielding  neither  element  to  the  other. 
While  his  composition,  much  of  it  philosophical,  cannot  be  said  to 


JOHN   BASCOM 

be  popular,  his  spoken  words  have  met  with  much  acceptance.  His 
habit  of  mind  has  chiefly  prepared  him  for  close  contact  with  intelli- 
gent and  earnest  students. 

He  has  paid  little  attention  to  degrees,  or  to  membership  in  clubs 
and  societies.  The  degree  of  D.D.  was  given  him  by  the  College  of 
Iowa,  and  the  degree  of  LL.D.  by  Amherst,  Williams  and  Wisconsin. 

He  has  been  able  to  show  that  a  Puritan  can  change  his  opinions 
without  forgetting  his  Puritanic  strain;  that  a  religious  man  can  be 
constantly  busy  in  shaping  his  beliefs  and  lose  no  particle  of  faith; 
that  a  philosopher  may  occupy  himself  with  suiting  his  principles 
to  the  growing  revelations  of  human  conduct  and  thereby  forfeit 
no  sense  of  the  value  and  reliability  of  truth,  which  lies  in  this  change- 
able conformity  of  our  conceptions  to  the  world  which  embraces  us. 

His  first  vote  was  cast  in  connection  with  the  Free  Soil  party. 
He  was  a  zealous  supporter  of  the  Republican  party  and  remained 
in  connection  with  it  till  it  seemed  to  him  to  have  drifted  off  into 
general  and  personal  politics.  He  then  claimed  the  liberty  of  a 
Mugwump,  more  frequently  voting  with  the  Prohibitionists.  He 
has  been  indifferent  to  no  reform,  but  has  come  to  understand  how 
slow  the  pace  of  the  world  is  and  must  necessarily  be. 

He  has  always  been  interested  in  town  affairs  and  was  for  a  con- 
siderable period  on  the  school  committee.  During  this  service  the 
districts  were  reformed,  new  school  buildings  erected  and  general 
methods  improved.  He  was  active  in  securing  the  Greylock  Reser- 
vation, and  since  its  commencement  has  been  chairman  of  the 
Greylock  Commission.  He  has  also  been  attentive  to  village  im- 
provement; helping  to  organize  and  maintain  the  association  for 
that  object.  While  he  has  not  sought  official  work,  he  has  brought 
an  intelligent,  critical  temper  to  social  relations,  aiding  those  who 
conceived  of  them  as  a  Kingdom  of  Heaven  to  be  framed  into,  and 
built  upon,  the  world.  He  has  striven  to  correct  theory  by  practice, 
and  to  give  scope  and  force  to  practice  by  the  over-shadowing 
encouragement  and  guidance  of  theory. 

His  word  to  young  men  is :  "Attach  more  importance  to  the  quality 
of  your  work  than  to  its  reward.  Be  not  unduly  distressed  by  hard 
work;  hard  work  is,  for  the  most  part,  the  school  of  manhood.  Do 
not  barter  intellectual  freedom  for  any  form  of  emolument,  intel- 
lectual freedom  means  personal  power,  emolument  at  the  most 
means  a  recognition  of  that  power." 


■T//,j^!.  s^r~  jvy 


SAMUEL    AUGUSTUS    BIGELOW 

SAMUEL  AUGUSTUS  BIGELOW  has  been  connected  for  many 
years  with  the  hardware  industry  of  America.  Many  men 
have  been  interested  in  his  views  and  ideas  concerning  the 
trade  because  they  have  felt  that  his  influence  was  to  eventually 
benefit  them,  and  they  have  learned  to  trust  and  depend  upon  his 
advice.  He  is  a  pioneer  in  the  business,  and  wisely  chosen  by  his 
colleagues  for  every  position  of  honor  or  importance  that  they  have 
conferred  upon  him.  The  golden  anniversary  of  his  career  in  the 
business  world,  which  occurred  on  October  12,  1905,  was  a  testimony 
to  the  universal  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  his  friends  all  over 
the  country.  Over  fifty  years  of  uninterrupted  experience  gives 
him  preeminence  as  an  expert  in  his  line. 

He  was  brought  up  at  Nonantum  Vale  on  the  Faneuil  estate. 
Enjoying  as  he  did  a  life  of  freedom  he  naturally  sought  what  was 
most  to  his  liking.  His  adventurous  spirit  soon  disclosed  to  him  the 
resources  within  his  reach.  He  indulged  his  redundancy  of  good 
health  and  spirits  in  out-of-door  sports  and  with  the  presage  of 
youth  investigated  the  mechanical  realm.  His  experiments  with 
tools  delighted  and  entertained  him. 

Mr.  Bigelow  inherits  the  marked  business  characteristics  of  the 
father  whose  name  he  beai-s.  Samuel  Bigelow,  the  father,  who  was 
largely  interested  in  real  estate,  was  a  very  successful  man.  He 
was  accredited  as  possessing  marked  shrewdness  and  discernment. 
He  was  born  August  22,  1807,  and  lived  until  October  11,  1901. 
His  earliest  ancestor,  who  came  to  this  country  and  settled  at 
Watertown,  Massachusetts,  in  1630,  was  John  Bigelow.  Mr.  Samuel 
Augustus  Bigelow's  mother  was  Anna  Jane  (Brooks)  Bigelow,  who 
was  a  decendant  from  Captain  Brooks,  who  came  to  America  and 
settled  in  Concord,  Massachusetts,  about  1630.  Mr.  Bigelow's  an- 
cestors were  represented  in  many  of  the  Colonial  Wars,  and  con- 
tinued through  each  succeeding  generation  to  respond  to  their 
country's  call.     At  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  their  names  were 


SAMUEL  AUGUSTUS   BIGELOW 

recognized  as  belonging  to  the  heroes  who  were  famous  in  the  his- 
tory of  those  times.  The  records  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts  show 
these  famines  to  have  been  prominent  in  law,  medicine  and  as  mer- 
chants. 

The  date  of  Mr.  Samuel  Augustus  Bigelow's  birth  is  November  26, 
1838.  His  native  city  is  Charlestown,  Massachusetts.  His  mother, 
so  highly  esteemed  for  her  gentleness  and  sincerity,  was  always  his 
best  authority  in  distinguishing  betw^een  right  and  wrong,  and  her 
influence  is  a  lasting  legacy  which  she  early  bequeathed  to  him.  To 
her  example  and  advice,  he  refers  in  the  most  glowing  terms,  and 
asserts  that  "  they  have  always  been  a  guiding  influence  for  all  that 
is  good."  His  education  was  obtained  in  the  public  schools  of 
Brighton,  which  now  forms  a  part  of  Boston.  He  finished  the  high 
school  course,  and  prepared  himself  for  further  advancement  in  a 
college  course,  but  his  desire  to  mingle  in  the  business  world  asserted 
itself,  and  he  gave  up  the  idea  of  going  to  college.  In  the  year  1855 
he  entered  the  hardware  house  of  Eaton  &  Palmer,  then  located 
on  Congress  Street,  Boston.  He  worked  in  the  capacity  of  errand 
boy,  shipper  and  general  assistant  in  the  office,  doing  whatever  he 
undertook  with  accuracy  and  despatch.  His  attitude  was  always 
one  of  confidence  that  he  would  succeed  in  whatsoever  he  attempted. 
In  1856  this  firm  consolidated  with  Lovett  &  Wellington,  forming 
the  house  of  Eaton,  Lovett  &  Wellington.  Mr.  Bigelow  was  the 
only  clerk  in  the  old  house  that  remained  with  the  nevv^.  He  was 
radiant  with  hope,  and  although  he  started  on  only  fifty  dollars  per 
year,  and  worked  for  three  years  with  an  increase  to  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  dollars  per  year,  he  soon  became  a  prosperous  sales- 
man, and  the  time  sped  rapidly  until  1864,  when  the  firm  of  Homer, 
Bishop  &  Company  was  founded  in  which  he  became  a  partner  in 
1866.  He  traveled  for  eight  years  over  the  states  of  Vermont  and 
New  Hampshire,  making  many  stanch  and  reliable  friends  and 
establishing  a  large  and  profitable  business,  much  of  which  remains 
in  connection  with  his  present  company.  It  was  in  the  fall  of  1872, 
when  the  appalling  conflagration  of  Boston  destroyed  every  jobbing 
hardware  house  in  the  city,  that  the  firm  of  Homer,  Bishop  &  Com- 
pany, was  dissolved,  and  the  new  firm  of  Macomber,  Bigelow  &  Dowse 
was  founded.  Through  necessity  they  were  forced  to  occupy  cham- 
bers in  Batterymarch  Street,  as  there  were  no  available  quarters 
on  the  ground  floor  left  after  the  fire.     In  1873  Mr.  Bigelow  assumed 


SAMUEL  AUGUSTUS   BIGELOW 

exclusive  control  of  the  buying  department,  and  through  his  general 
sagacity  and  courteous  bearing  he  has  greatly  enhanced  the  oppor- 
tunities of  the  business,  and  formed  for  it  a  valuable  circle  of  friends 
who  hold  him  in  highest  respect.  In  1884  John  F.  Macomber 
retired  on  account  of  illness,  and  the  new  firm  of  Bigelow  &  Dowse 
was  founded,  composed  of  Samuel  A.  Bigelow  and  Charles  F.  Dowse. 
In  1894  this  firm  was  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  IMassachusetts,  as  the  Bigelow  &  Dowse  Company,  which 
still  continues.  One  night  in  Januar}-,  1903,  the  business  house  of 
the  firm,  which  had  prospered  so  steadily  and  surely,  was  destroyed 
by  fire,  but  Mr.  Bigelow  and  his  partner  were  not  long  in  mastering 
the  situation.  In  temporary  quarters  they  were  soon  in  a  position 
to  fill  all  their  orders  which  poured  in  upon  them  from  their  old 
customers  as  uninterruptedly  as  though  nothing  had  interfered 
with  their  fulfilment.  Such  was  the  confidence  established  with 
their  customers  and  the  manufacturers,  that  but  little  depression 
was  caused  by  the  catastrophe,  and  almost  immediately  their  new 
store  was  rebuilt  on  the  old  site  and  filled  with  a  new  and  complete 
stock. 

A  meeting  of  a  few  hardware  jobbers  in  1893  resulted  in  the  New 
England  Iron  &  Hardware  Association  of  which  Mr.  Bigelow  was 
elected  first  president.  He  established  the  precedent  of  holding 
office  only  one  year,  which  custom  still  prevails.  He  was  then 
chosen  to  represent  the  Association  in  the  Boston  Associated  Board 
of  Trade.  In  this  capacity  he  served  until  1899,  when  he  was 
again  elected  to  the  Boston  Associated  Board  of  Trade,  completing 
his  term  in  October,  1903.  In  1894  he  was  the  only  representative 
from  New  England  at  that  first  meeting  at  Cleveland,  out  of  which 
grew  the  National  Hardware  Association.  At  that  meeting  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  executive  committee,  which  office  he  held 
continuously,  with  the  exception  of  one  year,  until  the  meeting  in 
Atlantic  City  in  November,  1903.  There  he  was  elected  president. 
He  had  expressed  a  wish  that  his  services  be  exempt  from  this  re- 
sponsibility, but  the  overwhelming  earnestness  of  the  members  of 
the  association  and  of  his  many  friends  from  near  and  far  who  were 
present,  prevailed,  and  he  quickly  rose  to  the  occasion  with  his 
response  of  generous  acquiescence  to  their  wishes,  and  assumed  the 
duties  and  honors  pressed  upon  him  with  a  gracefulness  and  willing- 
ness that  endeared  him  to  the  hearts  of  all  assembled.     He  made 


SAMUEL   AUGUSTUS   BIGELOW 

many  intimate  and  lasting  friendships  as  president  and  member  of 
the  executive  committee.  He  was  reelected  president  in  1904.  In 
1905  he  was  elected  a  permanent  member  of  the  Advisory  Board. 
Mr.  Bigelow  has  seen  many  changes  and  evolutions  in  the  hardware 
trade,  and  settled  many  problems  for  himself  and  others  that  tended 
to  elevate  its  standard.  He  states  that  the  hardware  man's  limited 
sphere  has  enlarged  until  now,  "he  has  more  need  to  use  his  head 
than  his  hands"  to  make  his  business  successful.  Mr.  Bigelow 
belongs  to  the  Republican  party,  to  which  he  has  always  remained 
loyal.  He  is  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Anvil  Club,  afterwards 
changed  to  the  Hardware  Buyers  Association;  also  master  of  the 
lodge  of  Eleusis;  a  member  of  the  Eastern  Yacht  Club;  Exchange 
Club;  Athletic  Club  and  others.  He  married  Miss  Ella  H.  Brown, 
daughter  of  Harriet  B.  and  Seth  E.  Brown,  on  November  7,  1867. 
Their  only  child  is  Samuel  Lawrence  Bigelow,  now  a  professor  of 
chemistry.  Mr.  Bigelow  states  that  his  motto  in  life  is  to  "  Follow 
the  Golden  Rule." 


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iJ^n^A 


MATHEW  C.   D.  BORDEN 

MATHEW  C.  D.  BORDEN,  cotton  manufacturer,  was  born 
in  Fall  River,  Massachusetts,  July  18,  1842.  His  father. 
Colonel  Richard  Borden,  was  a  son  of  Thomas  and  Mary 
(Hathaway)  Borden,  grandson  of  Thomas  and  Lydia  (Durfee)  Bor- 
den, who  were  the  founders  of  the  family  in  Fall  River,  and  a 
descendant  in  the  seventh  generation  from  Richard  Borden,  the  immi- 
grant, who  was  born  in  Borden,  Kent,  England,  where  the  family 
first  settled  a.d.  1090,  and  with  his  brother,  John  Borden,  came  to 
New  England  in  1635  and  settled  in  Portsmouth  Island,  Rhode 
Island  Colony,  in  1638.  His  son  Mathew  was  the  first  white  child 
born  in  that  settlement.  Colonel  Richard  Borden  was  born  in  Free- 
town, now  Fall  River,  April  12,  1795,  became  the  owner  of  a  flourish- 
ing grist-mill  in  that  town  and  in  company  with  Bradford  Durfee, 
a  ship-builder,  engaged  in  building  and  equipping  sailing  vessels. 
The  iron  and  wood  used  in  constructing  the  vessels  were  both  worked 
out  in  their  yards.  This  enterprise  resulted,  in  1821,  in  the  formation 
of  the  Fall  River  Iron  Works  Company.  Associated  with  Richard 
Borden  and  Bradford  Durfee  in  the  business  of  manufacturing  iron, 
building  sailing  vessels  and  shipping  and  trading  with  Providence 
and  other  neighboring  ports  were  Holder  Borden,  David  Anthony, 
William  Valentine,  Joseph  Butler  and  Abram  and  Isaac  Wilkinson, 
of  Providence.  The  original  capital  stock  of  $24,000  was  depleted 
soon  after  the  inauguration  of  the  enterprise  by  the  withdrawal  of 
$6,000,  invested  by  the  Wilkinsons,  and  the  remaining  partners  ran 
on  with  $18,000  capital.  In  1825  the  association  was  incorporated 
under  the  laws  of  Massachusetts  with  a  capital  of  $200,000,  increased 
in  1845  to  $960,000.  This  increase  was  taken  from  the  earnings  of 
the  business  and  still  left  of  the  earnings  not  so  applied,  $500,000. 
All  of  this  had  resulted  from  the  use  of  the  $18,000  originally  paid 
m  as  capital  stock.  This  result  was  largely  due  to  the  skill  and  fore- 
sight of  Colonel  Richard  Borden,  the  agent  and  treasurer  from  the 


MATHEW  C.   D.   BORDEN 

The  Iron  Works  Company  was  thus  enabled  to  become  one  of  the 
largest  stockholders  in  the  Wautuppa  Reservoir  Company,  organized 
in  1826;  in  the  Troy  Cotton  and  Woolen  Manufacturing  Company;  the 
Fall  River  Manufactory;  in  the  Annawan  Mill,  which  it  built  in  1825; 
in  the  American  Print  Works,  leasing  to  that  corporation  the  build- 
ings they  had  erected  in  1834;  in  the  Metacomet  Mill,  built  in  1846; 
in  the  Fall  River  Railroad,  opened  in  1846;  in  the  Bay  State  Steam- 
boat Line,  established  in  1847;  in  the  Fall  River  Gas  Works,  built  in 
1847,  besides  buildings  erected  in  various  parts  of  the  city  leased 
to  manufacturers  and  others. 

Colonel  Borden  inspired  the  building,  in  1827,  of  the  first  steam- 
boat, the  Hancock,  run  between  Fall  River  and  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  to  which  line  the  King  Philip  was  added  in  1832, 
the  Bradford  Durfee  in  1845  and  the  Richard  Borden  in  1874. 
He  also  constructed  various  branch  railroads  to  benefit  the  trade 
of  Fall  River,  including  the  Cape  Cod  Railroad  from  Middleborough 
to  Cape  Cod,  subsequently  absorbed  by  the  Old  Colony  Railroad 
Company.  In  1847,  with  his  brother  Jefferson,  he  organized  the 
Bay  State  Steamboat  Company  with  a  capital  of  $300,000,  built 
the  Bay  State  and  chartered  the  Massachusetts,  building  the 
Empire  State  in  1848,  and  the  Metropolis  in  1854.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  Fall  River  Line,  which  was  absorbed  by  the  Old 
Colony  Railroad  Company  through  Colonel  Borden's  suggestion  and 
approval. 

In  1834,  in  cooperation  with  Jefferson  and  Holder  Borden  and 
the  Durfees,  he  organized  the  American  Print  Works  Company 
and  the  works  were  enlarged  in  1840  and  the  output  doubled.  In 
1857  the  business  was  incorporated  and  Colonel  Borden  was  made 
president  of  the  corporation,  the  Bay  State  Print  Works  being  added 
to  the  plant  in  1858.  In  December,  1864,  the  buildings  of  the  print 
works  were  destroyed  by  fire  entailing  a  loss  of  $2,000,000,  but  were 
speedily  rebuilt. 

In  1874  Colonel  Borden  died,  his  death  following  on  the  disasters 
felt  by  the  business  of  Fall  River  on  account  of  the  panic  of  1873. 
This  necessitated  the  first  contribution  of  new  capital  to  the  Borden 
enterprises,  for  the  profits  of  the  business  had  furnished  the  capital 
used  up  to  that  time,  including  the  great  fire  loss.  In  1879  the 
corporation  was  obliged  to  ask  favors  from  creditors,  and  at  the 
same  time  Mathew  C.  D.  Borden  who  had  been  the  New  York  City 


MATHEW  C.   D.   BORDEN 

agent  came  to  the  front  in  conjunction  with  his  brother  Thomas  J. 
Borden,  as  responsible  for  the  future  guidance  of  the  business  of  the 
Print  Works.  In  1886  Thomas  J.  disposed  of  his  interest  to  his 
brother  and  Mathew  C.  D.  Borden  became  the  sole  owner  of  the 
great  property.  He  at  once  added  to  the  business  of  printing,  that 
of  manufacturing  the  cloths  to  be  printed,  and  thus  became  inde- 
pendent of  the  exactions  of  print-cloth  manufacturers.  For  this 
purpose  he  utilized  the  unused  property  of  the  Fall  River  Iron  Works 
Company,  on  which  the  print  works  stood,  and  he  at  the  same  time 
secured  control  of  the  water  privileges  which  the  charter  of  the  Iron 
Works  Company  embraced  by  purchasing  a  controlling  interest  in 
the  stock  of  that  company.  To  meet  the  future  exigencies  he  also 
secured  control  of  contiguous  land  by  purchase,  thus  securing  deep 
water  and  dock  privileges  on  his  own  property.  In  1889  he  built 
Mill  No.  1.  In  1892  he  built  Mill  No.  2.  Mill  No.  3  arose  in  1893; 
No.  4  in  1894.  The  four  mills  afforded  a  floor  space  of  840,000 
square  feet;  were  equipped  with  265,000  spindles,  7700  looms  and  375 
cards  turning  out  53,000  pieces  of  cloth  per  week,  spun  and  woven 
from  1000  bales  of  cotton.  This  plant  at  present,  1908,  includes 
seven  mills  with  13,057  looms  and  459,000  spindles.  From  this 
immense  plant  he  produced  calicoes  which  established  the  market 
prices  of  the  world  for  that  class  of  goods,  and  he  was  at  once  inde- 
pendent of  any  combination  print-cloth  manufacturers  could  make, 
as  he  could  sell  at  a  less  cost  than  any  other  printer  in  the  United 
States,  which  came  to  mean  in  the  world. 

The  achievements  and  benefactions  of  this  remarkable  man  are 
best  described  in  the  work  accomplished  which  testifies  to  the  power 
that  wrought  so  much  and  so  well. 


A 


FRANKLIN   CARTER 


FRANKLIN  CARTER  was  born  in  Waterbury,  Connecticut. 
His  father,  Preserve  Woods  Carter,  was  a  native  of  Wolcott, 
Connecticut;  born  November  14,  1799,  died  February  1, 
1859.  His  mother  was  Ruth  Wells  Holmes.  The  grandfathers  were 
Preserve  Carter  and  Israel  Holmes.  His  early  ancestors,  Hop- 
Idnses  and  Judds,  came  from  England,  the  Hopkinses  settling  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Boston  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  The  father.  Preserve  Woods  Carter,  was  a  manufacturer, 
puritanic  in  his  convictions  and  actions.  In  early  life  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  occupied  with  the  customary  work  of  a  New 
England  lad,  caring  somewhat  for  the  garden  and  contributing  his 
share  to  the  ongoing  of  the  family  life.  He  owes  much,  both  intel- 
lectually and  spiritually,  to  the  influence  of  his  mother;  also  to  a 
saintly  half  sister,  Esther  S.  Humisston,  who  drew  him  closely  to 
herself.  The  character  of  his  youth  is  expressed  in  the  books  which 
quickened  his  purposes  during  his  school  life,  Todd's  "Student's 
Manual,"  Beecher's  "Lectures  to  Young  Men,"  and  Bunyan's 
"Pilgrim's  Progress"  and  other  similar  writings. 

He  fitted  for  college  at  Phillips  Academy  (Andover),  spent  nearly 
two  years  at  Yale  College,  and  leaving  that  institution  because  of 
physical  weakness  was  graduated  at  Williams  in  1862.  He  received 
the  degrees  M.A.  and  Ph.D.  from  Williams,  and  the  degree  of  LL.D. 
in  1904;  the  degree  of  A.M.  from  Jefferson  1864,  and  Yale  1874; 
LL.D.  Union  1881,  Yale  1901,  and  South  Carolina  College  1905. 

Home  influence  concurred  with  personal  associations  and  early 
companionship  to  make  him  a  teacher.  This  employment  also 
promised  a  successful  line  of  labor.  He  received  the  appointment 
of  professor  of  the  Latin  Language  and  Literature  at  Williams 
College  in  1863  and  went  immediately  to  Europe  where  he  spent 
eighteen  months  in  study.  This  position  he  held  until  1872.  Then 
he  became  professor  of  the  German  Language  in  Yale,  spent  another 
year  in  Germany  and  remained  at  Yale  until  1881.     His  departure 


7- 


<^C-^f£^ 


FRANKLIN    CARTER 

from  Yale  was  greatly  regretted  and  he  received  numerous  letters 
from  the  most  eminent  men  connected  with  that  university  urging 
him  to  continue  his  work  in  New  Haven.  But  he  regarded  it  as  his 
duty  to  accept  the  presidency  of  Williams,  his  alma  mater,  and  held 
this  position  for  twenty  years,  until  1901.  His  resignation  of  the 
presidency  closed  his  work  as  an  instructor,  with  the  exception  of 
lectures  on  Theism  delivered  for  several  years  at  Williams. 

His  career  as  president  of  Williams  College  was  one  of  distin- 
guished success,  as  is  evident  from  the  following  statement  taken 
from  the  letter  addressed  to  him  by  the  faculty  of  the  college  in 
June,  1901. 

"  In  comparing  the  state  of  the  college  to-day  with  that  of  twenty 
years  ago  we  find  that  the  invested  capital  has  been  nearly  quad- 
rupled, and  that  half  a  million  of  dollars  (actually  $675,000)  in 
addition  has  been  expended  in  new  buildings  and  real  estate;  that 
the  number  of  students  has  increased  by  sixty-three  per  cent.,  the 
number  of  instructors  by  over  one  hundred  per  cent.  In  conse- 
quence of  these  changes  and  of  the  enlargement  and  enrichment 
of  the  courses  of  study  the  opportunities  for  instruction  have  been 
greatly  improved,  while  at  the  same  time  the  standard  of  scholarship 
has  been  gradually  raised." 

Extracts  from  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the  trustees  are  here 
added : 

"  The  trustees  desire  to  communicate  to  President  Carter  and  to 
place  on  record  the  profound  and  grateful  appreciation  of  the  ability, 
faithfulness,  high  aims  and  whole-hearted  devotion  with  which  for 
twenty  years  in  the  midst  of  many  difficulties  he  has  spent  himself 
in  the  review  of  our  beloved  alma  mater.  As  a  loyal  son  he  has 
freely  given  her  his  best.  He  has  been  a  sldlful  and  inspiring  teacher, 
and  a  wise  and  conscientious  leader,  seeking  always  the  truest  in- 
terests and  zealous  for  all  the  noblest  traditions  and  loftiest  ideals 
of  the  college. 

"No  hasty  experiments  have  been  tried;  no  obstinate  adherence 
to  outgrown  methods  has  been  insisted  upon,  but  the  college  has 
been  at  once  generously  conservative  and  truthfully  progressive. 
In  all  this  the  trustees  gratefully  recognize  the  usefulness,  scholarly 
aims  and  love  of  good  learning  with  which  he  has  presided  over  the 
college. 


I 


FRANKLIN    CARTER 

"Great  changes  have  been  wrought  in  society  during  the  past 
twenty  years,  especially  in  respect  to  religious  beliefs  and  experi- 
ences. But  though  outward  manifestations  have  greatly  altered, 
the  conviction  abides  that  under  President  Carter's  administration 
the  college  has  been  steadily  loyal  to  the  great  essentials  of  faith 
and  conduct.  This  is  a  supreme  thing  and  awakens  the  gratitude 
not  only  of  the  trustees  but  of  the  great  body  of  the  alumni." 

Similar  resolutions  were  passed  by  the  society  of  New  York 
alumni,  by  the  larger  general  body  of  the  alumni,  by  the  under- 
graduates, and  by  special  classes. 

He  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Educa- 
tion in  1897,  and  was  chosen  presidential  elector  of  the  First  Massa- 
chusetts District  in  1896.  While  rendering  many  incidental  services 
to  his  town  and  State,  the  great  bulk  of  his  labor  has  been  educational. 

He  published  a  text-book,  "Goethe's  Iphigenie,"  when  teaching 
at  Yale  in  1878;  and  a  life  of  Mark  Hopkins  in  1892.  He  has  also 
furnished  numerous  newspaper  and  mazagine  articles.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  American  Oriental  Society;  American  Philological 
Society;  Modern  Language  Association;  University  Club  of  New 
York;  Colonial  Society  of  Massachusetts,  and  Fellow  of  the  American 
Academy.  He  was  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Home  Mission- 
ary Society  for  many  years;  was  elected  president  in  1896  of  the 
Clarke  School  for  Deaf  Mutes,  which  position  he  still  holds,  and 
was  the  first  president  of  the  Modern  Language  Association  of 
America.  He  was  also  for  many  years  trustee  of  Andover  Theo- 
logical Seminary  and  is  still  a  director  of  the  Berkshire  Industrial 
Farm  and  deeply  interested  in  its  work.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Republican  party,  and  has  from  youth  been  connected  with  the 
Congregational  Church.  He  is  a  corporate  member  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions.  The  amusements  with 
which  he  has  relaxed  this  active  life  have  been  golf,  fishing  and 
horseback-riding. 

He  married  February  24,  1863,  Sarah,  daughter  of  C.  D.  and  E.  L. 
Kingsbury.  There  have  been  four  children  of  this  union.  Edward 
P.  is  a  physician  in  Cleveland.  Alice  R.  was  married  to  Paul  C. 
Ransom,  head-master  of  the  Adirondack-Florida  School.  The 
youngest  son,  Franklin,  is  a  graduate  of  Yale,  both  from  the  academi- 
cal and  law  departments. 


FRANKLIN    CARTER 

Dr.  Carter  has  been  much  in  earnest  in  his  hancUing  of  life,  and 
very  desirous  of  making  the  important  labors  with  which  he  has 
been  connected  successful  and  useful.  In  this  effort  he  has  spared 
no  exertion,  and  has  shown  conspicuous  ability.  As  a  teacher  and 
executive  officer  he  has  been  characterized  by  insight,  comprehension 
and  push.  His  labors  have  been  large,  especially  for  a  man  not 
possessed  of  a  strong  physical  constitution.  He  was  self-denying  in 
personal  expenditure,  and  anxious  to  understand  and  relieve  the 
pain  and  misery  of  his  fellow  men.  These  were  the  methods  and 
purposes  which  he  strove  to  impress  on  young  men.  But  he  believed 
strongly  in  the  value  of  culture  for  its  own  sake.  He  writes  for  the 
readers  of  this  work:  "I  should  advise  every  young  man  to  take  up 
early  in  life,  whatever  the  main  line  of  profession  or  business  is  to  be, 
one  auxiliary  object  of  thought  and  interest,  and  carry  it  on  with 
energy  until  the  end.  It  might  be  the  study  of  flowers  or  birds,  or 
the  collection  of  engravings  or  early  editions  of  the  eminent  writers, 
or  chemical  investigation,  or  even  the  playing  of  one  musical  instru- 
ment, some  pursuit,  at  least  partly  intellectual,  which  should  come 
in  as  a  source  of  recreation  and  enjoyment  apart  from  the  main  work 
of  the  day.  Nothing  promotes  more  pleasantly  the  usefulness  of  life 
than  devotion  to  some  such  pursuit.  If  our  successful  men  com- 
monly cultivated  some  such  interest  in  the  home,  it  would  greatly 
broaden  social  relations  and  add  much  to  the  influence  guiding  tha 
children  into  a  serene  mastery  of  themselves.  And  when  the  main 
business  is  laid  down,  it  would  bring  delight  to  the  '  last  days,'  and 
help  to  make  them  truly  'the  best.'" 

The  death  of  Mrs.  Carter  broke  up  the  home.  He  was  married 
a  second  time  on  February  10,  1908,  to  Mrs.  Frederic  Leake,  widow 
of  Frederic  Leake  and  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  H.  L.  Sabin  of 
Williamstown.  He  still  continues  his  lectures  on  Theism  in  the 
college  and  resides  in  Williamstown  several  months  in  the  vear. 


GEORGE    WHITEFIELD    CHADWICK 

GEORGE  WHITEFIELD  CHADWICK,  student  of  music  in 
Boston  and  Germany,  organist,  composer,  conductor  and 
teacher  of  music,  director  of  the  New  England  Conservatory 
of  Music,  was  born  in  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  November  13,  1854. 
His  father,  Alonzo  Chad  wick,  was  a  schoolmaster  and  afterward 
a  business  man  in  Lawrence.  His  Revolutionary  ancestor  was 
Edmund  Chadwick,  of  New  Hampshire,  a  soldier  at  Bunker  Hill. 
His  mother  died  when  he  was  an  infant. 

He  was  passionately  fond  of  music  from  his  childhood.  He 
attended  the  public  schools  of  Lawrence,  to  which  place  his  father 
removed  after  the  death  of  his  wife  and  gave  up  school  teaching  for 
business  affairs.  When  he  was  eighteen  years  old  he  went  to  Boston 
to  study  music  under  Eugene  Thayer,  having  already  developed  a 
remarkable  talent  for  the  piano  and  organ.  He  studied  under 
Thayer  for  three  years,  and  in  1876  went  to  Olivet  College  Conserva- 
tory of  Music,  Olivet,  Michigan  (established  two  years  before),  as 
professor  of  Piano,  Organ  and  Theory.  He  remained  at  Olivet  one 
year,  when  he  went  to  Germany  and  studied  at  Leipzig  under  Jadas- 
sohn and  Reinecke,  1877-78,  and  at  Munich  under  Rheinberger, 
1878-79.  His  first  overture:  "Rip  Van  Winkle"  he  composed  just 
before  he  left  Leipzig,  and  he  was  honored  by  its  performance  at  a 
Conservatory  concert. 

He  returned  to  Boston  in  1880  and  his  overture  was  given  at  a 
Handel  and  Haydn  festival  in  that  city,  Mr.  Chadwick  conducting. 
He  was  at  once  made  instructor  in  harmony  and  composition  at 
the  New  England  Conservatory  of  Music,  and  in  1881  he  conducted 
the  music  of  ffidipus  in  both  Boston  and  New  York.  In  1887  he 
was  selected  as  conductor  of  the  Boston  Orchestral  Club  and  in 

1890  became    conductor  of   the   Springfield    Festival  Association. 
On  the  organization  of  the  Columbian  Exposition   at   Chicago  in 

1891  he  was  selected  to  compose  the  music  of  the  Ode  to  be  used 
at  the  dedication  of  the  buildings  of  the  Exposition  at  the  open- 


^^^i^ijr<^^^^    ^ 


GEORGE   WHITEFIELD   CHADWICK 

ing  of  the  Fair.  He  submitted  his  "Symphony  in  F  Major"  in 
competition  for  the  three  hundred  dollar  prize  offered  by  the 
National  Conservatory  of  Leipzig  to  be  contested  in  New  York, 
and  he  won  the  prize.  He  composed  the  music  for  the  comic  opera 
"Tabasco"  presented  by  the  Cadet  Corps  in  Boston  in  1894. 

On  the  resignation  of  Carl  Faelten  as  director  of  the  New  England 
Conservatory  of  Music  in  1897,  Mr.  Chad  wick  was  selected  as  his 
successor  and  he  still  holds  the  position.  In  1897  he  received  degree 
of  M.A.  from  Yale  and  in  1905  LL.D  from  Tufts.  He  was  elected 
as  one  of  the  vice-presidents  to  membership  in  the  Institution  of 
Art  and  Science;  in  the  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion and  of  St.  Botolph  Club,  Boston.  His  recreation  he  found  in 
yachting,  tennis  and  bicycling.  He  is  the  author  of:  "A  Treatise  on 
Harmony"  (1897),  which  had  in  1904  passed  through  ten  editions. 
His  choral  work  includes  the  following  pieces:  "The  Vikings'  Last 
Voyage";  "Phoenix  Expirans";  "The  Lily  Nymph";  "The  Lovely 
Rosabella";  "The  Pilgrims'  Hymn";  "Judith,"  a  lyric  drama,  and 
"Noel,"  a  Christmas  Pastoral,  composed  for  the  Litchfield  County 
(Connecticut)  University  Club.  His  orchestral  works  besides  "  Rip 
Van  Winkle,"  "Euterpe,"  "Adonais,"  "Thalia  and  Melpomene" 
overtures,  are  three  symphonies,  two  suites,  a  symphonic  poem 
"Cleopatra,"  his  symphonic  sketches  for  orchestra,  and  twelve 
songs  from  Arlo  Bates's  "Told  in  the  Gate,"  besides  many  songs, 
pianoforte  pieces  and  choruses  for  mixed  and  female  voices. 


CALEB    CHASE 

THE  career  of  Caleb  Chase  presents  a  happy  combination  of 
the  work  of  an  old-school  Boston  merchant  with  that  of 
a  Twentieth  Century  business  man.  Born  of  Cape  Cod 
stock,  he  inherited  the  pluck  and  energy  and  integrity  character- 
istic of  that  sea-going  section  of  New  England. 

He  was  born  in  Harwich,  Massachusetts,  December  11,  1831, 
His  father  was  Job  Chase,  a  shipowner  and  seafaring  man  in  early 
life,  who  afterward  kept  a  country  store  in  Harwich  until  about 
twenty  years  of  his  death,  which  occurred  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty- 
nine.  He  was  a  public-spirited  man  of  more  than  local  influence, 
one  of  the  original  stockholders  of  the  old  Yarmouth  Bank,  and 
prominent  in  the  public  enterprises  of  his  day.  Mr.  Chase's  mother 
was  Phoebe  (Winslow)  Chase. 

Caleb  Chase  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Harwich,  and 
early  went  to  work  in  his  father's  store,  where  he  remained  until  he 
reached  his  twenty-fourth  year.  But  he  was  not  the  type  of  man 
to  live  out  his  life  and  satisfy  his  ambitions  in  a  Cape  Cod  country 
store.  Striking  out  for  himself,  he  came  to  Boston  and  entered  the 
employ  of  Anderson  Sargent  &  Company,  at  that  time  a  leading 
dry  goods  house  of  the  city.  After  about  five  years  with  this  firm, 
during  which  he  traveled  in  its  interests,  first  through  the  towns 
of  Cape  Cod,  and  later  in  the  West,  he  became  connected  with  the 
wholesale  grocery  house  of  Claflin,  Saville  &  Company,  beginning 
in  September,  1859.  He  remained  with  this  house  until  January, 
1864,  shortly  after  which  he  engaged  in  business  for  himself  as  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Carr,  Chase  &  Raymond  then  formed.  In 
1871  this  firm  was  succeeded  by  Chase,  Raymond  &  Ayer,  and  in 
1878  the  present  house  of  Chase  &  Sanborn  was  organized  for  the 
importation  and  distribution  of  teas  and  coffees  exclusively.  Mr. 
Chase  has  been  for  many  years  the  head  of  this  house,  which  ranks 
among  the  largest  importing  and  distributing  tea  and  coffee  houses 
in  America.  Large  branch  houses  are  also  established  in  Montreal 
and  Chicago. 


CALEB    CHASE 

Mr.  Chase's  name  is  widely  known  through  the  remarkable  suc- 
cess of  the  business  house  which  he  formed,  and  of  which  he  is  justly 
proud.  It  is  in  his  business  that  a  fine  combination  of  integrity 
and  enterprise  has  found  scope.  Naturally  conservative,  he  has 
ever  been  jealous  of  his  own  good  name,  and  of  the  reputation  of 
everything  with  which  he  might  be  connected.  This  conservatism 
and  integrity  has  helped  to  make  the  firm  name  the  synonym  for 
business  honor.  With  integrity,  Mr,  Chase  has  coupled  a  rare 
spirit  of  enterprise  which  has  enabled  him  to  seize  the  opportunity 
for  business  success  opened  by  modern  legitimate  advertising.  He 
knew  his  goods  were  right,  and  he  wanted  all  the  world  to  know  it. 
The  Boston  merchant  of  the  old  school  was  honest,  but  he  was  not 
always  enterprising. 

Mr.  Chase  is  a  Unitarian  in  religion  and  a  liberal  supporter  of 
that  faith.  In  politics  he  is  a  stanch  Republican,  and  while  he 
has  often  been  urged  to  seek  public  office,  he  has  invariably  declined, 
preferring  to  devote  his  leisure  to  his  home  and  his  energies  to  his 
extensive  business  interests.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Ancient  and 
Honorable  Artillery  and  a  member  of  the  Algonquin  Club. 

Caleb  Chase  has  not  been  a  mere  money-maker.  He  has  made 
money  that  he  might  use  it.  While  he  has  been  modest  to  the  verge 
of  timidity  in  allowing  the  use  of  his  name,  he  has  for  many  years 
lived  with  an  open  hand  for  every  good  cause.  His  benefactions 
have  been  wide  and  very  generous.  While  he  is  extremely  reticent, 
he  is  known  to  have  been  one  of  the  early  benefactors  of  the  Frank- 
lin Square  House,  and  a  generous  giver  to  the  churches  of  his  town, 
and  to  the  American  Unitarian  Association. 

He  was  married  in  1866  to  Miss  Salome  Boyles,  of  Thomaston, 
Maine.     They  have  no  children. 


GUY  WILBUR   COX 

GUY  WILBUR  COX  was  born  in  Manchester,  New  Hamp- 
shire, January  19,  1871.  His  father,  Charles  Edson  Cox, 
born  December  16,  1847,  now  retired,  is  a  man  of  high  moral 
character  in  business  and  in  private  life.  The  mother  of  Guy  W. 
Cox  is  Evelyn  M.  (Randall)  Cox.  His  grandparents  were  Walter 
B.  Cox  (1816-1878)  and  Nancy  (Nutter)  Cox,  and  Thomas  B.  Ran- 
dall (1807-1848),  and  Mary  (Pickering)  Randall.  He  is  a  descend- 
ant from  Moses  Cox,  who  came  from  England  about  1640  and  settled 
in  Hampton,  New  Hampshire;  on  his  mother's  side  from  John 
Pickering,  who  came  from  England  as  early  as  1633  and  settled  at 
Strawberry  Bank,  now  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire.  The  Picker- 
ing family  has  had  a  prominent  place  in  the  history  of  New 
Hampshire  from  the  time  of  Capt.  John  Pickering,  who  settled  at 
Portsmouth  in  1636,  from  whom  all  of  that  name  are  descended. 
In  1680  he  was  a  member  of  the  first  assembly  held  in  New 
Hampshire,  and  in  1690  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  convention  which 
prepared  a  constitution  for  the  colony. 

Guy  Wilbur  Cox  had  an  early  taste  for  music  and  mathematics. 
He  was  able  without  special  difficulty  to  gratify  his  desire  for  a 
college  education.  He  graduated  from  Dartmouth  College  in  1893, 
with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  He  held  in  college  high  rank 
in  general  scholarship,  especially  in  the  classics,  sciences  and  mathe- 
matics, and  was  valedictorian  of  his  class.  In  regular  course  he 
received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  He  was  appointed  a  teacher 
in  the  Manchester  High  School,  where  he  gave  instruction  in  Chem- 
istry and  Physics.  He  held  that  position  from  1893-94.  From 
1896-99  he  was  an  instructor  in  the  Boston  Evening  High  School. 
By  his  own  preference  he  chose  the  profession  of  the  law  for  his  life- 
work.  His  circumstances  and  the  varied  influences  which  surrounded 
him  confirmed  his  choice.  He  entered  the  Law  School  of  the  Bos- 
ton University,  where  he  graduated  1896  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Law,  Magna  Cum  Laude.     He  was  at  once  admitted  to  the  Bar 


VC^-^ 


GUY    WILBUR    COX 

of  Suffolk  County,  and  became  a  partner  in  the  law  firm  of  Butler, 
Cox  &  Murchie.  He  entered  upon  his  profession  with  his  inherited 
and  characteristic  energy,  and  he  has  been  rewarded  with  the  suc- 
cess which  he  has  earned.  He  has  continued  in  his  practice,  giving 
special  attention  to  insurance  and  corporation  law  and  to  the  laws 
relating  to  street  railways.  His  field  has  been  broad  and  his  pro- 
fessional calling  has  given  full  exercise  to  his  talent  and  wide  training. 
Mr.  Cox  regards  the  influence  of  home,  of  contact  with  men  in  active 
life,  of  school,  of  private  study,  of  early  companionship,  all  as  having 
a  strong  influence  upon  his  own  success  in  life. 

He  is  a  Republican  in  politics  and  has  been  honored  by  election 
to  public  office,  where  he  has  rendered  good  service  which  has  been 
recognized.  In  1902  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  City  Council 
of  Boston  from  Ward  10.  He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts House  of  Representatives  in  1903-04,  and  in  1906-07  a 
member  of  the  State  Senate  from  the  Fifth  Suffolk  District.  In  the 
House  of  Representatives  he  was  a  member  of  the  important  com- 
mittee on  cities,  and  took  a  leading  part  in  its  deliberations  and  in 
the  advocacy  of  its  recommendations.  He  was  also  a  member  of 
the  special  committee  on  the  relation  of  employers  and  employees. 
In  the  Senate  he  was  chairman  of  the  committees  on  election  laws, 
metropolitan  affairs,  and  taxation,  and  a  member  of  the  committee 
on  education  and  military  affairs.  At  the  close  of  the  session  of 
1907  he  was  made  chairman  of  the  State  commission  on  taxation, 
appointed  to  consider  the  whole  subject  of  taxation  and  to  revise 
and  codify  the  laws  relating  thereto.  At  a  later  time  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor,  chairman  of  the  committee  to  represent 
the  state  at  the  National  Tax  Conference.  His  legal  knowledge 
and  ability  have  in  this  way  had  their  natural  extension  in  a  wise 
and  serviceable  citizenship.  His  rare  training  and  experience  have 
the  promise  of  continued  employment  for  the  benefit  of  the  public 
service. 

Mr.  Cox  is  connected  with  numerous  societies:  The  Dartmouth 
Alumni  Association;  the  University  Club  of  Boston;  the  Wollas- 
ton  Club;  the  Republican  League  Club;  the  New  Hampshire  Club; 
the  Order  of  Odd  Fellows;  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  and  others.  He 
finds  recreation  in  golf  and  music.  He  resides  at  the  Hotel  West- 
minster, Boston. 


WINTHROP  MURRAY  CRANE 

A  PUBLIC  man  who  has  stepped  at  once  into  a  commanding 
position  in  Washington,  and  yet  whose  national  career  has 
scarcely  begun,  is  Winthrop  Murray  Crane,  senator 
from  Massachusetts.  Though  long  a  leader  in  the  executive  coun- 
cils of  the  Republican  party,  Mr.  Crane  was  known  to  the  country 
at  large  chiefly  as  a  notably  wise  and  successful  governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts, until  his  entrance  into  the  Senate  Chamber  to  fill  the  place 
left  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  venerable  George  F.  Hoar  in  1904. 
No  senator  of  this  generation  has  grown  more  rapidly  in  solid  influ- 
ence and  enduring  fame  within  the  first  years  of  service. 

Mr.  Crane  is  a  fine  exemplification  of  the  truth  that  many  of 
the  ablest  and  most  sagacious  public  men  of  to-day  are  products 
not  of  the  law  but  of  exact,  practical  business.  He  was  a  manu- 
facturer by  profession  when  he  entered  upon  public  life,  and  he  had 
been  steadily  engaged  since  boyhood  in  this  calling,  a  heritage  from 
his  fathers.  It  was  his  grandfather,  Zenas  Crane,  who  had  founded 
the  first  paper-mill  in  western  Massachusetts.  In  1801  this  pioneer, 
who  had  learned  his  trade  in  the  mill  of  his  brother  at  Newton 
Lower  Falls,  near  Boston,  and  at  Worcester,  established  by  the  clear 
waters  of  the  Housatonic  a  new  industry  in  the  town  of  Dalton. 
Forty  years  later  he  transferred  his  business  to  his  sons,  Zenas 
Marshall  and  James  Brewster  Crane,  who  were  his  partners. 

Winthrop  Murray  Crane  is  the  youngest  son  of  Zenas  Marshall 
Crane  and  of  his  wife  Louise  Fanny  (Loomis)  Crane.  He  was  born 
in  Dalton,  Massachusetts,  on  April  23,  1853,  and  educated  in  the 
Dalton  schools  and  in  Williston  Seminary  in  Easthampton,  Massa- 
chusetts. At  seventeen  he  began  to  work  in  his  father's  paper-mill, 
which  was  an  important  concern.  The  Crane  paper,  made  with 
honest  thoroughness  and  the  most  painstaking  skill,  had  won  the 
highest  reputation  in  America.  It  was  the  handiwork  of  this  firm 
which  was  utilized  by  the  Treasury  Department,  and  while  a  very 
young  man  Mr.  Crane  himself  went  to  Washington  to  demonstrate 


'^( 


WINTHROP    MURRAY    CRANE 

the  value  of  the  silk  thread  in  this  government  paper  production. 
The  secret  of  the  success  which  the  Crane  business  had  achieved 
was  that  its  managers  had  been  consummate  masters  of  their  art 
and  had  given  close  personal  attention  to  every  process  of  their 
industry,  Mr,  Crane  himself,  as  a  young  man,  knew  every  detail  of 
the  business,  and,  as  in  the  days  of  his  fathers,  every  item  of  the 
work  was  done  on  honor.  The  Crane  family  added  woolen  manu- 
facturing and  other  interests  to  its  original  occupation  of  the  paper 
industry.  The  relation  of  these  able  and  far-sighted  manufacturers 
to  their  employees  was  the  ideal  one  of  friends,  counselors  and 
benefactors.  There  was  an  ever-present  sense  of  comradeship,  of 
genuine,  whole-hearted  cooperation.  This  relation  has  remained 
to  the  present  day. 

Winthrop  Murray  Crane  from  his  youth  has  been  an  interested 
and  active  Republican.  Long  ago  his  wisdom  in  counsel  came  to  be 
recognized  by  the  leaders  of  the  Republican  organization  in  Massa- 
chusetts. Years  before  he  himself  had  entered  public  life  it  was  a 
fact  that  no  important  step  in  party  management  in  his  own  State 
was  taken  without  his  approval.  Soon  his  fame  as  a  sagacious 
political  leader  and  manager  extended  to  broader  fields. 

In  1892  Mr.  Crane,  though  averse  to  official  position  of  any  kind, 
was  elected  a  delegate  at  large  to  the  Republican  National  Conven- 
tion in  Minneapolis  which  renominated  President  Harrison,  and  he 
was  chosen  as  the  Massachusetts  member  of  the  Republican  National 
Committee.  In  that  circle  of  keen,  practical,  sagacious  men, 
his  remarkable  ability  gained  prompt  recognition.  In  1896  and 
again  in  1904  Mr.  Crane  was  reelected  the  Massachusetts  represen- 
tative in  the  national  organization.  In  these  same  years  he  was 
again  a  delegate  at  large  to  the  Republican  National  Conventions. 
Meanwhile  at  home  Mr.  Crane  had  steadily  advanced  to  posts  of 
commanding  leadership.  He  was  nominated  and  elected  lieutenant- 
governor  of  Massachusetts,  serving  as  such  with  the  honored  and 
lamented  Governor  Roger  Wolcott  in  1897,  1898  and  1899.  Then 
Mr.  Crane  himself  was  nominated  and  elected  governor  for  three 
successive  terms,  for  1900,  1901  and  1902.  He  gave  the  State  a 
memorable  administration. 

The  Massachusetts  state  government  has  been  a  good  and  sound 
one  for  many  years.  Its  policy  has  been  liberal  and  progressive. 
Many   important    metropolitan    improvements    have    been    carried 


WINTHROP    MURRAY    CRANE 

through,  and  though  these  have  all  been  amply  justified,  yet  the 
cumulative  cost  of  them  had  begun  to  be  a  serious  burden  when 
Governor  Crane  became  chief  executive.  The  State  debt  had 
increased  from  $6,140,000  in  1896  to  $16,869,000  in  1900.  In  his 
inaugural  address  in  that  year,  Governor  Crane,  speaking  of  the 
various  items  of  indebtedness,  said:  "It  will  be  found  in  almost 
every  instance  that  the  object  is  a  worthy  one,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  Commonwealth  has  received  full  value  for  the  moneys  ex- 
pended," but  he  added,  "The  question  for  us  to  consider,  however, 
is  not  the  propriety  of  past  expenditures,  but  how  to  take  heed  of  the 
conditions  which  now  confront  us.  The  Commonwealth  needs  a 
breathing-space  for  financial  recuperation." 

This  needful  breathing-space  Governor  Crane,  with  his  prestige 
as  a  man  of  business,  readily  secured.  His  administration  was 
characterized  by  prudence  in  financial  affairs,  rigid  scrutiny  of  new 
undertakings  and  yet  encouragement  of  all  that  were  essential 
to  the  well-being  of  the  Commonwealth.  His  influence  with  the 
Legislature  was  extraordinary,  and  his  breadth  of  view  and  gracious, 
conciliatory  temper  so  impressed  the  people  of  the  State  that  the 
minority  party  made  only  the  most  perfunctory  opposition  to  his 
reelection. 

Retiring  from  the  governorship  after  the  accustomed  three  terms, 
at  the  end  of  1902,  Mr.  Crane  returned  to  the  management  of  his 
great  manufacturing  industries  in  Berkshire  County.  There  he 
was  engaged  when,  after  the  death  of  Senator  George  F.  Hoar,  in 
October,  1904,  Governor  Bates  appointed  him  to  fill  the  vacancy  in 
Washington.  This  choice  was  so  natural  and  merited  that  it  won 
at  once  the  unanimous  approval  of  the  Commonwealth.  It  might 
fairly  be  said  of  Mr.  Crane  that  he  had  no  rival,  because  the  men 
who  might  have  been  his  rivals  recognized  his  preeminent  qualifi- 
cations for  the  post  and  his  rich  deserving  of  its  honors  and  re- 
sponsibilities. 

Senator  Crane  took  his  seat  on  December  6,  1904.  In  the  follow- 
ing January  he  was  duly  elected  by  the  Massachusetts  Legislature 
to  fill  out  the  term  of  Mr.  Hoar,  which  expired  March  3,  1907.  The 
Legislature,  on  January  15,  1907,  elected  Mr.  Crane  senator  from 
Massachusetts  for  the  full  six-year  term,  from  1907  to  1913.  Several 
members  of  the  opposing  party  in  both  branches  of  the  General  Court 
cast  their  ballots  with  the  Republicans  for  the  election  of  Mr.  Crane  as 


I 


WINTHROP    MURRAY    CRANE 

senator  —  a  distinction  unusual  in  the  annals   of   the  Common- 
wealth. 

Before  he  became  a  senator  there  had  come  tempting  oppor- 
tunities to  Mr.  Crane  to  enter  the  national  service  in  Washington. 
When  Secretary  Gage  resigned  the  Treasury  portfolio  in  December, 
1901,  President  Roosevelt  was  desirous  that  he  should  be  succeeded 
by  the  sagacious  governor  of  Massachusetts.  This  Mr.  Crane  felt 
obliged  to  decline.  He  could  not  then  easily  arrange  a  transfer  of 
the  control  of  his  manufacturing  industries  which  had  long  held 
important  connections  with    the   Federal   government. 

The  senatorship,  however,  made  a  more  powerful  appeal  to  him, 
and  he  was  this  time  enabled  so  to  arrange  his  affairs  at  home  that 
he  could  devote  his  extraordinary  energies  and  abilities  to  the 
national  service.  The  United  States  Senate  is  popularly  regarded  as 
the  closest  of  close  corporations,  into  whose  inner  circles  of  actual 
control  no  man,  however  able  and  powerful,  can  hope  to  make  his 
way  until  after  years  of  residence  in  Washington.  Yet  there  have 
been  exceptions  to  this  potent  rule,  and  the  most  conspicuous  ex- 
ception in  recent  times  is  that  of  the  junior  senator  from  Massa- 
chusetts. His  fellow  senators  knew  him  before  he  came  as  one  of  the 
foremost  men  of  business  in  America,  a  man  of  genius  for  organiza- 
tion, management  and  leadership.  Senator  Crane  justified  this 
reputation.  Without  aspiring  to  oratory,  and  bearing  himself  ever 
modestly.  Senator  Crane  won  instant  recognition  as  a  vital  force  in 
the  affairs  of  government. 

His  attitude  toward  public  questions  may  well  be  described  as 
that  of  a  progressive  conservative  —  an  attitude  which  exactly 
befits  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Crane  happened  to  come  to  Washington 
when  the  radical  temper  was  high  and  strong  and  threatening  to 
sweep  everything  before  it.  He  met  it  not  in  the  spirit  of  a  reaction- 
ary, but  with  courtesy,  conciliation,  broad  and  enlightened  judg- 
ment. He  proved  to  be  the  man  of  all  men  for  the  occasion  and 
the  hour,  and  before  many  months  his  fame  was  nation-wide  and 
Massachusetts  gladly,  but  without  surprise,  heard  him  acclaimed  as 
one  of  the  most  powerful  men  in  Washington.  This  was,  after  all, 
only  a  confirmation  of  what  had  long  been  known  of  Mr.  Crane  in 
his  own  Commonwealth. 

Senator  Crane  has  a  beautiful  home  at  Dalton  in  the  Berkshires, 
where  he  is  known  to  every  one  and  where  every  one  is  proud  to  hold 


WINTHROP    MURRAY   CRANE 

him  as  a  friend.  His  interests,  business  and  political,  take  him 
frequently  to  Boston,  but  during  the  sessions  of  Congress  he  is  con- 
stant in  his  attendance  to  his  pubhc  duties.  Although  young  in 
years  and  service  among  the  senators,  he  is  a  member  of  some  of  the 
most  important  committees  of  the  Senate.  In  1908  he  was  elected 
a  delegate-at-large  to  the  Republican  National  Convention  at  Chicago, 
which  nominated  Taft  and  Sherman. 

Williams  College  honored  Mr.  Crane  with  the  degree  of  A.M.  in 
1899,  and  Harvard  University  with  the  degree  of  LL.D.  in  1903. 
He  is  a  Congregationalist  in  his  religious  affiliations. 

Mr.  Crane  was  married  on  February  5,  1880,  to  Miss  Mary  Benner, 
daughter  of  Robert  and  j\Iary  Benner,  who  died  February  16,  1884, 
leaving  one  son,  Winthrop  Murray  Crane,  Jr.,  now  engaged  in  the 
ancestral  industry  of  paper  manufacturing.  Senator  Crane  was 
remarried  on  July  10,  1906,  to  Miss  Josephine  Porter  Boardman, 
daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  William  J.  Boardman,  of  Cleveland  and 
Washington,  descended  on  the  one  side  from  Elizur  Boardman, 
United  States  Senator  from  Connecticut,  and  on  the  other  from 
Joseph  Earl  Sheffield,  the  founder  of  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School, 
of  Yale  University.  A  son  has  recently  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Crane. 


STEPHEN    MOODY    CROSBY 

STEPHEN  MOODY  CROSBY  was  born  in  Salisbury,  Massa- 
chusetts, August  14,  1827.  His  father  was  Nathan  Crosby, 
of  Sandwich,  New  Hampshire,  born  February  12,  1798;  his 
mother  was  Rebecca  Moody,  born  June  18,  1798;  the  grandfathers 
were  Asa  Crosby  (July  6,  1765-April  12,  1836)  and  Stephen  Moody 
(July  21,  1767-April  21,  1842).  The  grandmothers  were  Betsey 
Hoit  (1776-April  2,  1804)  and  Frances  Coffin  (February  5,  1773- 
March  22,  1858).  The  father  was  a  lawyer  with  a  judicial  mind, 
clearness  of  thought,  integrity  of  purpose  and  unfailing  good  temper. 
He  was  the  descendant  of  Simon  and  Ann  Crosby  who,  with  their 
son  Thomas,  came  in  the  Susa7i  and  Ellen  in  1635  from  Lancashire, 
England,  and  settled  in  Cambridge. 

In  boyhood  Stephen  Moody  Crosby  spent  a  few  months  in  a  news- 
paper office,  and  in  a  bookstore.  This  gave  him  an  opportunity  to 
indulge  his  taste  for  reading.  His  moral  nature  was  strengthened 
by  his  mother's  influence.  He  had  the  range  of  his  grandfather's 
old-fashioned  library  and  access  to  the  works  of  Scott,  James,  Marryat 
and  Cooper.  He  prepared  for  college  in  the  Boston  Latin  School 
and  the  Lowell  High  School,  and  received  the  degree  of  A.B.  with 
the  class  of  1849,  at  Dartmouth  College.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
Massachusetts  Bar  in  1852. 

Personal  tastes  and  early  surroundings  united  to  determine  his 
profession,  in  which  he  was  supported  by  his  contact  with  men. 
He  has  been  associated  in  business  with  the  Manchester  (N.H.)  Print 
Works  (1854),  Hayden  Manufacturing  Company  (1857),  and  Massa- 
chusetts Trust  Company  (1873). 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives 
in  1869,  and  of  the  Senate  in  1870-71.  He  has  been  State  director 
of  the  Boston  and  Albany  Railroad,  and  was  commissioner  of  the 
Hoosac  Tunnel.  He  was  major-paymaster  in  the  United  States 
Army,  and  Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel  (1862-66). 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Boston  Art  Club;  of  the  military  order 


STEPHEN    MOODY    CROSBY 

United  States  Legion  of  Honor;  Cincinnati  Society;  University  Club 
and  Unitarian  Club.  Of  these  organizations  he  has  been  president 
in  turn,  and  of  the  Boston  Art  Club,  ten  years.  His  political  rela- 
tions have  been  with  the  Whig  and  Republican  parties  in  an  unbroken 
line.  He  is  connected  with  the  Second  Church,  Boston  (Unitarian). 
In  early  life  he  found  hunting  and  fishing  profitable  amusements. 

He  was  married  October  12,  1855,  to  Anna,  daughter  of  Joel 
Hayden  and  Matella  Weir  Smith,  granddaughter  of  Josiah  Hayden 
and  Ester  (Halleck)  Hayden,  and  a  descendant  of  John  Haidon, 
who  came  from  England  to  Braintree  in  the  Mary  and  John,  1630. 
There  are  no  children. 

His  counsel  to  young  men  is: ''  Do  well  each  day's  duties  and  take 
each  day's  pleasures  as  fully  as  you  can,  and  wait  patiently  for 
results.     Be  temperate  in  all  things." 


,^,^V.^X*«^^' 


_r     Via,  ,^:,    J  B-J     \'^ 


JOHN    GIFFORD    CROWLEY 

JOHN  GIFFORD  CROWLEY,  son  of  Thomas  and  Mary  Ann 
(Gifford)  Crowley,  was  born  in  Plymouth,  Massachusetts, 
February  19,  1856.  His  father  was  a  sea  captain,  and  look- 
ing out  on  the  blue  waves  it  was  no  wonder  that  all  his  dreams 
were  of  the  sea,  and  what  was  beyond  where  the  sky  closed  down. 
He  had  but  a  limited  opportunity  for  education.  There  were 
seven  children,  and  John  the  oldest  must  work  hard.  It  was 
work,  he  says,  that  was  all  he  knew  in  early  life.  His  grand- 
father and  grandmother  on  both  paternal  and  maternal  sides  had 
come  from  that  stormy  land,  Newfoundland,  and  he,  the  scion  of 
hardy  stock,  would  show  his  grit  in  life's  battle.  At  the  tender  age 
of  eleven,  frail  of  hand  but  firm  of  heart,  he  bravely  began  his  part. 
Stepping  on  board  the  vessel  of  which  he  was  later  captain,  he  began 
in  the  cook's  galley.  Rising  from  there,  and  staying  on  the  same 
ship,  he  passed  the  successive  grades  of  ordinary,  able  seaman,  mate, 
and  at  last  at  the  age  of  twenty  was  captain. 

Deprived  as  he  had  been  in  all  these  years  of  all  that  school  gives 
the  mind,  yet  he  had  not  been  idle.  The  remembrance  of  the  in- 
tellectual strength  and  moral  rectitude  show^n  by  his  parents  were  his 
inspiration  in  all  his  way  upward.  His  principal  reading  had  been 
that  which  related  to  his  calling.  He  felt  that  that  American  inven- 
tion, the  fore-and  aft-vessel,  the  schooner,  had  not  yet  come  to  its 
true  place  in  the  world's  commercial  activity,  but  with  his  guidance 
it  should.  When  his  young  eyes  looked  out  on  the  Gurnet  and  the 
white  sails  passing  by  it,  he  saw  only  "two  stickers,"  as  the  utmost 
that  progress  had  given  in  the  way  of  a  fore-and-aft  ship,  since 
when,  in  1713,  down  the  ways  went  the  first  fore  and  after,  and  an 
enthusiast  cried,  thus  giving  forever  after  the  name  to  that  type  of 
craft,  "There  she  scoons."  From  the  time  that  vessel  slid  into  the 
water  at  Gloucester,  for  fifty  years  the  farthest  reach  in  the  progress 
of  the  fore-and-aft  craft  toward  carrying  the  coastwise  commerce  of 
our  country  had  been  a  vessel  which,  at  the  utmost,  carried  per- 


JOHN  GIFFORD  CROWLEY 

haps  two  hundred  and  fifty  tons.  There  were  very  few  three  masted 
schooners  on  the  coast  the  day  he  entered  the  galley  of  his  first 
vessel.  Under  his  guidance,  however,  and  directed  by  his  courage, 
mast  after  mast  was  added,  each  the  seamen  said  "  to  be  the  last. " 
But  he  said  each  time,  "  One  more  stick."  And  one  more  it  has  been 
until  now  we  see  the  seven-master  under  her  14,000  feet  of  canvas, 
instead  of  the  paltry  500  feet  spread  by  the  largest  schooner  on  the 
coast  when,  in  1867,  young  Crowley  began  Ufe  on  the  sea.  The 
development  of  the  coastwise  trade,  its  success,  as  competitor  with 
the  railroads  in  carrying  coal  from  the  ports  nearest  the  mines  to 
the  seaboard  of  New  England,  has  been  accomplished  through  the 
wise  and  far-seeing  guidance  of  this  man. 

Captain  Crowley  has  been  twice  married:  first,  October  28,  1879, 
second,  September  8,  1902.  Of  the  four  children  born  to  him,  a  son 
and  daughter  are  now  living.  The  son  is  in  college  at  Dartmouth 
and  the  daughter  at  home. 

He  is  in  religious  faith  a  Baptist,  and  while  not  being  active 
politically,  has  always  voted  the  Republican  ticket.  Fraternally, 
he  is  a  Mason. 

He  is  now,  at  the  age  of  fifty-one,  treasurer,  secretary,  director 
and  member  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Coastwise  Transporta- 
tion Company,  director  of  the  Eastern  Fishing  Company,  general 
manager  of  all  vessels  owned  by  the  Coastwise  Transportation  Com- 
pany. This  company  owns  many  vessels  that  up  and  down  our 
coast  set  on  their  six  and  seven  masts  their  monstrous  spread  of 
canvas,  and  all  because  of  the  genius  of  John  Gifford  Crowley,  the 
boy  who  at  eleven,  friendless  and  unaided,  stepped  into  the  galley 
as  cook. 

Captain  Crowley's  words  of  advice  to  young  men  are  to  be  "in- 
dustrious, honest  and  upright  in  all  their  dealings." 


^^^^^^^  /f  /^^^--z^Z^Z^^ 


FAYETTE    SAMUEL    CURTIS 

FAYETTE  SAMUEL  CURTIS,  vice-president  of  the  New  York, 
New  Haven  and  Hartford  Railroad  Company,  was  born  on  a 
farm  near  Owego,  New  York,  December  16,  1843.  His  par- 
ents were  Allen  and  Catharine  (Steel)  Curtis.  His  father  was  a 
farmer,  esteemed  for  his  industry,  patriotism  and  purity  of  purpose, 
who  emigrated  from  Massachusetts  to  the  southern  tier  section  of 
the  Empire  State  which  was  then  but  sparsely  settled.  His  mother 
was  a  woman  of  fine  mind  and  character,  who  exerted  a  strong  influ- 
ence for  good  upon  the  intellectual  and  moral  life  of  her  family. 
His  earliest  known  ancestor  in  America  was  Henry  Curtis,  one  of 
the  Puritan  settlers  in  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony.  The  original 
emigrant  of  that  name  with  his  wife  arrived  in  Massachusetts  from 
Stratford-on-Avon  in  1643,  removing  to  Windsor,  Connecticut,  and 
later  to  Northampton,  Massachusetts,  where  he  died  in  1661. 

When  Fayette  Samuel  Curtis  was  old  enough  to  work  he  had 
tasks  that  were  common  to  bo3^s  on  a  farm.  His  health  was  good 
and  conditions  for  its  maintainance  were  favorable.  While  indus- 
trious in  his  work  on  the  farm  he  was  inclined  to  be  studious.  The 
school  terms  were  short,  but  such  opportunities  as  they  afforded  were 
carefully  improved.  He  was  anxious  to  secure  a  liberal  education, 
but  before  he  was  ready  for  college  he  decided  to  become  an  engineer. 
After  receiving  his  early  education  at  the  public  and  private  schools 
of  Owego  and  taking  a  course  of  civil  engineering  at  the  Owego 
Academy,  he  became  a  practical  student  of  engineering,  starting  in 
1863  at  small  pay  as  flagman  with  a  surveying  party  for  the  Albany 
and  Susquehanna  Railroad.  Later,  as  transit  man,  he  demonstrated 
such  skill  and  ability  that  he  was  soon  promoted  to  the  head  of  that 
branch  of  the  service.  Soon  after  his  services  were  sought  as  leveler 
for  the  Southern  Central  Railroad  of  New  York  in  the  Lehigh  Valley 
section.  Changing  his  location  to  New  York  City  he  was  for  two 
yeai-s  associated  with  Gen,  George  S.  Green,  a  prominent  member 
of  the  engineering  corps  then  engaged  in  the  work  of  surveying  and 


FAYETTE  SAMUEL   CURTIS 

laying    out    the  roads,    streets  and   avenues  of   what  is  now  the 
important  section  of  the  Borough  of  the  Bronx. 

Mr.  Curtis  entered  the  service  of  the  New  York  and  Harlem  Rail- 
road in  1870  as  assistant  engineer.  He  held  the  position  but  a  short 
time  being  promoted  to  that  of  chief  engineer  of  the  New  York  and 
Harlem  Railroad,  afterwards  division  engineer  of  the  New  York 
Central  Railroad,  then  chief  engineer  of  the  New  York,  New  Haven 
and  Hartford  Railroad  Company  up  to  May  1,  1900.  Since  that  date 
he  has  held  the  position  of  second  vice-president  of  that  Company 
with  headquarters  at  Boston.  Mr.  Curtis'  career  has  been  one  of 
steady  advancement.  Besides  being  vice-president  of  the  New  York, 
New  Haven  and  Hartford  Railroad  Company,  he  is  trustee  of  the 
Boston  Terminal  Company;  a  director  in  the  New  Bedford,  Martha's 
Vineyard  and  Nantucket  Steam  Boat  Company;  New  England  Rail- 
road Company;  New  Haven  and  Northampton  Railroad  Company; 
New  York  Connecting  Railroad;  Old  Colony  Railroad  Company; 
Providence  Terminal  Company;  also  president  and  director  Union 
Freight  Railroad  Company.  His  club  afhliations  include  the  En- 
gineering Club  of  New  York  City;  Country  Club  of  New  Haven; 
Union  Club  of  Boston;  Tioga  Club  of  Owego  and  Quinipiac  Club  of 
New  Haven.  Mr.  Curtis  is  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
being  a  member  of  the  Friendship  Lodge  of  Owego,  New  York; 
Jerusalem  Chapter  of  Owego,  New  York,  and  Constantine  Com- 
mandery  Knights  Templars  of  New  York  City. 


Ciuu:^^ 


RICHARD   HENRY   DANA 

RICHARD  HENRY  DANA,  lawyer,  philanthropist,  political 
reformer,  was  born  in  Cambridge,  Middlesex  County,  Massa- 
chusetts, January  3,  1851.  His  father,  Richard  Henry  Dana 
(1815-1882),  was  a  son  of  Richard  Henry  (1787-1879)  and  Ruth 
Charlotte  (Smith)  Dana;  grandson  of  Francis  (1743-1811)  and 
Elizabeth  (Ellery)  Dana,  and  John  Wilson  and  Susanna  (Tillinghast) 
Smith  of  Taunton,  Massachusetts,  great-grandson  of  Richard  (1700- 
1772)  and  Lydia  (Trowbridge)  Dana,  and  of  William  Ellery,  the  signer, 
and  a  descendant  from  Richard  and  Ann  (Bullard)  Dana  through 
Daniel  their  youngest  son  and  Naomi  (Croswell)  Dana,  his  wife. 
Richard  Dana,  the  emigrant  and  progenitor  of  the  Dana  family  in 
America,  was  probably  of  French  descent,  Richard  settled  in  Cam- 
bridge by  or  before  1640  and  died  in  1690.  Richard  (1700-1772)  of 
the  third  generation  was  graduated  at  Harvard  1718,  was  a  Son  of 
Liberty,  and  subjected  himself  to  the  penalties  of  treason  by  taking 
the  oath  of  Andrew  Oliver  not  to  enforce  the  Stamp  Act  (1765).  He 
was  Representative  to  the  General  Court  and  was  at  the  head  of  the 
Boston  bar.  He  married  Lydia,  daughter  of  Thomas,  and  sister  of 
Judge  Edmund  Trowbridge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts,  one 
of  the  first  to  wear  the  scarlet  robe  and  powdered  wig.  Francis  Dana 
(1743-1811),  Harvard  1762,  was  a  Son  of  Liberty,  delegate  to  Con- 
tinental Congress  from  November  1776  to  1780  and  1784-85,  signer 
of  the  Articles  of  Confederation;  U.  S.  minister  to  Russia  1781-83; 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts  1785-91  and  chief 
justice  of  Massachusetts  1791-1806;  a  founder  and  vice-president  of 
the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  LL.D,  Harvard  1792. 
Richard  Henry  (1787-1879)  was  the  author,  poet  and  essayist.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  "  North  American  Review."  Richard 
H.  Dana  (1815-1882)  was  the  defender  of  Sims  and  Anthony  Burns, 
fugitive  slaves;  counsel  of  United  States  government  before  the 
International  Conference  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1877,  growing 
out  of  the  Geneva  Award  of  1872;  author  of  "Two  Years  before  the 


RICHARD    HENRY    DANA 

Mast"  (1840)  (1869);  "To  Cuba  and  Back"  (1859);  "Annotations 
to  Wheaton's  International  Law"  (1886),  etc. 

Richard  Henry  Dana  (born  January  3,  1851)  was  prepared  for 
college  in  public  and  private  schools  of  Cambridge  and  St.  Paul's 
School,  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  and  was  graduated  at  Harvard 
University,  class  orator  and  A.B,,  1874,  and  at  the  law  school  of  the 
University  LL.B.,  1877.  He  was  stroke  oar  of  the  Freshman  crew 
1870;  for  three  years  stroke  oar  and  for  two  years  captain  of  the 
University  crew,  and  during  his  law  course  at  the  University  he  had 
the  advantage  of  extended  travel  in  Europe  where  he  carried  letters 
of  introduction  that  brought  him  into  contact  with  persons  of  dis- 
tinction in  society  and  statesmanship  in  every  city  he  visited.  He 
continued  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Brooks,  Ball  &  Storey  and 
in  1879  made  the  trip  in  a  sailing  vessel  from  New  York  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, in  which  voj^age  he  visited  many  of  the  scenes  so  graphically 
described  in  his  father's  "Two  Years  before  the  Mast."  He  declined 
the  position  of  secretary  of  legation  at  London,  proffered  by  President 
Hayes  in  1877,  and  on  January  6,  1878,  he  was  married  to  Edith, 
daughter  of  Henry  Wadsworth  and  Frances  (Appleton)  Longfellow 
and  one  of  the  "  blue-eyed  banditti"  of  the  poet's  "Children's  Hour." 
Six  children,  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  blessed  this  union. 

Mr.  Dana's  law  practice  soon  became  extensive  and  his  service 
in  behalf  of  various  religious,  charitable  and  civil  service  reform 
organizations  was  freely  given.  He  became  a  regular  contributor 
to  the  "Civil  Service  Record,"  which  he  edited  1889-92,  and  he  was 
an  uncompromising  advocate  of  tariff  and  political  reform.  He  was 
for  many  years  secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Civil  Service  Reform 
League.  In  1884  he  drafted  the  act  which  became  the  Massachusetts 
Civil  Service  law;  in  1888  he  drew  up  the  act  which  resulted  in  the 
adoption  of  the  Australian  Ballot  by  the  Commonwealth  of  Massa- 
chusetts, the  pioneer  movement  in  the  United  States  in  that  direction. 
He  planned  the  scheme  of  work  of  the  Associated  Charities  of  Boston, 
1878-79  and  was  chairman  of  its  committee  of  organization.  He 
served  as  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  New  England 
Conservatory  of  Music  1891-98,  and  during  that  time  raised  $165,000 
for  the  institution.  He  has  been  president  of  the  Cambridge  Humane 
Society;  president  of  the  Boston  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
(1890-91)  and  he  was  active  in  trying  to  introduce  into  Massachusetts 
the  Norwegian  system  of  regulating  the  sale  of  liquors.    He  served  as 


RICHARD    HENRY    DANA 

president  of  the  Cambridge  Civil  Service  Reform  Association  1897- 
1901.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Standing  Committee  of  the  diocese 
of  Massachusetts  and  was  elected  a  substitute  delegate  to  the  General 
Convention  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  America  held  in 
Boston  in  1904,  serving  as  chairman  of  the  General  Convention  com- 
mittee. He  was  made  trustee  and  treasurer  of  the  Episcopal  The- 
ological School  of  Cambridge  in  1894,  and  he  has  held  the  office  of 
president  of  the  Alumni  Association  of  St.  Paul's  School,  Concord, 
New  Hampshire.  In  1901  Governor  Crane  of  Massachusetts  ap- 
pointed him  one  of  three  commissioners  to  inquire  into  the  question 
of  constructing  a  dam  at  the  mouth  of  the  Charles  River,  and  the 
favorable  report  of  the  Commission  made  in  1903,  which  led  to  the 
accomplishment  of  the  great  project,  was  written  largely  by  Mr.  Dana. 
In  1901  he  was  appointed  by  the  board  of  overseers  of  Harvard 
University  on  the  visiting  committee  in  the  department  of  philosophy, 
and  organized  the  movement  for  raising  funds  for  building  Emerson 
Hall  which  resulted  in  procuring  about  $165,000. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Cambridge  Good 
Government  Club  and  the  Massachustets  Election  Laws  League, 
was  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Civil  Service  Reform  Association, 
and  is  chairman  of  the  Council  of  the  United  States  Civil  Service 
Reform  League.  He  is  a  vice-president  of  the  Massachusetts  Reform 
Club;  a  member  of  the  New  York  Reform  Club;  president  of  the 
Library  Hall  Association,  organized  for  the  improvement  of  the 
municipal  government  in  Cambridge.  His  social  club  affiliations  in- 
clude the  Union  and  Exchange  Clubs  of  Boston;  the  Essex  County 
Club;  the  Oakley  Country  Club  of  Watertown,  of  which  he  was  presi- 
dent, and  the  Harvard  Club  of  New  York.  His  trusteeships  have 
included  the  New  England  Conservatory  of  Music;  the  Oliver  Building 
Trust;  the  Washington  Building  Trust;  the  Delta  Building  Trust; 
the  Bromfield  Building  Trust  and  the  Congress  Street  Building  Trust. 
He  is  the  author  of  "Double  Taxation  Unjust  and  Inexpedient" 
(1892);  "Double  Taxation  in  Massachusetts"  (1895);  "Substitutes 
for  the  Caucus  "  (Forum,  1886) ;  "  Workings  of  the  Australian  Ballot 
Act  in  Massachusetts"  (Annals  of  American  Academy,  1892);  "Ad- 
dress on  the  One  Hundreth  Anniversary  of  the  town  of  Dana"  (1901); 
and  other  papers  and  addresses  on  civil  service  reform,  taxation, 
ballot  reform,  election  expenses  and  better  houses  for  working  men. 


EDMUND   DOWSE 

IN  the  midst  of  the  second  war  for  independence,  on  September 
17,  1813,  there  was  born  in  the  village  of  Sherborn,  Massa- 
chusetts, a  child  who  was  destined  to  live  on  as  an  old  man 
into  the  succeeding  century  and  to  bear  an  active  and  conspicuous 
part  in  its  affairs.  Edmund  Dowse  was  the  son  of  Benjamin 
Dowse,  a  leather  dresser,  manufacturer  and  farmer  of  Sherborn,  and 
of  Thankful  (Chamberlain)  Dowse,  his  wife.  The  family  was  one  of 
stalwart  old  New  England  stock,  tracing  its  origin  back  to  the  year 
when  Winthrop  brought  his  pioneers  over  seas  and  the  town  of 
Boston  was  founded  in  1630.  Lawrence  Dowse,  who  came  from 
Broughton  in  Hampshire  County,  England,  made  his  home  not  in 
Boston  proper,  but  in  the  village  of  Charlestown,  on  the  opposite 
riverside.  Here  he  and  his  descendants  lived  until  the  stirring- 
events  of  the  Lexington  fight  and  the  siege  of  Boston.  Their  home 
was  burned  by  the  British  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  where  three 
of  the  family  fought  side  by  side  with  the  men  of  Prescott  and  Stark. 
The  family  home  was  then  removed  to  Sherborn. 

The  Dowses  of  Sherborn  were  men  of  scholarly  tastes.  Thomas 
Dowse,  especially,  is  remembered  for  the  gift  of  his  valuable  library 
to  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  This  hereditary  love  of 
learning  drew  young  Edmund  Dowse,  after  he  had  filled  the  measure 
of  the  schools  of  his  native  town,  to  the  broader  curriculum  of 
Wrentham  Academy  and  then  to  the  doors  of  Amherst  College. 
He  graduated  at  Amherst  in  1836  with  the  degree  of  A.B.,  and, 
choosing  the  honorable  profession  of  the  clergyman,  he  studied 
theology  with  Rev.  Dr.  Jacob  Ide,  of  West  Medway,  Massachusetts, 
and  with  a  famous  teacher  of  his  day,  Rev.  Dr.  Nathaniel  Em- 
mons. 

Two  years  after  his  graduation,  in  1838,  the  pastorate  of  his  own 
home  church,  the  Pilgrim  Church  of  Sherborn,  became  vacant.  He 
was  called  to  the  church  as  its  minister,  and  that  same  post  in  his 
own  town  he  retained  for  sixty-seven  years  thereafter,  an  unbroken 


EDMUND  DOWSE 

single  charge  almost,  if  not  quite,  without  a  parallel  in  the  eccle- 
siastical annals  of  Massachusetts. 

In  these  times  when  ihe  clergymen  of  most  denominations  are 
practically  itinerants,  always  on  the  move,  restless  and  yearning  for 
a  change  after  a  service  of  three  or  four  or  half  a  dozen  years  —  and 
with  their  flock  sometimes  yearning  for  a  change  also  —  it  is  not  easy 
to  understand  how  one  pastor  could  preach  from  the  same  pulpit, 
and  preach,  moreover,  in  the  town  where  he  was  born  and  lived  as  a 
child,  for  well-nigh  the  threescore  and  ten  years  of  allotted  existence. 
But  Edmund  Dowse  did  this,  and  he  did  more,  too.  He  was  a 
patriot,  alert  to  the  interests  of  government,  a  man  who  did  his  duty 
at  the  ballot  box  and  town  meeting  as  well  as  at  the  prayer  meeting. 
His  activity  in  public  affairs  and  aptitude  for  public  service  led  to 
his  election,  in  1869  and  1870,  as  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Senate.  And  when  his  term  had  finished  as  a  Senator,  his  fellow 
Senators  paid  him  the  distinguished  honor  of  electing  him  as  their 
chaplain.  That  post  of  chaplain  in  the  Massachusetts  Senate  Mr. 
Dowse  retained  unbrokenly  for  twenty-five  years  —  the  longest 
period  during  which  one  minister  has  acted  as  chaplain  of  the  Senate 
in  the  history  of  the  Commonwealth. 

Early  in  his  life  the  young  minister  had  become  interested  in  the 
educational  work  of  Sherborn,  and  for  sixty-five  years  he  was  chair- 
man of  the  school  committee  of  the  town.  He  saw  old  educational 
methods  change  to  new  and  an  army  of  children  pass  through  the 
Sherborn  schools  in  those  sixty-five  years.  And  all  the  time  his  was 
the  controlling  power  that  molded  the  training  of  this  host  of  youth 
for  after  life. 

Now  if  it  be  asked,  how  a  minister  could  serve  his  people  so  long 
and  acceptably,  the  pulDlic  schools  so  long,  and  the  Massachusetts 
Senate  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  the  answer  is  in  the  manner  of  the 
man  that  Edmund  Dowse  was  and  the  kind  of  life  he  lived.  He  was 
a  fervent  Christian,  an  earnest,  interesting  and  convincing  preacher, 
a  most  faithful  pastor  of  his  people,  benignant,  sympathetic,  devoted 
in  an  extraordinary  degree.  He  had  a  great  brain  and  a  great  heart 
with  it,  and  he  threw  himself  with  all  his  energy  into  every  associa- 
tion of  life  and  everything  he  had  to  do.  The  joys  of  his  people  and 
his  friends  were  his  joys;  their  sorrows  and  anxieties  were  his  also. 
He  saw  the  little  children  of  his  flock,  when  he  began  his  pastorate, 
grow  up  through  youth  and  manhood  and  womanhood  to  old  age, 


EDMUND   DOWSE 

while  he  still  ministered  in  the  Pilgrim  pulpit.  This  unusual  experi- 
ence, the  warmth  of  his  heart,  his  tactfulness,  his  povv'er  of  discern- 
ment, his  fine,  strong  New  England  common  sense,  and,  above  all, 
his  enrapt  devotion  to  his  calling  as  a  teacher  of  religion  and  a 
minister  of  Christ,  enabled  him  to  live  his  long  life  among  familiar 
scenes  and  to  do  an  amount  of  good  work  which  can  be  credited  to 
few  men  of  any  land,  in  any  century. 

In  1886,  on  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  class  of  1836,  Amherst 
College,  his  alma  mater,  bestowed  upon  Mr.  Dowse  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity,  in  recognition  of  his  life  of  rich  achieve- 
ment. The  New  England  parish  minister  of  the  years  through 
which  he  had  lived  belonged  to  what  has  well  been  described  as  a 
genuine  peerage,  our  one  American  nobility.  The  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Dowse  over  the  Pilgrim  Church  of 
Sherborn  was  celebrated  on  October  10,  1888,  by  a  great  and  notable 
gathering,  not  only  of  leaders  of  the  Congregational  denomination, 
but  of  chief  public  men  of  the  State.  Ex-Governor  Long,  ex-Gover- 
nor Claflin,  Governor  Brackett  and  several  Congressmen  sent  their 
congratulations. 

At  this  anniversary  meeting  Dr.  Dowse  said  of  himself  in  modest 
reply  to  the  many  fervent  felicitations:  "M}^  early  inclinations  were 
toward  some  form  of  literary  and  professional  life.  Before  I  became 
interested  in  religion,  so  far  as  to  regard  myself  a  Christian,  I  secretly 
formed  the  purpose  to  obtain  an  education  in  the  schools  and  enter 
the  profession  of  the  law.  This  feeling  was  so  strong  that  I  was 
willing  to  sacrifice  the  ordinary  amusements  and  sports  of  the  young 
that  I  might  have  the  means  of  pursuing  a  course  of  study,  and 
acquiring  a  knowledge  of  men  and  the  world.  But  when  in  the  good 
providence  of  God  I  decided  to  become  a  follower  of  Christ  my  mind 
was  turned  toward  the  work  of  the  Christian  ministry.  This  was 
in  the  way  of  my  literary  taste  and  at  the  same  time  promised  me  a 
field  for  the  exercise  of  that  love  of  God  and  man  which  seems  now 
to  possess  my  soul." 

At  this  same  time  a  classmate  of  Dr.  Dowse  at  Amherst  —  the 
class  of  1836  was  a  large  and  distinguished  one,  ex-Governor  Alex- 
ander H.  Bullock,  of  Massachusetts  and  Roswell  D.  Hitchcock,  of 
New  York,  and  other  eminent  men  were  members  —  gave  some 
interesting  personal  reminiscences  of  him  at  college,  saying:  "I 
remember  that  he  had  a  good  physical  development,  an  average 


EDMUND   DOWSE 

size,  a  fresh  countenance,  and  a  rather  large  head.  He  was  quite 
studious  and  soon  took  high  rank  as  a  scholar.  He  was  always 
genial  and  pleasant  as  a  companion,  and  his  deportment  was  such 
that  I  am  sure  he  never  got  into  any  scrapes,  or  incurred  the  disci- 
pline of  the  Faculty.  Mr.  Dowse  inherited  a  physical  system  re- 
markably well-balanced  in  all  its  parts.  His  body  must  have  been 
sound  and  healthy  in  every  organ  so  that,  like  a  perfect  machine,  all 
its  operations  would  work  harmoniously,  resulting,  with  care,  in 
uniform  good  health.  His  brain  is  relatively  large  and  equally  well 
developed  in  every  part,  giving  harmony  and  consistency  of  charac- 
ter. This  furnishes  the  groundwork  for  strong,  social  and  domestic 
affections  as  well  as  for  energy  and  decision  of  character.  This 
development  of  brain  results  also  in  such  a  manifestation  of  the 
observing  and  reflecting  faculties  as  to  give  a  nice  sense  of  pro- 
priety, sound  judgment  and  good  common  sense.  Then,  with  such 
a  brain,  the  moral  and  religious  faculties  are  so  developed  and 
exercised  as  to  give  a  decided,  harmonious  and  consistent  moral 
character.  Let  external  religious  influences  of  the  right  kind  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  such  an  organization,  always  taking  the  lead, 
and  we  have  a  beautiful,  consistent  Christian  character." 

Again,  on  October  13,  189S,  the  sixtieth  year  was  observed  with 
equal  or  greater  impressiveness.  On  that  occasion  one  of  the  eulo- 
gists. Rev.  Dr.  F.  E.  Sturgis,  said:  "Dr.  Dowse  is  the  youngest 
octogenarian  I  ever  knew;  no  spectacles,  no  ear  trumpet,  the  hair  of 
his  youth,  erect,  vigorous  in  mind,  his  natural  force  hardly  abated, 
still  in  the  pulpit,  still  at  the  front  of  every  good  cause,  still  interested 
in  all  the  affairs  of  the  State  and  the  Nation.  In  all  our  ministerial 
fellowship  I  scarcely  know  a  man  more  companionable,  more  fresh 
in  enthusiasm.  Through  cold  and  heat  and  flood  and  gale  he  goes 
regularly  to  his  duties  at  the  State  House.  His  modern  life  is 
shown  in  his  mastery  of  all  present-day  educational  themes  and 
methods.  His  religious  catholicity  is  shown  in  his  perpetual  office 
of  chaplaincy  in  the  Senate,  elected  yenr  after  year,  for  his  broad 
and  brotherly  spirit,  for  the  brevity  and  appropriateness  and  beauty 
of  his  prayers. 

"  Instead  of  Dr.  Dowse  it  should  be  Bishop  Dowse,  if  not  Arch- 
bishop Dowse,  for  he  is  the  patriarch,  the  metropolitan  of  all  our 
churches.  On  his  shoulders  has  rested  the  care  of  so  many  of  our 
parishes  when  they  have  been  without  pastors.     No  minister  here- 


EDMUND  DOWSE 

abouts  is  so  often  called  upon  for  services  outside  his  parish,  in 
marriages,  in  funerals.  He  has  served  the  living  and  the  dead  in 
all  this  section  of  the  country  for  sixty  years,  going  night  and  day, 
whenever  and  wherever  requested,  and  without  reward.  He  is  the 
most  widely  known,  the  most  beloved,  the  most  universally  honored 
minister  in  this  part  of  the  State.  In  how  many  of  our  homes  and 
churches  is  his  name  a  household  word,  spoken  with  children's 
reverence  and  remembered  with  tenderest  gratitude.  His  character 
is  an  inheritance  of  faith,  charity,  righteousness  in  all  this  eastern 
Massachusetts.  His  life  has  ever  been  a  manifestation  of  love, 
patience,  graciousness,  friendship." 

Dr.  Dowse  continued  to  serve  his  parish  devotedly  to  the  end  of 
his  life,  on  April  27,  1905,  and  deep  was  the  grief  of  his  people  of 
Sherborn  and  of  his  friends  throughout  the  Commonwealth  when 
they  realized  that  the  venerable  pastor  was  no  more.  Dr.  Dowse 
was  at  that  time  the  oldest  Congregational  minister  in  New  England 
and  the  oldest  living  graduate  of  Amhei-st  College. 

The  honored  family  name  has  a  conspicuous  living  representative 
in  the  only  son  of  Dr.  Dowse,  William  Bradford  Homer  Dowse, 
named  for  a  classmate  of  his  father,  who  has  won  reputation  as  a 
patent  lawyer  in  Boston  and  New  York  and  is  the  president  of  the 
great  Reed  &  Barton  Corporation  of  Taunton,  Massachusetts.  A 
surviving  daughter  of  Dr.  Dowse  is  Mi-s.  Deborah  Perry  Coolidge  of 
Sherborn.  Dr.  Dowse  was  thrice  married  —  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Reeves  Leland  in  1838;  some  time  after  her  death  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Bowditch  in  1843;  and  after  her  death,  in  the  anxious  years  of  the 
Civil  War,  to  Miss  Caroline  D.  Davis  in  1865.  From  the  birth  of  the 
Republican  party  Dr.  Dowse  was  an  earnest  believer  in  its  princi- 
ples, and  he  rendered  useful  service  in  the  struggle  for  the  Union 
cause  in  the  work  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  in  the  South. 


WM.   BRADFORD   HOMER  DOWSE 

To  come  of  distinguished  lineage  and  to  add  to  that  distinc- 
tion is  to  be  doubly  fortunate.  A  man  thus  circumstanced 
has  the  most  substantial  cause  of  pride  and  thankfulness. 
William  Bradford  Homer  Dowse,  eminent  patent  lawyer  of  Boston 
and  New  York,  and  president  of  the  famous  Reed  &  Barton  Corpo- 
ration of  Taunton,  is  the  son  of  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  Mas- 
sachusetts clergymen,  Rev.  Edmund  Dowse,  D.D.,  who  lived  to  be 
ninety-two  years  old  and  yet  was  always  accounted  young;  who 
served  sixty-seven  years  as  pastor  of  one  church,  the  Pilgrim  Church 
of  Sherborn,  and  was  for  twenty-five  years  the  chaplain  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Senate. 

Mr.  Dowse,  the  younger,  was  born  at  his  father's  home  in  Sher- 
born, Massachusetts,  February  29,  1852.  His  mother,  Elizabeth 
(Bowditch)  Dowse,  daughter  of  Galen  Bowditch,  was  a  fit  coworker 
in  home  and  parish  for  her  husband.  Their  son  had  the  sound 
character  and  the  physical  sturdiness  of  an  ancestry  which,  from 
the  foundation  of  Boston,  had  borne  an  honorable  part  in  the  affairs 
of  Massachusetts.  Three  of  the  boy's  forefathers  fought  in  the  battle 
of  Bunker  Hill.  The  family  had  lived  in  Charlestown  from  1630  to 
1775.  Their  home  was  burned  and  their  property  destroyed  when 
the  British  fired  the  town  on  that  battle  day  of  June  17,  and  they 
removed  to  Sherborn. 

Here,  in  this  fine,  characteristic  New  England  rural  community, 
the  son  of  the  beloved  minister  had  opportunities  both  for  enjoy- 
ment and  for  profit  that  are  denied  to  city  lads.  He  was  fond  of 
out-door  life,  and  he  early  developed  a  keen  aptitude  for  mechanics. 
He  could  wield  the  carpenter's  tools  skilfully,  and  was  exert  in  vari- 
ous kinds  of  metal  work.  One  task  or  another  kept  him  constantly 
employed,  but  such  was  his  industry  that  they  seemed  not  tasks, 
but  pleasures.  His  early  education  he  procured  easily  in  the  Sher- 
born schools,  but  when  his  own  ambition  and  his  father's  wish  led 
him  to  fit  for  college  he  had  to  walk  six  miles  a  day  to  attend  a  pre- 


WILLIAM   BRADFORD   HOMER  DOWSE 

paratory  school  and,  in  addition,  for  several  years  rode  twenty  miles 
on  the  railroad  back  and  forth  from  his  father's  home.  From  Allen's 
English  and  Classical  School  he  entered  Harvard  University,  winning 
the  degree  of  A.B.  in  1873,  and  of  LL.B.  in  1875.  He  was  a  quick 
and  receptive  scholar,  and  was  particularly  fond  of  autobiographies 
of  distinguished  men  and  of  works  on  history,  travel  and  explora- 
tion. 

Mr.  Dowse  had  no  difficulty  in  choosing  a  profession.  The  law 
was  his  own  preference  and  his  strong  tastes  for  the  mechanical 
sciences  drew  him  naturally  enough  into  the  important  field  of 
patent  law,  where  he  promptly  achieved  distinction.  He  began  his 
active  practice  as  a  patent  lawyer  in  1876  in  both  Boston  and  New 
York  City,  and  he  followed  this  career  assiduously  from  1876  to 
1898,  with  offices  in  New  York  and  Boston.  Other  and  even  weigh- 
tier interests  have  attracted  him.  He  is  president  of  one  of  the 
world  famed  American  manufacturing  industries,  the  Reed  &  Barton 
Corporation  of  Taunton,  Massachusetts,  with  large  salesrooms  in 
New  York.  This  company  has  long  had  an  enviable  reputation  for 
the  beauty  and  finish  of  its  designs  of  sterling  silver  and  electro- 
plate, and  is  one  of  the  American  houses  which  have  elevated  manu- 
facturing to  the  dignity  of  a  fine  art. 

Mr,  Dowse  is  active  and  conspicuous  also  in  other  large  business 
affairs.  He  is  president  of  the  United  States  Fastener  Company,  of 
Boston,  the  Consolidated  Fastener  Company,  the  Booth  Manufactur- 
ing Company  and  other  concerns.  He  has  taken  out  a  number  of 
metal  working  patents  of  o-riginality  and  merit.  Not  often  does 
one  man  display  so  much  versatility  and  win  such  success  in  both 
profession  and  business. 

In  one  of  the  loveliest  neighborhoods  of  West  Newton  Mr.  Dowse 
has  an  elegant  home,  Eswood  House,  where  he  and  his  wife  dispense 
a  charming  hospitality.  Mr.  Dowse  was  married  on  June  20,  1883, 
to  Miss  Fanny  Reed,  daughter  of  Henry  G.  Reed  and  Frances  (Wil- 
liams) Reed,  of  Taunton,  Massachusetts.  Three  children  have  been 
born  to  them  —  Dorothy  P.,  Margaret  and  Beatrice. 

Mr.  Dowse  is  a  member  of  the  Boston  Merchants'  Association, 
the  Home  Market  Club  and  the  National  Association  of  Manufac- 
turers. In  social  life  also  he  has  wide  and  important  associations. 
He  is  vice-president  of  the  Brae-Burn  Country  Club  of  Newton,  and 
a  member  of  the  Masonic  Order;  the  University  Club  and  the  Ex- 


WILLIAM   BK\DFORD   HOMER  DOWSE 

change  Club  of  Boston;  the  Country  Ckib  of  Brookline;  the  Newton 
Chib  of  Newton;  the  Neighborhood  Club  of  West  Newton;  the  Com- 
modore Club  of  Maine;  the  Manhattan  Club;  the  University  Club; 
the  Harvard  Club  of  New  York  City  and  the  Massachusetts  Auto- 
mobile Club. 

Mr.  Dowse  is  a  vigorous  Republican,  and  has  represented  his 
influential  Republican  city  at  many  of  the  important  conventions 
of  his  part}^  in  this  Commonwealth.  His  religious  affiliations  are 
with  the  Unitarian  Church.  He  and  his  family  have  a  host  of  friends 
in  their  home  city  of  Newton  and  in  Boston.  Mr.  Dowse  retains  to 
the  full  his  boyhood  love  of  out-of-doors,  and  is  an  enthusiast  for 
golf,  riding,  fishing,  shooting  and  auto-touring.  These  wholesome 
recreations,  he  believes,  "are  a  part  of  the  strength  of  the  life  of  a 
successful  business  and  professional  man  —  as  much  a  part  of  his 
equipment  as  a  liberal  education."  A  splendid  line  of  long-lived 
ancestry,  crowned  by  the  distinguished  clergyman,  his  father,  who 
lived  to  be  four  score  and  twelve  and  was  remarkable  for  physical 
as  well  as  mental  activity,  is  strong  confirmation  of  the  soundness 
of  Mr.  Dowse's  philosophy  of  living. 


CHARLES    WILLIAM    ELIOT 


CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT,  president  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, and  the  foremost  educator  in  America,  is  of  Bos- 
ton birth  and  distinguished  Massachusetts  lineage.  He 
was  born  on  March  20,  1834,  the  grardson  of  one  of  the  famous  mer- 
chant princes  of  the  New  England  capital  and  the  son  of  Samuel 
Atkins  and  Mary  (Lyman)  Eliot.  Fis  father  was  one  of  the  most 
eminent  public  men  of  the  Commonwealth,  having  been  mayor  of 
Boston,  a  member  of  Congress,  and  the  treasurer  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege. The  family  was  descended  from  Andrew  Eliot,  who  came  from 
Devonshire,  England,  about  1632,  and  settled  in  Beverly,  Massachu- 
setts, very  soon  after  the  first  Puritan  migration. 

To  have  sprung  from  such  a  sterling  race  is  more  honor  than 
kinship  with  any  titled  aristocracy.  Through  every  generation  the 
men  of  the  Eliot  name  have  justified  their  heritage.  No  youth  could 
have  had  a  more  fortunate  or  inspiring  environment  than  that  of  the 
Boston  home  whence  young  Eliot  went  to  the  Boston  Latin  School 
and  to  Harvard  College.  His  was  the  class  of  1853.  Graduating 
with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  and  an  enviable  reputation  for 
scholarship,  second  in  rank  in  his  class,  Mr.  Eliot  remained  at  the 
college  as  a  tutor  in  mathematics,  studying  chemistry  meanwhile 
with  Professor  Josiah  P.  Cooke,  and  in  1856  receiving  the  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts.  For  two  years  more  he  continued  to  be  an  instruc- 
tor in  mathematics,  applying  himself  at  the  same  time  to  research 
in  chemistry,  but  in  1858  he  became  assistant  professor  in  mathe- 
matics and  chemistry  in  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School  at  Harvard. 
He  had  taken  up  his  profession  with  enthusiasm,  and  these  earlier 
years  of  precise  scientific  application  and  the  daily  teaching  of  exact 
truths  had  a  most  important  effect  upon  his  character. 

In  1861  Mr.  Eliot  relinquished  one  part  of  his  double  professional 
duty  to  become  assistant  professor  of  chemistry  alone,  holding  this 
post  for  two  years.  From  1863  to  1865  he  studied  chemistry  and 
investigated  educational  methods  in  Europe.     Returning  to  America, 


S't^  iyS  ^  U^/Aams  ^^r^-  JYY" 


cfJ^lf, 


CHARLES    WILLIAM    ELIOT 

he  became  professor  of  analytical  chemistry  in  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology,  then  a  young  institution  brought  into  being 
by  the  progress  of  New  England  and  the  need  of  a  more  thorough 
scientific  knowledge  in  the  industrial  arts. 

For  four  years,  from  1865  to  1869,  Mr.  Eliot  continued  in  the 
Faculty  of  the  Institute  of  Technology,  passing  parts  of  the  years 
1867-1868  in  France.  His  career  at  the  Institute  was  one  of  broaden- 
ing success,  and  his  executive  capacity,  alertness  and  power  of  leader- 
ship began  to  draw  attention  to  him  as  one  sure  to  be  a  potent  factor 
in  the  educational  development  of  America. 

Through  the  stormy  years  of  the  Civil  War  the  urgent  problem 
of  American  higher  education  had  been  thrust  aside,  but  it  came  to 
the  forefront  as  soon  as  the  war  had  ended.  There  was  much  of 
dissatisfaction  and  unrest  at  Harvard.  New  methods  and  new  men 
were  demanded.  The  election  of  a  new  president  of  Harvard  was 
impending  when  Professor  Eliot  printed  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  two 
vigorous  and  stirring  articles  on  "The  New  Education,"  which 
stamped  him  at  once  as  an  iconoclast  in  the  judgment  of  conser- 
vative Massachusetts.  But  there  were  powerful  men  of  progress 
to  whom  these  new  ideas  appealed,  and  Professor  Eliot,  in  1869,  was 
elected  by  the  Harvard  corporation  as  president.  The  overseers 
at  first  refused  to  concur,  but  finally  yielded,  and  Dr.  Eliot  began 
his  great  work  of  educational  reformation. 

His  path  for  a  long  time  was  beset  with  difficulties.  Those  of 
orthodox  religious  faith  dreaded  him  as  a  champion  of  free  thought. 
He  was  not  a  clergyman  and  the  ancient  traditions  of  New  England 
held  that  none  but  a  minister  was  fit  to  be  a  college  president.  He 
was  a  scholar,  indeed,  but  a  practical  man  of  affairs  also,  with  such 
conspicuous  business  talent  that  he  had  been  besought  to  take  the 
management  of  a  great  mercantile  corporation.  All  of  these  things 
jarred  on  New  England  conservatism.  The  position  of  the  new 
president  of  Harvard  was  an  exceedingly  delicate  one,  and  impos- 
sible to  a  man  without  some  leaven  of  tact  in  his  courage  and 
ambition. 

President  Eliot,  once  seated,  began  straightway  to  broaden  the 
curriculum  of  the  university  and  to  give  the  individual  student  some 
freedom  of  choice  in  the  courses  which  he  should  pursue.  This  was 
a  perilous  attack  on  immemorial  custom.  Latin,  Greek,  mathe- 
matics, a  smattering  of  modern  languages  and  a  smattering  of  some 


CHARLES    WILLIAxM    ELIOT 

of  the  sciences  had  been  the  jDrescribed  higher  education  of  New 
England  ever  since  the  beginnings  of  education  there.  Regardless 
of  individual  characteristics  and  regardless  of  the  careers  which 
they  were  to  pursue,  the  young  men  of  one  academic  generation 
after  another  were  passed  through  the  same  mold  and  rigidly  re- 
quired to  learn  the  same  things,  or  try  to  learn  them,  whether  the 
topics  interested  them  or  not. 

President  Eliot  changed  all  this,  but  the  process  required  years 
of  patient  endeavor.  The  "elective  system,"  as  it  came  to  be  called, 
did  not  win  a  complete  triumph  at  Harvard  until  about  1884.  Yet 
there  was  progress  from  the  first;  the  broadening  which  the  new 
president  began  was  never  halted.  The  graduate  school  was  de- 
veloped, and  "That  truth  should  be  the  final  aim  of  education  and 
that  without  liberty  the  attainment  of  truth  is  thwarted  "  became  the 
guiding  principle  at  Harvard.  At  the  same  time,  President  Eliot 
gave  his  splendid  energies  to  the  allied  task  of  making  Harvard  a 
genuine  university.  There  were  law  and  medical  schools,  a  divinity 
school,  a  scientific  school  and  a  school  of  dentistry,  but  the  organiza- 
tion was  loose  and  sprawling,  and  Harvard  in  1869  was  still  a  uni- 
versity only  in  name.  The  new  president  sought  to  bring  these 
scattered  departments  genuinely  together  after  a  new  plan  which 
was  not  European,  but  American.  "A  university  in  any  worthy 
sense  of  the  term,"  he  said,  "must  grow  from  seed.  It  cannot  be 
transplanted  in  full  leaf  and  bearing.  It  cannot  be  run  up,  like  a 
cotton  mill,  in  six  months,  to  meet  a  quick  demand.  Neither  can 
it  be  created  by  an  energetic  use  of  the  inspired  editorial,  the  ad- 
vertising circular  and  the  frequent  telegram.  Numbers  do  not 
constitute  it,  and  no  money  can  make  it  before  its  time." 

One  of  the  first  points  upon  which  President  Eliot  insisted  was 
that  the  departments  of  the  university  should  have  a  common 
treasury  and  a  uniform  and  efficient  system  of  government.  He 
carried  his  point,  and  then  went  on  to  modernize  the  methods  of 
instruction  in  the  various  schools.  He  gave  his  personal  attention 
and  presence  to  the  various  branches  of  the  university.  "Well,  I 
declare,"  said  Governor  Washburn,  when  the  new  president  first 
appeared  officially  in  the  law  school,  "the  president  of  Harvard 
College  in  Dane  Hall!  This  is  a  new  sight."  Within  a  few  years 
President  Eliot  had  brought  about  a  thoroughly  new,  centralized 
plan  of  administration,  which  has  been  the  model  of  the  organiza- 


CHARLES   WILLIAM   ELIOT 

tion  of  American  universities.  The  doubters  and  cavillers  were 
graduall}'  silenced.  Harvard  grew  steadily  in  numbers,  authority 
and  wealth.  Its  affairs,  administered  on  sound,  progressive  busi- 
ness principles,  won  for  the  university  the  confidence  of  business 
men  and  a  great  stream  of  intelligent  and  liberal  benefactions. 

In  justice  to  the  older  Harvard  it  must  be  said  that  the  progress 
which  President  Eliot  has  wrought,  while  by  no  means  easy  of  accom- 
plishment, was  not  so  difficult  as  it  would  have  been  elsewhere, 
for  even  the  older  and  conservative  Harvard  had  responded  more 
quickly  than  other  American  colleges  to  the  quickening  of  new  and 
better  thought.  Some  of  the  changes  which  President  Eliot  worked 
out  had  been  initiated  before  his  administration.  Yet  the  honor  of 
inspiring  most  of  these  changes  and  of  guiding  and  perfecting  all 
of  them  is  unquestionably  his.  His  influence  has  not  ceased  with 
his  own  great  university.  He  has  been  a  leader  and  a  reformer  in 
the  educational  thought  of  all  America.  He  has  successfully  ex- 
horted other  universities  to  follow  the  development  wrought  out 
at  Harvard.  He  has  been  a  prophet  and  a  guide  to  other  college 
presidents,  conquering  ancient  prejudices  and  winning  in  these  later 
years  the  utmost  regard,  gratitude  and  admiration. 

In  1902-1903  Dr.  Eliot  was  the  president  of  the  great  National 
Educational  Association.  The  university  and  its  high  and  noble 
work  has  not  absorbed  his  entire  energies.  His  genius  has  helped 
to  shape  the  advance  of  primary  and  secondary  education.  He 
has  been  a  severe  but  beneficent  critic  of  the  public  schools  and 
academies,  and  he  has  lived  to  see  his  exhortations  heeded  and  the 
soundness  of  his  ideas  recognized  in  the  common  school  systems  of 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  American  continent.  This  coordinating 
of  the  higher  education  of  the  university  with  even  the  humblest 
rural  schools,  this  emphasizing  of  the  idea  that  the  work  of  education 
wherever  it  is  undertaken  is  a  noble  one,  deserving  of  the  considera- 
tion of  the  wisest  men  among  us,  is  not  the  least  of  the  great  services 
which  President  Eliot  has  rendered  to  his  nation  and  his  time. 

The  leadership  of  President  Eliot  in  American  education  has 
been  frankly  and  graciously  recognized  abroad  as  well  as  at  home. 
He  is  an  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  of  France,  and  correspond- 
ing member  of  the  Institute  of  France.  In  this  country  he  is  a  Fellow 
of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  a  member  of 
the  American  Philosophical  Society  and  of  many  other  organiza- 


CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT 

tions  for  intellectual  and  social  advancement.  Williams  College  and 
Princeton,  in  1869,  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of  LL.D.;  Yale  in 
1870,  and  Johns  Hopkins  in  1902.  In  the  midst  of  his  administra- 
tive labors  he  has  found  time  for  much  notable  literary  work  and 
for  a  great  number  of  scholarly  addresses  and  orations.  Indeed,  as 
a  public  speaker,  critical  judges  regard  President  Eliot  as  in  the  first 
rank  of  Americans,  and  his  addresses  as  examples  of  the  most  finished 
English  of  our  time.  His  published  works  are  many.  Among  them 
are  "Five  American  Contributions  to  Civilization  and  Other  Essays" 
(The  Century  Company,  New  York,  1897);  "Educational  Reform" 
(The  Century  Company,  1898);  "Charles  Eliot  —  Landscape  Archi- 
tect "  (the  biography  of  a  beloved  son,  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Company, 
Boston,  1902);  "More  Money  for  the  Public  Schools"  (Double- 
day,  Page  &  Company,  New  York,  1903);  "John  Gilley"  (American 
Unitarian  Association,  Boston,  1904);  "The  Happy  Life"  (new 
edition,  Thomas  Y.  Crowell  &  Company,  New  York,  1905);  "Four 
American  Leaders"  (1906).  Throughout  all  the  years  of  his  ad- 
ministration Dr.  Eliot's  annual  reports  as  president  of  Harvard, 
have  been  treasure-houses  of  the  best  educational  thought. 

No  truer  message  can  be  given  to  young  Americans  than  these 
words  of  the  great  leader  of  our  modern  education:  "Cultivate  the 
habit  of  reading  something  good  for  ten  minutes  a  day.  Ten  minutes 
a  day  will  in  twenty  years  make  all  the  difference  between  a  culti- 
vated and  uncultivated  mind,  provided  you  read  what  is  good.  I 
do  not  mean  a  newspaper;  I  do  not  mean  a  magazine.  I  mean  by 
the  good,  the  proved  treasures  of  the  world,  the  intellectual  treasures 
of  the  world  in  story,  verse,  history  and  biography." 

President  Eliot  has  been  keenly  alive  to  political  tendencies  in 
Am-erica  and  outspoken  in  his  views  of  public  men  and  public  policies. 
His  personal  course  has  been  one  of  political  independence.  His 
religious  faith  has  always  been  that  of  the  Unitarian  Church. 
In  youth  and  maturity  his  physical  vigor  has  been  maintained  by 
wholesome  out-of-door  exercise,  of  which  he  is  very  fond,  by  bicycle 
riding,  sailing,  walking  and  driving.  Dr.  Eliot  was  married  first  to 
Ellen  (Derby)  Peabody,  who  died  in  1869,  and  afterward  to  Grace 
Mellen  Hopkinson. 


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HENRY   HARDWICK   FAXON 


HENRY  HARDWICK  FAXON  was  bom  in  Quincy,  Massa- 
chusetts, September  28,  1823,  and  died  there  November  14, 
1905.  He  was  the  son  of  Job  and  Judith  B.  (Hardwick) 
Faxon.  The  name  appears  frequently  on  the  town  records,  as  borne 
by  substantial  farmers  and  trusted  town  officers,  and  runs  back  to 
Thomas  Faxon,  who  came  from  England  at  some  time  previous  to 
1647,  and  settled  in  that  part  of  Braintree  nov/  known  as  Quincy. 
Job  Faxon  was  a  farmer,  industrious  and  frugal,  and  brought  up 
Henry  to  the  hard  work  befitting  a  farmer's  boy.  After  a  common 
school  education,  he  was,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  apprenticed  to  a  shoe- 
maker and  worked  at  this  trade  five  years.  At  the  end  of  this  period, 
he,  together  with  one  of  his  brothers,  began  the  manufacture  of  boots 
and  shoes.  After  three  years  he  gave  up  manufacturing  for  mer- 
cantile life  and  opened  a  retail  grocery  and  provision  store  in  Quincy, 
where  he  had  a  successful  business  for  seven  years.  In  1854  he  dis- 
posed of  this  business  and  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Faxon, 
Wood  &  Company,  retail  grocei-s  in  Boston.  This  firm  afterwards 
was  changed  to  Faxon  Brothers  &  Company,  and  the  business  from 
retail  to  wholesale. 

In  1861,  just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War,  he  retired 
from  this  firm  and  engaged  in  still  larger  commercial  ventures.  In 
Boston,  or  traveling  South  to  New  Orleans  and  Cuba,  Mr.  Faxon 
bought  and  sold  in  large  quantities  all  sorts  of  merchandise.  It  was 
at  this  time  that,  with  his  quick  preception  of  the  situation  of  affairs, 
he  anticipated  a  sharp  rise  in  the  price  of  liquors,  and  placed  in  store, 
and  later  sold  at  an  advance,  several  hundred  barrels.  This  single 
transaction  is  the  foundation  of  the  charge  that  Mr.  Faxon  made 
his  money  by  selling  rum.  It  was  not  an  inconsistency,  for  up  to 
that  time  he  was  not  a  temperance  advocate.  His  fortune  was 
made  in  ordinary  mercantile  ventures  and  in  real  estate  dealings. 
As  a  business  man  Mr.  Faxon  seemed  to  know  intuitively  the  state 
of  the  future  as  well  as  current  markets;  and  the  boldness  of  his 


HENRY   HARDWICK  FAXON 

operations,  and  the  manner  of  his  purchases,  though  unerringly 
clear  to  himself,  seemed  to  othere  audacious,  even  wild  and  reckless, 
and  astonished  his  associates  by  their  successful  issues. 

On  November  18,  1852,  he  married  Mary  Burbank  Munroe, 
daughter  of  the  Boston  merchant,  Israel  W.  Munroe  and  Priscilla 
(Burbank)  Munroe.  To  them  was  born  a  son,  Henry  Munroe  Faxon, 
who  ably  continues  his  father's  public  spirited  activities.  Mrs. 
Faxon  died  in  1885. 

Mr.  Faxon's  claim  to  distinction  rests  mainly  upon  his  incessant 
and  uncompromising  opposition  to  the  liquor  traffic.  As  he  entered 
middle  life,  those  restless  energies  which,  in  earlier  years,  had  been 
devoted  to  the  acquisition  of  a  competence,  took  on  a  moral  earnest- 
ness and  launched  him  upon  a  new  career. 

In  1864  and  again  in  1872  he  was  elected  to  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature.  He  had  been  bred  a  Republican  and  remained  so 
nominally,  although  he  never  hesitated  to  bolt  a  party  nomination 
if  the  interests  of  temperance,  on  which  his  heart  became  finally 
set,  made  such  a  course  advisable.  In  the  beginning  of  his  legis- 
lative life  he  took  no  special  interest  in  the  question  of  liquor  selling. 
He  was  appointed,  however,  a  member  of  the  committee  on  liquor 
laws  and  there  took  a  position  favoring  restrictive  measures.  As  he 
became  interested  in  the  question,  his  conviction  deepened  as  to  the 
wickedness  and  folly  of  the  traffic,  and  he  entered  into  a  war  upon  it, 
which  occupied  him  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  To  this  contest  he  brought 
all  his  native  energy  and  vereatility,  and  his  accumulated  fortune. 
He  soon  became  distinguished  as  the  most  aggressive,  independent, 
practical  and  tireless  temperance  reformer  in  the  Commonwealth. 
It  was  in  his  own  town  that  he  made  his  chief  success.  Quincy  was 
a  stronghold  of  the  liquor  trade  and  in  the  year  1881,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  about  eleven  thousand,  granted  forty-two  licenses  for  the 
sale  of  intoxicants.  Mr.  Faxon  got  himself  appointed  constable  and 
it  was  largely  through  his  efforts  that  the  State  law  was  amended 
the  same  year  so  that  the  question  whether  *'  licenses  be  granted  for 
the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  in  this  town,"  could  be  presented 
squarely  to  the  voters.  The  result  was  that  in  1882  there  were 
1057  who  voted  "No"  and  475  who  voted  "Yes."  The  no-license 
era  thus  begun,  was  resolutely  maintained  year  after  year,  largely 
at  the  expense  and  often  at  the  bodily  peril  of  this  "millionaire 
policeman." 


HENRY   HARDWICK   FAXON 

He  did  broader  work.  He  planned  political  campaigns,  he  took 
active  part  in  conventions  and  caucuses  in  advocacy  of  temperance, 
and  by  speeches  and  broadsides  and  money  contributions,  kept  up 
unceasing  agitation.  On  more  than  one  occasion,  the  course  of  the 
Republican  party  was  shaped  by  his  moral  pereistence.  At  the 
critical  time  when  Hon.  John  D.  Long  was  nominated  for  governor, 
it  was  Mr.  Faxon  who  was  instrumental  in  turning  the  weight  of 
the  temperance  vote  in  his  favor.  At  his  Boston  office  lie  collected 
an  almost  inexhaustible  store  of  temperance  literature.  One  of 
his  most  valuable  publications  is  a  compilation  of  all  the  State  liquor 
laws  and  the  Supreme  Court  decisions  thereon. 

Personally,  Mr.  Faxon  was  a  man  of  many  peculiarities,  but  on 
the  whole  they  served  him  well  and  helped  him  win  many  a  victory. 
Franli;  and  fearless  of  speech,  unsparing  in  his  attack  on  individuals, 
deaf  to  the  sarcasm  and  ridicule  that  assailed  him,  he  was  ready  to 
expose  himself  to  physical  danger  for  his  cause.  Much  of  his  security 
and  success  was  undoubtedly  due  to  his  imperturbable  good  nature. 
He  enjoyed  giving  and  taking  blows.  He  kept  his  temper  in  defeat. 
He  was  never  malignant,  vindictive,  or  bitter.  While  many  dis- 
believed in  his  methods  and  even  in  his  aims,  few  could  deny  that 
he  was  a  gallant  fighter,  honest,  sincere  and  fair.  His  nature  was 
direct,  impatient  of  the  insincerities  and  hypocrisies  of  many  men  in 
public  life,  and  the  only  way  he  knew  of  carrying  his  point  was  that 
of  open,  specific  and  often  drastic  attack.  Yet  he  only  said  what 
he  believed  to  be  true  and  was  absolutely  fearless  of  consequences, 
—  an  example  of  old-time  independence  and  courage. 

With  all  his  plainness  of  speech,  he  was  of  a  tender  heart  and  all 
his  efforts  were  bent  toward  social  betterment.  He  bore  no  ill-will 
and  was  desirous  of  the  good-will  of  others.  Young  people  had  a 
large  place  in  his  affections  and  many  were  the  gifts  he  made  them 
through  the  Sunday  schools  of  the  town.  He  coveted  little  self- 
gratification;  his  tastes  and  habits  were  simple,  but  his  great  delight 
was  to  make  some  one  happy  through  his  generosity. 

Mr.  Faxon  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Total  Abstinence 
Society,  the  New  England  Free  Trade  League,  the  Norfolk  Republi- 
can Club,  and  was  connected  with  the  First  (Unitarian)  Congrega- 
tional Society  of  Quincy.  He  was  a  generous  helper  of  his  own 
church  and  a  constant  attendant  on  its  services.  He  took  little 
interest   in  theological   doctrines,   but   showed   quick   appreciation 


HENRY   HARDWICK  FAXON 

when  such  subjects  were  presented  as  temperance,  good  citizenship, 
civic  righteousness.  He  supported  all  good  causes,  contributed 
largely  to  the  work  of  the  other  churches,  Catholic  and  Protestant, 
and  to  the  charities  of  his  town,  while  the  extent  of  his  personal 
and  quiet  benefactions  will  never  be  known.  He  laid  his  own  town 
under  permanent  obligation,  not  only  for  what  he  accomplished  in 
stamping  out  the  liquor  evil,  but  also  in  the  gift  of  thirty-three  acres 
of  land,  including  a  part  of  the  old  homestead  on  which  he  was  born 
and  bred,  for  public  recreation,  to  be  known  as   "Faxon   Park." 

By  his  public  spirit,  his  unselfishness,  his  humanity,  his  tireless 
efforts  to  advance  all  genuine  reforms,  he  made  a  lasting  impression 
upon  his  native  town  and  State. 


WUa^ 


G\A/aOw\J 


I 


THOMAS  JOHN    GARGAN 

THOMAS  JOHN  GARGAN,  lawyer,  city  official,  state  legis- 
lator, publisher,  orator,  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts 
in  1844.  His  father,  Patrick  Gargan  (1806-1856),  was  a 
son  of  Patrick  and  Rose  (Garland)  Gargan  who  came  from  Ireland  in 
1827  and  settled  in  Boston.  Patrick  Gargan,  Sr.,  was  a  patriot  and, 
for  participating  in  the  rebellion  in  Ireland  in  1798,  had  his  property 
confiscated  by  the  British  government.  Patrick  Gargan,  the  immi- 
grant, was  a  mason  and  builder,  a  man  of  rugged  honesty,  and  from 
his  great  love  of  reading  was  known  as  "  Patrick  the  reader."  Thomas 
J.  Gargan  was  a  pupil  in  the  Phillips  Grammar  School  of  Boston 
until  he  reached  his  fourteenth  year  when  his  father  died  and  he  left 
school  to  give  his  help  toward  supporting  the  family.  Speaking  of 
these  school  days  Mr.  Gargan  says,  "To  my  mother  I  owe  every- 
thing, intellectually,  morally,  spiritually.  After  school  I  studied 
nights  taking  up  Latin,  French,  history  and  philosophy  under  the 
direction  of  a  Jesuit  priest.  I  worked  for  Wilkinson,  Stetson  & 
Company,  wholesale  wool  merchants,  and  for  A.  &  W.  Sprague  Manu- 
facturing Company,  and  the  discipline  taught  me  habits  of  industry. 
I  read  Gibbon's  '  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire/  Mayne's 
'  History  of  the  Middle  Ages,'  Plutarch's  '  Lives,'  the  works  of 
Edmund  Burke,  the  'History  of  England,'  Motley's  'Dutch  Repub- 
lic,' Bancroft's  '  History  of  the  United  States,'  Adam  Smith's  '  Po- 
litical Economy,'  and  philosophical  works."  He  took  up  the  study 
of  law  while  acting  as  agent  for  A.  &  W.  Sprague  Manufacturing 
Company,  but  remained  with  that  corporation  until  he  was  twenty- 
two  years  old. 

He  graduated  at  the  Boston  University  Law  School  LL.B.  1875, 
and  became  an  attomey-at-law  in  Boston.  He  took  up  the  pro- 
fession of  law  from  personal  preference  and  the  influence  of  his  home. 
The  knowledge  gained  from  private  study  and  his  contact  with  men 
in  active  business  life  largely  contributed  to  his  success.  He  served 
his  native  city  as  overseer  of  the  poor  1875;  as  chairman  of  the  board 


THOMAS  JOHN   GARGAN 

of  license  commissioners  1877-78;  member  of  the  board  of  police 
1880-1881,  and  as  a  member  of  the  Boston  Transit  Commission  from 
1894;  his  reappointed  term  expiring  in  1909.  He  served  in  the 
State  Legislature  as  a  representative  1868,  1870  and  1876.  He 
served  his  country  in  the  Civil  War  as  a  soldier,  with  the  rank  of  second 
lieutenant,  enlisting  for  three  months'  service  in  1861. 

He  was  married  September  19,  1867,  to  Catherine,  daughter  of 
Lawrence  and  Catherine  McGrath,  and  secondly,  December  29,  1898, 
to  Helena,  daughter  of  William  Nordhoff,  a  native  of  Germany. 
He  was  elected  to  membership  in  the  University  Club,  the  Papyrus 
Club,  the  American-Irish  Historical  Society,  of  which  he  was  presi- 
dent, the  Charitable  Irish  Society,  the  Old  Colony  Club,  the  Knights 
of  Columbus,  the  Economic  Club,  the  Democratic  Club,  the  Catholic 
Summer  School,  of  which  he  was  a  trustee,  the  Catholic  Union  of 
Boston,  of  which  he  was  vice-president,  and  the  New  England  Catho- 
lic Historical  Society.  His  biography  appears  in  "Bench  and  Bar 
of  Massachusetts"  "One  of  a  Thousand,"  "Irish  Race  in  Boston," 
"Boston  of  To-day."  He  is  a  director  of  the  Columbian  National 
Life  Insurance  Company  and  of  the  United  States  Trust  Company, 
and  president  and  director  of  the  Pilot  Publishing  Company.  As 
an  orator  he  became  well  known  and  popular.  He  delivered  the 
Fourth  of  July  oration  in  Boston  in  1885.  He  also  pronounced  the 
eulogy  of  Governor  Gaston  in  1894,  and  of  Mayor  Collins  in  1905. 
To  young  men  Mr.  Gargan  gives  this  message:  "Cultivate  early  in 
life  a  high  idealism,  the  practical  will  arrive  in  due  time,  love  of  good 
reading,  moderate  thrift,  not  love  of  money  for  money's  sake,  indus- 
try, thoroughness  and  a  belief  in  something." 

Mr.  Gargan  died  in  Berlin,  Germany,  July  31,  1908.  The  fol- 
lowing is  one  of  the  many  tributes  to  his  memory:  "He  was  from 
the  first  a  diligent  and  faithful  guardian  of  the  business  interests 
committed  to  his  care,  but  we  shall  miss  still  more  the  personal 
virtues  for  which  he  was  so  well  and  widely  known  in  this  city  of  his 
home.  To  the  community  at  large  he  was  a  courageous  and  public- 
spirited  citizen  and  faithful  public  official,  frank  in  opinion,  eloquent 
in  speech,  and  of  large  and  pervading  charity  in  thought,  word  and 
act.  Beneath  and  beyond  these  more  conspicuous  qualities  were 
the  cheerful  and  sunny  temperament,  sparkling  wit,  and  sincere  fel- 
lowship which  radiated  from  him  wherever  he  went." 


WILLIAM   GASTON 

FEW  men  have  been  held  in  such  high  regard  as  William  Gaston, 
and  still  fewer  have  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  their  citizens 
in  so  many  and  varied  ways  as  he.  His  life  was  a  constant 
series  of  successes,  and  multitudes  cherish  the  memory  of  his  services. 
He  was  born  in  Killingly,  Connecticut,  October  3,  1820,  and  died  in 
Boston,  January  19,  1894.  He  descended  on  his  father's  side  from 
the  French  Huguenot,  Jean  Gaston,  and  on  his  mother's  from 
Thomas  Arnold,  who  came  from  England  and  settled  in  New  Eng- 
land in  1636,  joining  Roger  Williams  in  Rhode  Island  in  1654. 

William  Gaston  came  naturally  by  his  political  sagacity  and  abil- 
ity to  call  men  to  his  standard,  for  both  his  father  and  grandfather 
had  been  popular  leaders  and  served  in  the  Legislature  of  Connecti- 
cut. William  Gaston  was  of  a  studious  habit  of  mind  and  stood 
well  in  his  classes  while  at  Brooklyn  and  Plainfield  (Connecticut) 
Academies,  and  when  he  graduated  from  Brown  University  in  1840, 
his  family  rejoiced  because  he  carried  honors  with  his  diploma  of 
graduation. 

Mr.  Gaston  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1844,  and  from  1846  to  1865 
practised  his  profession  in  Roxbury.  From  1857  to  1865  he  was  a 
member  in  the  firm  of  Jewell,  Gaston  &  Field  in  Boston.  He  became 
known  far  and  wide  for  his  ability  and  fidelity.  In  1853-54  and  56  he 
was  representative  at  the  General  Court,  and  later  a  Senator.  Dur- 
ing the  years  1861  and  1862  he  was  mayor  of  Roxbury,  for  five  years 
previous  serving  as  city  solicitor.  In  1871  and  72  he  was  elected  to 
the  position  of  mayor  of  the  City  of  Boston,  and  then,  in  recognition 
of  his  rare  abilities  as  executive  and  his  wise  statesmanship,  he 
became  the  choice  of  the  Democratic  party  for  governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts in  1874.  He  was  elected  handsomely,  although  the  State 
was  naturally  Republican  by  many  thousand.  His  administration 
was  successful  from  every  point  of  view,  though  both  branches  of 
the  Legislature  were  in  majority  against  him.  Governor  Gaston 
was  so  much  of  a  man,  had  such  resourcefulness  of  mind  and  charac- 


I 


WILLIAM    GASTON 

ter,  that  friend  and  foe  united  in  respecting  and  commending  his 
efforts  as  governor.  Both  Harvard  and  Brown  Universities  honored 
themselves  by  giving  Governor  Gaston  the  degree  of  LL.D. 

On  May  27,  1852,  in  the  town  of  Roxbury,  Mr.  Gaston  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Louisa  Augusta  Beecher,  daughter  of  Laban 
S.  and  Frances  A.  (Lines)  Beecher.  From  this  union  three  children 
were  born,  Sarah  Howard,  Theodore  Beecher  and  William  Alexan- 
der Gaston,  who  is  prominently  identified  with  political  and  business 
institutions,  an  able  lawyer  and  president  of  the  National  Shawmut 
Bank  of  Boston,  the  largest  financial  institution  in  New  England. 

Governor  Gaston  was  a  fine  example  of  the  gentleman,  scholar, 
and  man  of  affairs.  He  succeeded  in  many  lines  of  activity  and 
always  maintained  the  confidence  of  the  people.  His  integrity  was 
as  unquestioned  as  his  intellectual  ability. 


WILLIAM    ALEXANDER    GASTON 

WILLIAM  ALEXANDER  GASTON,  lawyer,  publicist  and 
president  of  the  National  Shawmut  Bank  of  Boston,  the 
largest  financial  institution  in  New  England,  was  born  in 
Roxbury,  now  Boston,  Norfolk,  now  Suffolk  County,  Massachusetts, 
May  1,  1859.  His  father,  William  Gaston  (1820-1894),  was  a  son  of 
Alexander  and  Kezia  (Arnold)  Gaston  of  Killingly,  Connecticut,  and 
a  descendant  from  Jean  Gaston,  born  in  France  about  1590,  a 
French  Huguenot,  who  fled  from  religious  persecution  to  Scotland; 
through  John  Gaston,  a  grandson  of  the  French  emigrant,  who  was 
born  in  Ireland  in  1703,  and  came  to  America,  landing  at  Marble- 
head,  Massachusetts,  and  settling  in  Voluntown,  Connecticut,  where 
he  died  in  1783.  His  maternal  ancestor,  Thomas  Arnold,  came  to 
New  England  with  his  brother,  William  Arnold,  about  1636,  and  in 
1654  joined  his  brother  William,  who  had  accompanied  Roger  Wil- 
liams to  Rhode  Island.  Alexander  Gaston,  a  merchant  in  Killingly, 
Connecticut,  and  his  father,  John  Gaston,  born  1750,  were  both 
members  of  the  Connecticut  legislature  for  many  years. 

The  parents  of  William  Gaston,  the  future  governor,  removed  to 
Roxbury,  Massachusetts  in  1839,  and  the  son  was  graduated  at 
Brown  University  in  the  class  of  1840.  He  was  a  lawyer  in  Rox- 
bury, serving  as  city  solicitor  for  five  years  and  as  mayor,  1861- 
1862.  He  removed  his  law  office  to  Boston,  1865-92;  was  mayor  of 
Boston,  1871-1872;  a  Whig  representative  in  the  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts,  1853-1854,  and  Whig  and  Fusionest  representative, 
1856.  He  was  elected  by  the  Democratic  party  to  the  State  Senate 
in  1868  and  in  1874  to  the  governorship.  In  1870  he  was  the  de- 
feated Democratic  candidate  as  representative  to  the  Forty-second 
Congress.  He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  from  Harvard 
in  1875  and  from  Brown  University  the  same  year.  He  died  in 
Boston,  January  19,  1894.  His  wife,  Louisa  Augusta  (Beecher)  Gas- 
ton, daughter  of  Laban  S.  and  Frances  A.   (Lines)  Beecher,  was 


WILLIAM   ALEXANDER  GASTON 

the  mother  of  three  children,  Sarah  Howard,  William  Alexander  and 
Theodore  Beecher  Gaston. 

William  Alexander  Gaston  was  a  strong  child,  brought  up  in  the 
city,  and  he  had  the  best  advantages  for  acquiring  an  education  in 
the  public  schools  and  Harvard  College.  His  mother  was  a  woman 
of  strong  intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  force  and  imparted  both 
by  precept  and  example  these  attributes  to  her  son.  He  graduated 
at  the  Roxbury  Latin  School  and  then  at  Harvard  College,  where 
he  was  a  member  of  the  class  of  1880.  Among  his  one  hundred  and 
thirty- five  classmates  was  Theodore  Roosevelt.  He  graduated  at 
the  Harvard  Law  School  in  1882,  entered  his  father's  law  office  as  a 
student  and  on  October  1,  1883,  w^as  admitted  as  a  partner  with  his 
father  and  Charles  L.  B.  Whitney  as  Gaston  and  Whitney.  He  was 
married  April  9,  1892,  to  May  Davidson,  daughter  of  Hamilton  D.  and 
Annie  (Louise)  Lockwood,  of  Boston,  and  of  the  five  children  born 
of  the  marriage,  four  were  living  in  1908.  He  was  the  unsuccessful 
Democratic  candidate  for  governor  of  Massachusetts  in  1902  and  1903; 
was  delegate  at  large  from  Massachusetts  to  the  Democratic  National 
Convention  of  1904  at  St.  Louis  and  was  the  member  from  Massa- 
chusetts in  the  National  Democratic  Committee  in  that  canvass.  In 
1905  he  was  named  by  the  Democratic  caucus  of  the  legislature  of 
Massachusetts  for  United  States  Senator  and  he  received  the  full 
legislative  vote  of  the  party. 

His  public  service  as  a  director  of  corporations  includes:  Manu- 
facturers National  Bank;  E.  Howard  Clock  Company;  Colonial 
National  Bank;  Eastern  Audit  Company;  Shawmut  National  Bank, 
where  he  served  on  the  executive  committee  as  he  did  on  the  board 
of  the  Commonwealth  Trust  Company;  and  the  American  Loan  and 
Trust  Company,  Fore  River  Ship  Company;  Columbian  National 
Life  Insurance  Company,  where  he  was  a  member  of  the  finance 
committee;  Boston  Elevated  Railway  Company,  serving  as  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  directors  and  president  of  the  corporation; 
National  Rockland  Bank;  Real  Estate  Exchange,  serving  as  presi- 
dent of  the  corporation.  He  has  also  been  trustee  of  the  Forest 
Hills  Cemetery;  Institution  for  Savings  in  Roxbury  and  vicinity; 
Simmons  Building;  City  Association  and  Central  Building.  He  is 
director  in  several  other  financial  companies,  and  trustee  of  a  dozen 
or  fifteen  private  estates.  His  club  affiliations  include  the  Somerset, 
Algonquin,  Curtis,  Exchange,  Athletic,  Tennis,  and  Racquet  clubs  of 


WILLIAM   ALEXANDER  GASTON 

Boston;  the  Country  Club  of  Brookline;  the  Manhattan  and  Har- 
vard Clubs  of  New  York  City;  the  Bostonian  Society;  Massachusetts 
Horticultural  Association;  Roxbury  Military  Association;  the  Har- 
vard Law  School  Association ;  the  Boston  Bar  Association.  He  served 
on  the  staff  of  Governor  William  E.  Russell,  1890-93.  A  promi- 
nent leader  of  the  Democratic  party,  when  that  party  was  in  a  hope- 
less minority  in  the  State;  his  fidelity  and  unswerving  allegiance 
endeared  him  to  the  party  and  he  was  honored  by  the  highest  nomi- 
nation within  its  gift. 


I 


LEWIS   NEWTON   GILBERT 

LEWIS  NEWTON  GILBERT,  one  of  the  foremost  among 
American  textile  manufacturers,  a  progressive  and  public 
spirited  citizen  of  the  old  school,  was  born  at  Pomfret,  Con- 
necticut, January  25,  1836.  He  is  in  the  eighth  generation  in  the 
line  of  John  Gilbert,  who  came  from  Devonshire,  England,  about 
1630,  was  in  Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  in  January,  1635,  was  made 
freeman  of  the  Plymouth  Colony  in  December,  1638,  and  was  elected 
deputy  from  Cohannet  (now  Taunton)  to  the  first  General  Court 
which  assembled  at  Plymouth  in  June,  1639.  Benjamin  Gilbert,  in 
the  sixth  generation,  was  born  August  17,  1767,  and  died  January  8, 
1835,  his  wife  having  been  Betsey  Pierce.  Joseph  Gilbert,  their 
son,  who  was  born  May  20,  1800,  and  died  February  13,  1882,  was 
an  energetic,  industrious  and  conscientious  farmer  of  excellent 
habits,  and  he  married  Harriet  Williams,  daughter  of  Zephaniah  and 
Olive  (Howe)  Williams.  Three  children  were  born  to  them  —  two 
daughters  and  a  son,  all  of  whom  are  still  living. 

Lewis  Newton  Gilbert,  the  second  of  these  children  spent  his 
early  years  on  his  father's  farm,  where  his  time  was  largely  given  to 
farm  work  of  all  kinds,  —  such  as  milking,  plowing,  harrowing, 
hoeing,  and  spreading  and  raking  hay,  —  and  in  spring  and  summer 
his  labors  began  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  He  attended  the 
common  schools  in  his  native  town,  Woodstock  Academy  and  an 
academy  in  Danielson. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  left  the  farm,  and  going  to  Ware,  Massa- 
chusetts, he  entered  the  woolen  mill  of  his  uncle,  George  H. 
Gilbert.  At  that  time  —  August,  1851  —  the  establishment  was 
employing  about  one  hundred  hands.  He  applied  himself  diligently 
to  his  duties,  learning  the  details  of  manufacture  thoroughly,  and  on 
reaching  his  majority,  in  1857,  he  was  taken  into  partnership.  The 
firm  then  became  George  H.  Gilbert  &  Company.  The  business 
prospered,  extended  very  rapidly  during  and  immediately  after  the 
Civil  War,  additional  mills  were  built  at  Gilbertville,  and  in  1867  a 


C>LjllyTnJ, 


LEWIS  NEWTON   GILBERT 

corporation  was  formed  under  the  present  title  of  the  George  H. 
Gilbert  Manufacturing  Company.  The  number  of  hands  employed 
had  reached  about  six  hundred.  In  1869  George  H.  Gilbert  died,  and 
Lewis  N.  Gilbert  succeeded  him  as  president  of  the  company,  which 
position  he  still  retains,  after  having  held  it  nearly  forty  years. 

In  1876  he  was  made  a  member  of  the  board  of  managers  for 
Massachusetts  at  the  Centennial  Exposition  at  Philadelphia,  and, 
with  well-considered  enterprise,  he  arranged  for  an  important  exhibit 
by  the  Gilbert  Company,  extending  still  more  widely  the  reputation 
for  a  high  standard  that  their  products  had  been  steadily  gaining. 
The  progress  has  continued.  At  the  mills  in  Ware  and  Gilbertville 
not  less  than  1400  hands  are  now  kept  at  work,  and  there  are  28 
sets  of  woolen  machinery,  12  worsted  combs  and  450  broad  looms 
in  constant  operation.  The  manufactures  include  both  men's  and 
women's  goods  of  worsted  and  woolen.  At  the  present  time  the 
capital  stock  is  $1,000,000  and  the  value  of  goods  manufactured 
yearly  is  $2,800,000. 

Although  the  demands  upon  his  energies  of  this  rapidl}^  growing 
industry  have  been  great,  Mr.  Gilbert  has  been  able  to  fill  many  places 
of  trust  and  honor.  He  has  been  a  trustee  of  the  Ware  Savings 
Bank  since  1869,  and  since  1892  has  served  as  its  president.  He  has 
been  a  director  of  the  Ware  National  Bank  since  1887.  He  was 
chosen  a  director  of  the  Worcester  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company 
in  1884,  and  in  1901  became  its  president. 

In  politics  he  has  taken  a  prominent  part  as  a  Republican.  He 
was  early  elected  a  member  of  the  Republican  State  Committee, 
and  at  different  times  has  served  three  terms  of  one  year  each.  He 
was  a  State  Senator  from  his  district  in  1877  and  in  1878.  In  these 
two  years  he  was  appointed  on  important  committees,  including 
those  on  public  charitable  institutions,  prisons  and  railroads,  and 
was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  manufactures.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  State  Primary  School  at  Mon- 
son  for  five  years,  and  chairman  of  the  board  for  three  years.  He 
has  repeatedly  declined  to  be  a  candidate  for  any  town  office,  but  as 
moderator  at  the  annual  town  meetings  for  twenty-seven  consecutive 
years  he  has  wielded  a  potent  influence,  and  has  presided  over  many 
stormy  debates  with  justice  and  impartiality.  Most  of  the  public 
improvements  that  are  the  pride  of  the  town  have  been  brought  about 
by  these  meetings. 


LEWIS  NEWTON   GILBERT 

Through  the  early  influence  of  his  mother,  Mr.  Gilbert  has  always 
taken  an  active  interest  in  the  religious  life  of  his  community.  He  is 
a  regular  attendant  at  the  Congregational  Church  at  Gilbertville, 
which  is  a  beautiful  stone  memorial  building  erected  by  the  Gilbert 
family  in  1881.  He  has  been  a  delegate  to  four  Triennial  National 
Councils  of  Congregational  Churches  and  to  one  International  Coun- 
cil. He  has  been  a  member  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
Massachusetts  Home  Missionary  Society  for  twelve  years,  and  a 
vice-president  of  the  Massachusetts  Bible  Society  for  twenty-six 
years.     He  is  a  Mason,  a  member  of  Eden  Lodge. 

Mr.  Gilbert  was  married  December  21,  1864,  to  Mary  D.  Lane, 
daughter  of  Otis  and  Miranda  (Hamilton)  Lane,  and  granddaughter 
of  Rev.  Otis  and  Elizabeth  (Payne)  Lane  and  of  Joshua  and  Minerva 
(Reeves)  Hamilton.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gilbert,  who  have  no  children, 
occupy  a  handsome  residence  on  South  Street,  Ware. 

Mr.  Gilbert's  counsel  to  young  Americans  are  summed  up  in  his 
own  words.  "Be  industrious,  be  persevering,  be  honest,  be  faithful, 
so  as  to  make  the  person  in  whose  employ  you  are  feel  that  he  cannot 
afford  to  lose  your  service,  and  you  will  obtain  a  good  position  in 
life." 


£-r„^.  ^4/  ^^  fH/.^-^s  SSra/Vy 


^^:^:^^/^^-0/.^''Cr^^?=''-2^^  ^( 


EDWIN   GINN 

EDWIN  GINN  was  born  in  Orland,  Maine,  February  14,  1838. 
His  fatlier,  James  Ginn,  farmer  and  lumberman,  was  a  man 
of  remarkably  good  judgment.  He  often  acted  as  arbitrator 
and  referee  in  cases  of  dispute  and  had  great  influence  in  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  lived.  His  ancestors  came  from  England  and 
were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  His 
mother,  Sarah  Blood,  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Esther  (Rideout)  Blood, 
was  descended  from  Puritan  stock,  and  through  John  Putnam,  brother 
of  Israel  Putnam,  claimed  descent  from  John  and  Priscilla  (Gould) 
Putnam,  emigrants  from  England  about  1630-34,  settling  in  Salem. 

Edwin,  although  a  rather  delicate  boy,  was  bent  on  obtaining 
an  education.  As  a  child  his  advantages  in  this  cUrection  were 
very  limited,  as  his  home  in  the  country  was  far  removed  from 
good  school  privileges.  His  ambition  to  obtain  an  education  he 
inherited  largely  from  his  mother,  his  keen  business  insight  from  his 
father.  His  early  childhood  was  passed  on  the  farm  —  where  the 
customary  chores  were  a  part  of  his  daily  duties  —  in  a  logging 
camp,  and  on  a  fishing  schooner  to  the  Grand  Banks  of  Newfound- 
land.    In  the  winter  he  attended  the  district  school. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  his  father  gave  him  his  time  and  fifty 
dollars  with  which  to  gain  an  education.  He  then  began  to  attend 
the  country  high  school,  so-called,  but  as  the  teacher  could  not 
instruct  him  in  Latin  he  entered  the  Seminary  at  Bucksport,  two 
miles  and  a  half  from  his  home,  walking  to  and  from  school  each 
day.  Later  he  went  to  Westbrook  Seminary,  where  he  finished  his 
preparation  for  college.  He  graduated  from  Tufts  in  1862,  and 
later  received  the  degree  A.M.  In  1902  his  alma  mater  conferred 
upon  him  the  degree  of  Litt.D.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  college  fraternity,  of  the  Twentieth  Century  Club,  and  of  the 
Boston  Merchants'  Association. 

While  in  college  his  eyes  failed  him  and  his  health  broke  down. 
The  professors  urged  him  to  drop  out  for  a  year  but  he  objected, 


EDWIN   GINN 

saying  that  if  he  left  his  class  he  should  never  return.  His  class- 
mates lent  a  helping  hand  by  reading  his  lessons  to  him  and  he  suc- 
ceeded in  graduating  even  above  the  middle  of  his  class. 

Mr.  Ginn  had  hoped  to  devote  himself  to  purely  literary  work 
but,  physically  handicapped  as  he  was,  he  abandoned  this  purpose 
and  determined  to  enter  the  publishing  business.  In  coming  to  this 
decision  he  was  actuated  largely  by  a  desire  to  influence  the  world 
for  good  by  putting  the  best  books  into  the  hands  of  school  children. 

On  leaving  college  he  engaged  in  a  small  way  in  a  school-book 
agency,  buying  his  books  outright,  and  thus  was  under  obligation 
to  no  one.  His  first  independent  venture  was  the  publishing  of 
Craik's  English  of  Shakespeare,  which  he  obtained  from  the  house 
of  Crosby  and  Ainsworth.  The  study  of  Shakespeare  had  just 
begun  to  be  taken  up  in  colleges  and  secondary  schools,  and  the  young 
publisher  realized  that  it  was  an  opportune  time  to  put  out  this 
book.  A  little  later  he  secured  the  services  of  the  Rev.  Henry  N. 
Hudson,  who  edited  for  him  twenty-one  plays  for  the  use  of  the 
schools  and  the  Harvard  edition  of  vShakespeare  for  libraries. 

His  second  work  of  importance  was  Allen's  Latin  Grammar,  a 
book  which  was  very  well  received.  The  success  of  this  book  led 
the  young  publisher  to  apply  to  Professor  Goodwin  of  Harvard  for 
a  Greek  Grammar.  He  called  upon  the  professor  and  made  known 
his  errand,  who  at  once  said  to  him,  "The  manuscript  you  wish  is 
in  my  desk  at  this  moment,  well-nigh  finished."  Professor  Good- 
win's "  Moods  and  Tenses  "  had  already  established  his  name  among 
Greek  scholars,  and  almost  immediately  upon  its  publication  his 
Greek  Grammar  found  an  entrance  into  nearly  all  the  leading  classi- 
cal schools  and  colleges  in  the  country. 

The  popularity  of  Allen's  Latin  Grammar,  however,  was  of  short 
duration.  It  was  soon  found  that  the  brief  course  was  not  sufficient 
for  the  schools,  that  a  fuller  treatise  was  necessary  for  the  intelligent 
study  of  the  texts.  Therefore  Professor  J.  B.  Greenough  was  called 
in  to  revise  and  enlarge  this  book,  and  to  prepare  editions  of  the 
Latin  texts,  Caesar,  Cicero  and  Virgil.  Professor  Goodwin  also  en- 
larged and  revised  his  Greek  Grammar,  and  he  and  Professor  John 
Williams  White  began  the  editing  of  the  Greek  texts.  These  Latin 
and  Greek  books  laid  the  foundation  for  the  success  of  the  house 
of  Ginn  and  Company. 

Among  other  early  publications  of  special  importance  might  be 


EDWIN   GINN 

mentioned  Luther  Whiting  Mason's  National  Music  Course,  the  first 
successful  attempt  to  introduce  music  into  the  public  schools;  the 
series  of  mathematics  by  Professor  George  A.  Wentworth  of  Exeter, 
New  Hampshire,  which  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  been 
the  most  popular  and  extensively  used  series  of  books  ever  published 
in  America;  Alexis  E.  Frye's  series  of  geographies,  which  have  revolu- 
tionized the  study  of  that  subject;  and  Myers',  Montgomery's  and 
Allen's  histories,  which  for  years  have  led  all  other  text-books  on 
these  subjects  in  this  country. 

The  limited  space  reserved  for  this  sketch  forbids  a  detailed 
account  of  the  many  valuable  publications  on  Ginn  and  Company's 
list,  which  numbers  over  one  thousand  volumes.  We  would  mention 
in  passing,  however,  Collar  and  Daniell's  Latin  books,  Whitney's 
Essentials  of  English  Grammar,  Young's  Astronomies,  Bergen's 
Botanies,  Blaisdell's  Physiologies,  Kittredge  and  Arnold's  Language 
Series,  Lockwopd  and  Emerson's  Composition  and  Rhetoric,  the 
Stickney,  Jones  and  Cyr  Readers  and  Smith's  Arithmetics. 

One  of  the  most  important  works  of  Ginn  and  Company  along 
educational  lines  is  the  editing  and  publishing  of  the  Classics  for 
Children,  the  first  volume  of  which,  an  edition  of  The  Lady  of  the 
Lake,  was  issued  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  This  series  of 
books  now  consists  of  fifty-seven  volumes,  the  masterpieces  of 
standard  authors  like  Scott,  Lamb,  Irving,  Dickens,  Kingsley  and 
Ruskin  issued  as  nearly  as  possible  in  complete  form.  The  volumes 
are  specially  annotated  and  adapted  for  the  use  of  children  of  the 
grammar-school  grades.  They  have  supplemented  the  work  of  the 
ordinary  school  readers,  which  are  composed  of  brief  selections, 
taken  largely  from  the  writers  of  the  day  and  which  for  generations 
were  the  only  source  of  literary  culture  open  to  the  grammar-school 
pupil.  The  part  which  these  classics  play  in  the  development  of 
youthful  minds  is  important  beyond  measure,  since  about  nineteen 
out  of  every  twenty  school  children  complete  their  education  in  the 
grammar  school. 

Ginn  and  Company  are  also  the  publishers  of  a  large  number  of 
interesting  nature  books,  prominent  among  which  are  Mr.  Long's 
studies  of  animals. 

Among  the  books  and  authors  that  have  been  most  helpful  to 
him  in  his  life-work  Mr.  Ginn  counts  the  following:  Plato,  Marcus 
Aurelius,    Plutarch's    Lives    and    Morals,    Epictetus,    Shakespeare, 


EDWIN   GINN 

Bacon,  Combe's  Essay  on  the  Constitution  of  Man,  Pope,  Swift, 
Burke's  Speeches,  Scott,  Thackeray,  Goldsmith,  Ruskin,  Words- 
worth, Theodore  Parker,  Sumner,  Wendell  Phillips,  Beecher,  Brown- 
ing, Whittier,  Gladstone,  and  the  historical  works  of  Guizot,  Prescott 
and  Motley. 

Philanthropy  of  all  kinds  has  always  appealed  to  Mr.  Ginn.  He 
has  given  especial  attention  to  the  housing  of  the  poor  in  model 
tenements  and  to  the  cause  of  peace  and  arbitration  looking  toward 
the  disarmament  of  the  world's  great  armies.  This  last  he  counts 
as  his  greatest  effort  for  the  good  of  mankind  and  to  this  work  he 
is  giving  a  large  amount  of  time  and  money.  He  is  now  bringing 
out  a  series  of  books  which  it  is  hoped  may  prove  the  foundation 
stone  for  "An  International  School  of  Peace,"  to  be  organized  on 
broad  lines  for  the  education  of  the  peoples  of  all  nations  to  nobler 
and  wiser  methods  of  settling  disputes. 

Mr.  Ginn's  political  affiliations  have  always  been  with  the  Repub- 
lican party,  but  of  late  years  he  has  differed  wdth  his  party,  especially 
with  regard  to  the  tariff,  voting  independently  on  several  occasions. 
His  family  were  Universalists,  but  his  connections  are  now  with  the 
Unitarian  Church. 

He  was  married  in  1869  to  Clara,  daughter  of  Jesse  and  Martha 
(Bartlett)  Glover;  and  again  in  1893  to  Francesca,  daughter  of  Carl 
Christian  and  Maria  Christina  (Vitriarius)  Greb^,  of  Germany.  By 
his  first  wife  he  had  four  children,  Jessie,  Maurice,  Herbert  and  Clara; 
and  by  his  second  wife  two,  Edwin,  Jr.,  and  Marguerita  Christina. 


■■,!,    i^rC-^ffwr^a    SBrsNy^ 


d. 


JOHN   M.   HARLOW 

JOHN  U.  HARLOW  was  born  in  Whitehall,  New  York,  Novem- 
ber 25,  1819,  and  died  at  his  home  in  Woburn,  Massachusetts, 
May  13,  1907.  In  boyhood  he  attended  the  common  schools 
of  his  native  town,  and  later  he  fitted  for  college  in  West  Poultney, 
Vermont,  and  in  Ashby,  Massachusetts.  He  engaged  for  a  while  in 
teaching  and  took  up  the  study  of  medicine  in  1840.  He  pursued  a 
special  course  in  a  School  of  Anatomy  in  Philadelphia,  and  graduated 
at  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  in  the  same  city  in  1844.  He  was 
patient,  accurate  and  conscientious  in  the  endeavor  to  learn  all  that 
can  be  known  about  the  human  constitution  and  the  best  means  of 
relieving  the  many  ills  that  human  flesh  is  heir  to.  His  first  out- 
look upon  the  world  was  in  a  country  of  hills  and  lakes  and  streams 
of  living  water.  He  caught  the  sunshine  of  the  hills  and  carried  it 
with  him  through  a  long  life,  shedding  brightness  and  good  cheer 
upon  the  paths  of  all  who  traveled  with  him  to  the  end  of  the 
journey.  The  early  lessons  learned  in  the  great  school  of  nature  did 
much  to  give  him  serenity  of  mind  and  constancy  of  hope  amid  all 
the  changes  that  awaited  him. 

He  began  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Cavendish,  Vermont,  in 
1845,  and  there  he  continued  for  fourteen  years,  carrying  health 
and  good  cheer  to  the  homes  of  the  people  living  along  the  Black 
River  and  under  the  shadow  of  Ascutney  IMountain.  The  villagers 
in  the  workshops  along  the  river  and  the  farmers  in  the  fields  learned 
to  look  upon  the  coming  of  his  carriage,  as  he  flew  along  the  winding 
and  wooded  roads,  as  a  harbinger  of  help  to  the  suffering  and  of 
hope  to  the  afflicted  in  their  scattered  homes. 

While  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Cavendish, 
Dr.  Harlow  had  one  case  of  extraordinary  interest  to  all  persons 
who  knew  of  it  at  the  time,  and  indeed  of  world-wide  repute  among 
medical  men  to  this  day.  A  young  man  was  engaged  in  blasting 
rocks  on  the  Rutland  and  Burlington  Railroad.  By  some  mistake 
in  tamping  the  charge  of  powder,  it  took  fire  while  he  was  sitting 


JOHN   M.   HARLOW 

on  the  rock,  and  the  force  of  the  explosion  drove  the  tamping  iron, 
a  bar  three  feet  and  a  half  long  and  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  diameter, 
through  his  head,  just  in  front  of  the  angle  of  the  jaw  on  the  left 
side.  The  bar  pierced  the  brain  in  the  middle  of  the  head,  carried 
away  a  portion  of  the  bony  case  at  the  back  of  the  left  eye,  and  landed 
several  rods  away  from  the  seat  of  the  wounded  man  who  still  re- 
mained upright  on  the  rock.  He  spoke  lightly  and  jocosely  to  his 
fellow  workmen  immediately  after  the  shock,  and  with  a  little  help 
from  them  he  walked  to  an  ox  cart  that  stood  near  by,  mounted  and 
rode  in  that  rude  ambulance  to  Hyde's  tavern  where  he  was  board- 
ing, a  distance  of  half  a  mile.  Leaving  the  cart,  he  Avalked  up  the 
long  stairway  to  his  chamber  and  deliberately  removed  his  blood- 
stained garments  and  prepared  himself  for  the  bed.  There  Dr. 
Harlow  found  him.  He  immediately  applied  all  the  resources  of 
medical  skill  known  at  the  time,  although  he  had  little  hope  of  secur- 
ing a  recovery  for  the  young  man  from  such  a  desperate  condition. 
The  patient  himself,  however,  was  so  sure  of  rising  to  his  feet  again 
that  he  sent  word  to  his  fellow  workmen  that  he  would  be  back  with 
them  again  in  a  few  days. 

Dr.  Harlow  gradually  grew  into  the  hope  which  animated  the 
patient  and  joined  with  him  in  cherishing  the  expectation  of  re- 
covery, although  he  had  never  heard  an  instance  of  a  man  coming 
again  to  the  full  use  of  his  faculties  of  body  and  mind  after  such  a 
rude  missile  had  been  shot  through  his  brain.  Two  months  after 
the  accident  the  wounded  man  was  walking  again  on  the  street. 
In  another  month  he  drove  thirty  miles  to  his  own  home  in  Lebanon, 
and  was  none  the  worse  for  the  journey.  The  dreadful  wound  in 
the  head  had  closed,  and  he  was  able  to  pursue  his  ordinary  occupa- 
tion. With  a  slight  change  in  character  and  disposition  he  seemed 
as  well  as  he  was  before  the  accident. 

The  recovered  man  went  about  the  country  for  a  few  years,  ex- 
hibiting the  iron  bar  which  had  passed  through  his  brain,  and  telling 
the  story  of  the  terrible  accident  to  crowds  of  people  who  came  to 
hear  and  who  were  slow  to  believe  what  they  heard.  At  his  death 
the  bar  of  iron  and  the  skull  of  the  man  whose  brain  had  been  pierced 
were  placed  in  the  Warren  Museum  of  Harvard  Medical  School,  and 
there  they  may  be  seen  at  this  day.  Dr.  Harlow  modestly  ascribed 
the  wonderful  recovery  to  the  extraordinary  vitality  and  the  uncon- 
querable will  and  endurance  of  the  patient.     Dr.  Harlow's  narrative 


JOHN   U.   PIARLOW 

of  the  case  was  received  with  great  applause  when  he  read  it  to  a 
large  gathering  of  physicians  and  surgeons  at  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital,  twenty  years  after  the  occurrence. 

After  fourteen  years  of  hard  and  exacting  service  in  Cavendish, 
Dr.  Harlow  was  so  much  reduced  in  health  that  he  was  obliged  to 
leave  the  field  which  he  had  learned  to  love,  and  to  spend  three  years 
in  rest  and  quiet  study  and  travel,  occupying  most  of  the  time  in 
Minnesota  and  in  Philadelphia.  In  1861  he  resumed  practice  in 
Woburn,  Massachusetts,  and  there  he  continued  to  hold  a  foremost 
position  both  in  his  profession  and  in  business  and  social  life  till  the 
close,  forty-six  years  afterwards. 

In  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  profession.  Dr.  Harlow  was 
prompt  and  untiring,  accurate  and  conscientious,  his  extensive 
experience  and  close  observation  and  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
human  constitution  made  him  a  welcome  and  trusted  visitor  where- 
ever  the  sick  and  the  suffering  needed  his  aid.  He  was  honored 
and  trusted  alike  by  his  associates  in  medical  practice  and  by  the 
common  people,  who  looked  upon  him  as  the  beloved  physician  in 
sickness  and  the  sympathizing  and  helping  friend  in  time  of  need. 
Both  in  professional  and  in  every-day  life  he  showed  himself  to  be  a 
man  of  large  heart,  high  purpose  and  very  unusual  practical  sagacity 
in  meeting  all  the  demands  of  individual  service  for  the  welfare  of 
the  community  about  him  and  for  the  world  at  large.  He  held 
many  important  posts  as  senator,  councilor,  director,  trustee, 
president  of  bank  corporations  and  medical  societies  and  in  them 
all  he  was  found  to  be  a  man  wise,  suggestive,  discriminating  and 
conscientious  in  things  least  and  greatest.  He  knew  how  to  accu- 
mulate property  for  himself  and  to  use  it  well  for  the  good  of  many 
others.  He  received  by  descent  the  great  and  good  inheritance  of 
character,  and  he  made  it  better  by  the  best  use  of  the  enlarged 
knowledge  and  opportunities  of  his  time.  The  best  blood  of  the 
New  England  fathers  was  in  his  veins,  and  it  made  him  firm  in  pur- 
pose and  opinion,  energetic  in  action  and  expression,  generous  and 
self-denying  in  spirit  and  untiring  in  devotion  to  the  public  welfare. 
His  memory  will  stand  as  an  extraordinar}^  record  in  medical  prac- 
tice, an  example  of  high  and  honorable  citizenship  in  the  State,  a 
precious  treasure  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  knew  him. 


JOHN   CUMMINGS    HAYNES 

JOHN  CUMMINGS  HAYNES,  head  of  the  house  of  Oliver  Ditson 
Company  of  Boston,  was  bom  in  Brighton,  Massachusetts, 
September  9,  1829  and  died  in  Boston  May  3,  1907.  His  father, 
John  Dearborn  Haynes,  son  of  EHsha  and  Betsy  (Bartlett)  Haynes, 
grandson  of  John  and  OUve  (Weeks)  Haynes,  and  great  grandson  of 
Matthias  and  Hannah  (Johnson)  Haynes,  and  a  descendant  from 
Samuel  Haynes,  a  farmer  who  resided  in  Shropshire,  England,  and 
emigrated  with  a  colony  of  his  neighbors  to  New  England  in  1635. 
He  was  a  prominent  dissenter  and  helped  to  organize  the  First  Church 
at  Strawberry  Bank  (afterwards  Portsmouth)  New  Hampshire,  of 
which  church  he  was  made  a  deacon.  John  Dearborn  Haynes  married 
Eliza  Walker,  daughter  of  Joseph  Stevens  and  a  descendant  from 
the  Gilpatricks  who  went  from  Scotland  to  the  North  of  Ireland  and 
thence  to  America.  John  Cummings  Haynes  was  a  pupil  in  the 
public  and  English  High  Schools  of  Boston,  but  his  parents  needing 
his  assistance  as  a  bread  winner  he  was  forced  to  leave  school  when 
fifteen  years  of  age.  In  1845  he  entered  the  employ  of  Oliver  Ditson, 
music  publisher,  as  an  errand  boy.  He  learned  the  business  and  be- 
came so  valuable  to  his  employer  that  on  January  1,  1851,  Mr.  Ditson 
gave  him  an  interest  in  the  business  and  on  January  1,  1857,  he  was 
made  a  full  partner,  the  firm  name  being  changed  to  Oliver  Ditson  & 
Company.  The  death  of  Oliver  Ditson,  the  founder  of  the  house,  in 
December,  1888,  led  to  further  change  in  the  business  which  was 
incorporated  as  The  Oliver  Ditson  Company  with  Mr.  Haynes  as 
president  and  Mr.  Ditson's  son,  Charles  H.  Ditson,  as  treasurer. 
Several  of  the  young  men  who  had  grown  up  in  the  business  were 
admitted  to  the  corporation  as  stockholders.  Besides  the  house 
established  in  Boston  of  The  Oliver  Ditson  Company,  music  publishers, 
and  John  C.  Haynes  &  Company,  musical  instrument  manufacturers, 
branch  houses  were  established  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia;  the 
New  York  concern  being  known  as  Charles  H.  Ditson  &  Company, 
and  the  Philadelphia  house  as  J.  E.  Ditson  &  Company. 


-^ .    /tjC^y^u.  e^ 


JOHN   CUMMINGS   HAYNES 

The  business  of  the  corporation  showed  a  remarkable  growth  from 
its  formation  and  in  the  Hne  of  pubhshers  of  music  outclassed  all  its 
competitors  and  called  for  great  executive  talent  in  managing  its 
business.  Mr.  Haynes  supervised  the  erection  of  an  immense  build- 
ing in  New  York  City  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Eighteenth 
Street,  and  their  Philadelphia  store  was  located  at  1632  Chestnut 
Street.  In  1864  he  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  house  of  Lyon 
&  Healy  of  Chicago,  music  dealers  and  manufacturers  of  musical 
instruments,  and  the  houses  were  closely  allied  from  that  time. 

Mr.  Haynes  was  married  in  1855  to  Fanny,  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Charles  and  Frances  (Seabury)  Spear,  of  Massachusetts,  and  their 
children  were:  Alice  Fanny  Haynes,  who  married  Marcus  Morton 
Holmes;  Theodore  Parker  Haynes,  deceased;  Lizzie  Gray  Haynes, 
who  married  O.  Gordon  Rankine;  Jennie  Eliza  Haynes,  deceased, 
who  married  Fred  O.  Hurd;  Cora  Marie  Haynes,  who  married  Isaac 
Wellington  Crosby;  Mabel  Stevens  Haynes  who  became  a  physician, 
afterward  marrying  Konrad  Heissig,  Captain  in  the  Austrian  Army, 
and  Edith  Margaret  Haynes,  who  married  Frederick  H.  Pratt. 

Few  men  have  carried  larger  business  responsibilities  than  has 
Mr.  Haynes.  Yet  busy  as  he  has  been,  at  times  apparently  fairly 
absorbed  by  his  vast  responsibilities,  few  men  of  affairs  have  found 
more  time  for  interests  which  concerned  the  larger  life  of  the  com- 
munity. He  was  an  original  member  of  the  Franklin  Library  Asso- 
ciation, a  life  member  of  the  Mercantile  Library  Association,  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  LTnion,  of  the  Woman's  Industrial  Union, 
of  the  Aged  Couples'  Home,  a  director  and  vice-president  in  the 
Massachusetts  Homeopathic  Hospital,  president  of  the  Massachusetts 
Homeopathic  Dispensary,  a  director  and  treasurer  of  the  Free  Re- 
ligious Association  of  the  United  States,  and  a  trustee  and  vice- 
president  of  the  Franklin  Square  House,  the  great  home  for  working 
girls  and  student  girls  in  Boston. 

Here  seemed,  to  the  casual  observer,  to  be  a  man  who  was  pre- 
eminently a  money-maker.  But  John  C.  Haynes  was  also  a  money- 
spender,  both  in  large  and  small  ways.  Simple  in  his  tastes  to  the 
verge  of  austerity,  he  had  little  interest  in  spending  money  for  osten- 
tation and  never  for  himself.  But  there  was  scarcely  one  of  the 
many  charitable  and  religious  societies  with  which  he  was  connected, 
to  which  he  was  not  a  liberal  contributor,  while  to  some  of  them  he 
was  literally  a  benefactor.    For  example,  his  gifts  to  the  Homeopathic 


JOHN  CUMMINGS  HAYNES 

Hospital  and  Dispensary  probably  aggregated  considerably  more 
than  $100,000,  while  he  gave  to  the  Franklin  Square  House  alone 
$130,000,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  to  his  benefactions  in 
the  beginning  this  great  philanthropy  owed  its  existence.  But 
generous  as  he  was  to  these  two  institutions,  he  was  not  less  generous 
toward  the  institutions  associated  with  the  name  of  Theodore  Parker. 
One  of  the  latest  of  his  larger  gifts,  amounting  to  many  thousands 
of  dollars,  had  for  its  object  the  publication  of  a  complete  edition  of 
Theodore  Parker's  works.  The  benefactions  of  Mr.  Haynes  were  not 
limited  to  his  splendid  gifts  to  institutions.  His  private  charities 
were  numberless.  Originally  associated  with  Theodore  Parker  in 
the  anti-slavery  movement,  he  was  particularly  generous  toward 
the  colored  race.  Many  of  their  schools  of  the  South  knew  his  kind- 
ness, and  many  a  colored  man  and  woman  in  the  North  was  helped 
over  a  difficult  place  by  his  generosity. 

His  relations  to  Theodore  Parker  alone  would  make  a  romantic 
story.  Originally  a  pupil  in  a  Baptist  Sunday  school,  in  1848  he 
became  interested  in  the  preaching  of  Parker,  who  had  formed  an 
independent  church,  known  as  the  Twenty-eighth  Congregational 
Society.  Mr.  Haynes  joined  this  society  and  for  many  years  served 
as  chairman  of  its  standing  committee.  After  the  death  of  Mr. 
Parker,  Mr.  Haynes  was  an  active  factor  in  erecting  the  Parker 
Memorial  Building  in  Boston,  and  was  also  instrumental  in  transfer- 
ring the  building  to  the  Benevolent  Fraternity  of  Churches  in  Boston 
in  order  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  Theodore  Parker  and  his  chari- 
table, educational  and  religious  work.  He  was  likewise  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  Parker  Fraternity  of  Boston  and  of  the  Parker 
Fraternity  course  of  lectures  which  was  sustained  for  nearly  twenty 
years. 

Mr.  Haynes'  financial  affiliations  included  trusteeship  in  the 
Franklin  Savings  Bank  and  directorship  in  the  Massachusetts  Title 
Insurance  Company.  His  political  affiliations  were  first  with  the 
Free  Soil  party,  he  voting  in  1852  for  the  candidacy  of  John  P.  Hale 
for  president  and  George  W.  Julian  for  vice-president.  In  1856  he 
followed  the  Free  Soil  party  into  the  ranks  of  the  Republican  party 
and  remained  a  faithful  adherent  to  the  policy  of  that  party  during 
his  entire  life.  In  the  days  when  the  city  of  Boston  thought  it 
worth  while  to  call  responsible  men  to  its  service,  Mr.  Haynes  was 
chosen  to  serve  on  the  Common  Council  for  three  terms.     He  served 


JOHN   CUMMINGS   HAYNES 

the  city  of  Boston  as  a  member  of  the  Common  Council  1862-65, 
and  helped  to  advance  the  cause  of  the  Union  by  firing  the  patriotic 
spirit  of  the  members  to  a  prompt  filling  up  of  the  quota  of  volun- 
teers apportioned  to  the  city.  While  a  councilman  he  also  strenu- 
ously advocated  the  opening  of  the  Public  Library  on  Sunday,  a 
radical  departure  at  the  time  and  one  which  was  adopted  soon  after 
the  close  of  his  term  of  service  as  a  member  of  the  City  Council. 

Mr.  Haynes  was  never  a  club  man  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the 
term.  If  he  was  a  member  of  certain  associations,  it  was  on  account 
of  something  beside  mere  social  intercourse  that  they  stood  for. 
For  example,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Unitarian  Club,  the  Home 
Market  Club,  the  Massachusetts  Club,  the  Boston  Merchants' Asso- 
ciation, and  the  Music  Publishers  Association  of  the  United  States, 
but  in  every  case  he  had  at  heart,  not  his  own  amusement,  but  the 
promotion  of  some  great  interest  which  he  regarded  as  vital. 


i 


DANIEL   COLLAMORE    HEATH 

DANIEL  COLLAMORE  HEATH,  long  and  widely  known  as 
a  leading  educational  publisher,  was  president  of  the  D.  C. 
Heath  &  Company  publishing  house  from  its  foundation  in 
1885  to  his  death.  Mr.  Heath  was  always  a  most  loyal  son  of  his 
native  State  of  Maine,  but  from  the  time  he  began  his  college  course 
at  Amherst,  in  1864,  his  activities  and  his  interests  were  largely 
centered  in  Massachusetts. 

He  was  born  in  Salem,  Franklin  County,  Maine,  October  26, 
1843,  and  died  in  Newtonville,  Massachusetts,  January  29,  1908. 
He  was  the  second  son  of  Daniel  Heath  (1814-1902)  and  Mila  Ann 
Record  (1816-1907);  and  grandson  of  Benjamin  Heath  (1788-1870) 
and  Ruth  Hinkley  Heath  (1790-1859)  on  the  father's  side,  and  Henry 
Record  (born  1785)  and  Mercy  Bradley  Record  (born  1778)  on  the 
mother's  side.  His  ancestors  were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Massa- 
chusetts, coming  from  England  in  1632  and  in  succeeding  years. 

Mr.  Heath's  boyhood  was  passed  at  Salem  and  Farmington, 
Maine.  His  father  was  a  man  of  rugged  qualities,  both  physical  and 
mental,  full  of  energy,  courage,  humor  and  sterling  common  sense. 
He  was  a  farmer  and  blacksmith,  was  active  in  his  community  as 
postmaster,  town  clerk,  and  selectman,  and  was  colonel  in  the  State 
militia.  After  some  years  in  the  local  schools  and  in  Farmington 
Academy,  Mr.  Heath  went  to  the  Nichols  Latin  School  at  Lewiston, 
Maine,  and  to  the  Maine  State  Seminary  (now  Bates  College),  where 
he  finished  his  college  preparatory  work.  He  was  graduated  at 
Amherst  in  1868  and  received  the  degree  of  A.M.  in  1871. 

Of  his  early  interests  and  occupations  Mr.  Heath  wrote:  "I  did 
such  work  as  my  father's  occupation  demanded.  I  have  done  all 
kinds  of  farm  work,  have  helped  in  making  horseshoes  and  ox-shoes, 
and  have  shod  oxen.  This  work  was  clearly  wholesome  in  its  influ- 
ence on  my  character  and  habits.  Application  to  tasks  of  suitable 
responsibility  I  count  one  of  the  best  things  for  any  boy.  I  read 
fiction  very  little,  finding  books  suggested  by  my  text-books  and 


DANIEL  COLLAMORE   HEATH 

courses  of  stud}'  far  more  interesting  and  presumably  of  more  use 
to  me  than  others.  Therefore,  they  were  the  ones  I  tried  to  Hkc,  and 
more  often  did  Hke.  I  finally  got  into  the  habit  of  reading  only 
books  out  of  which  I  could  get  some  definite  and  sure  information. 
I  began  active  life  at  the  age  of  sixteen  as  a  school  teacher  in  Farm- 
ington,  teaching  in  the  district  schools  before  and  after  I  went  to 
college,  through  which  I  had  to  work  my  way.  In  those  days  we  had 
a  long  winter  vacation  of  six  weeks,  and  we  took  six  weeks  out  of 
the  spring  term  and  taught  a  'three  months'  school,'  making  up  lost 
time  and  subjects  on  our  return  to  college.  Thus,  and  in  similar 
ways,  I  earned  my  tuition  and  board." 

After  graduation  from  college  Mr.  Heath  was  for  two  years  prin- 
cipal of  the  high  school  at  Southboro,  Massachusetts.  In  1870-72 
he  was  a  student  at  the  Bangor  Theological  School,  but  on  account 
of  ill  health  was  obliged  to  leave  before  graduating.  After  a  year  of 
travel  in  Europe,  spent  largely  in  tramping  through  Switzerland, 
he  became  superintendent  of  schools  at  Farmington,  Maine.  His 
energetic  efforts  to  introduce  there  new  methods  and  new  text- 
books indirectly  brought  him  into  touch  with  Edwin  Ginn,  the  Boston 
school-book  publisher.  In  1874  he  became  the  representative  of 
the  Ginn  Brothers  with  an  office  at  Rochester,  New  York.  In  1875 
he  opened  their  branch  office  in  New  York  and  in  1876  he  became 
a  member  of  the  firm.  For  the  next  nine  years  the  business  was 
conducted  under  the  name  of  Ginn  &  Heath.  ]\Ir.  Heath  then  dis- 
posed of  his  interest  in  that  firm,  and  on  August  1,  1885,  established 
in  Boston  the  publishing  house  of  D.  C.  Heath  &  Company.  In 
extent  of  business  D.  C.  Heath  &  Company  ranks  among  the  lead- 
ing school-book  publishing  houses  of  America,  with  offices  at  Boston, 
New  York,  Chicago,  San  Francisco;  Austin,  Texas;  Atlanta,  Georgia; 
and  London,  England. 

Mr.  Heath  was  married  January  6,  1881,  to  Mrs,  Nelly  Lloyd 
Knox,  of  Colorado  Springs.  They  made  their  home  at  "The  Heath- 
cote"  on  Highland  Avenue,  Newtonville,  jMassachusetts.  Three 
sons  are  living  (1908):  Arnold  C,  Daniel  Collamore  and  Warren 
Heath.  In  Newton  Mr.  Heath's  local  interests  were  innumerable. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Central  Congregational  Church,  Newton- 
ville; and  of  the  Newton  Club,  the  Tuesday  Club,  the  Every  Satur- 
day Club  and  the  Brae  Burn  Golf  Club;  and  president  of  the  Newton 
Education  Association.     He  always  made  time  for  out-door  recrea- 


DANIEL  COLLAMORE   HEATH 

tion  —  chiefly  horseback  riding,  driving,  and  golf.  He  especially 
enjoyed  ocean  travel  and  visited  often  the  Old  World,  the  West 
Indies,  and  Hawaii,  as  well  as  distant  parts  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Heath's  varied  interests,  his  boundless  energy,  and  breadth 
of  outlook  are  evidenced  by  the  many  organizations  with  which  he 
was  actively  allied.  He  served  as  president  of  the  Amherst  Alumni 
Association,  and  of  the  Pine  Tree  State  Club  of  Boston,  and  the 
Katahdin  Club  of  Newton.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Twentieth  Century  Club;  a  trustee  of  the  People's  Palace;  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  of  the  Boston  City  Club;  the  Univer- 
sity Club;  the  Congregational  Club;  the  Massachusetts  Schoolmasters' 
Club,  and  the  Aldine  Club  of  New  York  City.  He  identified  him- 
self also  with  the  Municipal  Reform  League;  the  Massachusetts 
Civic  League;  two  Forestry  Associations;  the  American  Free  Trade 
League;  the  National  Society  for  Promoting  Industrial  Education; 
the  National  Educational  Association,  and  the  Religious  Educa- 
tional Association. 

Of  his  qualities  as  a  man  the  Boston  Transcript,  January  29, 
1908, said: 

"His  name  has  stood  preeminently  for  the  best  scholarship,  the 
best  taste,  the  most  progressive  spirit  and  the  highest  honor  in  the 
educational  publishing  field.  It  has  stood  equally  for  good  citizen- 
ship, public  spirit  and  the  most  faithful  social  service  .  .  .  His  indus- 
try and  organizing  power  were  notable,  and  his  natural  qualities 
of  leadership  were  recognized  and  utilized  in  every  circle  where  he 
touched.  ...  A  frequent  visitor  to  Europe,  few  American  publishers 
were  more  highly  esteemed  or  more  warmly  welcomed  in  London 
and  Leipsic.  Abroad,  as  at  home,  he  carried  with  him  ever  and 
everywhere  that  rare  geniality,  sympathy  and  quick  human  interest 
that  made  him  so  beloved  and  so  central  a  magnet  in  his  home, 
business  and  social  life.  An  ardent  reader  of  books,  an  earnest  stu- 
dent, and  a  genuine  reformer,  the  educational  movements  and  the 
politics  of  England  and  Germany  commanded  his  interest  almost  as 
warmly  as  American  affairs." 


CHARLES   EDWARD   HELLIER 

IT  is  not  every  professional  man  who,  in  addition  to  the  active 
practice  of  his  profession,  undertakes  the  conduct  of  exten- 
sive commercial  interests  and  makes  a  distinct  success  in  both 
directions.  Especially  is  this  true  when  the  profession  to  be  con- 
sidered is  that  of  the  law.  From  time  immemorial  the  lawyer  has 
been  considered  the  type  of  conservatism,  all  his  movements  being 
supposedly  safe-guarded  by  precedents,  and  all  his  decisions  given 
with  the  maximum  of  deliberation.  The  business  man,  however,  is 
constantly  being  called  upon  to  strike  out  in  new  lines  for  which 
there  can  be  no  precedent,  and  to  decide  matters  on  the  instant 
and  where  long  deliberation  would  be  fatal  to  his  success.  Op- 
portunity must  be  grasped  boldly  on  her  first  appearance  for  she 
does  not  often  let  her  advent  depend  upon  the  leisurely  operation 
of  precedent.  Mr.  Hellier  furnishes  an  instructive  example  of  one 
who  has  been  eminently  successful  in  the  most  lesiurely-moving  of 
professions  as  well  as  in  the  unprofessional  speed  and  rush  of  com- 
mercial life.  Amemberof  the  Massachusetts  Bar  for  sixteen  years,  and 
an  active  official  of  a  widely-known  Kentucky  coal  mining  corporation 
for  nearly  as  long  a  period,  he  has  proved  himself  abundantly  capable 
of  carrying  on  with  no  apparent  friction  the  direction  of  two  seem- 
ingly most  incompatible  occupations.  He  was  born  in  Bangor, 
Maine,  July  8,  1864,  a  son  of  Walter  Schermerhorn  Hellier  and  his 
wife,  Eunice  Blanchard  (Bixby)  Hellier,  of  Norridgewood,  Maine. 
The  elder  Hellier  was  a  merchant  and  manufacturer  of  Bangor,  a 
man  distinguished  alike  for  firm  integrity  of  character,  devotion  to 
his  family  and  application  to  business.  He  was  born  October  27, 
1835  and  died  in  his  seventieth  year  on  May  29,  1895  The  paternal 
grandfather  of  Charles  E.  Hellier  was  a  native  of  Devonshire,  Eng- 
land, where  he  was  born  March  6,  1802,  but  leaving  there  in  1824,  he 
settled  in  Bangor,  married  Elizabeth  Daggett  and  died  on  September 
3,  1866. 

Mr.  Hellier's  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Rufus  Bixby  (born  Novem- 


CHARLES  EDWARD   HELLIER 

ber  5,  1798,  died  March  20,  1882),  and  his  wife,  Betsy  Weston  Bixby. 
John  Daggett,  the  first  of  his  name  in  New  England,  was  one  of  the 
little  band  of  Puritans  who  in  1630  accompanied  Governor  John 
Winthrop  to  this  country  in  the  good  ship  Arabella,  and  his  birth- 
place had  been  somewhere  in  the  west  of  England.  He  settled  in 
Watertown  as  one  of  a  company  led  by  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  but 
presently  removed  to  Martha's  Vineyard,  where  he  became  the 
progenitor  of  the  various  Daggett  or  Doggett  families  of  New  Eng- 
land. The  earliest  of  the  Bixby's  to  appear  in  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony  was  Joseph  Bixby  who  emigrated  from  Suffolk  in  1637,  and 
after  first  settling  in  Ipswich  removed  to  the  neighboring  town  of 
Boxford.  John  Weston,  from  whom  Mr.  Hellier's  maternal  grand- 
mother, Betsy  Weston,  was  descended,  was  a  native  of  Buckingham- 
shire, England,  who  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  1644  and  made  his  home 
in  Reading,  Massachusetts.  The  Daggetts,  Westons  and  Bixbys 
were  all  well  known  Puritan  families  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
their  descendants  were  persons  much  respected  in  the  communities 
in  which  they  lived.  Joseph  Weston,  a  great-grandfather  of  Mr. 
Hellier,  served  as  a  volunteer  in  Arnold's  expedition  against  Quebec 
in  the  war  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  died  from  the  effect  of 
the  hardships  endured  by  him  on  that  occasion. 

As  a  boy  Charles  E.  Hellier  was  almost  equally  fond  of  reading 
and  out-door  sports,  and  a  fortunate  youthful  inclination  toward 
the  perusal  of  the  English  classics  proved  very  helpful  in  preparing 
him  for  certain  phases  of  his  life-work.  He  graduated  in  1882  from 
the  Bangor  High  School  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  four  years  later 
from  Yale  University,  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  He 
matriculated  at  the  University  of  Berlin  in  the  winter  semester 
of  1886-87,  and  after  taking  a  course  in  the  study  of  law  at  the 
Boston  University,  received  the  degree  of  LL.B.  in  1887.  His 
admission  to  the  Massachusetts  bar  followed  in  December  of  that 
year  and  not  long  after  he  was  so  fortunate  as  to  become  associated 
with  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  Massachusetts  attorneys,  Robert  M. 
Morse,  Esquire,  and  his  naturally  keen,  analytical  perceptions  were 
intensified  by  this  legal  connection.  No  home  or  other  influence 
was  brought  to  bear  upon  his  choice  of  a  career.  In  adopting  the 
legal  profession  he  followed  the  current  of  his  personal  preferences, 
and  his  decision  has  been  amply  justified  by  results. 

Mr.  Hellier  had  scarcely  entered  upon  a  legal  career  when  he 


CHARLES   EDWARD  HELLIER 

became  interested  in  the  development  of  a  corporation  then  known 
as  the  Elkhorn  Coal  and  Coke  Company,  of  Kentucky,  but  since  1902 
as  the  Big  Sandy  Company.  Mr.  Hellier  was  chiefly  responsible 
for  the  construction  of  a  hundred-mile  extension  of  the  Chesapeake 
and  Ohio  Railroad,  from  Whitehouse,  Kentucky,  the  line  passing 
through  a  hitherto  isolated  district  rich  both  in  timber  and  mineral 
resources. 

Other  important  business  concerns  with  which  Mr.  Hellier  has 
been  identified  are  the  MetropolitanCoal  Company,  which  he  organized 
in  1898;  the  Massachusetts  Breweries  Company,  formed  by  him  in 
1902;  the  Dedham  and  H3^de  Park  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Company. 

On  his  twenty-second  birthday,  July  8,  1886,  with  an  interval  of 
scarcely  a  fortnight  succeeding  his  graduation  from  Yale,  Mr.  Hellier 
was  married  to  Mary  Lavinia  Harmon,  a  daughter  of  George  and 
Mary  (Baldwin)  Harmon,  and  a  descendant  of  the  famous  founder 
of  Rhode  Island,  Roger  Williams.  They  are  the  parents  of  four 
children,  Mary  Louise,  Walter  Harmon,  Edward  Whittier  and  John, 
all  of  whom  are  now  living. 

The  various  clubs  and  societies  to  which  Mr.  Hellier  belongs  are 
the  University  Club  of  New  York;  the  University  Club  of  Boston; 
the  Graduates  Club  of  New  Haven;  the  Massachusetts  Natural  His- 
tory Society;  and  the  Beverly  Yacht  Club. 

Mr.  Hellier  has  always  adhered  to  the  Republican  party,  but  since 
his  interests  in  politics  began  he  has  never  held  any  political  office 
or  sought  to  do  so.  His  religious  affiliations  are  with  the  Congre- 
gationalists.  So  far  as  influences  bearing  upon  his  own  success 
are  concerned  he  places  that  of  home  as  the  first,  and,  succeeding 
this,  of  intelligent  contact  with  older  men  in  active  life,  of  private 
study,  of  education  and  of  early  associates. 

To  young  men  contemplating  a  business  career  he  suggests  as 
powerful  factors  in  securing  success,  "steadfast  application  to  the 
especial  task  in  hand,  but  with  mind  quick  to  detect  opportunities 
for  personal  advancement  as  well  as  courage  to  profit  by  them;  while 
to  such  as  are  looking  forward  to  a  professional  life  he  urges  the  follow- 
ing requisites:  the  choice  of  a  high  ideal,  a  liberal  preliminary  edu- 
cation, ability  to  rise  above  the  mere  craving  for  money  getting, 
integrity  and  temperate  habits,  and  continual  hard  work." 


WILLIAM    HENRY    HILL 

WILLIAM  HENRY  HILL,  one  of  the  leading  financiers  of 
Boston,  was  born  in  that  city,  July  14,  1838. 

Mr.  Hill  traces  his  ancestry  on  the  paternal  side  to 
Peter  Hill,  planter,  who  came  from  Plymouth,  England,  in  1632, 
and  settled  at  Richmond  Island,  near  Cape  Elizabeth,  Maine.  In 
1644  he  leased  land  at  Winter  Harbor  (now  known  as  Biddeford, 
Pool),  and  in  1648  was  a  member  of  the  Court  of  Lygonia.  From 
Peter  Hill  (1)  was  descended  Roger  (2)  who  came  from  England 
with  his  father  and  lived  in  Saco,  Maine.  The  eldest  son  of  Roger 
was  Captain  John  Hill  (3)  born  in  1666.  He  commanded  the  fort 
at  Saco,  Maine,  during  King  Philip's  War.  His  second  son,  Elisha 
Hill  (4)  was  educated  as  a  physician,  and  had  a  large  practice  not 
only  in  Saco,  but  in  all  the  surrounding  country.  James  Hill  (5) 
son  of  Dr.  Elisha,  is  named  in  the  records  of  Portsmouth,  New  Hamp- 
shire as  "one  of  the  twelve  citizens  elected  to  receive  General  George 
Washington  when  he  visited  Portsmouth."  At  two  different  times 
he  took  part  in  the  American  Revolution. 

On  December  13,  1774,  Paul  Revere  was  sent  by  the  Committee 
of  Safety  from  Boston  to  Portsmouth  to  report  that  the  export  from 
England  to  America  of  powder  and  military  stores  had  been  for- 
bidden, and  on  the  night  of  December  14,  Capt.  James  Hill  was  one 
of  the  party  who  went  with  Col.  John  Langdon,  Major  John  Sullivan 
and  Captain  Pickering,  to  Fort  William  and  Mary,  now  Fort  Con- 
stitution, and  captured  one  hundred  barrels  of  powder  and  carried 
it  to  Durham,  New  Hampshire.  Seventeen  barrels  were  carted  to 
Boston  in  ox  teams,  arriving  just  in  season  to  be  distributed  to  the 
soldiers  the  day  before  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

The  Revolutionary  records  of  the  adjutant-general's  office  at 
New  Hampshire  make  the  following  mention:  "The  Fourth  Con- 
gress voted  on  the  first  day  of  September,  1775,  to  raise  four  regi- 
ments of  Minute  Men  by  the  enlistment  of  men  from  the  several 
regiments  of  militia.     The  men  were  to  be  enlisted  for  four  months, 


"■y  61/  E  G  W!//ia'ts  a  Bra  J^'V 


WILLIAM   HENRY   HILL 

and  then  others  were  to  take  their  places.  The  troops  were  stationed 
in  Portsmouth,  New  Castle,  Kittery  and  vicinity,  to  defend  the  har- 
bor from  any  attack  that  might  be  made  upon  it  by  the  enemy  from 
seaward.  Captain  James  Hill  commanded  one  of  the  companies  on 
Pierce's  Island,  November  5,  1775."  In  a  pay-roll  of  a  company  of 
volunteers  commanded  by  Col.  John  Langdon,  from  September  29, 
1777  to  October  31,  following,  and  which  joined  the  Continental 
Army  under  General  Gates  at  Saratoga,  James  Hill  appears  as  an 
ensign. 

James  Hill  (6)  (the  second  of  that  name)  was  born  in  Portsmouth 
and  married  Abigail  Hill,  a  descendant  of  the  Connecticut  branch 
of  that  family.  His  son,  William  H.  Hill  (7),  was  a  man  of  marked 
character.  From  a  rare  and  quaint  old  volume,  published  more  than 
a  half  a  century  ago,  entitled:  "Names  and  Sketches  of  the  Richest 
Men  in  Massachusetts,"  the  following  mention  appears  of  Mr.  Hill: 
"A  native  of  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire.  When  about  nineteen 
years  of  age,  he  set  up  in  business  for  himself  and  labored  with  such 
indefatigable  application  that  he  soon  acquired  sufficient  capital 
to  greatly  extend  his  business,  making  large  importations  from  Eng- 
land, and  dealing  extensively  in  Russia  leather.  From  this  beginning 
he  built  a  fortune.  The  most  prominent  characteristics  of  Mr,  Hill 
as  a  business  man,  are  clear  perception,  energy  and  untiring  per- 
severance, based  upon  an  inflexible  integrity.  In  his  social  inter- 
course he  is  high  minded  and  honorable."  He  married  Abbie  F. 
Remich,  and  the  future  financier  was  their  only  son. 

It  will  be  seen  by  the  perusal  of  the  Hill  ancestry  that  it  is  filled 
with  men  and  women  of  strong  personality,  possessed  of  marked 
integrity  and  uprightness.  These  characteristics  find  full  exemplifi- 
cation in  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

William  H.  Hill  (eighth  generation  in  America)  attended  the 
public  and  private  schools  of  Roxbury  and  Boston,  and  graduated 
from  the  Roxbury  High  School.  Some  years  before  he  attained 
his  majority  he  entered  business  life,  taking  a  position  as  clerk  in 
the  publishing  house  of  Sanborn,  Carter  &  Bazin,  and  continued 
with  their  successors.  Brown,  Taggard  &  Chase.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-one  Mr.  Hill  became  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Chase,  Nicol  & 
Hill,  who  w^ere  engaged  in  the  publishing  business.  Two  years  later 
he  retired  from  this  firm  and  continued  in  the  business  of  book  sell- 
ing and  publishing  on  his  own  account  until  the  spring  of  1869.     On 


WILLIAM   HENRY  HILL 

the  first  of  November,  in  the  year  named,  the  present  banking-house 
of  Richardson,  Hill  &  Company  was  established,  and  for  nearly  a 
half  a  century  it  has  occupied  a  place  in  the  foremost  rank  of  Boston's 
private  banking  institutions.  All  the  present  partners  were  con- 
nected with  the  firm  at  its  beginning  either  as  members  or  as  clerks. 

Besides  attending  to  the  duties  of  his  extensive  and  constantly 
widening  business,  Mr.  Hill  is  also  a  trustee  of  several  large  estates, 
and  is  interested  as  president  or  director  in  numerous  corporations. 
He  was  connected  with  the  Boston  &  Bangor  Steamship  Company 
for  twenty-five  years,  first  as  treasurer,  then  as  general  manager  and 
president  until  the  foundation  of  the  Eastern  Steamship  Company 
which  is  an  aggregation  of  the  steamship  lines  plying  between  Boston 
and  Maine,  and  is  now  a  director  in  that  company  and  also  in  the 
Metropolitan  Steamship  Company. 

He  is  a  director  in  the  First  National  Bank,  the  Boston  Insurance 
Company,  president  of  the  Renfrew  IManufacturing  Company  of 
Adams,  Massachusetts,  and  a  director  in  many  other  corporations. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Archaeological  Institute  of  America;  the 
Bostonian  Society;  the  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association;  the  Bos- 
ton Stock  Exchange;  Chamber  of  Commerce;  the  Real  Estate 
Exchange  and  other  Societies  and  Associations. 

He  does  not  allow  his  active  business  career  to  interfere  with  the 
amenities  of  social  and  family  life.  He  is  a  member  of  numerous 
clubs,  including  the  Algonquin,  Art,  Athletic,  Country  and  others 
of  similar  character.  In  all  his  business  ventures,  Mr.  Hill's  success 
is  due  to  his  ability  and  hard  work.  He  is  an  excellent  specimen  of 
a  successful  Boston  financier,  and  fully  deserves  a  place  among  the 
representative  men  of  his  State. 

He  was  married  on  January  8,  1863,  to  Sarah  E.,  daughter  of 
William  B.  and  Susan  J.  (Warren)  May.  Eleven  children  were  born 
to  them,  of  whom  seven  are  living.  Mrs.  Hill  died  in  1894.  His 
second  marriage  was  on  April  26,  1906,  to  Caroline  Wright  Rogers, 
of  Wellesley,  a  graduate  of  Wellesley  College. 


e^:^ 


JOHN    HOPEWELL 

JOHN  HOPEWELL  was  born  in  Greenfield,  Franklin  County, 
Massachusetts,  February  2,  1845.  His  father,  also  John  Hope- 
well, was  a  native  of  London,  England,  and  came  to  the  United 
States  when  he  was  but  fourteen  years  of  age.  He  decided  to  learn 
the  cutler's  trade,  and  after  serving  as  apprentice  for  the  full  term 
of  seven  years,  he  became  a  manufacturer  of  cutlery.  He  was,  to 
quote  the  language  of  his  son,  "a  good  mechanic,  a  great  lover  of 
books  and  a  well-read  man."  In  1843  he  married  Catherine  Mahoney, 
of  Greenfield,  a  woman  who  combined  great  strength  of  will  and 
moral  purpose  with  a  vigorous  and  engaging  personality. 

Six  sons  were  born  of  this  marriage,  of  whom  John  Hopewell  was 
the  oldest.  After  his  twelfth  year  he  worked  in  the  cutlery  shop 
six  months  of  the  year,  and  attended  school  the  other  six  months. 
When  he  was  fourteen  he  left  school  and  devoted  his  whole  time  to 
work.  For  three  years  he  w^orked  for  Lamson  &  Goodnow,  table 
cutlery  manufacturers,  in  Shelburne  Falls,  Massachusetts,  and  then 
went  to  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  where  he  secured  a  position  in 
the  machine-shops  of  the  United  States  Arsenal. 

It  was  while  he  was  in  Shelburne  Falls  that  Mr,  Hopewell,  then 
a  lad  of  fifteen,  chanced  to  read  the  ''Life  of  Gen.  Nathaniel  P. 
Banks,"  who  was  Representative  from  Massachusetts  in  the  United 
States  Congress  and  Speaker  of  the  House.  The  success  of  the 
"Bobbin  Boy,"  achieved  under  similar  circumstances,  and  with  no 
greater  advantages  than  those  which  he  enjoyed,  presented  to  young 
Hopewell's  mind  the  ideal  of  an  honored  and  respected  citizen,  and 
convinced  him  there  were  other  and  higher  objects  in  life  than  a  man's 
daily  wage.  He  determined  to  fit  himself  for  a  larger  career,  and 
devoted  himself  assiduously  to  the  reading  of  books  upon  history, 
travel,  political  economy,  and  especially  the  biographies  of  great 
men. 

When  he  went  to  Springfield  he  continued  to  make  good  use  of 
his  leisure   hours.     He   attended   night   school,  and   also   joined  a 


JOHN   HOPEWELL 

debating  society.  He  was  a  ready  speaker,  a  trait  which  he  inherited 
from  both  parents.  By  the  time  he  was  twenty-tw^o  years  of  age, 
he  had  become  convinced  that  he  could  find  something  to  do  more 
in  accord  with  his  tastes  than  working  at  the  bench.  He  announced 
his  decision  to  his  parents,  and  one  day  walked  out  of  the  shops  at 
noon,  and  went  forth,  like  Abraham  of  old,  not  knowing  whither 
he  was  going.  He  spent  a  portion  of  the  following  year  at  a  busi- 
ness college  in  Springfield,  where  he  came  in  contact  with  a  different 
class  of  men,  all  intent  upon  a  business  career.  From  the  business 
college  he  went  to  Albany,  where  he  obtained  a  position  as  selling 
agent  for  a  publishing  house.  Misfortune,  however,  overwhelmed 
his  employers,  and  so  he  returned  to  Springfield  and  secured  a  position 
with  Josiah  Cummings,  a  manufacturer  of  saddlery  and  a  jobber  of 
blankets  and  robes,  manufactured  by  L.  C.  Chase  &  Company,  of 
Boston,  with  which  firm  Mr.  Hopewell  later  connected  himself.  In 
a  few  years  he  was  admitted  to  partnership,  and  in  1885  bought 
out  the  interest  of  L.  C.  Chase  &  Company,  and  became  the  head  of 
the  house,  admitting  to  partnership  his  brother,  Frank  Hopewell,  and 
Mr.  O.  F.  Kendall,  and  at  the  same  time  became  treasurer  of  San- 
ford  Mills,  the  large  manufacturing  enterprise  resulting  from  the 
business  alliance  of  L.  C.  Chase  &  Company,  and  Thomas  Goodall,  of 
Sanford,  manufacturers  of  mohair  plush  robes  and  blankets. 

Mr.  Hopewell  has  been  identified  with  many  interests  outside 
of  his  business,  and  has  held  many  positions  of  responsibility  and 
trust,  being  president  of  the  Reading  Rubber  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, president  of  the  Electric  Goods  Manufacturing  Company,  a 
large  electrical  manufacturing  corporation  of  Boston  and  Canton, 
Massachusetts,  director  in  the  National  Bank  of  Redemption,  and 
First  National  Bank,  and  he  has  served  as  director  and  officer  in 
many  other  industrial  corporations.  He  has  always  been  interested 
in  political  questions,  especially  hi  subjects  connected  with  the 
manufacturing  interests  of  New  England.  He  was  one  of  the  or- 
ganizers of  the  Home  Market  Club,  of  Boston,  and  has  been  a 
member  of  the  executive  committee  or  a  director  ever  since  its  organi- 
zation, also  a  director  of  the  Boston  Merchants'  Association.  He 
represented  his  district  in  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  in 
1892;  declined  to  be  a  candidate  for  the  Republican  nomination  as 
Representative  to  the  Fifty-third  Congress;  was  a  delegate  to  the 
Republican  National  Convention,  which  met  in  St.  Louis  in   1896, 


JOHN   HOPEWELL 

and  has  traveled  extensively  in  this  country  and  Europe.  His  club 
membership  has  included,  besides  the  Home  Market  Club,  the  Cam- 
bridge Club  and  the  Cambridge  Republican  Club,  of  both  of  which 
he  was  president;  the  Algonquin  Club,  of  Boston;  the  Boston  Art 
Club;  the  Boston  Athletic  Association  and  the  Colonial  Club.  He 
was  also  president  of  the  Cambridge  Citizens'  Trade  Association. 
His  church  affiliation  is  with  the  Universalist  denomination. 

Mr.  Hopewell  has  a  beautiful  home  in  Cambridge,  where  he 
delights  to  entertain  his  many  friends.  He  was  married  in  October, 
1870,  to  Sarah  W.  Blake,  daughter  of  Charles  Blake,  of  Springfield, 
and  the  five  children  born  of  the  marriage  were  all  living  in  1907. 
Mr.  Hopewell  cultivates  a  farm  at  Natick,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
gratifies  his  taste  for  agriculture  and  stock-raising,  breeds  high- 
grade  Guernsey  cattle  and  indulges  in  his  favorite  exercise  of  horse- 
back riding. 

Mr.  Hopewell's  message  to  young  men  is  indicative  of  his  own 
experience.  He  says:  " If  a  young  man  selects  a  profession  or  occu- 
pation which  he  likes,  enters  into  it  with  his  whole  heart,  and  is 
willing  to  make  some  sacrifice  of  his  own  personal  pleasure,  and 
acquire  a  love  of  work,  as  well  as  a  habit  of  making  friends  instead 
of  enemies,  he  will  never  fail  to  succeed,  for  work  will  be  a  pleasure 
and  lead  to  success;  whatever  he  does,  he  will  do  well,  and  true 
success  is  the  consciousness  of  work  well  done." 

The  life  of  Mr.  Hopewell  is  typical  of  that  of  thousands  of  young 
men  who,  without  influence  or  friends  to  push  them  forward,  have 
made  a  place  for  themselves  and  won  recognition  in  the  business 
world,  —  not  through  any  special  talent  or  genius,  but  by  pains- 
taking, persistent  hard  work,  never  counting  the  hours,  whether 
working  for  themselves  or  their  employers. 


ANDREW   HOWARTH 

ANDREW  HOWARTH,  one  of  the  pioneers  among  the  woolen 
manufacturers  of  the  United  States,  was  born  at  Rochdale 
England,  September  14,  1820.  When  he  was  six  years  of 
age  his  parents  came  to  America,  choosing  Andover,  Massachusetts, 
as  their  home.  Andrew  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of 
Andover  and  at  Phillips  Academy,  but  that  part  of  his  education 
which  contributed  most  largely  to  his  success  as  a  manufacturer 
was  obtained  in  his  father's  mill,  where  he  worked  in  all  the  various 
departments  for  some  years.  His  father  had  begun  at  Andover  the 
manufacture  of  fine  dressed  flannels,  and  the  training  in  attention  to 
details  and  the  knowledge  of  the  different  aspects  of  the  business, 
had  much  to  do  in  his  success  in  rising  from  a  humble  position  at  the 
beginning  of  his  career  to  large  ownership  and  great  responsibility 
later  in  life. 

In  1844,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  he  began  his  first  work  inde- 
pendently of  his  family  by  taking  charge  of  weaving  in  a  mill  at 
Keesville,  New  York.  During  the  next  few  years,  in  his  determina- 
tion to  perfect  himself  in  the  industry  which  he  had  chosen  as  his 
life-work,  he  held  positions  in  various  establishments.  In  each  of 
these  positions  he  showed  himself  energetic,  alert  to  utilize  every 
opportunity  to  increase  his  skill  and  knowledge  of  his  business,  and 
faithful  to  every  duty  assigned  to  him.  It  was  in  these  early  years 
that  he  acquired  those  habits  of  industry,  persistency  and  inde- 
pendence which  won  for  him  not  only  success  in  his  business  but  the 
confidence  and  respect  of  the  business  world.  In  1847  he  was  asked 
to  go  to  Richmond,  Virginia,  as  an  overseer  for  the  Virginia  Woolen 
Manufacturing  Company,  Shortly  after  this  he  was  made  superin- 
tendent there,  remaining  until  1854,  when  he  returned  to  Oxford, 
Massachusetts,  a  town  which  his  product  was  later  to  make  famous. 
A  promising  situation  at  Little  Falls,  New  York,  was  soon  offered 
him,  and  by  1859  he  had  risen  to  the  responsible  position  of  agent  in 
the  establishment  of  the  Saxony  Woolen  Company.     He  managed 


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ANDREW   HOWARTH 

the  affairs  of  the  company  for  thirteen  years  with  si<!;nal  al)iHty. 
At  his  retirement  from  the  Little  Falls  position  in  1879,  ]\Ir.  Howarth 
found  himself,  as  the  result  of  prudence  and  economy,  able  to  buy 
for  himself  a  mill  of  two  sets  at  Northfield,  Vermont.  From  this  time 
on  an  ever  increasing  success  rewarded  his  labors.  In  ten  years  from 
his  purchase  of  the  Northfield  Mill  he  is  again  at  Oxford,  Massachu- 
setts, not  as  the  overseer  of  weaving,  but  as  the  purchaser  of  the  mill, 
formerly  owned  by  George  Hodges,  in  which  he  had  in  earlier  years 
been  an  employee.  For  two  years  Mr.  Howarth  operated  both  mills, 
the  one  in  Vermont  and  the  one  in  Massachusetts;  but  in  1884  he 
sold  the  Northfield  concern  and  removed  to  Oxford,  where  he  con- 
tinued to  live  on  a  beautiful  estate  among  the  trees,  which  is  one  of 
the  landmarks  of  the  town. 

From  this  time  he  ranked  as  one  of  the  big  manufacturers  of 
Worcester  County  as  well  as  of  the  State.  In  1890  he  purchased 
the  plant  at  Rochdale,  Massachusetts,  the  village  which  singularly 
enough  bore  the  name  of  his  own  birthplace  across  the  water.  This 
plant  he  continued  to  operate  until  his  death  in  1905. 

During  the  last  eight  years  of  his  life  he  w^as  a  sufferer  from  rheu- 
matism, but  he  never  wholly  disassociated  himself  from  business. 
Even  in  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  his  mind  w^as  alert  and  his  will 
as  vigorous  as  ever,  and  he  kept  a  close  eye  upon  affairs. 

Mr.  How^arth  was  a  man  of  irreproachable  character  in  all  the 
relations  of  life.  He  was  high  minded,  generous  and  public  spirited. 
He  took  liberal  views  of  public  affairs,  and  was  in  his  relations  to  the 
community  and  the  State  the  embodiment  of  the  highest  ideals  of 
civic  duty.  Mr.  Howarth  enjoyed  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all 
who  knew  him.  Few  men  enjoyed  in  a  larger  measure  the  love  and 
respect  of  his  children. 

Mr.  Howarth  was  married  September  26,  1846,  to  Martha  Moor- 
croft  and  had  one  son,  Francis  A.,  born  in  1849,  at  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia. After  his  graduation  from  Brown  University,  Francis  A. 
Howarth  associated  himself  with  his  father.  One  grandson,  Andrew 
P.  Howarth,  and  two  great  great-grandsons,  Andrew  John  Howarth 
and  Francis  George  Howarth,  added  much  to  the  joy  of  Mr.  Howarth's 
last  years. 

His  domestic  life  was  as  pure,  as  even  and  as  useful  as  his  public 
life.  His  home  w^as  attractive,  and  in  the  company  of  his  family  he 
was  entirely  happy. 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON 

JOSEPH  JEFFERSON,  son,  grandson  and  great-grandson  of 
actors,  dean  of  the  American  stage,  his  service  extending  over 
seventy-five  years,  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania, 
February  20,  1829.  The  father,  Joseph  Jefferson  (1804-1842),  was 
a  great  actor,  especially  in  the  roles  of  old  men.  He  was  as  well  a 
manager,  scene  painter,  stage  carpenter,  in  fact  proficient  in  every- 
thing connected  with  the  stage.  As  a  boy  he  preferred  the  busi- 
ness of  architect  and  draftsman  and  received  instruction  in  these 
branches  as  well  as  in  painting.  He  made  his  first  appearance,  in 
1814,  at  the  Chestnut  Street  Theater  in  Philadelphia.  His  son,  in 
1905,  said  of  him,  "His  marked  characteristics  were  simplicity  and 
honesty."  He  was  married  in  1826  to  Cornelia  Frances  (Thomas) 
Burke,  an  actress,  daughter  of  M.  Thomas,  a  French  refugee  from 
the  island  of  Santo  Domingo,  and  widow  of  Thomas  Burke,  the  actor. 
She  was  a  popular  comic  actress  and  vocalist,  and  their  two  children, 
Joseph  Jefferson  and  Cornelia  Jefferson  (1835-1899),  adopted  the 
profession  of  the  stage.  Joseph  Jefferson's  grandfather,  Joseph 
Jefferson  (1774-1832),  was  born  in  Plymouth, England;  son  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  a  successful  actor,  connected  with  Drury  Lane  Theater, 
London,  England,  where  he  played  with  David  Garrick.  He  was 
proprietor  and  manager  of  the  theater  at  Plymouth,  England,  where 
his  son  Joseph  made  his  first  appearance  on  the  stage.  He  came  to 
America  under  contract  with  Charles  Stewart  Powell,  who  had  gone 
to  England  to  procure  actors  for  the  Federal  Street  Theater  in  Bos- 
ton. Through  bankruptcy  proceedings  the  Federal  Street  Theater 
was  closed  before  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Jefferson  in  Boston,  and  he  made 
his  first  appearance  in  America  at  the  John  Street  Theater  in  New 
York  City,  February  10,  1765,  as  Squire  Richard  in  "The  Provoked 
Husband."  He  married  Euphena  Fortune,  daughter  of  a  Scotch 
merchant  of  New  York  City,  and  she  adopted  the  profession  of  her 
husband  and  made  her  first  appearance  on  any  stage  at  the  Park 
Theater,  New  York  City,  December  22,  1800,  and  from  there  she 


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JOSEPH   JEFFERSON 

appeared  with  her  husband  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  Washing- 
ton, District  of  Columbia,  and  Richmond,  Virginia.  He  was  pro- 
nounced by  competent  critics,  themselves  professionals,  "the  funniest 
comedian  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived." 

Joseph  Jefferson,  the  third  noted  actor  of  the  name  and  the  fourth 
generation  of  actors  in  the  Jefferson  family  in  America,  had  delicate 
health  as  a  child  and  showed  an  early  inclination  to  paint  and  to 
act.  He  had  no  home  life,  his  waking  hours  being  spent  mostly  be- 
hind the  scenes  of  a  theater.  He  had,  however,  the  tender  care  of 
a  devoted  mother  who  had  a  potent  influence  over  his  intellectual, 
moral  and  spiritual  life.  He  never  attended  school,  but  was  in- 
structed by  his  mother  and  other  interested  professional  friends,  who 
willingly  answered  his  questions  in  his  process  of  self  instruction. 
His  active  life  began  as  a  property  baby;  when  three  years  old  he 
was  "Hercules  Strangling  a  Lion"  in  a  living  statue  scene.  At  four 
years  "Jim  Crow"  (Thomas  B.  Rice)  emptied  him  out  of  a  bag, 
dressed  as  a  negro  dancer,  and  he  imitated  Rice  in  his  various  antics. 
When  eight  years  old  he  was  a  "pirate"  to  another  lad  "sailor  "  in  a 
sword  combat.  In  1838  the  Jefferson  family  took  charge  of  a  thea- 
ter in  Chicago,  Illinois,  and  this  proving  unprofitable,  they  became 
strolling  players,  Joseph  and  his  father  painting  signs  and  decorating 
the  ceilings  of  theaters  and  private  residences  to  help  out  the  support 
of  the  family  when  they  had  no  audiences.  They  followed  the  United 
States  Army  into  Texas  and  Mexico,  1846-47,  and  in  1848  returned 
to  Philadelphia,  where  he  played  low  comedy  parts.  He  was  married 
May  19,  1850,  to  Margaret  Clements  Lockyer,  an  actress  under 
engagement  at  the  Chatham  Theater,  New  York  City.  He  played 
Marrall  to  the  elder  Booth's  Sir  Giles  Overreach  in  "A  New  Way  to 
Pay  Old  Debts,"  in  1851,  having  in  1849-50  been  a  stock  actor  at 
Chanfrau's  New  National  Theater,  New  York  City.  He  was  actor 
and  stage  manager  in  different  cities  in  the  South  and  secured  for 
his  theater  such  talent  as  Agnes  Roertson,  Dion  Boucicault,  Edwin 
Forrest,  Edwin  Adams  and  other  notable  actors  of  the  time  and 
also  produced  novel  stage  effects  and  show-pieces.  He  was  in  Europe, 
1856,  playing  in  London  and  Paris,  and  opened  at  Laura  Keene's 
Theater,  New  York  City  in  September,  1857,  as  leading  comedian, 
making  his  first  appearance  as  Dr.  Pangloss  in  "The  Heir  at  Law," 
when  he  was  severely  criticised  for  interpolation  which  he  excused 
on  the  ground  of  its  being  "good  art."     From  October  18,  1858,  he 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON 

played  one  hundred  and  forty  consecutive  nights  as  Asa  Trenchard 
in  "Our  American  Cousin."  This  play  he  owned  and  in  this  part 
made  his  first  bow  to  the  public  as  a  star,  when  twenty-nine  years 
old.  He  acted  the  part  of  Caleb  Plummer  in  "Cricket  on  the 
Hearth"  under  the  engagement  with  Dion  Boucicault  in  1859, and  the 
same  year  was  one  of  the  principals  in  "The  Octoroon."  In  1860  he 
appeared  in  California  in  "  Our  American  Cousin,"  and  in  the  East  in 
his  own  version  of  "Oliver  Twist,"  taking  the  title  role.  His  wife 
died  in  March,  1861,  and  he  left  his  native  land  for  Australia,  where 
he  starred,  1861-65,  as  Asa  Trenchard  and  Caleb  Plummer;  as  Rip  in 
an  old  version  of  Rip  Van  Winkle  and  as  Bob  Brierly  in  "The  Ticket 
of  Leave  Man"  where  his  audience  included  over  one  hundred 
actual  ticket  of  leave  men.  On  reaching  England  in  1865  he  revised 
"Rip  Van  Winkle"  in  collaboration  with  Dion  Boucicault,  Jefferson 
working  over  much  of  the  piece  and  entirely  rewriting  the  third  act 
in  accordance  with  his  own  conception  of  the  legend  as  narrated  by 
Irving.  Boucicault  was  responsible  for  the  ending  of  the  first  act 
and  of  the  recognition  of  Rip  by  his  daughter  in  the  third  act,  bor- 
rowed from  Shakespeare's  "King  Lear."  The  revised  play  was 
presented  to  a  London  audience  at  the  Adelphi  Theater,  September 
4,  1865,  and  it  was  an  immediate  success,  running  one  hundred  and 
seventy  nights. 

On  August  31,  1866,  be  brought  the  play  back  to  its  home  at  the 
Olympic  Theater,  New  York  City,  where  it  was  most  heartily  wel- 
comed. After  enjoying  a  long  run  East  it  was  taken  to  Chicago 
August  31,  1867,  where  at  McVicker's  Theater  he  had  a  profitable 
four  weeks'  run  when  it  was  withdrawn  to  make  room  for  "The 
Rivals"  with  Jefferson  as  Bob  Acres. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  married  secondly  on  December  20,  1867,  to 
Sarah  Isabel,  daughter  of  Henry  and  Sarah  (de  Shields)  Warren,  and 
in  1869,  with  the  proceeds  from  his  successful  starring  tours,  he  se- 
cured an  estate  near  Tarrytown,  on  the  Hudson  River,  not  far  from 
Sunnyside,  the  home  of  Washington  Irving,  who  had  been  dead  only 
ten  years,  and  also  a  farm  at  Hohokus,  New  Jersey,  and  a  plantation 
on  Bayou  Teche,  an  island  west  of  New  Iberia,  Louisiana,  where  his 
fondness  for  hunting  and  fishing  could  be  fully  satisfied.  He  was 
in  New  York  from  August  15,  1869,  to  December,  1870,  producing 
at  Booth's  Theater,  "Rip  Van  Winkle,"  which  was  witnessed  by 
over  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  persons  from  all  parts  of  the 


JOSEPH   JEFFERSON 

world.  He  acted  only  a  part  of  each  season,  spending  his  summer 
vacations  at  his  farm  in  New  Jersey  and  his  winters  in  Louisiana. 
Later  in  life  he  made  his  summer  home  at  Buzzard's  Bay,  Massa- 
chusetts, where  President  Cleveland  became  a  neighbor  and  com- 
panion in  fishing  and  in  social  enjoyments.  His  avocation  for  many 
years  had  been  painting  in  oils,  and  when  he  retired  from  the  stage 
in  1904  he  continued  to  indulge  in  his  favorite  pastime.  The  products 
of  his  brush  were  highly  prized  by  his  friends,  fortunate  enough  to  be 
favored  with  a  landscape  from  his  easel.  In  1900  he  placed  on  exhi- 
bition at  Fischer's  studio  in  Washington  a  considerable  number 
of  his  paintings,  and  his  friends  made  the  occasion  one  of  the  social 
events  of  the  Washington  season.  Of  the  eleven  children  born  of 
his  two  marriages  seven  were  living  in  1905,  as  were  also  fourteen 
of  his  grandchildren.  Mr.  Jefferson's  characters  in  the  order  of  their 
popularity  probably  stood:  Rip  Van  Winkle,  Bob  Acres,  Caleb  Plum- 
mer.  Dr.  Pangloss,  Asa  Trenchard,  Dr.  Olapod,  Bob  Brierly,  New- 
man Noggs,  Jack  Rockford,  Goldfinch.  He  wrote  his  autobiography 
for  the  Century  Magazine  in  1889-90,  and  it  was  issued  in  book  form 
in  1891 :  He  also  wrote  "Reply  to  Ignatius  Donnelly  on  the  Shakes- 
peare-Bacon Arguments,"  and  contributed  articles  on  the  stage 
to  magazines.  He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  ]\I.A.  from  Yale 
University  in  1892  and  from  Harvard  University  in  1895.  He  was 
affiliated  with  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  belonged  to  no  policital 
party,  but  voted  for  "  the  man  and  the  issue."  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Society  of  Psychical  Research,  and  his  recreations  were  chiefly 
gardening,  fishing  and  playing  with  his  grandchildren  who  made  their 
home  with  him  at  Buzzard's  Bay,  Massachusetts.  To  young  men  he 
says:  "Industry  and  earnestness  have  helped  me." 


ANDREW  JACKSON  JENNINGS 

ANDREW  JACKSON  JENNINGS,  lawyer,  legislator,  cotton- 
mill  director,  was  born  in  Fall  River,  Bristol  County,  Massa- 
chusetts, August  2,  1849.  His  father,  Andrew  M.  Jennings 
(1808-1882),  was  a  son  of  Isaac  and  Susan  (Cole)  Jennings  and  a 
descendant  from  John  Jennings  of  Plymouth  Colony.  Andrew  M. 
Jennings  was  a  machinist  noted  for  his  industry,  firmness  and  honesty. 
He  served  as  foreman  in  the  machine-shops  of  Hawes,  Marvel  & 
Davol  for  about  thirty-five  years.  His  family  consisted  of  eight 
children,  four  of  whom  died  in  infancy,  and  his  eldest  son,  Thomas 
J.  Jennings  in  1872,  leaving  Andrew  J.,  George  F.,  and  Anne  P.  (Mrs. 
J.  Densmore  Brown),  of  Milford,  Connecticut,  with  his  widow  to 
survive  him. 

Andrew  Jackson  Jennings  attended  the  public  school,  his  school 
attendance  being  liberally  interspersed  with  hard  work,  his  boy- 
hood tasks  giving  him  health,  strength  and  an  experience  in 
accomplishing  things  by  facing  and  overcoming  obstacles.  His 
mother  greatly  influenced  his  moral  and  spiritual  life.  He  was 
prepared  for  college  in  the  classical  school  of  Mowry  &  Goff ,  in  Provi- 
dence, Rhode  Island,  and  graduated  in  1868,  matriculating  the  same 
year  at  Brown  University  where  he  graduated  with  special  honors  in 
1872.  While  at  college  he  was  a  member  of  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon 
Fraternity,  and  was  prominent  in  the  athletic  field,  being  captain 
of  the  class  and  of  the  university  nine.  While  attending  college 
he  taught  night  school  two  winters.  He  pursued  a  course  in  law 
at  Boston  University  after  having  taught  the  high  school  at  Warren, 
Rhode  Island,  from  September,  1872,  to  July,  1874;  was  a  student  of 
law  in  the  office  of  James  M.  Morton,  of  Fall  River,  during  the  fall 
of  1874  and  graduated  at  Boston  University  School  of  Law  in  1876. 
His  adopting  the  law  as  a  profession  was  entirely  from  personal 
preference. 

He  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Fall  River  in  partnership  with 
his  preceptor,  Hon.  James  M.  Morton,  and  this   partnership  con- 


ANDREW   JACKSON  JENNINGS 

tinued  up  to  1890,  when  Mr.  Morton  went  upon  the  bench,  and 
he  then  formed  a  partnership  with  John  S-  Bray  ton,  Jr.,  as  Jennings 
&  Brayton.  His  position  at  the  bar  was  one  of  marked  prominence 
"as  an  able,  painstaking  and  energetic  lawyer  and  advocate."  He 
was  a  member  of  the  school  committee  of  Fall  River,  1875,  1876  and 
1877;  a  Representative  in  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  1878  and 
1879;  State  Senator,  1882,  declining  reelection.  In  the  House  he  was 
a  prominent  member  of  the  judiciary  committee  and  chairman  of  the 
joint  committee  on  the  removal  of  Judge  Day  by  address  of  1882. 
He  was  active  in  securing  the  passage  of  the  civil  damage  law  and 
in  introducing  the  school  house  liquor  law  in  the  Senate. 

He  was  married  December  25,  1879,  to  Marion,  daughter  of  Cap- 
tain Seth  and  Nancy  J.  (Bosworth)  Saunders,  of  Warren,  Rhode 
Island,  and  their  children  are  Oliver  Saunders  and  Marion  Jennings. 
Mr.  Jennings  affiliated  with  the  Baptist  denomination,  and  he  has 
been  president  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  Fall  River, 
since  1893,  clerk  of  the  Second  Baptist  Society  of  Fall  River  since 
1884.  He  was  president  of  the  Brown  Alumni  in  1891  and  1892, 
and  was  elected  a  trustee  of  Brown  University.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  QuequechanClub  of  Fall  River,  Massachusetts,  and  the  University 
Club  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  His  law  practice  is  extensive 
and  he  has  conducted  many  notable  cases,  the  largest  advertised 
being  the  Lizzie  A.  Borden  trial  for  homicide  in  1893,  he  being  counsel 
for  the  defendant  from  the  first.  He  served  the  State  as  district 
attorney  for  the  southern  district  of  Massachusetts  from  November, 
1894,  to  fill  a  vacancy,  and  from  1895  by  reelection  to  full  term  of 
three  years.  Mr.  Jennings  is  a  director  in  several  cotton-mill 
corporations.  He  is  also  a  trustee  of  the  Union  Savings  Bank  of 
Fall  River.  To  young  men  seeking  to  attain  true  success  Mr. 
Jennings  would  give  this  message:  "Keep  in  good  health;  work  and 
play  equally  hard;  try  to  diminish  your  desires;  be  square,  and 
helpful  to  everybody  who  needs  help." 


PRESTON   BOND  KEITH 

PRESTON  BOND  KEITH,  manufacturer  and  bank  president, 
was  born  in  North  Bridgewater,  Plymouth  County,  Massa- 
chusetts, October  18,  1847.  His  father,  Charles  Perkins 
Keith,  son  of  Charles  S.  and  Mahitable  Perkins  Keith,  and  a  de- 
scendant from  the  Rev.  James  Keith,  who  came  from  Aberdeen, 
Scotland,  to  Plymouth,  in  1644,  and  settled  in  Bridgewater.  His 
mother,  Mary  Keith  Williams,  was  a  daughter  of  Josiah  and  Sylvia 
(Keith)  Williams  of  West  Bridgewater. 

Preston  Bond  Keith  was  brought  up  in  the  country  and  grew  up 
a  strong  and  healthy  boy  fond  of  play.  He  was  compelled  to  form 
habits  of  industry,  essential  to  every  successful  life,  by  working  in 
his  father's  shop  when  not  attending  the  district  and  high  school, 
and  he  early  displayed  a  greater  fondness  for  manual  labor  than  for 
school  instruction.  His  mother  largely  influenced  his  moral  and 
spiritual  life  and  grounded  him  in  the  evangelical  faith.  He  began 
independent  life  as  a  clerk  in  a  Boston  boot  and  shoe  store  on  Pearl 
Street  in  1866  and  he  married  December  8,  1869,  Eldora  Louise, 
daughter  of  Josiah  W,  and  Margaret  (Dunlap)  Kingman,  of  Cam- 
pello,  and  the  one  child  born  of  this  marriage  was  living  in  1905. 
They  made  their  home  in  Campello  village,  Plymouth  County,  and  he 
has  been  a  justice  of  the  peace,  city  alderman  of  Brockton,  1883  and 
1884,  a  boot  and  shoe  manufacturer  there  from  1871,  president  of 
the  Home  National  Bank  of  Brockton  from  1894,  a  director  of  the 
Brockton  Savings  Bank,  and  a  member  of  the  Commercial  Club 
of  Brockton. 

Mr.  Keith  is  a  Republican  in  politics  and  a  member  of  the  South 
Congregational  Church.  His  recreation  is  in  horseback  riding  and 
playing  golf.  To  young  men  he  commends  the  principles  that  made 
Joseph's  life  in  Egypt  a  success  as  applicable  to-day:  "Faith  in  God 
and  a  determined  purpose  to  be  faithful  and  earnest  in  the  discharge 
of  ever}'-  duty  will  remain  the  cardinal  principles.  Willingness  to 
apply  them  is  where  the  rub  comes." 


■^^7^ 


//X^U^^C0(/Lc^^ 


WILLIAM   HENRY   LINCOLN 

WILLIAM  HENRY  LINCOLN,  son  of  a  Boston  shipping 
merchant;  student  in  pubHc  and  private  schools;  secretary 
of  the  Boston  Y.  M.  C.  A.  four  years  and  vice-president 
one  year;  president  of  the  New  England  Shipowners  Association  for 
several  years;  member  of  the  school  committee  twenty-two  years, 
and  chairman  sixteen  years;  member  of  the  Brookline  Park  Com- 
mission nine  years;  bank  president  twenty-four  years;  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Nautical  Training  School  Commission  four  years  and 
chairman  two  years;  president  of  the  Boston  Commercial  Club  three 
years;  president  of  the  Boston  Chamber  of  Commerce  four  years; 
trustee  of  the  Episcopal  Theological  School  from  1894;  director  of  the 
Episcopal  City  Mission  from  1894;  member  of  the  corporation  of 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  from  1895;  trustee  of 
Wellesley  College  from  1898;  president  of  the  Economic  Club,  of 
Boston  from  1902,  —  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  June  13, 
1835.  His  father,  Henry  Lincoln,  son  of  Rev.  Henry  Lincoln  and 
Susannah  (Crocker)  Lincoln,  was  a  shipping  merchant,  member  of 
the  Boston  City  Council,  director  of  the  Insane  Asylum  of  Boston, 
a  man  of  integrity  and  Christian  character.  His  mother,  Charlotte 
A.  Lewis  Lincoln,  was  the  daughter  of  Leonard  French  Lewis.  His 
first  paternal  ancestor  in  America,  Samuel  Lincoln,  came  from  Hing- 
ham,  England,  to  Hingham,  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  in  1636. 
Samuel  Lincoln  was  also  the  ancestor  of  President  Abraham  Lincoln, 
Governor  Levi  Lincoln,  of  Massachusetts  and  Governor  Enoch  Lincoln, 
of  Maine.  William  Henry  Lincoln  is  also  descended  from  the  Rev. 
John  Robinson,  of  Leyden,  the  pastor  and  leader  of  the  Puritans. 

He  began  his  active  business  life  as  a  clerk  in  his  father's  office 
when  eighteen  years  of  age  as  a  matter  of  duty,  his  father  needing  his 
services  and  he  recognizing  the  beginning  of  an  opportunity  to  carry 
out  an  ambition  to  be  useful  to  the  community  in  which  he  lived. 
He  remained  as  clerk  and  from  1856  a  partner,  with  his  father  in  the 
management  of  a  line  of  sailing  packets  between  Boston  and   New 


WILLIAM   HENRY  LINCOLN 

Orleans,  Mobile  and  Galveston  up  to  1861,  when  the  Civil  War 
interfered  with  their  business  and  the  partnership  was  dissolved. 
Young  Lincoln  then  formed  a  partnership  with  Frank  N.  Thayer 
and  the  firm  of  Thayer  &  Lincoln  continued  up  to  the  time  of  the 
death  of  Mr.  Thayer  in  1882.  Mr.  Thayer  was  engaged  in  the  ship 
chandlery  business  on  Lewis  Wharf  and  Thayer  &  Lincoln  organ- 
ized a  line  of  sailing  ships  which  they  built  at  Newburyport,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  Kennebunk,  Maine,  and  acquired  as  many  more  by 
purchase.  They  traded  with  all  the  principal  parts  of  the  world,  and 
the  last  ship  they  built,  the  John  Currier,  cost  $120,000,  and  was 
the  last  wooden  ship  launched  in  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  perceiving  that  the  days  for  wooden  ships  were 
numbered,  secured  in  1872  the  winter  agency  of  the  Dominion  Line 
of  steamers  for  Boston,  the  ice  preventing  their  reaching  Montreal, 
and  in  1876  the  firm  completed  arrangements  with  Frederick  Leyland, 
under  which  a  fortnightly  line  of  Leyland  steamships  was  estab- 
lished between  Liverpool  and  Boston.  Thayer  &  Lincoln  became 
the  American  agents  and  subsequently  Mr.  Lincoln  the  resident 
director  of  the  Leyland  Line  of  Steamships.  In  1877  the  business 
made  a  weekly  sailing  necessary. 

This  experience  made  Mr.  Lincoln  anxious  for  the  supremacy  of 
American  shipping  and  he  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  repeal 
of  the  navigation  laws,  so  as  to  enable  Americans  to  purchase  vessels 
abroad  and  put  them  under  the  American  flag.  As  president  of  the 
New  England  Shipowners  Association  he  called  a  national  conven- 
tion of  shipowners  in  1883  to  consider  the  subject.  As  president 
of  the  convention  he  spoke  with  authority  in  favor  of  free  ships, 
but  the  majority  of  the  convention  opposed  the  proposition.  He 
was  secretary  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  1857-61, 
also  serving  as  vice-president  of  the  association  in  1860,  which  was 
his  first  experience  in  office.  In  1873  he  was  made  a  member  of  the 
Brookline  school  committee,  serving  in  that  capacity  for  twenty-two 
years,  and  as  chairman  of  the  board  for  sixteen  years.  In  1877  he  was 
made  president  of  the  Brookline  Savings  Bank  and  held  the  office 
twenty-seven  years.  He  was  elected  president  of  the  New  England 
Shipowners  Association  in  1880  and  served  by  reelection  for  several 
years.  As  president  of  the  Boston  Commercial  Club  his  service  ex- 
tended from  1883  to  1886  and  as  vice-president  of  the  Boston  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  1885-87  and  1899-1900,  and  as  its  president  from  1900 


S-^Q  ia  £' '.:  . 


1 


WILLIAM   HENRY  LINCOLN 

to  1904.  In  1904  he  was  in  active  association  with  the  Boston  Insur- 
ance Company  as  a  director,  having  been  a  member  of  the  board 
from  1881.  He  served  the  Episcopal  Theological  School  at  Cam- 
bridge as  a  trustee  for  ten  years;  the  Episcopal  City  Mission  as  di- 
rector for  ten  years;  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  as  a 
member  of  its  corporation  from  1895;  Wellesley  College  as  a  mem- 
ber of  its  board  of  trustees  about  six  years;  the  Mercantile  Trust 
Company  as  a  director  from  1900;  the  Economic  Club  as  president 
for  two  years  and  the  Bostonian  society  as  a  director. 

He  was  married  April  21,  1863,  to  Cecelia  Frances,  daughter  of 
James  W.  and  Elisa  N.  Smith,  of  Boston,  and  they  make  their  home  in 
Brookline,  Massachusetts,  and  have  four  children. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Independent  Corps  of  Cadets,  of  Boston, 
during  the  period  of  the  Civil  War  and  was  for  a  short  period  in  the 
United  States  service  at  Fort  Warren,  Boston  Harbor.  His  club 
and  society  membership  includes  the  Commercial  and  Economic 
Clubs,  the  Bostonian  Society  and  St.  Andrews  Lodge  of  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons.  He  was  always  a  liberal  Repviblican  in  politics. 
His  church  affiliation  has  been  with  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church.  To  young  men  starting  out  in  life  he  says:  "Remember 
life  is  short  at  best.  True  success  does  not  consist  in  amassing 
wealth.  Cultivate  high  ideals;  read  lives  of  men  who  have  been 
the  greatest  benefactors  to  mankind  and  made  the  best  use  of  time. 
Be  diligent,  honest  and  upright — faithful  in  little  things.  Cultivate 
a  love  for  the  good,  the  beautiful,  the  true.  Be  public  spirited, 
unselfish  and  stand  for  what's  right  and  just.  Make  yourself  a 
master  of  your  business  or  profession." 


THOMAS  DIXON   LOCKWOOD 

THOMAS  DIXON  LOCKWOOD,  though  so  long  a  distin- 
guished leader  in  the  peculiarly  American  art  of  telephony, 
and  an  electrical  expert  and  inventor  of  typical  Yankee  push 
and  versatility,  is  a  native  of  Smethwick,  Staffordshire,  a  suburb  of 
Birmingham,  England,  where  he  was  born,  December  30,  1848.  He 
is  a  son  of  a  plate  glass  manufacturer,  and  his  early  craving  for  knowl- 
edge appears  to  have  developed  in  later  life  into  a  general  aptitude 
in  varied  fields  of  labor.  The  father,  John  Frederick  Lockwood, 
was  born  November  14,  1819,  and  died  in  July,  1879,  and  was  the 
son  of  James  Lockwood  (1803-1863)  and  Mary  Ann  (Barton)  Lock- 
wood;  he  married  ^lary  Dixon,  the  daughter  of  Thomas  Dixon  (1784- 
1854)  and  Esther  (Rogers)  Dixon. 

The  story  of  the  career  of  Thomas  Dixon  Lockwood  reads  like 
a  romance.  With  very  little  education  before  beginning  his  active 
work,  he  yet  early  acquired  a  taste  for  mineralogy,  biography,  his- 
tory, engineering  and  chemistry,  and  by  industry  and  indomitable 
perseverance  gained  a  wide  general  acquaintance  with  these  sub- 
jects, long  ago  becoming  a  recognized  authority  in  his  special  elec- 
trical branches  of  study.  For  a  short  time  he  attended  a  day  school 
attached  to  Messrs.  Chances'  glass  works  at  West  Smethwick.  His 
studies  here  were  ended  at  the  age  of  ten,  and  since  then  he  has  had 
no  further  instruction,  his  varied  accomplishments  having  been 
self-acquired  by  home  study  and  practical  experience. 

His  first  employment  was  washing  emery  at  the  Birmingham 
Plate  Glass  Works,  which  he  began  in  1859.  He  entered  the  machine- 
shops  of  the  factory  in  1861,  and  worked  there,  learning  and  practis- 
ing the  trade  of  machinist,  until  1865.  In  that  year  he  immigrated 
with  his  father's  family  to  Port  Hope,  Ontario.  Here  he  was  em- 
ployed at  first  in  a  machine-shop  and  then  in  a  tannery,  but  soon 
learned  telegraphy,  and  in  1867  became  the  first  operator  at  Port 
Hope  for  the  Provincial  Telegraph  Company.  Here  and  in  subse- 
quent telegraphic  positions  he  preferred  night  work  as  affording 


ri^  iyS.c.  »«?«TO  i.Brc  .^nr 


THOMAS  DIXON    LOCKWOOD 

better  opportunity  for  the  study  of  electricity,  which  he  continued 
steadily  and  effectively,  so  that  on  the  invention  of  the  telephone, 
by  Bell,  he  was  thoroughly  equipped  to  take  a  leading  part  in  the 
introduction  and  improvement  of  the  new  instrument.  The  tele- 
graph company  by  which  he  was  originally  employed  having  failed, 
he  sought  other  employment,  becoming  finisher  in  the  mills  of  the 
Smith  Paper  Company,  at  Lee,  Massachusetts. 

In  1869  Mr.  Lockwood  went  to  New  Albany,  Indiana,  where  he 
aided  in  establishing  works  for  making  polished  plate  glass.  This 
was  the  first  American  plant  of  the  kind,  and  he  ordered  the  first 
machinery  to  be  imported  for  such  work.  As  the  Star  Glass  Works, 
this  factory  afterwards  contributed  to  the  great  fortune  from  which 
W.  C.  DePauw  endowed  DePauw  University.  On  the  creation  of 
this  industry,  Mr.  Lockwood  wrote  a  four-column  article  on  plate 
glass  manufacture  for  the  Scientific  American,  and  thus  began  the 
literary  labors  that  since  then  have  been  so  productive. 

Working  his  way  East  in  1872,  he  tried  life  on  the  railway  in 
Connecticut  and  New  Jersey,  serving  in  varied  capacities  for  the 
Housatonic  Railroad  and  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  Western 
Railroad.  Within  a  few  months  he  was  successively  ticket  clerk, 
freight  clerk,  telegraph  operator,  chief  clerk  and  paymaster  in  the 
master-mechanic's  department,  signal  operator,  and  even  brakeman, 
and  engineer  on  trains. 

Going  to  New  York  in  1875,  he  first  became  inspector  of  a  private 
fire-alarm  service,  from  which  he  was  soon  called  to  important 
positions  with  the  Gold  and  Stock  Telegraph  Company  and  the 
American  District  Telegraph  Company.  In  this  work,  which  he  fol- 
lowed until  1879,  he  had  unusual  advantages  for  improving  his 
practical  knowledge  of  telegraphy,  and  he  made  the  most  of  the 
experience. 

In  1879  he  joined  the  company  of  electricians  that  was  being 
enlisted  by  the  telephone  industry.  He  was  at  first  technical  in- 
spector of  exchanges  for  the  National  Bell  Telephone  Company, 
which  soon  afterwards  reorganized  as  the  American  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company;  but  in  1881  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of  a  new 
bureau  of  patent  and  technical  information  wdiich  the  company  had 
decided  to  establish.  In  this  position  he  has  found  his  great  op- 
portunities. For  nearly  thirty  years  he  has  continued  his  invalu- 
able services  for  the  American  Bell  Telephone  Company,  and,  at 


THOMAS   DIXON  LOCKWOOD 

the  headquarters  in  Boston,  he  still  acts  as  patent  expert  and  tele- 
phone engineer. 

Mr.  Lockwood  is  the  author  of  several  important  books  on  elec- 
trical subjects,  and  has  written  innumerable  technical  articles  and 
papers.  His  clear,  forcible  and  entertaining  style  Avould  have  in- 
sured him  success  as  a  technical  journalist  if  he  had  not  found  a  far 
more  lucrative  field.  The  first  of  his  books  was  "Information  for 
Telephonists"  (New  York,  1881),  which  contains  several  articles 
of  practical  value,  and  was  very  favorably  received.  The  "Text- 
Book  of  Electrical  Measurements"  (New  York,  1883)  followed. 
"Electricity,  Magnetism  and  the  Electric  Telegraph"  (New  York, 
1885)  is  a  treatise  in  the  form  of  questions  and  answers,  and  was 
admirably  planned  to  give  a  general  survey  of  the  theory  and  prac- 
tice of  electricity  and  magnetism  up  to  the  date  of  its  appearance. 
He  edited  a  translation  of  "Ohm's  Law,"  which  was  published  in 
1890.  Among  the  more  noteworthy  of  his  other  writings  may  be 
mentioned  a  series  of  articles  on  "Practical  Telephony,"  that  ap- 
peared in  the  Western  Electrician  in  1887.  "History  of  the  Word 
'Telephone,'"  in  the  Electrician  and  the  Electrical  Engineer,  in  1887; 
and  "Telephone  Repeaters  or  Relays,"  in  the  Electrical  World,  in 
1895. 

He  has  made  many  inventions  in  electrical  methods  and  appa- 
ratus. These  include  the  Automatic  Telephone  Call,  patented  3\i\y 
11,  1882;  and  Means  for  Preventing  Telephone  Disturbances  due  to 
Electric  Railroads,  patented  November  20,  1888.  He  has  given 
some  attention  to  burglar  alarms  and  alarm  systems. 

Mr.  Lockwood  is  a  public  speaker  of  much  ability.  He  is  in 
demand  for  papers  at  society  meetings  and  as  a  lecturer,  and  a  reten- 
tive and  quick-acting  memory  gives  him  great  facility  of  expression 
in  extemporaneous  addresses.  He  was  lecturer  before  the  Lowell 
Institute,  on  the  Telegraph  and  Telephone,  in  the  winter  of  1883. 
He  was  Associate  Professor  of  Telegraphy,  Telephony  and  Patent 
Law  at  the  Brooklyn  Polytechnic  Institute,  in  1904-05;  and  he  has 
been  an  occasional  lecturer  at  many  colleges. 

He  belongs  to  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Algonquin  and  Exchange  Clubs,  Boston;  Engineeer's  Club,  New 
York;  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers;  Institution  of 
Electrical  Engineers,  London;  Imperial  Institute,  London;  and 
honorary  member  of  the  National  Electric  Light  Association  and 


THOMAS  DIXON   LOCKWOOD 

the  Association  of  Railroad  Telegraph  Superintendents,  and  life 
member  of  the  American  Geographical  Society.  He  has  been  mana- 
ger and  vice-president  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engi- 
neers. 

He  is  identified  with  no  political  party,  but  has  always  been  an 
independent  in  public  affairs.  He  is  actively  interested  in  the  First 
Baptist  Church  at  Melrose,  Massachusetts,  the  suburban  city  which 
has  been  his  home  for  many  years.  His  recreation  takes  diversified 
form,  and  he  finds  relaxation  and  pleasure  in  whist,  traveling,  read- 
ing, astronomy  and  chess. 

In  reading  he  found  early  inspiration  in  the  optimistic  biographies 
of  Samuel  Smiles,  especially  in  the  "Lives  of  Engineers."  He  has 
owed  much  also  to  "The  American  Telegraph"  of  Pope,  "The  En- 
cyclopedia Britannica,"  Crecy's  "Civil  Engineering,"  "The  Pilgrim's 
Progress"  and  Dick's  "Christian  Philosopher."  His  needs,  tastes 
and  opportunities  have  led  him  to  give  much  attention  to  the  collec- 
tion of  a  reference  and  technical  library.  This  has  grown  to  much 
importance,  and  is  especiall}^  rich  in  works  relating  to  telegraphy, 
telephony  and  electricity. 

It  seems  to  Mr.  Lockwood  that  the  youth  of  the  present  day  are, 
to  a  large  extent,  educationally  pampered.  The  road  to  mature  life 
is  often  made  too  easy  to  develop  strength  and  hardiness  of  character, 
but  such  suggestions  as  the  following,  which  he  has  offered  for  young 
people,  are  of  a  kind  to  be  helpful,  under  any  condition,  to  those 
seeking  true  success:  "Don't  be  always  looking  for  a  'good  time.' 
During  the  educational  period,  be  it  long  or  short,  make  the  most 
of  it.  Be  earnest  in  whatever  is  undertaken,  and  do  whatever  you 
have  to  do  with  your  might.  Be  considerate  of  others.  Cultivate 
self-knowledge,  self-reliance  and  self-control.  Be  receptive,  or  open- 
minded.  It  is  better  to  change  one's  mind  than  to  continue  to  hold 
to  a  wrong  view.  Don't  value  riches,  except  for  what  can  be  done 
with  them.     Be  economical,  but  don't  put  money  in  the  first  place." 

Mr.  Lockwood  was  married  October  29,  1875,  to  Mary  Helm, 
daughter  of  George  Helm,  late  of  Port  Hope,  Ontario;  of  two  chil- 
dren born,  the  survivor  is  Arthur  Lockwood,  who  is  with  the  West- 
ern Electric  Company  of  New  York  and  Chicago. 


HENRY  CABOT   LODGE 

HENRY  CABOT  LODGE,  the  senior  Senator  of  Massachu- 
setts, is  a  native  of  Boston,  and  of  ancestry  identified 
with  all  that  is  most  characteristic  of  the  Commonwealth. 
He  was  born  on  May  12,  1850,  the  son  of  John  Ellerton  and 
Anna  (Cabot)  Lodge.  He  was  named  after  his  maternal  grand- 
father, Henry  Cabot,  a  descendant  of  John  Cabot,  who  came  to 
America  from  the  Island  of  Jersey  about  1680.  Mr.  Lodge's  father 
was  a  merchant  of  Boston,  a  son  of  Giles  Lodge,  who  came  from 
England  to  New  England  in  1792. 

A  youth  of  this  race  and  environment  in  Boston  turns  easily  and 
instinctively  to  scholarship  or  the  public  service.  Master  Dixwell's 
famous  private  Latin  School  gave  Mr.  Lodge  his  training  for  Harvard 
College,  whence  he  graduated  with  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  1871.  In- 
tJining  first  to  the  law,  he  took  his  professional  course  at  the  Harvard 
Law  School,  securing  the  degree  of  LL.B.  in  1875.  He  was  duly 
admitted  to  practice  at  the  Suffolk  Bar  in  1876,  but  the  study  of 
history  had  peculiarly  appealed  to  him.  Following  post-graduate  stud- 
ies in  history  at  Harvard,  he  was  given  the  degree  of  Ph.D.  in  1876 
for  a  thesis  on  "The  Land  Law  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,"  and  for  three 
years  thereafter  remained  at  Harvard  as  an  instructor  in  history.  His 
historical  research  bore  notable  fruit  in  a  Lowell  Institute  course 
of  lectures  in  Boston  in  1880  on  "The  English  Colonies  in  America." 

Meanwhile  Mr.  Lodge  had  broadened  his  activities  through  ser- 
vice as  editor  of  the  "North  American  Review"  and  the  "  International 
Review,"  and  in  1880  he  definitely  entered  public  life  as  a  Repre- 
sentative in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature.  Mr.  Lodge  addressed 
himself  to  his  work  with  a  seriousness  of  purpose  which  commanded 
recognition  from  the  older  political  leaders  of  the  State.  In  the 
memorable  national  campaign  of  1884,  which  was  very  close  and 
exciting  in  Massachusetts  as  in  the  country  at  large,  Mr.  Lodge  bore 
a  conspicuous  part,  and  two  years  later  he  was  elected  to  the  National 
House  of  Representatives,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  Fiftieth  Congress. 

In  Washington  Mr.  Lodge,  with  his  scholarly  attainments,  his 


ACC-^-^    Cc^-t^-/l-T>l 


-y^ 


1 


HENRY    CABOT    LODGE 

thorough  knowledge  of  pohtical  history  and  his  growing  reputation 
as  an  orator,  came  rapidly  forward  into  a  position  of  leader- 
ship. Those  were  difficult  years  for  the  Republican  party.  It  had 
managed  to  win  the  national  election  of  1888,  but  it  suffered  a  ter- 
rible reverse  in  the  congressional  elections  of  two  years  afterward. 
Mr.  Lodge  had  developed  a  remarkable  power  as  an  incisive  and 
aggressive  debater,  and  he  became  one  of  the  most  trusted  and 
effective  lieutenants  of  the  great  Speaker,  Thomas  B.  Reed. 

At  home  in  Massachusetts  Mr.  Lodge  had  acquired  a  more  and 
more  commanding  influence.  His  career  in  the  National  House 
gained  for  him  a  national  reputation,  and  on  January  17,  1893,  the 
Massachusetts  Legislature  elected  him  to  the  United  States  Senate 
to  succeed  Henry  L.  Dawes,  who  had  grown  old  in  the  public  service. 

Mr.  Lodge  entered  the  Senate  a  young  man,  in  his  forty-third 
year.  He  was  fortunate  in  a  great  and  unusual  opportunity,  and 
he  rose  instantly  to  the  level  of  it.  He  proved  himself  anew  in  the 
Senate,  as  he  already  had  in  the  House,  to  be  a  keen  and  vigorous 
debater,  quick  to  detect  the  weak  points  in  an  adversary  and  mas- 
terly in  his  power  of  analysis  and  reasoning.  Moreover,  in  the  seri- 
ous and  elaborate  oratory  on  great  themes  and  great  occasions, 
wherein  the  Senate  still  instructs  and  delights  the  country,  Mr. 
Lodge  achieved  distinction  as  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  com- 
pelling of  American  public  men. 

Mr.  Lodge  has  studied  and  traveled  widely  in  Europe,  and  as  a 
member  of  the  committee  on  foreign  relations  has  dealt  authori- 
tatively with  public  questions  affecting  the  international  affairs  of 
the  United  States.  He  has  believed  from  the  beginning  of  his  public 
career  that  a  steadfast  and  virile  foreign  policy  was  the  only  policy 
consistent  with  the  safety  as  well  as  the  honor  of  the  American 
people  and  their  government.  He  has  earnestly  and  successfully 
advocated  the  development  of  a  strong  navy  in  which  Massachusetts 
has  an  historic  interest,  and  he  has  been  one  of  the  public  men  who 
have  insisted  that  the  nation  must  meet  with  patience,  firmness  and 
courage  the  unexpected  and  far-reaching  responsibilities  that  have 
sprung  from  the  Spanish  War. 

Through  the  administration  of  President  Roosevelt,  Senator 
Lodge  has  occupied  a  place  of  especial  responsibility  in  Washing- 
ton, because  of  his  long  and  intimate  personal  friendship  with  the 
president  and  because  of  the  close  agreement  of  their  views  upon 


HENRY    CABOT    LODGE 

many  of  the  largest  and  most  urgent  public  questions.  But  before 
Mr.  Roosevelt  came  to  the  presidencj^,  Mr.  Lodge  had  achieved 
unquestioned  recognition  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Senate,  and 
indeed  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Republican  party  in  the  nation. 
In  the  organization  of  the  Senate,  Mr.  Lodge  has  long  held  the  im- 
portant post  of  chairman  of  the  committee  on  the  Philippines,  and 
has  had  the  working  out  of  some  of  the  most  difficult  problems 
relating  to  the  East  Indian  archipelago,  which  the  American  people 
are  endeavoring  to  prepare  for  eventual  self-government.  Mr. 
Lodge  is  a  member  also  of  the  committees  on  foreign  relations, 
immigration,  military  affairs  and  rules.  He  has  given  much  of 
his  best  thought  and  effort  to  the  problem  of  immigration  and  how 
to  regulate  and  restrict  it,  and  he  succeeded  in  procuring  the  passage 
of  the  important  bill  providing  for  an  educational  test,  which  failed 
to  overi'ide  the  veto  of  President  Cleveland.  Mr.  Lodge  is  a  member 
of  the  present  Immigration  Commission,  and  he  served  also  as  a 
member  of  the  Merchant  Marine  Commission  of  3904-1905,  and  of  the 
Commission  on  Alaskan  Boundary,  appointed  by  President  Roosevelt. 

To  the  political  affairs  of  his  own  State  of  Massachusetts,  Senator 
Lodge  has  given  close  attention  throughout  his  service  in  Washing- 
ton. He  has  always  had  great  influence  in  shaping  the  policies  of 
his  party  at  home,  and  his  counsel  has  carried  weight  in  the  nomina- 
tions for  the  largest  public  offices.  Together  with  the  junior  senator 
of  Massachusetts,  Hon.  Winthrop  Murray  Crane  —  and  the  two 
senators  admirably  complement  each  other  —  Mr.  Lodge  has  held 
a  leading  part  in  successive  Massachusetts  political  campaigns, 
which  in  recent  years  have  almost  invariably  brought  triumph  to 
the  Republican  party.  He  has  seen  the  opposition  in  Massachu- 
setts try  candidate  after  candidate  and  issue  after  issue  in  vain, 
until  the  Republican  strength  in  the  old  Commonwealth  has  come 
to  be  regarded  as  well-nigh  impregnable. 

Senator  Lodge  has  also  wielded  a  powerful  influence  in  the  broader 
field  of  national  party  management.  He  was  permanent  chairman 
of  the  Republican  National  Convention  which  nominated  Taft  and 
Sherman  at  Chicago  in  June,  1908.  His  address  as  presiding  officer, 
concise  and  yet  comprehensive,  with  its  orderly  marshaling  of  the 
vital  issues  of  the  campaign,  its  precise  and  scholarly  English  and  its 
passages  of  distinct  eloquence  and  beauty,  was  hailed  throughout  the 
country  as  a  noble  oration,  worthy  of  the  best  of  American  traditions 


HENRY    CABOT    LODGE 

and  worth}'  of  the  great  theme  and  great  occasion.  This  convention 
was  a  vast  tumultuous  gathering,  difficult  to  control,  exacting  the 
utmost  tact  and  decision  from  its  presiding  officer.  This  was  not  his 
first  experience  of  the  kind,  for  Mr.  Lodge  had  been  permanent 
chairman  of  the  Republican  National  Convention  which  nominated 
McKinley  and  Roosevelt  in  Philadelphia  in  1900,  and  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  resolutions  of  the  Republican  National  Convention 
which  nominated  Roosevelt  and  Fairbanks  in  Chicago  in  1904.  He 
had  previously  been  a  conspicuous  figure  at  all  of  the  Republican 
National  Conventions  between  1884  and  1896. 

Throughout  these  many  years  of  arduous  public  ser\dce  in  posts 
of  the  very  greatest  responsibility,  Mr.  Lodge,  with  his  alertness 
of  intellect  and  habits  of  systematic  industry,  has  steadily  pursued 
literary  activities  which,  of  themselves,  would  have  given  him  en- 
during fame.  His  first  published  book  was  devoted  to  the  career 
of  a  distinguished  kinsman,  the  "  Life  and  Letters  of  George  Cabot," 
which  appeared  in  1877,  when  ]\Ir.  Lodge  was  instructor  in  history 
at  Harvard.  Three  of  the  most  scholarly  and  altogether  notable 
biographies  in  the  "American  Statesmen"  series,  "Alexander  Hamil- 
ton" (1882),  "Daniel  Webster"  (1883),  and  "George  Washington" 
(1889),  have  come  from  his  busy,  exact  and  powerful  pen.  More- 
over, Mr.  Lodge  edited  the  works  of  Alexander  Hamilton  in  nine 
volumes,  published  in  1885.  In  1881  he  had  written  a  "Short  His- 
tory of  the  English  Colonies  in  America."  He  published  in  1886 
"Studies  in  History,"  and  in  1891  the  "History  of  Boston"  in 
the  "Historic  Towns"  series,  published  by  Longmans.  In  1892, 
"Historical  and  Political  Essays,"  and  a  volume  of  selections  from 
speeches  appeared;  and  in  1895,  in  cooperation  with  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  Mr.  Lodge  published  "Hero  Tales  from  American  His- 
tory." Another  volume,  "Certain  Accepted  Heroes  and  Other 
Essays,"  appeared  in  1897;  and  in  1898  the  "Story  of  the  Revolu- 
tion," in  two  volumes.  In  1899  Senator  Lodge  published  the 
"Story  of  the  Spanish  War,"  which  remains  the  most  vivid, 
stirring  and  just  narrative  of  that  brief  but  momentous  con- 
flict. In  the  same  year,  1899,  "A  Fighting  Frigate  and  Other 
Essays,"  was  printed;  and  in  1906  "A  Frontier  Town  and  Other 
Essays." 

The  historical   research  which  first  stirred  the  imagination  of 
Mr.  Lodge  and  absorbed  his  post-graduate  years  at  Harvard  has 


HENRY    CABOT    LODGE 

interested  him  through  all  the  years  of  maturity.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  the  Virginia  Historical  So- 
ciety, the  New  England  Historic  Genealogical  Society,  and  the 
Amerian  Antiquarian  Society.  He  is  a  member  also  of  the  Ameri- 
can Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences.  During  his  service  in  the  House 
and  again  in  his  service  in  the  Senate,  Mr.  Lodge  has  been  a  regent 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Laws  has  been  conferred  upon  him  by  Williams  College,  Clark 
University,  Yale  University,  and  Harvard  University.  These 
distinctions  of  the  senior  Senator,  like  the  similar  distinctions  of 
his  long-beloved  colleague,  George  F.  Hoar,  have  brought  deep 
gratification  to  the  people  of  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  Lodge  was  married  on  April  6,  1872,  to  Anna  Cabot  Da\ds, 
daughter  of  Rear  Admiral  Charles  H.  Davis,  of  the  United  States 
Navy,  and  of  Henrietta  Blake  Davis,  a  daughter  of  Hon,  Elijah 
Hunt  Mills,  who  from  1820  to  1827  was  United  States  Senator  from 
Massachusetts.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lodge  have  three  children  —  George 
Cabot  Lodge,  John  Ellerton  Lodge  and  Mrs.  Constance  Gardner, 
the  wife  of  Congressman  Augustus  P.  Gardner,  of  Hamilton,  Massa- 
chusetts. Mr.  George  Cabot  Lodge  served  in  the  navy  as  an  ensign 
through  the  Spanish  War.  Besides  the  fervent  patriotism  of  his 
father,  this  son  has  the  inheritance  of  literary  power,  and  his  writings 
bear  unmistakable  impress  of  a  true,  poetic  genius  expressed  in  a 
style  of  scholarly  distinction. 

The  Massachusetts  home  of  Senator  Lodge  and  his  family  is  in 
the  ocean  town  of  Nahant,  a  splendid  promontory,  thrust  out  into 
the  Atlantic,  north  of  Lynn  Bay  and  Boston  Harbor. 

Senator  Lodge  first  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  on  March  4,  1893. 
He  has  twice  been  reelected,  in  1899  and  in  1905.  In  the  brief, 
strenuous  weeks  of  a  political  campaign  it  might  seem  that  Mr. 
Lodge  had  many  enemies  in  his  native  State,  but  these  irritations 
pass  and  the  salient  fact  remains  that  the  people  of  Massachusetts 
generally  regard  their  State  as  fortunate  in  its  representation  in  the 
upper  House  of  Congress  by  a  public  man  of  the  first  rank  who  is 
also  a  scholar  of  the  first  rank,  maintaining  thus  a  most  cherished 
tradition  of  the  Commonwealth.  The  career  of  Senator  Lodge 
demonstrates,  as  indeed  does  the  career  of  President  Roosevelt,  that 
the  student  in  our  modern  American  life  may  also  be  preeminently 
a  leader  of  practical  affairs,  a  man  of  action. 


JOHN  DAVIS   LONG 

''y^^  OVERNOR  LONG/'  as  Massachusetts  affectionately  calls 
I  T  him,  though  since  he  was  the  chief  executive  here  he  has 
held  other  lofty  posts,  is  a  native  not  of  this  State  but  of 
Maine,  so  closely  associated  with  it  and  for  many  years  a  part  of  it. 
He  was  born  in  the  town  of  Buckfield,  Oxford  County,  in  Maine,  on 
October  27,  1838.  His  father  was  Zadoc  Long;  his  mother  Julia 
Temple  (Davis)  Long.  The  father  was  a  man  of  marked  natural 
abilities,  a  fine  conversationalist,  who  read  much,  wrote  well  in 
prose  and  verse,  kept  a  diary  for  fifty  years,  and  was  altogether  the 
most  cultivated  man  in  his  region.  The  mother  was  a  woman  of 
high  character,  and  an  influence  in  molding  that  of  her  son. 

Mr.  Long  the  senior  was  a  local  merchant  in  Buckfield.  He  kept 
a  village  store,  was  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  in  the  memorable 
Harrison  campaign  of  1840  was  a  Whig  elector.  Two  years  before 
he  had  been  the  Whig  candidate  for  Congress  in  his  district  but  had 
been  defeated.  The  family  on  both  sides  was  of  the  oldest  and 
sturdiest  of  New  England  lineage,  descended  on  the  part  of  the 
father  from  James  Chilton  of  the  Mayflower,  and  Thomas  Clark  of 
the  Ann,  and  on  the  part  of  the  mother  from  Dolor  Davis  who  came 
to  New  England  in  1634. 

The  Buckfield  home  was  one  of  comfort,  and  Mr.  Long  as  a  youth 
did  not  know  those  grinding  struggles  to  gain  an  education  through 
which  so  many  New  England  lads  of  his  time  were  forced  to  fight 
their  way.  However,  his  parents,  like  all  thrifty  New  Englanders, 
set  a  high  valuation  upon  industry,  and  their  son  was  taught  to 
perform  the  usual  boys'  chores,  chopping  at  the  woodpile  in  winter, 
driving  the  cows,  milking,  etc.  These  tasks,  though  useful,  were  not 
arduous.  Mr.  Long  as  a  boy  was  a  strong,  robust  lad  of  a  stocky 
figure,  fond  of  exercise  and  play  and  fond,  too,  of  his  academic 
studies.  He  was  fortunate  in  his  household  environment.  The  com- 
panionship of  his  father,  with  his  unusual  practical  and  literary  in- 
formation, his  clear,  shrewd  mind  and  his  conversation  covering  many 


JOHN  DAVIS   LONG 

topics  and  illuminating  all,  was,  in  itself  a  stimulus  and  an  education 
to  an  active  and  inquiring  boy.  The  father  had  more  than  the 
usual  books  of  such  a  village,  and  was  himself  fond  of  good  reading. 
He  was  determined  that  his  son  should  have  the  best  training  that 
New  England  could  provide,  and  he  was  able  to  send  him  through 
the  academy  and  through  college. 

The  son  was  an  industrious  student.  He  developed  quite  a 
knack  of  writing  verses,  and  he  was  eager  and  ambitious  beyond 
his  years.  From  the  Buckfield  village  schools  he  went  to  Hebron 
Academy  in  Hebron,  Maine,  and  in  1853,  at  the  age  of  fourteen 
years,  he  presented  himself  for  entrance  to  Harvard  College. 

Of  course  the  requirements  for  admission  were  not  so  numerous 
and  exacting  then  as  they  are  now.  But  to  have  attained  these  at 
fourteen  was  a  remarkable  task,  and  Mr.  Long  was  younger  than 
most  of  his  classmates.  Indeed,  he  has  said  since,  "I  entered  col- 
lege too  young  to  form  those  associations  which  are  the  best  part  of 
college  life."  He  has  come  since  into  contact  with  the  chief  men  of 
his  State,  and  with  many  of  the  chief  men  of  America,  but  this  kind 
of  an  acquaintance  has  been  a  result  or  an  accompaniment  of  his 
success  rather  than  a  cause  of  it.  His  early  companionship,  outside 
of  his  own  fortunate  home,  was  in  no  way  remarkable. 

At  Harvard  Mr.  Long  was  a  member  of  the  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon 
Fraternity,  and  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa.  Then,  as  now,  he  found 
especial  delight  and  instruction  in  history,  English  and  American, 
and  in  fiction,  with  an  old-fashioned  liking  for  Scott,  Cooper,  Dickens, 
Thackeray,  Trollope,  etc.  Graduating  in  1857,  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
with  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts,  Mr.  Long,  after  a  practice  fre- 
quent in  that  day  and  not  infrequent  now,  taught  school  for  a  while 
in  Westford  Academy,  Westford,  Massachusetts,  for  two  years,  1857- 
1859.  Then,  as  he  puts  it,  "I  drifted  into  the  law;  I  had  no  special 
taste  for  it,  though  successful  in  jury  practice.  In  my  boyhood, 
college  seemed  to  lead  to  one  of  the  three  professions,  and  I  had  no 
inclination  toward  medicine  or  the  pulpit."  No  strong  impulse  to 
strive  for  the  great  prizes  of  life  moved  the  young  graduate.  He 
"always  had  a  feeling  that  the  future  would  take  care  of  itself." 

In  1860-1861  Mr.  Long  took  a  post-graduate  course  in  law  at 
Harvard,  and  practised  law  in  his  native  town  of  Buckfield  for  one 
year  following.  Then,  leaving  Maine  in  the  fall  of  1862,  he  started 
in  the  law  in  Boston,  where  his  professional  home  has  ever  since 


i 


JOHxN   DAVIS   LONG 

remained.  In  1869  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Hingham,  Massachu- 
setts, a  beautiful  old  town  on  the  southern  edge  of  Boston  Harbor, 
quiet  and  restful  and  yet  not  too  remote  from  the  great  city's  activi- 
ties. 

His  intellectual  strength  and  his  gracious  personality  steadily 
won  friendly  recognition  for  the  young  lawyer.  When  he  was  w^ell 
established  in  his  profession  he  turned  naturally  and  easily  to  public 
life.  In  his  home  town  of  Hingham  he  was  moderator  and  a  member 
of  the  school  committee,  and  in  1875  he  entered  the  Massachusetts 
House  of  Representatives.  In  the  following  year  Mr.  Long  was 
honored  by  election  as  Speaker  of  the  House.  He  proved  to  be 
eminently  qualified  for  this  position,  which  he  held  for  three  succes- 
sive years.  Massachusetts  was  not  slow  in  realizing  that  the  young 
Hingham  lawyer  was  destined  to  become  a  public  man  of  the  first 
rank.  In  1879  he  was  chosen  lieutenant-governor  of  Massachusetts, 
and  in  the  following  year,  governor,  holding  that  post  also  for  three 
years  in  succession. 

Governor  Long  showed  himself  a  clear-headed,  courageous, 
highly  efficient  executive,  sustaining  the  best  traditions  of  the  Com- 
monwealth. As  speaker  of  the  Massachusetts  House  he  had  come 
into  demand  on  public  occasions  all  over  Massachusetts,  and  as 
governor  he  greatly  enhanced  his  reputation  as  an  easy,  graceful 
and  delightful  orator.  And  Governor  Long  was  not  more  felicitous 
on  social  occasions  than  in  the  sterner  and  more  difficult  work  of 
the  hard-fought  campaigns  through  which  ]\Iassachusetts  began  to 
pass  with  the  rise  of  General  Butler  and  the  unfortunate  division 
in  the  Republican  party  consequent  on  the  presidential  nomination 
of  Mr.  Blaine.  Governor  Long,  though  a  Republican,  had  sup- 
ported the  Greeley  independent  movement  in  1872.  In  1884,  how- 
ever, he  believed  that  the  best  course  and  the  wisest  course  lay  in 
loyalty  to  his  party's  regular  nomination,  and  his  example  was  one 
of  the  most  potent  influences  which  saved  Massachusetts,  in  that 
year  of  strenuous  revolt,  to  the  Republican  party.  It  was,  perhaps, 
the  more  effective  because  at  the  Republican  National  Convention 
he  had  opposed  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Blaine  and  had  there  made  a 
speech  nominating  Mr.  Edmunds,  of  Vermont,  an  address  which 
was  much  praised  at  the  time. 

Relinquishing  the  governorship  in  1882,  Mr.  Long,  in  1883, 
entered  the  National  House  of  Representatives  in  Washington,  and 


JOHN  DAVIS  LONG 

remained  through  three  terms.  He  was  as  successful  in  that 
broader  field  as  he  had  been  in  Massachusetts.  He  was  recog- 
nized in  Washington  as  an  ideal  representative  of  the  old  Common- 
wealth, and  he  came  at  once  into  a  position  of  leadership  and  of 
close  friendship  with  the  great  men  of  the  House.  He  was  a  polished 
and  effective  debater,  and  in  the  routine  business  of  Congress,  exceed- 
ingly important  though  not  spectacular,  he  performed  with  skill  and 
thoroughness  every  task  assigned  to  him.  His  fame  as  an  orator 
had  preceded  Mr.  Long  to  Washington,  and  it  was  broadened  and 
confirmed  by  many  a  scholarly  and  eloquent  utterance.  The  Na- 
tional House  is  often  a  turbulent  and  seldom  an  attentive  body,  but 
it  was  always  glad  and  eager  to  listen  to  the  silver  tongue  of  the 
ex-governor  of  Massachusetts. 

To  the  keen  regret  of  his  constitutents  and  of  all  of  the  people 
of  the  State,  Mr.  Long  withdrew  in  1889  from  what  had  become  a 
brilliant  career  in  Congress,  and,  returning  to  Massachusetts,  resumed 
actively  the  practice  of  the  law  which  his  public  life  had  so  seriously 
interrupted.  He  came  at  once  to  the  forefront  of  his  profession, 
renewed  old  associations  here  and  greatly  widened  his  acquaintance. 
His  practice  is  and  has  been  of  the  very  best  and  highest  character, 
and  the  most  important  business  interests  of  the  State  have  been 
proud  of  his  counsel  and  assistance. 

But  there  could  be  no  such  thing  as  complete  retirement  from 
public  duties  for  a  man  so  eminently  qualified  to  meet  them.  When 
the  growing  demands  of  the  state  government  compelled  the  build- 
ing of  a  large  addition  to  the  historic  State  House,  Governor  Long 
was  sought  for  commissioner  to  control  this  work,  and  everybody 
was  assured  of  what  the  result  proved  —  that  the  undertaking  would 
be  efficiently  carried  out  within  the  bounds  of  estimates  and  appro- 
priations. 

But  a  far  greater  honor  and  responsibility  was  in  store  for  Mr. 
Long.  President  McKinley,  who  had  known  and  admired  him  in 
Congress,  offered  to  him  the  post  of  Secretary  of  the  Navy  in  his  first 
Cabinet.  This  was  a  distinction  well  deserved  both  by  Governor 
Long  himself  and  by  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  which  has  always 
been  foremost  in  encouraging  and  upholding  our  sea  defenses. 
Entering  the  Navy  Department  on  March  5,  1897,  Secretary  Long 
remained  there  for  an  unusual  period,  or  until  May  1,  1902.  Though 
he  knew  it  not  when  he  accepted  this  service,  his  was  to  be  the  great 


JOHN  DAVIS  LONG 

task  and  privilege  of  general  direction  of  the  war  fleets  of  the  country 
through  a  brief  though  brilliant  naval  war.  Mr.  Long,  a  lover  of 
peace,  did  not  hail  this  conflict  but  he  did  not  shrink  when  it  became 
inevitable.  The  splendid  efficiency  of  the  American  navy  in  Manila 
Bay  and  off  the  coast  of  Cuba  was  due  in  very  large  degree  to  the 
administrative  talents,  the  high  civic  ideals  and  the  fine,  practical 
judgment  of  the  Massachusetts  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  who  gave  the 
best  work  of  a  perfectly  ripened  life  and  noble  character  to  the  ser- 
vice of  his  country  in  that  war  year  of  1898. 

When  Spain  surrendered  and  peace  came  there  were  left  great 
and  manifold  problems  for  the  government  in  Washington,  and  in 
all  of  these  Secretary  Long  was  one  of  the  lieutenants  on  whom  Presi- 
dent McKinley  most  securely  relied.  The  secretary  felt  as  few  other 
men  the  shock  of  the  tragic  death  of  the  President,  with  so  much  of 
his  greatest  work  unfinished,  but  he  stood  to  the  post  in  which  he  was 
indispensable  until  he  felt  that  he  could  be  spared  from  the  Cabinet 
of  President  Roosevelt,  on  May  1,  1902.  Then  relinquishing  the 
Secretaryship  of  the  Navy  to  another  Massachusetts  man,  Hon. 
William  H.  Moody,  Mr.  Long  came  home  to  receive  the  acclamations 
of  his  beloved  Massachusetts. 

Here,  once  m.ore  after  long  absence  ]\Ir.  Long  resumed  his  pro- 
fessional work,  which  has  since  fully  commanded  his  activities. 
He  has  been  honored  by  election  as  president  of  the  board  of  over- 
seers of  Harvard  University  and  by  many  other  tokens  of  the  con- 
fidence and  affection  of  his  people.  Harvard  and  Tufts  have  both 
bestowed  upon  him  the  degree  of  LL.D.  He  is  the  president  of  the 
old  and  famous  Massachusetts  Club  and  a  member  of  the  Union  Club, 
the  Middlesex  Club,  the  Mayflower  Society,  the  American  Academy 
of  Arts  and  Sciences  and  many  other  organizations.  Mr.  Long  is 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  Unitarian  laymen  and  a  leader  in 
the  great,  far-reaching  work  of  the  American  Unitarian  Association. 

No  citizen  of  Massachusetts  has  more  friends;  none  has  fewer 
enemies.  His  is  a  busy  and  a  fruitful  life  between  his  Boston  law 
office  and  his  hospitable  home  in  quaint  old  Hingham.  Walking  is 
Mr.  Long's  favorite  exercise,  but  his  great  delight  is  a  return  to  the 
Maine  woods  or  to  the  farm  in  Buckfield  which  was  his  grandfather's, 
a  mile  from  the  village  on  its  high  hill,  with  its  barn  and  fields  and 
woods  and  river,  and  the  renewal  of  old  associations  with  the  towns- 
people and  his  boyhood  mates. 


JOHN  DAVIS  LONG 

In  1903  an  important  historical  work,  "The  New  American 
Navy/'  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Long  was  published  by  the  Outlook 
Company.  He  had  previously  written  a  translation  of  the  ^neid, 
published  in  1879  by  the  Lockwood  Book  Company,  and  "After 
Dinner  and  Other  Speeches,"  published  by  Houghton,  Mifflin  & 
Company  in  1895.  From  time  to  time  he  has  also  written  notable 
magazine  articles. 

Mr.  Long  was  married  first  to  Mary  Woodward  Glover  on  Sep- 
tember 13,  1870,  and  after  her  death  to  Agnes  Peirce,  on  May  22, 
1886.  Four  children,  three  from  the  first  and  one  from  the  second 
marriage,  have  been  born  to  him,  and  there  are  two  now  living. 

Always  Governor  Long  has  been  a  noble  example  and  inspiration 
to  the  young  people  of  Massachusetts.  His  present  message  to 
them  is  to  value  above  all  things  "  clean  hands,  a  pure  heart,  industry, 
courtesy  always,  courage,  good  associations  with  men  and  books, 
elevated  ideals,  self-respect."  Governor  Long  would  emphasize 
especially  the  need  of  a  young  man's  "at  once  putting  himself  into 
contact  with  the  best  personalities."  "He  starts  with  a  modest 
notion  that  men  in  upper  station  are  beyond  him.  He  should  feel 
that  they  quickly  appreciate  and  respond  to  any  who  worthily  (but 
not  bumptiously)  seek  them.  It  is  just  as  easy  to  get  in  with  the 
best  and  the  highest  as  the  meanest  and  lowest,  and  the  failure  to 
know  this  often  keeps  a  young  man  down  on  low  levels." 


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THORNTON   KIRKLAND   LOTHROP 

THORNTON  KIRKLAND  LOTHROP  was  born  in  Dover, 
New  Hampshire,  on  the  30th  day  of  June,  1830.  His  father, 
Samuel  Kirkland  Lothrop,  was  born  October  13,  1804,  and 
died  June,  1886.  His  mother's  maiden  name  was  Mary  Lyman 
Buckminister.  The  names  of  his  grandparents  were  John  Hiram 
Lothrop  and  Rev.  Joseph  Buckminister,  Jerusha  Kirkland  and  Mary 
Lyman.  The  vocation  of  Mr.  Lothrop's  father  was  that  of  the 
ministry,  being  an  able,  sympathetic  and  helpful  clergyman,  es- 
pecially known  for  his  ardent  sympathy  for  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men.  On  the  side  of  his  paternal  ancestry  the  Rev.  John  Lothrop, 
an  Englishman,  came  to  this  country  and  settled  in  Scituate  in  1634. 
It  is  thus  seen  that  the  choice  of  the  ministry  was  rather  deep  seated 
in  this  distinguished  family.  The  mother  of  Thornton  K.  Lothrop 
was  endowed  with  spiritual  insight  and  profound  moral  principles. 
In  these  qualities  she  exerted  a  deep  impression  upon  her  son  whose 
life  became  largely  molded  through  her  noble  influence.  In  matters 
of  education  Mr.  Lothrop  was  fortunate  beyond  many  of  his  fellows 
in  that  he  found  few  if  any  difficulties  in  gaining  the  training  of  the 
best  schools.  Born  and  bred  in  a  family  of  education  and  refine- 
ment, it  was  natural  that  he  should  have  both  opportunity  and  in- 
centive in  the  direction  of  liberal  culture.  He  graduated  first  from 
the  Boston  Latin  School,  and  then  from  Harvard  in  1849.  Continu- 
ing his  education  by  teaching  in  Philadelphia  for  two  years,  he  then 
entered  the  Harvard  Law  School  for  a  two  years'  further  course, 
being  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1853,  and  prior  to  this  receiving  the 
degree  of  A.M.  in  1852. 

Mr.  Lothrop's  professional  career  was  entered  upon  because  of 
his  own  choice  and  predilection  and  not  through  the  influence  of 
family  or  friends.  He  felt  that  in  this  field  of  effort  he  could  do 
his  best  work,  and  therefore  entered  upon  his  work  with  zeal  and 
determination  to  succeed.  While  his  professional  career  has  taken 
time  and  energy  without  abatement  through  many  years,  Mr.  Lothrop 


THORNTON  KIRKLAND   LOTHROP 

has  not  left  uncultivated  the  social  side  of  his  nature.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Somerset,  Union,  St.  Botolph,  Technology,  University 
(N.  Y.),  University  (Boston),  Essex  County  Clubs;  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society;  Massachusetts  Society  of  Cincinnati,  holding  the 
position  of  vice-president  in  the  latter.  In  1859-60  he  was  also  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  and  from  April  18,  1861  to 
July,  1865,  was  assistant  United  States  Attorney  for  Massachusetts. 

In  1896  Mr.  Lothrop  finished  his  "  Life  of  Seward  "  and  it  was  pub- 
lished during  that  year;  a  book  worthy  of  its  great  subject,  reflecting 
more  than  usual  credit  upon  its  author.  At  a  glance  it  is  easy  to 
perceive  that  Mr.  Lothrop  has  been  a  very  industrious  man,  endowed 
with  marked  versatility,  a  worthy  representative  of  the  distinguished 
family  whose  name  he  bears.  In  politics  he  has  always  been  a  Re- 
publican, finding  in  that  party  the  best  available  means  by  which 
to  give  expression  to  his  political  opinions  and  desires. 

In  the  year  1866,  on  the  thirtieth  day  of  April,  Mr.  Lothrop  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Anne  Marie,  daughter  of  the  Honorable 
Samuel  and  Anne  (Sturgis)  Hooper,  granddaughter  of  Honorable  Will- 
iam and  Elizabeth  (Davis)  Sturgis.  Of  this  union  there  have  been 
four  children,  three  now  living  in  1908,  viz.:  Miss  Mary  B.  Lothrop, 
Mrs.  Algernon  Coolidge,  and  Thornton  K.  Lothrop,  Jr.,  a  well-known 
attorney.  Mr.  Lothrop  resides  on  Commonwealth  Avenue,  Boston, 
and  his  home  is  marked  by  the  hospitality  of  refined  generosity,  the 
atmosphere  of  culture  and  kindliness  which  have  ever  distinguished 
the  homes  of  the  best  type  of  New  Englanders. 

In  the  life  of  this  successful  and  high-minded  man  we  have  both 
example  and  inspiration  for  the  youth  of  America  who  seek  the  best 
ways  to  attain  success  and  gain  the  best  possible  in  their  daily 
activities.  "  Industry,  a  high  sense  of  honor,  cultivation  of  mind  and 
heart,"  these  are  the  distinguishing  graces  which  mark  the  life  of 
this  man  who  has  developed  the  art  of  true  and  noble  living. 


if\x).  i/V'  y^A^oi^juL^.^^ 


GEORGE  AUGUSTUS   MARDEN 

IN  the  little  town  of  Mount  Vernon,  New  Hampshire,  on  the  ninth 
of  August,  1839,  Mr.  Marden  was  born.  His  father  was  Ben- 
jamin Franklin  Marden,  of  English  descent,  whose  forefather, 
Richard  Marden,  took  the  oath  of  fidelity  at  New  Haven,  Connect- 
icut, in  1644.  It  is  presumed  he  came  directly  from  England  or 
Wales.  Mr.  Marden's  great-great-grandfather,  David  Marden,  was 
born  in  Rye,  New  Hampshire,  and  died  in  Bradford,  Massachusetts, 
August  30,  1745.  Nathan  Marden,  grandfather  of  George  A.,  of  New 
Boston,  married  Susannah  Stevens,  daughter  of  Calvin  Stevens  and 
descendant  of  Colonel  Thomas  Stevens,  of  Devonshire,  England,  a 
signer  of  instructions  to  Governor  Endicott,  who  contributed  fifty 
pounds  and  sent  three  sons  and  one  daughter  to  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony.  Calvin  Stevens  fought  at  Concord  and  Bunker  Hill,  enlist- 
ing as  a  private  April  23,  1775,  in  Captain  Abasha  Brown's  Com- 
pany, and  Colonel  Thomas  Nixon's  regiment,  serving  from  April  1, 
1776  to  March,  1777.  The  mother  of  George  A.  Marden  was  Betsey 
Buss,  daughter  of  Stephen  Buss,  who  was  a  grandson  of  Stephen  and 
Eunice  Buss.  Her  mother  was  Sarah  Abbot,  a  descendant  of  the 
tenth  generation  from  George  Abbot,  one  of  the  first  settlers  and 
promoters  of  Andover,  Massachusetts.  From  George  the  ancestral 
line  comes  through  four  generations  of  John  Abbots,  of  whom  the 
last  was  commissioned  captain  in  the  French  and  Indian  War,  was 
chosen  member  of  the  committee  of  safety  of  Andover,  November 
14,  1774,  and  held  a  captain's  commission  on  an  "Alarm"  company 
just  preceding  the  American  Revolution. 

It  was  Mr.  Marden's  good  fortune  to  receive  his  preliminary 
education  in  Appleton  Academy,  Mount  Vernon,  and  later  to  gradu- 
ate from  Dartmouth  College  in  the  class  of  1861,  being  the  eleventh 
member  in  a  class  of  58.  He  became  president  of  the  trustees  of  the 
Academy  and  he  was  the  commencement  poet  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa 
Society  in  1875,  and  delivered  the  commencement  poem  before  the 
Dartmouth  Alumni  in  1877. 


GEORGE  AUGUSTUS  MARDEN 

At  an  early  period  of  his  career  Mr.  Harden  was  taught  the  shoe- 
maker's trade  by  his  father,  working  at  this  trade  at  intervals  while 
he  was  fitting  for  college  and  during  college  vacations.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  Civil  War,  Mr.  Marden  enlisted  in  November,  1861,  as 
a  private  in  Company  G,  second  regiment  of  the  United  States  Sharp- 
shooters. Subsequently  transferred  to  the  first  regiment  of  Sharp- 
shooters, April,  1862,  he  was  made  second  sergeant  and  continued 
with  this  regiment  during  the  Peninsula  Campaign.  On  July  10  of 
the  same  year  he  was  made  first  lieutenant  and  regimental  quarter- 
master and  served  in  that  capacity  until  June  1,  1863,  when  he 
became  acting  assistant  adjutant-general  of  the  third  brigade,  third 
division  of  the  third  corps.  He  served  in  this  position  through 
Chancellorsville,  Gettysburg  and  Wapping  Heights,  and  was  then 
ordered  to  Rikers'  Island,  New  York,  on  detached  service.  Soon 
after,  at  his  own  request,  he  was  sent  back  to  his  regiment  remain- 
ing there  until  mustered  out  in  1864. 

Returning  to  New  Hampshire  Mr.  Marden  entered  a  law  office  at 
Concord  to  study  law.  He  also  wrote  for  the  Concord  Daily  Monitor. 
In  November,  1865,  he  located  in  Charleston,  West  Virginia,  and 
purchased  a  weekly  paper,  the  Kanaivha  Republican,  editing  it  dur- 
ing 1866,  when  he  again  returned  to  New  Hampshire  to  engage  in 
editing  and  compiling  a  history  of  each  of  the  military  organizations 
of  the  State  during  the  Civil  War.  Meanwhile  he  wrote  for  the  Concord 
Monitor  and  was  the  Concord  correspondent  of  the  Boston  Advertiser. 
On  January  1,  1867,  he  became  the  assistant  editor  of  the  Boston 
paper,  and  in  September,  conjointly  with  his  classmate.  Major  E.  T. 
Rowell,  he  purchased  the  Lowell  Daily  Courier,  and  the  Lowell 
Weekly  Journal,  both  of  which  he  conducted  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  In  1892  the  partnership  of  twenty-five  years  was  superseded 
by  a  stock  corporation  known  as  the  Lowell  Courier  Publishing  Com- 
pany, the  two  proprietors  retaining  their  interest.  Since  1895  the 
Courier  Company  has  been  united  with  the  Citizen  Company,  under 
the  caption,  the  Courier-Citizen  Company.  The  Citizen  was  made  a 
one  cent  morning  paper,  and  Mr.  Marden  edited  both  publications. 

Mr.  Marden  cast  his  first  vote  for  President  Lincoln.  After  1867 
there  was  no  election,  state  or  national,  that  he  did  not  serve 
his  party  by  public  speech.  In  1896,  with  several  notable  men,  he 
campaigned  in  the  Middle  West,  traveling  some  eight  thousand  miles 
through  fifteen  States  and  addressed  upwards  of  a  million  people.   On 


GEORGE  AUGUSTUS  MARDEN 

great  occasions  of  patriotism  he  has  been  in  constant  demand  as  an 
orator.  He  has  been  prominent  in  Massachusetts  pubUc  life  since 
entering  the  Legislature  in  1873.  He  was  elected  speaker,  1S83 
and  1884,  making  a  notable  record  as  a  presiding  officer.  In  1885  he 
was  a  member  of  the  State  Senate.  In  1888  he  was  elected  treasurer 
and  receiver  general  of  the  Commonwealth  and  for  five  consecutive 
years,  the  constitutional  limit  of  right  to  this  office,  he  was  enthusi- 
astically elected  by  his  fellow  citizens.  He  was  a  delegate  to  Uie 
Republican  Convention  held  in  Chicago  in  1880  and  supported 
General  Grant  with  enthusiasm.  In  1899  President  McKinley  ap- 
pointed him  Assistant  United  States  Treasurer  at  Boston,  and  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  subsequently  appointed  him  for  a  second  term  of 
four  years. 

Mr.  Marden  was  married  in  Nashua,  New  Hampshire,  December 
10,  1867,  to  Mary  Porter  Fiske,  daughter  of  Deacon  David  Fiske,  of 
Nashua,  of  English  descent,  and  Harriet  Nourse,  of  Merrimack,  also 
of  English  lineage,  stretching  back  through  many  generations.  Mrs. 
Marden 's  ancestry  contains  many  notable  names  of  men  and  women 
who  have  made  substantial  impress  on  their  times.  There  were 
born  of  this  union  two  sons,  Philip  Sanford,  born  in  Lowell,  January 
12,  1874,  who  graduated  from  Dartmouth  College  in  1894,  and  from 
Harvard  Law  School  in  1898;  and  Robert  Fiske,  born  at  Lowell, 
June  14,  1876,  who  graduated  at  Dartmouth  in  1898. 

Mr.  Marden  was  an  unusual  man,  versatile,  strong,  able.  He  filled 
the  many  positions  he  was  called  to  occupy  with  credit  to  himself, 
and  honor  to  others.  He  was  a  citizen  of  the  higher  order;  keenly 
intelligent  and  profoundly  patriotic.  He  was  a  maker  of  friends, 
and  multitudes  loved  and  trusted  him.  His  eventful  life  closed 
December  19,  1906,  and  his  memory  is  cherished  by  all  who  knew 
him. 


WINTHROP  LIPPITT   MARVIN 

WINTHROP  LIPPITT  MARVIN,  of  Boston,  journalist  and 
author,  formerly  Civil  Service  Commissioner  of  Massachu- 
setts and  secretary  of  the  Merchant  Marine  Commission, 
was  born  on  May  15,  1863,  in  the  island  town  of  Newcastle  that  walls 
Portsmouth  Harbor  and  its  naval  station  from  the  sea,  and  forms 
the  eastward  end  of  the  brief  and  rugged  coast  of  New  Hampshire. 
The  Marvin  family  had  been  one  of  sea-loving  and  sea-faring  stock 
for  many  generations.  The  first  of  the  race  in  New  England  came 
from  his  island  home  of  Guernsey  in  the  English  Channel  and  sailed 
from  Newcastle  and  Portsmouth  in  the  deep  sea  fisheries  and  in  the 
carrying  trade  to  Virginia,  the  West  Indies  and  South  America. 
These  voyages  in  the  fishing  craft  to  Newfoundland  and  Labrador 
and  in  the  freighting  ships  far  southward  continued  to  be  pursued 
in  the  Marvin  name  so  long  as  the  industry  remained  active  and 
prosperous  beneath  the  American  flag.  Captain  William  Marvin, 
succeeding  to  the  business  of  his  uncle,  Captain  Thomas  Ellison 
Oliver,  whose  career  as  sailor,  ship  owner  and  merchant  reads  like 
a  romance,  had  a  considerable  fleet  engaged  in  this  characteristic 
New  England  commerce  down  to  and  during  the  Civil  War. 

Winthrop  Lippitt  Marvin  is  the  grandson  of  Captain  William 
Marvin,  and  the  oldest  son  of  Colonel  Thomas  Ellison  Oliver  Marvin 
and  Anna  Lippitt  Marvin.  His  boyhood  was  passed  at  his  parent's 
home  in  Portsmouth,  where  his  father.  Colonel  Marvin,  was  long  an 
active  man  of  affairs  and  mayor  of  the  city  in  1872  and  1873.  Ports- 
mouth in  those  years  was  still  a  ship-building  and  ship-owning  com- 
munity, launching  and  sailing  not  only  coast  craft  but  swift  and 
stately  East  Indiamen,  and  Winthrop  Marvin  in  childhood  was  more 
keenly  interested  in  the  sea  and  its  life  than  in  anything  else,  though 
he  was  an  attentive  student  in  the  Portsmouth  schools  and  an  eager 
reader  of  the  books  in  his  father's  library  and  the  old  Portsmouth 
Athenaeum.  His  mother,  a  native  of  New  York,  and  a  member  of 
the  Lippitt  family  that  came  from  England  in  the  early  settlement  of 


•\f' 


p 


WINTHROP   LIPPITT  MARVIN 

Rhode  Island,  encouraged  the  scholarly  ambitions  of  her  son,  and 
persuaded  him  to  turn  from  the  sea  to  college. 

After  a  careful  preparation  in  the  Portsmouth  High  School  and 
the  Roxbury  Latin  School,  Mr.  Marvin  entered  Tufts  College,  and 
graduated  with  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  1884.  Resolved  to  write,  he 
had  directed  his  college  course  to  that  end,  pursuing  especially 
economics,  history  and  literature.  His  first  journalistic  work  was 
done  while  still  an  undergraduate,  for  the  Boston  Transcript  and  the 
Boston  Advertiser,  and  throughout  his  senior  year  he  served  as  a 
regular  city  reporter  on  the  Advertiser,  then  edited  by  Mr.  Edwin  M. 
Bacon.  A  few  weeks  after  graduation  ]\Ir.  Marvin  became  the  night 
city  editor  of  the  Advertiser,  and  in  a  few  months  assistant  night 
editor.  In  March,  1886,  he  resigned  from  the  Advertiser  to  join  the 
staff  of  the  Boston  Journal,  as  New  England  news  editor. 

In  1887  Colonel  William  W.  Clapp,  editor  and  pubhsher  of  the 
Journal,  appointed  Mr.  Marvin  an  editorial  writer.  For  sixteen 
years  thereafter  Mr.  Marvin  gave  his  main  attention  to  the  editorial 
department  of  the  Journal,  in  which  he  became  in  1895  chief  editorial 
writer  and  associate  editor.  As  an  editor  Mr.  Marvin  has  always 
believed  in  leading  rather  than  in  following  public  opinion.  His  first 
active  and  aggressive  editorial  work,  in  1887  and  the  years  following, 
was  the  advocacy  of  a  strong  navy,  in  which  New  England  has  a 
vital  interest.  A  thoroughgoing  civil  service  reformer,  an  earnest 
protectionist  —  maintaining  that  a  prosperous  home  trade  is  the 
best  possible  basis  for  a  great  foreign  trade  —  and  a  champion  of  a 
resolute  and  just  foreign  policy,  an  efficient  army  and  stout  coast 
defenses,  he  gave  positive  expression  to  these  views  year  after  year 
in  the  columns  of  the  Journal,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
these  ideas  more  and  more  completely  accepted  by  New  England 
and  the  Nation  and  embodied  in  the  laws  and  practice  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

Not  only  as  an  editorial  writer  but  as  a  contributor  to  magazines, 
Mr.  Marvin  has  dealt  constantly  with  large  public  questions,  especially 
with  those  relating  to  the  ocean  and  its  ships  of  war  and  ships  of 
commerce.  In  1902  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  of  New  York,  published 
an  important  work  written  by  Mr.  Marvin,  "The  American  Mer- 
chant Marine:  Its  History  and  Romance,"  which  has  been  com- 
mended as  the  most  authoritative  book  upon  this  subject,  and  a 
graphic  and  stirring  narrative. 


WINTHROP   LIPPITT  MARVIN 

While  busily  engaged  in  his  editorial  duties  Mr.  Marvin  was 
honored  in  1901  by  Governor  (now  Senator)  Winthrop  Murray  Crane, 
with  appointment  as  the  Boston  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Civil 
Service  Commission.  Two  years  later  when  the  Boston  Journal 
passed  to  a  new  ownership  and  the  editor  and  publisher,  Mr.  Stephen 
O'Meara,  and  those  long  associated  with  him  retired  from  control, 
Mr.  Marvin  resigned  the  editorial  chair  which  he  had  held  since  1887, 
to  take  up  more  directly  the  advocacy  of  the  interests  of  the  mer- 
chant marine.  As  secretary  of  the  Merchant  Marine  Commission, 
established  by  Congress  on  the  recommendation  of  President  Roose- 
velt, Mr.  Marvin  was  engaged  in  1904  and  1905  in  the  thorough  and 
impartial  inquiry  which  this  commission  made  into  the  decline  of  our 
ocean  shipping,  and  the  best  methods  of  upbuilding  it,  and  he  has 
since  been  active  in  keeping  this  great  and  urgent  question,  involving 
not  only  our  commerce  but  our  defense,  before  the  attention  of 
Congress  and  the  country. 

In  1903  Tufts  College,  his  alma  mater,  gave  to  Mr.  Marvin  the 
honorary  degree  of  Litt.D.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa; 
Theta  Delta  Chi;  National  Geographic  Society;  Massachusetts  Club; 
Home  Market  Club;  Republican  Club  of  Massachusetts  and  Ports- 
mouth Yacht  Club. 

Mr.  Marvin  was  married  in  1885  to  Miss  Nellie  Meloon,  of  Ports- 
mouth, New  Hampshire,  and  he  has  two  sons,  David  Patterson  and 
Theodore  Winthrop,  and  one  daughter,  Anna  Barbara.  His  resi- 
dence is  at  Newton ville  and  his  ofhce  at  131  State  Street,  Boston. 


Mi^rx    of    Mark     m  Ma 


i/y^rt:i^  o^-  cyH 


ROBERT  McNEIL  MORSE 

ROBERT  McNEIL  MORSE,  lawyer,  was  bom  in  Boston, 
August  11,  1837.  His  father,  Robert  McNeil  Morse,  was 
a  son  of  Ebeneza  and  Henrietta  H.  (Sciverly)  Morse,  grand- 
son of  Rev.  Ebeneza  and  Perses  (Bush)  Morse  and  a  descendant  from 
Samuel  Morse  who  came  from  England  to  New  England  in  1635 
and  settled  soon  after  in  Dedham,  where  he  was  treasurer  and  select- 
man, 1640-42.  Robert  NcMeil  Morse,  Sr.,  was  a  respected  merchant 
in  Boston.  He  married  Sarah  Maria,  daughter  of  Fessenden  and 
Nabby  (Nyo)  Clark,  of  Boston,  a  descendant  from  Thomas  Clark, 
who  came  to  Plymouth  about  1630. 

Robert  McNeil  Morse,  Jr.,  was  prepared  for  college  in  private 
schools  and  the  Jamaica  Plain  High  School  and  was  graduated  at 
Harvard,  A.B.,  1857.  He  began  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of 
Hutchins  &  Wheeler  in  Boston  in  1857-58;  was  teacher  in  the  Eliot 
High  School,  Jamaica  Plain,  1858-59  and  in  March,  1859,  entered 
the  Harvard  Law  School  where  he  was  a  student  for  two  terms.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar  upon  examination  in  February,  1860. 
He  and  his  classmate,  the  late  John  C.  Ropes,  began  practice  together, 
but  later  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Charles  P.  Greenough,  which 
continued  for  several  years.  Mr.  Morse  early  took  a  leading  position 
in  the  State  and  United  States  courts  and  there  have  been  few  im- 
portant trials  in  Massachusetts  for  the  last  forty  years  in  which  he 
has  not  been  engaged,  while  the  record  of  his  arguments  before  the 
Supreme  Court  extends  from  the  third  volume  of  Allen's  Reports, 
published  in  1862,  to  the  present  time,  one  hundred  and  nine  vol- 
umes in  all,  and  includes  a  large  proportion  of  the  most  important 
cases. 

Among  the  famous  causes  which  he  has  conducted  are  Wilson  v. 
Moen,  the  Armstrong,  Codman,  Hayes,  Wentworth,  Houghton  and 
Crocker  will  cases,  suits  involving  the  value  of  water  supplies  for 
Braintree,  Quincy,  Brookline,  Lynn,  Newburyport,  Gloucester,  Fra- 
mingham,  Falmouth,  Hyde  Park  and  other  cities  and  towns  and  of 


ROBERT  McNEIL   MORSE 

lands  taken  for  park  and  other  public  purposes  and  much  complex 
litigation  affecting  gas,  telephone,  banking,  railway  and  other  cor- 
porations. 

He  has  avoided  political  life,  but  he  was  State  Senator  in  1866 
and  1867,  and  Representative  in  1880.  While  in  the  Senate  he 
introduced  and  carried  through  the  bill  for  the  repeal  of  the  usury 
laws  and  was  chairman  of  the  special  committee  on  the  prohibi- 
tory law  before  which  John  A.  Andrew  appeared  to  favor  its  repeal 
and  he  made  the  report  providing  for  a  license  law.  In  the  House 
he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  the  judiciary  and  was  promi- 
nent in  securing  the  revision  of  the  general  laws  known  as  the  Public 
Statutes,  the  grant  of  the  land  on  which  the  Boston  Public  Library 
was  built  and  the  enactment  of  the  first  law  authorizing  a  great 
capitalization  of  the  Bell  Telephone  Company. 

In  1880  he  was  a  delegate  from  the  Eighth  Congressional  District 
to  the  Republican  National  Convention  at  Chicago.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  board  of  overseers  of  Harvard  University,  from  1880 
to  1899,  and  of  the  Union,  University,  St.  Botolph,  Apollo,  Uni- 
tarian and  Country  Clubs  of  Boston  and  of  the  Harvard  Club,  New 
York,  serving  as  vice-president  of  the  Union  and  University  Clubs 
and  as  president  of  the  Unitarian  and  Apollo  Clubs. 

He  was  married  November  12,  1863,  to  Anna  Eliza,  daughter 
of  James  L.  and  Jerusha  A.  Gorham,  of  Jamaica  Plain,  and  they  have 
had  seven  children:  Mabel,  born  August  10,  1864;  Arthur  Gorham, 
born  October  15,  1865,  died  October  15,  1866;  Harold,  born  Septem- 
ber 13,  1866,  died  September,  1868;  Alice  Gorham,  born  November 
19,  1867;  Sarah  Clark,  born  August  12,  1872;  Robert  Gorham,  born 
August  23,  1874  (H.  C,  1896);  Margaret  Fessenden,  born  November 
28,  1877. 


WILLIAM   HENRY  NILES 

IN  the  village  of  Orford,  New  Hampshire,  December  22,  1839,  is 
the  record  of  the  birth  of  this  well-known  man,  and  Mr.  Niles 
points  with  pride  to  the  fact  that  both  he  and  his  wife,  their 
parents  and  grandparents  and  great -grandparents  were  born  in  the 
old  Granite  State. 

Samuel  Wales  Niles,  the  father  of  William  Henry  Niles,  was  born 
August  22,  1798,  and  died  December  6,  1843.  His  mother's  name  was 
Eunice  Newell.  The  earliest  paternal  ancestor  of  the  family,  so  far  as 
known,  was  one  John  Niles,  born  in  Wales  about  1603,  settling  in 
Braintree,  Massachusetts,  in  1640.  He  is  believed  to  be  the  ancestor 
of  all  persons  bearing  the  name  of  Niles  in  America.  Nathaniel 
Niles,  great-grandfather  of  William,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  as  was  also  John  Niles,  the  grandfather,  the  former 
serving  as  a  lieutenant.  The  father,  Samuel  Niles,  was  much  inter- 
ested in  religion,  zealous  in  promoting  agriculture,  and  deeply  in- 
terested in  all  the  affairs  of  his  town. 

When  not  in  school,  William  Henry  Niles  worked  at  farming  dur- 
ing the  years  of  his  youth,  always  filling  his  vacations  in  this  manner. 
He  testifies  that  the  habits  of  industry  then  acquired  have  aided 
all  through  life.  In  speaking  of  the  influence  of  his  mother,  he 
affirms  emphatically  that  in  morality,  industry  and  thrift,  she 
helped  him  greatly. 

It  was  with  much  difficulty  that  Mr.  Niles  succeeded  in  gaining 
an  education,  but  by  persistence  and  industry  he  was  able  to  progress 
from  day  to  day  and  is  still  an  earnest  student  in  the  line  of  his  pro- 
fession. Beside  the  training  he  received  at  the  public  school  he 
studied  four  years  with  the  Rev.  R.  W.  Smith,  four  years  at  Provi- 
dence Conference  Seminary,  and  pursued  a  course  in  law  under  the 
direction  of  Caleb  Blodgett,  late  Justice  of  the  Superior  Court, 

Mr.  Niles  began  the  practice  of  his  profession,  the  law,  in  Lynn, 
Massachusetts,  and  occupies  still  the  office  on  the  ground  where  first 
he  began  practice.     He  has  never  regretted  that  he  entered  upon 


WILLIAM   HENRY  NILES 

this  line  of  work,  to  which  he  was  strongly  influenced  by  the  advice 
of  Justice  Blodgett. 

Mr.  Niles  has  for  several  years  been  president  of  the  Essex  Bar 
Association  and  still  retains  that  honorable  position.  He  is  also 
a  member  of  the  American  Bar  Association,  a  director  of  the  Manu- 
facturer's National  Bank  since  its  incorporation  in  1891,  and  served 
also  several  years  as  member  of  board  of  education  of  the  cit}''  of 
Lynn.     In  politics,  Mr,  Niles  is  a  Republican. 

For  recreation  Mr.  Niles  inclines  to  out-of-door  life  and  finds 
great  help  from  horseback  riding  and  driving,  and  the  general  in- 
terest and  activity  of  country  life.  In  this  way  he  renews  himself 
physically  and  mentally,  and  so  is  able  to  carry  on  his  exacting  pro- 
fessional and  other  labors  without  breaking  of  health  or  impairment 
of  faculties. 

Mr.  Niles  was  married  September  19,  1865,  to  Harriet  A.,  daughter 
of  Lorenzo  D.  Day  and  Harriet  Stevens  Day,  granddaughter  of 
Manley  and  Lavina  Stevens.  From  this  union  three  children  were 
born,  all  daughters.  They  all  married  and  are  Mrs.  Florence  Moulton, 
Mrs.  Grace  Henderson  and  Mrs.  Ethel  Farquhar. 

Residing  at  Lynn,  Mr.  Niles  enjoys  the  returns  of  a  successful, 
well-spent  life.  He  is  still  actively  engaged  in  his  professional 
duties  and  each  day  finds  him  at  his  desk  in  his  well-known  office. 
So  with  friends  and  clients  and  the  blessings  of  a  happy  family,  he 
passes  his  days  with  the  feeling  that  each  one  counts  much  in  the 
making  of  his  life  successful  in  the  best  way,  because  each  day  is  a 
real  contribution  to  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  others. 

The  old  adage,  "The  safety  of  the  throne  is  the  welfare  of  the 
people"  may  be  paraphrased  by  saying  the  safety  of  the  Republic 
is  in  the  probity,  uprightness  and  industrious  thrift  of  the  people. 
Here  we  have  a  fine  example  of  this  type  and  can  well  hope  that 
many  like  him  may  arise  in  days  to  come  for  the  security  and  pros- 
perity of  the  Nation  we  cherish. 


-%<^^-^^a/©J^^/l-^^''^' 


f?  ■ 


ROBERT    TREAT    PAINE 

ROBERT  TREAT  PAINE,  lawyer,  publicist  and  philan- 
thropist, was  born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  October  28, 
1835.  His  father,  Charles  Gushing  Paine,  was  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1827,  and  practised  law  in  Boston,  He  was  the  son  of 
Charles  and  Sarah  Sumner  (Cushing)  Paine;  grandson  of  Robert 
Treat  and  Sally  (Cobb)  Paine  and  of  Charles  and  Elizabeth  (Sumner) 
Cushing,  and  married  Fanny  Cabot,  daughter  of  Judge  Charles  Jack- 
son (1775-1855).  Robert  Treat  Paine  (1731-1814),  the  Signer,  was 
a  noted  jurist,  a  founder  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and 
Sciences  of  Boston,  and  he  married  Sally,  daughter  of  Thomas  and 
Lydia  (Leonard)  Cobb  and  sister  of  Gen.  David  Cobb,  aide-de-camp 
to  General  Washington,  and  major-general  of  Massachusetts  militia 
in  Shay's  rebellion.  The  Signer's  father,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Paine, 
was  pastor  of  the  church  at  Weymouth,  and  subsequently  a  mer- 
chant in  Boston,  married  Eunice,  daughter  of  Rev.  Samuel  and 
Abigail  (Willard)  Treat,  granddaughter  of  Robert  Treat  (1622-1710) 
lieutenant-governor  and  governor  of  Connecticut  for  thirty  years; 
prominent  in  the  Charter  Oak  incident  and  as  commander  of  the 
Connecticut  forces  in  protecting  the  settlers  of  western  Massachusetts 
during  King  Philip's  War,  and  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Willard,  colleague 
of  the  Old  South  Church,  Boston,  vice-president  of  Harvard  College, 
1700-01,  acting  president  from  the  retirement  of  President  Cotton 
Mather  to  January  14,  1701.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Paine  was  the  son 
of  James  Paine,  a  member  of  the  expedition  against  Canada  in  1694, 
and  grandson  of  Thomas  Paine  of  Eastham,  an  only  son  who  with 
his  father,  Thomas  Paine  the  elder,  emigrated  (according  to  tra- 
dition) from  the  North  of  England  in  1624,  and  settled  on  Cape  Cod. 
Robert  Treat  Paine  is  also  descended  from  Richard  Willard, 
who  came  from  England  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Concord  in 
1634;  of  Austin  Cobb,  who  received  a  deed  of  a  farm  in  Taunton, 
Massachusetts  in  1679;  of  Jonathan  Jackson;  and  of  James  Tyng,  of 
Tyngsboro,  Massachusetts.     His  childhood  was  spent,  six  months 


ROBERT  TREAT  PAINE 

in  Boston  and  six  months  in  the  country  at  Beverly,  Massachusetts, 
and  he  was  carefully  nurtured  by  a  wise  and  prudent  mother,  who 
permanently  shaped  both  his  intellectual  and  his  moral  and  spiritual 
life.  He  was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Boston  Latin  School,  gradu- 
ating at  the  age  of  fifteen  and  entering  Harvard  the  same  year.  He 
shared  the  honor  of  the  head  of  his  class  with  Francis  C.  Barlow,  and 
in  the  class  were  Alexander  Agassiz,  Phillips  Brooks,  Theodore  Ly- 
man, James  Tyndall  Mitchell,  Frank  B.  Sanborn  and  others,  since 
famous  in  the  world  of  letters,  science,  law,  theology  and  medicine. 
His  father,  both  grandfathers,  his  four  great-grandfathers  and 
fourteen  earlier  ancestors  were  graduates  of  Harvard.  He  was  led 
to  practise  law  through  his  own  inclination,  the  influence  of  his 
parents  and  the  tradition  of  the  family.  He  studied  law  for  one  year, 
1855-56,  at  the  Harvard  Law  School,  then  passed  two  years,  1856  and 
1857,  in  travel  and  study  in  Europe  and  on  his  return  entered  the 
law  office  of  Richard  H.  Dana  and  Francis  E.  Parker,  of  Boston,  and 
in  1859  he  was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar.  He  practised  law  in 
Boston,  1859-72,  and  when  he  retired  in  1872  to  take  up  philan- 
thropic work  he  was  possessed  of  sufficent  wealth  to  enable  him  to 
fully  gratify  his  wishes  in  that  direction.  Writing  of  this  purpose 
and  the  impulse  that  prompted  it  Mr.  Paine  says:  ''I  cannot  remem- 
ber the  time  when  I  did  not  have  a  strong  desire  to  make  my  life 
useful."  His  zealous  churchmanship  pointed  out  various  ways  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  his  fellow  man  and  his  experience  as  a  worker 
in  the  missions  where  he  was  a  lay-reader  prompted  many  of  his 
future  benefactions.  He  had  been  made  a  member  of  the  sub- 
committee of  three  to  direct  the  building  of  Trinity  Church,  of  which 
he  was  a  vestryman  from  1874,  becoming  junior  warden  in  1904.  He 
was  most  active  in  raising  funds  and  buying  the  land  that  made 
possible  the  present  Trinity  Church,  at  the  time  of  its  completion 
pronounced  to  be  the  noblest  ecclesiastical  edifice  in  America.  The 
inspiration  of  Phillips  Brooks,  the  rector,  the  skill  and  artistic  dis- 
cernment of  H.  H.  Richardson,  Massachusetts'  great  architect,  and 
the  industry,  persistence  and  financial  judgment  of  Mr.  Paine,  were 
the  three  most  powerful  forces  that  accomplished  this  great  work. 
Mr.  Paine  was  elected  the  first  president  of  the  Associated  Chari- 
ties of  Boston,  when  that  movement  took  shape  in  1879;  was  made 
a  trustee  of  the  Episcopal  Theological  School  at  Cambridge,  Massa- 
chusetts in  1883,  and  served  as  president  from  1898.     He  was  elected 


ROBERT  TREAT  PAINE 

president  of  the  American  Peace  Society  in  1891 .  His  work  in  behalf 
of  working  men  and  women  began  to  take  institutional  form  in  1878, 
when  he  was  chiefly  instrumental  in  organizing  the  Wells  Memorial 
Institute  in  Boston  and  in  1890,  he  built  the  Peoples  Institute  for 
Working  Men  and  Women  in  Boston.  In  1888  he  established  the 
Workingmen's  Building  Association  and  the  Workingmen's  Loan 
Association  in  connection  with  the  Wells  Memorial  Institute  and  held 
the  office  of  president  of  the  last  four-named  corporations  from  their 
beginning.  He  also  organized  the  Workingmen's  Cooperative  Bank, 
of  Boston,  and  served  as  its  president  from  its  organization  in  1880 
up  to  1903.  He  also  built  more  than  two  hundred  small  houses 
for  working  men  and  sold  them  at  moderate  prices  and  on  easy 
credits.  In  1887  he  endowed  the  Robert  Treat  Paine  Fellowship  in 
Social  Science  with  $10,000  at  Harvard  College  for  "the  study  of 
ethical  problems  of  society;  the  effects  of  legislation;  governmental 
administration  and  private  philanthropy;  to  ameliorate  the  lot  of 
the  mass  of  mankind"  and  in  1890  together  with  his  wife  he  estab- 
lished a  trust  of  about  $200,000,  called  the  Robert  Treat  Paine  Asso- 
ciation, to  maintain  institutes  for  working  people;  to  provide  model 
houses  for  working  people;  and  otherwise  to  improve  their  condition. 
He  could  not  content  himself  by  giving  away  at  his  death  what  he 
could  no  longer  use,  and  so  had  the  pleasure  of  bestowing  his  wealth 
while  living,  and  witnessing  the  ripening  fruit  of  his  benevolence. 

He  represented  the  town  of  Waltham  in  the  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts  in  1884.  His  club  membership  included  the  Twen- 
tieth Century,  Round  Table;  Thursday  Evening;  Union  University 
and  St.  Botolph  Clubs,  of  Boston;  and  the  Reform  and  City  Clubs,  of 
New  York  City.  He  was  a  Republican  in  political  faith  up  to  1884, 
when  "the  Democratic  national  platform  seemed  more  patriotic  and 
I  could  not  follow  Mr.  Blaine  and  from  that  time  was  classed  as  a 
Democrat,  but  was  always  independent."  He  was  the  unsuccessful 
Democratic  and  Independent  candidate  for  Representative  from 
Massachusetts  to  the  Forty-ninth  Congress  in  1884. 

He  was  married  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  April  24,  1862,  to 
Lydia  Williams,  daughter  of  George  Williams  and  Anne  (Pratt) 
Lyman,  of  Boston;  and  of  the  seven  children  born  of  the  marriage 
five  were  living  in  1908,  the  mother  dying  early  in  1897.  The  eldest, 
Edith  Paine,  married  John  H.  Storer;  Robert  Treat  Paine,  Jr.,  a 
trustee  and  associated  w^ith  his  father  in  philanthropic  work  was  the 


ROBERT  TREAT  PAINE 

unsuccessful  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  for  governor  of 
Massachusetts,  in  1903;  George  Lyman  Paine  became  a  clergyman 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church;  Lydia  Lyman  Paine  married 
Charles  K.  Cummings,  and  as  both  sons  also  married,  the  grand- 
father rejoices  in  a  troop  of  fourteen  grandchildren.  Mr.  Paine's 
published  writings  embrace  seventy  subjects,  issued  as  pamphlets,  in- 
cluding reports,  addresses,  papers,  discussions,  leaflets  and  circulars 
issued  between  1868  and  1908.  His  biography  has  been  published  in 
"One  of  a  Thousand"  (1890);  "Boston  of  To-day"  (1892);  "Massa- 
chusetts of  To-day"  (1893);  "Professional  and  Industrial  History 
of  Suffolk  County"  (1894);  "Men  of  Progress"  (1896);  "Judiciary 
and  Bar  of  Massachusetts"  (1898);  "Representative  Men  of  Massa- 
chusetts" (1898);  "Who's  Who  in  America"  (1899);  "Universities 
and  their  Sons"  (1900);  "Lamb's  Biographical  Dictionary  of  the 
United  States"  (1902);  "Contemporary  American  Biography" 
(1902).  To  young  men  he  offers  the  following  suggestions  as  gath- 
ered from  his  own  experience:  "I  should  say  that  in  1872  and  there- 
after the  conviction  was  forced  upon  my  mind  that  we  only  have 
this  life  in  this  world  once,  and  that  I  was  not  willing  to  devote  it  to 
business  when  noble  uses  of  it  could  be  found  to  make  the  world  a 
bit  happier  around  me.  In  carrying  out  these  aims  my  life  has  been 
very  happy.  No  man  should  be  so  absorbed  in  the  business  affairs 
of  life  that  he  cannot  devote  some  share  of  his  interest  and  energy 
in  other  and  nobler  directions." 


^,,  i-.jrs  ««:-- 


FRED  STARK   PEARSON 

THERE  are  so  many  examples  of  men  winning  success  in 
spite  of  obstacles,  that  a  father  who  should  wish  to  see  his 
sons  evolving  sterling  character  might  well  pray  not  for  a 
fortune  to  distribute  among  them  but  for  difficulties  to  be  overcome. 
If  a  young  man  has  ability  and  health  and  a  good  start  in  the  path 
of  education  nothing  else  seems  to  be  needed.  A  most  striking  illus- 
tration of  this  principle  is  afforded  by  the  career  of  Fred  Stark  Pear- 
son, who  has  risen  to  the  very  top  of  his  profession,  and  though  a 
comparatively  young  man,  has  won  fame  and  fortune. 

He  was  born  on  the  third  of  July,  1861,  at  Lowell,  Massachusetts^ 
where  his  father,  Ambrose  Pearson,  a  well-known  railway  engineer, 
was  temporarily  settled  while  employed  on  the  Boston  and  Lowell 
Railroad.  Through  his  father,  Ambrose,  his  grandfather,  Caleb, 
and  his  great  grandfather,  Thomas,  he  was  descended  from  John 
Pearson,  who  emigrated  from  Yorkshire,  England,  in  1637,  and 
settled  in  Salem  Colony. 

His  mother  was  Hannah,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Eliza  Edgerly. 
He  began  his  education  in  the  primary  schools  of  his  native  town, 
but  as  his  father,  on  account  of  his  professional  work  in  the  con- 
struction of  railways,  not  only  in  New  England  but  also  in  the 
Western  States,  was  frequently  obliged  to  change  his  residence,  his 
schooling  was  continued  in  various  places.  Between  the  age  of 
eleven  and  fourteen  he  was  at  Wilton,  New  Hampshire,  and  there 
his  father  died  in  1876. 

Fred,  the  elder  son,  had  up  to  this  time  cherished  the  intention  of 
pursuing  a  college  career,  but  his  hopes  were  dashed  by  this  bereave- 
ment as  he  found  that  the  support  of  his  widowed  mother  and  younger 
brother  devolved  largely  upon  him.  They  removed  from  Wilton 
to  Charlestown,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  secured  the  position  of 
station-master  at  Medford  Hillside  on  the  Boston  and  Lowell  Rail- 
road. His  family  moved  to  Medford  for  his  greater  convenience, 
since  the  work  began  before  six-twenty  in  the  morning  when  the  first 


FRED   STARK   PEARSON 

train  left  for  Boston  and  the  last  one  left  at  ten-twenty  in  the  evening. 
The  duties  were  not  very  arduous  as  there  was  no  freight  service  or 
telegraph  station  at  that  point.  It  occurred  to  him  after  he  had 
enjoyed  a  year's  experience  as  station-agent  that  he  might  utilize 
the  spare  moments  between  trains  to  continue  his  studies.  Tufts 
College  was  situated  less  than  a  mile  from  Medford  Hillside  station, 
and  he  went  to  President  Capen  and  asked  if  he  could  be  permitted 
to  attend  classes  and,  when  the  train-duties  called  him  away,  allowed 
to  leave  the  class-room  so  as  to  be  at  the  station  to  sell  tickets.  The 
intervals  between  trains  varied  from  forty  minutes  to  an  hour  and  a 
quarter.  The  president  and  Faculty,  liking  the  young  man's  spirit 
and  enterprise,  granted  his  request,  and  for  two  college  years  he 
attended  classes,  every  day  walking  seven  times  each  way  between 
the  station  and  the  recitation  rooms.  He  has  never  ceased  to  hold 
in  grateful  remembrance  the  cordial  and  friendly  interest  manifested 
by  the  members  of  the  Faculty  whose  recitations  he  attended,  and 
attributes  no  small  part  of  his  success  to  the  education  which  he 
thus  acquired  and  which  he  would  have  been  unable  to  acquire  had 
his  somewhat  unusual  request  been  refused. 

He  devoted  his  attention  principally  to  chemistry  and  at  first 
intended  to  adopt  that  branch  of  science  as  his  profession.  He  be- 
came extremely  proficient  and  at  the  end  of  two  years  was  offered 
a  position  as  instructor  in  qualitative  analysis  and  assistant  to  Pro- 
fessor William  Ripley  Nichols  at  the  chemical  laboratories  of  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology.  He  held  this  position  for  a 
year,  and  then  wishing  to  obtain  a  broader  education  he  decided  to 
return  to  Tufts  College  and  follow  the  course  of  civil  engineering. 
As  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  earn  his  own  living  besides  heljDing 
his  family  during  all  the  time  required  for  this  course,  he  applied 
for  the  position  of  post-master  of  the  station  at  College  Hill.  He 
was  still  under  age  and  was  therefore  incapable,  in  accordance  with 
the  postal  regulations,  of  holding  this  office,  but  it  was  secured  for 
him  in  his  mother's  name.  Here,  though  the  salary  was  not  large 
the  duties  were  not  exacting  and  he  had  plenty  of  time  to  pursue  his 
studies.  With  no  less  zeal  and  energy  than  he  had  shown  in  his 
other  undertakings  he  now  took  up  the  course  of  civil  engineering 
and  by  dint  of  arduous  work  succeeded  in  accomplishing  the  three 
years'  course  in  two,  graduating  in  1883  with  a  "  smnma  cum  laude," 
and  receiving  the  degree  of  civil  engineer.     During  this  time  he  de- 


FRED   STARK   PEARSON 

voted  his  attention  especially  to  higher  mathematics,  in  which  science 
he  showed  remarkable  aptitude  and  took  the  keenest  interest. 
This  resulted  in  his  being  offered  the  position  of  Walker  Instructor  of 
Mathematics  in  Tufts.  He  decided  to  accept  this  and  for  three 
years  held  it,  still  continuing  his  studies  in  electrical  and  mining 
engineering  and  mathematics,  so  that  in  1884  he  received  the  degree 
of  Electrical  Engineer  and  the  following  year  that  of  Master  of  Arts. 

He  now  abandoned  his  academic  position  to  take  up  a  more 
active  line  of  work.  He  found  his  opportunity  right  at  hand.  The 
Somerville  Electric  Light  Company  was  just  organizing  and  his 
training  adapted  him  to  become  a  valuable  factor  in  the  installation 
of  all  its  practical  appliances.  He  was  appointed  its  general  manager. 
His  success  in  this  new  position  attracted  attention  and  he  was 
shortly  afterwards  asked  to  assist  in  establishing  the  Woburn  Electric 
Light  Company.  Here  again  he  proved  his  extraordinary  ability  both 
as  an  organizer  and  a  practical  worker  in  the  newly  developing  field  of 
electric  lighting  and  power.  At  this  time  Henry  M.  Whitney,  Esq., 
was  engaged  in  effecting  the  consolidation  of  the  numerous  lines  of  the 
West  End  Street  Railway  of  Boston,  IMassachusetts,  and  was  contem- 
plating the  installation  of  an  electric  equipment  for  the  entire  system. 

The  plan  was  almost  wholly  experimental,  its  universally  wide 
spread  success  and  adoption  since  being  one  of  the  scientific  miracles 
of  the  century.  But  then  only  one  or  two  comparatively  insignificant 
street  railways  in  this  country  had  tried  electricity  as  a  motive- 
power  and  of  course  only  on  a  small  scale.  But  Mr.  Whitney  found 
in  the  young  Tufts  College  instructor  the  very  man  whom  he  had 
been  searching  for  and  at  once  engaged  him  as  chief  engineer  to 
undertake  this  tremendous  task.  Before  a  year  had  elapsed  his 
perspicacity  had  been  completely  justified.  Mr.  Pearson  had  made 
himself  so  indispensable  that  he  was  Mr.  Whitney's  practical  partner 
as  chief  engineer  in  the  organization  of  the  first  great  electrical  street 
railway  system  in  the  world.  His  grasp  upon  the  multifarious  and 
complicated  details  and  his  extraordinary  intuition  in  foreseeing 
and  overcoming  difficulties  astonished  the  veteran  master  of  street 
railway  promotion,  and  Mr.  Whitney's  readiness  to  carry  out  in 
detail  any  suggestion  emanating  from  his  resourceful  assistant  at- 
tested the  confidence  which  the  elder  man  felt  in  the  superior  engineer- 
ing skill  of  the  younger. 

The  success  attaining  the  electrification  of  the  street  railways  of 


FRED   STARK   PEARSON 

Boston  was  properly  attributed  to  the  chief  engineer  and  he  was 
immediately  overwhelmed  with  most  flattering  offers  from  other 
cities  which  stood  in  need  of  his  help  under  similar  conditions.  He 
resigned  his  position  as  acting  engineer  and  became  consulting 
engineer  for  the  West  End  Street  Railway,  thus  being  free  for 
undertaking  similar  work  elsewhere.  In  1890  he  became  interested 
in  the  street  railway  company  of  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  and  organ- 
ized a  syndicate  for  the  purchase  of  this  property  and  for  its  electrical 
equipment.  While  engaged  in  this  enterprise  he  looked  into  the 
coal-mining  industry  of  the  province  and  saw  the  great  possibilities 
of  an  intelligent  and  scientific  exploitation  of  the  mines.  On  his 
return  to  Boston  he  laid  his  plans  before  Mr.  Whitney.  From  this 
resulted  the  organization  of  the  Dominion  Coal  Company,  with  Mr. 
Whitney  as  president  of  the  corporation  and  Mr.  Pearson  in  general 
charge  of  the  management.  As  soon  as  the  Dominion  Coal  Com- 
pany was  in  successful  running  order,  Mr.  Pearson  again  undertook 
the  business  of  general  consulting  engineer  and  was  employed  in 
this  capacity  by  the  street  railway  companies  of  Toronto,  Montreal, 
St.  John,  New  Brunswick  and  Winnipeg,  Manitoba.  He  was  also 
consulting  engineer  for  many  similar  enterprises  in  the  United  States, 
among  the  most  important  being  the  extensive  system  that  was 
planned  to  meet  the  needs  of  Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  now  con- 
solidated in  the  Brooklyn  Rapid  Transit  Company. 

His  reputation  crossed  the  Atlantic  and  he  was  summoned  to 
England  as  consulting  engineer  for  the  Birmingham  tramway  sys- 
tems and  was  also  engaged  by  the  municipality  to  report  on  the  tram- 
ways of  Liverpool.  From  there  he  was  recalled  to  New  York  City 
as  chief  engineer  of  the  Metropolitan  Street  Railway  Company.  Here 
he  developed  and  installed  the  underground  slotted  conduit  system 
which  is  now  in  use  there. 

His  next  summons  came  from  a  still  more  distant  country  than 
England.  He  was  asked  to  go  to  Sao  Paulo  in  Southern  Brazil, 
and  there  he  organized  the  Sao  Paulo  Tramway  Light  and  Power 
Company,  Limited.  In  connection  with  this  enterprise  he  con- 
structed at  a  distance  of  twenty  miles  from  the  city  a  large  hydraulic 
power  station  of  10,000  H.  P.  capacity,  which  furnishes  the  electric 
power  for  the  operation  of  the  street  railways,  electric  lights  and 
manufactories.  This  company  with  a  capitalization  of  $15,000,000 
has  been  a  most  successful  enterprise  from  the  start. 


FRED  STARK  PEARSON 

In  1903  he  was  called  to  Mexico  and  there  completed  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Mexican  Light  and  Power  Company,  for  which  he  superin- 
tended the  construction  of  an  immense  hydro-electric  plant  of 
48,000  H.  P.,  situated  about  one  hundred  miles  from  the  city  of 
Mexico,  to  which  power  is  transmitted  over  high  tension  lines.  This 
company  owns  all  of  the  electric  light  companies  in  the  city  and  is 
now  developing  a  second  station  of  about  50,000  H.  P.,  capacity,  the 
capacity  of  the  first  having  been  speedily  absorbed  by  the  power- 
consumers. 

Niagara  Falls  next  attracted  his  attention  and  he  was  engaged 
to  utilize  the  water-power  on  the  Canadian  side  of  the  river  for  the 
benefit  not  only  of  the  City  of  Toronto  eighty  miles  away,  but  also 
of  the  neighboring  places  in  Ontario.  His  experiences  in  Mexico 
and  Brazil  made  him  invaluable  as  consulting  engineer  in  charge  of 
the  great  enterprises  known  as  the  Toronto  and  Niagara  Falls  Trans- 
mission Company  and  the  Electrical  Development  Company  of  On- 
tario, for  which  he  designed  and  superintended  the  construction  of 
a  power-station,  planned  to  produce  125,000  H.  P.  He  was  also 
consulting  engineer  in  the  organization  and  construction  of  the 
Winnepeg  Power  Company  with  a  power-station  of  20,000  H.  P.,  and 
transmission  lines  sixty  miles  in  length.  At  the  same  time  he  was 
entrusted  with  engineering  projects  for  electric  light,  tramways  and 
power  in  many  other  cities  in  South  America,  Mexico  and  Canada. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  Mexico  Tramways  Company, 
controlling  the  entire  street  railway  system  of  the  City  of  Mexico. 

In  1904  he  completed  the  organization  of  the  Rio  de  Janeiro 
Tramway  Light  and  Power  Company  with  a  capitalization  of  $50,- 
000,000,  and  as  its  vice-president  has  had  charge  of  the  develop- 
ment of  this  great  enterprise.  This  company  controls  the  larger 
part  of  the  street  railway  systems  of  Rio  de  Janiero  as  well  as  of  the 
entire  electric  lighting  and  power  business  and  the  gas  and  telephone 
companies  of  that  great  and  flourishing  city,  and  has  constructed 
an  hydro-electric  power-station  of  50,000  H.  P.  capacity,  fifty-one 
miles  from  the  city  of  Rio,  to  which  the  power  is  delivered  by  means 
of  high  tension  transmission  lines. 

Probably  no  other  American  has  had  a  creative  hand  in  so  many 
immense  industrial  enterprises.  His  ability  was  recognized  by 
Tufts  College,  which  followed  his  career  with  justifiable  pride,  and 
granted  him  in  1900  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science  and  five  years 


FRED  STARK  PEARSON 

later  that  of  Doctor  of  Laws.  President  Capen  in  conferring  upon 
the  distinguished  graduate  the  highest  honor  of  his  alma  mater 
characterized  him  as  "scholar  among  engineers." 

He  married,  in  1887,  Miss  Mabel  Ward,  daughter  of  William  H. 
Ward,  Esq.,  of  Lowell,  Massachusetts.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Pearson 
have  three  children  —  two  sons  and  a  daughter.  He  has  recently 
purchased  an  estate  of  about  ten  thousand  acres  among  the  Berkshire 
Hills  of  western  Massachusetts  where  he  has  abundant  opportunity 
to  carry  out  his  ideas  of  scientific  farming  and  the  breeding  of  high- 
grade  farm  animals.  There  he  has  a  fine  herd  of  beautiful  Guernsey 
cattle  and  Shropshire  and  Dorset  sheep.  He  takes  great  delight 
in  country  life.  He  has  devoted  much  time  and  thought  to  restock- 
ing the  wilder  regions  of  western  Massachusetts  with  such  small 
game  as  hares,  squirrels  and  partridges  as  well  as  English  pheasants, 
a  large  number  of  which  he  has  imported  and  turned  loose  to  breed 
and  multiply. 

His  professional  attainments  have  secured  for  him  membership  in 
the  Institute  of  Civil  Engineers,  of  London;  the  American  Society  of 
Civil  Engineers;  the  American  Society  of  Electrical  Engineers;  the 
American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers  and  the  Society  of  Naval 
Architecture  and  Marine  Engineers;  also  life-membership  in  the 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers.  He  is  socially  affiliated 
with  the  Engineer's  Club,  of  New  York  City;  the  New  York  Yacht 
Club;  the  Larchmont  Yacht  Club  and  the  University  Club.  His 
financial  investments  have  made  him  a  director  in  the  Sao  Paulo 
Tramway  Light  and  Power  Company;  in  the  Rio  de  Janiero  Tram- 
way Light  and  Power  Company,  of  which  he  is  president;  the  Do- 
minion Iron  and  Steel  Company,  Limited;  the  Mexican  Light  and 
Power  Company,  Limited,  of  which  he  is  vice-president;  the 
Mexico  Tramway  Company  of  which  he  is  president  and  many  other 
corporations  with  which  he  has  been  professionally  connected. 


JAMES  JOSEPH   PHELAN 

RARELY  has  a  man  of  his  age  attained,  through  his  own  efforts 
and  perseverance,  the  prestige  in  the  business  world  which 
James  Joseph  Phelan,  member  of  the  firm  of  Hornblower  and 
Weeks,  bankers  and  brokers,  of  Boston  and  New  York,  now  holds. 
He  was  born  in  Toronto,  Canada,  October  14,  1871,  the  son  of  James 
W.  Phelan,  of  Kilkenny,  Ireland,  and  Catherine  (Colbert)  Phelan, 
also  of  Ireland.  His  ancestors  were  Patrick  Elliot  Phelan,  James 
Colbert,  Catherine  Forbes,  Ellen  Hayes,  prominent  in  their  times, 
and  from  them  he  probably  inherits  his  capacity  for  financial  affairs. 
His  father's  reputation  as  an  accountant  was  widely  known.  James 
Joseph  Phelan  attended  the  public  schools  until  he  reached  the  age 
of  fifteen.  Then  through  his  own  inclination  he  entered  the  business 
world.  In  1887  he  became  a  messenger  on  the  floor  of  the  Boston 
Stock  Exchange  which  marked  the  beginning  of  his  successful 
career.  After  leaving  school  he  was  still  an  earnest  student  and, 
adding  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  influence  which  his  parents 
exercised  over  him,  continuous  reading  and  research,  he  became 
fitted  for  his  chosen  occupation.  Evincing  at  once  energy  and  direct- 
ness of  purpose,  Mr.  Phelan  soon  became  installed  in  the  offices  of 
E.T.  Hornblower  &  Son,  where,  through  his  untiring  efforts  and  close 
application  to  duty,  he  won  the  confidence  of  all  with  whom  he  was 
connected.  Recognizing  his  opportunities,  he  worked  faithfully 
and  well,  giving  his  best  efforts  to  whatever  he  undertook.  He 
made  many  valuable  business  friends,  and  profited  greatly  by  his 
contact  with  men  in  active  life.  In  January,  1900,  after  continuous 
advancement,  he  entered  the  firm  of  Hornblower  &  Weeks,  which 
in  1888  had  succeeded  that  of  E.  T.  Hornblower  &  Son.  He  is  also 
a  member  of  the  Boston  Stock  Exchange,  Boston  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, serving  as  one  of  the  managers  gratuity  fund  and  Chicago 
Board  of  Trade.  He  helped  to  organize  the  Federal  Trust  Com- 
pany, of  Boston,  and  is  its  vice-president,  and  member  of  the 
board  of  directors,  serving  on  the  executive  committee.      To  this 


JAMES   JOSEPH   PHELAN 

organization  he  has  always  rendered  invaluable  service.  He  is  a 
director  in  the  Peoples  National  Bank  of  Roxbury;  trustee  of  the 
Union  Institution  for  Savings,  Boston;  director  in  Massachusetts 
Bonding  and  Insurance  Company;  director  of  the  Big  Ivy  Timber 
Company,  of  North  Carolina;  member  Advisory  Committee  of  busi- 
ness men,  Boston  High  School  of  Commerce.  Mr.  Phelan  is  a  loyal 
Democrat  and  has  never  failed  to  exert  his  influence  for  the  cause  of 
his  party  whenever  occasion  demanded.  He  belongs  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  and  has  been  president  of  the  Catholic  Literary 
Union  of  Charlestown.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  following  clubs 
and  societies:  Economic  Club  of  Boston;  Roxbury  Historical  Soci- 
ety; CathoHc  Club  of  New  York;  Point  Shirley  Club;  Boston 
Athletic  Association;  Clover  Club;  Exchange  Club;  City  Club; 
member  of  Finance  Committee;  Catholic  Literary  Union  of  Charles- 
town,  and  a  life  member  of  the  Bostonian  Society,  as  well  as  being 
interested  in  numerous  charitable  institutions.  Mr.  Phelan's  advice 
to  the  young  is:  "Add  to  the  standard  virtues  the  word  hustle, 
and  never  be  afraid  of  hard  work.  My  belief  is  more  men  die  from 
too  little  work,  rather  than  overwork."  All  out-door  sports  appeal 
to  him,  and  for  nearly  three  years  he  was  a  member  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Naval  Brigade. 

On  June  19,  1899,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Meade, 
daughter  of  John  and  Caroline  I.  (Green)  Meade,  of  Boston.  Their 
three  children  are  James  J.,  Jr.  (six),  Katharine  (five),  and  Caroline 
J.  (three). 


SAMUEL   LELAND   POWERS 

SAMUEL  LELAND  POWERS,  lawyer,  and  formerly  a  member 
of  Congress  from  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  was  born  in 
Cornish,  New  Hampshire,  October  26,  1848.  He  is  of  the  best 
and  most  sturdy  of  the  old  New  England  stock,  a  descendant  of 
Walter  Powers  who  arrived  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  from 
England  in  1634,  landed  at  Salem  and  settled  at  Littleton  in  Middle- 
sex County.  That  Walter  Powers,  who  married  Trial  Shepard,  was 
the  forefather  of  a  large  and  distinguished  body  of  descendants. 
Hiram  Powers,  the  great  sculptor,  was  one  of  these;  so  was  Abigail 
Powers,  wife  of  President  Fillmore;  so  was  Horace  Henry  Powers, 
Representative  to  the  Fifty-sixth  Congress  from  the  first  district 
of  A^ermont;  Llewellyn  Powers,  governor  of  the  State  of  Maine  and 
Representative  in  Congress  from  the  same  state;  Orlando  Woodworth 
Powers,  Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Utah,  besides 
others  who  have  done  honor  to  the  name  in  many  walks  of  life. 

The  father  of  Samuel  Leland  Powers  was  Larned,  a  son  of  Colonel 
Samuel  Powers  and  Chloe  (Cooper)  Powers,  and  grandson  of  Lemuel 
Powers  and  Thankful  Leland  Powers.  Larned  Powers  was  a  success- 
ful farmer  in  the  town  of  Cornish,  New  Hampshire,  a  man  of  sterling 
worth,  highly  respected  and  prominent  in  the  administering  of  the 
local  affairs  of  his  town.  His  wife  was  Ruby,  daughter  of  John  A. 
Barton  and  Achsah  Lovering  Barton,  both  of  whom  were  of  English 
descent,  the  father  of  John  A.  Barton  having  immigrated  to  New 
Hampshire  from  Worcester  County,  Massachusetts. 

Samuel  Leland  Powers  grew  up  as  a  boy  on  his  father's  farm, 
until  at  the  age  of  sixteen  the  call  for  a  better  education  than  could 
be  furnished  in  his  home  town  came  strongly  to  him  and  he  was  sent 
away  to  fit  for  college.  He  first  attended  the  at  that  time  celebrated 
Kimball  Union  Academy,  remaining  there  for  three  years.  He 
entered  Phillips  Exeter  Academy  in  the  Senior  class,  but  found  it 
possible  to  leave  during  that  year  and  enter  Dartmouth  College. 
His  career  there  was  one  of  distinction  in  the  famous  class  of  1874. 


SAMUEL   LELAND  POWERS 

Among  those  who  graduated  with  him  are  Chief  Justice  Frank  N. 
Parsons,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  Hampshire,  Attorney  General 
Edwin  G.  Eastman,  of  the  same  State,  General  Frank  S.  Streeter, 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  New  Hampshire  bar,  Chief  Justice  John  A. 
Aiken,  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Massachusetts,  and  Honorable  Samuel 
W.  McCall,  a  member  of  Congress  from  Massachusetts.  Among 
other  honors  obtained  by  young  Powers  while  in  college  was  the 
winning  of  the  Lockwood  prizes  for  oratory  and  composition. 

Mr.  Powers  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  September,  1874, 
with  the  Honorable  William  W.  Bailey,  of  Nashua,  New  Hampshire. 
There  he  remained  only  a  short  time,  for  he  soon  entered  the  Law 
School  of  the  University  of  New  York.  He  studied  there  until  June 
of  the  following  year,  when  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Verry  & 
Gaskill,  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
of  Worcester  County  in  November,  1875,  only  a  little  over  one  year 
from  the  time  he  took  up  the  study  of  the  subject.  He  began  the 
practice  of  law  in  partnership  with  the  Honorable  Samuel  W.  McCall, 
a  long  time  and  prominent  member  of  Congress  from  JMassachusetts. 
Later  Mr.  Powers  was  for  four  years  associated  with  Colonel  J.  H. 
Benton,  Jr.,  and  again  was  a  partner  with  his  brother,  Erastus  B. 
Powers. 

In  1888  he  became  counsel  for  the  New  England  Telephone  and 
Telegraph  Company  and  for  many  years  devoted  himself  almost 
exclusively  to  representing  corporations  engaged  in  electrical  busi- 
ness. In  causes  of  this  sort  he  almost  immediately  obtained  a  very 
high  reputation  and  the  knowledge  gained  by  his  career  at  that  time 
is  still  sought  and  highly  prized.  In  1897  he  formed  a  law  partner- 
ship with  Edward  K.  Hall  and  Matt  B.  Jones,  which  continued  until 
1904,  when  Mr.  Jones  retired  to  become  the  attorney  of  the  New 
England  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  and  a  new  partner- 
ship was  formed  under  the  name  of  Powers  &  Hall.  This  is  one  of 
the  active  law  concerns  of  Boston,  and  is  located  at  101  Milk  Street. 

Mr.  Powers  became  a  citizen  of  Newton,  Massachusetts,  in  1882. 
There  he  has  since  resided  and  has  become  prominent  and  influential 
in  social,  educational  and  public  affairs.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Newton  Common  Council  for  three  years,  for  two  years  of  which  he  was 
its  president,  a  member  of  the  board  of  aldermen  for  one  year  and 
a  member  of  the  school  board  for  three  years.  In  1900,  in  response 
to  an  imperative  demand  from  his  constituency,  he  ran  for  Congress 


SAIIUEL  LELAND  POWERS 

as  a  Republican  and  was  nominated  almost  unanimously.  For  his 
first  term  he  represented  the  Eleventh  Massachusetts  District  in  the 
Fifty-seventh  Congress  and  for  his  second,  the  Twelfth  Massachu- 
setts District  in  the  Fifty-eighth  Congress,  there  having  been  a  re- 
districting  during  his  term,  which  made  a  change  in  the  district 
from  which  he  originally  came.  He  retired  voluntarily  from  Con- 
gress against  the  earnest  protest  of  his  district,  on  March  4,  1905,  to 
devote  himself  exclusively  to  the  practice  of  law.  While  in  the 
National  House  of  Representatives,  Mr.  Powers  achieved  promi- 
nence as  a  hard  worker  and  a  keen  and  able  legislator.  He  was 
one  of  the  sub-committee  of  five  appointed  from  the  judiciary  com- 
mittee of  the  Fifty-seventh  Congress  to  frame  the  bill  for  the  regula- 
tion of  trusts,  and  was  one  of  the  managers  appointed  by  the 
Speaker  to  conduct  the  impeachment  trial  of  Judge  Swayne,  before 
the  Senate,  in  the  Fifty-eighth  Congress. 

Mr.  Powers  has  always  been  prominent  in  social  life,  for  which 
he  is  naturally  well  equipped.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  and  first 
president  of  the  famous  Tantalus  Club  of  Washington,  an  organiza- 
tion composed  of  new  and  sometimes  necessarily  unheard  members 
of  Congress,  and  he  is  at  the  present  time  the  head  of  that  organi- 
zation. He  is  president  of  the  Middlesex  Club,  a  strong  political 
body  of  eastern  Massachusetts;  vice-president  of  the  Massachusetts 
Republican  Club  and  Massachusetts  vice-president  of  the  Merchant 
Marine  League.  He  is  a  member  of  many  of  the  leading  social  clubs 
in  and  about  Boston.     He  is  a  trustee  of  Dartmouth  College. 

Mr.  Powers  was  married  in  1878  to  Eva  C.  Crowell,  daughter  of 
Captain  Prince  S.  Crowell,  of  Dennis,  Massachusetts.  They  have 
one  son,  Leland  Powers,  born  July  1,  1890. 


ABBOTT   LAWRENCE   ROTCH 

ABBOTT  LAWRENCE  ROTCH,  founder  of  the  Blue  Hill 
Meteorological  Observatory  and  investigator  in  meteorology, 
was  born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  January  6,  1861.  His 
father,  Benjamin  Smith  Rotch  (1817-1882),  was  the  eldest  son  of 
Joseph,  of  New  Bedford,  and  Ann  (Smith)  Rotch, grandson  of  William 
and  Elizabeth  (Rodman)  Rotch,  great-grandson  of  William  and 
Elizabeth  (Barney)  Rotch,  and  a  descendant  from  Joseph  Rotch 
who  came  from  Salisbury,  England,  to  Nantucket,  and  married  Love 
Macy,  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Deborah  (Coffin)  Macy.  Joseph 
Rotch  settled  at  Dartmouth  in  1765  and  suggested  that  it  be  named 
New  Bedford.  Benjamin  Smith  Rotch  was  graduated  at  Harvard, 
1838;  a  merchant  in  Boston,  and  a  founder  of  New  Bedford  Cor- 
dage Company  in  1842;  overseer  of  Harvard  University,  1864-70; 
trustee  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum  and  Museum  of  Fine  Arts;  represent- 
ative in  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  1843-44;  aide-de-camp 
on  the  staff  of  Governor  Briggs,  1845;  accompanied  his  father-in-law, 
Hon.  Abbott  Lawrence,  to  London,  when  Mr.  Lawrence  assumed 
the  duties  of  Minister  to  Great  Britain  in  September,  1849.  His  son 
in  speaking  of  his  characteristics  says:  "He  was  reserved  and  sen- 
sitive, with  artistic  ability  and  love  of  nature,  kind,  generous  and 
religious."  He  married  Annie  Bigelow,  eldest  daughter  of  Abbott 
and  Katharine  (Bigelow)  Lawrence,  granddaughter  of  Major  Samuel 
and  Susanna  (Parker)  Lawrence,  of  Groton  and  of  Hon.  Timothy  and 
Lucy  (Prescott)  Bigelow,  of  Groton. 

Abbott  Lawrence  Rotch  of  the  fifth  generation  from  Joseph  Rotch 
and  the  youngest  son  of  Benjamin  Smith  and  Annie  (Bigelow)  Rotch, 
was  as  a  child  fond  of  scientific  study  and  mechanics.  He  was 
brought  up  in  town  and  country  and  in  Europe;  and  gained  in- 
spiration in  the  direction  of  intellectual,  moral  and  spiritual  growth 
and  development  from  the  example  and  precepts  of  both  parents.  He 
pursued  his  studies  abroad  and  at  Chauncy  Hall  School,  Boston, 
preparatory  to  entering  the  department  of  mechanical  engineering 


ABBOTT  LAWRENCE   ROTCH 

of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated with  the  degree  of  S.B.  in  1884. 

He  founded,  in  1885  (at  his  own  initiative  and  expense)  the  Blue 
Hill  Meteorological  Observatory  in  Milton,  Massachusetts,  which 
became  celebrated  among  scientists  as  the  pioneer  experiment  station 
for  researches  in  the  upper  atmosphere  by  studies  of  clouds 
and  by  means  of  kites,  to  which  were  attached  meteorological  instru- 
ments capable  of  recording  velocity  and  direction  of  currents,  tem- 
perature and  humidity  of  the  air  at  different  altitudes  above  the 
earth's  surface.  He  cooperated  with  the  Harvard  College  Observa- 
tory from  1887,  in  carrying  on  observations  and  investigations  in 
meteorology  at  the  Blue  Hill  Observatory,  directed  and  supported  at 
an  average  cost  of  $5,000  per  annum  solely  from  his  private  means. 
To  explain  its  relation  with  the  Harvard  College  Observatory,  he  was 
named  assistant  in  meteorology  in  the  Faculty  of  Harvard  University 
in  1888,  and  in  1906  was  appointed  professor.  Harvard  University 
conferred  on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  A.M.  in  1891.  The  Ameri- 
can Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  of  Boston,  of  which  he  is  a  Fellow, 
made  him  its  librarian  in  1899.  The  Boston  Society  of  Natural 
History,  of  which  he  is  a  member,  has  several  times  elected  him  as 
one  of  three  trustees.  He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  corpo- 
ration of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  in  1891,  and  he 
has  served  for  many  years  on  the  committees  to  visit  the  depart- 
ments of  physics  and  architecture,  representing  also  the  Institute 
as  a  trustee  of  the  Boston  Museunx  of  Fine  Arts.  He  is  likewise  a 
member  of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  overseers  of  Harvard 
University  to  visit  the  Lawrence  Scientific  School  and  the  Jefferson 
Physical  Laboratory.  He  was  appointed  a  member  of  several  inter- 
national scientific  committees,  and  served  as  associate  editor  of  the 
American  Meteorological  Journal,  1886-96.  He  was  created  a  chevalier 
of  the  Legion  of  Honor  in  1889  when  a  member  of  the  international 
Jury  of  Awards,  at  the  Paris  Exposition  of  that  year;  in  1902  the 
German  Emperor  conferred  on  him  the  Order  of  the  Prussian  Crown, 
in  recognition  of  his  efforts  to  advance  knowledge  of  the  high  at- 
mosphere, and  in  1905  he  received  from  the  same  source  the  Royal 
Order  of  the  Red  Eagle.  He  has  taken  part  in  various  scientific 
expeditions  in  North  and  South  America,  Africa  and  Europe  and, 
cooperating  with  a  French  colleague  in  1905-06,  an  expedition  was 
sent  on  a  steam  yacht,  equipped  with  kites  and  balloons,  to  explore 


ABBOTT   LAWRENCE   ROTCH 

the  atmosphere  in  tropical  regions;  Professor  Rotch  having  been 
the  first  to  demonstrate  in  1901  that  kites  might  be  flown  from  a 
steam  vessel,  independently  of  the  natm-al  wind,  and  in  this  way  used 
to  explore  regions  of  the  atmosphere  hitherto  inaccessible.  During 
the  years  1904-07  he  obtained  with  the  so-called  "ballons-sondes" 
the  first  observations  of  temperature  at  heights  of  eight  to  ten  miles 
above  the  American  continent.  He  delivered  courses  of  lectures 
before  the  Lowell  Institute,  of  Boston,  in  1891  and  1898. 

His  club  membership  includes  the  Somerset  and  St.  Botolph,  of 
Boston;  the  University  and  Century  Association,  of  New  York  City; 
the  Cosmos,  of  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  and  the  Royal 
Societies,  of  London,  England.  He  is  a  corresponding  member  of 
the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science;  and  of  the 
German  Meteorological  and  Aeronautical  Societies,  and  is  an  hon- 
orary member  of  the  Royal  Meteorological  Society,  of  London, 
and  of  the  French  Alpine  Club.  His  religious  affiliation  is 
with  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  and  he  served  as  junior 
warden  of  Emmanuel  Church,  Boston,  1904^05.  He  has  been  a 
Republican  in  politics.  His  recreations  are  cycling,  tennis  and 
mountain  climbing.  He  was  a  member  of  the  First  Corps  of  Cadets, 
M.  V.  M.,  1883-92.  He  was  married  November  22,  1893,  to  Margaret 
Randolph,  daughter  of  Edward  Clifford  and  Jane  Margaret  (Ran- 
dolph) Anderson,  of  Savannah,  Georgia.  Their  eldest  daughter, 
Elizabeth,  born  in  Boston,  June  12,  1895,  died  June  29,  1895;  their 
surviving  children  being  Margaret  Randolph,  born  June  14,  1896, 
Arthur,  born  February  1,  1899,  and  Katharine  LawTence,born  May 
26,  1906.  Professor  Rotch  is  the  author  of  "Sounding  the  Ocean  of 
Air,"  in  Romance  of  Science  Series  (London,  1900),  has  edited: 
"Observations  and  Investigations  at  Blue  Hill,"  in  Annals  of  Har- 
vard College  Observatory  (1889  et  seq.),  and  has  contributed  numer- 
ous articles  to  scientific  periodicals  in  America  and  Europe. 


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JOSEPH   BALUSTER  RUSSELL 

JOSEPH  BALLISTER  RUSSELL  was  born  in  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts, October  24,  1852.  He  is  the  son  of  Hon.  Charles 
Theodore  Russell,  who  was  born  in  1815,  and  died  in  1896.  His 
grandfather  was  Hon.  Charles  Russell,  who  married  Persis  Hastings. 
The  mother  of  Joseph  Ballister  Russell  was  Sarah  Elizabeth  Ballister, 
daughter  of  Joseph  Ballister,  a  well-known  merchant  of  Boston,  and 
Sarah  Yendell.  Mr.  Russell  is  descended  on  his  mother's  side  from 
a  French  Huguenot  family.  His  father's  family  was  English  and 
dates  back  in  an  almost  unbroken  line  very  many  years.  Both  his 
father's  and  mother's  ancestors  came  to  America  in  the  very 
early  days  of  this  country  and  passed  through  many  vicissitudes  of 
the  early  settlers.  On  Mr.  Russell's  paternal  grandmother's  side, 
the  first  ancestor  who  came  to  this  country  was  Thomas  Hastings, 
in  1635,  the  great-grandson  of  Earl  of  Huntington.  On  the  paternal 
grandfather's  side,  William  Russell,  who  came  to  Cambridge  in  1645. 
Mr.  Russell's  father,  who  was  for  many  years  a  prominent  lawyer 
and  public  spirited  man,  was  greatly  engrossed  in  his  profession,  and 
alert  to  the  duties  of  an  active  life.  Mr.  Russell's  mother,  who  was 
a  very  intellectual  and  distinctly  religious  and  moral  type,  exerted 
a  particularly  strong  influence  upon  the  early  life  of  her  son,  which 
no  doubt  awakened  his  youthful  ambitions.  As  a  boy  he  enjoyed 
the  quiet  and  healthful  pleasure  of  assisting  about  his  father's  place; 
taking  care  of  the  garden;  looking  after  the  live  stock;  fishing,  hunt- 
ing, etc.  The  Bible  and  such  books  as  Bunyan's  ''Pilgrim's  Progress," 
Scott,  Dickens,  Cooper,  Longfellow  and  English  poets  were  his  com- 
panions, and  by  them  he  helped  to  establish  his  standard.  His 
education  was  acquired  in  the  public  schools  of  Cambridge,  through 
the  Latin  School.  He  was  early  interested  in  politics,  and  has  always 
been  a  Democrat,  although  his  better  judgment  has  not  always 
allowed  him  to  vote  for  party  candidates.  He  was  for  three  years  a 
private  in  the  First  Corps  of  Cadets,  Boston.  His  vocation  in  life 
was  entirely  governed  by  his  own  inclinations.     He  began  his  busi- 


JOSEPH  BALLISTER  RUSSELL 

ness  career  as  junior  clerk  in  the  Russia  Trade  firm  of  William  Ropes 
&  Company,  and  profited  much  from  business  associations.  Mr. 
Russell  has  been  for  years  a  man  of  manifold  business  and  social 
interests,  some  of  which  are:  treasurer  and  general  manager  of  the 
Boston  Wharf  Company,  1885  to  the  present  time;  president  Cam- 
bridge Trust  Company,  for  a  number  of  years;  vice-president  State 
Street  Trust  Company,  of  Boston,  for  many  years;  president  of  the 
West  End  Street  Railway  Company  and  director  in  1906  of  the 
following:  the  National  Shawmut  Bank;  State  Street  Trust  Company; 
Boston  Wharf  Company;  Conveyancer's  Title  Insurance  Company; 
Fitchburg  Railroad  Company;  West  End  Street  Railway  Com- 
pany; Boston  Steamship  Company;  Boston  and  Philadelphia  Steam- 
ship Company;  Boston  Consolidated  Gas  Company;  Boston  Merchants 
Association;  Real  Estate  and  Auction  Board;  Trustee  of  Massa- 
chusetts Gas  Company;  Lovejoy's  Wharf  Trust;  New  England  Gas 
and  Coke  Company;  New  England  Coal  and  Coke  Company;  Quincy 
Market  Real  Estate  Trust;  Mount  Auburn  Cemetery;  Cambridge 
Hospital;  and  acts  under  many  wills  and  instruments  of  trust. 
While  Mr.  Russell  has  been  interested  deeply  for  many  years  in 
nearly  all  the  great  undertakings  for  the  development  and  improve- 
ment of  Boston,  such  as  its  street  railway  systems,  its  gas  business, 
its  banking  facilities,  its  steamship  lines  and  steam  railroads,  his 
great  work  has  been  the  development  of  the  properties  of  the  Boston 
Wharf  Company,  some  twenty  years  ago  known  as  the  "dump." 

These  properties  under  his  management  have,  from  large  tracts 
of  vacant  land  and  swamp,  been  formed  into  a  new  business  section 
of  the  city,  traversed  by  wide  streets  and  covered  by  some  of  the 
finest  business  buildings  and  blocks  that  can  be  found  in  any  city. 
Under  his  guidance  millions  of  dollars  have  been  spent  in  these 
improvements  and,  notwithstanding  large  sales  of  its  real  estate 
made  by  the  company,  its  rent-roll  to-day  exceeds  without  a  doubt 
that  of  any  other  single  real  estate  ownership  in  the  city  of  Boston. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  following  associations:  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce; Merchants'  Association,  of  Boston;  Bankers'  Association,  of 
Boston;  Bostonian  Society;  National  Geographical  Society.  His  club 
affiliations  are  with  the  Somerset,  Union  Exchange,  Commercial, 
Papyrus,  New  Riding  and  City  Club,  of  Boston;  Strollers,  of  New 
York;  Country  Club,  of  Brookline  and  Oakley  Club,  of  Watertown, 
of  which  club  he  is  the  president.     He  is  a  regular  attendant  of 


JOSEPH   BALLISTER  RUSSELL 

the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  interested  in  the  charities 
and  activities  of  the  City  of  Cambridge,  where  for  many  years 
he  has  resided.  In  the  past  having  appreciated  the  joys  of 
hunting,  fishing  and  camping  out,  he  now  derives  much  pleasure  from 
out-door  sports,  especially  riding  and  golf.  On  May  20,  1880,  he 
married  Lillian  Hillyard  Tenney,  the  daughter  of  Otis  Seth  and 
Junia  (Warner)  Tenney.  Her  ancesters  were  important  factors 
in  the  history  of  our  nation,  among  them  being:  John  Hillyard,  one 
of  William  Penn's  council  in  1682,  and  William  Killen,  born  in  Ire- 
land, came  to  Delaware  of  which  state  he  was  Chief  Justice  and  first 
Chancellor.  Mr.  Russell's  home  has  been  blessed  with  five  children: 
Charles  Theodore  Russell,  assistant  treasurer  of  the  Boston  Wharf 
Company;  Joseph  Ballister  Russell,  Jr.,  Senior  at  Harvard  College; 
Otis  Tenney  Russell,  Freshman  at  Harvard  College;  Sarah  Elizabeth 
Russell  and  Junia  Killen  Russell. 

Mr.  Russell  remarks  from  his  own  experience  that  "honesty  and 
fairness  "  are  the  best  methods  to  a  successful  life,  with  the  added 
counsel  that  "industry  and  above  all  the  willingness  and  earnest 
desire  to  do  always  a  little  more  than  is  expected.  The  faculty  of 
not  seeing  that  you  are  doing  a  little  more  than  your  part;  the 
willingness  to  care  for  other's  interests  without  thought  of  recom- 
pense, in  my  opinion  always  brings  large  rewards  as  well  as  much 
satisfaction." 


HARVEY  NEWTON  SHEPARD 

HARVEY  NEWTON  SHEPARD,  lawyer,  was  born  in  the 
North  End  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  July  8,  1850.  His 
father,  William  Shepard,  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade  and 
occupation,  a  man  noted  for  kindness,  industry  and  honesty.  He 
married  Eliza  Crowell,  and  both  husband  and  wife  traced  their 
ancestry  to  emigrants  from  Boston,  England.  Harvey  Newton 
Shepard  was  brought  up  in  the  city,  and  early  displayed  a  fondness 
for  reading  history.  The  influence  of  his  mother  was  particularly 
important  in  developing  a  love  for  books  and  strong  moral  instincts, 
and  his  choice  of  profession  was  from  personal  preference.  He 
was  a  pupil  in  the  Eliot  Grammar  School,  prepared  for  college  at 
Wesleyan  Academy,  Wilbraham,  Massachusetts,  and  graduated 
from  Harvard  College,  A.B.  1871.  He  then  studied  in  the  Harvard 
Law  School,  but  was  not  graduated,  becoming  a  law  student  in  the 
office  of  Hillard,  Hyde  &  Dickinson,  of  Boston  in  1873.  He  paid 
his  own  way  through  college  and  the  law  school  by  private  tutoring 
and  the  winning  of  scholarships.  He  opened  an  office  for  himself  in 
1875.  He  was  president  of  the  Boston  Common  Council,  1880, 
having  served  previously  as  a  councilman,  1878  and  1879;  Repre- 
sentative in  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives,  1881  and 
1882;  first  assistant  attorney  general  of  Massachusetts,  1883-86, 
and  represented  the  Commonwealth  in  several  law  suits,  and  was 
Fourth  of  July  orator  in  1885.  He  was  examiner  for  the  East 
Boston  Savings  Bank,  1873-80;  legislative  counsel  of  the  New 
England  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company;  and  counsel  of  the 
Trustees  of  Boston  University,  Boston  Wesleyan  Association,  and 
other  corporations.  He  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  in  1881.  He  was  appointed  lecturer  in  the 
School  of  Law  of  Boston  University  upon  Extraordinary  Remedies 
and  Admiralty  in  1904.  In  1905  he  gave  an  address  before  the 
American  Bar  Association  upon  Trial  by  Jury.  He  served  the 
Republican  party  as  a  member  of  the  state  central  committee,  1875- 


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HARVEY  NEWTON   SHEPARD 

77,  and  as  president  of  the  Young  Men's  State  Committee,  1879- 
1880.  The  question  of  the  tariff  led  him  into  the  Democratic  party 
at  the  time  of  the  candidacy  of  James  G.  Blaine  and  Grover  Cleve- 
land and  he  remained  an  Independent  Democrat  and  was  made  chair- 
man of  the  executive  committee  of  the  American  Free  Trade  League. 

His  religious  affiliation  is  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  denomi- 
nation. His  exercise  is  walking  and  mountain  climbing.  His  club 
membership  includes  the  Appalachian  Mountain,  Union,  Boston 
Athletic,  Boston  Art,  and  the  New  England.  He  has  served  as 
president  of  the  New  England  Club,  president  of  the  Appalachian 
Mountain  Club,  chairman  of  its  Trustees  of  Real  Estate,  district 
deputy  grand  master  of  the  first  Masonic  district,  1883-85;  com- 
missioner of  trials  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  1889-90;  deputy  grand 
master,  counsel  to  the  Boston  Athletic  Association,  and  chairman  of 
the  entertainment  committee  of  the  Boston  Art  Club.  He  was 
trustee  of  the  Boston  Public  Library,  1878-79;  a  member  of  the  ex- 
amining committee,  1888-89;  trustee  of  the  Old  South  Association; 
president  of  the  Eliot  school  Association,  and  an  officer  of  many 
other  societies  and  oganizations.  He  was  married  November  23, 1873, 
to  Fanny  May,  daughter  of  Azor  and  Temperance  Woodman,  of 
Everett,  Massachusetts;  and  of  the  five  children  born  of  this  mar- 
riage four  were  living  in  1908,  viz:  Grace  Florence,  Marion,  Alice 
Mabel,  and  Edith  May. 

Mr.  Shepard  offers  suggestions  to  young  Americans  in  these 
words:  "That  the  rule  of  the  people  through  their  elected  represen- 
tatives in  city,  state  and  nation  is  the  basis  of  stable  and  success- 
ful government.  To  acquire  convictions  by  study  and  observation 
and  to  maintain  them  with  courage." 


JOHN  SHEPARD 


JOHN  SHEPARD,  merchant  and  bank  director,  was  born  in 
Canton,  Norfolk  County,  Massachusetts,  March  26,  1834.  His 
father,  John  Shepard,  1800-1843,  was  a  son  of  John  and  Lucy 
Shepard.  Mr.  Shepard,  in  speaking  of  his  childhood  and  youth, 
says:  "I  had  hard  work  to  get  a  living,  picked  berries  to  sell 
between  school  hours  at  nine  years  old,  when  father  died,  and  have 
not  been  out  of  active  work  since  I  was  ten  years  old  except  through 
sickness.  Never  went  to  school  after  I  was  ten  years  old  except 
to  evening  school  and  earned  the  money  and  paid  for  that  myself." 
Mr.  Shepard  received  his  rudimentary  education  by  attending  the 
Church  Hill  School  at  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island,  where  his  mother 
resided,  and  to  her  he  owes  much  for  early  moral  training  and  ex- 
ample. 

When  ten  years  of  age  he  came  to  Boston,  and  found  his  first  regu- 
lar employment  in  the  drug-store  of  J.  W.  Snow,  at  fifty  cents  a  week, 
where  he  remained  a  faithful  and  progressive  clerk  for  one  year. 
Meantime,  he  attended  the  Comers  evening  school  and  rapidly  ad- 
vanced in  his  studies.  His  associates  at  this  early  age  were  much 
older  than  himself,  and  he  had  few  companions  of  his  own  age.  In 
1847  he  engaged  in  the  dry  goods  business  as  a  clerk  in  the  store  of 
J.  A.  Jones,  at  three  dollars  a  week,  and  paid  a  dollar  and  seventy- 
five  cents  for  board.  Here  his  ambition  met  its  reward  by  repeated 
promotions.  Each  year  he  had  his  salary  advanced  one  dollar  per 
week,  and  at  nineteen  years  of  age  he  was  made  partner  with  J.  A. 
Jones  in  the  store  next  to  the  one  where  he  was  clerk.  One  year 
later  he  bought  out  Mr.  Jones,  paying  him  $1000  bonus  for  his  lease, 
and  giving  his  notes  for  the  stock  of  $3000  on  three,  six  and  nine 
months,  which  were  paid  before  they  were  due,  and  at  the  end  of  that 
year  he  had  a  profit  of  $3300.  In  1861  he  bought  out  the  old  estab- 
lished concern  of  Bell,  Thwing  &  Company,  on  Tremont  Row,  and 
with  his  partner,  Mr.  Farley,  established  the  firm  of  Farley  &  Shep- 
ard.    In   1865  the  firm  dissolved,  and  Mr.   Shepard,  with  unusual 


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JOHN    SHEPARD 

foresight,  determined  to  change  his  location  to  Winter  Street,  then 
an  outlying  district,  but  destined  to  be  a  business  thoroughfare. 
In  making  this  change  he  determined  to  secure  as  partners  the  most 
experienced  men  in  the  trade,  and  to  that  end  he  invited  Henry 
Norwell,  salesman  of  Hogg,  Brown  &  Taylor,  and  T.  C.  Brown,  sales- 
man of  Jordan,  Marsh  &  Company,  and  opened  one  of  the  finest  dry 
goods  stores  in  Boston.  When  Mr.  Brown  withdrew  from  the  firm, 
Mr.  Shepard  secured  Robert  Ferguson,  an  expert  salesman  of  A.  T. 
Stewart  &  Company,  of  New  York  City,  to  take  his  place,  and  the 
house  of  Shepard,  Norwell  &  Company  went  on  its  successful  career 
with  no  further  change  except  a  continuous  increase  in  the  working 
force  and  floor  space  necessary  to  carry  on  the  volume  of  business 
that  came  to  them. 

Mr.  Shepard  was  twice  married;  first,  January  1,  1856,  to  Susan 
Ann,  daughter  of  Perkins  H.  and  Charlotte  (White)  Bagley,of  Boston, 
and  they  established  a  home  on  North  Russell  Street,  Boston.  Six 
.children  were  born  of  this  marriage,  a  son  and  a  daughter  only  living 
in  1908.  The  son,  John  Shepard,  Jr.,  married  Flora  E.,  daughter 
of  General  A.  P.  Martin,  subsequently  mayor  of  Boston;  and  he 
became  the  head  of  the  dry  goods  corporation  of  The  Shepard 
Company,  Providence,  Rhode  Island;  and  the  daughter,  Jessie  Wat- 
son Shepard,  married  William  G.  Titcomb,  son  of  ex-mayor  A.  C. 
Titcomb,  of  Newburyport.  Mr.  Shepard  was  married  secondly, 
September  11,  1890,  to  Mary  J.,  daughter  of  Hannah  Herbert  (Tit- 
comb) Ingraham,  of  Newburyport.  He  is  a  Republican  in  politics 
and  has  never  deserted  the  party.  He  is  affiliated  with  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church. 

His  summer  home  "Edgewater"  is  a  picturesque  estate,  with 
ample  grounds  and  commodious  stables  on  Phillips  Beach,  Swamp- 
scott,  Massachusetts,  where  Mr.  Shepard  has  accumulated  a  string  of 
fast  trotting  horses.  His  chief  relaxation  from  the  care  of  business 
is  driving  in  the  summer  over  the  fine  roads  of  Essex  County,  and  in 
the  winter  over  the  superior  boulevard  drives  of  the  suburbs  of  Bos- 
ton, where  he  is  a  familiar  figure  on  the  road  and  the  recognized 
dean  of  the  fraternity  of  owners  and  drivers  of  fast-stepping  trotting 
horses.  His  stables  turned  out  many  horses  whose  names  became 
familiar  in  trotting  records.  "Old  Trot"  was  well  known  to  all 
horsemen.  Aldine  became  the  property  of  W.  H.  Vanderbilt  in 
exchange  for  a  check  for  $15,000,  and  as  a  mate  of  Maud  S.  made 


JOHN    SHEPARD 

a  mile  in  2.15i  He  sold  Dick  Swiveller  to  Frank  Work  for  $12,000. 
His  team  Mill  Boy  and  Blondine  made  in  1881  a  mile  in  2.22,  the 
world's  record  for  a  team. 

Mr.  Shepard  is  a  director  of  the  Boston  Chamber  of  Commerce; 
of  the  American  Pneumatic  Service  Company;  of  the  Boston 
Pneumatic  Transit  Company;  of  the  Commercial  National  Bank 
of  Boston;  of  the  New  York  Mail  and  Newspaper  Transportation 
Company;  of  the  Lampson  Store  Service  Company;  of  the  Boston 
Club  and  of  the  Brigham  Hospital  for  Incurables;  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Beacon  Society;  the  Algonquin  Club  and  the  Tedesco 
Country  Club  of  Swampscott,  of  which  he  is  a  trustee.  He  is  a 
director  of  the  Association  for  the  Promotion  of  the  Adult  Blind,  and 
director  and  chairman  of  the  finance  committee  of  the  Boston  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Boston 
Merchants'  Association  and  of  other  business  men's  organizations. 
On  June  21,  1905,  Tufts  College  conferred  on  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  To  young  men  Mr.  Shepard  says:  "Be 
temperate  in  all  your  habits.  Be  honest,  truthful,  thrifty,  full  of 
energy,  ambition  and  determination  to  succeed  and  you  certainly 
will.  My  advice  to  young  people  is  never  to  do  anything  that  they 
cannot  talk  over  with  their  father  or  mother.  If  they  keep  this  in 
mind  they  will  never  do  anything  wrong." 


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SAMUEL  A.  D.  SHEPPARD 

THE  above-named  man,  widely  known  in  the  drug-trade  of 
New  England  as  S.  A.  D.  Sheppard,  was  born  in  Manchester, 
Massachusetts,  July  16,  1842.  He  was  the  son  of  Samuel 
Sheppard  and  Anna  M.  Marchbank,  and  his  grandfathers  were 
David  Sheppard  and  Robert  Marchbank.  They  were  descendants 
from  well-known  families  in  the  north  of  Ireland.  The  grandfather 
was  at  one  time  captain  of  an  Orangemen's  band. 

The  father  of  Mr.  Sheppard  was  an  upholsterer  by  trade  and  a 
man  of  fine  repute.  He  was  known  far  and  near  as  a  gentle,  even- 
tempered  and  consistent  Christian,  held  in  high  respect  in  the  com- 
munity and  warmest  affection  by  his  family,  and  exerting  upon  them 
by  his  life  a  most  powerful  influence  for  good. 

Mr.  Sheppard  was  exceedingly  fond  of  books,  especially  those 
treating  of  mathematics,  chemistry  and  botany.  Schools  and 
teachers  were  to  him  a  constant  delight.  His  mother  was  a  very 
energetic  woman,  and  she  taught  her  children  to  love  good,  hard, 
effective  work.  Success  in  life,  Mr.  Sheppard  thinks,  for  him,  has 
largely  come  from  his  mother's  indomitable  energy,  and  his  father's 
goodness.  His  education  was  not  beset  with  very  great  difficulties. 
He  was  able  to  pass  through  the  ordinary  schools,  and  graduate 
from  the  High  and  Classical  Schools  of  Salem,  Massachusetts,  at  the 
age  of  sixteen.  In  1874  he  successfully  completed  his  course  of 
study  in  the  Massachusetts  College  of  Pharmacy.  Later  he  became 
an  honorary  member  of  the  California  College  of  Pharmacy,  and  the 
Ohio  State  Pharmaceutical  Association. 

In  1858  jMr.  Sheppard  entered  the  drug-store  of  Browne  and 
Price,  Salem,  and  remained  with  them  ten  years.  In  1868  he  went 
into  business  for  himself,  and  is  still  in  the  harness  in  the  same  loca- 
tion where  he  started  his  personal  business  career. 

He  has  held  the  responsible  positions  of  president,  secretary, 
treasurer  and  trustee  of  the  Massachusetts  College  of  Pharmacy,  and 
is  now  chairman  of  the  trustees  of  the  funds  of  the  college.     He 


SAMUEL   A.   D.   SHEPPARD 

was  the  first  president  of  the  Massacliusetts  State  Pharmaceutical 
Association,  and  bears  the  unusual  distinction  of  being  the  only 
person  elected  to  this  office  a  second  term.  He  was  six  years  mem- 
ber of  Council,  and  chairman  of  Finance  Committee,  and  twenty- 
one  years  treasurer  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
He  was  also  trustee  of  Boston  Penny  Saving  Bank,  director  of  South 
End  National  Bank,  and  Trustee  of  the  United  States  Pharmacopoe- 
ical  Convention.  He  served  two  years  as  alderman  and  two  years 
on  the  Board  of  Health,  of  the  city  of  Newton,  Massachusetts,  and 
was  appointed  to  Board  of  Pharmacy  when  the  board  was  estab- 
lished by  Governor  Robinson. 

Mr.  Sheppard  is  a  Mason,  and  has  held  a  number  of  offices  in 
the  Blue  Lodge  and  Royal  Arch  Chapter.  In  politics,  he  is  a  Re- 
publican. His  religious  affiliations  are  with  the  Baptist  denomina- 
tion, and  in  early  years  he  was  an  active  worker  in  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  and  in  Sunday  school  affairs. 

Boating  and  golf  are  favorite  pastimes  for  Mr.  Sheppard,  and  he 
commends  the  latter  as  the  best  of  out-of-door  sports  for  young  and 
old. 

In  1869,  September  2,  Mr.  Sheppard  was  married  to  Emma  J., 
daughter  of  Oliver  D.  and  Emeline  S.  Kimball,  of  Boston,  who  died 
in  1888;  and  on  September  18,  1890,  he  married  Helen  M.  Pettingell, 
Salem,  daughter  of  Charles  C.  and  Fannie  B.  Pettingell.  Of  the 
first  union  three  children  were  born,  all  of  whom  are  living:  Clara  S., 
wife  of  E.  E.  Blake,  Saco,  Maine;  Robert  K.,  of  the  American  Steel 
and  Wire  Company,  Philadelphia;  Harwood  A.,  a  clerk  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, California. 

Added  to  all  the  busy  years  of  official  and  private  enterprise, 
Mr.  Sheppard  was  the  one  who  alone  secured  for  the  Massachusetts 
College  of  Pharmacy  the  I\Iary  Jane  Aldrich  fund,  now  of  about 
$10,000,  and  the  Warren  B.  Potter  fund  of  $200,000. 

To  the  youth  of  America,  Mr.  Sheppard  gives  the  following  most 
excellent  advice:  "Learn  to  work  in  early  life.  Get  into  the  habit 
of  work  during  the  formative  period.  Select  some  one  course  and 
stick  to  it,  make  it  your  specialty,  love  it. ,  Get  yourself  into  right 
conditions,  physically,  mentally,  morally,  spiritually,  and  other 
good  things  will  follow.  Be  an  optimist  every  time.  He  who  spends 
less  than  he  earns  and  is  content  has  found  the  '  philosopher's  stone.' " 


,  £:  £-  wMa-ts  3  Bra  Ny 


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THOMAS  SHERWIN 

THO^IAS  SHERWIN,  president  of  the  New  England  Tele- 
phone and  Telegraph  Company,  was  born  in  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts, July  11,  1839.  His  father,  Thomas  Sherwin,  was 
a  son  of  David  Sherwin,  of  Westmoreland,  New  Hampshire,  who 
served  in  Stark's  brigade  during  the  Revolution,  and  took  part  in 
the  Battle  of  Bennington. 

Thomas  Sherwin,  Sr.,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1825. 
A  distinguished  scholar  and  instructor,  he  was  long  and  widely 
known  as  the  principal  of  the  English  High  School,  of  Boston,  which, 
under  his  direction  during  more  than  thirty  years,  became  one  of 
the  leading  educational  institutions  of  the  country.  He  was  one 
of  the  originators  and  a  president  of  both  the  American  Institute 
of  Instruction,  and  the  Massachusetts  State  Teachers'  Association; 
one  of  the  original  editors  of  the  M as sachii sett's  Teacher;  a  prominent 
member  of  the  government  of  the  IMassachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology, and  a  member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 
He  was  the  author  of  two  valuable  text-books  on  algebra.  He  mar- 
ried Mary  King,  daughter  of  Colonel  Daniel  L.  and  Mary  (King)  Gib- 
bens,  of  Boston.  Their  sons,  Henry  and  Thomas  Sherwin,  are  still 
living.     Edward  died  in  September,  1907. 

Thomas  Sherwin,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  prepared  for 
college  at  the  Dedham  High  and  Boston  Latin  Schools,  and  gradu- 
ated at  Harvard  in  1860.  During  his  college  course  he  taught  a 
winter  school  at  Medfield,  and  for  the  year  after  graduation  was 
master  of  the  Houghton  High  School  in  the  town  of  Bolton,  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  he  enlisted  with  other 
young  men  of  Bolton  and  the  adjoining  towns,  and  was  elected 
captain  of  the  company,  which  for  a  time  formed  part  of  the  Fifteenth 
Massachusetts  Regiment.  He  was  later  commissioned  adjutant  of 
the  Twenty-second  Massachusetts  Regiment,  and  took  part  in  most 
of  the  battles  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  with  his  regiment,  until 


THOMAS  SHERWIN 

the  expiration  of  its  term  of  service  in  October,  1864,  being  severely 
wounded  in  the  battle  of  Gaines'  Mill,  Virginia,  June  27,  1862. 

On  the  following  day  he  was  promoted  to  be  major,  and  on 
October  17,  1862,  to  be  lieutenant-colonel  of  his  regiment.  He 
commanded  the  regiment  during  most  of  the  campaign  of  1863-64, 
and  for  a  short  time  acted  as  division  inspector  of  the  First  Division, 
Fifth  Army  Corps. 

He  received  the  commissions  of  colonel  and  brigadier-general 
of  United  States  Volunteers,  by  brevet,  for  gallant  services  at  Gettys- 
burg, and  at  Peebles'  Farm,  Virginia,  and  for  meritorious  service 
during  the  war. 

He  resumed  for  a  time  the  profession  of  teaching,  and  was  for 
one  year  an  instructor  in  the  English  High  School.  In  June,  1866, 
he  was  appointed  Deputy  Surveyor  of  Customs  at  Boston,  and  held 
that  position  till  1875,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  newly  established 
office  of  City  Collector  of  Boston. 

In  March,  1883,  he  became  auditor  of  the  American  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company.  In  1885  he  was  elected  president  of  the  New 
England  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  which  position  he 
now  holds. 

General  Sherwin  is  a  member  of  the  Union,  St.  Botolph  and 
other  clubs  in  Boston,  and  the  University  Club,  of  New  York. 

He  was  commander  of  the  Massachusetts  Commandery  of  the 
Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion  of  the  United  States,  1892-93. 
He  was  the  first  commander  of  the  Charles  W.  Carroll  Post,  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  in  Dedham,  and  for  some  years  assistant 
adjutant-general,  department  of  Massachusetts,  G.  A.  R. 

He  was  married,  January  18,  1870,  to  Isabel  Fiske,  daughter 
of  Hon.  Thomas  McKee  and  Mary  H.  (Fiske)  Edwards,  of  Keene, 
New  Hampshire. 

Their  children  are  Eleanor,  born  February  14,  1871;  Thomas 
Edwards,  May  15,  1872;  Mary  King,  September  16,  1874;  Robert 
Waterston,  March  3,  1878;  Anne  Isabel,  September  9,  1880,  and 
Edward  Vassall,  February  4,  1885. 

Eleanor  (Sherwin)  Goodwin,  is  the  widow  of  the  late  William 
Hobbs  Goodwin,  of  Dedham.  Their  children  are  William  H.,  Isabel 
and  Eleanor  Goodwin.  Mary  King  Sherwin  was  married  in  June, 
1907,  to  Philip  H.  Lee  Warner,  of  London,  England. 


<^, 


^rAj 


CHARLES   FRANCIS   SMITH 

CHARLES  FRANCIS  SMITH,  the  son  of  Charles  Augustus 
and  Eliza  Abigail  (Jennerson)  Smith,  was  born  at  Charles- 
town,  now  a  part  of  Boston,  Massachusetts,  July  3,  1832. 
His  immediate  ancestors  possessed  the  strong  characteristics  of  strict 
integrity,  unflinching  adherence  to  duty  and  deep  respect  for  law, 
and  these  qualities  they  transmitted  to  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 
Moses  Jennerson,  his  maternal  great-grandfather  was  a  soldier  in 
the  Continental  Army  and  rendered  very  efficient  service. 

Mr.  Smith  was  educated  in  the  local  public  schools  until,  at  the 
age  of  fourteen,  he  decided  to  make  his  own  way  in  life.  He  secured 
a  position  as  boy  in  a  store  in  Boston,  and  immediately  began  to 
show  those  admirable  qualities  which  have  been  characteristic  of 
him  throughout  his  life.  Honest,  faithful  and  industrious,  he  was 
early  marked  for  promotion.  He  soon  found  employment  in  a  bank- 
ing interest,  and  from  that  time  his  rise  was  steady  and  notable. 

For  four  years  he  was  teller  of  the  Eagle  National  Bank;  for 
thirty-eight  years  he  served  successively  as  teller,  cashier  and  manag- 
ing director  of  the  Continental  National  Bank  of  Boston;  and  for 
five  years  he  was  vice-president  of  the  Colonial  National  Bank. 
For  the  past  four  years  he  has  been  treasurer  of  the  Commonwealth 
Trust  Company,  and  at  present  holds  the  same  position  with  the 
Oliver  Ditson  Company.  Having  acquired  a  reputation  as  a  care- 
ful manager  of  financial  institutions,  he  has  been  selected  in  a  num- 
ber of  instances  to  serve  as  trustee  for  large  estates. 

The  public  service  is  alv*^ays  open  to  men  of  the  character  and 
the  ability  of  Mr.  Smith.  Therefore,  in  spite  of  his  modest  depre- 
cation of  political  ambition  and  the  numerous  and  serious  calls  on 
his  time  and  energy,  we  find  him  often  serving  his  native  city.  He 
was  for  fifteen  years  a  member  of  the  school  board,  for  three  years 
president  of  the  Common  Council,  and  for  three  years  a  member  of 
the  board  of  aldermen.  The  good-will  which  he  won  and  the  emi- 
nent success  which  followed  his  efforts  in  these  responsible  offices 


CHARLES    FRANCIS    SMITH 

naturally  brought  him  into  prominence  as  a  candidate  for  the 
mayoralty  of  Charlestown,  but  he  found  that  its  duties  would  inter- 
fere too  seriously  with  his  business  engagements,  and  he  declined 
further  political  honors.  He  had  never  identified  himself  particu- 
larly with  any  political  party  but  held  himself  rather  in  an  attitude 
of  independence. 

Following  the  example  of  his  mother,  a  devout  Unitarian,  whose 
influence  was  paramount  with  him,  Mr.  Smith  has  been  a  consistent 
member  of  that  denomination.  He  has  membership  also  in  the 
Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association;  the  Bostonian  Society;  the 
Boston  Art  Club;  and  the  Oliver  Ditson  Society  for  the  Relief  of 
Needy  Musicians.  In  Masonry  he  has  served  as  trustee  in  King 
Solomon's  Lodge. 

The  beauty  of  Mr.  Smith's  home  life  was  —  and  still  is,  though 
his  children  have  grown  up  and  gone  out  to  make  homes  of  their 
own  —  very  charming  and  inspiring.  His  marriage  to  Lois  B. 
(daughter  of  Samuel  and  Nancy)  Emery,  of  Bangor,  Maine,  in  June, 
1859,  was  blessed  by  a  family  of  eight  children.  Of  the  seven  sur- 
viving children,  five  are  now  happily  married  and  many  grand- 
children rise  up  to  call  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  "blessed."  Of  Mr. 
Smith's  sons,  one  is,  like  his  father,  in  banking,  and  another  in  the 
boot  and  shoe  interest. 

By  sound  judgment  and  signal  business  success  he  has  achieved 
the  highest  standing  in  Boston's  business  and  financial  world. 
Finally,  by  a  long  and  consistently  upright  life,  he  has  shown  him- 
self to  be  one  of  Boston's  best  men.  Such  men,  modest,  full  of 
the  characteristic  quiet  American  humor,  affectionate  in  domestic 
relations,  faithful  to  all  trusts,  and  advanced  and  liberal  in  thought, 
make  the  prosperity  of  their  localities  and  insure  the  stability 
of  the  Commonwealth. 


■  iyS-^M/iH^Tis  ^Bm  A^j:' 


^T^Lj^A 


JOHN  HUMPHREYS  STORER 

IN  the  year  1629  the  Reverend  Thomas  Storer  was  vicar  of  the 
small  Lincolnshire  parish  of  Bilsby.  His  sympathies  were  with 
the  Puritan  party  in  the  Established  Church,  and  this  was  a 
season  of  sore  trial  and  discomfort  to  those  of  the  Puritan  way  of 
thinking.  Archbishop  Land  was  at  this  time  zealously  endeavoring 
to  enforce  uniformity  in  the  church,  and  to  stamp  out  Puritanism. 
It  was  becoming  very  evident  that  if  the  Puritans  wished  to  enjoy 
their  faith  without  molestation  they  must  leave  England  in  order  to  do 
so.  Accordingly  all  over  England,  but  more  especially  in  the  eastern 
counties  from  Lincolnshire  to  Kent,  the  Puritans  were  considering  if 
they  should  not  cast  their  lot  with  those  of  their  brethren  who  had 
already  immigrated  to  the  New  World.  The  great  migration  that 
continued  from  1630  till  the  Civil  War  in  1642  had  not  yet  begun, 
but  here  and  there  persons  were  quitting  their  ancestral  homes  for 
the  bleak  shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Among  those  was  the  son 
of  the  vicar  of  Bilsby,  Augustine  Storer,  who  arrived  in  the  New 
World  with  his  wife  and  his  brother-in-law.  Rev.  John  Wheelwright, 
in  1629,  the  first  of  his  name  to  cross  the  Atlantic. 

Among  his  descendants  were  Woodbury  Storer,  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  at  Portland,  Maine,  in  the  early  part 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  his  son,  David  Humphrey  Storer,  the 
grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  a  Boston  physician  of  note, 
born  March  26,  1804,  and  died  September  10,  1891.  From  1854  to 
1868  he  was  dean  of  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  and  was  at  one 
time  president  of  the  American  Medical  Association.  He  was  also 
a  distinguished  naturalist  and  the  author  of  several  works  on  Ichthy- 
ology. He  married  Abby  Jane  Brewer  (born  October  18,  1810;  died 
April  27,  1885).  Two  of  their  sons  rose  to  distinction  in  their  respec- 
tive lines  of  research.  Francis  Humphreys  Storer  became  a  chemist, 
and  was  a  professor  of  agricultural  chemistry  at  Harvard  University 
and  dean  of  the  Bussey  Institute,  and  the  elder,  the  father  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  was  Horatio  Robinson  Storer,  a  physician 


JOHN   HUMPHREYS  STORER 

and  surgeon  of  note.  He  was  born  February  27,  1830,  and  married 
Emily  Elvira  Gilmore,  born  November  2,  1833  and  died  February  27, 
1872.  She  was  a  person  of  much  strength  of  character  as  well  as 
sweetness  of  disposition,  and  although  at  her  death  her  son  John 
was  but  a  boy  of  eleven  years  her  influence  over  his  moral  and 
religious  nature  had  already  made  itself  deeply  felt. 

Research  amid  the  annals  of  the  Storer  family  will  reveal  many 
names  of  men  who  rose  to  importance  in  the  Colonial  period;  not  a 
few  of  them  were  clergymen,  several  were  members  of  the  Great  and 
General  Court,  others  served  in  the  early  Colonial  Wars  or  in  the  war 
of  the  American  Revolution,  and  one  was  the  famous  Governor 
Thomas  Dudley.  A  few  among  the  many  individuals  more  or  less 
closely  connected  with  the  Storer  ancestry  and  who  were  among  the 
earliest  of  New  England  settlers,  were  Edward  Starbuck,  who  came 
to  the  Bay  Colony  from  Derbyshire  in  1629;  Tristram  Coffin  who  came 
in  1642;  William  Woodbury  who  settled  in  Salem  in  1626;  Rev. 
William  Walton  who  came  to  Hingham  in  1635 ;  William  Patten  who 
settled  in  Cambridge  in  1635;  Richard  Dodge  who  established  him- 
self in  Salem  in  1629;  Edward  Spalding  who  came  to  Braintree  in 
1630;  Francis  Littlefield,  who  settled  in  Woburn  in  1635;  and  John 
Spofford  who  came  to  Rowley  in  1638;  Roger  Conant,  Plymouth, 
1623;  John  Thorndike,  Boston,  1632. 

Dr.  Horatio  Storer  was  the  owner  of  a  fine  country  place  at  Milton, 
Massachusetts,  and  his  son  John,  as  a  boy,  liked  nothing  better  than 
to  engage  in  various  kinds  of  farm  work.  Nor  were  his  activities 
confined  wholly  to  the  out-door  life  of  the  farm,  for  carpentry  was  a 
favorite  amusement  of  his  and  he  spent  long  hours  with  saw  and 
plane  amid  the  fragrant  shavings  of  the  carpenter  shop  connected 
with  the  country  establishment.  Sports  of  various  character  de- 
lighted his  boyhood,  as  the  games  of  golf  has  its  charm  for  him  in 
later  life,  while  his  reading  of  history  and  the  study  of  numismatics 
were  other  cherished  pursuits  of  his  youth. 

Naturally,  from  the  prominence  of  his  family  in  the  community 
and  their  ample  means,  the  boy  John  experienced  no  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  acquiring  an  education  other  than  those  incident  to  the 
pursuit  of  knowledge  everywhere.  He  was  sent  to  Saint  Mark's 
School  at  Southborough,  Massachusetts,  passed  a  year  in  study  at 
Frankfort-on-the-Main  in  Germany,  and  graduated  from  Harvard 
University  with  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  1882.     At  the  bidding  of  his 


JOHN   HUMPHREYS  STORER 

own  preference,  he  decided  upon  the  law  as  his  profession  in  life 
and  after  three  years  of  study  at  the  Harvard  Law  School  received 
its  degree  of  LL.B.  in  1885.  His  entrance  into  active  life  may  be 
said  to  have  begun  even  before  his  graduation,  for  while  in  the  Law 
School  he  was  accustomed  to  spend  his  summer  vacation  studying 
law  in  the  offices  of  Ropes,  Gray  &  Loring.  Since  then  he  has 
devoted  himself  principally  to  real  estate  and  the  management  of 
trust  property,  and  for  ten  years,  from  1885  to  1895,  he  was  in  part- 
nership with  Richard  M.  Bradley,  under  the  firm  name  of  Bradley 
&  Storer. 

His  political  allegiance  has  been  given  to  the  Republican  party 
ever  since  he  became  interested  in  politics  at  all,  but  he  has  never 
held  any  political  office.  He  is  a  loyal  member  of  the  Episcopal 
Church  and  has  been  for  seven  years  the  senior  warden  of  Christ 
Church,  Waltham,  in  which  pleasant  city  he  makes  his  home. 

A  man  of  many  clubs  Mr.  Storer  is  president  of  the  Episcopalian 
Club  of  Massachusetts;  a  member  of  the  Union,  Exchange,  St.  Botolph, 
Boston  City;  Essex  County,  and  Oakley  Country  Clubs;  as  well  as 
the  Boston  Athletic  Association,  and  the  New  York  Athletic  Club; 
the  Massachusetts  State  Automobile  Association  and  the  Ameri- 
can Automobile  Association;  the  National  Geographical  Society; 
the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science;  the  Ameri- 
can Institute  of  Civics;  the  Bostonian  Society;  the  Economic  Club; 
the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars  and  the  University  Club  of  New  York; 
the  Harvard  Club  of  New  York,  the  Harvard  Club  of  Boston.  In 
former  years  he  was  also  secretary  of  the  Harvard  Club  of  Rhode 
Island,  and  treasurer  of  the  Puritan  Club  of  Boston. 

The  list  of  Mr.  Storer's  positions  of  trust  and  responsibility  is 
a  long  one,  including  directorships  in  the  Boston  Cooperative  Building 
Company;  Boston  Water  Power  Company;  Brooklyn  Associates; 
Brooklyn  Development  Company;  Greater  New  York  Development 
Company;  Harwood  Construction  Company;  Kingsboro  Realty 
Company;  Montague  Builders  Supply  Company;  New  England 
Watch  and  Ward  Society;  New  York  Suburbs  Company;  Point 
Shirley  Company;  Tuckahoe  Associates;  Realty  Company;  State 
Street  Trust  Company;  Wood  Harmon  Bond  Company;  Wood 
Harmon  Richmond  Realty  Company;  Workingmen's  Building  Associ- 
ation and  Workingmen's  Loan  Association,  as  well  as  trusteeship 
in  the  Boston  Suburban  Development  Trust;  Church  Avenue  Real 


JOHN  HUMPHREYS  STORER 

Estate  Association;  Merchants  Real  Estate  Trust;  Staten  Island 
Associates;  Winthrop  Development  Trust;  Wood  Harmon  Associ- 
ates; Wood  Harmon  Real  Estate  Association  and.  Wood  Harmon 
Real  Estate  Trustees.  It  should  be  added  that  Mr.  Storer  is  also 
the  treasurer  of  six  of  these  corporations,  and  secretary  of  three 
more.  He  likewise  holds  trusteeship  in  the  Peoples  Institute;  the 
Robert  Treat  Paine  Association  and  the  Wells  Memorial  Institute; 
and  is  a  director  of  the  Episcopal  City  Mission  and  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Watch  and  Ward  Society. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  November,  1885,  Mr.  Storer  married  Miss 
Edith  Paine,  a  daughter  of  the  widely-known  Boston  philanthropist, 
Robert  Treat  Paine,  and  his  wife,  Lydia  (Lyman)  Paine.  Mrs. 
Storer  is  a  descendant  of  Thomas  Paine  who  came  to  Salem  from 
England  in  1634,  her  paternal  grandparents  being  Charles  Jackson 
Paine  and  Fanny  Cabot  Jackson  Paine,  while  on  the  maternal  side 
she  was  a  granddaughter  of  George  W.  Lyman,  of  Waltham,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  Anne  Pratt  Lyman.  Six  children,  three  sons  and 
three  daughters,  have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Storer,  the  eldest 
of  them,  Emily  Storer,  being  a  student  at  Bryn  Mawr  College  and 
the  next  oldest,  John  Humphreys  Storer,  Jr.,  a  student  at  Harvard 
College.  The  other  children  are  Edith,  Robert  Treat  Paine,  Theo- 
dore Lyman  and  Lydia  Lyman. 

So  far  as  success  in  his  life-work  is  concerned,  Mr.  Storer  is  in- 
clined to  consider  that  constant  association  from  his  earliest  youth 
with  men  of  high  ideals  has  been  the  strongest  influence  in  forming 
his  character,  and  next  after  this  the  various  influences  of  home  and 
school  and  study  in  private.  Absolute  integrity,  energy,  self  restraint 
and  a  serene  but  intelligent  optimism  he  considers  the  basis  of  suc- 
cess, and  he  believes  that  every  man  should  perform  whatever  tasks 
demand  his  attention  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  and  that  one  who 
lives  nobly  and  realizes  that  all  things  are  ordered  for  the  best,  can 
never  fall  short  of  what  constitutes  real  and  lasting  success. 


(^^^-uj-a^^r-cx 


rx 


EDWARD  AUGUSTINE  TAFT 

EDWARD  AUGUSTINE  TAFT  was  born  at  Uxbridge,  Massa- 
chusetts, April  8,  1845.  His  father,  Augustine  C.  Taft,  was  a 
physician,  whose  early  death,  at  the  age  of  forty,  was  an  in- 
estimable loss.  His  mother  was  Dora  Millett  Taylor,  daughter  of 
the  famous  Rev.  Edward  T.  Taylor  the  "Father  Taylor"  of  the 
Seaman's  Bethel,  M-hose  originality,  eloquence  and  wit  amounted 
to  positive  genius.  He  received  an  education  first  at  a  school  at 
Framingham  and  afterwards  at  boarding  school  at  Hopedale.  In 
1861,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  enlisted  in  the  United  States  Navy,  and 
was  appointed  paymaster's  clerk  and,  attracting  attention  by  his 
quickness  and  accuracy,  was  promoted  as  captain's  clerk.  He 
served  on  the  United  States  Gunboat  Cambridge  and  the  United 
States  Sloop  of  War  Tuscarora.  The  Cambridge  arrived  at 
Hampton  Roads  on  the  eighth  of  March,  1862,  when  the  famous 
Merrimac  appeared  and  destroyed  the  Cumberland  and  Congress. 
The  Cambridge  proceeded  under  orders  from  the  commanding  offi- 
cer to  tow  the  sailing  frigate  St.  Lawrence  to  its  position  for  action 
against  the  Merrimac  off  Newport  News.  They  found  the  Cum- 
berland and  Congress  sunk  and  the  Minnesota  aground  as  a  result  of 
the  first  day's  encounter.  On  the  next  day  he,  with  the  other 
members  of  the  crew,  witnessed  the  tremendous  and  epoch-making 
encounter  betw^een  the  Monitor  and  the  Merrimac. 

At  the  end  of  the  war,  in  1865,  he  entered  the  express  business 
with  the  Merchants'  Union  Express  Company  until  it  was  absorbed 
by  the  American  Express  Company.  In  1872  he  undertook  the 
organization  of  the  New  York  and  Boston  Despatch  Company  in 
which  at  various  periods  he  has  been  manager,  vice-president  and 
president  until  the  end  of  1905,  when  he  removed  to  New  York. 
During  that  third  of  a  century  he  was  indefatigable  in  organizing 
and  incorporating  various  other  companies  for  the  purpose  of  engag- 
ing in  the  carrying  business,  all  of  which  have  been  notably  success- 
ful.    In  1878  he  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Kinsley  Express 


EDWARD  AUGUSTINE  TAFT 

Company,  of  which  he  was  director  and  president.  In  1882  he  was 
the  organizer  and  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Armstrong  Trans- 
fer Express  Company  of  Boston,  and  was  a  director  and  its  general 
manager  until  1889  when  he  resigned.  In  1886  he  was  the  organ- 
izer and  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Boston  Cab  Company,  which 
eight  years  later  was  reorganized  and  incorporated  as  the  Charles  S. 
Brown  Company,  and  in  this  he  is  director  and  president.  This 
same  year  he  became  one  of  the  board  of  managers  of  the  Erie  Ex- 
press Company,  a  joint  stock  association,  the  business  of  which 
was  afterwards  merged  in  the  Wells-Fargo  &  Company's  Express. 
He  is  a  director  in  the  Rand-Avery  Supply  Company. 

In  1887  he  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Boston  Parcel 
Delivery  Company  and  has  since  been  director  and  president.  In 
1905  he  resigned  his  position  as  director-president  and  general 
manager  of  the  New  York  and  Boston  Despatch  Express  Company 
in  order  to  accept  an  appointment  of  assistant  to  the  president  of  the 
Adams  Express  Company.  On  April  23,  1908,  effective  May  1,  1908, 
Mr.  Taft  was  appointed  manager  of  express  departments  of  the 
New  York,  New  Haven  and  Hartford  Railroad  Company,  Central 
New  England  Railway  Company,  the  New  England  Navigation 
Company,  the  Hartford  and  New  York  Transportation  Company, 
the  Connecticut  Company,  the  New  York  and  Stamford  Railway 
Company,  the  Rhode  Island  Company,  with  offices  in  South  Station, 
Boston. 

The  exigencies  of  such  wide-spread  and  yet  concentrated  inter- 
ests have  not  prevented  him  from  taking  a  part  in  social  life.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  New  England  Society  of  New  York;  the  Merchants' 
Club  in  New  York  City;  of  the  Algonquin  Club  of  Boston;  the  Country 
Club  of  Brookline;  the  Beverly  Yacht  Club,  and  the  Old  Colony  Club. 
He  was  married  in  May,  1870,  to  Adelaide  Larrabbee,  and  has  three 
children,  two  daughters,  Mrs.  Alice  Taft  Herrick,  Mrs.  Cora 
Taft  Bryan  and  a  son  Edward  Augustine,  Jr.,  who  is  now  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  the  law. 

Mr.  Taft  is  a  conspicuous  example  of  a  successful  specialist. 
When  the  history  of  the  express  business  in  this  country  comes  to 
be  written,  Mr.  Taft's  share  in  its  organization  will  be  found  to  be 
one  of  its  factors. 


WATERMAN  ALLEN   TAFT 

WATERMAN  ALLEN  TAFT  was  born  at  Crown  Point, 
Essex  County,  New  York,  on  August  11,  1849.  His 
father,  Albert  Taft,  was  a  farmer,  and  carpenter  and 
builder,  and  later  in  life  active  as  a  manufacturer  of  doors,  sashes, 
blinds  and  general  house  finish.  His  mother  was  Mary  Ann  (Cum- 
mings)  Taft.  The  Taft  family  in  this  country  runs  back  to  the 
pioneers  of  New  England,  and  Albert  Taft  and  his  son  are  descended 
from  Robert  Taft,  who  came  from  England  to  Uxbridge,  Massachu- 
setts, about  1650. 

Waterman  Allen  Taft  lived  as  a  boy  on  the  farm  of  his  father, 
who  was  an  active,  aggressive,  persevering  man  —  a  man  who  be- 
lieved in  incessant  industry  and  practised  it.  This  farm  life  was  a 
good  schooling.  The  experience  was  good  for  character  and  habits. 
The  associations  brought  a  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  the 
regular  daily  tasks,  though  they  seemed  irksome  sometimes  to  a 
lively  boy,  were  the  best  foundations  for  a  business  career. 

Young  Taft  had  to  struggle  for  his  education  and  appreciated  it 
none  the  less  on  that  account.  He  was  helped  and  encouraged  by 
his  mother,  who  taught  him,  too,  that  though  learning  was  a  valu- 
able thing  it  was,  after  all,  not  so  indispensable  as  sound  and  whole- 
some character.  The  boy  attended  the  Hudson  River  Institute  at 
Claverack,  New  York,  and  Castleton  Seminary  at  Castleton,  Vermont, 
but  he  did  not  graduate.  He  left  school  at  fifteen  years  of  age  and 
began  his  business  life.  From  the  time  he  was  fifteen  until  he  was 
eighteen  young  Taft  remained  in  the  country  store  at  Crown  Point. 
Then  a  new  field  attracted  him,  and  he  went  to  Whitehall,  New  York, 
and  worked  as  a  telegraph  operator,  first  there  and  then  at  Platts- 
burg,  New  York,  and  subsequently  at  145  Broadway,  New  York 
City.  From  the  age  of  tAventy  to  twenty-three  he  was  engaged  in 
a  general  house  finish  factory  at  Burlington,  Vermont. 

At  twenty-three  Mr.  Taft  connected  himself  with  the  large  house 
of  Bronsons,  Weston,  Dunham  &  Company,  of  Burlington,  Vermont, 


WATERMAN  ALLEN   TAFT 

and  Ottawa,  Canada,  to  learn  the  general  lumber  business.  He 
remained  with  this  large  house  for  seventeen  years,  serving  in  various 
capacities  and  finally  undertaking  the  management  of  the  Boston 
office  of  the  house  and  the  general  direction  of  their  sales.  In  1889 
Mr.  Taft  resigned  and  took  an  interest  with  the  Export  Lumber 
Company,  of  New  York,  Boston,  Montreal  and  Ottawa,  Canada  — 
an  extensive  concern  whose  operations  covered  a  wide  area. 

In  later  years  this  company  became  interested,  through  some  of 
the  wealthy  principals,  in  business  foreign  to  the  lumber  industry, 
which,  through  unforeseen  circumstances,  necessitated  a  general  re- 
organization of  the  interests  involved,  which  resulted  in  receivership 
proceedings  in  1902,  at  which  time  Mr.  Taft,  who  for  many  years  had 
been  a  leading  figure  in  the  operations  of  the  company,  was  appointed 
receiver  for  the  purpose  of  liquidation.  The  affairs  of  the  Export 
Lumber  Company  under  his  able  management  have  been  conducted 
in  such  an  efficient  manner  that  with  the  approach  of  a  final  adjust- 
ment of  its  affairs  the  creditors  of  that  company  express  themselves 
as  extremely  gratified  at  the  prospect  of  receiving  their  entire  claims 
in  full.  Mr.  Taft  and  his  associates  have  now  organized  a  new  Export 
Lumber  Company,  of  which  he  is  the  president. 

Mr.  Taft  holds  a  commanding  position  in  the  lumber  trade  and 
has  a  wide  acquaintance  among  the  strong  business  men  of  Boston. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Algonquin  Club  and  of  the  Exchange  Club  of 
Boston,  Mr  Taft  is  also  a  member  of  the  Oakley  Country  Club  of 
Watertown,  of  the  Hermitage  Country  Club  of  Worcester,  and 
the  Down  Town  Club  of  New  York  City.  He  is  a  Republican  in 
politics  and  is  affiliated  with  the  Congregational  Church.  He  is 
particularly  fond  of  horesback  riding,  golf  and  automobiling. 

Mr.  Taft  was  married  on  December  5,  1878,  to  Sarah  E.,  daughter 
of  James  and  Clara  J.  Doughty,  a  descendant  of  Edward  Doughty, 
one  of  the  famous  company  of  the  Mayflower,  who  came  from 
Plymouth  in  the  Old  World  to  Plymouth  in  the  New,  in  1620. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Taft  have  three  children,  Clara  Cummings  Taft,  now 
Mrs.  R.  S.  Farr,  Helen  Taft  and  W.  Allen  Taft,  Jr.  The  son  has 
followed  his  father  in  the  lumber  business. 

Like  most  men  of  deeds,  Mr.  Taft  is  not  a  man  of  many  words. 
His  counsel  to  the  young  is  summed  up  vividly  in  this:  "The  price 
of  success  is  natural  ability,  character,  health,  system,  economy 
and  eternal  vigilance." 


ITn^  iL/  E  C  W;7/iams   d,Bro  Ny 


^,    ^ 


GEORGE  ARNOLD  TORREY 

GEORGE  ARNOLD  TORREY,  lawyer,  corporation  counsel, 
State  Senator,  was  born  in  Fitchburg,  Worcester  County, 
Massachusetts,  May  14,  1838.  His  father,  Ebenezer  Torrey, 
son  of  John  and  Sally  Torrey,  was  a  lawyer,  bank  president.  State 
Representative  and  Senator,  member  of  the  governor's  council, 
treasurer  of  the  City  of  Fitchburg,  a  man  of  integrity,  ability  and 
industry.  His  first  American  ancestor,  Captain  William  Torrey, 
came  from  Weymouth,  England,  in  1640,  with  his  wife,  Jane  (Havi- 
land)  Torrey  and  settled  in  Wessugausett,  Plymouth  Colony,  Massa- 
chusetts, being  among  the  earlier  settlers.  He  was  a  prominent 
man  in  the  colony,  serving  as  representative  and  as  commissioner 
of  the  peace.  Ebenezer  Torrey  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  William 
and  Hannah  Arnold,  of  Smithfield,  Rhode  Island. 

George  Arnold  Torrey  was  brought  up  in  the  village  of  Fitchburg. 
He  was  largely  influenced  for  good  by  the  excellent  example  of  his 
mother,  as  well  as  by  her  precepts  and  superior  wisdom.  He  at- 
tended the  public  schools  and  Leicester  Academy,  where  he  was 
prepared  for  college;  and  he  was  graduated  at  Harvard  University, 
A.B.  1859;  LL.B.,  1861;  A.M.,  1862;  delivering  an  oration  at  Com- 
mencement; and  being  elected,  by  virtue  of  his  standing  in  the  class, 
a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society.  He  was  married  June 
21,  1861,  to  Ellen  M.  Shirley,  daughter  of  Daniel  H.  and  Charlotte 
E.  Shirley,  of  Boston.     They  had  no  children. 

Mr.  Torrey  took  the  place  of  his  father  as  a  partner  with  Nathaniel 
Wood,  at  that  time  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  in  Worcester  County, 
The  firm  of  Wood  and  Torrey  had  a  large  and  successful  practice, 
and  continued  until  1873  when  Mr.  Torrey  removed  to  Boston  where 
he  has  since  practised  alone.  The  general  practice  of  the  firm  soon 
developed  into  the  more  specific  channels  of  corporation  and  railroad 
law,  to  which  Mr.  Torrey  has  successfully  devoted  himself  since  the 
dissolution  of  the  firm.  In  1887  he  was  elected  general  counsel  of 
the  Fitchburg  Railroad  Company,  and  had  the  exclusive  manage- 


GEORGE  ARNOLD  TORREY 

ment  of  the  legal  business  of  that  corporation  until  the  lease  of  the 
road  to  the  Boston  and  Maine  Railroad  in  1900,  since  which  period 
he  has  served  as  consulting  counsel  for  the  latter  corporation.  He 
has  been  counsel  in  many  of  the  leading  railroad  cases  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  has  gained  an  enviable  reputation  and  high  standing 
at  the  bar. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Senate  from  Worcester 
County  in  1872-73,  serving  as  a  member  of  the  committee  on  judici- 
ary and  towns  in  the  former  year,  and  as  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  judiciary  and  federal  relations  in  1873.  He  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  enactment  of  the  general  railroad  law  in  1872,  and  at  a 
special  session  which  was  convened  on  account  of  the  great  Boston 
fire  in  the  same  year. 

He  was  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Boston,  Clinton  and  Fitchburg 
Railroad,  now  a  part  of  the  Old  Colony  system. 

His  religious  affiliation  is  with  the  Unitarian  denomination  and 
his  social  affiliation  with  the  Algonquin  Club  of  Boston. 


EDGAR  VAN  ETTEN 

EDGAR  VAN  ETTEN,  president  of  the  Cuba  Eastern  Railroad, 
and  also  president  of  the  Long  Acre  Electric  Light  and  Power 
Company,  of  New  York,  is  a  descendant  of  early  colonists 
who  left  their  ancient  homesteads  in  Etten,  Holland,  about  1650, 
to  cross  the  seas,  landing  at  Esopus,  New  York. 

EdgarVan  Etten,  born  at  Milford,  Pike  County,  Pennsylvania,  April 
15, 1843,  was  the  son  of  Amos  and  Lydia  (Thrall)  Van  Etten.  Hisfather 
was  a  merchant  of  the  old  school,  "Live  and  let  live;  give  and  for- 
give,"was  his  favorite  saying,  and  to  a  great  extent  his  rule  of  living. 

His  son  enjoyed  a  home  life  in  which  physical  comfort  and  refine- 
ment went  hand  in  hand  with  a  sincere  religious  sentiment  and  love 
of  practical  knowledge.  A  certain  amount  of  work  was  expected 
and  willingly  given,  and  athletic  sports  and  fishing  were  his  favorite 
out-of-door  diversions.  He  was  an  omnivorous  reader,  with  per- 
haps an  especial  liking  for  the  works  of  Dickens.  He  found  the 
study  of  the  Bible  both  interesting  and  instructive.  In  his  opinion 
it  is  "the  best  book  that  a  young  man  can  read." 

At  an  early  age  he  took  up  the  duties  of  a  clerk  in  a  general  store 
and  served  thus  until  the  great  Civil  War  broke  out,  when  he  at 
once  became  a  soldier  of  the  Union.  Before  he  had  reached  the 
age  of  eighteen  he  was  commissioned  lieutenant  and  was  engaged, 
or  with  the  troops  held  in  reserve,  in  most  of  the  great  battles  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac. 

At  the  close  of  his  service,  circumstances  and  a  personal  prefer- 
ence for  railroad  life  impelled  him  to  engage  as  a  brakeman  on  the 
old  Erie  Railroad.  From  this  position  Mr.  Van  Etten  rose,  by  his 
ability  and  ambition,  his  conscientious  service  and  personal  and 
prompt  performance  of  duty,  his  uniform  consideration  for  the  feel- 
ings and  rights  of  others  during  forty  years  of  railroading,  to  his 
present  prominence.  Nearly  twenty  years  of  his  railroad  life  has 
been  with  the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River  Railroad,  which 
he  served  as  general  superintendent  and  vice-president,  resigning  the 
latter  position  January  1,  1908,  to  become  president  of  an  Electric 


EDGAR   VAN   ETTEN 

Lighting  and  Power  Plant  in  New  York  City.  In  the  long  period 
so  utterly  devoted  to  one  great  specialty,  it  is  natural  that  Mr.  Van 
Etten's  inventive  powers  should  concentrate  on  contrivances  to 
improve  or  expedite  railroad  transportation.  Several  patents  for 
improvements  of  this  kind  have  been  taken  out  by  Mr.  Van  Etten. 
His  literary  tastes  have,  for  the  most  part,  been  rather  those  of  a 
reader  than  a  writer,  but  Mr.  Van  Etten  is  now  engaged  upon  an 
autobiographical  work  "Reminiscences  of  a  Railroad  Man,"  which 
will  have  a  general  interest  outside  of  the  army  of  trained  and 
intelligent  men  who  manage  the  great  transportation  systems. 

Mr.  Van  Etten  is  a  member  of  the  Holland  Society  of  New  York, 
and  holds  in  reverence  the  memories  of  those  devoted  Hollanders 
who  dared  and  suffered  so  much  for  a  free  kirk  and  the  rights  of  free 
men.  He  is  also  affiliated  with  the  Colonial,  Transportation,  and 
Ardsley  Country  Clubs.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Algonquin,  Eastern 
Yacht,  and  Brookline  Country  Clubs,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  Van  Etten  is  never  happier  than  when  enjoying  manly  sport; 
such  things  have  kept  him  young,  fearless,  self-reliant  and  ready 
for  aught  that  may  befall. 

Mr.  Van  Etten  is  a  Democrat  in  politics,  but  is  ever  ready  to  ignore 
an  unworthy  candidate  or  oppose  a  mischievous  policy.  In  religion 
his  family  traditions  and  affiliations  are  naturally  with  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  but  Mr.  Van  Etten  himself  leans  toward  the  Uni- 
tarian belief. 

He  married,  in  1864,  Miss  Emma  Laurence,  of  Port  Jervis,  New 
York,  who  died  in  1895,  leaving  two  daughters,  now  Mrs.  Charles 
Riselay,  of  Somerville,  and  Mrs.  Charles  Slanson,  of  Chicago.  On 
June  30,  1897,  he  married  Frances,  daughter  of  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Ezra 
Cramblett.     There  are  no  living  children  born  of  this  union. 

Mr.  Van  Etten  gratefully  bears  testimony  to  the  influence  of  his 
mother,  Lydia  (Thrall)  Van  Etten,  in  directing  and  inspiring  his 
intellectual  acquirements,  and  the  formation  of  his  moral  and  spiritual 
tendencies.  Her  love,  ambition,  and  encouragement  not  only 
founded  all  that  made  for  sterling  character,  but  implanted  mem- 
ories which  were  a  tower  of  defense  against  temptation. 

Mr.  Van  Etten's  words  of  advice  to  the  young  are:  "Live  by  the 
Golden  Rule  and  let  your  success  stand  upon  this,  together  with  ability 
and  ambition;  be  just,  conscientious,  and  interested  in  your  work; 
'  Always  taking  the  message  to  Garcia  yourself  instead  of  sending  it.'" 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  WELLS 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON  WELLS  is  descended  from  English 
stock.  Both  his  paternal  and  maternal  ancestors  came 
from  England  less  than  a  score  of  years  after  the  historic 
landing  of  the  Mayflower.  The  doings  of  the  generations  of  the 
Wells  and  Cheney  families  are  chronicled  with  all  detail  in  the  pub- 
lished genealogical  records.  Mr.  Wells's  grandfather,  Henry  Wells, 
was  a  captain  in  the  Continental  Army  and  his  great-grandfather, 
Batchelder,  on  his  mother's  side,  was  also  a  Revolutionary  soldier. 
His  father,  John  Ward  Wells,  who  died  in  1872,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-eight,  was  a  carpenter,  surveyor  and  farmer,  a  man  of 
strong,  active  and  decided  mind,  extremely  fond  of  mathematics 
and  a  great  reader.  He  lived  in  Woodstock,  Connecticut,  where  his 
son,  George  Washington,  was  born  April  15,  1846,  the  youngest  of 
nine  children.  At  the  age  of  four  years,  a  severely  sprained  ankle, 
followed  by  a  fever  sore,  confined  him  to  the  house  for  a  year,  and 
compelled  him  to  go  on  crutches  for  nearly  eight  years  more.  Dur- 
ing this  period  his  mother,  Maria  Cheney  Wells,  died,  leaving  him  to 
the  charge  of  his  sister  Lizzie,  who  was  a  mother  to  him  ever  after. 
Her  later  life  was  spent  at  his  home  in  Southbridge,  where  she  died 
October  13,  1905,  aged  seventy-two  years.  At  the  age  of  thirteen 
he  had  a  severe  run  of  typhoid  fever,  which  held  him  for  three 
months. 

His  education  consisted  substantially  of  six  terms  in  the  district 
school  and  one  term  at  Woodstock  Academy.  His  youth  was  largely 
employed  in  farm  work;  and  when  he  was  sixteen,  his  father  being 
disabled,  the  responsibility  of  carrying  on  the  farm  rested  wholly 
on  his  shoulders  for  two  seasons.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  started 
out  for  the  first  time  to  earn  his  own  living,  having  eight  dollars  in 
cash,  and  fifty  dollars  left  him  by  his  mother,  in  the  savings  bank. 
He  taught  school  for  twelve  weeks  at  Navesink  Highlands,  New 
Jersey,  for  which  he  received  one  hundred  dollars.  He  returned  to 
Woodstock  in  March,  1864,  and  the  next  month  went  to  Southbridge, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  WELLS 

where  he  accepted  a  position  as  one  of  the  eleven  employees  in  the 
optical  works  of  R.  H.  Cole  &  Company.  This  mechanical  business 
proved  the  key  to  his  subsequent  success. 

Under  the  instruction  of  his  brother,  Hiram,  Mr.  Wells  began 
immediately  the  making  of  silver  spectacles,  without  the  usual  three 
years'  apprenticeship.  There  being  no  work  at  the  shop  the  follow- 
ing summer  he  worked  at  haying  for  Daniel  Perry,  of  Charleton, 
about  seventeen  days,  for  which  he  received  thirty-five  dollars  and 
his  board.  Mr.  Perry  then  secured  him  a  position  in  the  machine- 
shop  of  the  Hamilton  Woolen  Company,  at  Globe  Village,  at  one 
dollar  per  day. 

In  April,  1865,  he  came  back  to  the  optical  works  of  R.  H.  Cole 
&  Company,  where  he  soon  learned  the  trade  of  steel  spectacle-mak- 
ing. In  the  fall  and  winter  he  worked  with  E.  Edmonds  &  Son, 
but  in  February,  1866,  returned  to  the  old  company,  by  whom  he 
was  employed  principally  in  the  making  of  dies,  tools  and  machinery. 

About  a  year  later  he  decided  to  visit  his  sister,  Lizzie,  then  in 
California.  He  sailed  January  10,  1867,  by  the  way  of  Panama, 
there  being  then  no  railroad  across  the  plains,  arriving  at  San  Fran- 
cisco, February  2.  Before  leaving  Southbridge,  he  had  invested 
what  small  funds  he  had  in  gold  and  steel  spectacles,  which  he  sold 
in  San  Francisco  at  the  same  nominal  prices  he  had  paid  for  them 
in  Southbridge.  But  as  California  was  then  on  a  gold  basis,  the 
profit  was  about  thirty-three  per  cent.,  enough  to  pay  his  entire 
traveling  expenses.  He  made  his  home  there  with  his  uncle,  the 
late  David  B.  Cheney,  D.D.  He  obtained  employment  in  a  large 
machine-shop,  at  four  dollars  a  day  in  silver.  His  uncle's  family 
having  decided  to  return  East,  he  concluded  to  come  with  them, 
but  before  leaving  took  a  hurried  trip  to  see  the  big  trees,  and  the 
geyser  at  Hot  Springs.  He  arrived  again  at  Southbridge  in  August, 
1867,  and  resumed  his  old  position  with  R.  H.  Cole  &  Company. 

In  the  spring  of  1869  he  purchased  a  controlling  interest  in  the 
firm  of  H.  C.  Ammidown  &  Company,  manufacturers  of  optical  goods, 
and  with  his  brother  Hiram,  decided  to  start  a  new  firm  in  that 
business.  Having  accepted  an  offer  to  join  the  old  firm,  a  new  com- 
pany was  incorporated  in  1869,  under  the  name  of  the  American 
Optical  Company.  Mr.  Wells  was  chosen  clerk  of  the  new  company 
and  manager  of  the  steel  department,  and  has  continued  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  company  ever  since.     He  was  director  for  many  years, 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  WELLS 

and  elected  treasurer,  November  21,  1879.  He  was  chosen  presi- 
dent, February  16,-  1891,  and  held  both  offices  till  February  8, 
1903,  when  his  son,  Channing,  was  chosen  treasurer.  Beginning,  as 
we  have  seen,  at  the  very  bottom  of  the  ladder,  he  has  thus  risen 
to  the  active  charge  of  the  whole  business;  and  it  is  admitted  by  all 
that  the  success  of  the  company  is  largely  due  to  his  management. 
When  he  went  to  Southbridge  in  1864  there  were  but  eleven  persons 
in  the  town  engaged  in  producing  optical  goods,  exclusive  of  the  three 
members  of  the  firm;  now  there  are  two  thousand  seven  hundred, 
the  greater  portion  of  them  being  in  the  employ  of  the  American 
Optical  Company.  Its  factory  buildings  have  undergone  constant 
enlargement  and  improvement,  until  it  is  now  the  largest  establish- 
ment of  the  kind  in  the  world  and  equipped  with  every  up-to-date  im- 
provement. For  thirty  years  past  its  goods  have  been  accepted 
as  standard  and  models  in  Europe,  America,  Australia  and  the 
Orient.  The  company  exports  to  nearly  all  countries.  Its  office 
in  London,  located  in  Hatton  Garden,  surpasses  all  others  in  its 
line,  not  only  in  elegance  but  in  the  extent,  variety  and  beauty  of 
the  goods  displayed.  Hardly  a  generation  ago  practically  all  the 
lenses,  test  cases,  etc.,  used  in  this  country  were  imported  from 
Europe.  Now  most  of  the  American  demand  is  supplied  by  American 
producers  and  not  an  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  foreign  demand; 
not  because  the  American  goods  are  cheaper  but  because  they  are 
better.  This  great  success  has  been  due  in  no  small  degree,  Mr. 
Wells  believes,  to  the  protective  duty  on  these  high-cost  goods,  and 
in  proof  that  when  there  is  large  domestic  competition  the  duty  is 
not  added  to  the  price,  he  cites  with  pride  the  fact  that  since  the 
goods  have  been  made  here  in  large  quantities  the  prices  have  fallen 
thirty-three  to  fifty  per  cent.  Possessing  to  an  unusual  degree  the 
qualities  of  natural  mechanical  skill,  joined  to  industry,  judgment 
and  energy,  Mr.  Wells's  career  could  not  be  otherwise  than  successful. 
Men  who  know  testify  that  he  stands  in  the  front  rank  of  the  "Cap- 
tains of  Industry"  of  this  country. 

From  his  special  interest  in  all  mechanical  lines,  Mr.  Wells  has 
naturally  been  a  constant  and  thorough  student  in  matters  pertain- 
ing to  his  particular  business,  and  has  taken  out  many  patents  in 
connection  with  the  same.  He  has  thus  come  to  be  considered  for 
many  years  a  patent  expert  along  the  lines  of  optical  goods.  His 
business  trips  in  the  interest  of  the  American  Optical  Company 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  WELLS 

have  taken  him  into  nearly  every  State  of  the  Union,  and  have 
thus  secured  him  a  large  acquaintance  among  the  optical  people  of 
this  country,  and  also  in  Europe.  He  has  been  able  to  combine 
pleasure  with  business,  and  has  made  three  extended  trips  to  Europe, 
accompanied  by  Mrs.  Wells. 

Naturally,  and  almost  of  necessity,  Mr.  Wells  has  made  a  thorough 
study  of  tariff  questions  in  relation  to  American  industries,  espe- 
cially his  own,  and  has  appeared  many  times  in  Washington  before 
the  tariff  committees  of  both  House  and  Senate,  imparting  infor- 
mation necessary  to  forming  the  tariff  schedules  in  regard  to  materials 
used  in  the  optical  business,  and  has  thus  formed  a  very  pleasant 
and  valuable  acquaintance  among  the  leaders  of  both  branches  of 
Congress. 

His  election  to  the  presidency  of  the  Home  Market  Club  was  not 
sought  by  him,  and  his  third  election  in  1907  was  an  unprecedented 
honor.  All  his  predecessors  had  been  among  the  most  prominent 
business  and  protectionist  leaders  in  Massachusetts.  Another  honor 
which  came  to  him  unsought,  was  the  giving  of  his  name  to  a  six- 
masted  schooner,  which  was  built  in  Camden,  Maine,  and  is  one 
of  the  finest  vessels  of  that  class  ever  built  in  the  United  States. 

In  politics,  Mr.  Wells  is  a  straightforward  Republican;  not  an 
office-seeker,  or  wire-pulling  politician,  yet  few  men  can  do  as  much 
as  he  by  proper  methods  to  secure  right  action  in  important  town 
affairs,  whenever  he  judges  best  to  exert  his  influence.  The  high 
esteem  in  which  he  is  regarded  by  the  business  men  of  Southbridge 
and  vicinity  may  be,  in  part,  suggested  by  the  following  offices  held 
by  him  mostly  for  many  years:  president,  American  Optical  Com- 
pany, Southbridge  National  Bank,  Central  Mills  Company;  director, 
Southbridge  Water  Supply  Company,  Harrington  Cutlery  Company, 
Warren  Steam  Pump  Company,  Worcester  Trust  Company,  Worces- 
ter Manufacturers'  Mutual  Insurance  Company,  National  Shawmut 
Bank,  Boston;  trustee  and  member  of  Investment  Committee  of 
Southbridge  Savings  Bank;  trustee  Worcester  Academy. 

In  1888,  at  the  special  request  of  his  old  friend,  Hezekiah  Conant, 
he  accepted  the  appointment  as  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  Nichols  Academy  at  Dudley,  Massachusetts.  He  was  also  ap- 
pointed by  Governor  Wolcott,  and  again  by  Governor  Crane,  as 
one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Worcester  Insane  Asylum. 

Mr.  Wells  has  for  many  years  been  an  active  and  highly  esteemed 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  WELLS 

member  of  the  local  Masonic  bodies,  also  of  the  Worcester  Com- 
mandery,  and  has  attained  the  thirty-second  degree  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts Consistory. 

September  27,  1869,  Mr.  George  W.  Wells  and  Miss  Mary  E. 
McGregory,  of  Southbridge,  were  married.  In  1894  the  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  of  this  event  was  celebrated  by  a  large  gathering 
of  the  principal  people,  not  only  of  Southbridge,  but  of  the  neighbor- 
ing towns.  They  have  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  The  sons  are 
all  active  workers,  holding  prominent  offices  in  the  American  Optical 
Company:  Channing  M.,  director  and  vice-president;  Albert  B., 
director  and  treasurer;  J.  Cheney,  director  and  clerk;  the  daughter, 
Mary  E.,  being  the  wife  of  Frank  F.  Phinney,  treasurer  and  manager 
of  the  Warren  Steam  Pump  Company.  There  are  at  the  present 
time  six  grandchildren. 

Overlooking  the  river  and  valley  of  the  Quinebaug  and  the 
extensive  works  that  he  has  been  so  largely  instrumental  in  building 
up,  Mr.  Wells  and  his  wife  enjoy  a  beautiful  home,  characterized  by 
simple  elegance  and  good  taste,  near  which  are  the  attractive  homes 
of  his  three  sons,  whose  children  are  almost  as  much  at  home  in 
their  grandfather's  house  as  in  their  own.  The  devotion  of  his 
sons  to  business  and  their  efficiency  in  the  different  departments  are 
among  the  triumphs  which  Mr.  Wells  contemplates  with  solid  satis- 
faction in  the  ripeness  of  his  career. 

May  1,  1864,  Mr.  Wells  united  with  the  Baptist  Church  in  South- 
bridge,  He  was  a  member  of  the  church  choir  for  considerable 
time,  and  has  been  one  of  the  principal  supporters  of  the  church 
ever  since.  When  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  was 
started  in  Southbridge,  Mr.  Wells  was  chosen  its  first  president, 
holding  the  office  for  eleven  years;  and  has  also  served  ten  years  as 
a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Committee  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association. 

The  chief  factors  which  must  be  established  in  the  cultivation 
of  true  Americanism,  are,  according  to  him,  —  "Honesty,  temper- 
ance, industry,  determination,  perseverance,  a  home  and  family  if 
possible  in  early  life,  a  clean  and  healthy  body  and  mind,  developed 
and  sustained  by  needed  recreation  in  which  mother,  wife  or  chil- 
dren can  join;  with  these  things,"  he  says,  "everything  is  possible, 
and  life  must  be  a  success." 


DANIEL    BAIRD    WESSON 

DANIEL  BAIRD  WESSON  was  born  in  Worcester  in  May, 
1825,  and  died  at  his  home  in  Springfield,  August  4,  1906. 
Behind  the  personahty,  the  strenuous  force  that  makes  cir- 
cumstances minister  to  the  accompHshment  of  desired  results,  lay 
inherited  ability  as  an  inventor.  Of  English  origin,  the  family  of 
Wesson  has  flourished  in  America  for  fully  two  centuries,  its  early 
home  being  in  New  Hampshire.  In  the  history  of  Fitzwilliam 
(Cheshire  County)  mention  is  made  of  Jonathan  and  Molly  Wesson, 
and  of  their  children  Jonathan,  Polly,  and  Josiah,  all  born  between 
1784  and  1786.  Rufus  Wesson,  the  father  of  Daniel  B.  Wesson, 
was  a  grandson  of  Abel  Wesson  of  New  Hampshire,  and  he  himself 
was  a  native  of  that  State.  Attracted  to  Massachusetts  by  the 
fascinations  of  the  great  workshops  there,  the  father  of  D.  B.  Wesson 
settled  at  Worcester  in  early  manhood,  and  shortly  became  famous 
in  the  region  for  the  excellence  of  his  plows.  These  implements  were 
of  wood,  and  yet  their  construction  was  so  thorough  that  their 
work  was  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  agricultural  community.  The 
skill  of  the  inventor  and  maker  was  especially  shown  in  the  carving 
of  the  convexed  curves,  and  while  furrows  were  turned  with  shares 
of  wood  the  Wesson  found  high  favor.  When  the  demand  for 
these  implements  fell  off,  owing  to  the  advent  of  the  cast-iron  plow, 
Mr.  Wesson  abandoned  their  manufacture  and  took  up  farming. 
A  man  of  brains  as  well  as  skill,  he  never  lost  his  interest  in  the 
mechanic  arts.  He  died  at  Worcester  in  1874,  aged  eighty-seven 
years. 

Rufus  Wesson  married  Betsey  Baird,  of  Worcester,  who  came 
on  both  sides  of  old  local  families.  Of  the  same  sturdy  stock  as  her 
husband,  she  too  reached  a  green  old  age,  dying  at  the  home  of  one 
of  her  children  in  Worcester  two  years  subsequent  to  her  husband's 
demise,  being  then  in  her  eighty-eighth  year.  There  were  five 
sons  and  five  daughters.  The  boys  all  inherited  their  father's  love 
for  mechanics.     Edwin,  the  oldest  son,  apprenticed  himself  to  the 


^DrTCZ 


DANIEL    BAIRD    WESSON 

trade  of  gim-making  under  Silas  Allen  of  Shrewsbury,  an  expert 
in  this  line.  When  out  of  his  time  he  set  up  for  himself  at  North- 
boro  and  acquired  considerable  reputation  as  the  manufacturer  of 
a  firearm  of  his  own  invention  known  as  the  Wesson  rifle.  He 
died  about  1850.  Rufus  and  Martin,  two  younger  sons,  engaged 
in  shoe  manufacturing. 

Daniel  B.  Wesson  shared  with  his  father  and  elder  brothers  the 
taste  for  mechanics  and  invention.  Until  he  was  eighteen  years  of 
age  he  lived  at  home,  devoting  his  time  about  equally  between  duties 
on  the  farm  and  schooling,  slighting  neither,  yet  nursing  a  hope  that 
he  might  soon  be  free  to  follow  the  bent  of  his  inclination.  His 
father  seemed  to  think  that  the  shoe  business  afforded  a  fine  prospect 
for  him  and  urged  him  to  master  it  under  his  brothers,  Rufus  and 
Martin.  While  Daniel  did  not  relish  this  field  he  was  constrained 
to  enter  it,  but  he  soon  found  it  uncongenial  and  went  back  upon 
the  farm.  There  he  essayed  some  boyish  pistol-making,  with  the 
old  flint-lock  of  his  father  as  a  model.  Wooden  stocks  patiently 
whittled,  and  barrels  molded  from  abandoned  vessels  of  pewter, 
were  deftly  put  together  and  fearlessly  tested.  The  lad  hoped  to 
be  sent  off  to  the  shop  of  his  brother  Edwin,  but  his  father  did  not 
readily  entertain  the  notion  of  a  second  departure,  and  in  the  end 
Daniel  had  to  pay  for  his  time  to  gain  his  freedom.  He  was  eighteen 
when  he  made  this  bargain,  and  finding  that  his  father  valued  his 
time  until  attaining  his  majority  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars, 
he  paid  him  that  sum  out  of  his  savings  and  went  off  at  once  to 
join  his  eldest  brother.  It  was  a  good  school  for  the  ambitious 
lad,  since  it  opened  the  opportunity  to  master  the  trade  of 
gunmaking  in  every  detail.  In  three  years  he  had  completed  his 
apprenticeship. 

He  then  worked  for  a  time  as  a  journeyman  under  his  brother, 
first  at  Northboro,  then  at  Hartford,  Connecticut,  being  a  partner 
and  superintendent  of  the  shop  at  the  last-named  place.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  one  of  the  improvements  which  was  used 
at  this  period  was  the  invention  of  the  late  Alvan  G.  Clark,  the 
world-famous  telescope  maker,  who  received  a  liberal  royalty  on 
it.  This  was  a  small  funnel-shaped  appliance  which  -^as  attached 
to  the  muzzle  of  a  rifle  when  loading  and  shaped  the  "patch"  or 
bit  of  cloth  in  which  the  bullet  was  placed  before  it  was  rammed 
home.     Upon  the  death  of  his  brother  Edwin,  in  1850,  Mr.  Wesson 


DANIEL    BAIRD    WESSON 

formed  a  partnership  with  Thomas  Warner,  a  master  armorer  of 
acknowledged  skill,  who  had  long  resided  in  Worcester.  Mr.  Warner 
retired  from  business  about  two  years  later.  Mr.  Wesson  then 
joined  his  brother  Frank,  who  had  a  gun-making  establishment 
in  the  town  of  Grafton,  and  there  devoted  himself  to  the  manu- 
facture of  single-barrel  target  pistols.  Thus,  step  by  step,  he  ac- 
quired a  practical  mastery  of  the  armorer's  craft,  and  ripened  his 
inventive  powers  in  the  school  of  daily  experiment  and  experience. 

About  this  time  a  Mr.  Leonard  began  to  make  a  stir  with  an 
improvement  in  firearms.  Having  capital  at  command  he  organized 
the  Leonard  pistol  manufacturing  company  with  shops  at  Charles- 
town,  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Wesson  was  called  to  his  aid  as  super- 
intendent of  the  factory  and  found  a  somewhat  erratic  set  of 
inventions  submitted  for  treatment  at  his  skilled  hands.  Mr.  Leonard 
had  some  idea  of  a  rapid-firing  gun,  but  his  plans  did  not  produce 
an  arm  that  could  be  discharged  with  regularity  or  handled  with 
safety.  He  had  better  success  with  the  old  "pepper-box,"  the 
cluster  of  barrels  fired  by  a  revolving  hammer.  As  the  weapon 
had  no  center  of  fire  it  was,  of  course,  inaccurate  and  useless  for 
target  practice;  yet  it  obtained  some  vogue  and  its  manufacture 
was  continued  at  Windsor,  Vermont. 

The  change  released  Mr.  Wesson,  who  was  now  called  to  Worcester 
by  the  firm  of  Allen  &  Luther,  who  sought  his  assistance  in  turning 
out  gun-barrels.  It  was  while  with  this  firm  that  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  his  subsequent  partner,  Horace  Smith.  An  experi- 
ment about  this  time  came  very  near  costing  Mr.  Wesson  his  life. 
It  was  not  made  with  one  of  his  own  constructions,  but  with  the 
invention  of  a  Colonel  Porter,  who  had  come  up  from  the  South  to 
find  some  gun-maker  capable  of  making  practical  his  so-called 
magazine  firing  arm.  The  practical  eye  of  Mr.  Wesson  saw  at  a 
glance  that  the  weapon  was  a  thing  which  no  skill  could  render 
available;  but  pressed  by  the  colonel  he  undertook  to  experiment 
with  it  and  even  to  exhibit  it  before  a  board  of  ordnance  officers. 
Notwithstanding  every  percaution  in  handling  it,  one  of  the  cham- 
bers went  off  independently,  sending  a  bullet  whizzing  through 
Mr.  Wesson's  hat;  while  another  chamber,  pointed  directly  at  his 
body,  narrowly  missed  fire. 

While  giving  his  days  to  labor,  Mr.  Wesson  devoted  a  large  part 
of  his  nights  to  thought  and  study.     Out  of  his  reflections  and 


DANIEL    BAIRD    WESSON 

experiments  came  the  invention  of  a  practical  cartridge  that  ren- 
dered percussion  caps  a  superfluity.  But  men  without  ample  means 
at  command  are  forced  to  go  slowly.  Mr.  Wesson  was  brooding 
over  his  invention  —  convinced  of  its  incontestable  merit  —  when 
Courtland  Palmer  of  New  York  came  forward  with  a  bullet  hollowed 
out  in  part  to  receive  a  charge  of  powder  which  was  held  in  place 
by  a  plug  of  cork,  the  latter  perforated  to  permit  the  flash  from  a 
primer  to  ignite  the  explosive.  Although  believing  his  own  to  be 
the  better  invention,  Mr.  Wesson  felt  constrained  to  accept  the 
offer  of  Mr.  Palmer  to  enlarge  his  business  as  a  pistol  maker,  pro- 
vided the  Palmer  invention  was  given  the  preference.  While  study- 
ing the  Palmer  cartridge  Mr,  Wesson  made  an  improvement  on 
it  for  which  he  received  a  patent.  This  improvement  was  the 
addition  of  a  steel  disk  on  which  the  hammer  could  explode  the 
fulminate,  thus  doing  away  with  the  primer. 

It  was  in  working  out  this  plan  that  Mr.  Wesson  became  asso- 
ciated with  the  late  Horace  Smith,  with  whom,  in  1852,  he  formed 
a  partnership  and  established  a  factory  at  Norwich,  Connecticut. 
It  was  here  that  the  tv/o  men  worked  out  the  principles  of  the  arm 
now  known  as  the  Winchester  rifle,  an  arm  which  has  been  much 
improved,  but  which  in  its  main  points  is  practically  unchanged 
to-day.  They  made  this  rifle  for  a  time  at  Norwich,  and  later 
applied  a  similar  principle  to  pistols  and  other  small  arms.  Even- 
tually they  disposed  of  their  patents  to  the  Volcanic  Arms  Com- 
pany. In  1855  Mr.  Smith  retired  from  the  business  and  became 
otherwise  engaged  in  Worcester.  Mr.  Wesson  was  at  once  called 
to  the  position  of  superintendent  for  the  Volcanic  Arms  Company  — 
to  which  the  Winchester  Arms  Company  has  since  succeeded,  and 
under  its  auspices  the  Smith  &  Wesson  cartridge  —  the  first  self- 
primed  metallic  cartridge  that  had  proved  practical  —  was  put  into 
use.  This  cartridge  was  used  in  the  Spencer  rifles  during  the  Civil 
War,  although  the  government  was  slow  to  adopt  either  cartridges 
or  rapid-fire  guns.     For  years  the  inventors  received  a  royalty  on  it. 

Experimenting  and  testing  his  ideas  incessantly,  Mr.  Wesson 
at  length  succeeded  in  perfecting  a  revolver  —  the  peculiarity  and 
merit  of  which  consisted  in  the  fact  that  the  chambers  ran  entirely 
through  the  cylinder.  The  opportunity  for  its  manufacture  came 
upon  the  reorganization  of  the  Volcanic  Arms  Company,  who  wrote 
Mr.  Wesson  as  follows: 


DANIEL    BAIRD    WESSON 

New  Haven,  Feb.  8,  1856. 
Daniel  B.  Wesson,  Esq., 
Dear  Sir  : 

By  vote  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  "  The  Volcanic  Repeating  Arms 
Company  "  I  am  hereby  instructed  to  inform  you  of  their  acceptance  of  your 
resignation  of  the  office  of  Superintendent  of  said  Company,  to  take  effect  on 
Monday  next.  And  also  to  acknowledge  their  appreciation  of  your  services  as  a 
mechanic,  and  the  conscientious  discharge  of  your  duties  as  a  man. 
With  respect,  I  am, 

Very  truly  yours, 

Saml.  L.  Talcott,  Sec. 

Freed  from  his  engagement,  Mr.  Wesson  joined  again  with  his 
old  partner,  Mr.  Smith.  They  hired  premises  on  Market  Street  in 
Springfield,  in  1857,  and  with  twenty-five  workmen  began  opera- 
tions. In  1860,  success  having  attended  their  efforts,  they  built  a 
large  factory  on  Stockbridge  Street,  where,  owing  to  the  heavy 
demand  for  their  weapon  starting  during  the  Civil  War,  they  came 
in  time  to  employ  six  hundred  workmen.  The  government,  it  is 
true,  supplied  only  the  old-fashioned  arm  with  percussion  caps; 
but  the  public  with  less  conservatism  and  m.ore  wisdom  demanded 
the  improved  weapon.  In  1870  the  attention  of  the  wide-awake 
ordnance  officers  of  the  Russian  government  was  attracted  to  the 
Smith  &  Wesson  revolver,  and  the  result  was  a  contract  to  supply 
the  Russian  army.  Two  hundred  thousand  were  required  for  this 
purpose,  and  four  years  were  consumed  in  filling  the  contract.  In 
1874  Mr.  Smith  retired,  selling  out  his  interest  to  Mr.  Wesson,  who, 
however,  did  not  care  to  change  the  style  under  which  the  busi- 
ness is  conducted.  The  contract  with  the  Russian  government 
was  but  the  prelude  to  a  succession  of  contracts  from  governments 
and  firms  all  over  the  world,  and  the  filling  of  these  not  only  brought 
wealth  to  Mr.  Wesson,  but  prosperity  to  hundreds  of  skilful  work- 
men and  incidentally  to  the  city  of  Springfield.  Since  1874  the 
plant  has  been  materially  increased,  and  it  is  to-day  probably  the 
finest  and  largest  in  America  for  pistol  manufacturing,  and  a  model 
in  point  of  neatness,  order,  and  thoroughness,  presenting  the  most 
pleasing  aspect  whether  viewed  from  without  or  within. 

Mr.  Wesson  was  a  man  of  unflagging  industry,  and  in  this  respect 
his  habits  remained  practically  the  same  as  when  he  was  struggling 
to  make  his  place  in  the  world.  His  efforts  and  studies  to  improve 
his  inventions  were  never  relaxed.     Out  of  these  came  a  number 


DANIEL    BAIRD    WESSON 

of  notable  improvements  which  make  the  weapon  of  his  invention 
indisputably  first  of  its  kind.  One  of  the  most  important  of  these 
is  the  automatic  extractor  which  expels  the  cartridge  shells.  An- 
other is  the  safety  device  in  the  handle  which  makes  it  necessary 
to  apply  force  in  two  directions  to  fire  the  weapon,  although  no 
additional  effort  is  required,  a  means  of  preventing  the  accidental 
discharge  of  revolvers  applied  in  what  is  now  known  as  the  "  ham- 
merless  safety  revolver."  Since  their  introduction  in  1887  at  least 
300,000  of  these  arms  have  been  placed  upon  the  market.  The 
device  consists  in  placing  the  hammer  of  the  arm  entirely  within  the 
lock  frame  so  that  no  external  force  whatever  can  be  applied  to  it; 
and,  second,  by  so  arranging  the  trigger  that  it  cannot  be  pulled 
except  at  the  instant  of  deliberate  firing  and  only  by  this  means. 
A  pistol  of  this  kind  cannot  possibly  be  discharged  by  an  ordinary 
child  under  eight  yeare  of  age  —  thus  eliminating  one  painful  source 
of  calamity,  and  in  the  hands  or  on  the  person  of  an  individual  of 
even  a  lower  grade  of  intelligence  the  weapon  is  scarcely  any  more 
dangerous  to  the  one  carrying  it  than  if  it  were  a  block  of  wood. 
The  invention  known  as  the  ''rebounding  lock"  is  an  additional 
source  of  safety  and  protection  which  lends  extra  value  to  this 
perfect  construction.  Fully  one  third  of  the  yearly  output  is  of 
the  38-caliber.  The  other  principal  models  are  the  32,  38,  and  44, 
or  army  size.  Single-  and  double-action  weapons  are  made;  also 
target  pistols  and  a  central  fire  repeating  rifle.  All  parts  are  made 
to  gage  and  are  interchangeable.  Reloading  and  dismounting  tools 
are  also  manufactured.  The  self-lubricating  cartridge  —  long  desired 
and  upon  which  Mr.  Wesson  expended  great  thought  —  was  per- 
fected by  him  and  placed  on  the  market.  Through  its  use  the 
highest  degree  of  accuracy  is  secured  with  practically  no  fouling  of 
the  barrel. 

Two  of  his  sons  were  associated  with  Mr.  Wesson  in  business; 
Walter  H.  Wesson  was  admitted  as  partner  in  1883  and  Joseph  H. 
Wesson  in  1887,  Both  have  won  their  place  in  the  community. 
The  younger  son  has  an  especial  bent  for  mechanics,  and  to  him 
some  improvements  in  machinery  are  due.  One  in  particular, 
bearing  on  the  drilling  of  gun-barrels,  makes  it  possible  for  one 
man  to  do  what  it  formerly  required  three  to  accomplish.  The 
loyalty  and  devotion  of  the  sons  was  a  reenforcement  which  any 
father  would  value.     Mr,   Wesson  was   married  in   1847  to 


DANIEL    BAIRD    WESSON 

Cynthia  M.  Hawes,  daughter  of  Luther  Hawes,  of  Northboro.  They 
had  four  children:  Sarah  Janette  Wesson,  who  was  married  to  Dr. 
Bull  of  Montreal;  Walter  H.  Wesson;  Frank  Wesson,  whose  untimely 
death  was  mourned  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  Joseph  H.  Wesson. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wesson  had  always  been  much  to  each  other,  and 
the  long  years  of  their  life  together  had  created  an  unusual  sense  of 
mutual  dependence.  The  chief  relaxation  from  business  which  Mr. 
Wesson  allowed  himself  was  in  driving  with  his  wife.  They  were 
intimately  acquainted  with  all  the  drives  about  Springfield,  and 
in  Northboro,  where  they  had  their  beautiful  summer  place,  and 
both  were  fond  of  nature.  Two  large  and  perfectly  equipped  hos- 
pitals will  constitute  enduring  memorials  of  husband  and  wife. 
Together  they  joined,  early  in  1900,  in  establishing  the  Wesson  Memo- 
rial Hospital  in  their  house  on  High  Street,  which  they  left  for  the 
splendid  mansion  on  Maple  Street.  The  hospital  building  was 
erected  by  the  side  of  the  former  High  Street  home,  and  on  the 
grounds  there  is  the  Maternity  Hospital,  which  Mr.  Wesson  pro- 
jected. Both  of  these  hospitals,  one  provided  to  serve  the  homeo- 
pathic school  of  medicine,  and  the  other  to  meet  the  general  need 
of  the  community,  are  equipped  at  all  points  equal  to  the  best  insti- 
tutions of  their  kind  anywhere.  The  homeopathic  hospital  was 
completed  at  a  cost  of  $350,000,  and  the  former  Wesson  house, 
valued  at  $50,000  is  used  as  a  home  for  nurses.  The  Maternity 
Hospital  on  Myrtle  and  High  Streets  cost  $400,000. 

Mastership  in  the  invention,  development,  and  perfection  of 
modern  small  arms,  during  an  active  business  career  of  over  half 
a  century,  made  Daniel  B.  Wesson  notable.  He  belonged  to  the 
school  of  men  who  preferred  to  let  their  work  speak  for  itself,  and 
are  ever  "diligent  in  business."  The  Smith  &  Wesson  revolver  is 
known  wherever  firearms  are  used,  and  the  reticent  New  Englander 
who  devised  it  and  studied  out  the  improvements  which  one  by  one 
have  gone  to  making  it  the  most  complete  modern  arm  of  its  kind 
was  content  with  that.  Mr.  Wesson  had  his  share  in  developing 
other  local  enterprises,  w^hile  his  investment  interests  were  extensive. 
He  was  president  of  the  Cheney  Bigelow  Wire  Works  and  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Springfield,  and  for 
many  years  was  one  of  its  directors.  In  political  views  he  was 
strongly  Republican.  A  man  of  pronounced  views  on  temperance, 
he  has  embodied  his  sentiments  in  two  massive  drinking  fountains. 


DANIEL    BAIRD    WESSON 

He  enforced  temperance  in  so  far  as  he  could  among  his  employees. 
His  independence  of  character  made  him  outspoken  and  free  from 
sham  and  pretence  in  social  life,  business,  or  religion. 

Mr.  Wesson  was  able  to  give  play  to  his  love  for  architectural 
construction.  He  built  in  Northboro  a  handsome  summer  residence 
upon  an  attractive  estate,  the  old  homestead  where  Mrs.  Wesson 
was  born  and  lived  until  her  marriage.  It  is  a  landmark  in  central 
Massachusetts,  and  an  object  of  admiration  and  pride  to  the  people 
of  that  region.  His  Maple  Street  house  in  Springfield  is  one  of  the 
finest  in  New  England. 

As  an  inventor  and  mechanic,  Mr.  Wesson  took  his  place  among 
the  exceptional  men.  In  him  was  the  unusual  union  of  an  inventor 
who  was  also  a  competent  manufacturer.  Mr.  Wesson  being  of  a 
retiring  nature  never  cared  to  talk  about  himself,  and  it  was  not 
easy  to  get  at  the  facts  of  his  career.  The  facts  of  this  sketch 
were  obtained  from  Mr.  Wesson  and  verified  by  him.  They  consti- 
tute a  most  interesting  contribution  touching  the  beginnings  and 
development  of  an  industry  of  international  scope. 


JOHN  WILSON  WHEELER 

JOHN  WILSON  WHEELER  is  a  notable  example  of  what  a 
person  endowed  with  intellect,  with  good  physical  equipment 
and  with  a  high  purpose  may  accomplish  in  spite  of  unfavor- 
able circumstances  hampering  the  beginning  of  his  career.  He 
would  probably  decline  to  admit  that  they  were  unfavorable  cir- 
cumstances, since  the  energy  employed  in  overcoming  them  becomes 
the  most  valuable  factor  in  success.  Given  two  boys  of  equal  ability, 
one  furnished  with  every  facility  that  money,  family  connections  and 
influence  can  procure,  and  the  other  with  only  ambition,  stead- 
fastness, and  good  principles,  the  odds  are  that  the  boy  with  the 
handicap  of  circumstances  will  come  out  ahead. 

Born  of  good  New  England  stock  —  the  name  of  Holmes,  Warden, 
Dexter  and  Harrington  occurring  among  his  immediate  ancestry  — 
he  typifies  that  admirable  class  of  the  sturdy  yeomanry  of  this  coun- 
try, the  fine  flower  reaching  up  into  an  aristocracy  of  character  and 
dignity  and  rewarded  with  all  the  blessings  which  abundant  means 
and  honors  from  his  fellow  men  can  bestow.  The  career  of  such  a 
man  is  an  inspiration. 

His  father,  Wilson  Wheeler,  whose  life  covered  a  good  part  of 
the  last  century,  was  a  carpenter  and  builder  in  the  town  of  Orange, 
in  the  western  part  of  Massachusetts.  In  addition  to  his  trade 
he  served  as  constable  and  collector  of  taxes  and  for  many  years  was 
deputy  sheriff  for  eastern  Franklin  County.  His  wife  was  Catherine 
H,  Warden,  of  Worcester.  There  was  no  race  suicide  dreamed  of  in 
those  days  and  though  a  family  of  nine  strained  the  resources  of 
the  parents  it  was  a  burden  cheerfully  borne.  Naturally  the  boys 
and  girls,  as  they  developed,  began  early  to  help  in  the  exacting 
labors  of  a  country  home. 

John  Wilson  Wheeler  was  next  to  the  oldest ;  he  was  born  Novem- 
ber 20,  1832,  From  his  father  he  inherited  a  well-built  figure,  a 
robust  constitution  and  remarkable  powers  of  endurance,  but  his 
facial  characteristics  resembled  those  of  his  mother's  family.     He 


JOHN   AVILSON   WHEELER 

made  the  most  of  the  extremely  limited  educational  advantages  that 
the  town  offered.  The  terms  of  the  district  school  were  short,  but 
he  was  an  apt  scholar  and  assimiliated  the  simple  but  efficient  and 
wholesome  instruction  there  given  in  the  old-fashioned  manner  by 
the  teacher  that  boarded  around.  His  formal  education,  to  misuse 
a  term,  was  polished  off  with  a  few  weeks  at  a  select  school,  taught  by 
Beriah  W.  Fay,  of  New  Salem.  The  months  when  school  ''didn't 
keep  "  could  be  hardly  called  vacation.  Every  day  and  every  wak- 
ing hour  was  filled  with  chores  and  the  variegated  work  required  of 
a  healthy  boy  in  such  a  family.  Young  Wheeler  found  time,  even 
when  quite  young,  to  earn  a  little  supplementary  money  by  driving 
the  cows  of  some  of  the  neighbors  to  and  from  pasture.  Afterwards 
he  obtained  chances  to  work  out  and  was  thus  enabled  to  buy  his 
own  clothes. 

He  learned  the  carpenter's  trade,  but  neither  carpentering  nor 
farming  was  very  congenial  to  him,  until  two  years  after  he  had  at- 
tained his  majority  did  he  find  any  opportunity  to  exchange  the  car- 
penter's bench  for  commercial  life,  which  seemed  to  be  more  in  the 
line  of  his  instincts  and  tastes.  At  last,  when  he  w^as  twenty-three, 
he  was  offered  a  position  as  clerk  in  a  grocery  store  in  Fitchburg, 
at  a  salary  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  a  year  and  board, 
but  his  employer  was  so  well  satisfied  with  his  services  that  he 
voluntarily  gave  him  an  additional  twenty-five  dollars. 

In  1856  he  returned  to  Orange  and  entered  the  general  store  of 
Daniel  Pomeroy  with  whom  he  remained  three  years  and  whom  he 
succeeded.  When  his  business  was  settled  at  the  end  of  another 
three  years  he  found  that  he  had  made  but  little  beyond  his  living 
expenses;  but  he  had  won  a  reputation  in  the  community  as  a  young 
man  of  ability  and  unimpeachable  integrity,  so  that  when,  at  the  end 
of  a  year's  service  in  the  Claim  Agency  office  of  D.  E.  Cheney,  an 
opportunity  arose  for  him  to  purchase  a  grocery  store, fully  stocked; 
three  gentlemen,  including  his  employer,  advanced  him  the  necessary 
funds.  This  venture  fully  warranted  the  confidence  which  his 
friends  had  shown  and  he  only  relinquished  it  in  1867  when  he  en- 
tered the  firm  of  A.  F.  Johnson  &  Company,  who  had  established 
in  a  small  way  the  business  of  manufacturing  sewing-machines 
at  Orange. 

This  was  the  turning-point  of  his  life.  It  was  no  easy  position, 
although  the  firm  at  that  time  employed  only  about  forty  workmen. 


JOHN   WILSON   WHEELER 

The  sewing-machine  was  as  yet  only  in  its  experimental  stage;  there 
were  all  kinds  of  improvements  to  be  made  and  troubles  regarding 
patents  made  difficulties.  Mr.  Wheeler,  who  was  then  thirty-five 
3^ears  of  age  and  in  the  prime  of  his  vigorous  manhood,  took  hold 
with  tremendous  energy.  For  a  long  time  he  did  the  work  of  several 
men  in  the  office  and  when  the  business  was  made  a  corporation  in 
1869,  under  the  name  of  "The  Gold  Medal  Sewing  Machine  Co  a- 
pany,"  he  was  selected  secretary  and  treasurer.  In  January,  1882, 
the  name  was  changed  to  its  present  title  —  "The  New  Home  Sewing 
Machine  Company."  Of  this,  as  well  as  of  the  previous  organiza- 
tion, Mr.  Wheeler  has  been  the  secretary  and  treasurer,  and  fro  n 
1882  to  1898,  vice-president  as  well  as  secretary  and  treasurer.  In 
this  latter  year  he  was  elected  to  the  presidency,  consequently  the 
secretaryship  was  given  to  another.  He  still  holds  the  office  of 
president  and  treasurer.  He  has  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
business  grow  from  a  limited  output  to  a  capacity  of  not  less  than 
six  hundred  machines  a  day,  employing  an  army  of  over  eight  hun- 
dred workmen  in  the  various  departments.  Of  late  years  he  has 
been  somewhat  relieved  of  the  details  of  the  management  which 
outstripped  the  energies  of  any  one  man  and  the  affairs  of  the  com- 
pany are  now  carefully  administered  by  a  corps  of  assistants. 

Being  somewhat  freer  he  was  enabled  to  take  an  interest  in  other 
enterprises  tending  to  the  growth  and  welfare  of  his  native  town. 
He  is  president  of  the  Orange  National  Bank  and,  until  the  new  State 
law  compelled  him  to  rehnquish  one  or  the  other,  was  president  of 
the  Orange  Savings  Bank,  of  which  he  still  remains  a  trustee.  He  is 
president  of  the  Leavett  Machine  Company,  which  has  been  one  of  the 
very  successful  enterprises  of  Orange.  He  has  been  president  of 
the  Orange  Board  of  Trade,  and  in  order  to  foster  industry  he  himself 
built  a  large  factory  by  the  railroad  and  supplied  it  with  steam 
power.  It  is  rented  to  the  New  England  Box  Company  which  gives 
employment  to  a  large  number  of  hands.  The  suburb  where  these 
employees  are  housed  in  comfortable  dwellings,  built  especially  to 
accommodate  them  and  in  convenient  access  to  the  mill,  perpetuates 
the  name  of  the  public-spirited  citizen  who  has  done  so  much  for 
them.  Another  enterprise  in  which  he  takes  just  pride  is  the  laying 
out  of  a  large  tract  of  land,  north  of  the  village,  into  streets  and 
building  lots.  This  is  known  as  Orange  Highlands,  and  from  the 
advantages  of  its  situation  it  cannot  help  becoming  the  favorite 


JOHN   WILSON   WHEELER 

residence  portion  of  the  town.  Nor  have  his  activities  been  con- 
fined to  his  native  Orange.  He  is  president  of  the  Boston  Mutual 
Life  Insurance  Company  which  it  has  been  his  ambition  to  make 
the  safest  and  most  reUable  in  the  world,  and  also  he  is  a  director  in 
the  Boston  Securities  Company.  He  is  one  of  the  directors  and 
stockholders  in  the  Athol  and  Orange  Street  Railway  Company. 
He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Orange  Lodge  of  Freemasons  in 
1869,  and  was  its  first  secretary  and  afterwards  its  treasurer.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Crescent  Royal  Arch  Chapter  and  gave  several 
years  service  as  its  treasurer  and  he  is  also  a  member  of  the  Orange 
Commandery  of  Knights  Templars. 

Mr.  Wheeler,  as  might  well  be  supposed,  has  taken  an  active 
interest  in  politics.  Since  the  organization  of  the  Republican  party 
he  has  been  a  consistent  upholder  of  its  principles  and  yet,  in  spite 
of  his  zeal  in  promoting  its  welfare  and  his  prominent  cooperation  in 
assuring  its  success,  he  has  in  large  measure  modestly  refrained  from 
accepting  the  high  public  offices  which  his  fellow  townsmen  would 
have  been  glad  to  confer  upon  him.  From  1861  until  1867  he  served 
as  town  clerk.  He  has  been  one  of  the  selectmen  of  Orange  and  in 
1876  was  elected  to  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  from  the  First 
FrankUn  District  and  on  taking  his  seat  was  chosen  as  a  member 
of  the  committee  of  finance.  In  1888  he  was  elected  as  one  of  the 
delegates  from  the  Eleventh  Massachusetts  District  to  the  National 
Republican  Convention  at  Chicago,  where  Harrison  and  Morton 
received  the  nomination  as  presidential  candidates.  In  1904  he  was 
elected  alternate  delegate  to  the  National  Convention  at  Chicago, 
which  placed  in  nomination  Roosevelt  and  Fairbanks.  In  1904 
Mr.  Wheeler  was  elected  one  of  the  governor's  council  from  the 
Eighth  Councilor  District,  serving  with  Governor  William  L.  Douglas, 
and  the  following  year,  when  Curtis  Guild,  Jr.,  was  elected  governor, 
he  was  reelected  to  the  same  honorable  position  and  served  one 
year  with  his  administration.  In  1908, being  the  unanimous  choice, 
he  was  elected  delegate  from  the  Second  Massachusetts  Congres- 
sional District  to  the  National  Republican  Convention  at  Chicago. 

Although  Mr.  Wheeler  is  extremely  social  by  nature,  he  has  been 
so  absorbed  in  his  great  financial  undertakings  that  he  has  had  com- 
paratively little  time  to  devote  to  the  demands  of  society.  But 
when  he  has  been  able  to  put  aside  the  cares  of  business  he  has 
taken  keen  pleasure  in  intercourse  with  his  friends  whom  he  is  fond 


JOHN  WILSON  WHEELER 

of  meeting  in  an  informal  manner.  It  is  the  universal  verdict  that 
at  such  times  he  is  a  most  interesting  companion. 

One  of  his  strongest  traits  is  his  affection  for  his  native  town  and 
he  is  always  devising  some  means  of  benefiting  its  citizens  in  some 
practical  way.  Few  men  of  his  means  and  with  so  many  temptations 
to  take  up  a  residence  in  Boston  or  some  larger  city  have  resided  so 
continuously  in  their  birthplace.  His  elegant  house  is  one  of  the 
finest  in  western  Massachusetts.  It  has  been  Mr.  Wheeler's  boast 
that  never  more  than  twice,  and  that  when  he  was  a  mere  youth, 
beginning  to  make  his  way,  has  he  been  absent  from  Orange  for  as 
much  as  a  twelvemonth.  He  has  never  crossed  the  ocean,  but  he 
has  traveled  extensively  in  this  country,  his  widely-extended 
interests  taking  him  to  many  distant  cities. 

Mr.  Wheeler  was  married  October  9,  1856,  to  Almira  E.,  one  of 
the  seven  daughters  of  Daniel  and  Almira  Porter  Johnson,  of  North 
Orange,  at  whose  house  the  ceremony  was  performed  by  the  Rev. 
Levi  Ballon.  Of  the  three  children  born  of  this  union  only  one, 
the  oldest,  Marion  L.,  survives,  and  with  her  husband,  Everett  L. 
Swan,  continues  to  have  her  home  with  her  parents.  The  other 
two,  Clara  Jane  and  Rosa  A.,  died  in  infancy. 

Mr.  Wheeler  has  always  been  temperate  and  free  from  the  injuri- 
ous habits  that  undermine  the  health  and  morals  of  many  men. 
He  is  fond  of  saying:  "When  once  a  habit  is  formed  it  is  not  an 
easy  matter  to  relieve  yourself  of  it."  "A  young  man  should  give 
thought  to  what  calling  in  life  he  is  best  fitted  for,  and  if  it  is  clear 
to  him  and  the  conditions  are  favorable  he  should  associate  himself 
with  that  line  of  work  as  early  as  possible  and  stick  to  it.  He  will 
then  succeed  and  life  will  not  seem  one  of  slavery;  on  the  contrary, 
he  will  enjoy  his  work." 

He  fully  believes  that  no  great  results  can  be  attained  by  any 
one  without  earnest  faithful  effort  in  some  one  direction.  He  says 
that  a  man  "must  have  some  laudable  aim  in  life.  Strive  to  make 
one's  self  useful.  Select  good  associations,  be  willing,  if  congenial  em- 
ployment is  offered,  to  commence  the  labor,  even  if  it  appears  near 
the  ground  floor,  then  there  will  be  something  to  aspire  to  higher  up 
the  ladder.  No  one  needs  to  expect  great  lasting  success  if  he  waits, 
expecting  to  begin  at  the  top  without  experience.  The  tongue  needs 
to  be  guarded  in  its  use;  it  is  not  well  to  divulge  to  everybody  all 
your  thoughts  and  plans,  work  them  out  thoughtfully  and  silently; 


JOHN  WILSON  WHEELER 

if  success  has  attended  the  efforts  you  have  something  of  merit  to 
present;  boasting  of  what  one  is  going  to  do  rarely  produces  any- 
thing worthy  of  credit."  He  realizes  that  what  he  has  acquired  has 
come  through  being  loyal  to  the  best  interests  of  whatever  he  under- 
took. One  of  his  most  characteristic  qualities  has  been  his  power 
of  application,  his  ability  to  stick  to  his  purpose  through  thick  and 
thin,  no  matter  what  discouragements  may  have  for  the  time  arisen. 
When  he  first  began  life,  the  work  which  was  laid  out  for  him  was 
not  all  congenial.  He  felt  that  in  such  a  vital  matter  his  own  desires 
and  wishes  should  prevail  and  rather  than  go  on  in  what  he  knew 
would  prove  increasingly  distasteful  to  him,  he  turned  his  back  on 
his  trade,  "burnt  his  bridges"  behind  him  and  without  asking  any- 
one's counsel  he  took  up  commercial  life,  knowing  in  his  own  heart 
that  he  was  better  fitted  for  that  than  for  mechanical  pursuits  or 
farming.  And  he  was  abundantly  justified,  not  only  in  the  success 
that  has  attended  him,  but  also  in  the  never-failing  pleasure  that  he 
has  taken  in  going  regularly  to  the  engrossing  routine  of  his  busi- 
ness. Yet  it  must  not  be  thought  that  he  despises  farming.  On 
the  contrary,  he  possesses  a  large  farm,  named  from  the  beauty  of  its 
location  "  Grand  View,"  not  far  from  his  place  of  business.  He  can, 
from  the  broad  veranda  of  his  home,  overlook  the  business  part  of 
his  town,  and  the  residence  section  as  well;  and  here  he  often  re- 
tires to  enjoy  the  quiet  and  charm  of  Nature  and  the  luxuries  of  a 
country  diet. 

When  a  man  has  capacity  to  carry  out  all  the  details  of  vast  and 
complicated  enterprises  and  to  win  success  from  all  sorts  of  diffi- 
culties his  methods  are  worth  studying.  It  will  be  seen  that  Mr. 
Wheeler  has  had  splendid  vigor,  indefatigable  energy,  keen  insight, 
a  knowledge  of  men,  and  above  all  a  sense  of  honor  which  coordinated 
all  his  dealings  with  his  fellow  men.  He  thus  won  their  respect, 
their  admiration,  their  hearty  cooperation.  Strict  attention  to  his 
duties,  perfect  faithfulness  to  every  requirement,  signal  ability, 
honesty  and  the  courage  of  his  convictions  are  his  distinguishing 
qualities.  Life  when  properly  observed  is  a  great  university,  and 
the  training  that  a  man  receives  in  such  a  career  as  Mr.  Wheeler's 
is  the  very  best  kind  of  education.  Happy  is  the  town  and  the 
State  that  can  number  such  men  as  he  among  those  whom  they  can 
honor. 


1951