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Biographical History qi_
Massachusetts
Biographies and Autobiographies of the
Leading Men in the State
Samuel Atkins Eliot, A.M., D.D.
Editor-in-Chief
Volume VII
With opening chapters on
THE BENCH AND BAR OK MASSACHUSETTS
By Hon. Henry N. Sheldon
MASSACHUSETTS BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
1917
Copyrighted, 1916, by
Massachdsetts Biographical Society
All rights reserved
Special Notice — These Biographies are fully
protected under the copyright law, which imposes
a severe penalty for infringement.
119R123.:
CONTENTS. VOL. VII.
BIOGRAPHIES AND FULL PAGE PORTRAITS
ENGRAVED ON STEEL
ADELBERT AMES
FREDERICK LOTHROP AMES
GILBERT BROWNELL BALCH
ROSWELL STORRS BARROWS
THOMAS DAVID BARRY
FRANCIS BARTLETT
SIDNEY BARTLETT
HENRY BARTLETT
EDWIN ALLEN BAYLEY
FRANCIS BLAKE
ELMER JARED BLISS
LEONARD CARPENTER BLISS
JOHN DUNNING WHITNEY BODFISH
DANIEL WEBSTER BOND
WILLIAM LINCOLN BOOTH
JOHN BOWMAN, 3rd
WILLIAM DAVIS BRACKETT
HEZEKIAH ANTHONY BRAYTON
EDWIN PERKINS BROWN
GEORGE WASHINGTON BROWN
HENRY BILLINGS BROWN
SAMUEL CARR
EARLE PERRY CHARLTON
JOSEPH HODGES CHOATE
ALEXANDER COCHRANE
JOHN CRAWFORD CROSBY
HENRY HAVELOCK CUMMINGS
WILLIAM AIKEN DAVENPORT
EBEN SUMNER DRAPER
GEORGE DRAPER
WILLIAM RAYMOND DRIVER
FREDERICK LINCOLN EMERY
RUFUS BENNETT FOWLER
JOHN ELBRIDGE GALE
NATHANIEL LINCOLN GORTON
JOHN ROBERT GRAHAM
ROBERT GRANT
HORACE GRAY
JOHN CHIPMAN GRAY
CHARLES PRENTISS HALL
EDWARD KIMBALL HALL
FRANK OSGOOD HARDY
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS HARDY
HENRY HOWARD
EDWARD PAYSON HURD
JAMES FREDERICK JACKSON
LEWIS JEROME JOHNSON
JAMES MURRAY KAY
GEORGE ELDON KEITH
SHERMAN WILLIAM LADD
CHESTER WHITIN LASELL
EDAVARD HOWARD LATHROP
JOHN LATHROP
JOHN BEAVENS LEWIS
ARTHUR THEODORE LYMAN
EDWIN TYLER MARBLE
HORACE EUGENE MARION
JAMES CROMBIE MELVIN
JAMES JEFFERSON MYERS
NATHANIEL GUSHING NASH
KILBY PAGE
THEOPHILUS PARSONS
BENJAMIN WARREN PORTER
LLEWELLYN POWERS
WALTER AVERILL POWERS
WILBUR HOWARD POWERS
JAY BIRD REYNOLDS
ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE
WILLIAM BALL RICE
WILLIAM ELLIS RICE
HENRY HUDDLESTON ROGERS
DAVID FOSTER SLADE
WILLIAM LAWTON SLADE
CHARLES SUMNER SMITH
FRANCIS SMITH
FRANK WEBSTER SMITH
JONAS WALDO SMITH
FRANK BULKELEY SMITH
HARRY WORCESTER SMITH
LOUIS CARVER SOUTHARD
LAROY SUNDERLAND STARRETT
BOWEN TUFTS
THEODORE NEWTON VAIL
JOSEPH VAN NESS
HENRY MELVILLE WHITNEY
JAMES SCOLLAY WHITNEY
WILLIAM COLLINS WHITNEY
GEORGE BROWNING WILBUR
CLARENCE WEST WILLIAMS
WALTER PELLINGTON WINSOR
JOHN WOOD
THE BENCH AND BAR OF MASSA-
CHUSETTS
THE members of the bench and bar of Massachusetts are
properly commemorated in the pages of this work. Their
names stand, as they should stand, with those of other
citizens who by their distinguished services have done honor to the
Commonwealth and to themselves. Indeed, much of the good work
that has been done by the great lawyers whose biographies and
portraits are here published has been outside the limits of merely
professional work. Very many of the men under whose leadership
and inspu-ation the people acted during the later colonial times, in
the Revolution, and throughout the critical period which imme-
diately preceded the adoption of our national Constitution, were
lawyers; not a few of them served upon the bench; yet a larger
number gained their first repute in the practice of the law, or devoted
the wisdom of their riper years to promoting the attainment of jus-
tice before the courts. And after our nation had become a federal
union instead of a mere confederacy, the bar of Massachusetts re-
mained true to its earlier traditions. During the Civil War a great
number of those who were not incapacitated from rendering mili-
tary service served in our armies. Indeed, it has been said, although
I have not the means of verifying this, that the bar of Massachusetts,
in proportion to its numbers, was more strongly represented in the
volunteer regiments than any other of what are called the learned
professions. There was afterwards a time when many of the mem-
bers of our two higher courts were men who had borne arms in
that war; even now, forty-five years after its termination, such a
list would include at least two of the present members of the
Supreme Judicial Court and three justices of the Superior Court.
In civil life, the members of the bar have always been among the
leaders of the people. Their generally high education, the training
which is a necessary result of the practice of their profession, and
THE BENCH AND BAR OF MASSACHUSETTS
the public spirit which must be fostered and developed in them by
their communion with the great body of the people, are a sufl5cient
explanation of this fact. And if it be true, as sometimes has been
said, that our own age has seen a general advance in education and
a general increase of wisdom and understanding such that there is no
longer so great a supremacy of intelligence in the members of any
profession as was once the case, and if this has resulted in a more
widespread inclination of each individual to think for himself and
to have less regard than before for the opinion of any set of men,
this fact is neither to be regretted nor to be regarded as an indication
that the ripened wisdom, deep learning and proved integrity of any
to whom these qualities may rightly be attributed will fail in the
long run to command and receive their due meed of attention. While
these shall remain in the future, as they have been in the past, the
distinguishing characteristics of the bar of Massachusetts, it need
not be feared that they will not be properly appreciated. The great
names of Parsons, Shaw, Bigelow, Morton, Field, Jackson, Wilde,
Devens, Hoar, Wells, Story, Curtis, Dexter, Loring, Webster, Choate,
and Bartlett, besides many others whose high careers are mentioned
in these volumes, bind us, their successors, and those who shall
follow us to the remotest generation, to emulate the service which
they rendered to their State and their country.
A few distinguished names have been mentioned, and many more
might be added. But it must not be forgotten that the standard of
every profession and calling is determined by the conduct and charac-
ter of the great body of its followers rather than by the special
distinction attained by a chosen few out of their number. This circiun-
stance has been so well stated by Governor Long in his introductory
chapter to the second volume of this work that it needs no further
development or illustration. But he himself and Governor Andrew
whom he mentions in that chapter are good examples of the traits
which the practice of the law tends to create and foster in all upright
and able-minded men, possessed of a fair education which has wrought
its good work by producing an understanding heart. It is true that
most lawyers and most judges live in comparative obscurity, that
theu- work attracts but little attention, and that after their death
their memory abides only in those with whom they have been espe-
cially connected, and even in these can abide only for a few brief
years. They have done their part in raising the general standard
THE BENCH AND BAR OF MASSACHUSETTS
of the community, and the individual share of each meets the common
fate of being covered over with " the thoughtless growth of the decid-
uous years." It is better, where so many have done well, not to
attempt now to make special mention of any, to the seeming neglect
of so many others equally deserving, but to be content, in the space
that remains available, with a brief survey of the courts of the Com-
monwealth.
During the colonial period the administration of justice was
entrusted at first wholly and even later almost entirely to men of
weight and standing in the community and not to trained lawyers.
But the Constitution adopted in 1780, and with some amendments
still in force, declared the necessity of providing for every subject a
certain remedy by law for all injuries or wrongs by an impartial
administration of justice, and of having the independence of the
justices secured from influence by any other department of the gov-
ernment. This Constitution also, besides recognizing the Supreme
Judicial Court, granted to the General Court (or Legislature) full
power "to erect and constitute judicatories and courts of record or
ether courts." Under this power the Legislature in 1782, by chapter
9 of the Acts of that year, established the Supreme Judicial Court,
with a chief justice and four justices. This court, with some changes
from time to time in its number and in the nature and extent of its
jurisdiction, has continued to be the highest court of justice in our
system and the tribimal of last resort in the Commonwealth for the
determination of all questions of law. Its decisions have been pub-
hshed regularly and in increasing amount since September, 1804,
and now constitute a body of law by which, more perhaps than by
any other single instrumentality, the rights and obligations of all
parties are determined and regulated. The past chief and associate
justices of this court have so borne themselves in their responsible
positions and have done their work with such learning and ability
that the Commonwealth may well be proud alike of the excellent
service which they have rendered and of the high reputation which
they have acquired for themselves and the State which they served.
Their successors are bound to exert themselves to the utmost of
their powers to keep up so far as may be to the standard which has
been thus set.
By chapters 1 1 and 14 of the Acts of 1782 there were established
in each county a Court of Common Pleas for ordinary trials and a
THE BENCH AND BAR OF MASSACHUSETTS
Court of General Sessions of the Peace to hear minor criminal cases;
but the jurisdiction of the latter court was afterwards (Acts of 1803,
c. 154) transferred to the Circuit Court of Common Pleas. In 1800
(c. 81 of the Acts of 1799, approved March 4, 1800), the Municipal
Court of Boston was established for the trial of criminal cases in the
County of Suffolk. These courts were continued with slight changes
(see Acts of 1811, c. 33; of 1813, c. 173; and of 1820, c. 79) and with
the substitution in Suffolk County of a Superior Court for the Court
of Common Pleas (c. 445 of the Acts of 1855), until 1859, when the
present Superior Court was established by chapter 169 of the Acts
of that year. That court has ever since been the general trial court
of the Commonwealth, its jurisdiction having been gradually ex-
tended so as now to include, either exclusively or, as to proceedings
in equity, concurrently with the Supreme Judicial Court, almost all
original cases except writs of error and the so-called prerogative
writs.
Probate Courts have existed in each coimty since 1784 (c. 46 of
the Acts of 1783, approved March 12, 1784).
The jurisdiction of minor civil actions and of complaints for
most misdemeanors and smaller criminal offences, with power to
examine and hold for the action of the Superior Court persons accused
of graver crimes, is now exercised by several police, municipal or
district courts, each with a distinct local jurisdiction. The statutory
provisions by which these courts are regulated are mainly to be found
in Revised Laws, c. 160. Trial justices and justices of the peace still
have a more limited jurisdiction in cases which do not come under
the control of these territorial courts. The Boston Juvenile Court,
estabUshed by c. 489 of the Acts of 1906, has jurisdiction of complaints
against children under seventeen years of age, with a view of guarding
and preserving them as far as possible, but with the power of impos-
ing penalties when needed.
It will be seen from this hasty review that an elaborate system
of courts has been provided for the purpose of giving a prompt and
efficacious remedy, by proceedings at law, to all who may stand in
need of such relief. It is true, however, that the growth of business,
the increasing complexity of affairs, the extension of railroads and
street railways, the creation of huge manufacturing corporations,
and the great aggregations of laborers and other employees working
under a common employment, with other causes which do not need
THE BENCH AND BAR OF MASSACHUSETTS
to be specified, have caused an increase of litigation which has bro light
about delays in the trials of actions greater than ought to be allowed.
This has been remedied in part, but only in part, by adding more
justices to the Superior Court, so as to allow more sessions of that
court to be held and a greater number of trials to be had. Other
remedies have been suggested, which it would be beyond the scope
of this chapter to consider. Under a resolve passed by the Legisla-
ture in 1909, a commission was created to investigate this matter.
That commission included one of the ablest and most practised
members of the bar, a learned and experienced justice of the Superior
Court, and a young lawyer, — each one of whom was known to have
given considerable thought to the problem. They considered and
investigated the matter long and carefully, without compensation,
to the detriment of their private interests and the increase of labors
-which were already weighty, and made an elaborate report with
many recommendations to the Legislature of 1910. Most of these
recomimendations, however, have not been adopted, and the existing
evil has not been cured. But it is not doubted that this question
will in the near future be grappled with, and that undue delays will
then be obviated. Except for this minor blemish, which yet ought
not to be minimized, it is believed that the administration of jus-
tice in Massachusetts is satisfactory, that its bar is composed of
upright, diligent and learned men, and that the standard of its
bench, drawn from the bar, is attempted to be kept at the same
level which has been reached by former justices in the history of the
Commonwealth.
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ADELBERT AMES
THIS distinguished soldier, magistrate, and statesman came
of Massachusetts stock, but his ancestors early emigrated
to that portion of the old Bay State which in 1820 became
the State of Maine. He was bom at East Thomaston (now Rock-
land), on Penobscot Bay, October 31, 1835. His father was
Captain Jesse Ames, a sea captain; his mother, Martha Tolman,
daughter of Thomas and Lydia (Ingraham) Tolman.
General Ames 's Pilgrim and Puritan ancestors came to America
before 1640. The first of his paternal ancestors was Anthony
Eames of Hingham. Finishing his course in the town schools,
young Ames attended first an academy at Bucksport, Maine ; then
one at Parmington; and was prepared to enter the United States
Military Academy at West Point, as a Cadet from July 1, 1856.
He graduated at "West Point in due course and was appointed
Second Lieutenant, Second Artillery, United States Regular Army,
May 6, 1861. His army record is as follows: May-July, 1861
(First Lieutenant, 5th Artillery, U. S. Regular Army, May 14,
1861), in the Manassas Campaign of July, 1861, being engaged in
the Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, where he was wounded ; on
sick leave of absence, disabled by wound, July 22, to September 4,
1861 (Brevetted Major July 21, 1861, U. S. Regular Army, for
GaUant and Meritorious Services at the Battle of Bull Run) ; in
the Defenses of Washington, D. C, September, 1861, to March,
1862; in the Virginia Peninsular Campaign, commanding Battery
(Army of Potomac), March- August, 1862, being engaged in the
Siege of Yorktown, April 5-May 4, 1862, Battle of Gaines' Mill,
June 27, 1862, and Battle of Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862 (Brevetted
Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. Regular Army July 1, 1862, for Gallant
and Meritorious Services at the Battle of Malvern HUl, Va.) ; in
command of Regiment, 5th Corps (Army of the Potomac), in the
Maryland Campaign, September-November, 1862 (Colonel, 20th
Maine Volunteers, August 29, 1862), being engaged in the Battle
of Antietam, September 17, 1862, and March to Falmouth, Vir-
ginia, October-November, 1862; in the Rappahannock Campaign
(Army of the Potomac), December, 1862-June, 1863, being en-
gaged in the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1863, and
Battle of Chancellorsville, as Acting Aide-de-Camp to Major-Gen-
eral Meade, May 2-4, 1863, and combat of Beverly Ford, in com-
ADELBERT AMES
mand of first Brigade, 11th Corps, June 9, 1863 (Brigadier-
General, U. S. Volunteers, May 20, 1863) ; in the Pennsyl-
vania Campaign (Army of the Potomac), June-July, 1863, being
engaged in the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863 (Bre-
vetted Colonel July 1, 1863, U. S. Regular Army, for Gallant and
Meritorious Services at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa.), and pur-
suit of the enemy to Warrenton, Virginia, July, 1863 ; in operations
in the Department of the South, August, 1863, to April 19, 1864;
in command of Division or Brigade, 18th Army Corps, in Opera-
tions before Petersburg, April 25 to September 17, 1864, being
engaged in the Action of Port Walthall Junction, May 7, 1864,
and Battle of Cold Harbor, June 1, 1864; on leave of Absence,
September 17, to October 10, 1864; in command of Division, 10th
Army Corps, October 10 to December 2, 1864, before Petersburg,
Virginia (Captain 5th Artillery, U. S. Regular Army, June 11,
1864), being engaged in the actions of Darbytown Road, October
13 and 27, 1864; in command of Division, 24th Army Corps, De-
cember 2, 1864, to April, 1865, being engaged in the first Expedi-
tion to Fort Fisher, N. C, December 7-28, 1864, and on the second
Expedition, January 2-15, 1865, participating in the assault and
capture of Fort Fisher, January 15, 1865 (Brevetted Major-Gen-
eral, U. S. Volunteers, January 15, 1865, for Gallant Services in
the Capture of Fort Fisher, N. C), and in Operations in North
Carolina, January- April, 1865 (Brevetted Brigadier-General, U.
S. Army, March 13, 1865, for Gallant and Meritorious Services
in the Field during the Rebellion) ; in command of the Division of
10th Corps, April-May, 1865, and of 10th Army Corps, May
12-July 28, 1865, in North Carolina, and of the District of Western
South Carolina, September 5, 1865, to April 30, 1866 ; on leave of
absence (Mustered out of Volunteer Service April 30, 1866) ; com-
missioned Lieutenant-Colonel, 24th Infantry, U. S. Regular Army,
July 28, 1866.
General Ames was appointed Provisional Governor of Missis-
sippi by President Grant in 1868, from which State he was United
States Senator from 1870 to 1873. He was Governor of Mississippi
from 1873 to 1876, when he resigned, and removed to New York
City. From there he removed to Lowell, Massachusetts, which is
his present place of residence.
General U. S. Grant said of General Ames: "Butler as a gen-
eral was full of enterprise and resources and a brave man. If I
had given him two corps commanders like Adelbert Ames, Mac-
ADELBERT AMES
kenzie, Weitzel, or Terry, or a dozen I could mention, he would
have made a fine campaign on the James, and helped materially in
my plans. I have always been sorry I did not do so."
General Ames resigned from the Army February 23, 1870. He
was awarded a Medal of Honor by the United States Congress,
September 1, 1893 (this medal was issued June 22, 1894), by the
War Department, for remaining in action after being severely
wounded at Bull Run, 1st, where he remained upon the field in
command of a section of Griffin's Battery, directing its fire after
being severely wounded and refusing to leave the field until too
weak to sit upon the caisson where he had been placed by men of
his command.
General Terry's report of the capture of Fort Fisher is fuU of
praise for General Ames who, he says, was "constantly at the front
under fire directing his troops with coolness and good judgment."
General Ames is known as the "Hero of Fort Fisher."
June 20, 1898, General Ames was appointed Brigadier-General
of Volunteers for the Spanish War, and received his honorable dis-
charge January 3, 1899.
General Ames is an active member of many fraternal and army
associations. He is a Republican in polities, and is fond of the
game of golf, in which pastime he finds both exercise and
amusement.
General Ames married July 21, 1870, Blanche, daughter of
General Benjamin F. Butler and his wife Sarah (Hildreth), and
granddaughter of Captain John and Charlotte (Ellison) Butler,
and of Dr. Israel and Dolly (Jones) Hildreth.
General and Mrs. Ames have six children: Col. Butler Ames,
a former member of Congress from the Fifth Massachusetts Dis-
trict, and extensively engaged in manufacturing in Lowell; Adel-
bert Ames, Jr., a lawyer; and Edith, Sarah, Blanche, and Jessie.
Secure in the well-deserved honors won in his more active days,
General Ames offers this thought to the generations who are soon
to manage the affairs of the Republic, saved to them by the valor
of their predecessors :
"In these days of gifts, munificent and petty, with their tend-
ency to demoralize and pauperize, I would say to the young
American: receive nothing without making an equivalent return —
otherwise you become either a dependent or an ingrate, neither of
which a true American should be."
Both the life and the work of General Ames show that they have
been modeled upon these principles.
FREDERICK LOTHROP AMES
THE life of Frederick Lothrop Ames exemplifies the sterling
qualities and far seeing judgment of the type of men who
have made Massachusetts greater, better, and more pros-
perous. His service was primarily rendered in the development of
great public utilities which have brought to light and use the re-
sources of America, have combined the forces of man and nature,
and have bound the different and distant parts of the land together
by iron bands of communication and trtmsportation. Such a career
declares that the truest statesmanship is not necessarily displayed in
political or diplomatic life; it is illustrated also in the industrial
life of the country, in utilizing its resources and promoting the
progress of civilization.
Frederick Lothrop Ames was bom in Easton, Massachusetts,
June 8, 1835. In the prime of mature life, in the height of his
usefulness and activity, at the comparatively early age of fifty-eight,
he died suddenly September 13, 1893. He was descended from one
of the Old Colony families whose sturdy qualities have been the
foundation of New England life. His father was Oliver Ames, of
whom he was the only son, and his mother was Sarah (Lothrop)
Ames, the daughter of Hon. Howard Lothrop of Easton, who in his
day was prominent in public life and was a member of the Massa-
chusetts Senate.
The original ancestor in America was William Ames who came
from Bruton, Somersetshire, England, about the year 1635, and
settled in Braintree, Massachusetts.
The Ames family has long been identified with the industries of
Massachusetts. Capt. John Ames, the great-grandfather of Fred-
erick, commenced the making of shovels in West Bridgewater in
1773. His son, Oliver Ames, succeeded his father in the labor at the
forge and learned the trade by practical application of hand and
head. He established the works at North Easton in 1803 and
founded the house of Oliver Ames and Sons, which has maintained
its name and reputation for more than a century. His sons, the
Qj/l£^^ty
FREDERICK: LOTHROP AMES
other members of the firm, were Oliver, the father of Frederick, and
Oakes Ames. They subsequently became prominent not only as
manufactui-ers but as capitalists interested in the development of
railroad enterprises, notably the Union Pacific, the pioneer of the
great transcontinental railways. It was not only commercial enter-
prise but a patriotic appreciation of the necessity of better com-
munication between the eastern states of the Union and the growing
states of the Pacific Coast that prompted this gigantic scheme. Its
successful completion against the greatest obstacles is an enduring
monument to the family name.
Mr. Ames was fitted for College at Phillips Exeter Academy.
He entered Harvard College at the early age of fifteen years and
graduated in the class of 1854. He was known in college to his
classmates as a quiet, unassuming student, yet he was well liked
and in after years was justly regarded as one of the marked men
of the class.
On graduation from College his inclination was to study law.
But his father desired him to follow the family business and to
succeed him in the establishment so long identified with the name.
With characteristic determination to obtain a knowledge of the
business in all its details and work his way up by his merits he
entered the office as a clerk in a subordinate capacity, and his pro-
motion from grade to grade came through his capacity in managing
the affairs in his charge.
After several years he was placed in charge of the Accountant's
Department. Here he showed marked business ability and dis-
played that knowledge of affairs outside the province of manufac-
turing that was ultimately to guide him in the investments and
operations that proved so successful in different parts of the
coimtry.
On the death of his grandfather, in 1863, when he was twenty-
eight years old he was admitted as a member of the firm. In 1876,
when the firm was incorporated as the Oliver Ames and Sons Corpor-
ation, he was made Treasurer and he held that office until his death.
For some years before he assumed the official duties of Treasurer
he had been interested in railway development. He had become
impressed with the possibilities of the great areas of national domain
awaiting the hand of civilization to bring forth hidden wealth.
While quite a young man his foresight and abilities as a railroad
FREDERICK LOTHROP AMES
man had been recognized. Gradually, while continuing in his posi-
tion of Treasurer of the Ames Company, he gave more attention to
railroads and he was soon acknowledged to be one of the best judges
of such properties, of their future prospects, and of the value of the
region in which they were to operate. His opinions were fortified
by extensive investments which resulted in the acquisition of a for-
tune before he reached the period of middle life. His probity and
integrity were unquestioned. His investments were made from no
mere speculative idea but from his belief in the intrinsic value of
the properties and his confidence in the future of the country.
While he was principally interested in western railroad proper-
ties he was also interested in some nearer home. He was Vice-
President of the Old Colony Company, but he was especially in-
terested in the Union Pacific. It was a kind of heirloom, and but
for the inception and courtigeous action of his father and uncle the
road might not have been built for some years. He devoted much
time and attention to its interests as well as to its important
branches like the Oregon Short Line. He would hold no office in
any corporations without acquainting himself with the details of
their business and acquiring the information which would enable
him to answer reasonable inquiries in regard to them.
At the time of his death he was Director in some seventy-five
corporations : among them were the General Electric Company ; the
Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company; the Atchison, Colo-
rado, and Pacific Railroad Company ; the Atchison, Jewell County,
and Western Railroad Company; the Boulder Valley and Central
City Wagon Road Company ; the Bozeman Coal Company ; the Car-
bon Cut-off Railway Company; the Colorado Western Railroad
Company ; the Denver, Leadville, and Gunnison Railway Company ;
the Denver Union Railway and Terminal Company; the Echo and
Park City Railway Company; the Port Worth and Denver City
Railway Company; the Green River Water Works Company; the
Fitchburg Railroad ; the Fall River Line ; the Morrison Stone Line
and Tour Company ; the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company ;
the Oregon Railway Extension Company; the Rattlesnake Creek
Water Company; the South Park Coal Company; the Union Coal
Company ; the Union Elevator Company of Omaha ; the Union Land
Company ; the American Loan and Trust Company ; the Bay State
Trust Company ; the New England Trust Company ; the Old Colony
FREDERICK LOTHROP AMES
Trust Company; the Security Safe Deposit and Trust Company;
and the Mercantile Trust Company of New York. He was Presi-
dent of the First National Bank of North Easton, of the North
Eastern Savings Bank, and of the Hoosac Tunnel Dock and Eleva-
tor Company.
Mr. Ames was a large owner of real estate in Boston and took
a keen interest in the architectural design of his buildings. He
was a friend of Richardson, the well-known Eirchitect, and consulted
him in the erection of buildings. The Ames Building at the comer
of Court and Washington Streets, a building whose height and fine
artistic proportions make it one of the notable buildings of the
city, was designed by Richardson's successors for Mr. Ames. The
Ames Free Library at North Easton, Mr. Ames ' Gate-Lodge and the
railroad station at North Easton, a gift of Mr. Ames to the Old
Colony R. R., were designed by Richardson. The library was built
and endowed in accordance with a bequest of Mr. Ames' father.
Mr. Ames was a liberal patron of art and literature. He was an
excellent judge of paintings and possessed many pictures by dis-
tinguished artists. In his home he had two portraits by Rembrandt
bearing the date of 1632, and paintings of Millet, Troyon, Corot,
Daubigny, Rousseau, Diaz, and others. He exhibited these at the
Museum of Fine Arts that the public might have the pleasure of en-
joying the pictures. He had, too, a rich collection of tapestries,
jades, and crystals. It was a gratification of a refined taste to select
on his own judgment these beautiful art treasures and hold them
not for vain display, but for the enjoyment of his family and friends
and the satisfaction of a cultivated mind.
The sesthetie quality of his mind was especially noticeable in his
interest in horticulture and his passionate love of flowers. His
country estate at North Easton showed his taste and his great knowl-
edge of trees, shrubs, and flowers. It was an infinite pleasure for
him to accompany his friends through his extensive greenhouse
and grounds, and discourse upon the variety of rare and beautiful
treasures there growing in profusion. Hardly a flower that he
could not at once designate by its common and its botanical name,
and he would speak of them with tender expressions and out of a
large acquaintance with their characteristics. There were at least
eight thousand plants in his greenhouse and seventeen hundred
varieties of exotics, many propagated by himself. His collection of
FEEDEKICK LOTHROP AMES
orchids was the most rare and extensive of any in the country. He
was a liberal benefactor of the Arnold Arboretum and the Botanical
Garden.
In politics Mr. Ames was a Republican but he took little active
part in political matters, though conscientious in his duties as a
citizen at the polls and in the expression of his views. Once during
his absence he was nominated for the State Senate and was elected.
But he served but one year, declining a reelection. This was in
1872.
He was zealously interested in the affairs of the Unitarian de-
nomination, affiliating with the Unitarian Society in its attractive
church in North Easton erected by his father, and with the First
Church of Boston, where he served as head of the Executive Com-
mittee.
June 7, 1860, Mr. Ames was married to Rebecca Caroline, only
daughter of James Blair of St. Louis, Missouri. Six children were
born to them: Henry Shreve, Helen Angler, wife of Robert C.
Hooper of Boston; Oliver, who married Elise A. West of Boston;
Mary Shreve who married Louis A. Frothingham of Boston;
Frederick Lothrop who married Edith CaUender Cryder of New
York ; and John Stanley Ames, who married Annie McKinley Filley
of Dover, Massachusetts.
The community, the great business interests with which he was
associated, his family and friends, the ranks of good citizenship, lost
a rare man, a courteous, dignified, Christian gentleman when Mr.
Ames passed into the other life. In all the relations of life he was
most unostentatious. He made no pretense of wealth except to dis-
tribute it judiciously for religious, charitable, and public welfare
GILBERT BROWNELL BALCH
GILBERT BROWNELL BALCH was bom at Topsfield,
Massachusetts, in 1856. He died there June 24, 1910.
He was the son of Humphrey and Hannah (Bradstreet)
Balch. His father was for fifty years a noted teacher and edu-
cator in Essex County, intellectual, orthodox, a Christian in every
sense of the word. His ancestry on the sides of both his parents
was illustrious. He was a descendant of John Balch, of Somerset
County, England, who, with Roger Conant, settled in Beverly,
Massachusetts, on September 23, 1623. John Balch was closely
identified with the early life of Salem when it was known as the
Naumkeag Colony. He with Roger Conant, John Woodbury and
Peter Palfrey were the leaders in that colony and came to be known
as "The Old Planters." He was one of the first of five overseers
of Salem appointed in 1635 — and in 1636 was made one of the
Board of Selectmen, the first to be chosen by the town. The name
of John Balch and his wife Margery appear in the list of the
first members of the first church in Salem. He subsequently built
a home for himself in the part of the town which is now Beverly,
and the house is now standing on the comer of Balch Street in
Beverly.
Mr. Balch 's mother was a descendant of Governor Simon Brad-
street, who came from England in 1630 and settled in Cambridge.
His wife, Ann Bradstreet, is known as New England's earliest
poet.
Up to the age of fifteen years, Mr. Balch lived with his parents
from whom he received his firm convictions of faith in Christianity,
in God, £ind in man. His mother, like his father, was strictly
orthodox, and she taught him the laws of God and the Church as
only a mother can, from the time he was old enough to think for
himself. She was one of the lovely, cultured, and intellectual
women of her century.
When he reached the age of fifteen years, Mr. Balch left his
home in which he had led so sheltered a life and entered Phillips
Andover to prepare for Dartmouth College. In 1877 he graduated
from Dartmouth and entered Boston University to study law. But
after due consideration he decided to fit himself for the ministry,
and with this aim in view he became a student in Andover Theo-
logical Seminary whence he graduated in 1881. He was called to
the pastorate of the Congregational Church at Kingston, New
Hampshire. His health, however, did not permit him to keep
his position long, and after three years' service he was forced to
resign. Following his earlier inclinations and literary tastes, he
GILBERT BROWNELL BALCH
entered the book publishing business and removed to Toronto,
Ontario, in 1885. In the year 1887 he came to Boston as partner
in the firm of Martin Garrison and Company, and in 1889 he organ-
ized the Balch Brothers Company of which he was President and
Treasurer at the time of his death.
As a business man he was very successful. His greatest suc-
cess came in the selling of the Century Dictionary, and in the pub-
lishing of the well-known Stoddard Lectures. Just before his death
he completed a set of books called the Stoddard Library, and if he
had lived he would have undertaken the publication of an Encyclo-
pedic Dictionary. His business career not only won for him a name
and a fortune, but a reputation for many sterling qualities, among
which we may mention his integrity, his perseverance, and his
uprightness. After he had resigned his pastorate, he remained a
member of the Congregational Church, and of the University Club
of Boston.
Mr. Balch was marri.ed to Sarah Elizabeth Perkins, also from
his native town, and a descendant from a line of Revolutionary
ancestors. Although Mr. Balch never had any children of his
own, he was a father and faithful friend to all boys, big or small,
good or bad, and especially if they were in trouble. "There are
no bad boys," he said, and he spared nothing in helping every
boy who was fortunate enough to fall under his influence. He
believed in all Democratic institutions, and he had firm faith in
every man. His belief was that nine men out of every ten would
rather do the right thing than the wrong. He possessed a tre-
mendous will power, a high intelligence, and a wonderful magnetic
influence which drew the hearts of all to him, and made everybody
love and trust him.
A lover of all that was beautiful, he loved his native town, and
himself took part in beautifying his country home "The Knolls,"
leaving it, as he once remarked, as his poem. Decidedly human,
he was very fond of his pipe and a good story, and a game of bridge
or billiards. A sportsman he was and as such he loved his dogs,
and the woods, the streams, and the green, cool meadows.
When Mr. Balch died, not only those with whom he was most
closely associated but the entire community lost in him a friend and
an ardent, vrilling, and able worker for humanity. He was a man
who loved the beautiful, the pure, and the true, loyal to himself, to
the world, and to his ideals, generous and helpful to all in need,
sympathetic and tender to all who suffered, a man whose name will
not soon be forgotten. Whatever he undertook, he accomplished,
and he threw himself into every struggle and every undertaking
with all his mind, with all his heart, and with all his soul.
(Ji (riAAr-cj£ M^o-iyiA/J
(xAyLf-uy^
ROSWELL STORRS BARROWS
ROSWELL STORES BARROWS, recognized as one of the
most public-spirited and useful citizens of Jamaica Plain,
and a successful business man, was bom iu Providence,
Rhode Island, June 11, 1848, and died at his home in Jamaica Plain,
April 17, 1914, in the sixty-sixth year of his age.
He was the son of Experience Storrs (1807-75) and Maria
(Briggs) Barrows, and grandson of Robert and Clarissa (Wright)
Barrows (1772-1850).
The first American ancestors on the Barrows side were John
and Deborah, who landed in Plymouth early in the seventeenth cen-
tury. John died in 1672. The staunch and industrious character
of these forbears was inherited by their descendant.
Roswell S. Barrows received a public school education, and be-
gan his business life as a clerk iu his father's store, where he re-
mained until 1869, when he entered the employ of the ^tna Life
Insurance Company in Boston. After the big Boston fire of 1872
he started in the insurance business for himself, and in 1878 began
dealing in real estate, taking over the long-established business of
Alden Bartlett in Jamaica Plain ; he continued in this line of work
through life, one of the best-known real estate men in Boston. He
gave special attention to the promotion of the Jamaica Plain and
West Roxbury districts, and built more than fifty houses.
In 1881 he bought the West Roxbury Neivs which was later
called the Jamaica Plain News and published with Roslindale and
West Roxbury editions, all of which he published, managed, and
edited for nineteen years.
Because of his thorough knowledge of real estate, Mr. Barrows
was often called upon to act as an expert appraiser, in which ca-
pacity he served the City of Boston, the New York, New Haven,
and Hartford Railroad, and the Boston Elevated Road, as well as
a large private clientele, for thirty years. At the time of the ele-
vation of the tracks of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
Railroad between Roxbury and Forest Hills, Mr. Barrows was
chosen by the railroad company to settle all claims in the Jamaica
Plain and Forest Hills section. His sterling integrity and his
sound business judgment were recognized by all, and his knowl-
edge of real estate values was remarkable. Business men trusted
him and sought his views, and his judgments were accepted.
As an officer or Director for thirty years of the West Roxbury
Co-operative Bank, being Vice-President at the time of his death
and the last of the original incorporators, he found further occa-
EOSWELL STORKS BAEROWS
sion to practise the profession for which he was so well fitted by
nature and experience.
He was a Free Mason, a member of the Royal Arcanum, of the
Boston Chamber of Commerce, of the Economic Club of Boston,
and of the Eliot and Central Clubs of Jamaica Plain, having organ-
ized and been a Charter Member and former President of the
Central Club, a Neighborhood Club of three hundred men.
For many years he was an officer in, or chairman of some im-
portant committees of the Jamaica Plain Citizens' Association, ren-
dering especial service in keeping up the streets of the community
and was also a Director of the Washingtonian Home of Boston.
In politics Mr. Barrows was a steadfast Republican, voting the
Republican ticket from the time he became of age.
He was a leading member of the Central Congregational So-
ciety of Jamaica Plain, although not a member of the church, and
for fifteen years he was on the Prudential Committee.
At the funeral service April 19, 1914, before a gathering which
filled the Central Congregational Church, a eulogy was pronounced
by Rev. Charles F. Dole, D.D., a close personal friend. The burial
was at Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, Rhode Island.
Mr. Barrows was married April 30, 1872, to Maria Louise,
daughter of Elijah C. and Cynthia A. Baker of Providence. Of
this union four daughters were born: Mrs. Louise B. (Robert T.)
Coe of Jamaica Plain; Mrs. Alice E. (Robert T.) Fowler of West
Roxbury; Miss Cecelia A. Barrows, who made her residence with
her parents ; and a child who lived but a year. One of Mr. Bar-
rows' chief interests was in his four grandchildren.
RosweU Storrs Barrows was a rare man, modest and unassum-
ing, but of great strength of character and exceptional ability.
His kindness of heart was his chief characteristic. Always
thoughtful, considerate, and helpful, he was ready to join in
any good enterprise with aU the vigor and strength of his op-
timistic personality, and could be depended upon to take an ac-
tive, energetic interest in any proposed public improvement, to
make his home community more attractive and a better place in
which to live. His public spirit was recognized by all. Less
known were his countless private services to individuals who came
to him for counsel and for help, and who never appealed in vain.
Kindly, cordial, friendly, sympathetic, he quietly helped in in-
numerable cases of need with advice and encouragement and prac-
tical aid, and while his loss as a public-spirited citizen is deeply
felt, he is also widely mourned as a sympathetic counsellor and
friend.
^:^y2.
THOMAS DAVID BARRY
PROMINENT among the names which every American child
is taught to revere is that of Barry. The story of the
deeds of the gallant Commodore thrilled us at the very
beginning of our school life, when we studied the history of those
great men who gave life and power to the Republic. Since the
days of the Commodore more than one loyal citizen has added
lustre to the name, and among these may be justly placed the
name of Thomas David Barry of Massachusetts, whose brilliant
career was suddenly closed by death in Brockton, April 2, 1911.
This indefatigable worker was bom in Randolph, Massachu-
setts, January 3, 1861, the son of Robert C. and Mary J.
(McLaughlin) Barry. His early education was obtained in the
public schools of his native town. Even when a mere boy he was
marked by ambition, earnestness, and the determination which
gave promise of a successful manhood.
At an early age, the loss of his parents forced young Barry
to select a trade for his livelihood. His choice fell upon the shoe
industry and he entered one of the Randolph factories. At eight-
een years of age he was able to make a shoe in its entirety by
hand. At twenty-one years of age he was superintendent of a shoe
factory. He was broad minded, and possessed strong tenacity of
purpose. He had the faculty to see far ahead in his business. He
was self-educated through his strong powers of observation and his
study of men.
May 1, 1879, at the age of eighteen, he married Frances M., the
accomplished daughter of William and Catherine (McMahon)
Hogan, granddaughter of Patrick and Mary (Dunn) McMahon.
This union gave renewed vigor to his resolve to make his mark in
life. Three children were bom to Mr. and Mrs. Barry: Charles
L. Barry, Vice-President of the Thomas D. Barry Company ; Alice
Barry Casey, and Catherine Barry Blanchard.
The keynote of Mr. Barry's success was an unwonted thorough-
ness in everything he took in hand. Having decided to become a
leader ia the shoe industry, he resolved to master every branch in
THOMAS DAVID BAKRY
the service. Nothing was too trivial to escape his notice; nothing
was too laborious to daunt his energetic spirit. With such gifts
and with such tireless application to duty, is it any wonder that he
soon became a recognized master in one of the most complicated
forms of human activity and inventiveness?
Such a man could not always remain in the service of others.
He had not a large capital to fall back upon, no resources save his
skill and his indomitable enterprise and perseverance, but he
entered business for himself in 1889. The firm name was, Thomas
David Barry, President ; Charles L. Barry, Vice President ; William
A. Hogan (a brother of Mrs. T. D. Barry), Treasurer. From the
very beginning, in spite of narrow quarters, primitive machinery,
and limited funds, success crowned his efforts and he passed in
time from the little factory in Centre Street, Brockton, to the splen-
did buildings both at the comer of Pleasant Street and North
Warren Avenue and on Court Street, while the mere handful of
workers at first in his employ grew into an army of one thousand
men. It was the triumph of unfaltering courage and industry.
Thomas David Barry was the soul of honor. When once he had
pledged his word, his associates knew that that pledge was as sacred
to him as the vow uttered at the altar before witnesses and friends.
Never was he known to fail, even in a slight matter, when he had
once made a promise. It was this fine sense of honor which made
him insist that the products of his factories should be always up
to the standard and that any attempt to palm off faulty articles
upon unwary purchasers was to be regarded as a crime which de-
served penal servitude. Honest, painstaking, laborious, of sterling
principles and of blameless life — he was a man of whom the Com-
monwealth of Massachusetts may always be proud, because of the
rich legacy his example leaves to all generations. The esteem in
which he was held by his fellow-citizens is evidenced by the regard
with which his judgments were held in all labor disputes.
His unflagging labors weakened his health before he had reached
his fiftieth year, and although every effort was made to restore his
wonted vigor, the severe strain of his tireless energy had wrought
an irreparable injury and he quietly passed from time to eternity
in the early morning of Sunday, April 2, 1911. His death,
mourned by all classes of citizens, proclaimed eloquently the
esteem which he had won by his domestic virtues, his civic upright-
ness, and his unstained honor.
1188123
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FRANCIS BARTLETT
FRANCIS BARTLETT was favored in his ancestry by an
honorable lineage that represents the sturdy character
which has made and adorned the history of this
Commonwealth.
He was bom in Boston, September 21, 1836. He died at his
summer home at Pride's Crossing, September 23, 1913. His
father, Sidney Bartlett, was regarded as without a peer in Boston's
legal ranks. His mother was Caroline Louisa Pratt. Her influ-
ence was one of the most potent forces that entered into the boy-
hood experiences of her son. This was felt not only in giving his
mind a bent toward intellectual achievement, but also in his moral
and spiritual convictions and tastes, which gave stability to his
character and served as foundations for his worthy career. His
father also, in his love for books, by his liberality, good humor, and
public spirit, was an inspiration to the son in his maturing years,
giving him an example of industry, manliness, and good citizenship
that made a lasting impression.
It was quite natural that the boy should have a special liking
for the fine arts. History, biography, and literature also interested
him in his early studies. Francis Bartlett received his prepara-
tory education in the city's schools, and entered Harvard in the
fall of 1853. One of his fellow graduates in the class of 1857 was
Hon. John D. Long.
The year after his graduation Mr. Bartlett entered the law
office of his father as a student, and later took a year's course in the
Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the Suffolk County
Bar a few days before his twenty-fourth birthday, but before begin-
ning to practice spent a year in travel abroad.
With an inherent love for the beautiful in art, this foreign
journey was spent in visiting all the great galleries of Europe. In
the years that followed, while his mind was grappling with the
problems of the business world, Mr. Bartlett always found time
for thorough inspection of any new art treasure brought to his
attention.
Mr. Bartlett 's gifts to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts aggre-
gated a value of about $2,500,000. He was a trustee of the Museum
and in 1912 donated to it business property in Chicago, valued at
$1,500,000. In 1905 he gave the Museum a collection of classical
FRANCIS BABTLETT
antiquities worth more than $1,000,000. In this collection were
two priceless treasures of art — a head of Aphrodite, and a valuable
duplicate of the statue of Bartolomeo CoUeoni, in Venice, regarded
as one of the greatest equestrian statues in the world. The museum
bulletin which acknowledged the gift declared it to be the most
important collection ever presented. In all it consisted of 303
objects, divided as follows: Marbles, 21; vases, 66; fragments of
vases, 70; bronzes, 20; terra-cottas, 39; coins, 62; gems, 13; gold
and silver, 8 ; miscellaneous, 4. Many of these dated from five cen-
turies before the Christian era.
Mr. Bartlett was interested in mining properties, railroads, real
estate, and manufacturing industries. An illness in 1910 left Mr.
Bartlett an invalid and since then he had not been active in
Mr. Bartlett was a member of the Somerset, Country, Union,
Tavern, Exchange, University, and St. Botolph clubs of Boston ; the
Country Club, Brookline; the Essex Country Club at Manchester;
the Players' Club and the Jekyl Island Club, Harvard; the Uni-
versity clubs of New York, and the Chicago Club of Chicago. He
was also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
and a member of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science.
Mr. Bartlett was married in 1867 to Marianna Hubbard Slater
of Norwich, Connecticut. She died a few years later, January 6,
1873, leaving two daughters, neither of whom is now living. They
were Caroline and Elizabeth Bartlett.
Mr. Bartlett has left a record of character and usefulness to his
generation that is an honor to his kindred, friends, and the Com-
monwealth of Massachusetts.
Among the many tributes to his memory Ex-Governor John D.
Long, his Harvard classmate, said: "A bright, buoyant, happy,
generous spirit went out when Francis Bartlett died. For several
yeare his delicate health has been a matter of anxiety to his friends.
But his serenity and good cheer, his lively interest in literature, art,
and the world at large, were undimmed. He had suffered great
affliction in the sad loss of those near and dear to him, and his
failing health and increasing withdrawal from the delightful ave-
nues of life in which he had been so long a figure, were a severe
test of his philosophy. But he bore all with the nobility of a large
heart and mind.
FKANCIS BAETLETT
' ' Some of us recall him in his college days at Harvard, his hand-
some face, his lustrous eyes, his cordial ways, his kindly bearing in
every relation. He was full of music to his fingers' ends, which
played the piano accompaniment to many a college song. Indeed,
he was facile in musical composition and also in the making of
verse to go with it. He was a leading spirit in the somewhat fa-
mous Jacobite Club of his classmates.
"With maturing years he showed great interest in literature —
Thomas Bailey Aldrich was a sympathetic friend — and still more in
art. In the latter direction he visited all the great galleries of
Europe. His private collection of masterpieces in his Beacon
Street home filled his house. He was not only a trustee of the
Museum of Fine Arts, but his marvellously great gift of a million
and a half dollars to its funds marks him as one of the most liberal
patrons of art. These tastes naturally brought him into a very
large range of club life — not so much its material features as the
associations of its musical, literary, and art culture. A man of
wealth, he preserved all the simplicity and democratic flavor of his
youth. Wealth brought to him not temptations but opportunities.
In his habits, his associations, his private life, and his public
interests he was without reproach and in his convictions without
fear. Of a sprightly humor that gave sparkle to every group in
which he sat, few men dwelt more in their thought on the serious
problems of existence.
"He was a good citizen, always alive to the demands of good
government and good politics. With all this he was also astute in
the management of his fortune and of excellent business habit and
judgment. Son of the most eminent lawyer of his time at the
Suffolk Bar, he honored though he did not actively practice the
profession of the law. It was in his personal relations, affections
and charities, so many of which none knew but the recipient, that
he was at his best— an ideal companion, friend, gentleman.
"Looking back so many years — more than threescore and ten —
along the pathway of life, how bright the sunshine and flowers at
the beginning, how ripe and mellow the later fruit, how soft the
shadows at the close! There are hearts that gratefully remember
his kindnesses of word and deed, that held him dear, and that
cherish his memory."
SIDNEY BARTLETT
SIDNEY BARTLETT was of the purest Pilgrim stock. He
was descended from Robert Bartlett who, having arrived
at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in the ship Ann in 1623, settled
at Monument Pond and married Mary, the daughter of Richard
Warren, a Mayflower passenger. His father, Zaccheus Bartlett,
was a physician whose practice took him to the towns and villages
about Plymouth, and the hamlets of Manomet, Avhere he and four
generations of his ancestors were born. The doctor married Han-
nah Jackson, a woman of the finest qualities of intellect and char-
acter, vigorous, and noted for her indomitable will. Their son
Sidney was bom at Plymouth, February 13, 1799. To his mother
he owed his opportunity for a college and professional education.
He fitted for Harvard at the public schools of Plymouth and took
his degree of A.B. in the class of 1818, with Samuel Todd Adams,
George Choate, Frederick A. Farley, Robert Treat Paine, George
E. Noyes, George Osborne, George W. Otis, and others. While in
college he belonged to the Harvard Washington Corps. After his
graduation he taught school for a brief time in Scituate and read
law for a year in the oflSce of Nathaniel Morton Davis of PljTUOuth.
During this year he served as a private in the Standish Guards,
a military company organized in 1818. In September, 1820, he
went to Boston and entered the office of Lemuel Shaw, who ten
years later began his great career as Chief Justice of Massachusetts.
In 1821 he was admitted to the Bar in the Court of Common Pleas,
and became the partner of his instructor, who recognized his un-
usual abilities. In March, 1824, he was admitted to the Bar of
the Supreme Judicial Court.
Sidney Bartlett by dint of untiring industrj' and intense appli-
cation became the leader of the Boston Bar. His training was not
originally particularly thorough and his rise was therefore not
rapid. He was not admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of
the United States until 1854. He devoted himself with singular
^^Cc,^^'^-^^^^
'iy'^tnXX^
SIDNEY BARTLETT
steadfastness to the practice of his profession. Though he might
have been appointed to the bench, he refused all importunities.
Indeed the only public office which he ever accepted was that of
member of the Massachusetts House of Eepresentatives in 1851 and
that of delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1853. He con-
sidered that he was fulfilling his duty in devoting himself whole-
heartedly to his profession. The concentration of such powers as
he possessed could not fail to achieve success. There were shrewd
and capable lawyers in his day, many who perhaps enjoyed greater
advantages in legal training, but not one excelled him in placing
before the Court in concise and convincing form the principles
which he believed applicable to any case. Other men were more
gifted with eloquence, but his matter-of-fact presentation of an
argument won in the long run.
He acquired a reputation which far exceeded the boundaries of
his own community and State and his practice became extremely
lucrative. He was always ready to help along public causes or to
relieve the wants of those less fortunate than himself, particularly
those of his own profession who from misfortune beyond their
power to prevent were in need. He continued in active practice
until within a few days of the end of his long and useful life, with
unabating ability and skill for the last time appearing to argue the
cause of the daughter of an old friend who had been the leader of
the South Carolina Bar.
He died March 6, 1889. A fortnight later a meeting of the
members of the Suffolk Bar was held and resolutions were passed
to commemorate the distinction of his seventy years' connection
with that organization and ' ' the spotless record of his high personal
worth, his almost unparalleled professional ability and success."
One of the paragraphs made this declaration :
' ' His leai-ning was accurate and adequate, but his characteristic
superiority consisted in his firm and comprehensive grasp of legal
principles and in his ability to deal with them with unsurpassed
facility and power. In all the high qualities essential to their
thorough exposition and successful application — clear perception,
searching analysis, inexorable logic, scientific precision of thought
and statement, a terse and cogent style, and an unerring and
imperturbable practical sagacity — he was without a superior, if not
without a rival."
SIDNEY BABTLETT
The resolutions went on to expatiate on his consummate success
as an adviser and administrator in the most important and intricate
affairs of trust, his unfailing loyalty and fidelity to the Court, thus
by his conspicuous example contributing in a high degree to the
maintenance of the respect which the judiciary of Massachusetts
had always received, to his cheerfulness and courage, his rectitude,
honor and truth. The proceedings were dignified by eulogistic
addresses by distinguished associates who spoke feelingly of his
relations with the community in which he had so long stood — the
Nestor of the Bar. William G. Eussell among other personal recol-
lections said:
"He was eminently social. He was fond of young people, of
hearing their talk and learning of their doings and their ways.
Simple in his tastes and almost abstemious in his habits, he enjoyed
the higher pleasures of the table and wherever good talk was held
he held his own with the best. His reading was by no means nar-
row or confined to the volumes of the law ; works of history, biog-
raphy, memoirs, the novels of the day (and how large a portion of
the whole range of fiction comes within his day) were his constant
resource for relaxation. He was in mental constitution eminently
just and true, fair minded, open minded, on any and all questions
of politics, religion or casuistry ; on all the current questions of the
day, as on all questions of the law, he was ready to hear both sides,
and he justly recognized and weighed the force of either argument.
He was capable of being convinced against his will by sound reason,
a quality of the rarest sort."
Elias Merwin said: "In old age the best of him survived — ^his
great faculties, his keen relish for legal investigations, his hopeful-
ness — I had almost said his optimism — by which his sympathies
were ever with the present and the future rather than the past ; his
noble presence, and the serene and placid temper, becoming only the
more gentle and attractive with every advancing year — old age
without querulousness or decrepitude and with more than its pro-
verbial wisdom and dignity — attended by
'All which should accompany old age.
As honor, love, obedience, troops of friends.* "
George S. Hale said : "He was delicately thoughtful and con-
siderate of his inferiors in age and experience and imparted his
SIDNEY BARTLETT
store of wise counsel liberally. He was a comfortable adviser and
a rock of support, giving strength, confidence and repose, and
when he reached 'the monumental pomp of age' he bore himself
with a mellow and gracious dignity, without assumption, distance,
or irritability. Like Gorgias, he had nothing to charge against it,
and in return it brightened, not clouded, his closing years. ' '
Justice Holmes, representing the Bench, offered a reminiscence
which perhaps more than anything else visualizes the importance
which Sidney Bartlett embodied as a connecting link between his
own day and the past. He cited a letter in which he said : "Dea-
con Spooner died in 1818 aged ninety-four. I saw him and talked
with him. He talked with Elder Faunce who talked with the Pil-
grims and is said to have pointed out the rock." Justice Holmes
went on to say: "He had that terse and polished subtlety of
speech which was most familiar to the world where courtiers and
men of fashion taught the litterateurs of a later age how to write.
He had something of a half -hidden wit which men learned to prac-
tice who lived about a court and had to speak in innuendo. He
had much of the eighteenth-century definiteness of view which was
such an aid to perfection of form. His manner was no less a study
than his language. There was in it a dramatic intensity of interest
which made him seem the youngest man in the room when he spoke.
And yet you felt at the same time the presence of something older
than the oldest — the detachment which came from ancient experi-
ence and intellect undisturbed; the doubt which smiled at action
without making it less ardent or sicklying o'er the native hue of
resolution. His might was written in his face — that wonderful
silver-crowned countenance, glittering yet serene, framed on slant-
ing, deep-cut lines of power; the imperial face of one who had
lived beyond surprises, not unlike that of the great Caesar as
Pontifex Maximios in ironic fulness of knowledge, such as still
sometimes are produced in New England. It was enough to look
upon him to know that you saw a man who had greatness in him. ' '
Sidney Bartlett was married in October, 1828, to Caroline
Louise, daughter of John and Mary (Tewkesbury) Pratt. He had
four children, one of whom, Francis Bartlett, a man famous for his
public spirit and generosity, survived him.
HENRY BARTLETT
HENEY BARTLETT was bom in Lowell, Massachusetts, on
the 29th of March, 1864. His father, Charles Edwin
Adams Bartlett, a railway man, was bom in 1836, died in
1900, was the son of John C. Bartlett, bom 1809, died 1878. His
mother was Harriet Maria Cooper, daughter of Isaac Cooper, bom
in England in 1807 and was brought to West Boylston, Massachu-
setts, at the age of three years. He lived to the great age of ninety-
five years, djing in 1902.
Henry Bartlett 's education was unobstructed by the diflSenlties
which so many boys encounter. Beginning with the public schools
of Lowell, it was advanced by the Boston Latin School, and com-
pleted by a course in Harvard University from which he received
the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1885. His special tastes from
childhood was for mechanics, so that his choice of a vocation was
determined as much by his own proclivity as it was by the example
and wish of his father and mother.
In the year following his graduation from Har\'ard young Bart-
lett began his career by becoming an apprentice in the shops of the
Pennsylvania Railroad in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he served
three years. He then became assistant road foreman of engines
on the Pittsburg, Middle and Maryland divisions of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad and filled those positions for two years. In 1891
he was appointed Assistant Supterintendent of motive power for
the same Railroad with his ofiSce in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Four
years later he was called to be Superintendent of motive power for
the Boston and Maine Railroad, and since January 1, 1907, he haa
been General Superintendent of the Mechanical Department of that
road and Chief IMechanical Engineer.
Mr. Bartlett is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He is also
a member of the Engineers' Club of Boston, the Harvard Club of
Boston, the Oakley Country Club, the American Society of Mechan-
ical Engineers, of which he was Chairman of the Boston section,
and of the New England Railroad Club, of which he is Ex-President.
A Republican in politics, his religious affiliation is with the Uni-
tarian Church. His favorite recreation is golf.
In 1891, on the 28th of October, he was joined in marriage to
Miss Alice Maud Moulton, the daughter of 0. H. and Miranda
Moulton. Two children have been bom to Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett,
only one of whom, Harriet M. Bartlett, survives.
Henry Bartlett 's life witnesses to persistence and diligence in
study, to ability and fidelity in positions of trust and responsibility,
and to a healthy interest in human affairs.
EDWIN ALLEN BAYLEY
EDWIN ALLEN BAYLEY, lawyer and legislator, was bom
in Jamaica Plain, Boston, Massachusetts, July 30, 1862.
His father, Edwin Bayley (1820-1888), was a successful
merchant, active, earnest, keen and frank; he was the great grand-
son of Brigadier General Jacob Bayley (1726-1815), who served with
distinction through the French and Indian War and the War of the
Revolution and in 1762 founded the town of Newbury, Vermont,
naming it after the place of his birth in Massachusetts. The record
of General Bayley's public services, both in civil and military affairs,
shows him to have been one of the leading citizens of Vermont
throughout the eventful period preceding and following the estab-
lishment of the new state government (1778).
His mother, Vesta (Capen) Bayley (1826-1915), was the
daughter of General Aaron Capen (1796-1866) and Izannah
(White) Capen. She was a woman of intellectual strength and
firmness, whose influence upon him, mentally and morally, was very
strong.
His paternal immigrant ancestor was John Bayly, who came from
England in 1635 and settled in that part of Amesbury, Massachusetts,
now called Salisbury Point.
His maternal immigrant ancestor was Barnard Capen, who came
from England in 1630 and was one of the earliest settlers of Dor-
chester, Massachusetts.
Edwin Allen Bayley at an early age removed with his parents to
Newbury, Vermont, where his youth was spent. He was strong and
energetic, keenly enjoying the usual out-of-door sports of a healthy,
active country boy. After the public and private schools in New-
bury he contmued his education at St. Johnsbury (Vt.) Academy,
from which he was graduated in 1881 with high rank and was one
of the speakers at graduation. While at the Academy he was one
of the editors of the "Academy Student," the school paper.
He entered Dartmouth College, where he pursued the Classical
Course, and was graduated in the class of 1885, with the degree of
EDWIN ALLEN BAYLEY
A.B. During his college course he served as president and treasurer
of his class, also as a director of the college athletic association. He
was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity and of the
Phi Beta Kappa Society, and at commencement he delivered one of
the two philosophical orations assigned for scholarship and ranking
next to the salutatory.
After teaching a private school in Newbury for a short time, he
accepted an advantageous offer to enter the mortgage loan busmess in
Dakota. Although this experience showed that he had good busi-
ness judgment and executive ability, he was not satisfied with the fu-
ture of that business and decided to study law, toward which he found
himself more and more strongly drawn. Accordmgly in 1889 he
entered the Law School of Boston University, completed its regular
three-year course in two years, graduating in the class of 1891 with the
degree of LL.B., "magna cum laude." During his course he served
as president of his class.
He was admitted to the practice of law at the Suffolk (Massachu-
setts) Bar in August, 1891, and in the United States Courts in 1898.
In 1892 he and John H. Colby, one of his classmates at Dartmouth
College, associated themselves together in the practice of their pro-
fession in Boston, under the name of Colby and Bayley, an asso-
ciation which continued imtil the death of Mr. Colby in 1909.
Mr. Bayley is a strong advocate, forceful, thorough and pains-
taking, and has made a well-deserved success in the practice of his
profession. His enthusiasm and energy are his marked character-
istics. He has resided in Lexington, Massachusetts, since 1892,
where he has taken a leading part in public affairs, serving as a
member of the school committee, as a library trustee and for
years as moderator of town meetings and general town counsel.
He is counsel, clerk and a trustee of the North End Savings Bank of
Boston, and is also one of the Trustees of St. Johnsbury Academy,
where he fitted for college; he has served as president and secre-
tary of the Bailey-Bayley Family Association and has added much to
the value of the work of the Association by his genealogical research
and writings; he has also served as President of the General Alumni
Association of Dartmouth College; he has prepared and delivered
several historical and Memorial Day addresses. He is a member
of the Middlesex Bar Association, the Dartmouth College Club of
Boston, the Boston City Club, the Republican Club of Massachusetts,
EDWIN ALLEN BAYLEY
the Middlesex Club, the Vermont Historical Society, the Lexington
Historical Society, the Old Belfry Club of Lexington and an associate
member of George G. Meade Post 119, G. A. R., of Lexington. His
religious affiliations are with the Orthodox Congregational Church.
In politics he has always been a Republican, and in 1909, and
again in 1910 when he was re-elected without an opposing vote, he
was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where
his courage, sound judgment and ability as a speaker and debater
won for him a place among the ablest members of that body. He
drafted and urged the passage of the first bill for a tunnel connect-
ing the North and South Railway Stations in Boston. To him more
than to any one else is due the credit of the enactment of the law
known as the "Safe and Sane Fourth of July" bill, which ended the
manufacture and sale in Massachusetts of death-dealing firecrackers
and bombs; and in recognition of his leadership in this matter he was
presented by Governor Eben S. Draper with one of the pens with
which the bill was signed. As a member of the Committee on Railroads
he was a close student of all railroad transportation questions afifecting
the interests of the Commonwealth, and his speeches on this subject
were among the ablest heard in years on Beacon Hill. The following
are some of the current newspaper estimates of his work as a legislator.
"Bayley is a constructive legislator of great ability and of ines-
timable value to the state and to his district."
"He is of a class of men rarely foimd, unfortunately, willing to
give their time and their splendid talents to the service of their
fellows in public service."
"Bayley is one of the leaders in the House, one of its best
orators."
"He has shown himself one of the ablest and most fearless and
aggressive legislators that has sat in either branch of the Massachu-
setts Legislature for many years; he, like all strong men, possesses
deep convictions, and one is sxu-e to admire and respect him."
"Representative Bayley has won for himself an enviable reputa-
tion as one of the really powerful men in the affairs of state legis-
lation."
One of his fellow-members, for years a leader in the House, who
was Mr. Bayley's strongest opponent on railroad matters, wrote him
saying: "I have seen no abler debater than you in the Massachu-
setts House."
EDWIN ALLEN BAYLEY
During Mr. Bayley's first legislative term the Massachusetts
State Board of Insanity contracted for land near Lexington Center,
on which to erect an asylum; Mr. Bayley aroused the citizens to
an appreciation of the disadvantage of such a location and led in
the efforts which prevented its fulfilhnent, and for this important
service he received a public vote of thanks in town meeting.
After the close of his second term, Mr. Bayley was urged to
remain in poUtics and run for Congress from his district. He decided,
however, to be a candidate for the State Senate. He won the nomi-
nation overwhelmingly, after a warmly contested campaign; but at the
election he was defeated by the Democratic landslide of 1910, which
overtook so many Republican candidates, including the Governor.
In connection with the celebration of the 150th anniversary of
the settlement of the town of Newbury, Vermont, in August, 1912,
Mr. Bayley planned and secured the erection of a large and impres-
sive granite monument, suitably inscribed and prominently located on
the village conunon, to commemorate the life and public services of
his distinguished ancestor. General Jacob Bayley, above mentioned,
who was the founder of the town. The monument was dedicated as
a part of the anniversary exercises and Mr. Bayley delivered the
dedicatory address.
On Jime 15, 1892, he was married to Lucia A., daughter of Dr.
Eustace V. and Emily (Tenney) Watkins, of Newbury, Vermont, a
granddaughter of Miner and Anna (Barr) Watkins and of Dr. Ira and
Sophe (Hazen) Tenney, a descendant of Thomas Tenney, who came
from England to Massachusetts in 1638. One daughter has been
bom to them, Marian Vesta.
Mr. Bayley has for many years been a great admirer of Daniel
Webster, maintaining that no other one American has stood pre-
eminent as a lawyer, an orator and a statesman; and it has been one
of his pastimes to collect pictures of Webster, and today he has
the largest collection of Websteriana pictures ever gathered together;
his offices are, in fact, a Webster picture gallery.
Mr. Bayley believes that while success may often depend upon
fortimate circumstances, yet the best preparation for taking advan-
tage of opportunities is (1) as broad and thorough an education as
possible, (2) a determination to be honest and fair with one's self
and others, (3) a purpose to do one's best earnestly and enthusias-
tically and (4) a willingness to work and not shirk.
^
Cxv/a^
I '^<i^^A<i-»
FRANCIS BLAKE
WILLIAM and Agnes Blake were the pioneer ancestors of
Francis Blake. They settled in Dorchester, Massachu-
setts, in 1630, having emigrated from Somersetshire, Eng-
land. Francis Blake was of the eighth generation of the American
Blakes. His grandfather, Francis Blake of "Worcester, was one
of the most prominent members of the Worcester County Bar, and
for a time was a State Senator. His father, also Francis Blake,
was a business man, and from 1862 to 1874 was United States
Appraiser in Boston. His mother, Caroline Burling, was a daugh-
ter of George Augustus Trumbull of Worcester, a kinsman of
General Jonathan Trumbull, the "Brother Jonathan" who was
private secretary to George Washington.
Francis Blake was bom December 25, 1850, in the town of
Needham, ^Massachusetts. He died at his home in Weston, Massa-
chusetts, January 19, 1913. He was educated in the public schools,
and for a while in the Brookline High School, until 1866, when
his uncle. Commodore George Smith Blake, U. S. N., secured his
appointment to the United States Coast Survey, in which service
he acquired the scientific education which led to his later successes
in civil life. Mr. Blake 's twelve years of service in the Coast Sur-
vey have connected his name with many of the most important
scientific achievements of the corps.
In 1867 he was ordered to astronomical duty at Harvard Uni-
versity Observatory, and later in the same year to the same kind
of work in Louisiana and Texas. In 1868 he returned to Harvard
Observatory and was engaged in making the trans-continental longi-
tude determinations between the Observatory and San Francisco.
The interesting fact was established during his investigations here,
that a signal sent from Cambridge to San Francisco was received
back, over a metallic circuit of 7000 miles, in eight-tenths of a sec-
ond of time.
In 1869 he was stationed in New Jersey, for astronomical and
geodetic investigations ; he also made observations of the total solar
eclipse, at Shelbyville, Kentucky, the same year, and calculated
the astronomical latitude and longitude of Cedar Falls, Iowa, and
of St. Louis, Missouri. He was then sent to Europe to determine
the astronomical difference of longitude between Brest, France, and
Harvard Observatory by means of time signals sent through the
French Atlantic cable. In 1870 he was stationed for a time at
Harper's Ferry, and in November was detached from Coast Survey
Service and appointed astronomer to the Darien Exploring Expe-
FRANCIS BLAKE
dition under Commander Selfridge, U. S. N., whose task it was to
find a river route for a ship canal across the Isthmus of Darien.
Mr. Blake's work for this expedition was warmly appreciated by
Commander Selfridge, who wrote to the Superintendent, "Upon
the close of Mr. Blake's connection with the expedition, it gives
me much pleasure to bear witness to the zeal, ability and ingenuity
with which he has labored." The Superintendent in recommend-
ing his advancement wrote thus: "His observations have invari-
ably borne the severest tests in regard to accuracy. ' ' In 1871 Mr.
Blake did astronomical duty in the Shenandoah Valley, Va., and
assistant C. O. BouteUe, in charge of the work, wrote, "The sym-
metrical precision of the latitude observations made by you at
Maryland Heights, Clark and Bull Run stations has never been
excelled in the Coast Survey. The results do you great credit and
I shall take very great pleasure in reporting upon them to the
Superintendent. ' '
In 1872 he was again ordered to Europe for duty in connection
with the third and final determination of the difference of longitude
between Greenwich, Paris and Cambridge. Mr. Blake was engaged
for more than a year in this great work which was carried on under
the general direction of Professor J. E. Hilgard, then assistant in
charge of the Coast Survey ofSce, and later Supterintendent of the
Coast Survey. Mr. Blake made all the European observations,
being stationed successively at Brest, France ; the Imperial Observ-
atory, Paris; and the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. During
these years he had risen ten grades and in 1873 was promoted to
the rank of Assistant, the highest rank under the Superintendent.
After short terms of astronomical service in Madison and La-
crosse, Wisconsin, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and in Savannah,
Georgia, and after he had reluctantly declined the charge of the
Transit of Venus Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere, on ac-
count of domestic affaii-s, he was given the duty of preparing for
publication the results of transatlantic longitude determinations in
1866 and 1870, and of presenting an original discussion of the final
determination of 1872. This work occupied him for two years and
the results of his labors are embodied in Appendix 18, United States
Coast Survey Report, 1874.
In 1877 he represented the Coast Survey on the commission to
fix the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania, and
did geodetic work in connection with a re-survey of Boston Harbor,
under the Board of Harbor Commissioners. This was the last field
work performed by Mr. Blake, whose active career in the Coast
Survey closed in April, 1878, when by reason of the pressure of
private interests he vrrote to the Superintendent of the Coast Sur-
TEANCIS BLAKE
vey, "It is impossible for me to express in official language the
regret with which I thus close the twelfth year of my service."
The high esteem in which he was held by the Superintendent was
also shown by the fact that Mr. Blake was asked to allow his name
to be retained on the list of the Survey as an "extra observer."
Under this title the distinguished names of Professor Benjamin
Peirce, Professor Lovering, Dr. Gould and Professor Winlock were
classed for several years.
Mr. Blake 's residence in the town of Weston began in 1873, the
date of his marriage to Elizabeth L., daughter of Charles T. Hub-
bard. Mrs. Blake received as a gift from her father six acres of
land which became the site of a fine mansion given to her by her
grandfather, Benjamin Sewall, and planned by the eminent archi-
tect, Charles Follen McKim. By gradual accretions the area of
the estate was increased by purchase until it included about one
hundred and thirty acres. The grounds about the home were made
beautiful by the art of the landscape architect and the gardener, and
there were spacious out-buildings, stables, a laboratorj^, a photograph
room, a bowling alley, and a theatre seating a hundred persons.
It was in tliis quiet country home that Mr. Blake used his
periods of leisure while still engaged with the Coast Survey, by
making investigations in experimental physics. By degrees the
increase of his laboratory enabled him to extend the range of his
experiments. "Within a short time after his resignation his elec-
trical experiments led to one of the most important inventions of
the age, which was made known to the world, in 1878, through the
Bell Telephone Company, as the " Blake Transmitter. ' ' The supe-
riority of this mechanism was immediately acknowledged and by
the tests of opposing litigation was established as a permanent
feature of telephone equipment. The transmitter was of such per-
fect construction that for many years there was no substantial
change made in its parts. Mr. Blake's interest in electrical science
did not cease with this invention ; for as many as twenty different
patents were taken out by him in the course of a dozen years;
among these may be mentioned the electrical switchboard and the
Minot-Blake microtome. He was made a Director in the Bell Tele-
phone Company when his invention was accepted in 1878.
Mr. Blake was a Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, 1874, and of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences. He was made a member of the National Confer-
ence of Electricians in 1884 and of the American Institute of Elec-
trical Engineers in 1889. The same year he was elected to mem-
bership in the Corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
FRANCIS BLAKE
nology. He was a member of the American Geographical Society,
the Bostonian Society, and the Boston Society of the Archaeological
Institute of America. He was for many years appointed by the
Board of Overseers of Harvard College, a member of the Commit-
tee to visit the Jefferson Physical Laboratory. He was a member
of the Somerset, Union, St. Botolph, and Country clubs, and a
member of the Boston Athletic Association, and his active interest in
photography led to his election for many years as Vice-president of
the Boston Camera Club which awarded him a medal in 1892.
Indicative of the esteem in which he was held by his fellow
townsmen he served as Selectman of the town of Weston for twenty
years, ten of which he was Chairman of the Board. He was elected
an honorary member of the Telephone Pioneers of America in
1912. He was a Trustee for many years of the Boston Museum of
Fine Arts, serving on the Executive Committee, to which he was
elected in 1899. From 1897 to 1909 when he resigned, he was
a member of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts General
Hospital, and served faithfully on several of its important com-
mittees. Dr. Mixter wrote these words appreciative of his services
at the hospital: "A friendly but keen critic, a lover of all good
scientific work, his presence in the hospital gave added enthusiasm
to the advancement of medical science, and the sympathy and
kindly personal interest and aid that he gave freely to the unfor-
tunate and suffering whose welfare he had so much at heart made
his visits to the wards happy events in the lives of the patients."
He was Chairman of the Building Committee of the Massachu-
setts General Hospital from 1899, and gave time and thought with-
out limit to the work.
Eesigning from the Board of Trustees in 1909, the Board passed
the following resolution: "That the resignation of Mr. Francis
Blake as a Trustee of the Massachusetts General Hospital is ac-
cepted with great regret, and that the Secretary be requested to
convey to IMr. Blake this sentiment, and also the high appreciation
of his fellow Trustees of the many and valued services rendered
to the Hospital by him during the many years that he has been a
member of the Board."
Mr. Blake's favorite recreation was rowing, his average mileage
being twelve miles a day every day in the year that the Charles
River was open. He was also very fond of and indulged much in
mountain climbing.
His affiliations on the religious side were with the Protestant
Episcopal Church, and in politics with the Republican party.
Mrs. Blake and two children, Mrs. Agnes Blake FitzGerald and
Benjamin Sewall Blake, together with a great company of citizens,
honor the memory of this distinguished man.
,^^^1^^^^
ELMER JARED BLISS
NEW ENGLAND is proud of the record of her self-made
men. The career of Elmer Javed Bliss is typical.
He was bom at Wrentham, Massachusetts, August 11,
1867, and was educated at the public schools in Foxboro and
Edgartown, Massachusetts. After preparing for college at the
Bdgartown High School, he decided to go into business immediately
and entered the employ of the Brown-Durrell Co. of Boston, and
went on the road as a salesman.
While traveling in their interests, he was seriously injured in
a railroad wreck, but, contrary to expectations, he recovered. The
compensation for his injuries, awarded him by the railroad, netted
him $1500 and gave him an opportunity to make a modest start in
developing a new selling plan which he had clearly worked out
in his own mind during the period of convalescence.
From that $1500 and an idea, grew the Regal Shoe Company.
It started with a single store ou Summer Street, Boston, in 1893,
and spread throughout the country and the world, until, to-day,
there are four Regal factories and more Regal stores and agencies
than there were dollars in the original investment.
Mr. Bliss' idea wa.s to have a factory duplicate the styles he
purchased of the most exclusive high-grade custom bootmakers in
this country and abroad — and get them into the hands and on the
feet of the consumer — in the shortest possible time and at the least
expense.
He anticipated an evolution in the commercial development of
the shoe business, that meant the practical elimination of the in-
dependent middleman or jobber — which has since taken place.
He recognized that, in addition to a short-cut from maker to wearer,
volume production was the only logical means of selling articles
of common consumption at a moderate price and giving the con-
sumer the greatest value.
Mr. Bliss foresaw that improved facilities in transportation
would bring the consumer nearer the maker, and after permanent
outlets for distribution were established in the principal cities, the
first national publicity campaign in the shoe business was started
in the magazines and metropolitan dailies. This gave Mr. Bliss
an opportunity to explain directly to the consumer the merit of the
new plan and product. The force and originality of this campaign
made history in the shoe trade and became familiar to the public as
the chain of stores increased.
The origin, growth, and development of the Regal Shoe Com-
pany to its present enormous proportions of plant and product is
ELMER JARED BLISS
a monument to the enterprise, ability, and integrity of the man who
conceived the idea of selling direct from factory to foot, and dupli-
cating styles, at a moderate price, that were formerly considered
the exclusive property of the custom bootmakers.
Mr. Bliss, who is the chief executive and Managing Director o|
the Company, although known as the "Human Dynamo" among
his business associates for his tremendous activity and tireless en-
ergy, is the most modest and unassuming member of the entire
staff. He shrinks from notoriety and dislikes personal publicity,
and has repeatedly refused to allow his name to be used for any
political office — state or national.
Personally, Jlr. Bliss, though extremely quick mentally — in-
stinctively so — is deliberate and polished in manner, quiet and
affable in speech. He is as magnetic among his numerous friends
as he is dynamic among his business associates. His dress is al-
ways faultless in detail, though never conspicuous in appearance,
and his courtesy and tlioughtfulness as a host are keenly appreci-
ated by everyone who enjoys his hospitality.
It is not to be supposed, however, that practical business is all
that interests Mr. Bliss. As is generally the ease with great or-
ganizers, versatility is one of the qualities which enables him to
understand and put to best use the ability of others. He is equally
fond of outdoor exercises and is as vigorous at play as he is strenu-
ous at work. He is an enthusiastic horseman and yachtsman, and
it is characteristic of the man that he rides his own horses and sails
his own yachts, and always heads for the deep sea or the woods, al-
most invariably accompanied by Mrs. Bliss and the children.
The Bliss family genealogy is covered in the biographical his-
tory of his father, Leonard C. Bliss, who is the subject of a sepa-
rate sketch in this volume.
In 1901, Mr. Bliss married Lena Harding, a daughter of Philan-
der and Lena (Tinker) Harding, a lineal descendant of Abraham
and Elizabeth Harding, who landed at Salem, Massachusetts, on
the ship Abigail, in 1635. Two children, Elmer Jared, Jr., and
Muriel Harding, with their father and mother, form a family
united in the love of outdoor sports — riding, driving, motoring —
never forsaking the inherited love of the sea inspired by Captain
Jared Fisher in his boyhood days at Edgartown. The entire fam-
ily are expert sailors and skillful equestrians.
The diversity of character and tastes of the modem business
man is well illustrated in a comparison of the home and the office of
Mr. Bliss. His home is replete with curios and rare works of art,
collected by Mr. and Mrs. Bliss in their travels through this coun-
try and Europe. His office is as bare of ornamentation as a field
ELMER JARED BLISS
general's tent. Charts and maps on the walls and rows of shoes
on the tables are the only decoration.
An interesting sidelight that reveals the character of the man
occurred at the time of the earthquake in San Francisco. Mr.
Bliss was en route to the Pacific Coast when he first heard that the
fire had destroyed the city. His first thought was for the help-
less, homeless little ones. He stopped off at Los Angeles, bought
all the available supplies, organized an expedition which he
headed, and took them with him in automobiles over the road to
San Francisco.
Mr. Bliss started the first movement to provide food and cloth-
ing for the babies in the stricken districts, served with the local
committees, and took prompt action in telegraphing every Regal
store in all the large cities to gather and forward food and supplies
for the babies.
Mr. Bliss has been president of the Massachusetts Society of
Industrial Education and director of several large banking insti-
tutions. His genius for organization made his administration as
President of the Boston Chamber of Commerce notable.
A prominent member of the Eastern Yacht Club, he won his
laurels as a sailor when he sailed his yacht Venona to victory, in
the notable race from Marblehead to Bermuda in 1908 — ^lashed to
the wheel.
He is a member of the Country Club of Brookline, Massachu-
setts ; the Norfolk Hunt Club ; the Algonquin Club ; the Lotus and
Mid-day Clubs of New York.
Mr. Bliss is a man of broad views, and widely read, and al-
though starting in business after he had fitted for college, he has
distinguished himself as a leader in educative and civic affairs,
and was one of the few prominent business men who have been
asked to lecture in the Harvard School of Business Administra-
tion. Active in public life, though never a candidate for public
office, he gives without stint his practical co-operation in public
affairs, proving the real virtue of broad and patriotic citizenship
in making government more efficient for the welfare of all.
A glimpse of the other side of his character was shown in an
swering this direct question put by the interviewer:
"What has given you the most personal gratification of any-
thing in your successful career?"
Though the question was unexpected, the answer was prompt :
"To live to see my father and mother enjoy the sunset of their
lives, traveling over the world in ease and comfort."
Even the realization of his dream in creating a great business of
international scope was incidental to the greater and deeper satis-
faction in this fulfillment of filial devotion.
LEONARD CARPENTER BLISS
LEONARD CARPENTER BLISS was bom on July 10,
1834, in the town of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, a town that
dates back to early colonial times. He died at Deland,
Florida, February 3, 1913. He came from good New England
stock, for a paternal ancestor of his, Thomas Bliss of Belstone,
England, came to Boston in 1636, lived in Braintree, Massachu-
setts, and Hartford, Connecticut, and in 1643 settled at Rehoboth.
This town was founded by Rev. William Blackstone, who was dis-
tinguished by being the first settler of Boston, from which place he
went to Seconet (the Indian name) and settled. In 1844, Rev.
Samuel Newman came hither from Weymouth with part of his
church, and in the following year, June 4, 1645, the town was incor-
porated under the Hebrew name of Rehoboth, given to it by Mr.
Newman because, he said, ' ' the Lord hath made room for us. " A
maternal ancestor, Joseph Peck, came from Hingham, England, in
1636, and settled in Hingham, New England.
Leonard Carpenter Bliss's father, James Bliss (born November
7, 1787, died July 31, 1861), was a farmer, the son of Captain
James Bliss (bom January 18, 1762, died March 5, 1842) and of
Mary Carpenter. Leonard C. Bliss's mother was Peddy Peck, the
daughter of Cromwell Peck (bom July 18, 1763) and grand-
daughter of Peddy Cushman. The parents of Leonard C. Bliss
were plain, honest farmer-folk. Their characters may be correctly
inferred from the testimony that the father was marked by kind-
ness, strict integrity, and high ideals, while the mother exerted a
strong and wholesome influence on the intellectual, moral, and spir-
itual life of her son.
Such primary education as he attained was obtained in the
Rehoboth and Wrentham schools. There were economic difficulties
in the way of his acquiring a liberal education, nevertheless he made
good use of the limited means afforded him and developed a strong
intelligence. In his youth light literature was not abundant and
libraries were neither common nor easily accessible, hence his main
reading was supplied by the Bible and the works of classic English
writers.
At the age of sixteen he began working as clerk in a general
store in Walpole, Massachusetts. After a time he followed the
same occupation in Sharon. His advance in efficiency and in enter-
prise finally resulted in making him manager of the Oliver Ames
& Sons' Company store in North Easton.
Thus his natural tastes were the determining factor in his choice
LEONAKD CARPENTER BLISS
of a vocation. He was now qualified for an independent venture
and he established a retail business in North Bridgewater. After
engaging many years in the grocery, shoe, and dry goods trade,
he became interested in shoe manufacturing.
In polities Mr. Bliss was a life-long Republican. Naturally, in
accordance with his descent from colonial ancestors, he was a Con-
gregationalist, and having established his home in Brookline, he
was affiliated with the Old South Church in Boston. His favorite
forms of amusement were walking, driving, in fact all kinds of out-
door exercise. In personal appearance he so closely resembled the
late President Benjamin Harrison, that in his travels he often was
mistaken for the President.
On the twentieth of October, 1863, Mr. Bliss was married to
Miss Eliza Crocker Fisher. Mrs. Bliss also traced her descent from
the early colonists. She was the daughter of Captain Jared Fisher
and Desire AUen (Osbom) Fisher. On the paternal side she was
the granddaughter of Jared Fisher and Sarah (Pease) Fisher, and
on the maternal side she was the granddaughter of Captain John
Osborn and Desire Allen (Coffin) Osbom. Thus she was a de-
scendant from John Howland, who came from England to Amer-
ica in the Mayflower. To Mr. and Mrs. Bliss have been bom six
children. Of these only three survive, Mrs. Bertha Leonard Hin-
son, Mr. Elmer Jared Bliss, and Mrs. Fannie Agnes Thayer.
Among the influences which shaped his character and promoted
his success in life, Mr. Bliss gave the first place to his paternal
home; next to this in order came the influence of school, of early
companionship, of private study, and, last, of contact with men in
active life.
In the winter of 1912-1913, while spending some time in Deland,
Florida, Mr. Bliss was taken ill and died quite suddenly, in his
seventy-ninth year^ The body was brought to his home in Brook-
line, where the funeral service was conducted by Rev. George A.
Gordon, D. D., pastor of the Old South Church, on Thursday
afternoon, February 6th. In respect for his memory all the fac-
tories, stores, and offices of the Regal Company, in various parts
of the country, were closed. The interment was in Mount Auburn
Cemetery. He left to mourn his departure, his wife, the son, and
two daughters, already mentioned, and a large number of friends.
The keynote of Leonard Carpenter Bliss's career can be no bet-
ter sounded than in quoting the following remark which he made
not many weeks before he passed away :
"I attribute my success in life to a strong-minded, strongly
religious mother."
JOHN DUNNING WHITNEY BODFISH
JOHN DUNNING WHITNEY BODFISH was bom in Fabius,
New York, November 6, 1878, son of Benjamin Bodfish,
bom November 20, 1832, and died May 26, 1912, who mar-
ried Abbie Louisa Smith. He is the grandson of Benjamin Bod-
fish, who was bom in 1800 and died in 1832, who married Asenath
C. Jones ; and grandson on the maternal side of Irving Smith, born
in 1802 and died in 1880, who married Louisa Dunning.
The father of Mr. Bodfish was a farmer and merchant, and
possessed remarkably strong characteristics. He was honorable,
aggressive, deeply religious, ready to aid anyone at all times, a
sound and logical thinker, but willing to grant to others the same
liberty which he claimed for himself.
Mr. Bodfish traces his ancestry in this country to John How-
land and Elizabeth Tilley, who came in the Mayflower in 1620,
also to a Bodfitch who changed his name to Bodfish, who came
early from Wales to this country and was a hunter and trapper,
and who took possession of land now included in the present farm
of Mr. Bodfish ia West Barnstable, Massachusetts.
In his youth, Mr. Bodfish was a lover of out-of-door life and
fond of study, especially of mathematics, science, history, and gen-
eral literature. He was deeply interested in animal life.
As a child, he had regular tasks about the home and farm
and was early permitted to own live stock. He soon learned that
the amount of money gained from these sources depended upon
the thought, care, and attention which was given them. Thus he
acquired habits of observation, original thinking, regularity, and
industry, forming a solid foundation on which to build future suc-
cess.
The uniform thoughtfulness and sympathy of his mother, com-
bined with her readiness to render needed aid at all times and in
gently unfolding the value of moral and spiritual ideals, deeply
impressed her son with lessons of lasting worth.
Q.gX^JllO^?^^rdA^
JOHN DUNIJTNG WHITNEY BODFISH
Mr.'Bodfish was handicapped in acquiring the education which
he deeply craved because of lack of means, the long distance from
the High School and the Normal School and later by loss of sight.
The books which have had the most influence in directing his
thoughts and purposes have been the Bible, the great poets, and
the writings of Lincoln and the Abolitionists of his time.
Notwithstanding the many hinderances which had to be over-
come, Mr. Bodfish graduated from Barnstable High School in
1896, and from Hyannis Normal School in 1899. He was gradu-
ated from Boston University Law School in June, 1914, with the
degree of LL.B. Though without his sight and dependent almost
entirely upon his own efforts to pay his way through this school,
he was awarded the Ordrenoux Prize of $100 in gold for the best
three years' work done by any member of the class. In the spring
of 1915 he opened a law office in Hyannis where he is successfully
practicing his profession, and where he is universally respected, not
only as a lawyer, but also as a man.
He entered upon an active life as the Principal of the Osterville
Grammar School, 1900 to 1901, when, his eyesight failing, he took
up farming and fitted himself in spare time to teach the blind.
In 1911 he served as Superintendent of work for the blind in
Delaware.
Mr. Bodfish has always taken a deep interest in the public af-
fairs of his locality. He led the fight in his town of Barnstable
for cleaner politics and secured the Australian Ballot system of
voting in town elections.
The relative strength of influence which has aided Mr. Bod-
fish in attaining success is given in the following order: of home,
of contact with men in active life, of school, of private study, and
of early companionship. Politically, Mr. Bodfish is an independ-
ent, always allied with the party and the men who are most ad-
vanced in the advocacy of direct government and humanitarian
programs.
As a public speaker he ranks with the best, being endowed with
a strong and pleasing voice and the happy faculty of holding the
close attention of his hearers from the first word to the last. His
style is conversational. What he has to say is always worth say-
ing and he says it with compelling force. In the matter of re-
ligion he says that he is still seeking the organization which
JOHN DUNNING WHITNEY BODFISH
will most quickly bring about the practice of the Brotherhood of
Man.
His hours of relaxation are divided between outdoor work in
active farming, general reading, and such manual work as is done
by the blind.
Mr. Bodfish was married December 31, 1908, to Louise Eliz-
abeth, daughter of Myron and Elizabeth Clark, and granddaugh-
ter of Henry H. and Elizabeth Clark, and of James and Margaret
Corcoran. Mrs. Bodfish was bom in Fabius, New York, February
23, 1879. Two children have been bom to them, of whom Abbie
Elizabeth Bodfish survives, bom October 4, 1913.
This marriage has proven a most fortunate and happy one, and
Mrs. Bodfish through her faithful devotion has rendered her hus-
band invaluable assistance in his struggle for success.
In answer to the question, what will most help young people to
attain true success in life, Mr. Bodfish says: "From my own ex-
perience I will say that true success in life consists in making
the most of one's opportunities as they present themselves, how-
ever trifling they may seem. To do this, it is essential that one
should form habits of industry, regularity, punctuality, and strict
honesty. Learn to ask the question, ' Why 1 ' Never take anything
for granted. Cultivate your memory but do not trust it unless
you have to, and above all things never let yourself lose faith
in the justice and wisdom of the Destiny that shapes your ends."
Mr. Bodfish exemplifies in his own life the essence of what he sug-
gests for others to follow in order to win success.
'^a^u^^^T'yr. /^c^2^x.
DANIEL WEBSTER BOND
DANIEL WEBSTER BOND, late Associate Justice of the
Superior Court of Massachusetts, was bom in Canterbury,
Connecticut, April 29, 1838. He died at Waltham, Massa-
chusetts, January 22, 1911, in his seventy-third year. He was the
son of Daniel H. and Deborah (White) Bond, and was a descend-
ant of William Bond, who settled in Watertown, in 1630. His
father was a native of Canterbury, Connecticut, where brothers of
the Bond family settled as early as 1710. His mother was the
daughter of the Rev. George S. White of Tunbridge Wells, Eng-
land, who emigrated with his family to America in 1812.
The boyhood of Daniel Webster Bond was passed in his native
town upon a farm, working out for the neighbors, and attending
the public schools in the winter term. His hard work gave him
the rugged physique which stood him in such good stead for so
many years. He had a greater advantage than most boys of his
town because his father was a highly intellectual man; he pro-
vided his children with excellent reading matter. Mr. Bond early
began to acquire a fund of knowledge which grew with his years.
When sixteen years of age he entered a private school in Canter-
bury, and later went to the Plainfield Academy and the New
Britain Normal School in Connecticut. Afterwards he taught
school in country districts around about, and had his share of that
almost universal experience of the country school masters of those
days, of boarding around with the families of the district.
In 1859, Mr. Bond began the study of law and acquired at
the same time the art of shorthand, then comparatively little known.
This accomplishment proved very useful to him in later years.
When on the bench, in every case in which he presided he took
the evidence in shorthand. In two trials where the stenog-
rapher's notes had been lost or destroyed, he was able to draw a
biU of exceptions upon all the evidence. In 1860, he entered the
Columbia Law School, from which he graduated in 1862 with the
DANIEL WEBSTER BOND
degree of LL.B., and in the same year he was admitted to the
practice of his profession at the bar.
At his graduation he was awarded the distinction of the Lieber
prize of $200, a coveted honor at the school. During his two years
at Columbia he almost entirely paid his way by outside work,
largely by reporting lectures for the New York papers. For a
time he practiced law in Providence, Rhode Island, and then re-
moved to Florence, Massachusetts, where he served as attorney
for a large corporation for several years. He made this an op-
portunity to become well versed in patent law. In 1871, he opened
an ofiSce in Northampton with his brother and Judge William Al-
len, and within a few years acquired a large practice. He was
strong on the criminal side of the Court, and one of his noted
cases was the defense of the Northampton Bank robbers. In 1877
he was elected District Attorney for the Northwestern District,
and he held the office until 1890, serving twelve full years. His
success and ability in that office were so conspicuous that he was
three times re-elected to the position, receiving in each case the
nomination of both political parties.
His thorough knowledge of the law was of great service to
him in the office of District Attorney. He had the instinctive
knowledge of knowing when not to cross-examine a witness at
all, and oftentimes, to the surprise of the bar, he would let a dan-
gerous witness go without a word of cross-examination. His rea-
son for such action was that when he was satisfied he could not
weaken the force of what had been said, it was best to let the wit-
ness's testimony alone. He was once asked by his associate in the
trial of a cause to put a certain question to a hostile witness who
was known to the Attorney to have testified contrary to the real
fact. On inquiring of his associate his means of knowledge he
asked him, "Have you witnesses present to contradict him?"
"No," was the reply. Mr. Bond refused to put the question, and
afterwards said it was a safe rule never to ask a hostile vsdtness
a question to which a lying answer would hurt one unless it was
competent to contradict him and one had the means at hand. He
rarely became agitated when presenting a ease to a jury. He had
a keen insight into human nature and used it to advantage in ar-
guing his cause. He used simple language, marshaled his facts
in logical order, and stated them simply but with great force.
DANIEL WEBSTER BOND
In his' office of District Attorney he conducted the duties of his
place with an eye to the reformation of criminals who had been
simply misled and were not vicious, but he prosecuted chronic and
wicked criminals relentlessly. Governor Robinson offered him a
position upon the bench of the Superior Court, but he preferred
to remain in general practice and keep the office of District Attor-
ney. In 1891 he was again tendered the appointment by Governor
Brackett and accepted the position. For the following twenty
years he gave his most faithful service to the Commonwealth, al-
though the acceptance of the place meant a considerable sacrifice
on his part.
Judge Bond was always a man with the keenest sense of duty,
and no Justice of our Courts has ever been more conscientious in
the performance of his trust. Always a tireless worker, he had
but few interests outside of his daily duty in the court room. He
was never missing from his place upon the bench except in the
few instances of severe sickness, and, while Attorneys practicing
before him sometimes differed from his construction of the law,
they always felt that in making the decision he was always ani-
mated by a keen sense of right and uninfluenced by any other
consideration. He had from his early years upon the bench the
keenest interest in our probation system, and never wearied in giv-
ing his time and strength to its application or extension. If in
his terms of the criminal court he was rigorous in sentencing old
offenders, he was on the other hand most painstaking in his en-
deavor to see that the young men who had strayed into the path
of vice should not only be given another chance but should be
placed under the proper influences that should lead them to re-
form.
Not only was the youthful offender the object of his considera-
tion but also the young practitioners at the bar, enabling them to
be at their best in the presentation of their causes. In a word, the
beneficence of his nature was felt in all his relations with men.
In politics he was never a partisan, but always voted with the
Republicans. He gave his first vote for Abraham Lincoln and
voted for Grant on his first election to the Presidency.
On May 20, 1863, he married Susan J. Dyer of Canterbury,
Connecticut. She was the daughter of Harvey J. Dyer of that
town. His wife, two sons, Charles W. and Henry H. Bond, and a
daughter, Mrs. Wilbur E. Barnard, survive him.
DANIEL WEBSTER BOND
At the session of the Superior Coiirt held in Salem, shortly
after he died, Mr. Justice Raymond, who presided, paid this tribute
to him:
"The Commonwealth has lost a most useful judge in the death
of Justice Bond. His mental endowment, his extensive and rare
experience in general practice and as District Attorney, his knowl-
edge of men and affairs, and his steady and toilsome climb from
humble surroundings to the position on the Superior Bench gave
him unusual equipment for service. His kindly heart and sym-
pathetic nature made him most useful for young men at the bar
and his wise suggestions were most gratefully received by his young
associates on the bench. His death creates a vacancy very difficult
to fill."
Mr. J. B. O'Donnell, who was a student in Judge Bond's of-
fice, said: "Judge Bond was very much of a home man and had
few, or no, associations, which interfered with his home life. He
was self-possessed, always easily approachable, modest in bearing,
and of a simple nature. He never 'posed'; he had little regard
for formalities and conventionalities; he was original and inde-
pendent in his mode of living; a strong character and a kind man."
In speaking of Judge Bond, Mr. Sherman L. Whipple said:
"... I could not bear to speak of my own sense of personal loss
or loss of the Commonwealth of one of the most upright, conscien-
tious, and kindly judges we ever had — these of just renown, and of
tender kindness to all deserving."
Rev. DeWitt S. Clark said: "... How grateful you have
come to be that he has been spared to you so long, and that he
has ably occupied such a prominent position in the Commonwealth,
and that his Christian character and fortitude are bequeathed to
his family — ^their precious inheritance."
It was said by one of his associates:
"Judge Bond came to the bench well equipped for judicial
service. By inheritance he was imbued with the New England con-
ception of a free government, administered by free-men, and real-
ized full well that for its successful maintenance a fearless and
sound judiciary was indispensable. His long and successful ca-
reer at the bar had made him familiar with the common law as
a system of jurisprudence and the practice sanctioned by the
courts for its application and enforcement. He knew full well the
DANIEL WEBSTER BOND
advantage derived from good pleading, but he never permitted him-
self to overlook the facts on proof of which his client's cause ulti-
mately depended. While engaged in a large and diversified civil
practice he found time also for many years to serve the public
as District Attorney. The administration of the functions of this
office broadened his view of the social compact, or, as he once said
to me, 'the most hardened criminal is entitled to the protection of
the laws or there is no protection for the most virtuous member
of society if his conduct runs counter to the will of the majority.'
"When he went on the bench few judges of his time were bet-
ter fitted by learning and experience to discharge the great duties
of a trial judge. It may be that his deep dislike of indirect
methods, or where, perhaps, the side on. which justice clearly lay
was overweighed by opposing counsel, he indicated strongly his
views of what the result ought to be, yet no man ever questioned
his judicial integrity or ever suggested that possibly he was actu-
ated by unworthy motives. If he thought that a presiding judge
should be something more than a mere moderator to direct the
sheriff to preserve order and conducted his court accordingly, who
shall say that his standard of what a trial should be — the ascer-
tainment of the truth — is unsupported by the example of some of
the most eminent of English and American judges? His ample
learning, his knowledge of men and things, gathered from an un-
usually comprehensive and intensely active professional life, were
ever at the service of not only his associates but the youngest and
least experienced member of the bar. To the weak he was help-
ful, and from the strong he withheld not his hand when justice
demanded that he should not remain passive. Clear in analysis,
full in all necessary details, correct and forcible in expression,
his instructions to juries were of a high order — that supreme test
of the capacity and efficiency of a nisi prius judge. The judicial
ideals of Judge Bond were a passion for service and for righteous-
ness, and in striving for their attainment he honored his profession
and nobly served the Commonwealth."
WILLIAM LINCOLN BOOTH
WILLIAM LINCOLN BOOTH, a prominent citizen of FaU
River, was born in that city, May 7, 1866, and died there,
March 3, 1915. He was the son of William and Mary
Booth, his father haviag been a much-esteemed veteran of the
Civn War. He attended the Borden School, though without com-
pleting the course, and subsequently assisted his father in the gro-
cery business. Some twenty years prior to his death Mr. Booth
gave up his interest in the grocery establishment and devoted his
attention to the sale of bundle-wood and package coal, and presently
built up a thriving business in this line of trade, with branch stores
in Taunton and New Haven.
Mr. Booth's earliest connection with the Fall River Fire De-
partment was in 1885 when he was appointed call man and as-
signed to Engine No. 3. He served in that connection for nine-
teen years. On February 3, 1913, he was appointed Chairman of
the Board of Fire Commissioners, an office which he filled at the
time of his death. Mr. Booth was widely popular, possessing qual-
ifications alike desirable in private business or public service. On
reaching his majority he adopted as a life motto: "If you can't
boost a man, don't kick him," an injunction that might well lie
on many a busy man's desk.
He was a thirty-second degree Mason and very prominent in
the Masonic fraternity of Fall River and its vicinity. He was a
member of Narragansett Lodge, F. & A. M. ; a charter member of
Fall River Royal Arch Chapter, Godfrey de Bouillon Commandery
Knights Templar, Azab Grotto, and Manchester Unity of Odd Fel-
lows. He was also a member of the Quequechan and Fall River
Bowling Green clubs and of the transportation committee of the
Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Booth belonged to the Republican party, while the trend of
his religious feeUngs was made evident by his membership in the
Episcopalian Church.
In 1886 Mr. Booth was married to Ada A. Whitworth, by
whom he had two children, William Irving and John Morton, the
last named at present a senior at Brown University. W. Irving
has conducted his father's business since his death.
The career of Mr. Booth furnishes a remarkable instance of
what energy and attention to the business at hand will accomplish
towards attainment of success in life. Honesty and industry were
his watchwords and he had a wide circle of friends.
JOHN BOWMAN, 3rd
JOHN BOWMAN, 3rd, waa the son of John Bowman, 2nd
(February 11, 1794— August 20, 1831), and Lucinda Foster,
and grandson of Samuel Bowman (November 4, 1749 — ^De-
cember 21, 1819) and Hannah Winthrop Davenport of Dorchester,
Massachusetts. Samuel Bowman was the son of John Bowman, 1st,
of Lexington, and Susannah Coolidge, daughter of Captain Joseph
Coolidge of Watertown.
The name Bowman and the names interwoven with it in family-
history have had large significance in the Commonwealth. The
name originated in the beautiful north country of England, where
settled a band of Anglo-Saxons in very early times. Subsequent
invaders naturally sought these same hills for protection and made
the "border country" between England and Scotland, their chief
battle ground. Hence the early Saxons were early put to it to
prove their mettle. In the use of the typical weapon of the period
they attained an expertness that made them famous and placed
them at the head of the Saxon armies. They were the bow-men of
the times. Kings rewarded them with the greater part of the two
counties of Cumberland and Northumberland. When the "Con-
queror" came he selected them as his bodyguard, and to their
sure aim he more than once owed his life. What more natural
than that he should settle on them the "Bowman" family "arms"
of Cross Bows, in recognition of their service. An appellation
became a surname.
When the crowns of England and Scotland were united and
many of the Barons were left unsupported, the Bowmans began
to extend their holdings. Parts of the Clan went into Scotland
about the beginning of the sixteenth century. They gave a Mayor
to Edinburgh in the person of John Bowman. Other parts of the
clan went into Derbyshire and Dorset. It is with the latter
branches that we are more immediately concerned. Nathaniel
Bowman, son of John Bowman and his wife, Ann Beresford, of
Parwick, near Allstonfield, left England and settled in Watertown,
Massachusetts, in 1630, where he became a "proprietor." His
coming was not due to any Puritan allegiance for he was a good
Episcopalian. Hence he held no office in the colony, but that
he was a highly esteemed man is shown by the fact that a portion
of the town was named in his honor.
The family was one of the most substantial in the early history
of Massachusetts. The grandson of the first settler, Francis Bow-
man, of Lexington, was admitted a "freeman" and held every office
JOHN BOWMAN 3bD
■within the gift of King and town. His title, "Ye Most Worshipful
Justice," attests his prominence. He was made the King's first
"Royal Magistrate" in 1720, and his son succeeded him. Other
names in the family genealogy stand out in the political and edu-
cational history of the state. Major Simon Willard, of Cambridge,
who bought Concord of the Indians, President Dunster of Harvard
College, Josiah Willard of Harvard CoUege, Reginald Poster,
founder of Ipswich, Governor John Winthrop, Captain Joseph
Coolidge, of Watertown, and Captain John Sherman and Rev.
John Davenport were all directly related to the family and their
names show the substantial character of the stock.
The family has been a conspicuous and enterprising patron of
Harvard College, and Bowman graduates have held many places
of trust and honor in town, state, and nation.
Three family characteristics stand out in the family history, —
a progressive spirit, ability to bear a prominent part in the stirring
times in which its members have participated, and intellectual
power, which is at once a result and a cause of the liberal patronage
of higher education.
John Bowman, 3rd, was bom at Warwick, Mass., April 16,
1822, and died at Boston, August 4, 1882. He was brought up on
a farm. New England farm life was a powerful educational force
in the life of any boy, and John Bowman showed the typical New
England traits, — ^participation in family duties and the cultivation
of responsibility for his share in family enterprises. He attended
the public schools and took them seriously. He followed their
courses as far as they went and then attended the High Schools in
Gardner and Worcester. Then he took up the study of the law,
for the Bowmans have been lawyers in every generation since the
"King's Bench" of England was established. His legal knowledge
was always helpful to him but his tastes led him rather to scientific
experiments. He gained a thorough knowledge of mechanics, and
eventually he became a skilled machinist and developed a high
degree of inventive power.
But he always called himself a farmer. His heart was always
in the country. He loved to live close to "Nature and Nature's
God." Farming itself is a science and naturally stimulates a sci-
entific spirit in those who do not go into it perfunctorily but with
an intelligent purpose. John Bowman was a farmer-inventor.
The Douglass pump, a locomotive spark arrester, a knitting machine
that brought him fame and fortune, stand to the credit of his
inventive genius.
JOHN BOWMAN 3rD
Mr. Bowman resided for many years in the South, in Macon,
Milledgeville, and Tallahassee, — ^where he invested extensively in
real estate. In the far west also, he found business opportunities
and had to do with the beginnings of the railroad that connects
Oregon and California. The same progressive characteristics that
distinguished his early ancestors took him out into these enterprises.
While he was in the South the Civil War broke out, and he was
promptly drafted into the Confederate Army. This, however, was
not an enterprise to his mind and he eventually came North.
His business interests took him out into the world, and besides he
liked travel for itself. It gave him an opportunity to study the
world and its people at first hand. True to the best traditions of
New England and of his family he gave careful attention to the
education of his children.
He was an excellent illustration of what may be called the mod-
ern counterpart of a New England colonist of the higher type.
In fraternity life he was a Mason; in politics, a Republican; in
religion, a Unitarian.
John Bowman married, on August 10, 1848, Eliza Powel Git-
tings, who was descended in direct line on her mother, Sarah Powel 's
side, from Captain William Powel, who came to Jamestown, Vir-
ginia, in 1611 and was a leader in the first Legislative Assembly
in America at Jamestown, July, 1619. Further back Mrs. Bowman
traced her descent from Hugh Powel, father of Capt. William
Powel, of Castle Madoc, Brecon, Wales, the King's High Sheriff;
and still further back, from Llewellyn, last of the Welsh princes.
On the side of her father, George Gittings, she was descended
from John Gittings who came to Baltimore in 1659 with Philip
Calvert, became Clerk of the Upper House of Burgesses, filled many
places of trust and honor, and was considered one of the most
highly educated men of the Colony. Three colonies were thus
united in this marriage. Five children were bom of the union,
of whom two are still living: Samuel Stillman Bowman, a retired
officer of the army, and Sarah Lucinda (Bowman) Van Ness, wife
of Joseph Van Ness, who was the founder and is honorary life regent
of the Lexington branch of the "Society of the Daughters of the
American Revolution, ' ' also the ' ' Society of the Daughters of the
Founders and Patriots of America," and thus bears olit the
colonial traditions of the family. One grandchild, John A. Bow-
man, also survives.
WILLIAM DAVIS BRACKETT
WILLIAM DAVIS BRACKETT was bom at Londonderry,
New Hampshire, June 9, 1840. His ancestor, Anthony
Brackett, a Scotchman, came to this country in or
about 1635 and settled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His fa-
ther, Cobb Brackett, first followed the sea, then became a tiller of
the soil and also a country merchant. He was a man noted for his
activity in every enterprise which he undertook. He was a native
of Eastham, Massachusetts, where he married Almeria Brown,
daughter of Theodore Brown.
The parents soon removed to Swampscott, where he began his
business career, leaving school at the age of twelve, and taking a
place in the general store kept by his father. Even as a little boy
he had been fascinated by the business ; and he was kept from the
mischief which Satan is said to find for idle hands, by running er-
rands and doing little tasks about the store. One of his exploits
was to make a thousand paper bags every half day when no school
was in session.
He became a regular clerk, and at the age of twenty he suc-
ceeded to his father's business, and became its proprietor. Al-
though he was for nine months absent in the years 1862 and 1863,
while serving as Corporal in Company E of the Forty-fifth Massa-
chusetts Voluntary Infantry, he made a success of his business
venture and after the war, at the end of five years, he sold it and
went to Boston, where he became a member of the firm of Gold-
thwait, Brackett & Company, engaging in the wholesale and retail
boot and shoe trade. In 1868 on the death of Mr. J. L. Goldthwait,
the firm of Cressy & Brackett was formed for the purpose of manu-
facturing and selling at wholesale boots and shoes. Two years
later Mr. T. E. Cressy retired and the firm became Mann &
Brackett; then again in 1880 Mr. Brackett purchased Mr. Mann's
interest and the firm name became W. D. Brackett and Company,
under which designation it still continues, with Mr. Brackett 's son,
Forrest G. Brackett, and W. H. Emerson as partners. It has been
eminently successful, maintaining several large factories, to the
general oversight of which Mr. Brackett has given especial attention.
He was also President of the Batchelder and Lincoln Company
for five years until 1908, when that company was absorbed by the
Hamilton Brown Shoe Company of Boston, when he became Vice-
President and Treasurer. He was also from the year 1900 Presi-
dent of the Stoneham National Bank. He held no public office
except that of town clerk of Swampscott from 1865 until 1869.
Although each year has made him more and more convinced of the
x£€o<sx?^T-^ c>ojy O^ciAi/Cjt^^^
WILLIAM DAVIS BRACKETT
correctness of Republican principles, he has never been induced to
take any public part in politics, though he is an enthusiastic mem-
ber of the Home Market Club. In early life he joined the Free
Masons and is a member of Hugh De Payne Commandery, Knights
Templar. He also belongs to several business men's clubs, includ-
ing the Boot and Shoe Club.
Mr. Brackett is a keen lover of Nature and for forty-five years
his vacations have been spent in fishing trips. He is also pas-
sionately fond of looking after his garden and orchard.
On January 1, 1865, he married Sarah A. Lee, daughter of
James and Charlotte Lee. Two children have been bom of this
marriage : Forrest Grant, in business with his father ; and Blanch
E., now Mrs. S. D. Hildreth.
Mr. Brackett is a thorough believer in hard work for boys and
in careful saving. His own successful career well exemplifies how
energy, faithfulness, economy, and the following of an ideal never
fail to bring desired results. The influence of his father was very
strong with him and he got more from his home training and from
intercourse with his fellowmen than from the lessons he learned in
what many would call a meager book education. But evidently
book education may fail of being real education and, on the other
hand, a wide outlook on life and the every -day experiences, if taken
in the right way, may give all the qualities of character and of
gentlemanly breeding. Mr. Brackett, comparing his own habits
of discipline, of careful saving, of seizing opportunities, and mak-
ing the best of them, vdth the behavior of boys of a later day, is
obliged to conclude that a "lack of interest in their work, a tend-
ency to prefer mere temporal pleasure, to ignore their chances of
saving for future advancement, and a happy-go-lucky carelessness
have been characteristic of altogether too many of the younger
generation. He finds them willing to shirk, when it would have
been to their advantage to put in extra work ; he sees that they are
inclined to be spendthrifts both of their time and of their money ;
that they lack a genuine ambition to make the most of themselves. ' '
Mr. Brackett 's youthful zeal for business, his early recognition
of what he wanted to be his lifework, his determined course after
he had once decided, and his energy in making his work a success
form an admirable object-lesson to those young men who drift along
without an idea of what they are in this world for, who make no
effort to find their bent, but are content to have what they call a
good time.
The lifework and achievements of Mr. Brackett are an inspira-
tion to the youth of to-day. He is the best type of a self-made
HEZEKIAH ANTHONY BRAYTON
To take charge of a mill that is in financial straits and make
it one of the best paying properties in Massachusetts, shows
financial ability of no mean order. Such was the success-
ful experience of Hezekiah A. Brayton of Fall River, when he be-
came Trustee of the Sagamore Manufacturing Company. Not only
did he retrieve the fortunes of this corporation, but he developed
an efficiency in it that was new in textile manufacturing.
Hezekiah A. Brayton was born at Fall River, June 24, 1832.
In his family line was Francis Brayton, who came from England
to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and became a freeman in 1655. He
served as a member of the General Court of Commissioners and
afterwards for many years in the Rhode Island Assembly.
His paternal grandparents were John Brayton (1762-1829)
and Sarah Bowers. His father was Israel Brayton (1792-1866), a
man of integrity and character. His mother was Kezia Anthony,
a woman of rare gentleness and refinement.
Hezekiah A. Brayton passed his boyhood days at the Brayton
homestead at Somerset, Massachusetts, in whose schools he received
his elementary education. His academic course was taken at East
Greenwich, Rhode Island.
His career after leaving school was somewhat varied. For a
single year he taught school at Seekonk, JMassachusetts, which was
followed by employment for a short time as a railroad ticket agent.
Then he went to Texas and worked as a surveyor. Returning to
the North, he was employed in the carding and mechanical engineer-
ing departments of the Pacific Mills in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
He went to Chicago in 1857 with his brother and engaged in
the grain commission business on the Board of Trade, a line of
business he continued later to follow on the New York Produce
Exchange, all of which gave him a good preparation for his future
life.
His greatest and most successful work was begun after he had
returned to Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1872. He was elected
HEZEKIAH ANTHONY BRAYTON
Vice-President and Cashier of the First National Bank. Six years
later when the Sagamore Mills Corporation failed, he was ap-
pointed one of its Trustees.
When the business was reorganized as the Sagamore Manufac-
turing Company, Mr. Brayton became Treasurer and Director and
he continued to hold these offices until his death, March 24, 1908.
The rehabilitation of these mills under his guidance was little
short of a marvel. When he became Treasurer he built No. 2
(stone) Mill, and later, when No. 1 brick Mill was completely de-
stroyed by fire he rebuilt that. From being a defunct corporation,
he raised its efficiency until it paid dividends that seemed phe-
nomenal. This was done by no trick of finance but on honest merit.
He gave his business his undivided attention and his judgment
was unusually accurate. By keen observation he improved machin-
ery and enlarged the production.
He was not only in the Sagamore Company, but was also Presi-
dent and Director of the Durfee Mills. He became a Trustee
of the B. M. C. Durfee High School which was given to the city by
his sister, Mrs. Mary B. Young. He believed in any new enter-
prise that would benefit his city and backed it with his means, as
his subscription to a block of stock of the last cotton corporation
formed before his death, would indicate. He was certainly one of
the most successful mill men in Fall River.
Mr. Brayton married Caroline Elizabeth, the daughter of
William Lawton and Mary (Sherman) Slade of Somerset, Massa-
chusetts, March 25, 1868. His domestic life was exceedingly
happy. The hospitality of his home was known far and wide. He
loved his friends and favored them in every way.
They had ten children of whom eight survive their father:
Caroline Slade; Abbie Slade, who married Randall N. Durfee of
Fall River; WiUiam L. S. is Treasurer of the Sagamore Manufac-
turing Company, having succeeded his father; Israel, member of
the law firm of Jennings and Braji;on ; Arthur Perry, Margaret Lee,
Dorothy Katharine. Mary Durfee and Stanley died in early life.
Mr. Brayton 's work was constructive. He did not tear down
unless it was to rebuild better. Fall River, where much of his best
work was done, will never cease to be grateful to him for the splen-
did institutions that he left behind him as monuments of his life
work.
EDWIN PERKINS BROWN
EDWIN PERKINS BROWN was bom June 25, 1868, in St.
AJbans, Vermont. He is the son of George Washington
Brown and Addie E. Perkins.
The ancestry of the Browns is of the sturdy New England type
which brings things to pass and makes nativity in the Green Moun-
tain State a title of honor.
Edwin P. Brown's grandfather on his father's side was Isaac
Washington Brown of Northfield, Vermont, whose wife was Sylvia
Elvira Partridge. He is a direct descendant of Jonathan Brown
who married Patience Kneeland in Deerfield, Massachusetts, in
1779. Jonathan Brown was in the War of the Revolution and was
captured and carried off by the Indians in their raid upon Royal-
ston, Vermont, in 1782.
Edwin Perkins Brown, although Vermont bom, was practically
Boston reared, his parents taking up residence in Boston when he
was about three years of age. He gratefully remembers his
mother, as his earliest teacher and guide — the mentor in his young
life in things moral and spiritual. His early reading favored his-
tory and Thackeray.
He received his school training in Boston, making the grades ia
the Rice primary and Rice grammar schools in the usual time, and
finishing the English High in 1887 when he was nineteen years
old. A good healthy, active boy, he was fond of outdoor sports and
was a prime favorite with his mates on the playground.
High School finished, he entered the employ of the shoe manu-
facturing firm of Bouve Crawford Company as office boy. For sev-
eral years previous to this the elder Brown had been interested in
the development and sale of various machines necessary to the shoe
manufacturing industry and under parental advice or influence
Edwin P. Brown began at the bottom rung of the shoe manufac-
turing business. He stayed faithfully by the shoe business for
two years, or during his minority. At this time an opportunity to
enter the office of a railroad company led him to give up his po-
sition with the shoe manufactory and enter the service of the At-
lantic and Pacific R. R. as a clerk. For the next three years until
1892 he was in the railroad business, first for the Atlantic and Pa-
cific at Albuquerque, New Mexico, then for the Atchison, Topeka
and Santa Fe R. R. at El Paso, Texas. The offer of a more lucrative
EDWIN PERKINS BROWN
position and a wider field of activity led him to accept service as
General Agent for the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company with head-
quarters at El Paso, Texas. Here for the next six years until 1898
he conducted successfully the affairs of this company intrusted to
him. In 1898 the American Zinc, Lead and Smelting Company of
Joplin, Missouri, offered him such terms that he closed his connec-
tion with the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company and entered the em-
ploy of the former company. He did business acceptably and suc-
cessfully for the Smelting Company for the next two years. He
had now been absent from New England about ten years, and in the
meantime the United Shoe Machinery Company had been formed
and the Shoe Machinery Company in which the father had become
Director, Treasurer and General Manager had been merged in the
United Shoe Machinery Company.
The manifold burdens of the great company and his growing
financial operations and obligations in other directions led to the
negotiations which in 1899 brought the first decade of Edwin P.
Brown's business career in the West to a close and inducted him
into a still more promising career in the employ of the United Shoe
Machinery Company. He was appointed Assistant Manager, in
which capacity he so approved himself that March, 1911, he became
Director and General Manager of the United Shoe Machinery Com-
pany. In addition to this responsible position he is a Director of
the International Trust Company, and Director and Vice-President
of the American Zinc, Lead and Smelting Company.
Mr. Brown is associated with many clubs. He is a member of
the N. E. Shoe & Leather Association, the Union League, New York,
the Algonquin Club, the Eastern Yacht Club, the Exchange Club,
the Brookline Country Club, the Beacon Society, and the Commer-
cial Club.
He is fond of fishing, hunting, golf, and travel.
In polities, Mr. Brown is a Republican; in church relations an
Episcopalian.
September 26, 1894, he was married to Emma J., daughter of
Charles R. and Annie Todd. They have two children: George
Russell and Florence Emma, both in school.
Mr. Brown believes that among the influences potent for his
success in life, the home influences of his childhood have been
greatest, his early companionships next, and contact with virile
men in the stress of business life third in importance, and by no
means a negligible force.
GEORGE WASHINGTON BROWN
MR. BROWN is Vice President of the United Shoe Machin-
ery Company of Boston. The story of his successful
business life has been duplicated many times during the
last half-century of American progress and may be taken as a fair
sample of what a young man of good parentage, of clean habits and
good address, of determined honesty of purpose, industry and ten-
acity of intent may accompUsh in this country of great opportunity.
He was born in Northfield, Vermont, August 30, 1841. His
father, Isaac Washington Brown, was a hotel-keeper in Northfield
for several years and satisfactorily filled many offices of trust and
honor in both county and town. His mother was Sylvia Elvira,
daughter of David and Sophia Moore Partridge.
The earliest known ancestor on his father's side was Jonathan
Brown, who married Patience Kneeland in Deerfield, Massachusetts,
in 1779. Jonathan Brown was captured by the Indians at the sacking
of Royalton, Vermont, in 1782 and taken to Montreal. Their son,
Joel Brown, married Dorcas Nichols, and they became the parents
of Isaac Washington Brown, Mr. Brown's father.
The young George received his education in the public schools
of his native town, supplemented by attendance at the Orange County
Grammar School at Randolph Centre, Vermont, and the Newbury
Seminary, Newbury, Vermont.
Mr. Brown entered the employ of the Vermont Central Railroad
Company in 1858 as timekeeper, and in 1865 became a member of the
firm of Hyde and Brown at St. Albans, Vermont, dealers in groceries
and provisions. Two years later he made a further change and
became a partner in the firm of McGowan and Brown, dealers in
hardware, in St. Albans. On February 24, 1869, he left St. Albans
for Sacramento, California, having been appointed Auditor of the
Motive Power Department of the Central Pacific Railroad. He
returned from California to Boston, and in October, 1871, entered
the employ of the Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Company as
^^r^iA^
GEORGE WASHINGTON BROWN
a salesman. He soon became Superintendent of Agents, con-
tinuing in this position until July, 1876, when he was made General
Manager for the New England States.
In the next few years Mr. Brown became interested in the
development of several machines used in the shoe-manufacturing
industry, and in 1892 he resigned his position with the Wheeler and
Wilson Company to become Manager of the Consolidated Hand
Method Lasting Machine Company, of which he had been made a
Director in 1889 and Treasurer in 1891. This concern was one of
those finally merged in the United Shoe Machinery Company. Mr.
Brown was one of the principal organizers of the new company, and
on March 1st, 1899, he was elected Treasurer and General Manager
and has since been most active in its management.
In his business success Mr. Brown did not forget his old Vermont
home; and, appreciating the benefits which the inhabitants of his
native town of Northfield might derive from a snug investment in
their behalf, he presented the town in 1906 with a very handsome
pubhc library as a memorial to his family.
Mr. Brown has also been very much interested in the work of the
National Civic Federation, and is a member of the Executive Com-
mittee for the Welfare Department. His interest in the movement
has been shown in a practical form, exemplifying various ideas advo-
cated by this Federation in the offices of the United Shoe Machinery
Company in Boston and at their factories in Beverly, Mass.
Besides his active connection with the United Shoe Machinery
Company and affiliated concerns, Mr. Brown is a Director of the
First National Bank of Boston. He was for many years a member
of the old Central Club of Boston and is now a member of the Algon-
quin Club, the Brooklme Country Club, the Sons of Vermont Asso-
ciation, the Episcopalian Club of Massachusetts, the New England
Shoe and Leather Association, the Boston Boot and Shoe Club, the
Massachusetts Automobile Club, the Boston Merchants Association,
and the Chamber of Commerce, and a life member of the Museum
of Fine Arts and Bostonian Societies; also of the Boston Press Club.
In 1863 Mr. Brown married Addie E. Perkins, who died in June,
1900. To them was born one son, Edwin P. Brown, who is now
Assistant General Manager of the United Shoe Machinery Company,
and Miss Florence E. Brown, who died in 1899.
GEORGE WASHINGTON BROWN
Mr. Brown is a firm believer in young men, many of whom have
found in him an ever-ready sympathizer and wise counselor. Mr.
Brown's remarks, made in the course of an address before a notable
gathering of those interested in the great shoe industry of Brockton,
Massachusetts, show the breadth of his observation and should be
recorded as a code that might well be adopted by present as well as
future generations.
"As we journey through life, we all formulate from our experience
principles which would be our sure guide if we were to make the
journey the second time. While 'experience is a great teacher,' we
can all profit much by the observation of others.
"In the course of a somewhat varied life, I have observed that
cheerfulness and kindness are the oil that lubricates the great machine
of business. Do not be cast down or complain of the lack of early
advantages. Most successful men create their own opportunities; so
do not believe in luck or wait for something to turn up. Remember:
hard work and hard knocks make the man, and bring to the top all
the good there is in him. Be prompt in commencing your day's work.
Do not watch the clock for its ending. Finish when you are through,
and not before. Do not converse on your own affairs in working
hours; and, whatever you do, remember that you are watched and
will be imitated by your subordinates in working hoiu-s and out; in
the general conduct of your lives, not only in a business way but
socially and morally as well. Be absolutely honest with yourselves
and your associates, dignified and courteous to all. Be obedient, and
do what you are told to do willingly, whether it seems to be what
you are hired for or not; and, above all things, be loyal, and not
grudgingly so either, but with a free heart, giving the best there is
in you to your firm, your family and friends. Then, with a contented
mind and good health, you will get out of life all there is to be had
on this side of the Great Divide."
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h<iuuuj icHLuqJ fl'
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HENRY BILLINGS BROWN
HENRY BILLINGS BROWN, Associate Justice of the Su-
preme Court, was born in South Lee, Berkshire County,
Massachusetts, March 2, 1836. He died September 4, 1913.
His father, Billings Brown (born September 17, 1794) was
the son of Elias and Sabra (Billings) Brown, and a manufacturer,
self educated, a man efSeient in business, fond of reading, and of
high intelligence. He was a member of the legislature and was
held in high esteem by his fellow citizens.
His mother, Mary A. (Tyler) Brown, was the daughter of
Jonathan B. and Mary (Stewart) Tyler. Hers was a strong
personality and she had great influence upon both the intellectual
and moral development of her son. She was a woman of clear
and vigorous intellect and early piety.
Henry Brown fitted for college at Monson Academy and was
graduated from Yale CoUege in 1856. The subsequent year was
spent in Europe, studying languages and travelling extensively.
His law studies were first prosecuted at Yale, but finished at the
Law School of Harvard University, where he received his degree
of LL.B. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the
University of Michigan in 1887. He commenced the practice of
his profession in Detroit, Michigan, in 1860. The following year
he was appointed deputy United States Marshal, and subsequently
assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of Mich-
igan. He held that office until 1868, when he was appointed by
Governor Crapo judge of the State Circuit Court of Wayne
County, to fill a vacancy.
In 1875 he was appointed by President Grant, United States
District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan. He had al-
ready won distinction as an Admiralty lawyer, and had become
a recognized authority in this department of jurisprudence. He
compiled Brown's "Admiralty Reports," for Western Lake and
River Districts, and wrote many articles upon legal topics.
Upon the death of Mr. Justice Miller of the United States Su-
preme Court, October 14, 1890, President Harrison appointed
HENRY BILLINGS BROWN
Judge Brown to the vacancy. His commission is dated Decem-
ber 29, 1890. Justice Brown honored the State of his birth, the
profession he followed and the high position he occupied. He was
distinguished for keen judicial wisdom and for the probity of his
official and private life.
Judge Brown was a member of the Chevy Chase and Cosmos
Clubs of "Washington and of the University Club of New York.
His principal relaxation was found in traveling. His convictions
in regard to the means upon which young men should depend for
success in life, can best be stated by his own words: — "I am a
strong believer in heredity. I believe there are certain children
who are bound to make their way in the world. Their success is
usually dependent upon circumstances of birth, moral training,
and education, and is sometimes independent of all other circum-
stances, except inherited ability and ambition. I regard inherited
wealth, or the expectancy of it, as one of the most serious obstacles
to success, though there are a few brilliant examples of those who
have managed to surmount it with fair inherited talents, industry,
and ambition. Success in one's chosen field is most probable and al-
most certain, provided bad habits are eschewed."
The life and work of Justice Brown is a brilliant illustration
of the vast possibilities for achievement which are open to the
young men of our land. In the record of his life we see how by
means of close application and earnest and well directed effort,
reinforced by a strong moral character, the village youth may make
his way to a place in the most important judicial tribunal of the
world. Justice Brown was a man of ripe attainments and of un-
usually varied legal and judicial experience. His judicial opin-
ions exhibit breadth of judgment, freedom from prejudice, legal
learning, and a judicial application of the principles of public
ethics.
Judge Brown was married July 13, 1864, to Caroline Pitts,
who died July 11, 1901. They had no children. He was married
June 25, 1904, to Josephine E. Tyler, widow of Lieutenant F. H.
Tyler of the United States Navy.
x5^..^<s^
SAMUEL CARR
SAMUEL CARR was bom in Charlestown, now part of Bos-
ton, November 18, 1848. His father's house stood on Bunker
Hill, emblem of freedom won through conflict by lofty char-
acter. Mr. Carr is of pure New England stock, his ancestors on
his father's side and on his mother's having settled in New
England in early colonial days. His father, Samuel Carr, born
in Newburyport, was a man of remarkable energy, business ca-
pacity, and sterling Christian character. His mother, Louisa Hall
(Trowbridge) Carr, was a high-minded woman of marked refine-
ment and elevation of feeling. Their influence upon their children
was deep and decisive. The Bible was then the great ethical text-
book ; it was the guide and companion of family life. Accordingly
the children of Mr. and Mrs. Carr became familiar with the greatest
treasure in the English tongue, or in any other tongue, the English
Bible. The artistic feeling of the subject of this sketch was thus
quickened and fed, as in so many other instances, by the incom-
parable speech of the Bible.
Mr. Carr's early education was obtained in the Bunker Hill
School at Charlestown; at eighteen years of age (his father having
five years before removed his family home to Newton) he graduated
from the Newton High School and shortly after began his business
career as corresponding clerk in a Boston bank. Fifteen years of
banking experience followed. During that time he was Assistant
Cashier, Cashier, and President of three different banks, and for
several of those years his father, his brother (George E. Carr), and
he were at the same time Cashiers of three Boston banks.
In 1883 he became the private secretary of Frederick L. Ames,
one of the large capitalists of New England, and remained asso-
ciated with Mr. Ames till his death in 1893, when he became one
of the Executors and Trustees of Mr. Ames' estate. In 1895
Governor Oliver Ames died and Mr. Carr became one of the Ex-
SAMT7EL CAKR
ecntors and Trustees of his estate. His principal business since
that time has been the active management of the affairs connected
with these large estates. This has brought him into connection
with many important corporations and prominent men of affairs
in all parts of the country.
Mr. Carr was closely connected with several of the great rail-
road reorganizations from 1893 to 1898. It devolved upon his
co-executor, Mr. Oliver Ames, and himself to petition the Union
Pacific R. R. Company into the hands of a Receiver in 1893, and in
1895 Mr. Carr organized the Reorganization Committee of the
Oregon Short Line R. R. Company, the principal branch of the
Union Pacific R. R. Company. He became Chairman of that Com-
mittee, and after completing the reorganization became President
of the new company, holding the position for two years. He is still
a Director in that company. Mr. Carr's long business training and
experience have prepared him for advisory positions of trust and
responsibility, and for the last twenty-five years he has served as a
Director in several important railroad and other influential cor-
porations of the country.
In business ability Mr. Carr's place is in the front rank of the
men of his time. In business integrity he stands equally high.
In disposing of the old Tremont House, Mr. Carr said to a gentle-
man who represented purchasers that the property could be had
for one million dollars. When the money needed was raised some
one asked the pertinent question, "What assurance have we that we
can buy this property for one million dollars?" The answer of
the original negotiator was swift, idiomatic, familiar: "Sam
Carr's word."
While Mr. Carr's career has been that of a business man and
his energies have been largely expended in the practical affairs of
life, he has found time to develop his great sesthetic gifts through
the study and practice of music. Inheriting from his father and
grandfather a strong love of music which manifested itself at a
very early age, his father wisely provided him with competent
instruction beginning when he was ten years old, in order, as his
father said, "that life might be pleasanter and more satisfactory
especially in his later years." Beginning thus early the study of
the piano and the organ and composition, he was able to start his
musical career as organist of the Congregational Church in West
SAMUEL CAKR
Newton at fifteen years of age ; he continued it in various churches,
mainly in Boston, with only a few months' intermission, for forty
years. His last position and that of the greatest prominence was
at the Old South Church in Boston where he was organist and
Director of Music from 1884 (the time of the installation of Rev.
George A. Gordon, D.D.) till 1904, and where he still, as Chairman
of the Music Committee, supervises the music of the church, and
on special occasions conducts choral services.
"When Mr. Carr retired in 1904 from his position as organist and
musical director in the Old South Church his friends presented him
with a handsome testimonial in silver, with an inscription from
Wordsworth that told the story of their appreciation and respect :
"The music In my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more."
Mr. Carr became a member of the Standing Committee of the
Old South Society in 1905, and in 1915 that Committee voted to ap-
point him Honorary Musical Director and Organist of their church
as an expression of their sincere appreciation of his enthusiastic
and able services and of the inspiration and benefit his direction
of music had been to the church and the congregation for a long
period of years. Mr. Carr has specially devoted himself to the
study of the organ and to the development of church music. He
has composed and arranged a number of hymns and anthems, and
his influence upon the elevation of church music has been widely
felt. For years he has been a Trustee of the New England Con-
servatory of Music and he is an honorary member of the New Eng-
land Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
If Harvard or Yale had been in 1870 what they are to-day Mr.
Carr would doubtless have gone to college, for two reasons: first
for the more rapid and systematic development of the intelligence
that he was later to apply to business ; and, second, for the world of
music into which he would have been led more swiftly by competent
and inspiring guides. His father, however, decided, and wisely,
that his son must go into business ; he was confident that the artistic
impulse would hold its own against its utilitarian rival, and in-
deed stand as victor in command of the field at the end of the day.
This forecast is almost certain to come true.
In 1872, Mr. Carr was married to Susan Waters, daughter of
the Rev. I. N. Tarbox, D.D. of beloved memory. Mrs. Carr's attain-
SAMUEL CAER
ments, tastes, and high character have exercised an important influ-
ence upon the life of her husband. They have two children;
Margaret, married in 1902 to Charles Prothingham Leland; and
Elsie, married in 1908 to Robert Edward Brewer. Five grandchil-
dren keep Mr. and Mrs. Carr in happy fellowship with the genera-
tion out of which is sure to come the greater America of the
future.
Mr. Carr's advice to young men, written by him especially for
the readers of this work, is :
"Start business or professional life with an ideal; keep this
ideal always in view and work towards it. Persistent hard work,
if accompanied by a desire for honorable accomplishment, will be
rewarded by true success, happiness and ever increasing satisfac-
tion. Do not become entirely absorbed in business or professional
life. Probably every one has artistic tastes of some kind. Let him
seek opportunity to develop such tastes through life with enthusiasm
and he vnll find that they become not only a pleasant recreation
in the daily routine, but will enlarge the outlook of the mind, and,
if one is successful in business or profession, serve to show him how
best to use his success for the benefit of others as well as himself.
As one grows older he realizes more and more that the lasting satis-
factions of life come from service to others."
Our last word is of Mr. Carr as a citizen. Here the fact is re-
corded that three different Mayors of Boston have appointed him a
Trustee of the Public Library. In his character as a citizen, Mr.
Carr has been a Trustee of American honor and freedom. In the
final analysis it may be said that Mr. Carr has won in the business
world a position of dignity, confidence and honor, and by his ar-
tistic achievements he has added to his own happiness and given
to others encouragement and inspiration.
EARLE PERRY CHARLTON
EARLE PERRY CHARLTON was bom in Chester, Con-
necticut, June 19, 1863, the son of James D. Charlton,
1826-1900, and Lydia Ladd Charlton. The father was a
man of stern but sterling qualities, doubtless inherited from his
ancestors of the Otis and Charlton name, who emigrated from
England in 1636 on the ship Mary and John, and settled in
Windsor, Connecticut.
During his childhood and youth, Mr. Charlton's chief desire
was an ambition to succeed, that he might be of assistance to his
parents, and a son of whom they might be proud. He was brought
up in a good home by devoted parents, who, understanding the
value of thrift, taught their son its importance, and also the greater
importance of sound character. His mother, a woman of lofty
aims, exercised a profound influence on the moral and spiritual life
of her son.
He studied in the public schools of Hartford, Connecticut, but
experienced much difficulty in securing an adequate education.
Leaving school at the age of seventeen years he went to Boston
with the firm determination of becoming a merchant, and was
employed for eight years with the Thomas C. Newell Company of
Boston, acquiring proficiency in the business, in which he has now
been engaged thirty-two years.
On January 1, 1912, the fifty-four stores which he then owned
were merged into the F. "W. Woolworth Company of which Mr.
Charlton is Vice-President and one of the five founders of the F.
"W. Woolworth Co., being the largest retail corporation in the
world, doing a business of upwards of seventy million dollars per
annum and operating over eight hundred and fifty stores in the
United States, Canada, and England. He was also instrumental
in building the Charlton Mills of Fall River, Massachusetts, of
which he is President. These mills make fine cotton goods.
Mr. Charlton is a Republican in politics, and a staunch memb(?r
of the Congregational Church. He is a member of the Bankers
and Squantum clubs, the New York Yacht Club, the Algonquin
Club of Boston, and of the Quequechan Club of Fall River, and is
much interested in boating and golf.
EAELE PERRY CHARLTON
Mr. Charlton was married in 1889 to Ida, daughter of Charles
and Mary Stein, of Buffalo, New York, and their three children are :
Ruth, Earle Perry, and Virginia.
He has always considered home influences and contact with
men in active life potent factors in his own success, and his advice
to young men, written for the readers of this work, is " to go into
a business that they can take an interest in without regard to the
remuneration, to be strictly honest in all dealings, temperate in all
things, and to acquire as soon as possible an absolute confidence
that success will follow effort."
Mr. Charlton is not only a successful manufacturer, financier,
and merchant but a man of such sterling character that to all the
responsibilities which he assumes, he honestly and faithfully de-
votes himself. His word is as good as his bond, for he will put up
with nothing superficial. The whole structure of every institution
which he manages must be thoroughly sound and strong from its
foundation. Not only is he a strong practical man of business,
firm in his convictions and just in all his dealings, but he has a
heart sensitive to all the needs of humanity and the beautiful in
art and nature. In short, he is of the best product of our New
England life and character.
Mr. Charlton's record carries its own lesson. He is a tireless
worker, his concentration on the work in hand being one chief
source of his strength. He gives all his mind to whatever question
he is considering. In him, caution, memory, vigilance, insight,
seem mingled in just proportion. Admiration is a tribute which
none can fail to pay him who have watched his methods and their
results.
His acquaintance among those best worth knowing is large, and
no citizen in the Commonwealth commands in a higher degree the
respect of those who have been his life long friends. His work is
full of successful achievement and, while generous recognition has
come to him in abundant measure, it has been unsought though
not unearned.
A summary of Mr. Charlton's success would declare the legit-
imate result of hard, painstaking work, fidelity to duty, and a
resolute determination to practice the golden rule in all attempts to
serve his fellows.
i
^oA M^^/
JOSEPH HODGES CHOATE
JOSEPH HODGES CHOATE was born in Salem, Massachu-
setts, on the 24th of January, 1832, the son of George M.
and Margaret M. (Hodges) Choate, and a lineal descendant
of John Choate who came to America probably from Finchingfield,
Kent, England, about the year 1643. He prospered in the new
country and owned a large tract of land in what is now the town of
Essex. In those days, no member of the Church of England could
have the franchise, and it was nearly twenty-five years before John
Choate took what was called the Freeman's oath, and entered into
full citizenship in the Colony. He was a man of influence in his
community.
About thirty descendants of John Choate fought in the War
of the Revolution, and in all the eight generations from his day
to the present there have never been wanting men of note in this
family. Widely known among the many distinguished names is
that of the great lawyer, Rufus Choate, descended from Thomas,
one of the eight children of John Choate.
Joseph Hodges Choate enjoyed every opportunity for the fullest
development of his inherited powers. He graduated from Harvard
in 1852 and immediately entered the Harvard Law School, attain-
ing his LL.B. degree two years later. In 1855 he was admitted to
the Massachusetts Bar; but soon decided to remove to New York
and take a course of study in the office of Scudder and Carter.
The next year he was admitted to the Bar in that city. A little
later, he formed a partnership with W. H. L. Barnes, which was
continued until 1859 when he became a member of the firm of
Evarts, Southmayd and Choate.
The strong mind and brilliant eloquence of Joseph Choate soon
raised him to the first rank of his profession. He was engaged in
important cases, many of them having world-wide interest.
Among them are the DelValle breach of promise case, the de Cesnola
Libel case, Gebhard vs. the Canada Southern R. R., Stewart vs.
Huntington, and the case of General Fitz-John Porter, in which
Mr. Choate was able to gain the reversal of the decision of the
Court Martial, and secure the General's reinstatement to his army
rank.
JOSEPH HODGES CHOATE
In the presidential campaign in 1856, Mr. Choate became well
known as a ready and convincing speaker in behalf of Fremont;
and from that time he was in demand during every national cam-
paign as a speaker on the Republican side.
In 1860, Mr. Choate received his A.M. degree from Harvard
University.
In October of 1861, he married Caroline Dutcher Sterling.
The next ten years were full of work along many lines, including
professional, social, and political activities. In 1867 he was elected
President of the New England Society, an office which he retained
until 1871. It was in the latter year that he was one of the
famous Committee of Seventy which rid the city of New York of
the Tweed Ring, a political gang which had dominated politics
for some years. There was a Subcommittee of Elections, of which
Mr. Choate was Chairman.
Other clubs sought him as presiding ofScer, and he accepted the
Presidency of the New York Union League Club from 1873 to
1877, and of the Harvard Club from 1874 to 1878. In 1877, he was
made Governor of the New York Hospital, and he was a Trustee of
the Metropolitan Museum of Art and of the American Museum of
Natural History from the date of the foundation of these two
institutions.
Mr. Choate is a man of too commanding abilities to limit his
sphere of action to a single city, even such a metropolis as New
York. His clear mind and keen wit, above all his rare tact, were
especially adapted to the field of diplomacy, and it was there that
his most distinguished services were rendered. In 1899, he was
appointed by President McKinley, United States Ambassador to
the Court of St. James, a position which he filled most acceptably.
On his retirement in 1905, he was elected Bencher of the Middle
Temple.
Two years later, he was appointed Ambassador and first dele-
gate from the United States to the International Peace Conference
at The Hague, and was the Vice-President of the American Society
for Judicial Settlement of International Disputes.
Had his busy life permitted, he might have made a name for
himself in the literary world ; as it was, his contributions have been
mainly in the line of published addresses, such as the address on
Rufus Choate, delivered on the occasion of the unveiling of his
statue in the Court House of Boston ; on Abraham Lincoln, Admiral
JOSEPH HODGES CHOATE
Parragut, and others. Mr. Choate is an Honorary Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature.
Honorary degrees have been showered upon him. Prom Am-
herst, Harvard, Cambridge, Edinburg, Yale, St. Andrew's, Glas-
gow, Williams, Pennsylvania, Union, McGiU, Columbia, and To-
ronto he received the LL.D. degree between the years of 1887 and
1916, and the degree of D.C.L. was conferred upon him by Oxford
University in 1902.
That Mr. Choate possesses unusual ability and charm is shown
by the many offices which he has filled with distinction, by his mem-
bership in societies of such varied interests as the Union League
Club, the American Philosophical Society, and the Massachusetts
Colonial Society; by his political services in purifying New York
politics, as President of the New York Constitutional Convention,
and in the wider field of foreign diplomacy ; and in addition to ail
these outside labors, by his eminence in his chosen profession. To
succeed in any one of these things would have contented the ambi-
tion of the average man. Joseph Hodges Choate has succeeded in
all.
Mr. Choate appears to have acted through life in the practical
application of one or two favorite maxims of his, which he is in
the habit of recommending to the young men of his acquaintance.
Pirst, ' ' If you do not know a thing, look it up at once. ' ' Mod-
em life calls for such a wide range of knowledge on every possi-
ble subject, that it is not practicable or possible for any man to
pretend or to attempt to master it all, but in every man's experience
there comes up almost daily some point or subject which he does
not know, and Mr. Choate 's rule has always been to look it up at
once, so that he can understand as he goes along what comes be-
fore him.
Second, "Duty first, and pleasure afterwards." In Mr.
Choate 's boyhood this was the universal rule in the New England
discipline, but things have changed very much in eighty-four years,
and the rule seems to have been in large measure reversed. He
thinks that the world would be much better off by going back to
the old rule and sticking to it.
Third, "Moderation in all things, in work and in play, in eat-
ing and drinking, and everything else." This rule, if adopted in
early life and practiced upon, to the end, would carry many a
man to ripe old age who falls by the way.
ALEXANDER COCHRANE
ALEXANDER COCHRANE is of Scotch descent, from
which have sprung some of our foremost citizens. Mr.
Cochrane was born in Bar Head, Scotland (May 12, 1840).
His father, Alexander Cochrane (April 27, 1813-August 11, 1865),
was the son of John Cochrane (1781-1832) and Isabella Ramsey.
His mother was Margaret Rae.
The business of Alexander Cochrane, Sr., was that of a manu-
facturing chemist. His manners were simple, sincere, kindly,
blended with true Scotch courage and perseverance. He, through
his grandmother, Bethiah Douglas, was descended from Archibald
Douglas, fifth earl of Angus, known in Scottish history as "Bell
the Cat," and one of the characters in " Marmion," and traced his
ancestry to Robert Bruce. He came to this country from Scotland
in 1847, at the age of thirty-four, and settled in Lodi, New Jersey.
April 1, 1849, he entered into business at Billerica, Massachusetts,
with C, P. Talbot and Company, of which the late Governor Thomas
Talbot was the junior partner. He planned and built a chemical
works, and took the conduct and management of manufacturing
the chemical products; and for this he received one third of the
net profits. He was in Billerica more than half the portion of hia
life spent in this country, and entered fully into the life of the New
England village in which his lot was cast. He was a member of the
School Committee and active in the church. Being Scotch, he
naturally took an interest in the religious life of the country, and
although, like all his family, he belonged to the Established Church
of Scotland, he here acted with the church that could best harmo-
nize the somewhat scattered elements of the community. The
minister filled the double role of schoolmaster during the week and
preacher on Simday.
Mr. Cochrane retained his connections with Europe by corre-
spondence and by an occasional visit, which in those days was still
an event. The main object of these visits was to keep up with the
.6^
ALEXANDER COCHRANE
advancing knowledge in manufacturing chemicals. His pleasant
relations with the Messrs. Talbot stood the strain imusually well
when he afterward built his own works and became their active
competitor. As an evidence of this, Governor Talbot offered one
of his family a position of high trust on one of the state boards,
which for personal reasons was declined. During his residence in
Billerica the chemical business gradually increased and the products
early obtained the highest rank for standard quality.
In 1859 Mr. Cochrane took up his residence in Maiden, and
erected works there for himself, since transferred to Everett, and
laid the foundation for the business subsequently carried on by the
corporation which bears his name. Without going into the details
of the hard work involved in building up a business, which are so
much alike in all fields of enterprise, suffice it is to say that these
difficulties had been surmounted, and the business, which has since
become the largest of its kind in New England, was successfully
established before his death. Mr. Cochrane inherited his business
ability, for it appears in the registers and records of Renfrewshire,
that this branch of the Cochranes were among the earliest to engage
in manufacturing in this part of Scotland. In the Renfrewshire
Seisines, his ancestor is styled "John Cochrane, manufacturer, New
Street, Paisley."
Alexander Cochrane, Sr., died August 11, 1865, at the age of
fifty-two, at Swampscott, where he had taken a house for the sum-
mer with his family. Although genial, he always preserved a touch
of austerity that did not invite imdue familiarity. His early Scottish
training in the atmosphere of the Kirk accounted for this. He used
to recall the line of his brothers and sisters who on Sunda}'^ walked
from his father's residence, Glanderston House, to Neilston Church,
under his father's eye. His father brought up the rear in order that
no youthful escapades during the two-mile walk should mar the
sacredness of the day. No reading was allowed on that day but
the Bible and a few other religious books. The early manners in
New England had many points of resemblance to life at the same
period in Scotland. His life, like so many other lives, was spent
in the day of small things — in sowing seed for others to reap, and
the parable of the sower was selected as best illustrating his hfe,
when his family placed a window to his memory in Trinity Church,
Boston. In a somewhat trying battle with Fortune, both in the
ALEXANDER COCHRANE
Old World and in the New, he did what his hands found to do, with
a perseverance and an ability which commanded success.
This brief statement regarding the father will show the influ-
ences which surroimded the son in youth.
Alexander Cochrane, Jr., first made himself useful in his father's
manufactory of chemicals at Billerica. He enjoyed the advantages
of the public school in Billerica and a private school in Lowell until
he was twelve years of age, when he entered the Howe School
Academy at Billerica, where he remained until he was eighteen.
This afforded him his entire privileges in scholastic training. He
became a student of practical chemistry under his father's tuition
in Billerica, and soon became a member of the firm of A. Coch-
rane & Company. In 1883 the Cochrane Chemical Company was
incorporated and he became its president.
Mr. Cochrane's work as director of various telephone companies,
is the most interesting to the public. He became a director of the
New England Telephone Company on its formation in 1878; of
the National Bell Telephone Company in 1879; of the American
Bell Telephone Company in 1880; and of the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company in 1899. Recently this last company has
acquired the control of a substantial minority interest in the shares
of the Western Union Telegraph Company, thus making it one of
the greatest utility companies of the country. Mr. Cochrane has
remained a director and a member of the executive committee during
all these changes and was acting president of the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company in 1900, until a permanent president
could be selected.
Mr. Cochrane was a former director of the Eliot National Bank;
the Chicago, Burlington & Northern Railroad; the Boston and
Lowell Railroad, and the president of the Manufacturing Chemists'
Association of the United States. He is now a director and vice-
president of the New England Trust Company; director of the
New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad; the New England
Navigation Company; the Boston and Maine Railroad; the Maine
Central Railroad; and the Massachusetts Electric Companies. He
is president of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital trustees. He is a
vestryman with continuous service in Trinity Protestant Episcopal
Church, Boston, Massachusetts, and was chairman of the committee
on building its porch and western tower in 1894; and a member of
ALEXANDER COCHRANE
the committee on the Phillips Brooks memorial statue (which was
recently miveiled). He served as chairman of the committee of
Boston Merchants, which raised the money for the present structure
of the Boston Young Men's Christian Association building in
1882, and was also on the building committee.
In all these oflBces he has rendered a useful service which has
brought him the high esteem of his associates.
Mr. Cochrane is a member of the Thursday Evening Club; the
Somerset Club; the Union Club, of which he was a vice-president;
the Country Club; the Long Point Shooting Club; the Canaveral
Club, and the Restigouche Salmon Club. He has been abroad many
times and has thus gained a large knowledge of men and measures.
His relaxation from the stress and strain of business has also been
found in fishing, shooting, and golf, as shown by his membership in
the associations mentioned.
His favorite room in his house is his library, and his greatest
pleasure in leisure hours, to peruse its contents. His chosen authors
are Macaulay, Froude, Gibbon, Scott, Thackeray, and Dumas.
Art has always interested him and his purchases decorate his
city house — designed by McKim, Mead, and White.
In political faith he is a Republican, though no political shackles
are permitted to control his vote or compel his assent to that which
his judgment disapproves. He voted for Grover Cleveland at his
first election to the presidency of the United States.
On March 24, 1869, Mr. Cochrane married Mary Lynde, daughter
of Dr. John Langdon and Mary (Lynde) Sullivan, a descendant
of Governor James Sullivan of Massachusetts. Eight children
have blessed their home, of whom there are now living: Alexander
Lynde Cochrane, Charlotte Blake Loring, Hester Sullivan Fearing,
Francis Douglas Cochrane, Marjorie (Cochrane) Forbes, James
Sulhvan Cochrane, and Ethel (Cochrane) Cushing.
Mr. Cochrane has always regarded business as a means and
not the chief aim of life, and offers this suggestion to young people :
"Make yourself master of some occupation by personal application,
and whatever your calling, pursue it with sincerity."
JOHN CRAWFORD CROSBY
JOHN CRAWFORD CROSBY was bom in Sheffield, Berk-
shire County, Massachusetts, June 15, 1859.
His father, John Crosby (February 15, 1829, to Decem-
ber 17, 1902), was the son of John (1799) and Hannah (Curtis)
Crosby. He was a town and city official, selectman, deputy sheriff,
and sheriff of Berkshire County for nine years.
John Crawford Crosby's mother was Margaret (Crawford)
Crosby, the daughter of Andrew (1801) and Annie (Melndoe)
Crawford. His ancestors came to this country from England,
Scotland, and Ireland.
He attended the public schools of Pittsfield, and the Law
School of Boston University. He received the degree of LL.B.
from Boston University in 1882, and began the practice of law in
the office of U. S. Senator Henry L. Dawes upon his admission to
the bar in July, 1882.
Mr. Crosby soon became a very busy lawyer and took high
standing at the Bar. He has appeared in most of the important
litigation in his section and has been for many years the adviser
of the largest business interests. Tireless in energy and thorough
in the preparation of his cases, he unites to legal learning the
address of the polished advocate. He is learned in the deep under-
lying principles of the law and familiar with the decisions of our
courts. He is warm-hearted, unselfish, kindly in manner, and
charitable in his deeds and estimates of men. He has always had
a gift of reasonableness which has kept him clear of factions and
conflicts. He has a fraternal feeling for the profession to which
he belongs and a pride in the maintenance of its standards.
He was a member of the School Committee of Pittsfield, from
1884 to 1890; of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in
1886 and 1887 ; of the Massachusetts Senate in 1888 and 1889 ; of
the Fifty-second United States Congress, elected in 1890. He was
JOHN CRAWFORD CEOSBT
Mayor of Pittsfield 1894 and 1895. He was six years City Solic-
itor for Pittsfield. He was also the Democratic Candidate for At-
torney-General of Massachusetts and in 1904 was the Democratic
candidate for Lieutenant-Governor. He was appointed a Justice of
the Superior Court of Massachusetts, on January 18, 1905, and on
December 24, 1913, was advanced to the position of the Supreme
Judicial Court of Massachusetts.
He is a member of the Union Club, the St. Botolph Club and
the University Club all of Boston, and the Country Club, the Mon-
day Evening Club, and the Park Club, all of Pittsfield. He is a
Democrat in politics, and finds recreation in horseback riding and
in walking.
On February 4, 1897, he married Henrietta, daughter of Cap-
tain Nathan and Hannah Richards, a descendant from English
colonists who were active in the Revolutionary War.
His watchword for young Americans is — "Honesty, Integrity,
and Industry."
Judge Crosby's active and useful life has been absolutely free
from any attempt to arrest public attention and singularly devoid
of ostentation, yet no man in the Commonwealth is better known,
more highly respected, or more popular. His entire career has been
marked by uprightness ; and sincerity of purpose, devotion to duty,
and zeal in the public interest have signalized every step in his
advance.
He is a man of great legal attainments. The duties of his
judicial office have given him a broad field of usefulness and have
brought him much distinction and honor.
HENRY HAVELOCK CUMMINGS
HENRY H. CUMMINGS, inventor and manufacturer, was
born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on February 28, 1858,
afterwards residing in Boston, Winthrop, Revere, Maiden,
and Newton.
His father, Elkanah Andrews Cummings, born in 1820, a Bap-
tist minister, afterwards a teacher, and later in life, a developer
of real estate, was the son of Peter and Sarah (Andrews) Cum-
mings, and his mother, who before her marriage was Emily Cleve-
land Spicer, daughter of Lyman and Sarah Ann (Savage) Spicer,
was a remarkable woman, whose influence upon the character of her
son was in every way strong.
Henry was the third child of the family of nine. His strong
mechanical bent was revealed at the early age of three years, when
he invented and constructed a labor saving device for his mother's
convenience in her housework. He constantly sought improved
ways of doing things.
As a boy, whUe he was interested in sports, mechanical pursuits
appealed more strongly to him, and he assisted his father at their
home, in making shoe heels for manufacturers in Boston and Lynn,
and in his later building operations, thereby adding somewhat to
the rather scanty income of the family. Through this help at home,
which began when he was five years of age, and continued with the
other members of the family until he was seventeen years of age,
when he went to learn the trade of a machinist, he acquired habits
of industry, which have continued all through his life.
When he was eight years old, in 1866, the family moved to Mai-
den, and he entered the Maplewood Grammar School, from which he
graduated in 1871. This closed his school life, during which he
had learned easily and held high rank in his classes.
After graduation, he engaged with his brother in a small print-
ing business, and for several years assisted his father in building
houses. When he was sixteen, he went to work in a dry goods
HENRY HAVELOCK CUMMINGS
store in Boston for another year, and in 1875, not altogether with
his father's approval, began to learn the trade of a machinist.
In 1881, then 23 years old, he started in business for himself
and founded the company since known as the Cummings Machine
Works of Boston.
After a year by himself he took in a partner, Mr. A. D. Crombie,
whose interest in the business he bought twenty-two years later,
and in 1905 the business was incorporated under its present title,
the Cummings Machine Works, of which he became President and
Treasurer. Long before the establishment of his independent busi-
ness, he began his career as an inventor. Among the more than a
hundred patents which were granted to him by the United States
Government between 1885 and 1915, the more important ones were
for button-sewing machines, greinted in 1886, seed packing, issued
in 1895, for an improved printing press in 1897, for a sub-target
gun in 1903, and for an engine-log system in 1914. By this latter
invention the speed of a steamship is automatically indicated, the
distance that the ship has traveled, the direction of the rotation
of each propellor, the total average number of revolutions and the
average number per minute, all indicated simultaneously, and with
extreme accuracy, a system which excited the keen interest of ma-
rine people, both in this country and abroad, and which is now the
standard equipment for ships of the United States Navy.
He has also invented various other machines and devices to be
used on shipboard in connection with the engines and other parts of
a ship's apparatus. One of the most interesting of his inventions
is called The Cummings ' ' Dotter, ' ' a very simple and scientifically
accurate device, by means of which it is said that a person can,
without using any ammunition, engage in target practice, either
with heavy naval cannon, or with an ordinary rifle or revolver and
acquire a higher degree of skill as a marksman in a few weeks than
could possibly be attained in the same number of months of practice
on the regular out-door range with service ammunition.
Politically, Mr. Cummings has always been a Republican, and
is a member of the Massachusetts Republican Club, and in 1894-5
he served as a member of the City Council of Maiden. Other or-
ganizations with which he is, or has been connected are the High-
land Glee Club, the Boston Yacht Club, the Boston Chamber of
Commerce, the Bostonian Society, the American Society of Naval
HEKRY HAVELOCK CT7MMINGS
Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the
Navy League, the Reciprocity Club of America, the United Order
of the Golden Cross, the Workmen's Benefit Association, the Aero
Club of New England, and the Maiden City Government Associa-
tion.
His church affiliation is with the Congregational Church, and
since his removal to Newton in 1904, he has attended the Congre-
gational Church at Newton Highlands. From 1912 to 1915 he was
a deacon of that church. He has also been a member of the Con-
gregational Club.
His favorite recreation is yachting.
On February 24, 1886, Mr. Cummings was married to Miss Jane
Clark Crombie, the daughter of his former partner, Albert D.
Crombie, of Maiden. Her mother was Sylvia (Greenwood) Crom-
bie, and her grandparents were Clark and Lucy (Dane) Crombie
and Cyrus and Olive (Kingman) Greenwood. They have had two
children, the elder of whom, Sylvia, died at the age of five years.
The other daughter, Esther, is still living with her parents.
Asked what suggestions he would give to young Americans
which would most help them to attain true success in life, he
replied: — "As early as possible one should decide what kind of
work he is best fitted to do, and thereafter bend his energies to
excel ia that line. It is much better to be a good mechanic than
a poor doctor. One should not however, allow business matters
so to absorb his time that he cannot give a reasonable amount of
it to religious, educational and social matters."
^[ulc^,^ (A,/),
WILLIAM AIKEN DAVENPORT
WILLIAM AIKEN DAVENPORT was bom October 23,
1869, in Wilmington, Vermont, son of Stephen Tabor
and Alice S. (Warner) Davenport. His father was bom
September, 1844, in Leyden, Massachusetts. He has been for years
an esteemed and honored citizen of Brattleboro, Vermont, where he
is a prominent attorney, noted for his physical strength and keen
mental endowments. Chosen on the Democratic ticket he repre-
sented the town of Wilmington ia the State Legislature in 1874.
The mother of W. A. Davenport was bom in the town of Man-
chester, Vermont, March 9, 1849. Her teaching had a most valu-
able influence on her son's career. Mr. Davenport's grandfather
was Calvin N. Davenport, bom in 1805 and died in 1847, who mar-
ried Lucy White. His maternal grandparents were Milton War-
ner, bom in 1812, died in 1898, and Olive (Jameson) Warner.
The founder of the family in this country is supposed to have
been the famous Rev. John Davenport. The Davenports have long,
however, had a decided predilection for the law, and many of them
have been able and successful attorneys.
William A. Davenport, in common with a vast number of our
most successful men, began Ufe on a farm. There strength of mus-
cle and vigor of mind had free play for development. In addition
to the farm work he had some experience in lumbering and also
worked as a clerk in a store.
After obtaining what education the common schools of his town
could grant him, he entered Glenwood Classical Seminary at West
Brattleboro, Vermont, from which he graduated in 1889. His edu-
cation was not obtained without difficulties, but the very fact that
he overcame them endowed him with an added strength of purpose.
He was well qualified for teaching, and followed that profession
with success in his native State from 1887 to 1892. Following this
period of teaching he was connected for a year with the Militia
Service of Vermont. From the first, however, he cherished a liking
for law, and during the years of teaching, he devoted what leisure
time he had to reading law. When the opportunity came he
W TTT.TA M AIKEN DAVENPORT
entered the law office of Frederick L. Greene of Greenfield,
He was admitted to the bar of Massachnsetts, in July, 1895, and
on October first of that year formed a partnership with Mr. Greene
which continued till January 1, 1906. '
Mr. Davenport was admitted to practice his profession in the
following courts: The United States District Court in 1899, the
United States Circuit Court in 1907, the United States Circuit
Court of Appeals in 1908, and the United States Supreme Court
in 1908.
He was elected to represent Greenfield as a Democrat, in the
State Legislature of 1899 and 1900, and served on the Committee
on Judiciary.
Recognizing his fitness for public affairs, his townsmen have
chosen Mr. Davenport to fill the following positions in rapid suc-
cession: member of the School Committee of Greenfield from
1900 to 1908 ; Park Commissioner, 1903-1906 ; Trustee under the
Smith Will, 1906-1908; Selectman, 1909-1913; chairman of the
Selectmen, 1913 ; School Committee, 1915-1918. He was a member
of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee from 1896 to
1903, and was also a delegate from Massachusetts to the Democratic
National Convention of 1908. As may be readily inferred from
the foregoing, Mr. Davenport has always been identified with the
Democratic party, and a loyal adherent to its principles.
Mr. Davenport is socially inclined and is a member of the
Order of Odd Fellows, the Workmen, and the Eagles. He gets
very little time for amusements or lengthy vacations, but devotes
his time to business affairs. In 1896 he built a large block on
Main Street in Greenfield.
Mr. Davenport was married December 20, 1894, to Belle M.,
daughter of Frank E. and Mila (Marsh) Shearer of Colerain,
Massachusetts. Six children have been bom to them: Alice G.,
Herbert S., William L., Isabell 0., Marjorie D., and Dorothy N.
Mr. Davenport advises young people who wish to attain true
success in life to lay in a good stock of energy, to cultivate industry,
practice sobriety, and live honestly.
By his ability and industry Mr. Davenport contributed his full
share in building up and sustaining the enviable reputation of the
firm of which he was a member.
EBEN SUMNER DRAPER
EBEN SUMNER DRAPER was bom at the village of Hope-
dale, in the town of Milford, Massachusetts, on the seven-
teenth of June, 1858. He died at Greenville, South Caro-
lina, April 9, 1914.
The Draper family was established in this country by James
Draper, who, with his wife, Miriam Stanfield, emigrated about the
year 1648 from Heptonstall, in Yorkshire, England, and settled in
Roxbury. His son, James Draper, 2d, took part as a soldier in
King Philip's War. His son James 3d was a Captain in the
Trained Bands. Another ancestor, Major Abijah Draper, com-
manded a body of Minute Men at Roxbury during the Revolution-
ary War. Mr. Draper's grandfather, Ira Draper, who was bom
in 1764 and died at the good old age of eighty-four, remembered
being present at the Battle of Lexington and Concord Bridge with
his father, who took part in the fighting. Mr. Draper's father,
George Draper, who was bom in August, 1817, and lived until
1887, married Hannah Brown Thwing, and entered into the manu-
facture of cotton machinery at Hopedale, which has been now for
more than half a century so intimately associated with the Draper
name. His son attended the public schools of his native town, and
the Institute of Technology, for which he was fitted at the Allen
School at West Newton. As a boy, he was required to engage in
mechanical work for a few hours every day during his vacations,
and he always considered that the effect of this discipline was good.
He was fond of reading and had the advantage of free access to
the very best books. Works of biography, history, and fiction espe-
cially appealed to him.
His preparation for the active business of life, after the tech-
nical training of the Institute, was secTlred in the machine shops at
Hopedale. He got a practical knowledge of the working of cotton
machinery in the great mills at Lowell, Manchester, and other
EBEN SUMNER DRAPER
manufacturing centres of New England, and in 1880 became a mem-
ber of the firm of George Draper emd Sons at Hopedale. Sixteen
years later the Draper Company was organized and he was elected
selling agent. He was a director in the Boston and Albany Rail-
way, of the National Shawmut Bank, the Old Colony Trust Com-
pany, the New England Cotton Yarn Company, the Queen City
Company, the Milford National Bank; and President of the Man-
ville Company of Providence. He was an active member of the
Home Market Club of which his father, George Draper, was the
originator and founder, and took part in many other financial and
mercantile organizations. He was a member of the corporation of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and one of the trustees
of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital Fund. He was chairman of
the Massachusetts delegation that went to the Nashville Exposition
in 1897. He was one of the trustees of the Milford Hospital and he
and Mrs. Draper buUt and presented to the Milford Hospital Asso-
ciation its admirable and complete building. During the Span-
ish-American War he was President of the Massachusetts Volunteer
Aid Association, having been appointed by Governor Walcott, and
there was disbursed by this association some $450,000 of money
raised to help the suffering and sick Massachusetts men in that
war. The Association also equipped a hospital ship called the
Bay State, which brought many of the suffering and sick from
Cuba and Porto Rico to this country. This was probably the first
hospital ship that was ever furnished in war for such a purpose,
and it was purchased and equipped at a cost in the vicinity of
$200,000. He was chairman of the Committee which raised and
sent to San Francisco in the vicinity of a million dollars at the
time of the great earthquake and fire, and he appointed a committee
which raised and expended some $400,000 for the suffering people
at the time of the great Chelsea fire. For three years he served
in the Massachusetts Militia as private in the First Corps Cadets,
and he was a veteran of that organization.
He was actively engaged in politics and public service, and was
from the beginning of his career a consistent and unswerving mem-
ber of the Republican party. In 1892 he was made chairman of
the Republican State Committee, and was a member of the Com-
mittee for the three ensuing years. In 1896 he was a delegate from
Massachusetts to the Republican National Convention at St. Louis,
EBEN SUMITER DRAPER
and was made Chairman of the delegation. He helped to secure
the incorporation of the "gold standard" plank in resolutions of
the convention. In 1900 he was the Republican elector for the
Eleventh Congressional District, and cast his vote for McKinley
and Roosevelt. In 1903 and 1904 he was President of the Repub-
lican Club of Massachusetts. After serving three years as Lieu-
tenant-Governor of his native State he was elected Governor in
1908, and re-elected for a second term in. the autiunn election of
1909.
Mr. Draper, by his religious convictions, belonged to the Uni-
tarian branch of the Congregational Church, and was vice-president
of the American Unitarian Association. He and his brother,
George A. Draper, built the beautiful Unitarian Church at Hope-
dale as a memorial to their father and mother. It stands in ample
grounds at the village centre.
In 1883 Mr. Draper married Nannie, daughter of General Ben-
jamin Helm Bristow, of New York, who was Secretary of the Treas-
ury in General Grant's cabinet. Mrs. Draper died September 24,
1913. Mr. and Mrs. Draper had three children, all living: the
oldest, named Bristow after his maternal grandfather; Dorothy;
and a son who bears his father's honored name.
Governor Draper's favorite occupations, aside from intellectual
pursuits, were golf and tennis for out-of-door amusements, and bil-
liards for house recreation. He was fond of music and was one
of the brilliant audience that filled the new Boston Opera House
on the occasion of its opening night in November, 1909.
Governor Draper was distinguished for his courtesy and gra-
cious approachableness, free from any stiffness and formality. He
was democratic in his treatment of all men, altogether an admirable
representative of the best quality of American citizenship, with
the background of distinguished and memorable ancestry on both
sides of his line. He was honored by high office, and served his
party with fairness and dignity and his State with fidelity and
unbiased judgment.
He was a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, the Eastern
Yacht Club, the Somerset Club, the Union Club, the Algonquin
Club, the Brookline Country Club, the Hope Club of Providence,
and the Metropolitan Club of New York City.
His motto, which he recommended to the readers of this work
EBEN SUMNER DRAPER
as helpful to success, was: "Cultivate thoroughness in study and
work." This was his own habit and it led him to a commanding
position in the community.
Governor Draper possessed qualities of a very high order. He
attained distinction in the great business with which he was con-
nected as much by his fairness as by his sagacity. He helped to
make the community where he lived and where the headquarters of
his large enterprises were located, a model for manufacturers. He
was particularly solicitous for the comfort and general welfare of
his employees, but it was in his public service that he became best
known to the people of the State. He served the Commonwealth
with honor and high credit. He was an executive whose promises
were always to be depended upon. He made them carefully, but
he observed them scrupulously. Perhaps he was too direct in his
methods to rank as a successful politician, but he was better than
that : he was a good Governor.
One of his finest qualities was his courage in the executive
office. Courage is not always popular, but when joined with con-
viction it is always admirable. There were questions coming before
him that were politically embarrassing but he decided them as he
believed the public welfare demanded rather than on the basis of
what might have seemed expediency. He was never a drone in
any hive, and lived up to the full measure of his responsibilities
whether in public or private service. His friendships were strong,
though he did not form them so freely as some men; so were his
domestic ties, and the loss of his wife was doubtless one of the
causes that hastened what seems a premature termination of his
life and labors.
-^
GEORGE DRAPER
GEORGE DRAPER, who with his brother, Ebenezer, was
the founder of the important manufacturing interests at
Hopedale, Massachusetts, like many of the prominent and
successful business men of New England was of English ancestry.
The founder of the family in this country was James Draper, a
Yorkshire man, who emigrated to New England and settled in
Roxbury, in 1640. Later, the family removed to Weston, where
Ira Draper, the father of George Draper was bom, December 29,
1764. Ira Draper was a man of great natural intelligence and of
much mechanical ingenuity and progressive thought. His mechan-
ical turn of mind led him to make an important invention, an
improved loom temple, for use in cotton manufacturing. He does
not appear, however, to have profited largely by his inventive
genius, for this seems to have been all that he bequeathed to his
sons.
George Draper was bom at Weston, Massachusetts, August 10,
1817. He died at Boston, Massachusetts, June 7, 1887. He
received from his father not only a large measure of his taste for
mechanics and his genius for invention, but also a mathematical
education, in lines not usually obtainable in the schools. His gen-
eral education was not extensive, and when fifteen years of age he
obtained employment as a weaver in a cotton mill at North Ux-
bridge. Two years later he had risen to the position of overseer
of weaving and dressing cloth, in a cotton sheeting mill at Walpole.
Still two years later he became overseer of weaving in a mill at
Three Rivers, Palmer, Massachusetts. While here employed his
inventive genius, which became so conspicuous in after life, began
to display itself, and he perfected an improvement in the temple
which his father had invented.
In the year 1839 he was so unfortunate as to be thrown out of
employment and, unwilling to remain idle, he accepted a position
of operative in the Massachusetts Cotton Mills at Lowell, at the
small compensation of five dollars a week. This was the period of
low ebb in his affairs. He could not long remain in this humble
position, and in 1843 he was engaged as a designer in the well-
known Harris Woolen Mills at Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Two
years later he became the superintendent of one of the mills of the
Otis Company in Ware, Massachusetts.
GEORGE DRAPER
Shortly before this the Hopedale Commumty, based somewhat
upon the lines of the famous Brook Farm Community, was formed.
Like its prototype, this community was based upon Christian prin-
ciples and hoped to bring about an industrial millennium by co-op-
erative labors. Mr. Draper became interested in this community
and became a member of it. It had so far prospered that it was
the owner of six hundred acres of land, upon which was a small
village of about two hundred and fifty inhabitants. There were
also two small shops for the manufacture of hatchets, loom temples,
and shoe-boxes, employing about eight or ten men. The remainder
of the members of the community were engeiged in farming.
The community finally became heavily involved in debt and its
failure and dissolution followed. The brothers Draper, whose
interests were then closely involved in the enterprise, assumed the
liabilities and took the property, forming then a co-partnership for
the prosecution of the business.
From this moment the prosperity of the Drapers may be
reckoned. Their capital increased as their enterprises grew in
number. In 1868 the senior partner, Ebenezer D. Draper, with-
drew from the business, and George Draper, who was now married
and blessed with a family of intelligent and industious sons, estab-
lished the firm of George Draper and Sons. This firm finally
expanded, various interests in which the members of the firm
finally engaged being capitalized under other corporation names.
From this original stock sprang the Hopedale Machine Company,
manufacturers of spoolers, warpers, twisting machines, and other
forms of cotton machinery; the Dutcher Temple Company, manu-
facturers of loom temples, Shaw knitting machines, and automatic
sprinklers; the Hopedale Elastic Fabric Company, manufacturers
of elastic webbing; and the Hopedale Screw Company, manufac-
turers of machine screws. The firm of George Draper and Sons
manufactured spinning rings, as well as acted as selling agent for
the constituent concerns. From two small shops, employing less
than twenty men, the business of the Drapers expanded, until the
combined industries occupied twenty buildings, chiefly built of
brick and operated by both steam and water power.
George Draper, after a life of great activity and marked use-
fulness, died June 7, 1887, at the age of nearly seventy years, and
at the height of his business success. His first wife, whom he mar-
ried in 1839, was Hannah Brown Thwing, daughter of Benjamin
and Anna (Mowry) Thwing. She was bom in Uxbridge, January
GEORGE DRAPER
1, 1817, and died in 1883, leaving five children : William Franklin,
well known as General Draper, a Civil War veteran, bom at Lowell,
April 9, 1842; Frances Eudore, wife of Charles H. Colbum, bom
Pebraary 20, 1848; Hannah Thwing, wife of Edward L. Osgood,
bom April 11, 1853; George Albert, bom at Hopedale, November
4, 1855; and Eben Sumner, afterward Governor of Massachusetts,
bom at Hopedale, June 17, 1858. Three other children, born to
George and Hannah Draper, two daughters and a son, died in
infancy. Mr. Draper married, for his second wife, Mrs. Blunt of
Milford.
Mr. Draper's character was in one respect at least exceptional,
in that he combined the qualities of a successful inventor and an
able man of business. Few inventors there are who have found
themselves able to make their own inventions pecuniarily remuner-
ative. As an inventor he was a man of almost unlimited resource,
and fully one hundred important patents for improved machines
and mechanical appliances were issued to him by the United States
Patent OfSce. Some of these inventions have proved of the very
greatest value to textile manufacturers.
In politics he was, before the outbreak of the Civil War, an
ardent member of the Free-soil party which became merged in the
Republican party. He was always deeply interested in the welfare
of his party, and during the progress of the Civil War he was a
personal friend and ardent supporter of Governor Andrew in the
recruiting of troops for the field.
After the close of the war George Draper continued his interest
in the welfare of the Republican party, and made an especial study
of the subject of the protection of home industries through the
tariff, until he came to be regarded as an authority. He was one
of the founders of the Home Market Club of Boston and was its
first President. He devoted much of his energy to the promotion
of the purposes of its foundation. He never sought and never
would accept public ofiice, although he was always interested in all
public affairs. His purse was always open for all good causes and
he was generous in gifts, both public and private. He did much
to promote the interests of the town in which he lived. The fine
Town Hall was his gift. The cause of temperance, the posts of the
Grand Army, the Soldiers' Home at Chelsea, and many other phil-
anthropic enterprises found in him a constant benefactor. His
memory is cherished, not only by his children and his grandchildren,
but by his neighbors and his employees, as a man kind, just and
generous, unselfish and helpful in every good work.
WILLIAM RAYMOND DRIVER
WILLIAM RAYMOND DRIVER was bom in Beverly,
Massachusetts, January 2, 1839, the son of David and
Elizabeth (Raymond) Driver.
The ancestor of the family came from England to this country
as early as 1630. Mr. Driver's father followed the seas as an expe-
rienced and successful shipmaster, who inherited his love for a
sea-faring life from a long line of seamen.
Young Driver's early home education was gained in an atmos-
phere of moral and intellectual worth, under the instruction of
a mother's influence, which has ever been a guiding star in his
fortunate career. He attended the public schools of Beverly, and
received from them the necessary discipline and intellectual train-
ing to fit him for his life career.
He entered upon an active business life as a clerk in a retail
drygoods and drug store in Beverly, and then sought and obtained
a better and more lucrative position in a wholesale woolen store in
Boston, where his services were appreciated, because of the interest
which he took in the business. Later he gained employment in the
Suffolk Savings Bank, where he had the fuU confidence of his
employers, and won favor by the promptness and accuracy of his
work, and by his courtesy and cheerful attention to all who
required his services.
On the breaking out of the Civil War, Mr. Driver at once
offered his services as a volunteer, and enlisted April 18, 1861, and
continued in active service until the cessation of hostilities. He
enlisted as a private, but his soldierly bearing and bravery soon
gained for him the favor of his superiors, and he received his
commission as Lieutenant, then was promoted in rapid succession
to the rank of Captain, Major, and finally to Brevet Lieutenant-
Colonel, fully attesting his efiSciency and fitness as an army officer.
He took an active part in all the engagements of the Army of the
Potomac, save that of Ball's Bluff, and, singular as it may seem,
escaped serious injury through all the strenuous service which he
rendered. Colonel Driver was honorably discharged, September
19, 1865, having passed through a military career of which any
man might well be proud.
7r"^Aj
WILLIAM: RAYMOND DRIVER
When the Bell Telephone Company was organized in 1880,
Colonel Driver was invited to become its Treasurer. This office he
accepted and held the position till December 31, 1913. His counsel
and experience have been no small factors in the wonderful and suc-
cessful development of the interests of the company. Other im-
portant positions which Colonel Driver has held, or is still hold-
ing, include the office of Vice-President and Treasurer of the
American Telephone and Telegraph Company; Director of the
American Trust Company ; Director of the National Bank of Com-
merce; President of the Southern Massachusetts Telephone Com-
pany; and Vice-President and Trustee of the Suffolk Savings
Bank for Seamen. These varied and important positions which
have been entrusted to Colonel Driver's charge bespeak the com-
plete confidence reposed in him by those who know him best.
Colonel Driver is quite a club man, being a member of the Mili-
tary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, of the Mili-
tary Historical Society of Massachusetts, of the Grand Army of the
Republic, and of the Union Club of Boston. He continues his resi-
dence in Beverly, where he enjoys the comforts of a delightful
home, and where he is a trustee of the Public Library, and also a
commissioner of the Sinking fund.
His political bias moves him to be an Independent, in order to
leave him to be at liberty to vote as his judgment may dictate.
William Raymond Driver was married, January 14, 1869, to
Miss Ellen Salisbury Brown of Beverly, daughter of Enoch and
Mary (Tyler) Brown. Two children have been bom to them:
Eleanor Salisbury Driver, married to William G. Rantoul ; and Wil-
liam Raymond Driver, Jr., now general manager of the Telephone
Company.
Colonel Driver says the influences which have chiefly made his
life successful have been those of early home life, of school, of early
companionship, of private study, and of contact with men in active
life. He also says that circumstances, rather than the choice of
himself or his parents, paved the way for the successive steps in his
active life, and that fortune has held him in great favor and has
smiled upon his progress in life. The best of it all is the fact that
his staunch integrity and faithful devotion to the interests placed
in his care have richly merited the success achieved.
FREDERICK LINCOLN EMERY
FEEDEEICK LINCOLN EMEEY was bom at Portland,
Maine, May 5, 1867. He derives in direct descent from
Anthony Emery and Frances, his wife, who came from Eom-
sey, England, and landed at Boston on June 23, 1635. They set-
tled first in Ipswich and then in Newbury. His father, George H.
Emery, was a bookkeeper of sterling honesty, positive and exact.
His mother, who was Georgianna W. Smith, had a marked influ-
ence on his moral life. As a boy he was keenly interested in all
mechanical subjects; and his reading and studies, until he was
twenty, consisted almost wholly of works on mechanics.
His father's family moved at an early date to Boston, and in
1871 to Lexington, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1884 from
the Lexington High School.
If circumstances had permitted he would have entered next a
technical school, but this was impossible, and in January, 1885, he
entered the office of Crosby and Gregory, patent attorneys in Bos-
ton, as office-boy and to learn drafting. He abandoned his aim of
mechanical engineering and devoted himself to the patent business.
At the end of ten years by dint of hard work supplemented by the
study of the law, which he pursued evenings after the day's office
work, he graduated from the Boston University Law School and
shortly after was admitted to the firm. He made the best of his
opportunities and the hard struggle was doubtless an important
factor in the great success which has attended his career in the law.
Though prevented from carrying out his original desires and per-
haps from making the freest use of his particular faculties, his
mechanical bent was of the greatest use to him in that province of
the law to which he gave his especial attention, first as a member
of the firm of Crosby and Gregory and later as head of the law firm
of Emery, Booth, Janney and Vamey.
In 1894 he married Grace Leland, daughter of Larkin and
Elizabeth (Chesley) Harrington, and has since resided in Lexing-
ton, where he has been an active and prominent citizen. He has
FREDERICK LINCOLN EMERY
one son, Leland H. Emery, bom March 8, 1896. He is President
of the Lexington Home for Aged People and President of the
Lexington Field and Garden Club. He has also sensed as Presi-
dent of the Emery Family Association, the membership of which
covers the whole of the United States. He was also, for a number
of years, during the period of its inception and upbuilding, Presi-
dent of the Mt. Pleasant Home for Aged Men and Women of Bos-
ton.
He is a Republican, and for the past fifteen years of his life has
been connected with the Christian Science Church, though his early
afSliations were with the Congregationalists.
RUFUS BENNETT FOWLER
RUFUS BENNETT FOWLER was bom at Northbridge,
Massachusetts, Dec. 5, 1841. He is a direct descendant of
Philip Fowler, a native of Marlboro, England, who in 1634
at the age of forty-four arrived at Ipswich and died in 1679. His
father, Charles Fowler, who died in 1895 at the advanced age of
fourscore years, was a farmer of Quaker faith, noted for his sterling
honesty and sound common sense. The boy shared in the labors
incident to life on a New England farm, and always regarded this
training as of inestimable value for its breadth and diversity of
interests, its independence, its training of the judgment, and its
intimate contact with nature. His mother, who was Susan Frost
Bennett, daughter of Rufus Bennett, 1774-1851, looked especially
after his intellectual and spiritual development. She was a woman
of naturally excellent mind, with strong reasoning power of theo-
logical bent, and of sweet and religious nature. He was early
taught to love good literature and found his chief predilection in
Shakespeare, in the English novelists, and in translations from
Greek and Latin authors.
After graduating from that excellent institution, the Barre
Academy, in Barre, Vermont, in 1861, he accepted the position of
assistant to the superintendent of a large woolen mill at Uxbridge,
Massachusetts. This was his personal preference, as he had a
decided turn for mechanical pursuits and desired to leam that
business. Thinking, however, that he might better secure what he
wanted at Poughkeepsie, New York, he decided to take a course
in the Eastman Business College. His evident ability attracted at-
tention and he was offered the position of Superintendent and In-
structor in the Banking Department of the College, which by means
of two banks and a clearing-house gave practical training in that
subject. His spare time he occupied in the study of law with such
success that he was invited to be the lecturer on Commercial Law
at the United States College of Business at New Haven, an institu-
tion founded by Thomas H. Stevens, a former teacher of the
Claverack Institute in New York.
In 1865 he went to Chicago, where until the time of the great
fire he was engaged in wholesale jobbing business. His heart, how-
ever, was not so much in trade as it was in legal and mechanical
pursuits, especially in patent law. He found that his abilities
were in constant and ever-increasing demand as an expert. In
1872 he returned to Massachusetts and was for a time engaged
in designing machinery at Worcester, where he completed the
invention of a ribbon loom. For several years he was engaged at
Stafford Springs, Connecticut, in manufacturing narrow wares on
looms of his own invention.
^.<u-t/£«0^c^>-^^
RTJFUS BENNETT FOWLER
While there ia 1875 he married Helen M. Wood of Barre, Ver-
mont, daughter of StiUman and Harriet (Clark) Wood and a
direct descendant of Hugh Clark who came from England to Water-
town, Massachusetts, about 1640. Of his two children a daughter,
Susan Bennett, died in 1892; and a son, Henry Wood, a young
lawyer of promise, graduate of Harvard University and Harvard
Law School, died in 1912, leaving a widow and three daughters.
In 1881 he returned to Worcester and again took up his pro-
fession as a patent attorney and expert in patent causes. His
high abilities and remarkable success soon won for him a command-
ing position. In 1900 and 1901 he served as President of the
Worcester Board of Trade ; and his efficiency and public spirit made
him so popular that he was offered the Republican nomination for
Mayor with the support of all the newspapers, but the pressure of
his private business compelled him to decline the honor. He
accepted membership, however, on the Board of Park Commis-
sioners for Worcester and has taken an active part in the improve-
ment of Worcester's open spaces. In 1912, Governor Foss
appointed him as one of the Commission to Consider Making Lake
Quinsigamond a State Reservation. He has also belonged to vari-
ous organizations in Worcester for Social and Economic Reform:
the Public Education Association, the Economic Club, the Better-
ment League, and the Worcester Child Conference. He has served
as President of the Worcester Conference for Child Welfare and
on the Commission to Present a Plan for Industrial Education in
Worcester. He is a member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity,
the Engineers' Club of New York, the National Municipal League,
the American Civic Association, and the National Geographic So-
ciety.
He is an honorary member of the Worcester Continentals, a
Trustee of the Worcester County Institution for Savings, and a
Director of the Wright Wire Company, the Park Trust Com-
pany, and the Morgan Spring Company, and a Trustee of the
Worcester Academy.
Mr. Fowler's life is an excellent illustration of his own ideal
of a man 's duty to the community ; it is not so much that personal
success has attended his well-directed efforts; in that respect he
was fortunate in having a clear purpose and the unusual gift of
inventiveness; but he has cultivated what he calls the "sense of
responsibility as a member of the Social Order. ' ' He has displayed
genuine Public Spirit, not only in serving his fellowmen in many
useful ways but — and this not least of all — in always submitting
his judgments to the test of reason and in discountenancing every
appeal to passion or prejudice. The wisdom of such men immeas-
urably enriches the town or city in which they live.
JOHN ELBRIDGE GALE
JOHN ELBRIDGE GALE was one of the leading citizens of
Haverhill, Massachusetts. He acquired his honorable position
iu life by singular devotion to every task that presented itself
to him, from the small duties of a boy apprentice to the larger en-
terprises of a successful manufacturer.
His father was Elbridge Gerry Gale (1813-1847), and his
mother was Ann Maria Barnes (1813-1891). His paternal grand-
father was Henry Gale, and his maternal grandfather was Josiah
Barnes. His father combined a knowledge of farming, skiU as a
mechanic, and a natural fondness for music.
John Elbridge Gale was born at East Kingston, New Hampshire,
on January 15, 1841, and died at his home in Haverhill, Massa-
chusetts, February 1, 1916. His father died when he was only six
years of age, and the family circumstances were such that he was
required to assist the widowed mother in the support of the family.
Even at a very early age, he engaged in light work on a farm ad-
joining his father's and devoted a part of his time to learning how to
make certain parts of shoes, an experience which proved most help-
ful in later years.
In 1855, when he was fourteen years of age, he left his home at
East Kingston and secured a position as clerk in a clothing store at
Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The opportunities of the secluded
farm-house were few, and the attractions of the growing town and
the overgro%vn city were commanding. Portsmouth furnished
yoimg Gale an opportunity to earn sufficient money by working in
the store in the evenings to pay his way in the schools during the
day, and after graduating from the grammar school, he spent three
very profitable years in the High School.
He soon exchanged the position of clerk in a clothing store in
Portsmouth for that of a manufacturer of shoes in the city of
Haverhill, Massachusetts, and the same qualities that made him suc-
cessful in his youth, ensured him a commanding position among his
business associates in Haverhill.
JOHN ELBRIDGE GALE
Shortly after his coming to Haverhill from Portsmouth he started
in the shoe business for himself and soon afterwards took his brother
in business with him, forming the concern of Gale Brothers. They
continued doing business in Haverhill until 1899, when they moved
to Exeter and incorporated under the name of Gale Brothers, Incor-
porated.
Mr. Gale was President of this corporation at the time of his
death and although not active in it was connected with it 56 years.
He was also President of the Gale Shoe Manufacturing Company, a
Massachusetts corporation doing business in Haverhill, and during
the same period, his business ability and integrity won for him other
positions of trust and of responsibility among his fellow citizens.
He was chosen Alderman in 1873-4, and was Director of the
Haverhill National Bank for more than forty years, and for
twenty-three years had been its President, a position which he
filled until his death. He was one of the trustees of the Five Cents
Savings Bank, and was a member of the Board of Investment. He
was also Chairman of the Commission of Sinking Funds. He
served as Park Commissioner and donated the plot of land now
known as Gale Park, which gift gave an impetus to the development
of the present park system of the city of Haverhill.
He was a Republican in politics, and took personal interest in
the wider social life of the city. He was a member of the Masonic
Fraternity, the Whittier Club, the Fortnightly Club, and the Pen-
tucket Club, and was Trustee as well as Treasurer of the Whittier
Homestead Association, also Trustee of the Children's Aid Society.
He was also a member of the North Congregational Church, and
in 1911 donated an organ to be placed in the church. He did not
allow his varied interests so to absorb his time that he had no
leisure for recreation. He was very fond of golf and travel and
in his later years devoted much time to his music.
Mr. Gale married Mary B. Davis on January 13, 1864. She was
the daughter of George W. Davis. There were three children by
this marriage, Herbert E. Gale, a shoe manufacturer, A. Ernest
Gale, and Hyde Gale. The two latter passed away before Mr. Gale 'a
death.
Mr. Gale's second wife was Rachel Elizabeth, daughter of
George M. Baker of Boston. They were married September 29,
JOHN ELBRIDGE GALE
Speaking of Mr. Gale during his lifetime, one of the honored
and active citizens of Haverhill said : —
"John E. Gale is one of our most highly respected citizens. He
is a man of genuine Christian character, kindly iu his make-up,
sympathetic with every reform, generous to every charity, and ster-
ling in his business integrity. He is a member of the North Con-
gregational Church and has been not only a generous giver of
money, but devoted to the spiritual interests. He is quiet and un-
assuming, a patrician gentleman of the Old School. He gives with-
out ostentation, he lives without display, and he dominates by
virtue of a kindly, disinterested, unselfish and shrewd business
spirit. ' '
Mr. Gale was for years one of the most popular and respected
business men in Haverhill. A leader in local life, he well repaid
the confidence reposed in him as a citizen by living a life that finely
typified the best qualities of manhood. His personal and business
career was without a blemish, and his fine traits of character, his
great kindness of heart, and his generosity to all won for him the
affection and honor of those who became intimate with him. No
citizen in Haverhill has ever had more warmly attached friends.
In his social side Mr. Gale was one of the most winning of men.
His friendships were strong and he took the greatest pleasure in the
companionship of his intimates. His family life was pure and
wholesome and the best of his nature shone brightly within the
domestic circle. He was a man of clear ideas on public affairs and
settled convictions. He freely aided his party locally, but never
cared for office of any kind. Mr. Gale did much to help Haverhill
by his large investments there and by his activity in promoting
worthy causes.
w.
NATHANIEL LINCOLN GORTON
NATHANIEL LINCOLN GORTON was bom at Cranston,
Rhode Island, on April 26, 1865. He died in Gloucester,
Massachusetts, December 3, 1914. The family came from
the little town of Gorton, now a part of Manchester, England.
His earliest American ancestor was Samuel Gorton, who came to
this country in 1636, and was the first settler of Warwick, Rhode
Island. The genealogy of the Gorton family, prepared by Adelos
Gorton, gives sketches of many of those of the name who dis-
tinguished themselves by their abilities, their character, and their
public services.
His father, Slade Gorton (1832-1892), the son of Job Gorton
and Anthy Matheson, was married to Margaret Ann Jordon, of
Irish ancestry, who although deprived of the advantages of early
education was a woman of sterling principles and exerted upon her
children a most beneficent influence and encouraged them to develop
their intellectual lives in every possible way.
His father, a man of strong force of character and ability, rather
stem but benevolent to a fault and with deep, strong feelings, was
first a cotton-mill overseer, but when his son, Nathaniel, was four
years old he removed from Rhode Island to Gloucester and engaged
in the business of cutting and distributing fish. The boy from an
early age took great interest in his father's success and after attend-
ing school in Gloucester he went to Boston to take a business course
in the Bryant and Stratton Commercial College.
At the age of eighteen he began his active career as a salesman
for Gorton's codfish and threw into his work all his interest and
energy. He made the fish business his chief concern and he early
became convinced that a still greater success would be achieved
by extensive advertising. He studied all forms of methods of
bringing commodities before the public, from billboard to news-
paper, and finally he devised the characteristic title by which the
products of the Gorton business became known all over the world.
"Gorton's Boneless Codfish" was brought before the public eye,
and the popularity of the food was greatly increased by reason of
the attractive packages with fancy label in which they were put up.
About two years before his father's death, he was admitted into
the firm and the name was changed to Slade Gorton and Company.
Later three other firms engaging in the same business — John Pew
and Company, David B. Smith and Company, and Reed and Gam-
NATHANIEL LINCOLN GORTON
mage — were consolidated with his father's firm and the name was
again changed to the Groton-Pew Fisheries Company, and he was
made the treasurer of the corporation, in which capacity he re-
mained till the end of his life.
In spite of his unceasing business activities he was interested in
many intellectual pursuits. His mind was extremely receptive to
new ideas. He was fond of music and art. He enjoyed reading.
He had a keen sense of humor and found life full of enjoyments.
He had quiet tastes, and yet he was always happy and making other
people happy by making the most of the good things which he was
enabled to provide for himself and his friends.
He was a man of genuine popularity and always felt that he
profited from association with others. He belonged to the Tyrian
Lodge of Free Masons, the Bethlehem Commandery of Knights
Templar of Gloucester, the Aleppo Temple of Boston, and the
Mystic Shrine. He was a heartily enthusiastic member of the An-
cient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston and held a
commission as First Sergeant of the Gloucester Company in that
famous organization. He was also a member of the Commonwealth
Club of Gloucester. He was always a Republican in politics and
was a much beloved member of the Unitarian Church of that city.
He was fond of hunting and fishing and of golf, and was a frequent
patron of the theatre.
In February, 1885, he married Nellie S. Gilbert, daughter of
Noah and Melissa (Andrews) Gilbert, a descendant of Lieutenant
John Andrews, who came from England to Ipswich, about 1641.
Mr. and Mrs. Gorton had one daughter, Anthy Matheson, (a
family name) by this union.
He had made a distinguished name for himself as a practical,
enterprising, thoroughly reliable man. Everywhere he went he
found friends, because he was himself friendly. He was highly
respected in the community in which he lived and was regarded as
deservedly successful because he had applied himself diligently to
his lifework, and had brought all his native intelligence to focus
upon making his commodity known wherever there was opportunity
to dispose of it. As it was a wholesome and inexpensive food it
naturally found a ready market in all parts of the world. "The
Original Fish Cake — No Bones," which he himself designed and
patented, was and still is a household standby everywhere.
Such a career is an admirable example for enterprising youths,
for it shows what can be acomplished by high character combined
with steadiness of purpose and readiness of invention.
JOHN ROBERT GRAHAM
FROM the humble home of a mechanic to become the founder
of a great business; to turn at middle age to the world
of rapid tramsit and accomplish there what veterans in
that field had failed successfully to achieve; to enter the field of
finance as if to the manner bom and become a leader; that surely
is a remarkable record for one life. Yet this, and more, John
Robert Graham did.
He was democratic by nature, and wherever he resided there
at once he appeared as a public-spirited citizen. Though he spent
most of his life in and around Boston, nevertheless, when he be-
came a resident of Bangor, he at once interested himself with local
affairs, as if he had lived there all his life. The people of Bangor
felt instinctively that he was their friend, and followed his leader-
ship unquestioningly. Nor were they disappointed ; for when that
city suffered from the great fire wherein many of its finest buildings
were burned, when many were discouraged and said, "Bangor wiU
never recover from the blow," it was Mr. Graham who sounded
the note of confidence in the city's future. "Will Mr. Graham
now put up the large edifice which he contemplated building ? ' ' was
asked on every hand. His answer was unhesitating ; ' ' Yes, it will
be built, and if there is any man who, because of the fire, has real
estate to sell, I am ready to buy it." The effect was immediate;
men who had lost heart, hearing the words of this leader of fijiance,
took courage again and a new and better Bangor is the result.
He was bom in the north of Ireland at Florence Court, County
of Fermanaugh, on December 19, 1847. He died at Intervale,
New Hampshire, in the White Mountains, August 24, 1915. His
parents were of Scotch descent, as were all his ancestors. His
paternal grandfather was Matthew Graham; his maternal grand-
father was Anthony Henderson, who married Anne Moffatt.
His mother was Anne Jane Henderson, a woman of character
JOHN EGBERT GRAHAM
and grace, who exercised no little influence upon the developing
character of her son. His father was James Graham (1810-1878),
who was a mechanic and who was beloved in his home town for his
jovial and industrious disposition.
In 1848 the family removed to America, settling in Boston.
Here John R. Graham was reared and sent to school. At ten
years of age he worked out for one doUar per week and his board,
and was allowed to attend the Brimmer Street School. This con-
tinued until he was thirteen years of age, when he left school per-
manently and entered iuto business life. From fourteen to six-
teen he was with his brother, Matthew Graham, who was in the
shoe business. At sixteen, he entered the employ of James T. Pen-
niman of Quincy.
When seventeen years of age, he showed his devotion to his
adopted country by enlisting in the army, being attached first
to the Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, Company E, and later join-
ing Company A of the Forty-Second Massachusetts Infantry. He
was mustered out in 1865. He was afterward a leading member
of the Post 88, G. A. R., of Quincy.
Although he never spoke of his exploits in the army, it is only
fair that it be noted here that he was at Petersburg and his regi-
ment was among the first to enter Richmond.
At the close of the war, he returned to Massachusetts, and, with
the aid of his brother who had been engaged in the shoe business
with the T. E. Mosely Company, opened a factory at Quincy. This
plant enlarged rapidly until the Graham Shoe was known far and
wide. It is still manufactured, Mr. Graham's sons carrying on the
business.
In 1887, the Quincy Street Railway Company had fallen upon
very difiScult times. Mr. Graham undertook its reorganization
and was more than successful. He became recognized as an able
street railway man, and was consulted as such by men far and
near. At this same time he became interested in electric lighting
in connection with the street railway.
He was appointed one of the members of the first Rapid Tran-
sit Commission in Massachusetts in 1893. This was a source of
some gratification in later years. When the Quincy and Boston
Street Railway Company was taken over by the Brockton Street
Railway Company, he was elected General Manager of the latter
JOHN EGBERT GEAHAM
corporation. From 1898 to 1901, he was the 2nd Vice President
of the Boston & Northern and Old Colony Street Railways, later
merged into the Bay State Street Railway Co.
In May, 1892, upon his return from a trip to Europe, he re-
ceived a pressing invitation from the President of the General
Electric Company to investigate the condition of the Public Works
Company of Bangor, Maine. This company was the first in New
England to run electric cars and second only to Richmond, Vir-
ginia, in the country.
So impressed was he with the possibilities of the city that upon
his return to Boston, he took an option from the General Electric
Company for the purchase of the control of the Public Works Com-
pany, and which he later took up, after he had demonstrated the
possibilities of the system.
In 1905 he interested New York and Philadelphia capital, and
it was in that year that the Bangor Railway and Electric Company
was organized, and took over all the railway, light and water de-
partments of the old Company. He became President and General
Manager.
So well was his work done that even while carrying a vast im-
provement enterprise, his company from a no-dividend basis earned
and paid regularly its 7 per cent, annually. So great was the con-
fidence of his fellow directors, that whatever plan he proposed,
they were ready to finance.
In addition to this great work, he instigated the building of
the Lewiston, WaterviUe, and Augusta trolley line through a sec-
tion of territory that had before enjoyed no electric traction fa-
cilities. He was instrumental in taking over the syndicate of the
Portland Street Railway Company which became the Cumberland
County Power and Light Company, with several plants and a large
business. He also constructed the Fairfield and Shawmut Street
Railway. The Penobscot Central Railway from Bangor to Charles-
ton was taken over by his company February 1, 1907, rehabilitated,
and brought to a paying basis. The Hampden Street Railway was
acquired about this same time.
Besides his street railway improvements, Mr. Graham was a
Director of the Merrill Trust Company of Bangor and of the Union
Trust Company of Ellsworth. He was President of the Bangor
Power Company and of the Orono Water Company, of the Bar
JOHN KOBEET GRAHAM
Harbor and Union River Power Company, and of the Graham
Realty Company. Through this latter company he instigated large
improvements in the erection of fine ofiSce and business biiild-
ings in his adopted city. Indeed, he showed himself a public-spir-
ited citizen in every way.
Mr. Graham was a Republican in politics and was a member
of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He found much recreation
in riding behind a spirited horse. When he was the owner of a
stock farm in Kentucky, no blooded horses had better records than
his. He owned, at one time, the famous stallion, Constantine. He
took great interest in light harness racing and was one of the orig-
inators of the ReadviUe Race Track.
For a number of years he fought ill health and went twice to
California. In 1913 he visited the Azores, Italy, and other parts
of Europe. All through his life Mr. Graham was a great reader.
Mr. Graham was twice married, his second wife surviving him.
He first married Miss Mary Eliza Brooks, daughter of James T.
and Maria A. (Brooks) Penniman, granddaughter of Stephen, Jr.,
and Relief (Thayer) Penniman, and of Thomas and Eliza (Thayer)
Brooks, and a descendant from James Penniman who came from
England to Boston on the Lyon in 1631. There were eleven chil-
dren of whom the following survive: Robert; Clara, now Mrs.
F. E. Jones of Quincy; John; Edith, now the widow of Walter
L. Sawtelle; Mary, now Mrs. Perley Barbour of Quincy; Annie,
now Mrs. Elmer Ricker of Quincy; Harold who is now a Director
of the Graham Realty Company; Lester; Beatrice; and Edward
M., who has been connected with his father in his Bangor inter-
ests and succeeded him in the management of all the companies in
which he was actively engaged.
Although never exploiting his charities, Mr. Graham was a
generous giver. He was a noble father, a devoted husband, and a
patriotic citizen.
^
ROBERT GRANT
PATRICK GRANT, the grandfather of Robert, was the sixth
of seven sons of John Grant, of Leith, Scotland, who was
himself the son of Patrick Grant, of Kirkmichael, Banffshire,
of the Grants of Clan Allan, and branch of Auchernach, their an-
cestor being Sir Allan Grant, youngest son of Sir John Grant, of
Grant, who founded the house of Auchernach at the end of the fif-
teenth century. The grandfather of Robert was bom in Scotland,
July 25, 1777, and came to America about 1800 and married Anna
Powell Mason, a daughter of Jonathan Mason, who was United
States Senator from Massachusetts a little more than a hundred
years ago.
This Patrick Grant died November 20, 1812, leaving a son of
the same name, born March 17, 1809 (St. Patrick's day), who be-
came a prominent Boston merchant and died October 7, 1895. He
was the father of Robert Grant, whose mother was Charlotte Bord-
man, daughter of Henry Gardner Rice, formerly of "West Brook-
field, Massachusetts, but later a resident of Boston.
Young Robert Grant attended a private school until he was ten
years of age, and then for six years was a member of the famed
Boston Latin School, where he graduated as a Franklin medal
scholar in 1869.
He immediately entered Harvard, graduating with an A.B.
degree in 1873. He took a post-graduate course in Philology and
obtained his Ph.D. in 1876, and graduated at the Law School in
1879. He was admitted to the Bar in Boston at that time and
commenced the practice of his profession. While still at the Law
School he began his successful literary career, publishing in the
Harvard Lampoon "The Little Tin God on Wheels," a taking sa-
tire on society in verse.
He had been the poet of his class, and while in the Law School
was one of the editors of the Harvard Lampoon. Ever since his
first venture in the literary field he has wielded a busy pen, and be-
sides the many novels, stories, and sketches published in book form
he has been a contributor, both in prose and verse, to the Century,
ROBERT GRANT
Scribner's, and other standard magazines. His keen and dramatic
portrayal of the virtues and limitations, the fads, fancies, and jeal-
ousies, of Boston "society," as somewhat lengthily but charmingly
described in ' ' The Chippendales, ' ' his last published novel, is a fair
sample of the pungency and wit of the author and of the very able
manner in which he clothes the people of his imagination. Prob-
ably the most original and best known of his novels is "Unleavened
Bread, ' ' in the heroine of which, Selma White, he relentlessly por-
trays a certain type of aspiring but crude and shallow American
A chronological list of Mr. Grant's works comprises: "The
Little Tin God on Wheels" (verse), 1879; "The Confessions of a
Frivolous Girl," 1880; "The Lambs" (verse), 1882; "Yankee
Doodle" (verse), 1883; "An Average Man," 1883; "The Knave
of Hearts," 1885; "The Oldest School in America" (verse), 1885;
"A Eomantic Young Lady," 1886; "Face to Face," 1886; "Jack
Hall" (juvenile) , 1887 ; "Jack in the Bush" (juvenile) , 1888 ; "The
Carletons," 1891; "The Reflections of a Married Man," 1892;
"The Opinions of a Philosopher," 1893; "The Bachelor's Christ-
mas, and Other Stories," 1895; "The Art of Living," 1895;
"Search Light Letters," 1899; "Unleavened Bread," 1900; "The
Undercurrent," 1904; "The Orchid," 1905; "The Law Breakers,"
1906; "The Chipendales, " 1909; "The Convictions of a Grand-
father," 1912; "The High Priestess," 1916.
Also, in conjunction with John Boyle O'Reilly, F. J. Stimson,
and J. T. Wheelright, "The King's Men," in 1884.
Mr. Grant's works, the salient characteristics of which are satire
and humor, are very popular with American readers of fiction, and
many of his books have been republished in England.
He delivered the Phi Beta Kappa poem before the alumni of
Harvard University in June, 1883, and was elected an honorary
member of that society.
He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters,
a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and a fellow of
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; and of the Somerset,
Tavern, and Country clubs, of Boston. He is a Unitarian in re-
ligious belief, and is fond of golf and salmon fishing.
In 1883 Mr. Grant was appointed water commissioner of Boston
to fill a vacancy, and was reappointed the following year and served
ROBEKT GRANT
as chairman of the board until, in 1893, he was nominated by Qav-
emor William E. Russell a Judge of the Courts of Probate and In-
solvency for the county of Suffolk. Since the retirement of the late
Judge TMcBam he has served with entire satisfaction to all as the
First Judge of these courts.
Judge Grant was elected an overseer of Harvard University in
1895, and still enjoys that honorable distinction.
Mr. Grant was married in Montreal, Canada, July 3, 1883, to
Amy Gordon, daughter of Sir Alexander T. Gait, G. C. M. G., and
Amy Gordon (Torrance) Gait, and granddaughter of John Gait,
the Scotch novelist, and his wife Elizabeth Tilloch Gait.
Judge and Mrs. Grant have four children: Robert (A.B. Har-
vard, 1906) ; Alexander Gait (A.B. Harvard, 1907) ; Patrick (A.B.
Harvard, 1908) ; and Gordon, born 1892.
It was Bulwer who wrote, "The man who succeeds above his
fellows is the one who, in early life, clearly discerns his object, and
towards that object habitually directs his powers. Even genius
itself is but fine observation strengthened by fixity of purpose.
Every man who observes vigilantly and resolves steadfastly grows
unconsciously into genius."
Judge Grant wrote especially for this work, the following words
of advice to young people: —
"Absolute honesty both towards others and towards one's self
seems to me the fundamental trait in the building of character;
and, as helpmates to this, one should cultivate tenacity of purpose,
a receptive, not a hidebound mind, fearlessness of spirit, and joy
in living, tempered by observance of the old Greek motto 'Nothing
overmuch.' If one is bom with a sense of humor, so much the
better. ' '
HORACE GRAY
HORACE GRAY was bom on the 24th of March, 1828, in
Boston. He died at Nahant, Mass., September 15, 1902.
He was the son of Horace and Harriet (Upham) Gray, both
of whom came from illustrious families.
His mother's father, Jabez Upham of Brookfield, Massachu-
setts, was one of the noted lawyers of his day, although he died at
the early age of forty-six. Harriet Upham was a woman of rare
loveliness of disposition, who exercised a lasting influence upon the
character of her son, although she died when he was a mere boy.
Horace Gray's grandfather, William Gray, was a man of note.
He was the largest shipowner in the country. Sixty square-rigged
vessels sailed the sea in his service, and he was among the most
successful merchants of his day. He was a man of wit also, and by
his marriage with Elizabeth Chipman became connected with a
family which counted several learned jurists among its sons.
Mrs. Gray's brother was a judge of the Supreme Court of New
Brunswick, and his son became Chief Justice of the same Court.
One son of "William and Elizabeth Gray, Francis Calley Gray,
was an accomplished scholar, to whose learning and research was
due the recovery of the manuscript of "The Body of Liberties" of
Massachusetts; a code of laws never printed for fear of being dis-
covered and suppressed by the Royal Councillors, but privately
passed about from town to town of the Commonwealth. Francis
Gray was among the large benefactors of Harvard College. His
brother Horace, first of the name, was a wealthy manufacturer. In
such a home, with such traditions of riches and intellectual attain-
ments, Horace the second passed a happy boyhood, and when he
was graduated from Harvard College in 1845 and sailed for Eu-
rope, unlimited as to time or means, his plan was to devote his life
to the study of Natural History, for he had already gone far in
Botany and Ornithology.
7^^^
HORACE GRAY
He was only seventeen. Life was opening before him in fairest
colors. But his plans were utterly changed by sudden business
reverses which left his father in comparative poverty.
Horace Gray hastened home and fitted himself for a life of self-
support by a course at the Harvard Law School. The new study
proved absorbingly interesting, and the young man stood high in
his classes. Upon his graduation in 1849, he continued his legal
studies in the offices of John Lowell, afterwards Judge of the United
States District Court, and of Sohier & Welch. Two years later he
was admitted to the Suffolk Bar.
Soon after this a great opportunity came to Horace Gray. He
was asked by Mr. Luther S. Gushing, who was out of health, to
take his place on the circuit as Reporter of Decisions for the
Massachusetts Supreme Court. To do the required work with the
necessary accuracy and skill was no slight task for so inexperienced
a man; but he did this and more. He interested himself in the
cases on trial, and often brought to the attention of some noted
lawyer arguing before the Court just the case he wanted to prove
his point. Mr. Gray's memory was phenomenal, and he seemed to
find by intuition the citation for which he was looking.
In this way he came to be known and liked by the foremost law-
yers of the time; and when Mr. Gushing died most of these men
recommended Mr. Gray for the position. It was a post of honor
which many a man of assured rank in his profession would have
been glad to take; and Horace Gray was only twenty -six; but he
received the appointment and held the office for seven years, from
1854 to 1861, during which time he wrote sixteen volumes of
Reports.
In 1857 he entered into a partnership with Ebenezer Rockwood
Hoar and Edward Bangs, an arrangement which was terminated
by the appointment of Mr. Hoar to the Supreme Court two years
after.
Mr. Gray was entrusted with some very important eases and
had learned and brilliant counsel opposed to him, but met with a
great measure of success. In 1864, he was appointed an Associate
Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, the youngest judge
ever appointed to that Court. In 1873, he was advanced to the
Chief Justiceship in the same Court.
His decisions were remarkable for the historical learning shown
HORACE GRAY
and also for their original wisdom and good sense, and for the skill
with which he discerned the truth underneath a mass of conflicting
testimony.
During the seventeen years that Judge Gray sat upon this
Bench, he wrote but one dissenting opinion, showing a surprising
harmony among the justices, or, as he was a man very tenacious
of his carefuUy formed opinions, that he had considerable power
of influencing his associates.
In 1881, the death of Mr. Justice Clifford made a vacancy on
the Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge
Gray was mentioned as a fitting person to fill it. It was a promo-
tion desired by him, but when Judge Hoar, his former partner,
asked him to say what he considered the best and most important
of the opinions delivered by him as Chief Justice in Massachusetts,
Judge Gray, divining that the information was to be used in
advancing his cause with the President, declined to give it. He
would not seem to work for the place. It must be offered
unsolicited.
The appointment was made by President Arthur in the fall of
1881, and Horace Gray passed from the Supreme Bench of Massa-
chusetts to the place of Associate Justice on the Supreme Bench of
the United States. His great learning, his calm, judicial mind and
long years of experience fitted him for marked usefulness in this
exalted position, which his noble and commanding presence
adorned. He devoted all his powers to doing well the important
work of his ofSce, and so succeeded that it has been said of him
that he ranks with Marshall, Story and Curtis, and with Miller
and Bradley, among the greatest judges in the history of the Su-
preme Court of the United States.
There are few men so fortunate as to attain to their highest
ambition, and to leave life at a good and ripe age but with unabated
powers. Such was the happy fate of Mr. Justice Gray. Life had
held many honors and joys for him but the last years were the
best.
On the fourth of June, 1889, he married Jane, daughter of
Justice Stanley Matthews, one of his associates in the Supreme
Court.
Hon. George Frisbie Hoar said of him:
"I am sure there can be no exaggeration when I say what so
HORACE GRAY
many men of the first excellence, who know whereof they speak,
men eminent upon the bench and at the bar of the United States
and of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have said since his
death. He took his place easily among the great judges of the
world. He so bore himself in his great office as to command the
approbation of his countrymen of all sections and of all parties.
He was every inch a judge. He maintained the dignity of his
office everywhere. He endeared himself to a large circle of friends
at the national capital and at home in Massachusetts by his elegant
and gracious hospitality. His life certainly was fortunate. The
desire of his youth was fulfilled. From the time when, more than
fifty years ago, he devoted himself to his profession, until his
death, there was no moment when he did not regard the office of a
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States as not only the
most attractive but also the loftiest of human occupations. He
devoted himself to that with a single purpose. He sought no pop-
ularity or fame by any other path. Certainly, certainly, his life
was fortunate. It lasted to a good old age. But the summons
came for him when his eye was not dimmed nor his natural force
abated. He drank of the cup of the waters of life while it was
sweetest and clearest, and was not left to drink it to the dregs. He
was fortunate also, almost beyond the lot of humanity, in that by
a rare felicity the greatest joy of youth came to him in an advanced
age. Everything that can make life honorable, everything that
can make life happy — honor, success, the consciousness of useful-
ness, the regard of his countrymen, and the supremest delight of
family life — all were his. His countrymen take leave of him as
another of the great and stately figures in the long and venerable
procession of American judges."
JOHN CHIPMAN GRAY
JOHN CHIPMAN GRAY was born at Nonatum Hill, Brigh-
ton, Massachusetts, July 14, 1839. He died at his house in
Boston, February 25, 1915. He was a son of Horace and
Sarah Russell (Gardner) Gray, and his paternal grandparents
were William and Elizabeth (Chipman) Gray. "William Gray,
who died in 1825, was a merchant and amassed a considerable for-
tune, owning at one time some sixty square-rigged vessels which he
employed in the carrying trade. He was a prominent citizen of
Salem and Boston, a State Senator and served as Lieutenant-Gov-
ernor of Massachusetts 1810-11. His wife, Elizabeth Chipman,
was noted and beloved because of her generosity and her efforts
to better the condition of the poor.
John Chipman Gray's father, Horace Gray, was a man of wealth
and culture. He graduated at Harvard College in 1819, and was
a zealous and active advocate of whatever tended to advance the
public good. He died in 1873. His two older brothers, Francis
Calley Gray, Harvard 1809 (died 1856), and John Chipman Gray,
Harvard 1811 (died 1881), made generous gifts and bequests to
Harvard College and one of the College buildings was named
Gray's Hall in their honor. Horace Gray's wife was the daughter
of Samuel Pickering Gardner, a graduate of Harvard in the class
of 1786. He died in 1843.
John Chipman Gray graduated with honors at Harvard in
1859, and entered the Harvard Law School, receiving his LL.B.
in 1861. He was admitted to the Suffolk Bar, September 18, 1862.
A little later he enlisted as a Second Lieutenant in the 41st Mass-
achusetts Volunteer Infantry and served until the close of the
war. He was aide-de-camp on the staff of Major-General George
H. Gordon, and in 1864 was appointed Major and Judge Advocate,
serving on the staffs of Major-Generals John G. Foster and Quincy
A. Gilmore. Resigning his commission at the close of the war, he
returned to Boston and began the active practice of law, having as
partner John Codman Ropes.
John Chipman Gray's broad and comprehensive legal knowledge
and his ability to impart it to students were early recognized by
his Alma Mater, and he had been in active practice only four years
before Harvard called him to lecture at the Law School. He was
lecturer there during the academic year 1869-70 and also from
CA^^
JOHN CHIPMAN GRAY
1871 to 1874. In 1875 he was appointed Story Professor of Law
at the Harvard Law School and held the position eight years. In
1883 he was promoted to the Royall professorship where he served
for nearly twenty years, resigning the chair in January, 1913,
because of iU health and advancing years. At a meeting of the
President and Fellows of Harvard College, January 13, 1913, the
resignation of John Chipman Gray as RoyaU Professor of Law,
to take effect February 1, 1913, was received and accepted, and the
following vote of appreciation was passed : ' ' Voted to appoint John
Chipman Gray, Royall Professor of Law, Emeritus, from February
1, 1913."
On the law of real property Professor Gray was regarded as the
leading authority in the United States, and his knowledge of the
subject of perpetuities was unrivalled. His well-trained mind,
good judgment, literary talent, intellectuality, and ceaseless in-
dustry, combined with his profound legal knowledge and unswerv-
ing integrity and loyalty, made him invaluable, not only as a
teacher, but also as a counsellor and advocate, and placed him in
the front rank of the most able and eminent members of the Bos-
ton Bar. Both Harvard and Yale paid homage to his worth by
confirming upon him the degree of LL.D. ; Yale College in 1894, and
Harvard in 1895.
In January, 1912, his name was added to that list of brilliant
and eminent sons of Harvard who have served their Ahna Mater
as President of the Harvard Alumni Association. He was elected
by the directors of the Association, January 18, 1912, and served
during the year.
Professor Gray's literary ability was well known, especially
to the legal profession. The American Law Review was edited
by him and his partner, John C. Ropes, during the first four years
of its existence; and besides many valuable articles in legal maga-
zines he was the author of three standard law works, published
between 1883 and 1892: "Restraints on Alienation of Prop-
erty" (1883), "The Rule Against Perpetuities" (1886), and "Col-
lections of Select Cases on Property" (1888-1892), in six vol-
umes. In 1895 he revised and republished his work "Restraints on
Alienation." A series of lectures on Jurisprudence delivered at
the Columbia Law School were published by Columbia in 1909 un-
der the title "Nature and Sources of the Law." He completed his
third edition of "The Rule Against Perpetuities," just before his
death.
JOHN CHIPMAN GRAY
John Chipman Gray married, June 4, 1873, Anna S. L. Mason,
daughter of Rev. Charles Mason, D.D., and granddaughter of Hon.
Jeremiah Mason. They had two children: a daughter, Eleanor
L. Gray, married to Henry D. Tudor; and a son, Roland Gray,
who graduated at Harvard in 1895 and from the Law School in
1898, and is now a member of the firm of Ropes, Gray, Gorham
and Perkins.
In addition to the large amount of literary work Professor Gray
accomplished, and the manifold and arduous duties he performed
as counsellor, advocate, and teacher, Mr. Gray filled positions of
honor and trust in the business world, as follows : Director of the
Boston and Providence Railroad, Vice-President of the Provident
Institution for Savings, Vice-President of the Massachusetts Hos-
pital Life Insurance Company, Trustee of the Boston Museum of
Fine Arts, and member of the corporations of the Boston Ath-
enaeum and the Social Law Library.
He was a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the
American Academy (of which he had been a Vice-President), the
Massachusetts Military Historical Society of Boston, the Military
Order of the Loyal Legion, the American Bar Association, and the
Bar Association of the City of Boston.
The quality that contributed much to Mr. Gray's ability as a
teacher was his power to inspire in countless students such en-
thusiasm for their work that many of them are grateful to him
to this day. In all of his relationships, as citizen, as lawyer, as
teacher, he was a wise friend and an able adviser. Among the
many tributes to his memory Major Henry L. Higginson said of him
at the time of his funeral :
"How peaceful and soothing is the farewell service over a
man who has lived his life well and for the good of his fellows —
a man who from his early years has sought and found the truth,
has spoken it firmly and kindly, and has won his clear vision by
seeking the really great objects and forgetting himself. In this
man the world has a jewel of the first water.
"Such was John Gray. In his death our country has met a
great loss, and in his memory has kept a real treasure. He was a
brilliant scholar, gifted with a mind which was large, clear, keen,
receptive, and which was well trained in his college days. He
read widely, and to the end of his life remembered accurately what
he had read. Added to these qualities he had very unusual com-
JOHN CHIPMAN GRAY
mon sense, and also a kindly feeling towards mankind. It was a
very well-balanced nature.
"In 'the Civil War he had a varied and excellent record as
an army officer, and was noticed as such by General Sherman.
After the war he, with John Ropes, took up the practice of the
law, and as years went on his standing at the bar became high —
none higher. It is to be noted that the best lawyers looked up
to him and prized him highly. He taught generations of young
men at the Harvard Law School, and drew iato his office one stu-
dent after another as partner. When, through ill health, he was
forced to give up his lectures at Cambridge, the school felt his
loss keenly ; but his wealth of knowledge and his power of impart-
ing this knowledge, together with his courteous ways towards his
fellows and his students, have left their mark.
"To his friends who respected and loved him, his death is a
heavy blow, for they had always depended on him. If we wanted
advice or help in any matter whatsoever, we turned to John Gray,
and his counsel was of the best and was final; and his sympathy
was as ready as his advice. By the force of his knowledge, of his
mind, and of his spirit, he could put an object before his eyes,
look at it from all sides, and really see it. Whether asked to con-
sider a good or a foolish action, he would listen, and then give
his judgment and his help. This power over facts and over us
came from a fine miud well stored and working easily, simply,
surely, and from a spirit pure and noble.
"All these gifts were his, and when sweetened by a steady,
warm affection were a great blessing to his friends.
"John Gray was a delightful companion, and clung to his
friends as they did to him. He shrank from public honors and
high positions offered to him, for he liked best large, earnest work,
and was deeply interested in the real, essential things of life — and
he put aside the rest.
"A reader of these words may say, 'You picture your friend as
a perfect man.' Perhaps so, but this may well be said of him. He
was a true, simple gentleman of the highest quality, such as is
rarely seen and never forgotten. Throughout his life -we, his
friends, have known well our treasure, have loved him. and have
watched his contented, quiet life as he faded away. We, too, are
content, are deeply grateful for his life and for his happy memory. ' '
CHARLES PRENTISS HALL 1
GEORGE HALL and his wife Mary migrated from Devonshire,
England, in 1635 and settled in Raynham, in Plymouth
Colony.
Among their descendants was Seth Hall who moved from Rayn-
ham to Westmoreland, New Hampshire, in 1792, where he purchased
a large farm which has remained in the Hall family until the present
generation. At that time his son Gains, born in June, 1780, was
twelve years of age. He succeeded to the possession of the home-
stead, married Lucinda Balch, and died at the age of ninety-four
years.
His son, Gaius K. Hall, inherited the ancestral acres; he cared
for the old people, as an honest, hard-working Christian yeoman
should. He married Mary, daughter of Joseph and Anna (Knight)
Fuller. Robert Fuller came from England and became a freeman of
Salem colony in 1658. He afterward moved to Rehoboth. Joseph,
sixth generation from Robert, was born in Wrentham July 30, 1779,
and married Anna Knight of Worcester January 30, 1803. Gaius
K. died April 6, 1863.
At this old homestead was bom, November 2, 1838, to Gaius
K. and Mary (Fuller) Hall, a son whom they named Charles Prentiss,
and he is the subject of this sketch.
Nurtured, cared for, and guided by a loved mother, he was led
in moral and spiritual ways by influences which had lasting effect
in the formation of his habits of life. The boy attended the district
school, worked on the farm out of school hours, until he was sixteen
years of age, and says that he has been thankful ever since for the
training which it gave him. When he became sixteen he undertook
to care for and educate himself, and entered the Kimball Union
Academy at Meriden, New Hampshire, where he graduated in July,
1859.
He was of studious habit and much interested in Uterarj' and
historical reading. Preferring to follow teaching as a profession, he
w/t.^<y^//^ {j_<j¥^cCi
CHARLES PRENTISS HALL
determined to "go west" and emigrated to Southwestern Mis-
souri, twenty miles beyond Springfield, in the Ozark range of
mountains. Here he secured employment as a teacher, and helped
the workmen to finish a new log schoolhouse. For this he con-
structed a blackboard, the first the people of that section had ever
seen.
The war was approaching, sectional feeling was rampant and the
people were suspicious that the "Yankee teacher" was an Abolition-
ist, so his school opened with but twelve pupils, but at its close had
sixty-five. The next year he had the school at Ozark, the county
seat of Christian County. Four of his old boys followed him. As
the war spirit increased the people became divided, causing a most
trying situation along the border lines.
Soon "Claib" Jackson, governor of Missouri, fled, taking with him
all the school money, and on May 17, 1861, Mr. Hall's school of
eighty-five pupils was closed. Within four months sixteen of his
boys were in the Union army and nine had joined the Confederate
forces. When his school closed there was but one other known
Union man in the town. The " Yankee teacher" was warned to leave
the town within a certain time, but he was detained a few days,
and then got an old Rebel friend to secretly convey him to Spring-
field, where he could take the stage. On a visit to Ozark after the
war, he was told that plans had been laid "to string him up" on the
next night after his escape.
During the next year he was upon the old home farm, teaching
during the winter in Dublin, New Hampshire. The following August
he enlisted in the 14th Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers. At
the request of the governor he took out recruiting papers and took
with him into Company A, twenty-eight men. He was elected first
lieutenant of the company and served in that capacity until Febru-
ary, 1864, v/hen he was promoted to be captain. The first service
of the regiment was guarding Maryland from invasion by Mosby's
guerrillas. The regiment was ordered into Washington in April,
1863, where for nine months they did guard duty under the miUtary
governor. For six months Lieutenant Hall was detailed for special
duty as commander of an "Invalid Detachment" consisting of about
650 men in the larger hospitals about the city who were able to do
light duty, but not yet ready to be returned to their own regiments,
at the front. He was required to make daily reports to the military
CHARLES PRENTISS HALL
governor of his doings, and of the men sent to their regiments when
pronomiced fit by the surgeons.
In March, 1864, the regiment took steamer in New York for
New Orleans, suffering severely in a storm off Cape Hatteras. It
was too late to join in the Red River expedition under General
Banks, which had been intended, and in July it was returned to
Washington and sent to join Sheridan in his famous campaign in the
Shenandoah valley. They had their first battle "the Opequan,"
when Sheridan in an all-day fight sent the enemy "whirling up the
valley." The regiment suffered terribly, losing thirteen officers
out of twenty in the first half hour's fighting. Captain Hall was in
command of the color company and all the officers above him were
either killed or wounded and the command of the regiment fell upon
him for the rest of the day.
Three days after — September 22 — they defeated the Confed-
erates at Fisher's Hill, and followed them nearly to Staunton. Re-
turning to Cedar Creek, they defeated Early on the 19th of October,
in the battle which began "with Sheridan twenty miles away." Cap-
tain Hall led his color company all through this famous campaign.
The following January the regiment was sent to Savannah and
on March 5 Captain Hall was sent with a detachment of his regi-
ment to take command of Fort Pulaski, guarding the mouth of the
Savannah river, where he remained until Jime, when the regiment
prepared to return home, being mustered out at Concord, July 28,
1865. While in command of the fort many important events
occurred which required notice — as the surrender of Lee, and the
death of Lincoln. Over 2,000 pounds of powder was expended in
firing salutes. Two himdred guns were fired on the day of mourn-
ing for the lamented president.
One night he was awakened by a sentinel who reported that an
officer had arrived with an order from the Secretary of War turning
over to his care Confederate Secretary of War Siddons, R. M. T.
Hunter, and former U. S. Senator Campbell of Virginia, as prisoners
of war. They were given the liberty of the fort in the daytime, but
were under guard at night. During this time he was also honored
with a call from Secretary Chase of Lincoln's cabinet, who, taking
his hand when about to go on board of his steamer, said, "Captain,
when you write home, tell them you have had a New Hampshire
boy to see you,"
CHARLES PRENTISS HALL
During his long experience as teacher and superintendent of
schools, Mr. Hall was a prominent participator in teachers' conven-
tions, in Illinois, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts,
and sometimes in other states. He was for a time president of the
State Teachers' Association of New Hampshire. He is now Com-
mander of the Ozro Miller Grand Army Post, No. 93, at Shelbume
Falls, Massachusetts.
He was principal of the high school at Granville, lUinois, from
1865 to 1870; head assistant of the high school at Princeton, Illinois,
1870-1878; principal of the high school at Hinsdale, New Hamp-
shire, 187^1889; superintendent of the schools of Windham county,
Vermont, 1889-1891; superintendent at Winchendon, Massachu-
setts, 1891-1893; superintendent at Shelburne Falls, Massachu-
setts, 1893-1908.
Captain Hall was a Republican in politics and a Congregational-
ist in religion. His relaxation from business took the form of work
in his garden. He was also librarian of the public library. He
married, October 11, 1865, Lucia, daughter of William and Eliza
(Dorr) Kimball, granddaughter of Eliphalet and Belinda (Ripley)
Kimball, and a descentant of Richard Kimball, who came from
Ipswich, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in May, 1634.
They had five children, of whom four are living. Jesse F. is
manager for the New England Telephone Company, at New Bedford;
Edward K. is a member of the law firm of Powers and Hall, in Boston;
Howard W. is manager of the Richmond, Va., division of the West-
ern Electric Company; Mary Lucia, the only daughter, is a teacher.
Captain Hall recommended to young Americans, " Temperance,
honesty, industry, and a moral and religious life."
Captain Hall died at his winter home in Winter Park, Florida,
on December 1, 1915.
EDWARD KIMBALL HALL
EDWARD KIMBALL HALL was bom in GranvUle, lUinois,
July 9, 1870, the son of Charles Prentiss Hall, born in West-
moreland, New Hampshire, November 2, 1838, and Lucia
Cotton Kimball, bom in Comish, New Hampshire, September 21,
1836.
His paternal grandparents were Gaius Keith Hall, bom Feb-
ruaxy 10, 1814, died April 15, 1863, and Mary Fuller, bom Oc-
tober 12, 1814, died July 21, 1858. His mother's parents were
William R. Kimball, bom March, 1791, and Eliza Dresser Dorr.
His father was a captain in the Civil War, serving three years.
He taught school twenty-seven years in Illinois and New Hamp-
shire, and was a Superintendent of Schools in Massachusetts for
eighteen years.
Mr. Hall is in the tenth generation from George and Mary Hall,
who came from Devonshire, England, to Taunton, Massachusetts,
in 1635, and in the fifth generation from Seth Hall, who moved
from Taunton to Westmoreland, New Hampshire, in 1792. Several
of the Halls served in the Revolutionary War. He is fifth genera-
tion from William and Lydia Ripley, who are descendants of Elder
William Brewster through one line, and of Governor William Brad-
ford through two lines of descent.
He came east with his parents when he was eight years of age
to Hinsdale, New Hampshire. From the Hinsdale High School
he went to the St. Johnsbury Academy, from which he was gradu-
ated in 1888. Entering Dartmouth College he became interested
in all branches of college activity. He was captain of the foot-
ball team, of the track athletic team, and a member of the base-
ball team, being one of the few athletes who has gained a "D" in
all three branches of sport. He was a member of the Delta Kappa
Epsilon Fraternity and of the Casque and Gauntlett Senior So-
ciety. His standing in scholarship was recognized by election to
membei-ship in the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
He was graduated from Dartmouth in 1892 and after two
years as an instructor at the University of Illinois, he entered the
Law School of Harvard University. Here he was an editor of
the Harvard Law Review, and was graduated in 1896. He prac-
ticed law in Scranton, Pennsylvania, for one year and a half, when
a^
EDWAKD KIMBALL HALL
he came to Boston to be associated with Samuel L. Powers, Esq.
This relationship in the practice of law grew into the firm of
Powers^ Hall and Jones, and later that of Powers and Hall. In
1912, Mr. Hall was made Vice-President in charge of public rela-
tions of the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company.
Mr. Hall was a member of the First Corps of Cadets of Massa-
chusetts for three years. He has been actively interested in the
civic affairs of the city of Newton, ajid in 1906 and 1907 served
on the Board of Aldermen of that city. He is President of the
Berkeley Infirmary, First Vice-President and a member of the
Board of Directors of the Boston Chamber of Commerce (1915),
a member of the Board of Governors of the Boston City Club,
and President of the Dartmouth Alumni Association (1912). In
1898 he became a member of the Dartmouth Alumni Council and
has since that time been very active in all matters concerning Dart-
mouth athletics. He was President of the Council for several
years, retiring in 1910. He was Chairman of the Committee
which raised the alumni fund for the erection of the new Gym-
nasium at Dartmouth. He is a Trustee of the college.
Mr. Hall became a member of the American Intercollegiate
Football Rules Committee at the time when the demand for a re-
vision of the rules in the interests of safety became widespread.
He served as Secretary of the Committee for three years and later
he became its Chairman, which office he now holds (1915). For
many years he was an official in the important intercollegiate foot-
ball games.
He is an ardent fly fisherman and has a considerable collection
of big game trophies. His annual vacation is spent in the woods
of Maine.
He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Boston Bar
Association, the Economic Club of Boston, the Massachusetts Re-
publican Club, the Dartmouth Club of Boston, the Boston Chamber
of Commerce, the Camp Fire Club of America, the Brae Bum
Country Club, the Tennis and Racquet Club, the Newton Club, the
Boston City Club, and the Exchange Club.
He was married July 1, 1902, to SaUy Maynard, daughter of
Irving Webster Drew and Caroline Hatch Merrill, granddaughter
of Amos Webster Drew and Julia Esther Lovering, and of Sher-
burne Royal Merrill and Sarah Blackstone Merrill. They have
three children : Dorothy, Richard Drew, and Edward Kimball, Jr.
FRANK OSGOOD HARDY
FRANK OSGOOD HARDY was bom in Fitehburg, Massa-
chusetts, September 13, 1870. His father was William
Augustus Hardy, bom June 12, 1837; died July 4, 1912;
son of Sylvander W. Hardy, bom February 25, 1814, and died
April 10, 1850. His mother was Harriet Maria Adams, bom in
Ashbumham, Massachusetts, February 18, 1840; died August 14,
1877 ; whose father was John Adams, bom April 7, 1803, and died
January 27, 1881.
Thomas Hardy was one of the twelve first settlers of Ipswich,
Massachusetts, in 1633. John Hardy came to Salem in 1637 ; and,
in his sermon at Bradford, Rev. Mr. Perry records that John and
"WiUiam Hardy came to New England with Governor Winthrop
and later settled at Ipswich. Eight young men of the name of
Hardy had been graduated from Dartmouth College before 1828.
Henry Ad£ims came from Devonshire, England, in 1650, and
settled in Cambridge. Of the many who bore the name of Henry
Adams who came from Devonshire between 1630 and 1650, it ia
difficult to make sure of the identical man; but for the Henry
Adams who is spoken of by Alden and others, and who died Oc-
tober 8, 1646, John Adams, his descendant, and the President after-
wards, had a monument erected in Quincy, and in the inscription
ia the following: "In memory of Henry Adams, who took flight
from the Dragon persecution in Devonshire, England, and alighted
with eight sons near Mount WoUaston. . . . One only, Joseph, who
lies here at his left hand, remained here, who was an original pro-
prietor in the township of Braintree, incorporated in 1639."
Henry, another son, removed to Medfield, in 1649, and was, for long,
town clerk, and represented his borough for many years, between
1659 and 1675. Increase Mather says he was, while Lieutenant in
King Philip's "War, shot down at his own door by Indians, Febru-
ary 21, 1676; and his wife was not long after accidentally killed
by an Englishman.
Mr. Hardy passed through the common schools of Fitehburg,
and was a member of High School class of 1888 ; though in the year
preceding he had begun to learn the Brass Foundry business, which
was owned and established in 1863 by his father. Here, on his
completing his school studies, he entered upon the work of his life.
Since the incorporation of this brass foundry business in 1902,
«=^
FRANK OSGOOD HARDY
under the firm name of William A. Hardy and Sons Company, Mr.
Hardy has' been its Treasurer ; and, while making this a growing
institution, he has been called to added duties in wide fields of influ-
ence. He was made a Director in the Fitchburg Safe Deposit
Trust Company in 1901 ; a Trustee of the Worcester North Savings
Institution in 1912; and a Trustee of the Burbank Hospital in
1910 ; and for three years he held the office of assessor of the First
Parish (Unitarian) Church (1907-9). He has held important posi-
tions on the Board of Trade and Merchants' Association.
Mr. Hardy has also been prominent in politics. As an ardent
Republican he served in the Board of Aldermen of Fitchburg in
1908 ; represented the twelfth Worcester District in the House of
Representatives in 1909, 1910, and 1911 and was elected Mayor of
Fitchburg in 1912, re-elected in 1913, and for business reasons
refused the nomination for a third term.
Mr. Hardy is an enthusiastic clubman ; for he has great faith in
not only the social, but the recreative, effect of club life. He is
Vice-President of the Fay Club, President of the Alpine Golf
Club, Member of the First Parish Men 's Club, the Republican Club,
the Watatic Club, the Tatnuek Country Club, the Brae Burn Club,
the Camp Fire Club, and the Massachusetts Forestry Association,
and is on the Board of Directors of several other clubs. He is fond
of hunting, fishing, golfing, motoring, and of farming.
Mr. Hardy was married September 24, 1895, to Miss Bessie F.,
daughter of Sumner S. and Harriet F. (Mann) Lawrence, and
granddaughter of Horace and Hannah (Sheldon) Lawrence, and
Chester and Martha (Adams) Mann. These families were among
the early settlers of Massachusetts. John Lawrence, born in Wis-
sett, England, October 8, 1609, settled in Watertown in 1635 and
was made a freeman in 1637. His wife was Elizabeth and they
had five sons and two daughters, of whom Nathaniel, the second son
bom in 1639, settled in Groton, and was made freeman in 1671
Thomas was admitted freeman in 1638, and died in Hingham,
November 5, 1655. The Manns were descended from Francis Wy-
man, bom in 1621 in West Mill, Herts County, England, and set-
tled in Wobum in 1644. With him, in the same ship, came his
brother John, who also settled in Wobum; among their descend-
ants have been many distinguished men, graduates of Harvard
College, clergymen, physicians, and artists. Mr. and Mrs. Hardy
have two children: Lawrence Adams and Helen.
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS HARDY
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS HARDY, son of Sylvester W.
Hardy and Mary Batchelder Hardy, was bom in Pep-
perell, Massachusetts, June 12, 1837. He died at Fitch-
burg, Massachusetts, July 4, 1912.
His immigrant ancestor was Thomas Hardy, who came from
England and settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He and his
brother, John, came over with Governor Winthrop, who gave them
land, and they were among the twelve who planted the old settle-
ment of Ipswich on the Essex shore of New England.
William Augustus Hardy attended the schools of Charlestown,
Massachusetts, and Guilford Academy at Laconia, New Hampshire.
After the death of his father, for fovir years he lived on the farm
of his Uncle George Hardy in Nelson, New Hampshire. Then after
learning his trade in Lake Village, New Hampshire, in 1855, he
removed to Fitchburg, which was his home for the remainder of his
life.
He started in the brass foundry business on Water Street, Fitch-
burg, in the early sixties, and the business is still conducted in
approximately the same location. In 1876, in association with
Charles Pinder, he engaged in the screen plate business. Mr.
Hardy patented and made the first cast bronze screen plates, which
have since become widely used in the manufacture of paper and
pulp.
The firm of Hardy and Pinder continued until 1893 when Mr.
Pinder retired. Then Mr. Hardy, under his own name, continued
the business until, with the brass foundry, the whole concern was
incorporated December 13, 1902, as William A. Hardy and Sons
Company, the officers being WiUiam A. Hardy, President ; Walter
A., Vice-President; William C, Secretary; and Frank C, Treas-
urer.
Mr. Hardy was naturally a mechanic, and in addition to patent-
ing screen plates also patented several different styles of Journal
Bearings now extensively used on steam railroads.
'lA'UQ-/^.
Cf^-f^ty
WILLIAM ArGTJSTUS HAKDY
Mr. Hardy was a member of Company D, Fifth Regiment,
Massachusetts Volunteers, and was wounded at Goldsborough, North
Carolina. After the Civil War, he was a member of the Washing-
ton Guards of Fitchburg, and the Boston Light Infantry Veteran
Corps of Boston. He was a member of the Ancient and Honorable
Artillery Company which he joined in 1869. He was a charter
member of Edwin V. Sumner Post No. 19, G. A. R. He was also
a member and Past Noble Grand of Mt. Roulstone Lodge I. 0. 0. F.,
Past Chief of King David Encampment, in whose formation he was
very prominent, a Member of the Nashua Tribe of I. 0. Red Men,
of the Fitchburg Board of Trade, and of the Merchants' Asso-
ciation.
He was a member of the last Board of Selectmen of the Town
of Fitchburg, and after it became a city was a member of the
Common Council, the School Committee, a Trustee of Public Burial
Grounds.
Mr. Hardy's first wife was Harriet F. Adams, who died in
1877. Their children are: Carrie F. (died 1902), who married
Frank H. Ormsby of Boston ; Walter A., and Frank 0. Hardy.
In 1878 Mr. Hardy married Emma A. Sargent, daughter of
James B. and Susan (Daniels) Sargent. Their children are:
Theodore R., William C, George E., and Chester S. Hardy.
Mr. Hardy was an extensive reader and always kept himself
well informed on the topics of the day. He was much interested
in mechanics, history, and astronomy, and devoted much of his
time to the study of questions relating to these subjects.
He was a man thoroughly genuine in his nature and was
possessed of a fine sense of humor. He was never much concerned
with things artificial or superficial, and to merely conventional
ideas or customs he never even gave a thought. Mr. Hardy had
a keen sense of his responsibilities and obligations, and endeavored
to deal fairly with all with whom he came in contact, both in public
and private life.
HENRY HOWARD
HENRY HOWARD, the son of Alonzo P. and Emma G.
(Babcock) Howard, was bom at Jamaica Plain, Massachu-
setts, July 5, 1868. His father was a successful manufac-
turer, and a man of artistic tastes. He was exceedingly fond of
music and composed a considerable number of Christmas and Eas-
ter carols. His grandparents, Benjamin Howard and the Rev.
William R. Babcock, D.D., were men of very marked ability and
character, and his more remote ancestor, John Howard, a native
of Marblehead, figured conspicuously in Colonial affairs in the pre-
revolutionary days. This John Howard was a member of Colonel
Glover's Marblehead regiment which took a prominent part in the
early struggles of the Revolution in and about Boston, and later he
was attached to General Washington's staff.
Although inheriting his father's love and appreciation for
music, the spirit of energetic and enthusiastic leadership has been
rather more dominant in Mr. Howard's character. Like his fa-
ther, he is a manufacturer, but his active impulses have led him
far beyond the field of mere commercial pursuits. His interests
have been in the current problems of the day, and in this regard
he has been a most conspicuous example of what the business man
may do in public life.
Following his father's wishes, after finishing a chemical course
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a stu-
dent with the Class of 1889, he entered the employ of the Merri-
mac Chemical Company as a chemist. Later he became assistant
superintendent, superintendent, and vice-president, which posi-
tion he now holds. As a chemical manufacturer his progress has
been marked with success. He is recognized among the profession
as one of the leading authorities on technical chemistry, to which
he has contributed much by way of discovery and invention. His
activities in organizing the New England section of the Society of
Chemical Industry and his work as Executive Head of the Manu-
facturing Chemists' Association of the United States have made for
him a prominent and leading position among the chemical manu-
facturers of the country. He is also a member of the American
Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society,
and the American Electro Chemical Society.
Public service and public work, however, have had their call
upon his time. Being by instinct and early environment a yachts-
man, he has taken a leading position in yachting circles. His
greatest achievement in this regard was the founding of the inter-
//e-w^^^ ^^4-vv-i?<^->^,K^
HENRY HOWARD
national races with Germany and Spain which have since been
known as the "Sender Class" races. He has properly been called
the "father" of these races. In order to make them possible Mr.
Howard made several trips abroad to secure the necessary co-opera-
tion and support of Emperor William of Germany and King Al-
phonso of Spain, who recognized in these races an opportunity to
promote friendly relations between the respective countries.
The races, commencing in 1907, have more than fulfilled ex-
pectations. In his capacity as chairman of the Regatta Com-
mittee of the Eastern Yacht Club and Chairman of the Joint Com-
mittee of the Eastern and Kaiserlicher Yacht clubs, Mr. Howard
did much to insure the success of these races. Mr. Howard is a
member of the Eastern and New York Yacht clubs in this coun-
try and a member of the Kaiserlicher Yacht Club of Kiel. He is
also an honorary member of the Royal Yacht Club of San Sebastian
of Spain.
Mr. Howard is chairman of the Public Utilities Committee of
the Chamber of Commerce, and a term member of the Corporation
of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to which position he
was chosen by the Alumni of the Institute. He is also a director
and vice-president of the Massachusetts Employees' Insurance As-
sociation, and President of the Boston Dwelling House Company,
which represents a successful undertaking on the part of a number
of leading citizens to better housing conditions in Boston along the
lines of the garden city suburb found in England. He is a Di-
rector in the Metropolitan Trust Company, is Vice-president and
Director of the New England Manufacturing Company, and Chair-
man of the Committee on Foreign Relation of the National Foreign
Trade CouncU, being the representative selected by the Manufac-
turing Chemists' Association of the United States to represent the
chemical industry of the country on this board.
Mr. Howard has been a life-long Republican. He is a mem-
ber of the Episcopal Church and a member of the Corporation of
the Church of our Savior at Longwood.
He was married, September 6, 1896, to Alice Sturtevant, daugh-
ter of Eugene and Mary (Clark) Sturtevant, and granddaughter
of Rt. Rev. Thomas M. Clark, former Bishop of Rhode Island and
late presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States
and Mexico. Mr. and Mrs. Howard have had five children, four
of whom are living, Katharine, Henry Sturtevant, Thomas Clark,
and John Babcock Howard.
Mr. Howard's activities are multifarious, his plans are com-
prehensive, and his efficiency is due to a fine discrimination be-
tween the essential and nonessential.
EDWARD PAYSON HURD
EDWAED PAYSON HUED has been identified with many
of our manufacturing corporations and is still active in the
duties of directorship and high official positions.
He was born in Medway, Massachusetts, June 28, 1841, and is the
son of Julius Curtis Hurd and Rebecca Ann Robinson. The in-
fluence of his mother was particvilarly and strongly impressed on his
character and life.
Educated in the public schools and graduating at the High
School he completed his educational training at the Phillips Andover
Academy. This education he supplemented by reading the stand-
ard books and substantial literature.
In 1857 he commenced his business career in his father's estab-
lishment as a clerk in the accounting department. "When the Civil
War began he enlisted for three years in the Sixteenth Regiment of
Connecticut Volunteers. At one time he was detailed as chief clerk
in Gen. Halleck's Headquarters at Washington and in the Provost
Marshal General's Headquarters in charge until and after the ar-
rival of Gen. Prye from the West, who then assumed charge. But
at his own request and sincere desire he was returned to his com-
pany and regiment. His regiment was stationed at Plymouth,
North Carolina, where he was captured with his company. He was
held as a prisoner of war for eight months, suffering the confine-
ment at Andersonville and many other Southern prisons.
After his return from the war he resumed his business career, at
first with his father and later with Samuel Slater and Sous, manu-
facturers, in Webster, Massachusetts. The subsequent changes in
his business connections showed his adaptability to different kinds
of business and gave him a valuable experience. He was with Stev-
enson Brothers and Co., Importers and Commission Merchants in
New York City and Boston, and with George P. Hall of Boston.
He was successively Discount and Collection clerk and receiving
teller of the Continental National Bank of Boston. Later he was
with the McKay System of Manufacturing Companies; the ]\IcKay
Sewing Machine Association ; the McKay Metallic Association ; the
McKay and Thompson Consolidated Lasting Machine Association;
cind the McKay and Copeland Lasting Machine Association. He
EDWAED PAYSON HURD
was one of the three promoters of the United Shoe Machinery-
Company and has been actively identified with this company and
its allied and subsidiary companies and corporations in this coun-
try and in foreign countries since February, 1899. His activity
and responsibility are shown in the positions he holds in these com-
panies. He is Vice-President, Assistant Treasurer, Director and
member of the Executive and Finance Committees of the United
Shoe IMachinery Company of New Jersey, the United Shoe Ma-
chinery Corporation of New Jersey, the United Shoe Machinery
Company of Maine, the United Shoe Machinery Company of Mex-
ico, and the United Shoe Machinery Company of South America.
He is also Vice-President and Director of the United Shoe Ma-
chinery Company of Canada; Vice-President, Assistant Treasurer
and Director of the United Awl and Needle Company, Booth Broth-
ers Company, and the J. K. Kreig Company; Vice-President,
Treasurer and Director of the S. A. Felton and Sons Company,
Vice-President and Director J. C. Rhodes Company, Inc., S. 0. & C.
Company, S. 0. and C. Corporation ; Director and Treasurer of the
United-Xpedite Finishing Company ; Director and Assistant Treas-
urer of O. A. Miller Treeing Machine Company; Director and As-
sistant Treasurer and member of Executive Committee of the Se-
curity Ej'elet Company, Director W. W. Cross and Company, Inc.,
Boston Fast Color Eyelet Company, United Shoe Repairing Ma-
chine Company, Boston Blacking Company, British United Shoe
Machinery Company, Ltd., United Shoe Machinery Co. de France,
Deutche, Vereinigte Schuhmaschinen-Gesellschaft, G. m. b. H.
Schweiz, Vereinigte Schuhmaschinen A. G., Amercian Warp Draw-
ing Machine Company, New England Automatic "Weighing Ma-
chine Company.
In politics Mr. Hurd is an Independent Republican. As an
honorable citizen he has a deep interest in public welfare and sup-
ports by word and deed the cause of good government founded on
high principles. He belongs to the Masons, and in religious views
he affiliates with the Unitarians.
Automobiles and horses furnish him with his principal out-of-
door recreation.
Mr. Hurd was first married February 25, 1869, to Almira
Gardner Pope, who died early in their married life. On October 16,
1872, he was married to her sister Sarah Louise Pope, daughter of
James Pope of Dorchester. Four children, three sons, Edward
Lawrence, William Robinson, and Malcolm, all associated with the
United Shoe Machinery Co., and one daughter, have been born of
this union.
JAMES FREDERICK JACKSON
THE subject of this sketch was bom November 13, 1851, in
Taunton, Bristol County, Massachusetts. His father was
Elisha Tucker Jackson, a man of sterling integrity, strong
convictions, and sound judgment, who was bom August 23, 1829,
and died June 20, 1908. His mother, Caroline Keith (Fobes)
Jackson, died when he was only five years of age.
His paternal grandfather, James Jackson, was bom in 1807,
married Julia Vaughan, and died in 1840. Salmon Fobes, bom in
1781, and Chloe Fobes, were his grandparents on the mother's side.
Mr. Jackson's ancestors were from England and Scotland, and
were among the earliest settlers of Middleborough, Plymouth, and
Duxbury. Among them were John Fobes and James Keith on
his mother's side, and Abraham Jackson and Constant Southworth
of his father's ancestors.
Young Jackson fitted for college in the public schools of Taun-
ton, and graduated from Harvard in. 1873 with the degree of A.B.
He studied law ia the ofiSce of Judge Edmund H. Bennett, in Taun-
ton, entered the Boston University Law School, of which Judge
Bennett was Dean, and after graduation in 1875 opened a law of-
fice in Fall River. In 1878 he formed a partnership with John
J. Archer, which was severed by Mr. Archer's death in 1882.
Soon after, the firm of Jackson and Slade (David F. Slade) was
formed, which was long continued as Jackson, Slade, and Borden
(Richard P. Borden).
Mr. Jackson was elected city solicitor of Fall River in 1881 and
continued in that office, with the exception of one year when he
served as corporation counsel, until 1889. He was then elected
mayor of Fall River in 1889, and reelected the following year. In
1898 he was named a judge of the Superior Court by Governor Wol-
cott, but declined the appointment. In 1899 he was appointed
Chairman of the Massachusetts Railroad Commission, from which
/^
'i^A^C
JAMES FEEDEKICE: JACKSON
position he resigned in November, 1907, to enter practice in Bos-
ton, specialising in railroad and railway law.
Mr. Jackson enlisted in the state militia as a private in 1879,
in Company M of the First Infantry, M.V.M., and retired in 1890
as lieutenant-colonel of the regiment.
He is a member of the Union Club and the St. Botolph Club of
Boston and of the Harvard Clubs of Fall River and New York.
His political associations have regularly been with the Republican
party, though he left it temporarily to support Cleveland against
Blaine. His church connection is with the Ley den (Congrega-
tional) Church at Brookline, where he has resided since 1906.
Mr. Jackson married, June 15, 1882, Caroline, daughter of Eli
and Julia A. (Sessions) Thurston, granddaughter of Eli and Fran-
ces (Burrill) Thurston and Samuel and Hannah (Clapp) Sessions,
and a descendant of John Thurston, who came from Wrentham,
England, to Dedham, Massachusetts. They have but one chUd,
Edith.
In reviewing what has been written of the life of Mr. Jackson
the writer thinks that he may with propriety apply the words of
Dean Stanley : ' ' Give us the man of integrity, on which we know
we can thoroughly depend ; who will stand firm when others fail, the
friend, faithful and true ; the adviser, honest and fearless ; the ad-
versary, just and chivalrous ; such an one is a fragment of the Rock
of Ages."
LEWIS JEROME JOHNSON
LEWIS JEROME JOHNSON was bom in Milford, Massachu-
setts, September 24, 1867. His father, Napoleon Bonaparte
Johnson, was cashier of the Home National Bank of Milford,
a man of great industry, deeply interested in various movements
for the welfare of humanity and especially active in efforts to sup-
press the traffic in alcoholic drinks. He served in the Union Army
from August, 1862, untU. the close of the Civil War, not enlisting,
however, until he was satisfied that the success of the Union cause
meant the abolition of slavery.
Lewis Jerome Johnson's mother, whose maiden name was Mary
Tufts Stone, was a descendant of Massachusetts ancestry. The best
known family names are Willard, Tufts, and Adams. Mr. John-
son's remote ancestors were English and Scotch and all came to
America before 1700. Among them was Col. John Jones, a mag-
istrate of Ashland and Hopkinton, Massachusetts, in the early
part of the eighteenth century; and others who were soldiers in
the War of the Revolution.
The usual outdoor sports of boys, the ordinary duties of home
and school life, reading of story books, books of adventure, travel,
and animal biography, absorbed Mr. Johnson's boyhood. He pre-
pared for college at the Milford High School, giving primary at-
tention to Latin and Greek; graduated at Harvard (A.B.) in 1887,
after a course devoted mainly to mathematics, geology, and engi-
neering, and at the Lawrence Scientific School the following year,
with the degree of Civil Engineer. He carried forward his engi-
neering studies at the Eidg. Technische Hochschule (then called
the Eidg. Polj-teehnikum) of Zurich and the Ecole des Fonts et
Chaussees of Paris, making a pleasure trip to Egypt, Palestine, and
Greece before returning home.
He began active business life when a boy, as assistant in the
bank with his father, spending afternoons and summers through-
out his High School course at this work, and learning the busi-
ness thoroughly. It was in accordance with his own choice and
the wish of his parents that he went to college, and the influence
of his father did much to turn his early liking for natural sci-
ence into active interest in engineering. Although brought up
in the banking business and having filled temporary vacancies as
acting cashier of the Hopkinton (Mass.) National Bank and Acting
Treasurer of the Hopkinton Savings Bank, his lifework was to be
in Civil Engineering. He was appointed instructor in engineer-
LEWIS JEEOME JOHNSON
ing at Harvard in 1890 and became Professor of Civil Engineering
at Harvard in 1906. He has also acted as consulting engineer in
general structural practice in connection with work in Boston, New
York, Chicago, and elsewhere.
For the past several years his research, practice, and writing
have been devoted mainly to the field of reinforced concrete con-
struction, of which the Harvard Stadiiun, with whose design and
construction he was connected, is a notable example. He is au-
thor of "Statics by Algebraic and Graphic Methods," published
by Wiley & Sons, New York, also of numerous papers on subjects
relating to engineering, and upon economic and civic questions.
Among the most important of his civic and economic writings
may be mentioned: "Initiative and Referendum, an Effective
Ally of Representative Government"; "History and Meaning of
the Proposed New Charter for Cambridge"; "Preferential Voting,
Its Progress with Comments and Warnings " ; " Taxation Blunders
and Their Remedy"; "The Single Tax in Relation to Public
Health"; "Preferential Ballot as a Substitute for the Direct Pri-
mary." These were all addresses or magazine articles which were
subsequently reprinted in various forms and given extended dis-
tribution.
Though connected with no religious sect. Professor Johnson is in
sympathy with the Unitarians.
Politically he is adherent to the old Massachusetts traditions
as expressed in the Bill of Rights of the Commonwealth and is an
active worker for their realization. He is consequently a funda-
mental democrat and independent of party affiliations.
Professor Johnson is a fellow of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Soicety of Civil
Engineers, and various other engineering societies ; is a member of
the Harvard Club of Boston, the Anti-Imperialist League, the
American Free Trade League, the Men's League for Woman
Suffrage, the Massachusetts Direct Legislation League, and the
Massachusetts Single Tax League, of which he has been president
since 1913.
His work for the solution of far reaching civic and economic
problems, he regards primarily as part of his effort to discharge the
responsibility resting upon him as an American citizen; but an
additional incentive is his conviction that the methods of applied
science which underlie his profession have undeveloped possibili-
ties of great promise in connection with the chief problems of do-
LEWIS JEROME JOHNSON
mestic and international statesmanship. He finds, for instance,
in the persistence of widespread vice, poverty, industrial unrest
and war, an unmistakable indication that there is something wrong
with the school of statesmanship under which these evils have de-
veloped, under which they thrive, under which they show a la-
mentable likelihood of continuing to thrive, and in which they are
in large measure entrenched. He believes that better methods can
be developed by consistently conforming to what is already known
of the fundamental and inexorable laws of human nature and of
economic and political science. Observing that consistent respect
for natural law has repeatedly overcome seemingly insuperable ob-
stacles in the domain of physical science, he believes that equally
gratifying results may reasonably be expected from similar meth-
ods in the largest affairs of business and government. Finding
such possibilities as yet little realized, even in quarters whence it
would seem that the public has the best right to expect such sug-
gestions, he considers himself under peculiar responsibility to pro-
mote a popular understanding of these principles and to assist in
putting them into effect.
He takes satisfaction in the progress already made in public
acceptance of the views he shares in advocating, and in seeing as
a result an encouraging measure of the expected benefits. Progress
in these directions he considers to be as fast as can reasonably
be expected, in view of the far reaching character of fundamental
proposals for democracy and freedom, and the physical strength
of the forces of privilege against which they are compelled to make
their advance.
In 1893, he married in Evanston, Illinois, Grace Allen Fitch,
a descendant of Grovemor Winslow of Plymouth Colony, and they
have two sons, Jerome Allen and Chandler Willard Johnson.
Professor Johnson and his wife cooperate cordially in their efforts
to establish institutional and social justice. Mrs. Johnson has been
President of the Cambridge Political Equality Association for sev-
eral years, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Massachu-
setts Single Tax League. In 1912 she served as a delegate from
Massachusetts to the National Convention of the Progressive party.
In 1914^1915 she was Chairman of the Middlesex County Cam-
paign Committee in the "Woman Suffrage Campaign. In 1916, she
became Chairman of the Massachusetts Congressional Committee
of the National Woman Suffrage Association. She is a writer and
speaker on woman suffrage and other aspects of democracy.
JAMES MURRAY KAY
JAMES MURRAY KAY was bom at Glasgow, Scotland, March
30, 1842. His father, Robert Kay (1810-1873), was a dealer
and worker ? marble and stone; a man of rare capacity,
coupled with gentleness and sweetness. His mother, Marian Mur-
ray, was, a woman of strong will power, and her influence upon
him, especially upon his spiritual development, was very marked.
As a boy he was interested in music and what so often goes with
music, mathematics. In his early days he was a member of
Henry Leslie's famous London Choir in which he sang tenor. He
was also fond of reading. He attended the Glasgow public
schools and after he went to work, at the age of fourteen, in the
counting-room of Craig Brothers in Glasgow, he attended evening
classes quite assiduously until he was twenty.
At the age of twenty-one the real work of his life began. He
went to London and after trying various positions became man-
ager of the banking-house of Denniston and Cross and of Petrie's
Banking-house. In 1869, he married Maria Macarthur of Glas-
gow. After her death in 1878 he came to Nova Scotia to admin-
ister, for the benefit of the stockholders, the affairs of the St.
John and Maine Railroad, which was in difficulty. In this respon-
sible work he showed remarkable capacity. Under his manage-
ment the great cantilever bridge was built across the St. John River,
forming the final link in the railway system of the Maritime Prov-
inces and preparing the way for the amalgamation of the line
with the Canadian Pacific System. His activities were rewarded
with material success and he won golden opinions for his ability as
an engineer and manager.
In 1879 he married Miss Mary F. Prentiss of Bangor, Maine,
daughter of Henry Prentiss and Abigail Rawson, granddaughter of
Henry and Mary (Hart) Prentiss and of Samuel and Polly (Free-
land) Rawson, and a descendant of Edward Rawson, who came to
Newburyport in 1637.
JAMES MURRAY EA.T
Mr. Kay continued to live in St. John until 1888, when he came
to Boston and became a member of the publishing house of Hough-
ton-Mifflin and Company. When the firm was incorporated in 1908
he was made its treasurer, and held that position until his sudden
death from cerebral hemorrhage at his summer home at Eastern
Point, Gloucester, August 19, 1915.
When James Murray Kay became an American citizen he en-
listed himself in the ranks of the Republican party. He took a
deep interest in the school afifairs of Brookline where he made his
residence and he established a fund for providing the High School
with yearly prizes for English composition and declamation.
He was brought up a Presbyterian, but his mature thought
brought him into sympathy with the Unitarian denomination and
he took pleasure in his relations with the First Parish Church in
Brookline. He was a member of the Union Club of Boston, serv-
ing as one of the House Committee, and of the Century Associa-
tion of New York. He was president of the Agricultural Club of
Boston and he belonged to the Cecelia Society. He was devoted
to all beautiful things, especially flowers, and he never lost his
youthful passion for music. Song and books and Nature divided
his leisure interests. He liked to go to the Canadian Wilds in
quest of salmon. In his social duties he was most genial and com-
panionable. He had a particularly sunshiny disposition and it
was always remarked that those who went to see him on business
affairs always came away smiling, so contagious was his overflow-
ing good-will. He was a man of the highest character. His word
was as good as his bond. He was generous and sympathetic, and
people were proud to call him friend. He lived out a successful,
weU-rounded life and the manner of his death, painless and with-
out long preliminary illness, was in consonance with what would
have been his own wishes.
He is survived by his widow and seven children: two, Robert
Oliver Kay of California and Mrs. John W. Prentiss of New York,
by his first wife; J. Murray Kay, Jr., of Brookline and four
daughters by his second marriage: Mrs. Rutherford Shepard of
New York, Mrs. Herbert Burgess of Cleveland, Mrs. A. V. Baird
of Delaplane, Va., and Miss Mary Murray Kay. He left behind
him a memory which it will always be a joy to recall.
Q%^>-k^,^^ (3^c^<y-ciy A^iz^[>^i—~~^
GEORGE ELDON KEITH
GEORGE ELDON KEITH, shoe manufacturer, was bom in
Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, February 8,
1850. His father, Franklin Keith, was a son of Zeba and
Betsey (Bailey) Keith and a descendant from Rev. James Keith,
who came from Aberdeen, Scotland, to Plymouth Colony, in 1644,
and located in Bridgewater, where he was ordained to the Presby-
terian ministry, when twenty years of age, and became the first
pastor of the Bridgewaters. He married Susannah, daughter of
Samuel Edson.
Franklin Keith was a shoe manufacturer and selectman of
North Bridgewater, which became the city of Brockton. He mar-
ried Betsey, daughter of Paul and Sally (Cary) Bailey of Sidney,
Maine.
George Eldon Keith was a healthy lad, always making some-
thing. He worked in his father's shoeshop when not at school, and
assisted in the support of the family. His mother was a su-
perior woman and inculcated in his life the principles of right
living. Her influence largely dominated his moral and spiritual
life. He left the Brockton High School with the first class gradu-
ated, when sixteen years of age, and having already learned the
trade of manufacturing shoes he naturally took up that occupa-
tion. When twenty-four years old he had accumulated $1000, with
which he began business for himself in partnership with William
S. Green. In the first six months his sales amounted to $7000 and
the entire cutting was done by his own hands. In 1880 he sold
out his interest to IMr. Green and built a large factory on Perkins
Avenue, Campello, for his own occupancy. His sales now amount
to millions of dollars annually and he employs thousands in his ex-
tensive factories.
That Mr. Keith has the interests and welfare of his employees
at heart is evidenced by his statement: "I believe most men of
affairs to-day are trying to look at their employees as men and
women worthy of consideration and that they have a real desire
to improve their condition both mentally and physically." The
remark he made at the dedication of the G. E. Keith Clubhouse
and Field on July 1, 1914, when this magnificent gift from Mr.
Keith and his partners was turned over to representatives of his
employees in commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of the
day on which Mr. George E. Keith began the manufacture of
GEORGE ELDON KEITH
shoes. At this dedication there were present over 100 men who
had been in Mr. Keith's employ for over twenty-five years, some of
them for over thirty and thirty-five years. This fact speaks louder
than any words can of the cordial relationiship between ]\rr. Keith
and his employees.
About 1888 Mr. Keith commenced to export shoes to Australia.
In 1899 he established the first American shoestore in London,
England; in 1902 he also established the first in Paris, France;
the same year the first one in Brussels, Belgium. In 1910 he
started the first exclusive American shoestore in Buenos Aires, Ar-
gentine; in 1912 the first one in St. Petersburg, Russia; in 1914
the first one in Shanghai, China, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He was married October 23, 1877, to Anna G., daughter of
William D. and Deborah (Chesman) Reed, and the two children
bom of this marriage are Eldon Bradford and Harold Chesman.
Mr. Keith's second marriage was to Miss Elizabeth Archibald
of Sydney Mines, Cape Breton, on July 8, 1908. One child has
been bom of this marriage, a daughter.
Mr. Keith is President and Director of the George E. Keith
Company of Brockton ; President of the Brockton National Bank ;
Director of the Old Colony Trust Company of Boston ; Director of
the United Shoe Machinery Company; Vice-President of the New
England Shoe Leather Association ; Director of the New England
Casualty Company ; and President of the Katahdin Pulp and Paper
Co., Lincoln, Maine.
He has always been a Republican in polities. He declined to
accept the candidacy for Mayor of Brockton, but did serve as Alder-
man of Ward Pour the first year that Brockton was a city. He was
the first President of the Young Men's Christian Association of
Brockton and his energy and hard work helped largely in placing it
on a firm financial basis. His church affiliation is with the South
Congregational Church of Brockton. He has enjoyed all kinds of
outdoor sports from his youth up and has kept in touch with young
men even as he advanced in life. His favorite exercise is golf.
Mr. Keith wrote for the readers of this work these words which
he believes will assist young people to attain true success in life:
"Hard work and close attention to business for nearly forty years
has brought better success than I ever expected ; correct living and
faith in God have aided me. I would advise young men to spend
less than they earn, to seek Divine help to live, and with hard work
and honesty I believe they may be sure of success."
SHERMAN WILLIAM LADD
SHERMAN WILLIAM LADD was bom in Holdemess,
New Hampshire, on the 27th of September in the year
1855. His father was a genial, honest woodworker and
builder of an inventive turn of mind, by the name of Hale Moul-
ton Ladd, son of William and Mary (Sturtevant) Ladd, descended
from that Samuel Ladd who came from England to Plymouth
Colony in 1643. Two of his ancestors, Jesse and Herman Ladd,
were known in their day as inventors. Hale Ladd married Betsy,
daughter of Joseph Willoughby, and their son Sherman was born
a few days after his father's thirtieth birthday. He was always
a handy lad with tools, and used to earn some spending money
whittling out toys for his companions. He was devotedly attached
to his mother, who was the strongest influence for good in his early
life.
School days were sooner over for Sherman Ladd than for many
boys, and as soon as he was old enough he turned his attention
to making and improving machinery, especially that for use in
shoe factories. He worked for a while with Mr. Louis Goddu
of Winchester in making different kinds of machines, par-
ticularly one for attaching the outsoles of boots and shoes by
means of a screw-threaded wire. He and his employer worked for
some time over this machine, bringing it to perfection, since when
it has been widely in use among all shoemakers. For several years
Sherman Ladd had charge of the factory which turned out these
machines. Then another call came to give his attention to de-
signing instead of producing machines. This time his employer
was Andrew Eppler, of the Eppler Sewing Machine Co., and the
work was designing and making the patterns for a welt sewing ma-
chine for boots and shoes.
About this time, the Hand Method Lasting Machine Company
was having trouble with a lasting machine invented by John Mat-
zeliger of Lynn. After the third trial to build a machine which
could be used, the services of Mr. Charles S. Gooding were en-
gaged to design and build a laster which should retain the val-
uable features of the IMatzeliger machine. It was an important
work and Mr. Gooding felt the need of some one having more
practical experience in designing and building machinery than
himself to assist him. He knew Sherman Ladd and laid the matter
SHERMAN WILLIAM LADD
before him. Inspection of the unsuccessful machine and of Mr.
Gooding 's drawings kindled the interest of the inventor and soon the
two were hard at work. They supplemented each other capitally.
Mr. Gooding was an experienced draughtsman and mechanical en-
gineer; Mr. Ladd knew more of the practical part of machine in-
venting. Together they worked, conquered the difficulties, and in
perfecting the lasting machine made a number of new and pat-
entable inventions of their own. This was in 1888. As soon as
the working drawings were ready, the Hand Method Lasting Ma-
chine Company began building the machines and the two inventors
made the patent office drawings and applications for patents on the
different features of the improved machine.
Mr. Ladd worked for them, improving machinery in use and
inventing and building new machines, till the list of his patents
numbered twenty-six. Some were taken out in his own name, and
some in that of himself and an assistant. The dates run from
March, 1890, when the first laster was patented, to October, 1911,
which saw the patenting of another lasting machine.
The shop was then on South Street in Boston, but was later
removed to Fort Hill, Boston, and finally to Beverly, and the
company was reorganized under the name of the Consolidated Hand
Method Lasting Machine Company. Through all these changes,
Sherman Ladd remained their valued employee, and the last pat-
ent was granted a month after his death, which occurred on the
6th of September, 1911.
Mr. Ladd was twice married: first to Lilla H. S. Jackson; and
on the 16th of February, 1902, to Mary, daughter of Charles
and Margaret Stowell, whose ancestor was William Stowell of Essex
County, England. There were no children by either marriage.
Mr. Ladd was identified with the Democratic party. His re-
ligious affiliation was with the Unitarian Church.
After the business was moved to Beverly, Mr. Ladd joined the
Union Club of that town, and the Beverly Board of Trade. His
favorite recreation was golf, and he was a member of the Wenham
Golf Club. He was also fond of getting out into the country, either
riding or in an automobile.
For several years his work for the company took him to Prance,
England, and Gennany, where he was engaged in building and
perfecting the plants of the company in those countries. This was
between 1903 and 1909. The last two years of his life were spent
in Beverly.
I
'4^^
CHESTER WHITIN LASELL
CHESTER WHITIN LASELL, president and director of the
Wtitin Machine "Works of Whitinsville, is a strong factor
in the upbuilding of industrial Massachusetts. Whitins-
ville is one of the noted manufacturing towns of the East, and
ranks high among the productive centres which have brought wealth
and commercial precedence to the Commonwealth. The uninter-
rupted success of one of its foremost enterprises was largely due
to the Lasell family. Chester Lasell's father was Josiah LaseU,
who was a native of Schoharie, New York. His mother was Jane
Whitin, only daughter of John C. Whitin of Whitinsville.
Josiah Lasell was a man conspicuous for his honesty, sobriety,
and tireless industry. He was President of the works for many
years. His son followed in his footsteps. The family heritage
was derived from English ancestors who settled in the Massachusetts
Bay Colony about 1636. The history of the family is bound up
with the evolution of the best interests of the Commonwealth.
The staunch, practical-minded forebears of the Whitinsville branch
were all capable men of affairs. In recent generations this family
has produced notable organizers of industrial enterprise, men who
have understood the commercial needs of the times, and whose busi-
ness invention kept pace vdth the rapid growth of trade. Josiah
Lasell was such a leader.
Chester W. Lasell as a young man was sent to the public schools.
Later, private tutors prepared him for Phillips Academy, at
Andover, Massachusetts. In this famous old institution he received
the systematic mental and physical training which were to fit him
for active life. The disciplinary value of Andover was perhaps
never more fully exemplified than in the education of Mr. Lasell
who, immediately upon leaving the academy, entered his father's
For two years he worked in the various departments of the
Whitinsville plant, acquainting himself from the bottom up with
CHESTER WHITIN LASEIoL
every detail of the manufacturing process, and with the administra-
tion of the entire concern. He finished his apprenticeship in the
counting-room where he became familiar with the bookkeeping, and
with the buying and selling. The result was that in 1886 he suc-
ceeded his father as President of the corporation, and soon after
was also made Director.
Mr. Lasell is a prominent clubman, and is well known socially
all over the State. He is a member of the Boston Athletic Associa-
tion, the Algonquin Club, the Brookline Country Club, the Grafton
Country Club, and the Tatnuck and Worcester Clubs of Worcester.
Out-of-door sports are his favorite diversions. His country estates
absorb a great deal of his attention, and his stables are his main
enthusiasm. The beautiful horses of the Lasell estates are famous.
In recent years he has devoted much of his time to the breeding,
training, and racing of trotting stock, in which he has achieved a
brilliant success. He is the leading Amateur in the country in this
respect. He is also fond of hunting and fishing, to which he gives
a certain amount of time annually. In his political faith he is an
unswerving Republican.
In 1886, the same year which saw him succeed his father as
President of the Whitin Machine Works, Mr. Lasell married Jessie
Keeler, daughter of Julius M. and Julia Lathrop Keeler, of San
Francisco. Their two children are Hildegarde Lasell and Mrs.
Mintum de S. Verdi of New York City.
^
EDWARD HOWARD LATHROP
IN his "Magnalia Christi Americana," Cotton Mather gives the
names of those clergymen who were in the actual exercise of
their ministry when they left England and were the instru-
ments of bringing the Gospel into this country and organizing the
New England churches. He called them "our first Good Men."
Thirty-fifth in the list of seventy-seven is the name of Mr. John
Lathrop of Barnstable. He came to this country from England in
1634. In direct descent from the Rev. John Lathrop, Edward
Howard Lathrop, son of Bella and Lucinda (Russell) Lathrop, was
bom in Springfield, Massachusetts, December 2, 1837. His educa-
tion was secured in the public schools of the city of his birth and
later he graduated at Bang's English and Classical Institute. He
early developed literary tastes which were fostered by acting as
clerk in a book store.
At the age of twenty Mr. Lathrop went to Montpelier, Ver-
mont, to reside with his uncle, Marble Russell, and for a year and
a half he read law in the ofiice of Merrill & "Willard. At the end
of that time he returned to Springfield and continued his work in
the office of Henry Vose, afterwards Judge of the Superior Court,
until he was admitted to the Bar in 1859. He opened a law of-
fice at Chester, Massachusetts, in 1860 and remained there five
years. He acted in that town as Register of Probate and as
assistant to the County Treasurer. In 1865 he removed to Hunt-
ington, Massachusetts.
In 1868 Mr. Lathrop began his political life and was elected
to the House of Representatives as the candidate of the Republi-
can and Democratic parties. After a residence of three years in
Chieopee, Massachusetts, he returned to Springfield, and formed
a law partnership with Judge A. L. Soule under the firm name of
Soule & Lathrop. In 1873 he was elected to the State Senate for
one term. In 1875 he was elected District Attorney and the firm
of Soule & Lathrop was dissolved. After serving as District At-
torney for three years, he opened a law office in Springfield, where
he continued to practice law until his death in 1915. He was
President of the Hampden County Bar Association from 1906 to
1911.
Mr. Lathrop was long identified with the social and political
life of Springfield. In 1891 he was elected alderman; in 1896 he
was appointed City Solicitor and continued in that office for three
years under the appointment of three successive Mayors. In 1909
he was elected Mayor of Springfield and was re-elected the fol-
lowing year. That year the term of Mayoralty was lengthened to
EDWAJRD HOWAED LATHROP
two years and Mr. Lathrop was the first Mayor to serve irnder
the lengthened term. As Mayor and as a leading citizen of the
city, he was largely instrumental in the erection of the Municipal
Group of buildings, one of the finest public structures of New Eng-
land. As Mayor of the city he had the pleasure of laying the cor-
ner stone.
He was selected by Governor Ames and afterwards by Gov-
ernor Robinson as a member of the Massachusetts Fish and Game
Commission and served from 1884 to 1894.
Mr. Lathrop was a fine example of sturdy New England char-
acter. He came from a humble home and by his own ability and
worth climbed to places of large influence and serviceableness. He
early mastered the charm of public speech and was greatly sought
as a speaker on literary, social, and political matters.
Never robust physically, Mr. Lathrop was yet able to do a
prodigious amount of work and bore fatigue with better grace than
many who were his superior in physical endowments. His liter-
ary tastes were fine and he studied deeply the messages of the great
poets. His own poetic productions were often published in news-
papers and magazines and they are to be collected for publication
in a memorial volume. Next to his love of literature was his love
of Nature. Prom his youth he was a disciple of Izaak Walton.
Walton said: "You will find angling to be like the virtue of hu-
mility, which has a calmness of spirit and a world of other blessings
attending upon it." This was also the testimony of Mr. Lathrop.
The poet that was in him reveled in the quiet delights of the
angler's life and his heart was bound in tender interest to the
horse he rode, the faithful dog which followed him through the
woods, and all the animal life about him.
Whatever were his other characteristics, those who knew him
best wiU write him down with Abou ben Adhem as one "who loved
his f ellowmen. ' ' His social instincts found play in fellowship with
his kind. He was a member of the Masons, Elks, Knights Templar,
and many local clubs, as well as Honorary President of the Hamp-
den County Animal Rescue League. He was for many years Pres-
ident, and at the time of his death was President Emeritus, of the
Springfield Fish and Game Association. On December 12, 1874,
he founded the Rod and Gun Club, now the Winthrop Club, and
was its President for several years.
To the needy in the circle of his acquaintance, he was ever
the helpful friend, most generous in his sympathy. He loved noth-
ing better than to smooth the path of those who had to travel some
road of pain or self-denial.
Politically, Mr. Lathrop was not partisan. To him public of-
fice was a public trust, rather than a reward for political service.
People of all parties felt that he could be trusted and gladly gave
EDWARD HOWARD LATHROP
him their suffrage, as can be seen from the large number and va-
riety of the political oflaces which he held.
He delighted to tell of a personal interview which he had with
Abraham Lincoln the night before Mr. Lincoln 's inauguration, and
something of the fine spirit of that noble man found a place in
his own life and thought. He was a man of the highest moral
exeeUenee and was connected with the Unitarian Church. His
own sense of honor and truthfulness was delicate to the last de-
gree. A man who in business or in politics would not be true to
his word, was a man with whom he would not deal a second time.
Into the circle of his friends he welcomed only those who were pure,
sincere, and truthful.
Mr. Lathrop married at Huntington, Massachusetts, in 1867,
Susan T., daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Kyle) Little. Of
this union there were bom three children, only one of whom is
now living, Paul H. Lathrop.
The closing years of Mr. Lathrop 's life were singularly beau-
tiful. Pull of years of usefulness, he continued his interests in ac-
tive business up to the very last, and fell asleep respected and be-
loved by all who knew him.
At a meeting of the Hampden County Bar Association held in
memory of Mr. Lathrop, Hon. Charles C. Spellman said:
"He finished his duties and closed his career with the honor,
gratitude, and respect of the people. A respected citizen, anxious
to do everything for the moral uplift of the city, and the benefit
of the whole people — honest, industrious, upright, — ^he leaves be-
hind that which is most dear to his family and his friends, — a good
name."
Hon. Thomas W. Kenefick said :
"In every office and position he was called upon to fill, he
showed an honesty and vigor of purpose that won for him the con-
fidence of the people and for his work, their admiration.
"He was a confident and courageous man, zealous in the do-
ing of good things, particularly for the public, whom he served
so long and well."
Hon. William H. Brooks said :
"He was a fair and honorable opponent. He loved truth and
detested falsehood. He intended to give, and did give a 'square
deal.'
"To those who knew him well, and who saw beneath the mere
exterior there appeared a kindly, helpful friend, a self-sacrificing
and cultured gentleman.
"To whatever positions in public life he was chosen, such po-
sitions were truly regarded by him as public trusts, to be admin-
istered honestly, intelligently, and conscientiously. He believed in
giving of his best, and he gave it.
EDWAED HOWAED LATHROP
"He lived a wholesome life. He was a lover of the out-of-doors.
Horses, dogs, birds, forest, stream, and ocean appealed to him.
"He loved his family, and by them he was loved. His career
was without taint. His life was a life of rectitude."
Charles Clarke Munn, his friend of many years, said of Mr.
Lathrop : ' ' We meet many men along the highway of life that com-
mand the world's admiration and respect; there are but few truly
Good Samaritans; such a one, however, was Edward Howard
Lathrop.
"Very early in life he learned the wisdom of honesty, the up-
lift of true Christian charity, the faith in his fellowmen that is
above sordid selfishness and the sneers of small souls. With that
also came a poet's appreciation of all that is beautiful in nature,
a love for the song of birds, the purling of brooks, the billowing
of grain fields, the smile of flowers, the whisper of pines, and the
solemn voice of a forest.
"With that also came the feeling of kinship and the brotherly
wish to do good, to shape his life and example so that others might
see the wisdom of honesty and that self-love is a shallow thing;
that to be self-sacrificing and to add even a trifle to the happiness
of others, is the only way to find happiness for oneself. While his
measure of men and their foibles was always accurate he was strong
souled enough not to sit in the scomer's seat; to have an abiding
faith in 'Judge not least ye be judged'; and to be convinced that
the Golden Rule of conduct is true Christianity. A God of love
was his conception of the Supreme Father. No better proof of
this broad view of God's love and care for all created beings may
be adduced than Mr. Lathrop 's well-known affection for dogs. A
true sportsman as well as nature lover, with him there always
went his faithful dog, usually his sole companion. He thus saw
in the tender, watchful eyes of his canine friend the kinship of
soul life, the bond of feeling that despite all our cynical egotism
joins man and beast. The wide circle of his friends appreciated,
loved, and trusted him. It is of the man himself, the one I knew
so many years and loved for what was in him, that I am speaking.
Of how cordiallly and sincerely admiring others felt towards him,
their tributes are ample evidence. In the words of the old song
'None knew him but to love him' and beyond that to trust him as
a brother. And never once during his long public life was that
faith misplaced.
"But better still was the nobility of his own soul that not only
illumined his own journey adown the vale of life, but also became
a beacon light to all others. While he saw and frowned upon the
evil that men might do he yet discerned the good that was latent in
them, and sought to lend that a helping hand. ' '
i<r^ J^.
T
JOHN LATHROP
JOHN LATHROP, formerly Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court
of Massachusetts, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, February
8, 1835. He died in Dedham, Massachusetts, August 24,
1910. His father, the Rev. John Pierce Lathrop, was a son of
John Lathrop, who was a graduate of Harvard College in the
class of 1789; a grandson of the Rev. John Lathrop, who was
graduated at the College of New Jersey, Princeton, with the class
of 1763; was a minister of the Second Church, Boston, 1768-1816;
a fellow of Harvard College, 1778-1816; and a lineal descendant
from the Rev. John Lathrop, the immigrant, who came from Eng-
land to Plymouth Colony in 1634, and was the first minister of the
town of Scituate, which town was organized July 1, 1633, and of
the town of Barnstable on the organization of that town March
5, 1638. John Pierce Lathrop was a Protestant Episcopal clergy-
man, served as chaplain in the U. S. Navy and was attached to the
U. S. S. Princeton at the time of his death in 1843. His wife was
Maria Margaretta, daughter of Thomas C. Long and of Frances
Hungerford Griffin, and their son, John Lathrop, was prepared for
college at a Boston public school, and he was graduated at Burling-
ton College, Burlington, New Jersey, A.B. 1853, A.M. 1856, and
from Harvard University Law School, LL.B. 1855. He received
his practical instruction in the practice of law in the office of
Francis C. Loring, of Boston, and he was admitted to the bar in
1856, and to the bar of the United States Supreme Court in 1872.
He was married June 24, 1875, to Eliza Davis, daughter of Rich-
ard G. and Mary Ann (Davis) Parker. He practised law in Bos-
ton with eminent success, 1856-88, was reporter of the decisions
of the Supreme Court, 1874-88, and in 1888 he was appointed a
Justice of the Superior Court of Massachusetts by Governor Ames,
and in 1891 Governor Russell promoted him to a seat on the bench
of the Supreme Judicial Court to fill the vacancy caused by the
death of Justice Charles Devens in that year. He was law lecturer
at Harvard University, 1871-72, and at the Boston University
Law School, 1873 and 1880-83.
JOHN LATHROP
His military service during the period of the Civil War ex-
tended from his enlistment and appointment as first lieutenant
in the 35th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in 1862 to the ac-
ceptance of his resignation by reason of ilbiess contracted in the
field after one year's service, at which time he held the commission
of Captain of Volunteers.
He received the degree of LL.D. from Williams College in June,
1906, and in September of that year resigned his seat upon the Bench.
Judge Lathrop wrote for the readers of this work his message
to young people as follows, "Stick to the Constitution and lead a
moral and upright life."
Bench and bar paid tribute to the memory of Judge John
Lathrop of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in the Supreme
Judicial Court. The full court came in. Resolutions which the bar
had adopted at a meetmg presided over by Moorfield Storey were
presented by Attorney General Swift and they were accepted by
Chief Justice Rugg on behalf of the court.
The resolutions expressed the desire of members of the Suffolk
Bar to place on record their appreciation of the public services and
judicial career of Judge Lathrop.
The facts that he enlisted at the outbreak of the Civil War,
when scarcely enrolled as an attorney; that he made a brave and
courageous soldier; that at the bar he had the reputation of a con-
scientious practitioner and competent adviser, and that as judge he
"labored unceasingly in doing thoroughly and promptly his share
of the work of the important tribunal of which he was an honored
member," are recognized with expressions of fitting sentiment in
the resolutions.
The concluding paragraphs of the resolutions read:
"He was ever a man of self-contained, dignified and impassive
demeanor, who treated that portion of the public which came in
contact with him with an open-handed justice and with a reserved
and somewhat formal courtesy.
" In the social and club life of Boston, in which he was always
a prominent figure, he was considerate of the rights and feelings of
others, and an interesting, even charming companion."
jZyUJ~ZJ^
JOHN BEAVENS LEWIS
FROM being a lad thrown upon his own resources at ten
years of age to becoming one of the great shoe manufacturers
of Massachusetts, seems achievement enough for a single life-
time; but John B. Lewis did more. "When most men would be
apt to think that retirement was in order, Mr. Lewis threw himself
into the fight in behalf of one of the greatest reforms of the age.
Indefatigable in behalf of his fellowmen, he does not seem to
know what "quit" means, but proves himself to be one of the most
successful champions the temperance movement has known.
He was born at Wilmington, Massachusetts, August 30, 1841.
His father (1812-1910), who was also named John Beavens Lewis,
was a hotelkeeper of Boston, a man of character and of great
determination. His mother was Sarah Miller, who died before
he was a year old. Shortly after, the family moved to Boston,
where John B. Jr.'s schooldays began. He was a member of the
famous boy choir of the Church of the Advent. He was also a
clever boy actor, sometimes playing leading juvenile parts at the
old National Theatre. Later the family moved to Reading, Massa-
chusetts, which is still Mr. Lewis's home. He was always ambitious,
and at eight years he clothed himself, and after ten cared for him-
self entirely.
He entered the schools of Reading and persevered until he had
finished the High School. He worked between hours about the
school buildings and did other chores that helped him to be self-
supporting.
At fifteen he became a butcher, but soon exchanged that work
for shoe-making in a little shop in the yard of his father's home.
He made the entire shoe, in the old way, walking several miles
to deliver the finished product and returning with material for
more shoes. Later he entered the grocery business, and finally
became Manager for the John Gilbert Jr. Company, of Boston.
During the Civil War, he enlisted in the Massachiisetts Infantry
and served nine months in the 44th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.
JOHN BEAVENS LEWIS
He then went into the Civil Department of the Quartermaster's
Department at New Orleans, but soon he was going into the heart
of the Confederacy to buy cotton, and there he met with some
thrilling adventures. In 1865 he entered the wholesale and retail
shoe business at Shreveport, Louisiana, where he had the largest
business of its kind in the city. Here he was elected Alderman and
served with great acceptability.
From 1880 to 1900 he engaged in the manufacturing of shoes in
Massachusetts. His headquarters were in Boston while his factories
were in Abington, Avon, Brockton, and Randolph. It is reported
that his firm sold more shoes to the retail trade of the United
States than any other manufacturer in Boston. Since 1900 Mr.
Lewis has acted as lecturer, conservator, executor, trustee, and in-
vestor of money.
On retirement from the manufacturing of shoes, Mr. Lewis in-
terested himself in the movement of the Temperance Pledge Sign-
ing Crusade of which he became and still is the President. He
has been Vice-Chairman of the Prohibition National Committee
since 1912, helping them to raise a fund of $250,000 by a pledge
of $10,000. He has been President of the National Association
of Patriotic Instructors since 1912 ; and was President of the Fly-
ing Squadron of New England in 1915. He was Treasurer of the
Flying Squadron of America in 1914, and by his gift of ten thou-
sand dollars the Nation-wide trip of the Squadron was made pos-
sible in 1914-1915, seven speakers addressing audiences in every
city of the Union, totalling over a million people, the trip covering
eight months' time. Mr. Lewis traveled with them for seven
months, sometimes making three or four addresses a day in addi-
tion to his duties as Treasurer. He was introduced to audiences
totalling over three quarters of a million people. He has been an
executive officer of the Scientific Temperance Federation since 1912.
In fact he has been active in most of the political, patriotic, and
religious movements of the day. He is a temperance lecturer of
note, and has spoken in all parts of the country.
He was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1907 and
served with great ability. In 1901 he was the nominee of the Pro-
hibition party for Governor. He is a member of the Edward W.
Kinsley Post, G. A. R. Number 113, and has been its patriotic in-
structor since 1905. He was for two years the National Patriotic
JOHN BEAVENS LEWIS
Instructor of the G. A. R. He has always been active in promoting
patriotism.
Mr. Lewis is Vice-President of the National Trust Fund Associa-
tion, a member of the Board of Managers of the National Temper-
ance Society, an Executive officer in the Greater Boston Associa-
tion of Patriotic Instructors, an Executive officer of the Massachu-
setts Total Abstinence Society, a Trustee of the New York Civic
League, a Life member of the New England Sabbath Protective
League, a member of the Massachusetts G. A. R. Club, and of the
Hooker Association, the Boston Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion, the Boston Young Men's Christian Union and the Baptist
jMissionarj- Society ; he is a Life member of the "World 's, National
and State W. C. T. U.
He is a Mason and a member of the Commandery. In religion
he is a Congregationalist. He is a Prohibitionist in politics and is
always loyal to the core. For diversion he is fond of the gym-
nasium, having a chest expander and a rowing machine of his own.
Once he was a master in boxing. Mr. Lewis has been an extensive
traveler, visiting every country in the world, but Australia, and
crossing the United States many times.
Mr. Lewis has been married twice : first to Miss Harriet A. Ban-
croft, on August 4, 1864, and second to Miss Mary U. Hawes, on
January 18, 1872. There are living at this time three children:
John B. Lewis, Jr., a Congregationalist minister; Mrs. Hattie L.
Swett, President of the Reading "Woman 's Club ; and Clarence H.
Lewis, a dealer in Real Estate.
"When Mr. Lewis was asked to give some principles that he con-
sidered essential to success in this life he said: "Love our flag
as the visible symbol of the best in our national life. Keep mind
and habits clean. Shun evil companions; with a clean life comes
a clean character and with that come clean business references
which, with the 'I will power,' bring every possible success."
Mr. Lewis has apparently many years of active service before
him and will doubtless be heard from on many patriotic, civic, and
religious issues. He is a splendid example of what a good citizen,
a loyal patriot, and a devoted churchman can do.
Mr. Lewis has a continuous business record of high standing
and credit in all mercantile agencies for almost half a century, with
an unstained career of honest and honorable dealings in private
and public life.
ARTHUR THEODORE LYMAN
ARTHUR THEODORE LYMAN was bom in Boston, Massa-
chusetts, December 8, 1832, and died at his home in Walt-
ham, Massachusetts, October 24, 1915. He was the son of
George Williams Lyman and Anne Pratt, and grandson of Theo-
dore Lyman (bom 1753, died 1839) and Lydia Williams, and of
William Pratt (born 1759, died 1844) and Mary Williams.
One of his ancestors, William Pratt, came over from England in
1783; another ancestor, Richard Lyman, came from Essex County,
England, to Charlestown, in 1631, and in 1635 removed to Hart-
ford on the Connecticut River, and thence to Northampton,
Massachusetts. His grandfather, Theodore Lyman, was engaged
in trade with India, China, Europe, and the northwest coast of
America. His son, George W. Lyman, engaged in the same busi-
ness with him, and later became largely interested in manufactur-
ing companies in Lowell, Lawrence, and Holyoke, becoming treas-
urer for ten years of the Lowell Manufacturing Company, and also
of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company, the Appleton Company,
and the Lyman Mills at Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Arthur T. Lyman was thus from his birth identified with a
family prominent in public affairs and in the industrial and educa-
tional development of the country. He was prepared for college
under private teachers in Waltham and Boston, and was graduated
from Harvard College in 1853, the sixth in his class ; he received his
Master's degree in 1857. For eighteen months after graduation he
was in the office of Samuel and Edward Austin, a Boston house
engaged in the East India trade. He then travelled extensively in
Europe for the purpose of study and observation. He continued in
the East India trade for a few years, when he began to interest
himself in the manufacture of cotton, and in 1860 was made Treas-
urer of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company and in 1861 of the
Appleton Company of Lowell. He served these companies until
1863, when he became partner in the firm of J. W. Paige and Com-
pany, Boston, selling agents for various cotton mills. From 1866
to 1889 he was Treasurer of the Hadley Company, Holyoke, and
from 1881 to 1900 Treasurer of the Lowell Manufacturing Com-
pany. Mr. LjTnan had been President of the Pacific Mills, the
i!^C^fit.y^ — 'A^
.=<,.
AKTHTTR THEODORE LYMAN
Merrimack Manufacturing Company, the Tremont and Suffolk
Mills, the Lowell Machine Shop, the Boott Cotton Mills, the Massa-
chusetts Cotton Mills, the Massachusetts Mills in Georgia, the
Bigelow Carpet Company, the Boston Manufacturing Company,
the Whittenton ilanufacturing Company, and the Waltham Bleach-
ery and Dye Works, and the Essex Company, "Proprietors of
Locks and Canals on the Merrimack River," and Director in sev-
eral other manufacturing corporations.
Besides these varied personal interests he served the public in
many ways. He was President of the Boston Athenaeum, member
of the corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Overseer of Harvard College, 1892-99, Director and President of
the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, Director of the
Massachusetts National Bank, 1862-98, and Trustee and President
of the Provident Institution for Savings in Boston. He was aide-
de-camp, with the rank of Colonel, on the staff of Governor Alex-
ander H. Rice, during the three terms of his office, 1876-9.
He was a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the
Colonial Society, and the Unitarian Club. He had also been Pres-
ident of the latter club and Treasurer of the American Unitarian
Association.
He generally voted with the Republican party, but sometimes
the quality of the candidates led him to change his party allegiance.
He was an active leader in the life and work of King's Chapel in
Boston, a member of the Vestry (1863-1915) and Senior "Warden
(1877-1915).
He was married April 8, 1858, to Ella, daughter of John Amory
Lowell and Elizabeth C. Putnam of Boston. They had seven
children, six of whom are living: Julia; Arthur, lawyer and
manager of real estate and other trusts; Herbert, Treasurer of the
Merrimack Manufacturing Company; Ella (Mrs. Richard C.
Cabot), member of the Massachusetts State Board of Education
and of the Council of Radcliffe College ; Mabel ; and Ronald Theo-
dore, Treasurer of the Boston Manufacturing Company, Waltham,
the Whittenton Manufacturing Company of Taunton, the Salmon
Falls Manufacturing Company, and the Waltham Bleachery and
Dye Works.
One who knew him intimately wrote :
"Some people have those sterling qualities which call forth
admiration. They are firm of purpose, independent, fearless.
ARTHUR THEODORE LYMAN
They work with all their strength to carry out their aims and
have no fear of criticism, failure, or mistakes.
"Other people have qualities which make them lovable. They
are sensitive, sympathetic, always ready to talk over your prob-
lems; they are ready to help, to cheer. These people we cannot
help loving because we feel their understanding of us; we cannot
help being fond of them for they have something in common with
every one.
' ' A third class of people are those who are personally attractive.
They are brilliant in mind, perhaps beautiful, and they keep us
cheered and amused as well as charming us.
"Imagine, now, a person combining all the qualities I have men-
tioned and you have Arthur T. Lyman. The combination of these
various and usually opposite characteristics was, I think, the most
remarkable thing about him. He did exactly what he thought
was right, lived absolutely up to his ideals, cared nothing what
other people thought, yet forced his opinions on nobody, and was
always interested in the work or play of those whose tastes differed
from his. He had great ability, wonderful soundness of judgment,
an enormous power of work, and an unswerving purpose when
once decision had been made. Every one had to admire his ability
and courage, but with these one always saw his tremendous interest
in people and his consideration of every one. He loved to see and
talk with all kinds of people— of all ages — and with each he found
a bond of sympathy through his wonderful sensitiveness and in-
terest.
"To these qualities, which in turn called forth admiration and
affection, were added the third group, which called forth popu-
larity. Apart from being very handsome, he was most charming in
all kinds of society, brilliant in mind, and constantly amusing or
interesting those he talked with. His remarkable sense of humor
made him see all the funny things, which he set off in speech by
very clever and original expressions.
"To some of those who knew him the memory of his strength
of character, his ability, his good judgment, and power of accom-
plishment will remain uppermost; to others his sympathy, sensi-
tiveness, and interest in people; to still others his charm of per-
sonality, with his great humor, and intelligence; but for a true
understanding of his character we must think of the combination
of so many different qualities, each beautiful in itself, and with the
others making such a truly beautiful whole."
(&^^-^ i^Mtv^^,
EDWIN TYLER MARBLE
EDWIN TYLER RIARBLE was bom in Sutton, Massachu-
setts, August 18, 1827. He died July 3, 1910. He was the
eldest son of Royal Tyler Marble and Ann Bailey (Cle-
ment) Marble. His great-great-grandfather, Freegrace Marble,
was one of the original settlers of the town of Sutton, a brickmason
by trade and one of the builders of the old State House in Boston.
The Marble family came to this country from Wales and the first
representatives of the family in America settled in Andover.
In his earlier manliood the father of Edwin Tyler Marble was
apprenticed to Thomas Harback of Sutton as a "furrier," or
finisher of woolen goods by hand shears. He became an expert in
this method of finishing cloth and his mechanical skill in many ways
was transmitted to his sons. After serving his apprenticeship,
however. Royal Tyler Marble abandoned this trade and devoted
himself to farming upon the homestead in Sutton.
His eldest son, the subject of this sketch, recalled in later years
his own first mechanical experiment, an attempt to make a water-
wheel out of two shingles, two spools from his mother's work-basket,
and a string. This was designed to operate in a dam over the brook
which ran past his boyhood home. Mr. Marble recalled with vivid-
ness, his difficulties in making the wheel balance, and his ultimate
success, in spite of the fact that he had only poor knives for tools
and common shingle nails for bearings. Another interesting rem-
iniscence of his childhood and early school days in his native town
was an evening promenade through the rooms of his home, trying
to learn his spelling lesson and finding the greatest difficulty with
the word, business. With characteristic persistence he repeated it
more than fifty times until he had mastered its letters, as he after-
wards mastered its principles.
In 1841, when Edwin Tyler Marble was six and a half years
old, his parents moved from their home in Sutton to Worcester,
Massachusetts, ten miles distant, where they lived on a farm on
Vernon Street.
After a year of residence in Worcester, during which the boy
attended the public schools on "the common" of the town, the
family returned to Sutton, where for two years they lived in the
community known as Pleasantville. The children of the family
attended the district school during its short sessions and assisted in
EDWIN TYLEK MAEBLE
the tasks about the farm which have given such good constitutions
and industrious traits to country-bred men and women. On a
larger stock farm, to which his parents moved two years later in the
same town of Sutton, the boy, then eleven years old, was given much
responsibility and remembered with pride his success in "breaking
in" a pair of steers for which he received a first premium at the
annual "cattle show."
Within two years the family were again in Worcester, where
the boy attended during the winter an ' ' apprentice-school ' ' on Bel-
mont Street; during the summer months he assisted on the farm.
In 1843 the IMarble family moved to the southerly part of Wor-
cester, then called "New Worcester," in the vicinity of what is
now known as Webster Square. The education at the district
schools was now supplemented by a term at the Worcester County
Manual Training School, which became the nucleus later of the
Worcester Academy. In the blacksmith shop of his maternal uncle,
Moses Clement, the boy received manual training and showed good
judgment and steady workmanship.
At the age of eighteen he entered the machine shop of Albert
Curtis on Webster Street, arranging for an apprenticeship of three
years, with three months' vacation to attend school during the first
apprentice year. In compensation, he received fifty dollars for the
first year, seventy-five the second, and one hundred and twenty-five
the third year. At the Academy, during his three months, he
studied hard, specializing in mathematics, philosophy, and chem-
istry. In this small shop and with the crude tools of that time, he
served and closed his apprenticeship with honor. With a fellow-
apprentice, Joseph Cunningham, he planned and built a small steam
engine which gained a diploma at the first Jlechanical Fair that was
held in Worcester. Everj^ Saturday evening these two young men
would walk into the city, about three miles each way, and borrow
books for the week's reading from the mechanical library, later
the Worcester County Mechanics' Association. Mr. Marble once
said that they "not only devoured but digested everything there
was in the library relating to mechanics. ' '
After finishing his apprenticeship, Mr. Marble continued as a
trusted workman with Jlr. Curtis for a few months and then left
this shop to enter the factory of A. and S. Thayer, builders of
machinists' tools. During this period he became engaged to Mss
Harriet H. Chase of Shelbume Falls, Massachusetts, who was teach-
ing school in Worcester. While on a visit to her home on his way
EDWIN TYLER MARBLE
to Hartford, where he was about to try his fortune as a journeyman
mechanic, he was asked to remain in Shelbume Falls with the
Lamson and Goodnow Company, manufacturers of tools for making
cutlery. On October 23, 1850, Miss Chase and Mr. Marble were
married at her father's home in Shelburne Falls.
Miss Chase was the daughter of Henry Prentice and Achsah
H. (Clement) Chase. Her father was a descendant from Aequila
Chase, the immigrant and pioneer. Mrs. Marble died in 1892.
There were bom to them four sons, Edwin H., William C, Charles
F., and Albert C, and one daughter, Harriet A., who died in 1906.
Within a year after his marriage, an invitation came to Mr.
Marble to return to Worcester and become associated with Mr.
Alexander Thayer, his former employer, who had now become a
partner in a new firm, Thayer, Houghton and Co. For eight years
Mr. Marble was foreman in this shop where machine tools were
manufactured. A fire in 1854 destroyed a part of their shop and
Mr. Marble saved their tools and his own at great risk of life.
When this firm was dissolved in 1859, Mr. Marble became connected
with E. C. Cleveland and Co., manufacturers of woolen machinery,
where he remained for three years and a half, severing his associa-
tion to become partner with Albert Curtis in full charge of his shop.
The firm name was Curtis and Marble ; the business, established by
Mr. Curtis in 1831, was restricted for many years to the manufac-
ture of machinery for finishing woolen cloth. Under the impetus
and determination of Mr. Marble the scope and volume of the busi-
ness increased, new patterns and designs were made, and soon addi-
tions were required to the buildings as well as to the working force.
Mr. Marble's younger brother, Francis R. Marble, joined his energy
and mechanical skill to the business which increased rapidly. Mr.
Edwin T. Marble secured his first patent during his first year of
association with Mr. Curtis as a partner, a patent for a Teasel Gig
for raising the nap of woolen cloth. New machines and new tools
added to the efficiency and success of the concern. In 1875 the
business and patents of the Goddard Wool Burring Machine Works,
which were sold in New York at auction, were bought by the firm,
and Mr. Calvin L. Goddard, the founder of this business, came to
Worcester and remained with Messrs. Curtis and Marble until his
death in 1895. The breaking of the dam at the Lynde Brook
Eesevoir in March, 1876, caused much damage to the north end of
the factory.
The firm name of Curtis and Marble was continued until Decem-
EDWIN TYLER MARBLE
ber 31, 1895, when the Curtis and Marble Machine Co. was incor-
porated with a capital of $75,000. Mr. Marble had become sole
proprietor of the old business and now associated with himself as
President and Treasurer of the new corporation, his four sons, —
Edwin H., William C, Charles F., and Albert C. In 1897 a new
plant was erected on Cambridge Street, near Webster Square.
From the organization of the party, Mr. Marble was a strong
Republican. He always had a deep interest in polities and served
faithfully and wisely in many positions of trust. He was a Repre-
sentative to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1870 and served
in the State Senate in 1887 and 1888. In municipal affairs he
had many honors, serving three years in the Common Council and
four years in the Board of Aldermen. He was a member of the
School Committee of Worcester in 1860 for an unexpired term and
was elected again in 1872 and served eight consecutive years. He
was later a Director of the Free Public Library for six years, and
was President of this Board for a year.
Always interested in mechanics and zealous to promote such
an interest among young men, he was early identified with the Wor-
cester Mechanics' Association, serving as a Trustee for twelve years
and as President for two years. Mr. Marble was a Trustee and Vice-
President of the People's Savings Bank of Worcester, and for many
years a member of its Board of Investment. His judgment in finan-
cial matters was considered safe and reliable. From 1887 until
his death in 1910 he was a Director in the Worcester Safe Deposit
and Trust Company, now the Worcester Trust Company.
Although Mr. Marble's interest outside his business centered
in his home, where he was always happy, he did his share in pro-
moting religious and philanthropic life in his city. For many
years he was deeply concerned in the welfare of the Home for
Aged Men and was Vice-President and President, in turn, of its
Board of Trustees. He served in many ways in directing the
affairs of the Worcester Board of Trade. His church affiliations
were very dear to him and he served Piedmont Congregational
Church as Deacon for nearly thirty-five years.
With a modest, quiet manner, he was always courteous and
faithful to his friends, associates, and chance acquaintances. His
long and successful life was marked by incorruptible integrity,
intelligent and loyal service, and high ideals in his home-life, his
business, and his civic responsibilities.
HORACE EUGENE MARION
HORACE EUGENE MARION was for forty-five years one
of the leading physicians and surgeons of the Brighton
district, Boston. He was descended from the best New
England stock, one of his forefathers being Dr. Abel Prescott, who
rode with Paul Revere in the famous ride to Lexington and Con-
cord. The founder of the family of this name in New England was
John Marion, who was living in Watertown as early as 1641. He
married Sarah, daughter of John Eddy, of that place, and removed
to Boston where he was selectman of the town in 1693. He died in
1705, and his wife in 1709. His son, Samuel Marion, bom in 1655,
married Mary, daughter of Edward and Mary (Hale) Wilson of
Charlestown. Isaac, son of Samuel, was bom in 1694 and mar-
ried Rebecca Knight and was the father of Isaac 2nd, who was
bom in 1719, and who married at Wobum, Massachusetts, June 9,
1743, Judith Snow. Isaac Marion 3d, bom at Wobum May 12,
1745, son of Isaac and Judith, married September 5, 1872, Mary
Cutler of Wobum, and their son, John Cutler, bom April 16,
1784, married at Burlington, Massachusetts, June 15, 1806, Martha
Carter.
Abner l^Iarion, son of John Cutler Marion and his wife Martha,
was the father of Dr. Horace Eugene Marion. In his day he was
a well-known stage proprietor, operating the Boston and Lowell
stages. He also carried on a large farm at Burlington. March 13,
1834, he married Sarah Prescott, who was bom February 25, 1810,
a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Brown) Prescott. Her
father was of the sixth generation in descent from John and Mary
(Platts) Prescott, the second in line being Captain Johnathan Pres-
cott, who married Elizabeth Hoar; the third. Dr. Johnathan, who
married Rebecca Bulkley; the fourth, Dr. Abel, who married Abi-
gail Brigham ; the fifth, John Prescott, who married Grace Potter,
and was the father of Samuel named above. It was Dr. Abel
Prescott who rode with Paul Revere to carry the news of the British
advance on Concord.
HORACE EUGENE MAEION 1
Dr. Horace E. Marion was bom in Burlington, Massachusetts, I
August 3, 1843. He died in Boston February 8, 1914. For fifteen i
years, until his father's death, he remained on the farm. His ele- 1
mentary education was obtained at Warren Academy, Wobum,
Massachusetts, the Howe School at Billerica, Massachusetts, and
the Atkinson Academy, Atkinson, New Hampshire. He matricu-
lated at Amherst College, but the outbreak of the Civil War changed
his plans, for in July, 1862, he enlisted for nine months as a
private in Company G, Fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry,
under the command of General J. F. Foster. He took part in the
actions at Little Washington, Plymouth, Tarboro, Kingston, White-
hall, and Goldsboro, North Carolina, serving until July, 1863, when
the regiment was mustered out. The following year he enlisted as
Sergeant in the same Company and Regiment for one hundred
daj's' service.
The interval between enlistments was spent at Dartmouth Col-
lege and on his return to civil life he resumed his place as student
there and was graduated from the scientific department in 1866.
He immediately began the study of medicine under Doctors Dick
and A. B. Crosby of Hanover, New Hampshire, two famous sur-
geons, and continued under their preeeptorship while attending
Dartmouth Medical College, from which he graduated in 1869.
The following year he settled in Brighton, Massachusetts, where
with the exception of a part of 1878-9 which was spent in a special
course in medicine and surgery in Berlin and Vienna, he con-
tinuously practiced his profession.
Dr. Marion not only built up a large and lucrative practice but
achieved a wide reputation as a skillful physician and surgeon.
He was a member of the Massachusetts jNIedical Society, was Presi-
dent of the South District Medical Society, was a member of the
Boston Society of Medical Sciences, the Obstetrical Society, and of
the Boston Medical Improvement Society. He was professionally
connected with the Massachusetts State Militia as surgeon of the
Fifth Regiment and of the Fourth Battalion. He was medical
director of the First Brigade on the staff of General Herbert ]\Ioore.
Dr. Marion was also for many years Coroner of his district.
Dr. Marion was a prominent Free Mason. He belonged to the
Bethesda Lodge, A. F. and A. M. of Brighton, to Cambridge R. A.
Chapter, and to De Molay Commandery of Boston. He was Past
HORACE EUGENE MAEION
Deputy Grand Master. He was also a member of the Ancient and
Honorable Artillerj' of Boston, and of the University and St.
Botolph clubs.
Dr. Marion almost alone started the agitation against the
slaughter houses in connection with the sale of cattle which had died
from disease, opposition against him being so strong that for quite
a period of time he was furnished with a bodyguard to conduct his
regular practice. His efforts were so strenuous that in time the
old-fashioned slaughter houses were compelled to go out of business
and the large and properly regulated Brighton Abattoir came into
operation. He was physician to the Overseers of the Poor for a
period of over twenty years, and was school physician under Dr.
Durgin for many years and during the last term, just previous to
his death, he personally examined over 1700 school children besides
attending to his regular practice.
Dr. Marion was married to Katherine Louise Sparhawk of
Brighton, Massachusetts, on January 14, 1880. There were bom
three children, two of whom survive : Eva Prescott, bom October
17, 1880; and Gardner Sparhawk, bom December 14, 1884. Ben-
jamin Cobb Marion, bom August 3, 1887, died January 13, 1908.
Dr. Marion was an Independent in politics, preferring principles
to party. He was actively interested in everything that concerned
the moral and material betterment of the community, and won and
retained its good will and confidence. He was the beloved physician,
bearing on his heart the well-being of many a home in all walks of
life and bringing to it the most skillful and devoted service. His
character was so strong that cheer and strength and peace followed
his visits.
He has done much to leave after him a better and stronger
generation. As a physician he was one of the best. As a soldier
he was brave. As a citizen he helped every cause that ministered
to the public welfare. In the charmed circle of the family where
he was best known he was best beloved.
JAMES CROMBIE MELVIN
JAMES CROMBIE MELVIN was bom at Concord, Massa-
chusetts, April 17, 1848.
He was descended on both his father's and his mother's side
from the best New England stock. His ancestors were prominent
in Colonial affairs. Captain David Melvin (1690-1745) commanded
a company at Louisburg and Captain Eleazer Melvin commanded
a company at Crown Point. Another ancestor, Lieutenant Simon
Davis, was present at the Battle of Brookfield and had other expe-
riences in King Philip's War.
On his mother's side, John Heald 2nd bom in 1689 was a
Sergeant. John Heald 's son, great-grandson and great-great-
grandson, all bearing the same name, were Lieutenants. Another
ancestor, Amos Melvin, rang the alarm-beU on the memorable 19th
of April, 1775.
His father, Asa Melvin, a farmer, well-esteemed for his honesty,
frugality, and industry, died when the boy was ten years old and
his mother, who before her marriage was Caroline Heald, survived
him only five years.
The boy had to perform the hardest kind of manual labor and
early made up his mind that farming was not for him. He
believed that he could achieve a better success in business than by
continuing the work of his father and grandfather.
At the age of fifteen he began working in a store in Concord
with wages of thirty -five dollars a year. Following the example of
his three brothers who enlisted at the beginning of the war, at
the age of sixteen, agednst the wishes of his guardian, he enlisted
for service in the Rebellion as a member of Company E, Sixth Regi-
ment, M. V. M.
After returning from the war he established a small periodical
store on the i\Iilldam. Later he became bookkeeper for a storage-
warehouse in Boston. His remarkable business ability and his
sturdy honesty of character attracted the attention of Josiah and
Edmund Quincy and they engaged his services as the manager of
VajLo
JAMES CROMBIE MELVIN
what was then known as the Clinton Street "Warehouse, the present
site of the Clinton Market which was founded through his enter-
prise. In 1878 he was appointed managing trustee of the Quincy
estate and agent of the mercantile Market and retained these re-
sponsible positions until his death.
In 1881 he organized the Quincy Market Cold Storage Com-
pany and continued as its Treasurer and Manager until 1903, when
it was sold to a syndicate. More and more responsibility was
heaped upon him until at one time he was Director of no less than
sixteen different corporations, including the Mexican Central Rail-
road and the Massachusetts Loan and Trust Company; and Direc-
tor and Treasurer of both the Mercantile Wharf Corporation, and
of the Clinton Market Company, the G. H. Hammond Company,
the Hammond Packing Company. He was President of the last
two for several years. He was for many years Vice-President of the
Fourth National Bank.
During his residence in Concord he was First Lieutenant of the
Artillery and was Chief Engineer of the Fire Department in the
days when "the hand-tub" was in its prime. He was a Curator of
the famous Concord Lyceum and contributed largely to its brilliant
success. He counted among his friends such men as Judge Hoar,
Frank B. Sanborn, Grindall Reynolds, R. W. Emerson, A. B.
Alcott and his daughters, Louisa and May, and many others.
When the celebration of Centennial of the Concord fight was
proposed he was a member of the Committee of arrangements and
one of the most active in carrying the celebration to fulfillment.
In 1883 he married Clara M. Wilbur, daughter of George B.
Wilbiir, Esq., of Newton, and two years later removed to Boston,
where he resided during the last twenty years of his life. He was
a Free Mason. He was an active member of the South Con-
gregational Church and contributed liberally to other churches
of the Unitarian denomination in Concord, West Newton, and
Boston, as well as to numerous charities. He was a strong Re-
publican. He had memberships in the Union, the Merchants, and
the Unitarian clubs. While automobiling was a form of recreation
that he enjoyed, his chief sport was gunning, a sport that he in-
dulged in regularly up to within a short time before his death.
He took an active interest in the affairs of the Grand Army of
the Republic and many times entertained the veterans at the Con-
JAMES CKOMBIE MELVIN
cord revmions. When they came as his guests, instead of marching
at the head of the line, he modestly fell to the rear so as to attract
no attention. If he suspected that any, through pecuniary in-
ability, would be kept from coming, he quietly slipped a ticket into
the envelope carrying the invitation.
One of James C. Melvin's most notable contributions to the
beauty of Concord is the memorial monument which he erected in
the old Sleepy Hollow Cemetery as memorial to his three brothers
who lost their lives in the Civil War. One brother died while a
prisoner at AndersonviUe ; another in a Virginia hospital ; the third
was killed in the Battle before Petersburg. The monument, a
work of the Concord sculptor, Daniel Chester French, is made of
pink Knoxville marble and is placed in a most picturesque part
of the beautiful grounds.
Mr. Melvin died quite suddenly on Tuesday, the nineteenth of
January, 1915, at the Copley Square Hotel in Boston, where he
made his winter residence. He was buried at Concord in the fam-
ily lot not far from the Memorial to his brothers.
His death called forth many appreciative notices. One friend
of the family in a letter to a Boston paper said:
' ' In his work, play, love, and worship, he was so keenly sensitive
to the proper place and appreciation of each, so rounded out in
the fulness of their results, it may well be said that he possessed
that completeness of life approached by many but realized by
few."
All accounts agreed as to his integrity, his wonderful business
judgment and ability, his untiring energy in carrying every enter-
prise to triumphant success, his faithfulness to all trusts, his gift
for friendship, his unostentatious charity, and his appreciation of
the work of others.
Having no children of his own — his only son having died very
young — he was sympathetic with youth and entered into all their
joys and sorrows with remarkable power of insight.
Few men in this country have ever accomplished more in spite
of early obstacles. His large fortune was made honorably and
was regarded as a sacred trust. His was a career that should be an
inspiration to all the young in the land.
JAMES JEFFERSON MYERS
JAMES JEFFERSON IVIYERS came of old Mohawk Dutch
ancestry through the paternal Meyers and Van Valkenburg
families, and of Puritan stock through the maternal Stevens
and Tracy lines. His grandparents on both sides were among the
pioneer settlers in Western New York.
Mr. Myers was bom on the twentieth of November, 1842, in
Frewsburg, New York, and died ia Cambridge, Massachusetts, on
April 13, 1915. His father, Robert Myers (bom 1818, died 1884),
the son of John and Catherine (Van Valkenburg) Myers, was a
farmer and lumberman, known among his neighbors as an industri-
ous citizen and a generous friend. He was noted for hardy endur-
ance, kindness of heart, easy good nature, fondness for companion-
ship and games, and love of animals. His mother, Sabra (Stevens)
Myers (bom 1820, died 1882), was the daughter of Wait and Polly
(Tracy) Stevens.
Mr. Myers's great-grandfather, Elias Tracy, was a "brave sol-
dier in the Revolutionary War and a man of unusual force of char-
acter and of unconquerable will."
In boyhood Mr. Myers was fond of aU kinds of out-of-door
life. This freedom amid the atmosphere of the country and the
broad expanse of nature opened broader views and developed a
hardihood and enterprise which were of eminent service in after
life. He had, moreover, such daily tasks as would naturally come
to a lumberman's and farmer's boy. He felt this service was
of great value to him in affording him physical strength and in
fomiing his habits. Many a man has proved there is no better
place in which to bring up a family of children than on a farm
in the country.
The moral side of his nature found a rare development through
his mother's influence. This was also potent in moulding his atti-
tude towards others. He met difficulties in acquiring an education
JAMES JEFFERSON MYERS
and would have been far less the man that he was had he not
experienced them. But his difficulties were not much greater than
those of most boys similarly situated.
He attended the Fredonia Academy and the Randolph Academy
in "Western New York, and entered Har\'ard College in 1865. Here
he distinguished himself by his scholarship. He won the Boylston
Prize for Elocution for two successive years ; and he kept himself in
good physical condition by rowing. He was a member of the so-
called ' ' Third Crew, ' ' which beat the Class Crew, winning the prize
in 1868. He received the degree of A.B. in 1869. After taking
his degree, he entered the Harvard Law School. During one year
of his course he taught mathematics in the College ; he also spent a
year abroad at about this time; but in spite of interruptions, he
was graduated with his class in 1872, receiving the degree of LL.B.
While preparing for college he spent a portion of his time each
year in lumbering on the Ohio and Allegheny rivers, making long
trips by raft, thus building up a strong physique and acquiring a
knowledge of the country and of human nature.
After graduation from the law school he spent some time in
teaching and traveling, and then commenced the practice of law
in New York City. The profession of law was entirely of his own
choosing. Home influence, that of school and especially his col-
lege friendships, and the men with whom he was brought in con-
tact in active life, contributed greatly to mould his character and
fashion his tastes.
In the fall of 1874, he opened a law office in Boston, in company
with J. B. Warner, and there began a career in which he attained
eminence, ranking among the foremost in his profession in Massa-
chusetts. He had a career of high distinction in public life and
was for many years a prominent figure in Massachusetts politics.
He was one of the men who always took his citizenship seriously,
believing that the duty of attending a caucus was as important as
that of attending church. He took a deep interest in politics even
before he had a right to vote, and kept that interest through life.
He accepted office as a trust and fulfilled its duties as a servant of
the public, without regard to his own interests.
Beginning in 1892, Mr. Mj^ers was the Representative from the
First Middlesex District to the General Court of Massachusetts for
eleven consecutive years, and for the last four years was a Speaker
JAMES JEFFERSON MYERS
of the House. In all the terms that he was a member of the Legis-
lature, -he never missed a session. Private business was put entirely
aside until his work for the State had been completed.
From the first, Mr. Myers was placed upon the most important
committees of the House, and was frequently appointed Chairman.
He had the faculty of expressing his exact meaning in words which
were not only clear but forceful and convincing ; and the meaning
was full of practical commonsense. This soon made him a leader
both in committee room and on the floor of the House.
Among the subjects in which he felt a special interest were the
commission to inquire into the Norwegian liquor system, the Metro-
politan Parks bill, the bill to abolish double taxation, the Bay
State Gas investigation, the prevention of the watering of public
utility stocks and the revision of corporation laws.
He also worked hard for a bill authorizing any municipality
to construct conduits for electric wires in its own streets; but this
measure he was unable to carry.
Mr. Myers never came to hasty decisions. He liked to get in
all the evidence, weigh it carefully, and base his opinion on the
result. This made the decision of value when it came.
Twice, during his Speakership, however, he was obliged to decide
quickly and to act when action required a rare degree of courage.
There was at one time a tie-vote on two questions of strong class
interest. The first was a labor bill, the second the Spanish Vet-
erans' Preference Bill. In both cases he put aside his love of
delayed decision and promptly killed both bills by his casting vote
without regard to the powerful enemies he might make. He be-
lieved the first bill was unfair, and that the other would deal a
fatal blow to the merit system in appointments.
He brought to the position of Speaker of the House superb
natural gifts and an unexcelled legislative training and experience,
and he filled the office with ability and distinction. It was to the
great regret of a multitude of friends, whose confidence and admira-
tion he had won during his public service, that he did not seek
higher honors after retiring from the Speakership.
He was a member of the Century Association and the Harvard
Club of New York; the Union Club, the St. Botolph Club, and the
Harvard Club of Boston, the Colonial and Oakley clubs of Cam-
bridge, of the Masonic Order, and of the Zeta Psi Fraternity. He
JAMES JEFFERSON MYERS
also belonged to a number of political clubs and associations and
business organisations.
Mr. Myers was president of the Colonial Club of Cambridge, and
also of the Merchants' Club of Boston, and of the Cambridge Club
of Cambridge. He was an ardent Republican in polities, but above
pari;y he held the State. Thus he voted for William E. Russell
for Governor of Massachusetts and for Grover Cleveland for Presi-
dent of the United States.
Mr. Myers never married. He lived in Cambridge, in the
Wadsworth House, formerly the home of the Presidents of the
University, which stands in the yard of Harvard College. He was
a man with mjiny friends. His genial manner, tact, and absolute
fairness to all sides gained him the good will of even those who
differed from him.
He was in demand as a speaker upon public occasions such as
the Memorial Service in honor of President McKinley, the dedica-
tion of the monument to the Northern Soldiers at Andersonville,
Georgia, and before numerous bodies from Boards of Trade to
Unitarian Conventions.
His public interests covered a wide range. He was long a
member of the Cambridge Civil Service Reform Association and
Treasurer of the Cambridge branch of the Indian Rights Associa-
tion. He was also Treasurer of the Citizens' Committee for raising
funds for the public library, and was President of the Library
Hall Association in 1892. Whatever he undertook, he carried
through with energy and good sense.
The open air afforded him his chief recreation. In earlier life
he was fond of fishing, hunting, canoeing, and games of ball and
tennis.
From his ripened experience he counselled youth as follows:
"Success in life depends so much on sex, training, opportunities,
occupation, and ambitions, that one cannot be definite. But abso-
lute honesty, courage of conviction, optimism in life, temperate
habits, and loyalty to friends and to ideals will go far."
Jeca£e,^.J2^xj:^,
NATHANIEL GUSHING NASH
NATHANIEL GUSHING NASH, the son of Nathaniel Gush-
ing and Lucy Turner (Briggs) Nash, was bom in Boston,
on April 4, 1862. He died at his home in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, on October 10, 1915.
He was a descendant of "William Brewster, who came from Eng-
land on the Mayflower and settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in
1620. Among Mr. Nash's distinguished ancestors was James Gud-
worth, who was a Deputy Governor of Plymouth County, Assistant
to the Old Colony Government, Deputy to the General Court, and
Commissioner to Great Britain for the United Colonies. He also
served as a soldier in King Philip's "War.
His grandfathers were John Nash and Henry Briggs ; and his
grandmothers were Deborah Gushing and Betsy Ruggles.
Mr. Nash's father was a highly successful merchant who was
possessed of a strong individuality and greatly interested in all
affairs. He served for several years as an Alderman of the City
of Boston, and he was a Representative to the General Court of
Massachusetts. At the time when the question of slavery was agi-
tating our country, he was an ardent abolitionist.
Mr. Nash attended David Mack's School in Belmont, and G. W.
G. Noble's School in Boston. Then he entered Harvard University,
and graduated in the class of 1884. Subsequently he took up post-
graduate work in the Graduate School of the University and in
1892 received the degree of A.M.
After his graduation he found that the management of the
property inherited from his father's estate required all his atten-
tion and so to that work he devoted himself.
"When he was a boy in Arlington, he spent many happy hours
in boating on the Mystic Lakes and in roaming through the woods
nearby. In this way there was born in him a love of nature which
formed the key-note of his life. Long before he entered college,
he was an adept in the use of the shot-gun. In his youth he won
the highest medals in competition with the rifle, and from that
time until he was already overtaken by the first signs of his last
illness, hardly a year passed without finding him spending sev-
eral weeks in Maine or New Brunswick in the pursuit of moose,
deer, caribou or bear.
His early boating experiences also were the forerunners of his
love of the sea. From his college days up to 1902, he spent nearly
NATHANIEL GUSHING NASH
every summer at the seashore, and usually spent at least a month
of this period in cruising in his yacht along the New England
coast, acting much of the time as his own navigator. After he
gave up yachting, he took up fishing, and visited many lakes and
streams in Maine, New Brunswick and Canada for salmon and
trout, and made several trips to Florida for tarpon, amber-jack,
barracouta and other game fishes.
He was also greatly interested in the study of Botany, and after
making a special study of microscopic Botany at Harvard, served
for many years on the Committee to visit that Department of the
University. The N. C. Nash Botanical Lecture Room in the Uni-
versity Museum is his gift and a memorial to his father.
His library contained many volumes dealing with sport.
Among these, was an unusually fine collection of "The Compleat
Angler" by "Walton and Cotton, some excellent editions of Au-
dubon's Birds and Quadrupeds, and a particularly fine collec-
tion of books on African hunting and exploration.
Mr. Nash never sought political preferment, and never served
in public office. In politics he was a Republican, and while he did
not always agree with the views of party leaders, and freely criti-
cised them, nevertheless he was steadfast in his political allegiance.
He identified himself with the Cambridge Trust Company, and
was connected with it for several years, serving as President and
Director.
He was a member of the Masonic Fraternity, being a 32nd
degree Mason, and he belonged to many clubs and societies, among
which may be mentioned the American Society of Natural History,
the Mayflower Society, the Algonquin Club, the Union Club, the
Boston Athletic Association, the Eastern Yacht Club, the Brookline
Country Club, and the Oakley Country Club. He was also a mem-
ber and President of the Massachusetts Rifle Association, and a
member and Commodore of the Corinthian Yacht Club.
His religious affiliations were with the Unitarian Church.
On June 26, 1884, he married Nellie Munro, the daughter of
Nehemiah and Mary E. (Fiske) Fessenden, granddaughter of
Philip Bemis and Rebecca (Tufts) Fessenden, and of Jonas Stone
and Pamelia (Brown) Fiske. Two children were born of this
marriage, one of whom is now living — Nathaniel Cushing Nash,
Jr., who has served in the Common Council in Cambridge, and is
now a lawyer with offices in Boston.
^-^'
KILBY PAGE
KILBY PAGE was born in Lynde Street, Boston, May 2,
1836, and died at Del Monte, California, May 2, 1903. He
' was the son of Kilby Page, born 1797, died 1868, and Re-
becca Dana. His father's parents were Thomas Page and Sarah
Cogswell; his mother's were Judge Samuel Dana of Groton and
Rebecca Barrett. His father was engaged in the shipping busi-
ness. His ancestors came from England and one of them, Chris-
topher Kilby, gave the name to Kilby Street, Boston. Kilby Page
was favored with a mother whose influence was uplifting and en-
nobling, not only intellectually but morally and spiritually.
He obtained his education in the public schools, and in Charles
Green 's School at Jamaica Plain.
He commenced his business career with E. N. Blake in the
produce business. He became President of the Rockport Granite
Company and Director in many corporations.
He was a member of the Boston Art Club, and President of the
John Eliot Club of Roxbury. In his political relations he was
identified with the Republican party, and in his religious life he
was affiliated with the First (Unitarian) Church of Roxbury. For
exercise and relaxation from regular lifework he always enjoyed
traveling.
He was married June 18, 1866, to Anna Catheriae, daughter of
William Hancock and Catherine Downer, granddaughter of Belcher
Hancock and Ann Ackers, and of John Downer and Catherine
Wyman.
They have three daughters, all married : Katherine Mary Stone,
Annie Dana Osborne, and Elizabeth Hancock Hall.
Rev. James DeNormandie wrote for this work the following
tribute to Mr. Page :
"Kilby Page gave you at once the impression of a man in whom
to put confidence. Dignified and yet easy to approach, open to
counsel and yet of settled convictions, honorable in business, devoted
at home, interested in his church, strong in his friendship, not
courting place nor applause, he was what one Uked to call an 'aU
around man.'
"The gifts he had he used, and he iised them to help others.
Principle was the moving element in the daily life of Kilby Page.
All other honors in the world are weak and fade away before the
mysterious, far-reaching, triumphant power of example, which be-
longs to each one of us in every position. The life of Kilby Page
bore witness to all this, and he left behind him a good savor of prin-
ciple, of human nature's possibility and worth."
THEOPHILUS PARSONS
THEOPHILUS PARSONS was bom in Brookline, July 1,
1849. He died at his home in Boston, January 4, 1916.
He bore the name of the distinguished Chief Justice of
Massachusetts, a name which is among the fifty-two Immortals of
Massachusetts, to be seen in the rotunda of the State House, and
which is among those carved on the front of the Boston Public
Library.
His father was Thomas Parsons, who died in 1886, at the age
of seventy; his mother was Martha Watson Franklin, daughter of
Henry Paine Franklin, a remarkably successful manufacturer, of
Providence, Rhode Island. His earliest ancestor in this country-
was Jeffrey Parsons, who came from near Exeter in Devonshire,
England, and about 1654 married Sarah Vinson of Gloucester,
Massachusetts. Another of his distinguished ancestors was Rev.
Moses Parsons of Byfield, the father of Chief Justice Theophilns
Parsons. Among the collateral families whose blood ran in his
veins are the Chauncys, the Watsons, and the Bicknells. His
father, who was engaged in public official life, was also a great
lover of out-of-door sports and exercises. Although the son was
properly prepared for college, he cared little for the routine of a
student's life and it was perhaps natural that he should take a far
greater interest in out-of-door games, especially boating, rowing and
yachting, fishing, riding, and driving horses. His mother, how-
ever, exercised a restraining influence upon hiTn and skilfully
directed his intellectual and moral life. The books that he espe-
cially affected were the biographies of great men and history,
especially the history of the Middle Ages. Though caring little
for the classics, yet he took a keen delight in Cicero's Orations
against Cataline and his treatises on Friendship and Old Age.
He finished the preparatory course in the Brookline High
School and was graduated from Harvard College in the Class of
1870. In accordance with the wishes of his parents, supplemented
by his own strong personal preference for working at something
other than a profession, he entered upon the active duties of life
as a laborer in the Lyman Cotton Mills of Holyoke, Massachusetts,
where he thoroughly learned the business from the bottom. After
two years of strenuous toil he was sent abroad to visit the cotton
mills in various European countries. As a result of his experi-
ence he found himself able to take an active and intelligent part
in the business. In 1879 he became the agent of the Pocasset
/X^^
THEOPHILUS PAESONS
Mills; the following year he was appointed agent of the Lyman
Mills and in 1884 he was promoted to be Treasurer of the same
corporation. He had held other important offices of trust, such,
for instance, as President and Trustee of the Amoskeag Manu-
facturing Company, Director of the American Mutual Liability
Insurance Company, Vice-President and Director of the National
Union Bank, Trustee of the Provident Institution for Savings,
President and Director of the Dwight Manufacturing Company of
Boston, Director of the Boston Manufacturers' Mutual Fire Insur-
ance Company, Director of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insur-
ance Company, and of the New England Trust Company.
He also served as Trustee of the Sailors' Snug Harbor and as
Senior "Warden of Saint Paul's Church in Brookline. He was a
member of the A. D. Club, Cambridge; of the Somerset and Uni-
versity Clubs of Boston ; of the New York, of the Beverly, and of
the Eastern Yacht Clubs ; and of the Myopia Hunt.
He never mingled in politics, and although he sometimes found
it hard to swallow all the principles of the Republican party he
customarily voted for the Republican candidates.
In August, 1894, he married Mary Mason Oliver, daughter of
Fitch Edward and Susan Lawrence (Mason) Oliver, granddaugh-
ter of the Rev. Charles and Susan Lawrence Mason, and of Daniel
Oliver and Mary Robinson Pulling, and a descendant of Thomaa
Oliver, who came to this country from London in 1632. They have
one daughter.
Mr. Parsons attributed his own success in life principally to
the home influences! that surrounded him, together with a particu-
larly congenial coterie of early friends, and not a little to his con-
tact with men in a wide and interesting acquaintance.
He believed that it is best if men cannot make accurate state-
ments to say nothing at all. "Truthfulness under all circum-
stances" was his motto for life, and he gave the following advice
to young Americans: "Success may be attained by any one of
average ability provided that one finds something — no matter what
— and sticks to it with grim determination, to spare no labor and
no self-sacrifice in carrying it through. Though it may take years,
success will be ultimately attained and generally before a man is
forty." As a man Mr. Parsons was a credit to his ancestry, and
as a successful business man he was one of the fine products of
Massachusetts opportunities and institutions.
BENJAMIN WARREN PORTER
BENJAMIN WARREN PORTER was bom in Freeport, Illi-
nois, on the 30th of June, 1865. His father, Benjamin Lord
Porter, a merchant possessed of much business sense and
strength of character, died when his son was six years old. His
mother was Sarah Clark, and to her fell the task of watching over
and guiding the development of the boy. Some of his ancestors,
natives of England and Wales, came to America about 1755 and set-
tled in Massachusetts. On his mother's side his grandfather was
Warren Chapman Clark (1814-1877). He married Emily Everett.
His father's father was Henry Wheelock Porter (1803-1887), a na-
tive of Vermont, whose wife was Marion Hale.
Mr. Porter was educated in the public schools of Freeport.
While still in high school he worked afternoons and evenings in a
drug store. After finishing his schooling in 1882 he became a re-
porter on the Daily Journal. Then he entered the employ of the
Henny Buggy Company as office boy, and soon rose to be book-
keeper. Then his grandfather, an old time Democrat and formerly
landlord of the Brewster House, where Abraham Lincoln and
Stephen Douglas stayed when holding their debates, invited him to
enter his office. As he was City Clerk as well as a general fire-in-
surance broker, he could put before the young man opportunities
for a very considerable business training. On the death of his
grandfather Mr. Porter was elected to fill out the unexpired term as
City Clerk, a very real tribute to his knowledge and ability as
well as a mark of the genuine respect which the community had for
his grandfather. Shortly before this and during a lull in business
he went out with a surveying party across the prairies locating a
new railroad. He was at this time but nineteen years old.
In 1888 he went to Derby, Connecticut, and entered the office
of the Derby Street Railway Company. Here his rise was very
rapid, for within two years he had become Secretary, Treasurer
and General Manager. When the company was absorbed by the
BENJAMLNT "WARREN PORTER
United Gas Improvement Corporation of Philadelphia, he became
the Assistant General Manager of that system in Connecticut.
A short time before the change in the railroad ownership Mr.
Porter had associated himself with the President of the company,
who was interested in the manufacture of boxes. Removing to
Newton Center, Massachusetts, in 1898 he became Vice President of
the National Box and Lumber Company. In 1899 The New Eng-
land Box Company was formed with Mr. Porter as its Vice Presi-
dent, and a factory was established in Orange, Massachusetts. Mr.
Porter decided to give himself wholly to the development of this
business. He removed to Greenfield the same year and there the
oflSce of the company was finally located. Four years later Mr.
Porter was made President of the company. The one mill had
grown to eight, and a business organization had been developed
which was a model of its kind. The underlying idea upon which
the greatest stress was laid was efiicient cooperation. This, together
with the force of Mr. Porter's own personality, was responsible in
large measure for the success of the business, which at the time of
his death on the 6th of March, 1914, was rated as one of the strong-
est in Western Massachusetts.
Mr. Porter was more than a successful business man. He was
not only keen minded but also great hearted. He was one of the
most public spirited citizens of the town of Greenfield. He was
always ready and eager to support any movement for community
betterment. In the reorganizing of the Board of Trade, in service
on the Town Finance Committee and other local commissions, as
a Director in the Franklin County Trust Company and Trustee of
the Greenfield Savings Bank, he placed his time and ability at
the service of his fellow townsmen. Impressed with the folly and
waste of so much overlapping and competition among the benev-
olent organizations in the town, he conceived the idea of the Fed-
erated Societies, a forerunner of what must some day become a
form of organized charity.
A member of the Greenfield Club and one of the organizers of the
Country Club, he enjoyed mingling with other men and was always
keenly interested in clean sport. He was intensely fond of horses
and an expert rider and driver.
His interests were wider than those of his own town. He was
a member of the City Club of New York, of the Springfield Board
BENJAMIN WARREN PORTER
of Trade, and of the Boston Chamber of Commerce. He was one of
the leaders in the organization of the Western New England Cham-
ber of Commerce and its first President. He put his energy to work
for improved labor laws, for good roads, for improvements on the
Connecticut River, for the conservation of natural resources, for
organized cooperation among the farmers, for the developing of a
better understanding between the public and the railroads. His
business being the making of boxes, he was naturally interested
in trees and particularly in reforestation. He was a member of
the State Forestry Commission.
Mr. Porter was by birth and inclination a strong Churchman.
He was not only a Vestryman of St. James' Episcopal Church, but
for some years Treasurer as well. He was devoted to the Parish
and at a period when it was greatly expanding its active life.
Politically, first a Democrat and then at the time of the free
silver agitation a Republican, he was never a partisan. His sympa-
thy and breadth made it possible for him to see the good in every
measure that concerned the welfare of the people, no matter what
party might be its advocate.
On December 16, 1890, Mr. Porter married Miss Harriet Charry
Downs, of Derby, Connecticut, the daughter of Dwight Joseph
Downs and Anna Elizabeth Gray, and granddaughter of James
Downs and Charrj' Johnson, and of Frederick Gray and Harriet
Elizabeth Tuttle. To have known Mr. Porter in his home was to
know him at his best. He was hospitality itself and the most
gracious host imaginable. Genial and sunny by nature, big in
frame and in heart, a bom leader, alert and vigorous and yet kindly
in disposition, fearless and outspoken and yet considerate always
of the other man 's point of view, — such a man was Benjamin War-
ren Porter. To be his friend was to partake of a happy experience.
To know him intimately was to love him.
i
LLEWELLYN POWERS
LLEWELLYN POWERS was bom on December 14, 1836, at
Pittsfield, Slaine. He was the son of Arba and Naomi
(Matthews) Powers, who a few years before had gone to
Somerset County as pioneers and built their home on the edge of
the forest ; and there Llewellyn Powers grew up amid the stimulat-
ing surroundings and hardy activities of pioneer life. The Powers'
homestead was the seat of plain but ample country hospitality.
The neighbors gathered there and the ministers in their rounds
always came to the Powers' house. It was the center for local
political plans, and for religious and educational endeavors. His
mother had a good education and personally attended to that of her
children. She was, moreover, a woman of great religious zeal and
remarkably strong personality, and there obtained in the home to
an unusual degree the strict, puritanical atmosphere that has al-
ways characterized life in the New England countryside. This
serious environment, and the sturdy life in the open, moulded the
young man's character in earnest and rugged lines, and gave an
early inspiration and training that he always looked back upon with
satisfaction and gratitude.
There were eight sons in the Powers ' household, and six of them
attained distinction in the legal profession. One, Gorham Powers,
who died in 1915, was for twenty years a District Judge in Minne-
sota. Another, Cyrus Powers, who died in 1884, was a distin-
guished lawyer of the Maine Bar, for three terms a member of the
Legislature of Maine, and twice a member of the Executive Council
of that State. Cassius Clay Powers was graduated from Bowdoin
CoUege and became a successful lawyer in Boston. Amos Powers
for many years had a large school in Lincoln, California. Sceva
Powers was sucessful in lumbering and mining interests in Wiscon-
sin and California, and is now retired and living at the old home-
stead at Pittsfield. Don A. H. Powers, a prominent lawyer of
Houlton, Maine, served in the Legislature of that State for four
years, was Speaker of the House of Representatives, and was after-
wjirds for two terms a member of the Governor's Council ; while the
youngest son, Frederick A. Powers, after practicing law in Houlton,
Maine, became Attorney General of the State, and later a Judge of
the Supreme Court.
LLEWELLYN POWERS
Llewellyn Powers was the oldest son of this family, and with
his full inheritance of industry, thrift, and self-reliance led the
way toward the accomplishment of its ambitions, and gave help and
encouragement to all the younger sons. As the schools in that
remote district did not afford much opportunity, his education was
largely self -acquired. By himself, he mastered higher mathematics
and the rudiments of Latin and Greek. After some years he took
an opportunity to attend St. Albans Academy for two terms, and
later he went to "Waterville Academy, which is now Cobum Clas-
sical Institute. There he formed a life-long friendship with Bart-
lett Tripp, afterwards Minister to Austria. Together they accom-
plished the almost incredible task of completing their preparation
for college in a term of fourteen weeks, and in the fall of 1857 they
were matriculated without conditions in Colby University. They
left college at the close of their Sophomore year, however, and
Llewellyn Powers went to the Albany Law School in Albany, New
York, where he was graduated in 1860. He was admitted to prac-
tice in the State of New York, but in December, 1860, he returned
to Pittsfield and was admitted to the Bar of Somerset County,
Maine.
At this time the northern part of the State of Maine was being
opened for settlement, and, true to the spirit of his fathers, Llewel-
lyn Powers set out for the new country. He arrived late in Decem-
ber, 1860, at Houlton, Maine, a typical frontier town with its gar-
risoned fort and accompanying lawlessness, — straggling rows of
houses and shacks that seemed scarcely able to withstand the invet-
erate winter, with a strange population collected from everywhere,
who had little in common except their faith in the country and their
determination to make it prosper. Although the appearance of
this far-away settlement was not inviting and would have discour-
aged a less sanguine character, to Llewellyn Powers it spoke of the
future, and he accepted its promise and opened a law office there.
Senator Burleigh says of his coming to Houlton, "I first made
the acquaintance of Llewellyn Powers in 1861, when after his
graduation from the Albany University Law School he came to
Houlton, the shire town of the great county of Aroostook, to enter
upon the practice of his profession. I was living at the time in an
adjoining town, where I was bom. Very well do I recall the
appearance of Mr. Powers at that time, and the rapidity with
LLEWELLYN POWEES
which he impressed his strong and masterful personality upon the
community. Young, affable, of splendid physique, alert of body
and of mind, an indefatigable worker, he brought to his labors rare
qualities of leadership and the elements that win success in the
practice of the law. . . . His own pioneer training stood him in
good stead and specially fitted him for the leadership in the com-
munity with which he had cast his lot. The great county of Aroos-
took of that day was only in the early stages of the splendid devel-
opment that has since been achieved there. A large part of its
splendid domain, now covered with rich and fertile farms, was
then a virgin forest. All over it men were engaged in the slow,
laborious work of reclaiming the wilderness to the uses of hus-
bandry. Among these hardy, industrious people Mr. Powers soon
won the distinction of admitted leadership, both at the bar and in
its political life."
In his practice of the law, he was successful from the beginning.
In his first case he had for his opponent one of the oldest and
ablest lawyers of the vicinity, but he won the issue, and thereby
became well known throughout the country. Within two years he
had attained a most enviable standing at the bar and enjoyed a
large practice. In 1864 he was elected Prosecuting Attorney for
the County, which was then strongly Democratic. As he was a
pronounced Eepublican, this was largely a personal victory, and
showed that he had already obtained that confidence and respect of
the people, regardless of party, which marked his whole political
career. He served in this office for six successive years with notable
success. In 1869, while still Prosecuting Attorney, he was
appointed by General Grant Collector of Internal Revenue for the
Aroostook district, and held the office for four years. In 1873 he
declined reappointment and went to the Legislature for three con-
secutive sessions. There he earned the reputation of a wise and
far-seeing legislator, and was looked to by his fellow members as a
leader on all the important questions of the time. As chairman
of the Judiciary Committee he exerted a marked influence on the
lawmaking of that period. He drew and reported from an evenly
divided committee the bill for the abolition of capital punishment,
and after a long struggle, succeeded in having it made law. He
vigorously adhered to the prohibition policy of his party and
worked fearlessly for the enforcement of the law, although he
LLEWELLYN POWERS
doubted the wisdom of making the statute so stringent and the
penalty so severe as to lose the support of the people generally.
In 1876 he was nominated for Congress. The contest was very
bitter and he was subjected by certain malignant enemies to the
extraordinary kinds of personal abuse that often characterized polit-
ical contests of former times. Throughout it all, however, he was
staunch and fair, never allowing the injustice of his opponents to
bring forth retaliation in land or to change in any way his own
gentlemanly manner of conducting a campaign. An interestiag
contemporary view is contained in a letter from President Gar-
field to Hannibal Hamlin, who was Vice-President under Lincoln,
for many years a Senator from Maine, and afterwards Minister to
Spain.
"Houlton, Maine, September 10, 1876.
"Dkae Senator:
"I have had four very enthusiastic meetings in Aroostook, and
I think there will be a full vote to-morrow. I am very glad I
stayed over and spoke at Houlton ; for it would have been a serious
thing to have disappointed the people in this vicinity. It was
really surprising to see what enthusiasm the people here exhibit in
reference to Powers. The abuse he has received will help him in
the long run. He is a live man and a noble feUow. I will drop
you this note as I pass through your city to-morrow, to let you
know how your Aroostook province is behaving. And I hope to
hear from you at Bangor, that you will go to Ohio and aid us in
our fight.
"I am, very truly yours,
"J. A. Gabpield.
"Hon. Hannibal Hamlin, Bangor, Maine."
The prophecy was true : he was elected by a good majority and went
to Congress as Representative from the Fourth District of Maine.
He was renominated in 1878, but was defeated, with most of the
other Republican candidates, by the so-called Greenback wave that
rolled over the State in the election of that year.
After this defeat, which was the only one he ever received, he
devoted himself to his profession exclusively, and during these years
he was the recognized leader of the bar of Aroostook County. He
LLEWELLYN POWERS
went again to the Legislature of 1883 and 1884. In the latter
year he lost his wife, who was Jennie C, daughter of Benjamin
Hewes o'f Levant, Maine. He then largely gave up his practice
and spent some time in travelling. In 1886 he married Martha G.
Averill, daughter of Luther E. and Eliza L. (Garvin) Averill of
Lincoln, Maine, and shortly afterwards made his home in Brook-
line, Massachusetts.
In 1887 he was admitted to the Suffolk Bar and began practice
in the wider field. Here, as among the people whom he had left,
he was recognized as an able advocate and an erudite lawyer. His
shrewd commonsense, sound judgment, knowledge of human nature,
and mde experience in public affairs made him a most successful
advocate before the jury. His oratory was earnest and direct, and
carried home to his listeners the conviction of his sincerity. He
established a considerable practice in Massachusetts, but after a
few years he heard that his return to his native State would be
welcomed.
It was with a deep feeling for the people who had for so many
years honored him with their suffrage that he went back to Houlton,
in 1891, and in the following year was elected once more to repre-
sent the town in the State Legislature. At the next session in 1895,
having been returned without opposition, he was chosen Speaker
of the House of Representatives, and in the memorable campaign
of 1896 he was elected Governor by a majority of over forty-eight
thousand votes, the largest ever given a candidate for any office in
the history of the State. He was Governor during the Spanish
"War and his administration at that time, as throughout, was marked
by rigid conservatism and fearless action.
Senator Sutherland of Utah once said of him: "It is a trite
thing to say of any citizen of the Republic that he is patriotic.
That is the normal attitude, thank God, of all our people. It is
equally a trite thing to say of any properly constituted man that
he is humane. That is the common attribute of our modem civil-
ization. But a good many people who are patriotic in sentiment
and humane in feeling are neither in practice when the practice
entails personal sacrifice. Governor Powers believed that love of
country was not a mere abstraction, but a deep and holy sentiment
for which one should be willing to give his time and strength and
property and, if need be, his life. When war was declared with
LLEWELLYN POWERS
Spain he was the Governor of his State. He was urged to call
a special session of the Legislature in order that an appropriation
might be made to equip and supply a regiment of volunteers for
ser\'ice in the field. This he declined to do, because of the great
expense an extra session would involve, but instead he went into his
own pocket and paid out of his personal means the great sum
which was required to properly equip the troops and send them to
the front. That the Legislature at its next regular session promptly
reimbursed him detracts in no measure from the generosity and
patriotism of his act. There was no legal obligation on their part
to do so, and most men would probably have called the Legisla-
ture together instead of taking upon their own shoulders the bur-
den and responsibility which he assumed without regard to the con-
sequences. ' '
This and his other public acts were warmly endorsed by the
people of the State, and in the succeeding election he was returned
as their Chief Executive for another two years. In April, 1901,
he was again chosen to represent the Fourth Congressional District
of Maine, the Hon. Charles A. Boutelle having resigned his seat
by reason of ill health. He was re-elected to the Fifty-eighth,
Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth Congresses and had received the unani-
mous nomination of his party for another Congressional term at the
time of his death.
Governor Powers was a striking figure in the National House.
Large and well proportioned physically, swarthy of complexion,
his massive head crowned with a shock of raven black hair, he
always attracted notice among his fellow members by his distinction
of bearing and graciousness of manner. A Republican all his life,
the traditions and principles of the party had been woven into the
very warp and woof of his character, but although commonly
known as a " standpatter, ' ' he never hesitated to voice his disagree-
ment when a declaration or principle was contrary to his con-
scientious conviction. He had a keen sense of justice and vsdth
both head and heart decided matters, particularly when they
reached down to the firesides of the masses.
On account of his long experience in legal and financial mat-
ters, he was appointed to sen'e on the Committees on Elections No.
1, Territories, and Banking and Currency, and there he brought to
the national questions of those times the same studious considera-
LLEWELLYN POWERS
tion and matured judgment that had always characterized his work
in public office. The members of the Committee on Banking and
Currency continued to consult with him while he was confined to
his bed in his last illness, and acknowledged a most valued assist-
ance in framing the emergency currency measures that were passed
immediately after the business panic of 1907.
His private interests were largely as a landholder. At one time
he owned about two hundred thousand acres. For many years
he was President of the Farmers ' National Bank of Houlton, Maine.
He was a director of several other financial institutions in Maine
and in Boston. He was interested in the educational institutions
of Maine, and served as a trustee of several which enjoyed his
patronage. In 1870, Colby University conferred upon him a degree
of A.M., and later, in recognition of his distinguished public serv-
ices, the degree of LL.D. He was a member of the Masonic Fra-
ternity and of the Order of Elks, but in neither of these was he an
active member, as his public duties and other concerns absorbed
nearly all his time and strength.
He died on July 28, 1908, his widow and the children of his
second marriage, Walter A., Martha P., Doris V., Ralph A., and
Margaret L. Powers all surviving him. At the time of his death
he had been for forty-four years almost continually in the public
service, and left a record unstained by any unworthy act, and dis-
tinguished for loyal devotion to the interests of his constituents
and his country. He was always courageous and independent, fair
in his judgment, and strong in his convictions of right. This the
people of that northern country well knew, and with pride and
affection they gave him their earnest support for more than a
generation. There he is remembered, not so much for his success
in life, as for his warm, genial manner and kindly nature. His
instincts were social. He loved the companionship of his fellow
men. As he came and went he had a cordial woi-d and hearty
greeting for everyone he met, and few there were who could resist
the rare charm of his personality. There was no trace of snobbery
or affectation in his character; if he had a weakness, it was his
extreme modesty at all times. He was a delightful, kind-hearted
man. ' ' He looked out upon life with the spirit of an optimist and
from the depths of his own frank tind generous nature radiated an
atmosphere of hope and cheer upon those about him."
WALTER AVERILL POWERS
WALTER AVERILL POWERS was born in Brookline,
Massachusetts, April 16, 1888. He is the son of Lewellyn
Powers and Martha G. (Averill) Powers. His father
was a prominent lawyer and citizen of the State of Maine. His
extensive law practice led him in 1887 to seek and gain admit-
tance to the Suffolk County Bar in Massachusetts. To this tem-
porary i-esidence in Boston is due the fact that Massachusetts is
the native State of Walter Averill Powers. His father was well
known in political as well as legal circles when Walter was born.
He had served Aroostook County, Maine, six years, as prosecut-
ing attorney and the same district for four years, as United States
Collector of Customs. He had represented his district four terms
in the Maine Legislature and the fourth congressional district
of Maine in the Forty-fifth Congress of the United States. For
the remainder of his seventy -two years of life he was much in the
service of the public. He was twice elected Governor of Maine
1897-1901 and was United States Congressman from the fourth
district to the Fifty-seventh, Fifty-eighth, Fifty-ninth, and Six-
tieth Congresses. He did not serve out his last term in the Con-
gress, dying July 28, 1908.
Walter A. Powers was named for his immigrant ancestor,
Walter Power, who before 1641 came from Essex, England, to
Charlestown, Massachusetts, removing later to what is now Little-
ton, Massachusetts. Among his colonial forebears was Captain
Peter Powers, who served in the expedition against Louisbourg,
and who was also something of an explorer and writer of historical
tracts.
The childhood and youth of Walter A. Powers were unevent-
ful. He was fond of study and early determined to secure an edu-
cation. He had few of the diiBculties to overcome which boys of
slender means encounter. Possessed of good intellectual abilities
he easily mastered the studies of the curriculum of the preparatory
La^ [j dytrcAJ
WALTER AVERILL POWERS
school and of the college. He fitted for college in the Rieker Clas-
sical School, Houlton, Maine, entered Bowdoin CoUege, Brunswick,
Maine, in the class of 1906, and gained the degree of Bachelor of
Arts. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and graduated
sumnia cum laude. He took his course in law at Harvard Univer-
sity, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and re-
ceived the degree of Bachelor of Law in 1909. He began the prac-
tice of his profession in Houlton, Maine, in 1908, and was admitted
to the Massachusetts Bar in 1909.
From 1912 to 1914 he held the position of Assistant Attorney
General of Massachusetts. He became First Lieutenant of Marines
of the Massachusetts Naval Militia, March 27, 1913. November
5, 1915, he was commissioned Captain of the First Marine Company,
the largest company in the State's service.
In college Mr. Powers was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity. He is a member of the order of Free Masons, also a
member of the Algonquin Club and the Harvard Club. In politics
he is a Republican. Mr. Powers is not married.
Among the varied round of relaxations which appeal to him,
he finds none equal to reading. Of the many influences which have
contributed to start him upon a successful life career, he reckons
home first ; after that, travel, contact with men in active life ; and
private study.
Mr. Powers is a man of sound character and a determination to
succeed. He has made a most promising start in professional life.
His face is toward the future lighted by hope, worthy ambition,
and steadfast purpose.
WILBUR HOWARD POWERS
WILBUR HOWARD POWERS is an exponent of the strenuous
life. It seems to be in the blood, for in tracing back his
ancestry one finds a marked stream of energy flowing down
through the generations. It is interesting to trace the evolution of
names as well as of races. The name of Powers was originally Le
Poer, and the first ancestor of whom anything definite is known came
over with William the Conqueror to England. He was in the Battle
of Hastmgs and his name appears on the roll of Battle Abbey. The
name Le Poer was angUcized by William the Conqueror and has been
spelt Poer, Powre, Poore, and Power.
Walter Power came from Essex, England, and landed at Salem,
Mass., in 1654, and settled in what is now the town of Littleton, Mass.
Elder John White also came from England in 1632, — probably
from Chelmsford, — with members of the parish of Rev. Thomas
Hooker, and settled in Cambridge, Mass., then called Newtowne.
Gore Hall, the library of Harvard College, is built on what was then
a part of his home lot. Elder John White was Mr. Powers' first
ancestor in this country on his mother's side, and was noted for his
religious zeal. He helped to found Cambridge and was elected on its
first Board of Selectmen in 1634 and 1635. Later he removed to
Hartford, Conn., was one of the founders of the town, was elected
Selectman four different times, and was a recognized leader in civic
affairs. In 1659, he removed to Hadley, Mass., and was one of
the founders of that town and three times elected Selectman. He
twice served the town as representative in the General Court of
Massachusetts. In 1670 he returned to Hartford at the call of the
church to take the position of Elder, — a position of large influence
in those days.
His son, Nathaniel White, the next in line of ancestry, had the
unique distinction of being elected eighty-five times as representative
to the Legislature of Connecticut from Middletown, serving con-
tinuously fifty years. During part of this period representatives
were elected twice each year.
WILBUR HOWARD POWERS
Captain Joseph Taylor, Mr. Powers' maternal great-grandfather,
was in all the Indian and Colonial wars, and in the War of the Revolu-
tion was aide-de-camp to General Stark. He had many thrilUng
experiences in these wars.
Ezekiel Powers, Wilbur Powers' great-grandfather, was one of the
first settlers of Croydon, N. H., was its largest landowner and wealth-
iest man, and was a magistrate of the town, under King George III.
He invented the side-hill plow, the loop sled, the first sap pan for
making maple sugar, and numerous other conveniences to aid the
farmer.
Major Abijah Powers, Mr. Powers' grandfather, was a member
of the Board of Selectmen of Croydon, N. H., for many years, • —
chairman several times; he represented the town in the State
Legislature three times, and served in the War of 1812 as Captain
and Major.
Elias Powers, father of Wilbur Powers, was a farmer and land-
surveyor, born May 1, 1808, and died Jan. 29, 1891. He was noted
for his truthfulness, fairness, and excellent judgment and was a perfect
type of the country squire of the old school. He was a County
Commissioner, and Justice of the Peace and Quorum. In one case
against the County of Sullivan, he had the unique distinction, under
the direction of the Chief Justice of the Superior Court, of stating the
facts of the case so clearly that both sides rested upon his evidence,
though many witnesses had been summoned on each side, and the
case was taken to the Supreme Court on the question of law involved.
The Croydon Centennial states that "the Powerses were distin-
guished for their giant frames, great physical strength and vigorous
intellects."
From such an ancestry, distinguished in the civic, military and
religious life of the country, Wilbur Howard Powers started life with
a great inheritance on Jan. 22, 1849, in Croydon, N. H. His early
life was occupied with the duties and responsibilities common to a
youth brought up on a New England farm. He was early trained to
assume responsibihties, and proved worthy of trust. He was ambi-
tious to obtain a broad education, and his father promised him one
term at an academy, but he at once commenced to fit for college.
By great persistency he persuaded his parents to permit him to finish
the course, and graduated from Kimball Union Academy, Meriden,
N. H., in 1871. Some of his relatives and friends thought it a waste
of time and money to go to college, and he felt that it was not just
to ask his parents to use for his education any portion of their property
WILBUR HOWARD POWERS
which might, otherwise, descend to his brothers and sister; therefore,
he preferred to rely wholly upon his own efforts. He found a friend
in Ruel Durkee, — the Jethro Bass of Winston Churchill's novel,
"Coniston," — who agreed to finance him to the extent of SI, 600,
but Mr. Powers was obliged to borrow only $670 from his benefactor,
for he earned the rest of his college expenses by his own efforts. He
received the degree of A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1875, A.M.
in 1880; Boston University School of Law, LL.B. 1878.
From early years he was an omnivorous reader, reading the edi-
torials of Horace Greeley in the N. Y. Tribune as early as six years of
age. Darwin's "Theory of Evolution" found in him an early and
ardent advocate. The great poets and novehsts fed his eager mind
and stimulated his intellectual activity.
In 1879 — January 22 — he began the practice of law at 13 Pem-
berton Square, Boston. From that time on his Ufe has been filled
with many and growing activities in various lines of service, pro-
fessional, political, social and educational. Only a man of great
physical endurance and keen intellectual powers could carry on so
many lines of endeavor so successfully as he has. He has been
coimsel for the towns of Hyde Park, Cottage City, and Wareham,
for the Old Colony and New Haven Raih-oads, for the Golden Cross
Society, for the Balch Brothers Company, receiver of the Guardian
Endowment Society, and is executor of and trustee of several very
large estates. He represented Hyde Park in the Legislature three
successive years, 1890-1892; was a member of the Republican State
Committee, 1893-1894, and was a presidential elector, casting his
vote for McKinley, ui 1897 ; was a member of the first Board of Park
Commissioners for Hyde Park, 1893-1900; was a member of the
Republican Town Committee of Hyde Park from 1894-1908, serving
in the various capacities of chairman, secretary and treasurer, and
would have continued a member indefinitely had he not decUned to
serve; and he was also a member of the School Committee from
1899-1909, serving the last six years as Chairman, when he re-
moved to Cambridge.
While a member of the Legislature he had charge of many im-
portant measures and probably drafted more bills for the other mem-
bers of the House than the rest of the House put together. His
conspicuous service made him the acknowledged floor leader on the
Republican side of the House in the latter part of his legislative
experience.
He has been an active member of the following organizations:
WILBUR HOWARD POWERS
the United Order of the Golden Cross ; the National Fraternal Con-
gress; the Royal Arcanum ; the Delta Kappa Epsilon; the Masons;
the Society of Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution;
the Boston City Club; the Colonial Club of Cambridge; theWaverly
Club of Hyde Park; the Point Independence Yacht Club; the Dart-
mouth Alumni Association; the Alumni Association of the Boston
University School of Law; the Kimball Union Academy Alumni
Association; the Republican Club of Massachusetts; and has held
official positions as Chairman of the Committee on Laws from 1885
to 1895 and General Counsel for the Golden Cross since 1885; Presi-
dent of the Waverly Club for many years; President of the Boston
University Alumni Association 1905 and 1906; President of the
Kimball Union Academy Alumni Association; and is the first Presi-
dent of the National Fraternal Congress of America.
In addition to his professional, pohtical and social duties he has.
found time to enjoy recreation in various forms that would keep up
the tone of his body and mind to the highest pitch. Fishing, sailing,
and bridge whist are enjoyed by him, and he finds recreation in writing
biographies, editorials, and humorous sketches.
May 1, 1880, he was married to Emily Owen, daughter of Frederick
L. and Rebecca Chandler Owen, who was descended from John Owen
who emigrated from Wales to Connecticut in 1664. The Owen
family contains many lawyers, doctors and teachers. Two children
have been born of the union, a son, Walter Powers, who has followed
his father's footsteps as a lawyer, and Myra Powers, who is still a
student. Mr. Powers was again married to Lottie I. (Mills) Koehler
on May 17, 1914.
From his own large and successful experience Mr. Powers believes
that young people should be taught the value of responsibility as a
developer of character, and that honor, industry, honesty, self-control,
frugality and pohteness are the old-fashioned virtues that must be
cherished and lived to insure success; he believes that pluck, patience
and persistence are essential elements in the make-up of those who
would reach any prominent position in American life; that a man
should not only be loyal to his vocation but also be interested in social
service, ministering to the public welfare as a kind neighbor, public-
spirited citizen and loyal patriot.
Mr. Powers' career of large usefulness and public service illustrates
the value of a splendid inheritance, early responsibilities, hard work,
a high standard of honor, and consecrated devotion to the good of
humanity.
JAY BIRD REYNOLDS
JAY BIRD REYNOLDS, a prosperous shoe manufacturer of
Orange, Massachusetts, was bom in what is now Brockton,
but then known as North Bridgewater, May 2, 1854. The
business of life began for him at a tender age, for he was only
five years old when he began to help his father in making shoes,
and later when he was not attending the district schools of the re-
gion he worked hard in his father's shoeshop. At fourteen he gave
up going to school, and for two or three years remained with his
father. He then spent several years in the various Brockton shoe
factories, and in 1874 set up in business on his own account. He
bought enough leather to make five cases of shoes of thirty pairs
each, and from this small beginning his business began to ex-
pand, till it became needful for him to take as a partner Mr.
Henry H. Tucker, of the neighboring town of Avon. The part-
nership was dissolved within a year or two, and for a season Mr.
Reynolds conducted business alone.
In May, 1887, Mr. Reynolds began manufacturing in Orange.
His success under these conditions was very marked, and in
1897 the business was incorporated as the Jay B. Reynolds Shoe
Company, of which he was made President and Treasurer. In the
course of a few years, he unfortunately lost his hearing, and on
this account he retired from active business in 1902.
Mr. Reynolds has always taken an interest in horses and cat-
tle, and for several years managed a large cattle farm in Orange.
In 1896 he removed to Athol, which is now his residence, although
his business is carried on at Orange.
Mr. Reynolds is a member of such Masonic organizations as
Paul Revere Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Satucket Chapter R. A. M.,
and Bay State Commandery, Knights Templar, all of Brockton;
and he is likewise a member of Aleppo Temple, Nobles of the Mys-
tic Shrine, of Boston, and is a member of Lodge 1296, B. P. 0. Elks,
of Greenfield. The Poquaig Club of Athol, to which Mr. Reynolds
belongs, includes very many influential men of Athol and vicinity.
Politically Mr. Reynolds is known as a loyal Republican, and he is
a firm supporter of no license principles.
Mr. Reynolds was married on November 6, 1878, to Mrs. Ellen
M. Phillips Drake, but there are no children of the marriage.
y7/^;^(^^c/^^ 7//^^///4r^/yo^
ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE
ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE was born in Roxbmy
(now a part of Boston), Massachusetts, August 29, 1875.
His father was John Hamilton Rice, a successful merchant,
a man of literary and scholarly tastes, and a great reader of books
on science, history, biography, and travel. He was born July 6,
1849, and died in September, 1899, and was a son of Alexander
Hamilton, and Augusta (McKim) Rice. Alexander H. Rice was
a prominent man during the latter half of the last century, being
a member of Congress from Massachusetts, 1859 to 1867, and Gov-
ernor of Massachusetts, 1876 to 1879. Harvard College conferred
the degree of LL.D. upon him in 1876. He was born in 1819 and
died in 1895.
Alexander Hamilton Rice's mother is Cora Lee, daughter of
John Theodore and Annette Arabella Collins (Lee) Clark.
Dr. Rice's ancestry includes many names well known in New
England — Rice, Capen, Collins, Bradford, Lee, and Clark. The
founders of all of these families came to America from England
during the middle and latter part of the seventeenth century and
settled in or near Boston. Among his ancestors of note may be
mentioned Judge Collins of Danvers, Col. Arthur Noble, who dis-
tinguished himself in the French and Indian Wars, and Charles
Carroll of CarroUton, Maryland (1737-1832), who was the last
surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Alexander Hamilton Rice, as a boy, was much given to outdoor
sports and to drawing and reading. He clearly showed his tendency
towards the pursuit he entered upon in his young manhood — ad-
venturous explorations and travels, which have brought him fame
and no little honor. His reading was extensive and embraced sci-
ence, travel and exploration, biography, philosophy, religion and
also the works of English novelists of the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries. He attended the public schools of Boston until
the age of sixteen, when he entered the Noble and Greenough School
to fit for Harvard College. He received his A.B. from Harvard
in 1898 and on June 24, 1915, he received the honorary degree of
A.M. from the same College. During his college course he kept up
his outdoor sports, particularly rowing and football, being a mem-
ber of his class crew and eleven. While an undergraduate he was
a member of the Institute of 1770, the Hasty Pudding Club, the
Delta Kappa Epsilon, and the Phi Delta Psi. During his univer-
sity career he travelled extensively in North America and much in
Europe, spending the long summer vacations in this manner. He
ALEXANDER HAMILTON BICE
did much of his travelling on foot, on one occasion, while touring
Norway, walking from Bergen to Christiania, where he met Nansen,
the noted explorer.
It was after graduation in 1898, that Dr. Rice began in earnest
his exploratory travels. He first went to the far Northwest of
this continent and walked and paddled by canoe thousands of
miles through wild regions seldom visited by man. Next he vis-
ited Asia and then Africa. During the several years he was en-
gaged in making these explorations, he was also a student at the
Harvard Medical School, from which he obtained the degree of
M.D. in 1904. After receiving this degree he served a term as
Surgical Interne at the Massachusetts General Hospital. South
America had claimed his attention as being a continent contain-
ing vast regions which were almost unknown to civilized races.
During his medical course he had visited South America for a
brief period and had made preparations for the extensive explora-
tions he later carried out in the unknown wilderness of the Ama-
zon's Valley and the Orinoco River. The main object of these
explorations was topographical, but he also paid considerable at-
tention to research along anthropological, ethnological, and medical
lines.
Dr. Rice was the holder of a certificate of the Royal Geograph-
ical Society School of Geographical Surveying and Astronomy, and
the study necessary to obtain this certificate, combined with his
previous practical experience in exploratory work, made him emi-
nently fitted to undertake the difficult and hazardous explorations
in South America. That he proved himself a master hand in his
researches and topographical work is clearly evidenced by the fact
that after making his first expedition to South American wilds
he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of
London. Every year the King gives through this Society a gold
medal for explorers. The recipient for this year — 1914 — selected
by the Council of the Society and approved by the King is Dr.
Alexander Hamilton Rice of Boston, Massachusetts. He was also
awarded early in 1914 the gold medal of the Harvard Travellers'
Club.
Dr. Rice has made three extensive exploratory expeditions to
South America, besides a number of shorter trips. His experi-
ences in 1906 were memorable and often thrilling. During that
trip he travelled from Caracas to Bogota, with pack mules and
ponies, the journey taking two months. He established for himself
fame as a surgeon among the natives. In a village he passed
through was a priest who had septic poisoning in his right arm,
ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE
and learning that an American physician was in the village, he
went to see Dr. Rice, who advised amputation of the arm. He
did the operation on the following day under ether and the priest
was very much surprised to find his arm taken off with scarcely
any pain. News of this, to them, wonderful operation, spread fast
among the native villages, and when he entered any village there-
after during the trip, the head man had all the sick or injured
inhabitants gathered together to be treated by Dr. Rice. On this
journey. Dr. Rice crossed the Andes and was several times de-
serted by his Indian guides and in dire danger of injury or death
on the perilous heights of the mountain range. He fortunately
escaped these dangers and returned home, after discovering the
source of the Rio Uaupes and making several other important
geographical discoveries.
In 1907 he began his second long trip to South America, his
object being to explore the vast unknown region of the north-
western Amazon's Valley, in Northern Brazil, and the southern
tributaries of the Omicron River, in Southern Venezuela. This
was a far more difficult and dangerous undertaking than was
the 1906 expedition, for it necessitated going among the wild,
fierce tribes inhabiting regions which white men had never pene-
trated. Sometime later, when he was supposed to be in the wild
fastnesses of Northern Brazil, or Southern Venezuela, word was
received that he had been killed and eaten by natives; but his
safe return several months later disproved the storj^. He returned
in season to partake in the festivities of the Decennial Celebration
of his class and receive the congratulations of his classmates. He
was one of the speakers at the class dinner at the Hotel Somerset in
Boston, on June 22, 1908.
Dr. Rice's discoveries in his various lines of research during
this expedition were numerous; many of them, especially those of
a geographical and topographical nature, were of almost inestimable
value to the scientific world. These results of his journey he pub-
lished, after his return, in a series of Monographs on the Results
of Explorations in South America, in the Geographical Journal of
the Royal Geographical Society, and with them was published a
map of the Uaupes River. This map Dr. Rice plotted out and
drew from his actual and accurate observations on the spot, and
it forms a valuable increment to the geography of that portion of
South America.
After concluding the publication of these monographs and
maps. Dr. Rice began to prepare for a third extended exploratory
trip to South America, the object to be further investigations
ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE
in the northwestern Amazon Basin. So far as known, at that
time, no white men had ever entered the portion of Colom-
bia which he planned to explore, and it was in part uninhabited
or inhabited only by tribes of semi-savage Indians. Again did
his friends urge him not to risk his life, and an issue of a Bos-
ton newspaper about six months after his departure had this to
say about the chances of his returning: "Friends say that it
will be absolutely necessary for him to be always on his guard,
for the natives are especially hostile to white men. But, as the
Boston explorer has time and again shown that he is not only most
careful but is especially blessed with good luck, it is confidently be-
lieved that he will return safe and sound to civilization."
Dr. Rice started on this third trip in January, 1912. While
his primary object was exploration for the purpose of mapping out
this unknown region, he expected to devote considerable time to
the investigations of the natural resources and animal life of
that region and also to making a careful study of the natives
of the region to discover, if possible, their origin. They have
been classed by some as of part Mongoloid or other Asiatic origin ;
but Dr. Rice, from his observations in former trips, believed this
idea was incorrect. He had found that the Indians he saw in
previous expeditions were of brown or olive skin, and had their
senses highly developed. He believed that they were an older race
than Europeans. In his opinion they represented the highest de-
velopment of evolution possible for them in the conditions under
which they had always existed. To accomplish all these objects
in a satisfactory manner would take many months, and Dr. Riee
did not expect to return for about two years. Nearly twenty
months elapsed between his departure and his arrival back at
New York, bringing his garnered sheaves of scientific discoveries
with him.
Dr. Rice has prepared a report of his expedition for the Royal
Geographical Society.
On October 6, 1915, at Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Rice was
married to Mrs. Eleanor Elkins Widener.
Dr. Rice is a member of the Bath Club of London, the So-
ciete Geographique de Paris, and the Travellers' Club of Paris.
He belongs to the Tavern and Tennis and Racquet Clubs of Bos-
ton, and the Harvard and University Clubs of New York. He is
a Republican in politics. While his residence is in Boston, it is
needless to say that that is the last place to look for him. Of late
years he has spent little time in Boston and even his relatives and
most intimate friends often find it difficult to locate him. He is a
ALEXANDER HAMILTON BICE
born traveller, a man of fine physique, strong and powerful because
of the violent sports and exercise he has indulged in from his
youth up..
Naturally the great European War attracted Dr. Rice with a
power that could not be resisted ; accordingly he became a member
of the Surgical Staff of American Ambulance, Paris, France, from
September, 1914, to June, 1915, and Surgeon of Hospital No. 72,
Paris, from September, 1914, to January, 1915.
On his return to this country the honorary degree of Master
of Arts was conferred upon him by Harvard University in June,
1915. In August, 1916, he became a member of the Consulting
Board of Physicians and Surgeons of the Newport Hospital, New-
port, Rhode Island, a position which he still holds.
Following is the advice he gives to young Americans, written
by Dr. Rice for the readers of this work:
"First become inculcated with the spirit of Democracy — a de-
sire to know all classes, creeds, colors, and races of people. The
periphery of one's acquaintance should be bounded by the limits
of the world only. Municipally know the slums as well as the so-
cially best and strongest. The average form of patriotism is a
narrow, bigoted, selfish assumption engendered by ignorance, arro-
gance, and self-conceit.
"Never be satisfied with the mediocre, moderate, or modest;
only what is hardest, biggest, most difficult, and most extreme is
worth while.
"Go at anything with a desire to be professional at it, or
leave it.
"Understand one's self thoroughly. As much of human nature
is learned subjectively as objectively.
"If the boy is to be truly the father of the man, he should
be unrelentingly Spartan, in subjecting himself to cold, expo-
sure, strain, fatigue, and setting himself physical tasks which can-
not quite be accomplished. These measures breed physical cour-
age, hardihood, endurance, pertinacity, and self-denial. The best
horsemen learn to ride without stirrups.
"The best guides in the formative period are sympathetic and
understanding fathers, good books, and the inspiring influence of
older men who have achieved success along lines for which the
young man has tastes, inclinations or habitual talents.
"The responsibility of parents to their issue is tremendous.
The individual should strive for the developing of himself, not
as an end for his own satisfaction but as a means of race improve-
ment through his own progeny. Then there is reason and right in
his having lived."
WILLIAM BALL RICE
OF the energetic leaders who have built up the great industries
of New England, few have labored more wisely and effect-
ively than the late WilUam Ball Rice, for many years
at the head of one of the largest boot and shoe manufacturing
establishments in the world, and long one of the most honored
and esteemed citizens of Quincy, Massachusetts. He was bom in
Hudson, then Feltonville, a part of the town of Mariboro, Massa-
chusetts, on April 1, 1840. His father, Obed Rice, a shoemaker
of rare energy and sterling honesty, born June 30, 1810, and died
July 2, 1890, was the son of Ithamar Rice, born November 25,
1742, and died October 23, 1824, and Sarah (Dunn) Rice. His
mother was Sarah Merriam Ball, daughter of Micah R. and Rachel
(Lincoln) Ball, of Leominster and Princeton.
The Rice family is descended from Edmund Rice who emi-
grated from Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England, and settled
in Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1639. It has supplied many men
of prominence in the pohtical, civic and industrial life of the nation.
Ithamar Rice rendered efficient service with the EngUsh at
Halifax in the war with France in 1760, and was among the first
patriots to resist British oppression at Lexington in 1775. The
Ball family, prominent also in many ways, came from England
in the seventeenth century.
The boyhood of WiUiam Ball Rice, Hke that of so many country
boys of half a century or more ago, was one of toil and industry.
His only schooling was in the district school of Feltonville, but
he possessed a mind that never ceased to learn. At the age of
seven he began to help his father, whose work was done at home
according to a common custom among shoemakers of that time.
At the age of nine he went to work on a farm several miles from
home. As a young man he showed a taste for debating societies
and theatricals, doubtless acquiring from them some of the readi-
ness of thought and expression which became so useful to him in
WILLIAM BALL EICE
after years. He was always foremost in the activities of the
young people of his town, having a natural aptitude for leadership.
He'early entered a shoe factory in Hudson, where he remained
until he reached his majority, and by industry and frugality suc-
ceeded in saving a small sum of money. This little capital he
invested in a toy factory in Hudson with a fellow townsman named
Houghton under the name of Rice and Houghton. Early in 1862
he opened a toy store on Hanover Street, Boston, for the sale of
his Hudson product and other small wares. Disposing of this
business, he enlisted as Second Lieutenant in Company E of the
Fifth Massachusetts Infantry, serving among the one hundred days'
men in 1863 in the Civil War.
He returned to the shoe business as traveling salesman for a
Hudson Shoe Manufacturer. In October, 1866, he associated
himself with Horatio H. Hutchins, of Hudson, under the firm
name of Rice and Hutchins, and began the sale of shoes on com-
mission. The firm's entire capital was less than five hundred
dollars, part of which was loaned by a friend who had faith in Mr.
Rice. They had unlimited energy and resolution, however, and the
country's needs were great after the enforced privations of the Civil
War, so that trade commenced briskly and increased very rapidly.
Early in their career they saw the advantage of manufacturing
the goods they sold, and branding them with their own name
and trade-mark. They first manufactured men's heavy split
shoes and women's polish and polkas so much in vogue before
1880. They soon added their finer goods, and continued steadily
improving their product and increasing its variety. To meet the
increasing demand for their lines, factory after factory was opened
until they had not less than seven of the best factories in Amer-
ica, making all varieties and qualities of shoes for men, women,
boys, misses and children. Each of these factories has specialized
on a particular grade or style, that at South Braintree, on fine
shoes for ladies; that at Rockland, fine shoes for men; those at
Marlboro, medium priced men's, boy's and children's shoes; and at
Warren, Maine, low priced men's shoes.
Changing from their original method of selling exclusively
through jobbers, in 188-4 they began to establish wholesale agencies
for the special sale of their products. In addition to their Boston
office, they soon had special wholesale distributing stores in New
WILLIAM BALL BICE
York and Philadelphia, later opening agencies in Chicago, Cin-
cinnati, Baltimore, St. Louis, Cleveland, Atlanta and Boston.
From these centers their shoes have found a market in every
part of the United States. For many years they have done a large
foreign business and have sales-rooms in London, Berlin and other
English and continental cities. From a beginning with practically
no capital, Kiee and Hutchins developed immense resources. "With
great expansion, a more permanent organization became essential,
and the firm was changed in 1892 to a close corporation, with a
capital stock of $1,000,000. In 1901 this was increased to
$2,000,000, and in 1905 it was made $5,000,000.
Although expending his energies so lavishly in the upbuilding
of this great industry, Mr. Rice gave much attention to other
affairs, of a business, civic and social character. He was for many
years Vice-President and director of the Continental National
Bank of Boston, a director of its successors the Colonial Bank
and the Commonwealth Trust Company, a trustee of the Boston
Safe Deposit and Trust Company and of the Franklin Savings
Bank. He was at one time President of the New England Shoe
and Leather Association, and was always an untiring worker for
anything that would advance the interests of his trade. He had
been Vice-President of the Boston Boot and Shoe Club since its
organization, and was a member of the Algonquin, Union and
Merchants Clubs, and the Chamber of Commerce of Boston.
In politics he was an Independent Democrat though sometimes
differing from his party and always acting independently. He
believed in a low tariff and free raw material. Often urged to
fill public ofifice, he consented to become a candidate only once,
and was then as a Democrat defeated for the Governor's Council
by a small vote in a strong Republican district. On the death of
the successful candidate, during his term of office, I\Ir. Rice was
appointed by Governor Russell, in 1893, to fill the vacancy.
He had a keen interest in the welfare of Boston, his business
headquarters, as well as those of the Commonwealth at large.
Governor Greenhalge appointed him a member of the first I\Ietro-
politan District Commission of greater Boston, and he served as
chairman. Active in organizing the Boston Associated Board of
Trade, he was its first President and a delegate to it continuously
iintil its dissolution.
WILLIAM BALL RICE
Mr. Rice was married October 25, 1860, to Emma Louise, daugh-
ter of Simeon Cunningham of Marlboro, Massachusetts, a descend-
ant from Robert Cunningham, who came from the north of Ireland
to Bo'ston and Spencer in 1717, and Mary Sanborn Cunningham
who was the daughter of Moses and Lydia (Sherbum) Sanborn, of
Kensington, New Hampshire.
Mr. Rice's death occurred at his home in Quincy on May 21,
1909, after a long illness from cerebral hemorrhage. He is sur-
vived by his wife and by three of the four children that came to
bless their happy union. Two sons, Harry Lee and Fred Ball,
are associated in the shoe manufacturing corporation, living in
Dover. A daughter, Mary Sanborn, is the wife of Homer L.
Bigelow, and lives at Chestnut Hill near Boston.
Mr. Rice took little time for relaxation, but enjoyed driving
and automobiling from his beautiful home in Adams Street, and
took a short European trip each year or two. He attended the
First Congregational Church of Quincy.
A noble monument to Mr. Rice's munificence, one which has
placed all classes of his fellow citizens under lasting obligations
to him, is the City Hospital of Quincy, which he founded in 1890,
and for which he gave the land and buildings, making a large
addition just before his death and contributing to the endowment
fund in his will. This institution had been open scarcely two
months when it became the relief station in a terrible railroad
accident, in which nearly thirty people were killed and scores
were injured.
No better or more touching tribute to a manly and useful life
can be oifered than these resolutions of regret passed by a leading
organization :
"Seldom has the New England Shoe and Leather Association,
during its long existence, had to record the loss of a member of
such pre-eminent usefulness as is the occasion of our meeting
today.
"President, member, friend, in whatsoever relationship we
regard him, William B. Rice will always live with us, the exemplar
of just conception, effective action and helpful counsel.
"Broad, catholic, tolerant to every honest effort, instant in
detection of unworthy method, the tonic of his stimulating presence
was an uplifting influence in every relation of his busy life.
"Such a noble personality can never die; with us it will ever
remain a stimulus to right purpose."
WILLIAM ELLIS RICE
WILLIAM ELLIS KICE, son of William and Emeline
(Draper) Rice, was bom at Ware, Massachusetts, August
6, 1833.
He is from Colonial stock, in the seventh line from his first
American ancestor. Deacon Edmund Rice, who, bom in 1594, came
from Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England, and settled in Sud-
bury, Massachusetts, in 1638.
His genealogical descent is through Thomas, b. 1611 ; Ephraim,
b. 1655; John, b. 1704; Peter, b. 1755; William, b. 1803. His
grandfather, Peter Rice, born at Sudbury, Massachusetts, June 25,
1755, moved to Spencer, Massachusetts, and married Olive, daugh-
ter of Major Asa Baldwin of Spencer, an ofiScer in the Revolu-
tionary Army. Peter Rice was a soldier in the Revolutionary War,
a member of Captain Seth Washburn's company that marched
from Leicester, and he was one of those actually in the fight at
Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775.
William, son of Peter, and the youngest of thirteen children all
bom at Spencer, was the father of William Ellis. He died at
Worcester, November 18, 1882, in his eightieth year.
On the maternal side, his grandfather, Hon. James Draper,
born at Spencer, February 26, 1778, was the sixth of that name, and
in direct descent from James Draper, who, bom 1618, came from
Halifax, Yorkshire, England, and settled in Roxbury, Massachu-
setts. He was born in Spencer and died there in 1868, in his
ninety-first year, having served his native town in many capacities,
such as Town Clerk, Chairman of the Board of Selectmen, Town
Treasurer, Overseer of the Poor, and Town Agent. He was also a
County Commissioner, a member of the General Court for thirteen
years, a Senator, a Magistrate for over fifty years, and the author
of "Draper's History of Spencer," published in 1841.
His mother, the eldest daughter of James and Lucy (Watson)
Draper of Spencer, was a woman of unusual dignity of character,
kindhearted, and sympathetic. She died in 1854.
His parents were residing at his birth in Ware, where his father,
in partnership with his elder brother, was proprietor of the gen-
eral store of the town; later his parents took up their residence
in Worcester. Here he acquired such education as was considered
WILLIAM ELLIS BICE
necessary to fit for commercial business, including attendance at
the High School and at Leicester Academy.
In -1852, at the age of eighteen, he obtained the position of
Clerk and Bookkeeper in the counting room of Ichabod Washburn
and Company in Worcester, at the time the principal drawers and
finishers of the finer grades of iron wire in this country. He re-
mained with this firm seven years, acquiring a general knowledge
of business and of the manufacture of wire, and then relinquished
his position and engaged in similar business, in partnership with
Mr. Dorranee S. Goddard, under the firm name of William E. Rice
and Company. Business was started in leased premises in Connec-
ticut and shortly after moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts, where a
large modern plant was erected by the firm, and the venture made
successful and prosperous.
In 1865, at the solicitation of I\Ir. Ichabod Washburn, whose
confidence and favor Mr. Rice possessed, this business was joined
with Mr. Washburn's larger business under the title of I. Wash-
burn and Moen Wire Works. Concurrently Mr. Rice became a
stockholder, director, and executive officer in this corporation.
Prom this merger began Mr. Rice's influence and activity in the
further development in Worcester of its greatest industry, the man-
ufacture of wire. He was in heartj' accord with Mr. Washburn in
the belief that the business could be greatly expanded with bene-
ficial results. Closely following this connection, a plant in the
village of Quinsigamond was purchased, and a company incor-
porated under the title of the Quinsigamond Iron and Wire Works,
for the manufacture of Wire Rods and Wire, with Mr. Rice as its
Treasurer and General Manager. This company was very success-
ful in business and was merged with the I. Washburn and Moen
Wire Works, under the corporate title of Washburn and Moen
Manufacturing Company, in 1868.
This merger marked an epoch in the enlargement of the wire
industry in Worcester, and was the occasion of the purchase of
the manufacturing site on Grove Street, at that time occupied in
part, under lease, by the I. Washburn and Moen Wire Works; the
erection, under a comprehensive plan, of substantial mill build-
ings and power plants ; and the installation of the continuous rod-
rolling system for producing rods of small gauge and in longer
lengths than was at the time practiced in this country. This prac-
tice was introduced from England, where it was reported upon by
WILLIAM ELLIS EICE
Mr. Rice during his visit to the manufacturing districts- there in
1867. This system, modified and greatly improved by Worcester
engineers, has been a potent factor in promoting the growth of the
wire industry in Worcester. Mr. Rice, who was a Director in the
corporation and its Treasurer, was influential and active in the ex-
pansion, as well as in the general conduct of the business, which
has resulted in adding so noticeably to the population and to the
prosperity of Worcester.
In 1870 Mr. Rice against visited the iron manufacturing dis-
tricts of England and Sweden, and arranged for the manufacture
of special bars for the continuous rolling system, acquiring for
his company the distinction in Sweden of being the first consumer
in this country to import rolled iron direct from Swedish manu-
facturers.
In 1877 he organized the Worcester Wire Company, for the
general manufacturer of wire, with a plant at South Worcester.
This also became an exceedingly successful company.
In 1899, Mr. Rice, as President of the Worcester Wire Com-
pany, an office he took in 1877, and of the Washburn and Moen
Manufacturing Company, an office he took in 1891, was instru-
mental, in behalf of the stockholders, in effecting the sale and
transfer of all the shares of these two corporations, and in
merging the business of both in the American Steel and Wire Com-
pany. The successful conclusion of this highly important ne-
gotiation, whereby a sum in excess of ten million dollars was dis-
tributed to holders of stock, permitted his much desired withdrawal
from affairs upon which his attention had so long been concen-
trated, and his general relinquishment of business pursuits.
Mr. Rice has filled numerous fiduciary positions of importance
and been connected in matters of consequence with many corporate
and other organizations.
He married, January 11, 1866, Frances Helen, daughter of
Thomas L. and Margaret (Bartlett) Randlett of Newburyport,
Massachusetts, who died May 3, 1879. December 15, 1881, he mar-
ried Lucy Draper, daughter of Moores M. and Sophia A. (Draper)
White of the City of New York. He has two children, Christine,
widow of the late Hon. Rockwood Hoar, now the wife of Hon.
Frederick H. Gillett, and Albert White, A.B. Harvard, 1904, A.M.
1905, Harvard Law School, 1908, now engaged in the practice of
law in Boston.
lAJ
HENRY HUDDLESTON ROGERS
HENRY HUDDLESTON ROGERS was born in Matta-
poisett, Massachiisetts, on January 29, 1840. He died at
his home in New York City, on May 18, 1909. His father
was Rowland Rogers, bom March 21, 1809, died November 14,
1861. His mother was Mary Eldridge Huddleston. His grand-
fathers were Henry Huddleston, born in 1772, died January 10,
1832, and Abisha Rogers, born June 23, 1782. His grandmothers
before marriage were Rhoda Merrihew, bom December 26, 1771,
died September 18, 1841, and Judith Cushman, born December 21,
1782.
Mr. Rogers traced his ancestry back to Thomas Rogers who
came in the Mayflower in 1620. Among his maternal forbears
were the Cushmans, after whom Mr. Rogers named the spacious
park he gave to Pairhaven.
His mother, a remarkable woman in many ways, had a power-
ful influence over her son and he inherited from her many quali-
ties of mind and heart.
Mr. Rogers was a fun loving, and alert boy, popular with his
schoolmates iu the Fairhaven High School from which he gradu-
ated in 1856. In after years he liked to recall his Fairhaven
school days and made it a point, whenever possible, to attend the
annual re-union and dinner of the High School Alumni Associa-
tion. He often furnished the principal attraction on those happy
occasions by his presence and lively interest, and by his reminiscent
After Mr. Rogers graduated from the High School he worked
for a time in a general store for $3 per week. Later he took a
position with the Old Colony Railroad.
In 1861, he went to McCliutockville, Pennsylvania, and there,
with Charles P. Ellis, began to produce and refine oil under the
firm name of Rogers and Ellis.
When the Civil War began Mr. Rogers was inclined to enlist
HENRY HUDDLESTON ROGEBS
but his diversified business and family interests demanded his
attention. He, however, gave liberally to sustain the soldiers and
was always a loyal friend to the Union.
Actively and aggressively, and with a keen instinct to seize
every available means to advance, he built up his oil business and
acquired an intimate knowledge of the technical methods employed
in the industry; and many improvements were directly due to
suggestions or experiments made by Mr. Rogers.
In July, 1867, he accepted a position as Superintendent of the
Pennsylvania Salt Company at Natrona, Pennsylvania, which con-
ducted in connection with its chemical works one of the largest
refineries of crude oil in the Allegheny River oil field.
The next step in Mr. Rogers' business career was taken, when
in 1874 an alliance was projected and consummated between the
leading oil refineries of Cleveland, Pittsburg, and New York.
This was the birth of the Standard Oil Company, which has since
become one of the best known commercial and financial enter-
prises ever conceived, and which has served a great and useful
purpose in the economy of civilization. Its ships are seen in
all the great ports of the seven seas. It furnishes permanent and
profitable employment for many thousands of men and, as Mr.
Rogers once said, "It steadily carried light and comfort to those
who before sat in darkness."
Mr. Rogers assisted in directing the great corporation until
he was disabled by his first apoplectic seizure in 1907. He once
said speaking of trusts, "If any one can convince me that a trust
has more evil to it than good, I will gladly forego my present atti-
tude." He defined a trust as "a combination of ideas backed by
capital. ' '
Mr. Rogers started poor and unknown. All he had to begin
with was his hands and his brains. From the little town of Fair-
haven with nothing but his ambition and his never wavering af-
fection for his mother in his heart, he climbed the hill of difficulty
till he stood master of himself, employer of many thousands of
men and guardian of many millions of money.
On November 17, 1861, Mr. Rogers was married to Abbie
Palmer Gifford, daughter of Captain Peleg Winslow and Amelia
Loring (Hammond) Gifford, granddaughter of George W. and
Judith (Palmer) Gifford, and of Gideon and Abigail (Hathaway)
HENRY HUDOLESTON ROGERS
Palmer, and a descendant from William Gifford who came from
London, England, and settled in Sandwich, Massachusetts, about
1660.- Mr. Rogers' first wife died fourteen years before his own
death, and he married for his second wife. Miss Emilie Augusta
Eandel of New York.
Mr. Rogers ' children, all born of the first marriage are : Anne
Engle, married William E. Benjamin; Cara Leland, married
Urban H. Broughton; Mae Huddleston, married William R. Coe;
and Henry Huddleston Rogers, Jr., who married Mary Benjamin ;
and Millicent G. Rogers, a beloved daughter who died in 1890 at
the age of eighteen.
Mr. Rogers built a beautiful summer home at Fairhaven and
made to the town a series of notable gifts. The first was a gram-
mar school and this is the only building in the town which bears
his name. This was followed by a beautiful library building in
the Italian renaissance style, named the Millicent Library in mem-
ory of his daughter. After the Millicent Library came the splen-
did town hall, and then a fine Masonic building, which he asked
the local Lodge of Free Masons to name after his old friend,
George H. Taber.
After the death of his mother, Mr. Rogers built as a memorial
to her, the Unitarian Memorial Church, one of the most beautiful
and costly and impressive specimens of the Gothic style of archi-
tecture in this country. This church and the parish house and
manse, the minister's home, form a group of buildings which Hon.
Andrew D. White has pronounced to be one of the most remark-
able in the land. They are built of granite taken from the Fair-
haven estate of Mr. Rogers and are visited and admired annually
by thousands of people who appreciate what is noble and inspiring
in art.
This group of impressive buildings stands on a fine lawn in the
center of the town, surrounded by rare shrubbery and dwarf ever-
green trees. In the stately and lofty tower of the church there
hangs a chime of melodious bells unsurpassed in richness of tone
and quality. Both the exterior and the interior of this wonderful
church are decorated and ornamented with all that art and liber-
ality can do to create a miracle of beauty and enduring inspira-
tion. The bronze gates of the cloister and the magnificent gates
of the south portal, the main entrance to the church, are among
HENRY HUDDLESTOX ROGERS
the finest and richest in the country. The baptistry contains a
beautifully designed font. The rich and delicate carvings, the
stained glass windows, and the splendid marble with the fan-
shaped roof are greatly appreciated by all visitors.
Since Mr. Rogers died, the Unitarian Society of Fairhaven has
placed on the east wall of the interior of the church a memorial
tablet of marble, bearing this inscription, "In grateful and abid-
ing memory of Henry Huddleston Rogers, erected by the Unitarian
Society of Fairhaven."
Another striking building given by Mr. Rogers is the new
High School, modeled after the English Tudor style as seen at
Eton and Winchester. It stands in commanding position at the
entrance to the town as one approaches over the bridge across the
Acushnet River from the city of New Bedford. In its spacious
grounds there is a large stadium for out-door games and sports.
Attached to the High School is a fine and spacious gymnasium.
This school is equipped in its mechanical, industrial, literary, and
scholastic departments with everything conceivable in the way of
modern methods of training for young people and it has a staff of
teachers of high ability.
Mr. Rogers had a decided opinion that a good high school train-
ing was sufficient education for young people. He did not believe
in the value of a college education for the average young man or
woman, especially for those who have to earn their own living.
He said, "The time to set a young man to work is when he gradu-
ates from High School. Then the youth is willing and ready to
learn. But if you wait until he comes from college, in many in-
stances you will find he is spoilt bj^ conceit and by the contraction
of habits which unfit him for discipline and application to hard,
patient and efficient work."
Another of the attractive and useful buildings IVIr. Rogers
erected at Fairhaven, is a charming and finely situated hotel, which
he named the "Tabitha Inn," in memory of his great-great-grand-
mother who bore that name.
Fairhaven is said to have the largest tack and nail factory in
the world. This institution is also due to Mr. Rogers who secured
its establishment and enlargement in Fairhaven to provide occu-
pation at home for the working people of the town.
Besides all these useful and beautiful institutions and build-
HENRY HUDDLESTON ROGERS
ings Mr. Rogers made liberal expenditure on the streets and roads
of Fairhaven and no one who visits the town in summer can fail
to be pleased with the fine trees and clean streets and miles of
excellent sidewalks, that are due to him. Mr. Eogers constructed
the waterworks of the town and in many ways besides those
here mentioned he contributed to the improvement and attractive-
ness of the town.
The people of Fairhaven, after Mr. Rogers' death spontaneously
moved to erect to his memory a fitting memorial to express their
gratitude for his unmeasured affection and generosity. Accord-
ingly they raised and dedicated on the anniversary of his birth,
January 29, 1912, a tall and graceful shaft of granite standing on
a conspicuous site at the western entrance of the town. On a
tablet on the base of this shaft is this inscription, "In grateful
recognition of the worth, achievements and benefactions of Henry
Huddleston Rogers, the people of Fairhaven have erected this
monument. ' '
Just above this inscribed tablet is a lifelike medallion bas-re-
lief of Mr. Rogers. At the top of the shaft is a powerful electric
light. The subscriptions to this memorial came from townspeople
who could give modestly and from others down to little children
who could contribute only very small sums. The memorial is an
enduring and popular testimonial to the gratitude and affection
of the entire town.
Besides the great local gifts mentioned above, Mr. Rogers gave
liberally to the work of the American Unitarian Association. He
established the Robert Collyer Lectureship in the Meadville Theo-
logical School in Meadville, Pennsylvania, a training school for
Unitarian ministers, and endowed it with $250,000. He gave the
town of Mattapoisett, which is within five miles of Fairhaven, a
High School building. He gave St. Luke's Hospital in New Bed-
ford, with its splendid nurses' home; and to every good cause he
was a constant and generous friend.
He was for years the most influential layman in the Church of
the Messiah in New York City, of which Rev. Robert Collyer, his
close friend, was for more than two decades the honored and dis-
tinguished minister.
The most striking and memorable contribution of Mr. Rogers
to the industrial life and progress of America was his construe-
HENRY HUDDLESTON ROGERS
tion in the last years of his life of the Virginian railroad from
Norfolk, Virginia — Sewall's Point — to the town of Deepwater, on
the Kanawha Kiver, in West Virginia. This railroad is 442 miles
long, it cost more than $50,000,000 and ninety-five per cent, of
the cost was personally met by Mr. Rogers. A prominent jour-
nal said at the time the road was completed, "The fact that a single
capitalist put up so large a share of the money expended in creating
so long and costly an iron highway is an unique event in railroad
history. ' '
Mr. Rogers was a man of marked distinction in his personal
appearance. He was tall and straight with the bearing of a
patrician in every movement, and his fine head and intellectual
face impressed all beholders. He had a high and finely molded
forehead, Roman features, with a strong and determined chin and
jaw, and fine gray eyes. He could be as tender and gentle as a
woman and as strong and as aggressive as a lion. Altogether his
appearance and manner indicated to even a chance observer a man
of unusual ability and character.
If a man is known by his friends, one may judge what Henry
Huddleston Rogers was like from the men and women who were
drawn to him. Rev. Robert Collyer, Thomas B. Reed, Mark Twain
(Samuel L. Clemens), his most intimate friend, Helen Keller, and
Booker T. Washington. These are only representative of the range
and quality of Mr. Rogers' friendships. They indicate the diver-
sity and the universality of his tastes and interests.
Helen Keller wrote of him after he passed into the unseen,
"How glad I am that I can tell the world of Mr. Rogers' kindness
to me! He had the imagination, the vision, and the heart of a
great man, and I counted it one of the most precious privileges of
my life to have had him for a friend. The memory of his friend-
ship will grow sweeter and brighten each year until he takes my
hand again and we gather roses together in the garden of Para-
dise. ' '
Mr. Rogers gave large sums to Booker T. Washington for his
work and helped many industrial schools of the South. And Mr.
Washington said of him, "Mr. Rogers was one of the best and
greatest men I have ever met, and, as it seems to me, one of the
greatest men of his day and age, and he has left many lessons be-
hind him which others can follow to their profit."
HENRY HUDDLESTON ROGERS
It was his admiration for Mark Twain's books that led Mr.
Rogers to express his desire to help the famous author even before
the two men had met. The close friendship during the later years
of two such remarkable men as Henry Huddleston Rogers and
Samuel L. Clemens is one of the bright chapters of their lives.
They were almost inseparable when near enough to visit each
other, and many an anecdote and incident could be recounted of
their intercourse. Those who admire Mark Twain must never for-
get how much the great American humorist owed to the friendship
and financial assistance of Mr. Rogers.
He took great pleasure in simple and inspiring sacred music
and left a fund to make sure that the Fairhaven Church should
always be able to command the best music and choir.
When he died so suddenly on that fatal morning in May, 1909,
the news of his death stunned and pained the people of Fairhaven
who knew and loved him best. The whole community went in a
body to his funeral and manifested a universal grief in which the
children of the schools shared, as well as the citizens without regard
to creed or condition. They all had the best of reasons to under-
stand that when his body was borne to its tomb Fairhaven had lost
its best friend and its greatest benefactor.
He was a man who cherished great hopes and he possessed a
will and intelligence which made his life one long series of upward
steps toward power and efSciency.
To young men his advice was, "Be clean and straight and to
lay hold of every opportunity." He believed in a greater future
for America than we have yet dreamed of. He did not think we
have yet reached the summit of our achievements but that we are
only at the cock-crowing and morning star of a day of wonderful
expansion and success in things material and spiritual.
Speaking of Mr. Rogers, Dr. Robert CoUyer said, "He was my
dear friend from the time when I came to New York to the end
of his life, and I could depend on him more truly than I can de-
pend on the hand that holds this pen. Was it money I wanted —
he was the man to give me the money there and then it may be, or
soon after, and I cannot remember a time when I had gone abeg-
ging in this kind when he did not clasp my hand in a good warm
grip and say, 'Come again.' It would not do to tell the story of
our intimacy in the closer and more intimate relations, only to say
that in my long life I have known no nobler man."
DAVID FOSTER SLADE
DAVID FOSTER SLADE was a descendant in the seventh
generation from William Slade, who with Edward Slade,
his father, came to this country previous to the year 1659
and first located in Newport, Rhode Island, removing later, about
1680, to Swansea, a part of which became Somerset, Massachusetts.
The family is of Welsh origin and its members have always been
active in public affairs, filling many local and state offices at differ-
ent periods. They were large landowners in that part of Swan-
sea known as the Shawomet Purchase, which in 1790 became the
present to^vn of Somerset. William Slade was the owner of a
ferry across the Taunton River, which took his name of " Slade 's
Perry." The ferry was operated by him and his descendants for
nearly two hundred years and was not abandoned until 1876, when
" Slade 's Perry" Bridge was opened for public travel, while the
fanning lands are still owned by the family.
David Poster Slade was the son of Jonathan and Emeline
(Hooper) Slade and was bom in Somerset, November 5, 1855.
He died June 28, 1914. His father's marked characteristics were:
keen judgment of men, honor, loyalty, fairness, and generosity.
In his boyhood upon the farm, David Slade took especial inter-
est in poultry-raising and gardening. Such occupation was valua-
ble in developing ambition and the sense of responsibility. His
mother's influence was very strong on both his spiritual and intel-
lectual development.
The books that he found most helpful in fitting him for his
work in life were those dealing with American History, biography,
and poetry, especially of patriotic nature or describing New Eng-
land life. "Sander's Pifth Reader" was often quoted by him as
suggesting high incentives to youth.
Mr. Slade was unable to apply himself to regular school work
on account of a serious affection of the eyes, from which he later
completely recovered. He fitted for Brown University in the
schools of his home town, and in the Pall River High School, and
was graduated from college in the class of 1880. Among his class-
mates were W. H. P. Paunce, now President of the University,
John Taggart Blodgett, Justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode
Island, and Zeehariah Chafee of Providence.
On gi-aduating he entered the law office of Morton and Jennings,
composed of Hon. James M. Morton, later for many years Jus-
tice of the Supreme Judicial Court, and Andrew J. Jennings.
'^o(y
■A
DAVID FOSTER SLADE
Hosea M. Kaowlton was district-attorney at the time. Afterwards
Mr. Slade entered the Boston University Law School, from which
he was' graduated with the degree of LL.B. in 1883, and was ad-
mitted to the Bristol County Bar in June of that year. The wishes
of his parents and his own personal preference determined this
choice of profession.
In the succeeding August, Mr. Slade formed a partnership
■ndth Hon. James F. Jackson, for many years Chairman of the
State Board of Railroad Commissioners, under the firm name of
Jackson and Slade. In 1891, Richard P. Borden, Esq., was admitted
as a partner, when the firm name was changed to that of Jackson,
Slade and Borden, and so continued until Mr. Jackson retired in
1906, when the name was changed to Slade and Borden, and so re-
mained until Mr. Slade 's death.
The firm had a large practice, and held high rank for honorable
dealing, legal knowledge, and tried ability in the profession. Pro-
fessional activities did not, however, absorb Mr. Slade 's whole at-
tention. Always a firm Republican, he was soon drawn into pub-
lic affairs, and represented his city (Fall River) in the Massachu-
setts Legislature for three successive years, 1894, 1895, and 1896,
serving on the Judiciary Committee each of the three years and
as clerk of the Joint Judiciary. In 1895 he was also on the Com-
mittee on Federal Relations, and in 1896 was a member of the
Committee on Rules, the Judiciary and Rules being the most im-
portant Committees of the House. In his work on these Commit-
tees he was distinguished for his intelligence, his judicial tempera-
ment, and the thoroughness with which he performed his duties.
He left the House with an enviable record as a wise and safe legis-
lator.
In 1899 he was chosen a member of the Governor's Council
and was re-elected three successive terms, holding the office three
years under the governorship of W. Murray Crane, and one year
under the administration of Governor John L. Bates.
On retiring from the Legislature, Mr. Slade was appointed by
the Governor a member of the Commission to build a new jail at
Fall River. On the enactment of the National Bankrupt Law, in
1898, he was nominated Referee in Bankruptcy for Bristol County,
but declined the office.
Mr. Slade was a power in the councils of his party, and exerted
a strong influence upon its deliberations and action. At different
times he was Treasurer, both of the city and county organizations,
and a member of the State Central Committee. In all these ca-
DAVID FOSTER SLADE
pacities he did hard and effective work, and won the confidence and
high esteem of his party associates.
His attention was not limited exclusively either to his pro-
fession or his political party. For many years he was Vice-Presi-
dent and Trustee of the Fall River Five Cents Savings Bank, and
was appointed Commissioner on the Abolition of Grade-Crossings
both at North Adams and Lowell. He was the Chairman of the
first Board of Trustees of the Shirley School for Boys and had
large responsibility in the establishing of the School.
Mr. Slade's college society was the Alpha Delta Phi. He was
a member of the Quequechan Club of Pall River, of the Massa-
chusetts Republican Club, and of the Massachusetts Bar Associa-
tion, serving as a member of the Legislative Committee for the
latter organization. He was a member of the Lake Mansfield
Trout Club at Stowe, Vermont, which has a distinguished member-
ship not only from Vermont but also from many other States.
Mr. Slade spent his summer holidays whenever possible at Stowe,
where he owned one of the best farms in the town. He made many
friends and was devoted and loyal to Vermont.
In religious faith he was an Episcopalian and was vestryman
of the Church of the Ascension in Fall River. He was active in
its behalf, generous of his time and means to any of its calls, and
through the Presidency of the Randall Club labored hard and faith-
fully for its welfare.
October 25, 1883, Mr. Slade married Annie M., daughter of
Walter C, and Jane F. (Alden) Durfee. Mrs. Slade is of dis-
tinguished New England ancestry. On her mother's side she is a
descendant of the famous John Alden of Mayflower memory. The
Durfee family came to New England about 1660.
Mr. Slade was a good example of the scholar in politics, and
illustrated in all his activities what can be done for his community
by a high-minded citizen, a man with broad sympathies, skilled in
the interpretation and application of the laws of life, with pride
in his city and a readiness to give himself freely to the promotion
of its welfare. In social life he was both prominent and popular,
for his was a very pleasing personality — cheery, sympathetic, and
generous. He had a helping hand for all his friends. He en-
joyed out-of-door life, and hospitality was one of the leading fea-
tures of his home. He liked his fellowmen, was temperate in habit,
and always ready for any service he could render to his friends or
to his city.
^^2^
^^^
WILLIAM LAWTON SLADE
AMONG the early citizens of Massachusetts there were men
who discerned, even before the great and fertile lands of
the Middle West were open to settlement, that this State,
with its barren and rocky soil, could never compete successfully
with the States that are better adapted to agriculture. They,
therefore, set about developing the manufacturing resources of the
Commonwealth. They dammed the streams in which the State
abounds and reared the mills, many of which remain until this day.
Along the seaboard and on the greater streams large corporations
undertook the erection of mills which involved capital too large
for the single individual. Thus were laid the foundations for the
great manufacturing interests of the State.
Among these pioneers was the family of William Lawton Slade.
His ancestor, William Slade, was bom in Wales during a short
stay of the family, who were natives of Somersetshire, England,
whither they returned soon after his birth. He came to Newport,
Rhode Island, in 1659 and was admitted to the colony as a freeman.
Here he remained until 1680 when he removed to Swansea, Massa-
chusetts. He made large purchases of land, and started a ferry
across the Taunton River which took the name of Slade 's Ferry.
First a sailboat crossed the stream ; then one propelled by horses ;
finally two steamboats. This ferry remained in the family for over
two hundred years, William Lavrton Slade with his brother, Jona-
than Slade, being its possessors, when the bridge was built in 1876.
William L. Slade was bom in Somerset, originally a part of
Swansea, Massachusetts, September 6, 1817. His father was Wil-
liam Slade (1780-1852), a man who was active, energetic, and of
the highest integrity. His mother was Phoebe Lawton. His grand-
fathers were Jonathan Slade and William Lawton. His father,
although possessing the ferry, had also become a manufacturer.
AVilliam L. Slade was educated in the common schools of Somerset
WILLIAM LAWTON SLADE
and finished in the Friends School at Providence, Rhode Island.
AVhile engaged at the first in farming, he soon developed a prefer-
ence for the manufacturing interests in which his father had been
engaged. He became largely interested in the manufacturing con-
cerns of Fall River. He was one of the first board of directors and
later President of the Montaup Mills Company, which was organized
in 1871 for the manufacture of seamless cotton and duck bags, at
that time a new industry. He was one of the promoters of the
Slade Mills, built on a farm long owned in the Slade family, the
first to be erected in the Southern District of Fall River, being
a Director and President. He was also a Director of the Stafford
Mills. He o-ftTied stock in a number of other Fall River concerns.
In 1860 he was chosen a Director of what later became the Fall
River National Bank.
Although Mr. Slade was closely connected with business enter-
prises of the most varied character, holding, as we have seen,
Directorship in mills and banks and many other important offices
of trust, he was at heart a staunch lover of nature and the soil.
He owned several farms of notable excellence and all through his
career his agricultural tastes and sympathies stood prominently
forth and gave the clue to his enthusiasm regarding all matters
pertaining to the farm, and furnished also an interpretation of
the affection he felt for the family homestead where he lived. Mr.
Slade and his brothers were among the very foremost citizens of
Somerset and as such were looked up to by all residents of the
pleasant to\vn that was so long their home.
In politics, Mr. Slade was identified with the Republican party
and, while he never sought office, his fellow townsmen frequently
draughted him into service. He was an efficient Selectman of his
town for many years. In 1859 and again in 1864 he represented
Somerset in the Lower House of the Legislature, during which
time he served on the Committee on Agriculture and on the Com-
mittee of Public and Charitable Institutions. He was one of the
committee on arrangements for the burial of Charles Sumner.
In 1863 he was a member of the Senate, serving here, too, on the
Committee on Agriculture. During all his public career he was a
total abstainer and a staunch advocate of temperance. He had a
large experience in the settlement of estates and for that purpose
was often appointed a commissioner.
WILLIAM LAWTON SLADE
October 5, 1842, Mr. Slade was married to Mary, the daughter
of Asa and Elizabeth (Mitchell) Sherman, at Portsmouth, Rhode
Island,' in the Friends Meeting House in which George Fox preached
when in this country and which is still used. Their five children
were Caroline E., who married Hezekiah A. Brayton of Fall River ;
Abigail L., who married James T. Milne of Fall River, but who is
now deceased ; Mary, who married Velona W. Haughwout, and who
also is deceased, leaving three children. Sarah S. and Anna M.
died in infancy.
Mr. Slade died July 29, 1895. At a meeting of the Board of
Directors of the Slade Mill, the following testimonials to his char-
acter and services were ordered entered upon their records :
"William Lawton Slade, President of the Slade Mills, died at
his home at Somerset, Massachusetts, on Monday, July 29, 1895.
He was one of the originatore of this company and has been its
President since the date of its incorporation, in 1871. He always
identified himself with its interests and its welfare has been his
constant care. He gave freely of his time and thought to the busi-
ness of the corporation. Every subject presented to his considera-
tion received from him calm consideration and mature deliberation
and his judgment was universally respected. He was broad in his
views, far seeing in his suggestions, and looked not alone to the
present but to the future.
"He was a man of noble presence, high character, sound judg-
ment, and unswerving integrity. He was pleasant in his manner
and universally respected.
' ' This corporation has lost in him a firm friend, a wise counselor,
and a sagacious adviser, and its directors, each and every one, feel
a keen sense of personal bereavement. ' '
No words could speak more eloquently of the splendid life and
influence of Mr. Slade than do these unstudied sentences that come
from the hearts of his business associates, the men who knew him
and loved him best.
CHARLES SUMNER SMITH
CHARLES SUMNER SMITH is the second son of Francis
Smith (April 8, 1822-July 17, 1908), and Abigail Prescott
(Baker) Smith, September 13, 1823. He was bom De-
cember 19, 1857, in Lincoln, Massachusetts. His grandparents
were Jonas and Abigail (Fiske) Smith, and Jacob and Lavinia
(Minot) Baker. On his father's side he traces his ancestry back
eight generations to John Smith, who came from England to
Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1636, where he was registered as a
freeman. Among those prominent in the family line were Jonas
and his son Jonas, Jr., of Waltham, Massachusetts, who served in
the Revolutionary "War, both being members of Captain Abram
Pierce's Company in 1775. The first ancestor to settle in Lincoln
was Zechariah Smith who came to the town before 1788.
His mother is descended in direct line from the Minot (or
j\Iinott) family. The first settler of this name in the country was
George Minott, who came from Saffron, "Walden, Essex, England, to
Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1634 or before and was a representa-
tive to the General Court and a Ruling Elder in the Church. James
Minott was prominent in official and military life in the days just
preceding the Revolution, and Lieut. Ephraim Minott, his son, was
an officer in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Samuel Prescott, who
finished "Paul Revere 's Ride" to Concord, was also related to the
Minott family.
The father of Charles S. Smith was a farmer, industrious,
thrifty, and determined, a man of well-balanced judgment and of
high ideals. His mother had the more intimate relations with the
children. She had broad interest in their welfare, was ambitious
for their education, and was a strong and influential factor in
their development. His parents implanted in their son's mind the
love of hard work and impressed upon him the value of a sound
character.
Charles Sumner Smith attended the schools of his native town
CHAKLES SUMNER SMITH
punctually and regularly — first the district school with its varied
influences and democratic tendencies, later the country high school.
The concrete lessons of the farm on which he was bom, its scenic
beauty, and its varied interests gave opportunity for a broad
natural education. From the high school he entered upon a higher
course of study at Phillips Andover Academy, but difficulty with
his eyes soon obliged him to interrupt his plans. As a boy he
liked the liberty and varied tasks of the farm and early learned
how to rise through them to mastery of the serious problems of
life. He thus came to know the value of punctuality and stead-
fastness and he magnified them in daily life.
After leaving Phillips Academy he devoted himself zealously
and successfully to the home farm, but turned to English litera-
ture, history, and the study of mathematics as a diversion from
manual labor and farm administration. The New York Inde-
pendent, which has been in the family almost since its first issue,
became a sort of text-book for him on passing events, while its
teaching did much to mould his choices and character.
As he was the only son remaining on the home estate, he became
his father's mainstay and finally took the lead. For thirty-five
years he has been sole manager of the farm and has come to believe
the farmer's vocation a royal occupation for human kind. That
it is so, and why and how it is so, appears more fully in the biog-
raphy of his father, Francis Smith.
"While engrossed with his own business he was at the same
time interested in town affairs. He early took part in debate at
the Town Meeting, one of New England's most typical, most influ-
ential, and most democratic institutions. Eventually he entered
official life in the town. For six years he was on the Board of
Assessors, the chief factor in the town's financial system. Later
he became a member of the Board of Selectmen, the characteristic
governing body of a New England town, and served as its Chair-
man continuously from 1898 to 1914. The same qualities that
gave him success on the farm made him an influential and suc-
cessful town officer. His principle has been that town affairs and
town monies are to be treated as wisely, as thoroughly, and as
painstakingly as private affairs and monies. Such a principle
made his work not always popular, but it made it conspicuously
useful. This did not require effort with him. His "bent" was
CHARLES STJMNER SMITH
that way. If the same spirit were more widely scattered in the
countrj' many public and corporation treasuries that fail would
remain secure.
His early nurture had attached him closely to the Church and
here again he was a definite factor in its official and financial life.
New England religious life, with its Puritan flavor, is one of the
strongest influences for good that the country has produced. It
gives dignity, strength, and fidelity, and commands respect and con-
fidence.
Mr. Smith early developed an interest in financial opportunities
in Boston and New York. Here he was initiated by his father,
who had, in a small way, been attracted in this direction. He
gradually increased his interests till he became a leader in great
corporations, and his good judgment, business acumen, and reli-
ability have kept him in prominent and influential positions and
given him conspicuous success. In 1902 he became President of
the Old Dominion Copper Mining and Smelting Company, and he is
also President of the Arizona Commercial Mining Company.
Though spending most of his time at his Boston office, he still takes
a keen interest in his country estate, directing its cultivation and
beautification.
]\Ir. Smith declares himself a Republican in political preference
and supports the policies and candidates of that party.
He married, March 6, 1889, Mary Isabelle, daughter of Thomas
and Mary Prances (Weston) Smyth and granddaughter of Major
Daniel "Weston and Mary (Wheeler) Weston. They have had two
children, a son and a daughter. The daughter died in infancy ; the
son, Sumner, graduated at Yale in 1912.
This busy man finds pleasure and recreation in the numerous
things that are ever pressing upon his attention and calling for
his participation. Work is his joy. He attributes no small part
of his success to the gracious influences of home, school, and church,
and to the tuition one gets in the give and take of life. He counsels
young men to ' ' prize time and money ; to set before themselves some
definite work; to be prompt in meeting engagements; to acquaint
themselves with nature and with nature's God."
?^y^^^
fe^^^
FRANCIS SMITH
FRANCIS SMITH was the son of Jonas and Abigail (Fiske)
Smith. He was bom April 8, 1822, and died July 17,
1908, at Lincoln, Massachusetts. His earliest ancestor in
this country on the Smith side was John, a "freeman" of Water-
town, Massachusetts, who came from England in 1636. He could
point with pride to the honorable part his ancestors played in the
Revolution and to their substantial citizenship. On the Fisk side
his ancestry goes back to John Fiske, who was bom in Suffolk
County, England (probably at Weybred), and settled in Water-
town, Massachusetts, about 1637. He was a descendant in the sixth
generation of Symond Fiske, Lord of the Manor of Stadhaugh,
England. Many of his ancestors during the Reformation, and
especially in the days of Queen Mary, endured severe persecution
on account of their staunch adherence to Protestant principles.
On both sides, then, Francis Smith had an ancestry that showed
force of character, independence, and a progressive spirit.
In his boyhood and young manhood, Lincoln was a typical New
England town occupied by comfortably circumstanced farmers of
ability and intelligence. There was no variety of trades except
as the individual farmer, in the exigencies of farm management,
combined several trades in his list of accomplishments. A single
store served the Community. A thrifty farmer must be possessed
of initiative and of versatile ability.
Through favorable location (a few miles northwest of Boston)
and productive soil, Lincoln possessed great natural advantages.
Beautiful for situation, on a low range of hills, it appealed to the
aesthetic and imaginative sides of life.
While possessed of a deep love for his children, his external atti-
tude was not a sympathetic and magnetic one toward children and
their interests. He did not take children on his knee and tell them
how it was when he was a boy. He impressed the intensive side
of life. In the absence of much detail it may be said that he en-
joyed educational advantages beyond those furnished by his town
FRANCIS SMITH
and much beyond the average of his time. He attended academies
at Milton, Massachusetts, and Hancock, New Hampshire. This
means that he attended really modem secondary schools. These
institutions were the products of one of the most notable educational
movements of the century. Their coming was both the sign and the
result of the failure of the old Grammar Schools, imported from Eu-
rope, which supplied a secondary education that looked to the past
rather than the present. Old letters written in these schoolboy days
showed that he had noticeable command of good English.
He married, in 1850, Abigail Prescott Baker, daughter of Jacob
and Lavinia (Minot) Baker. Mrs. Smith had enjoyed similar school
advantages and had equal command of good English. Together
they furnished a priceless language environment for their children.
Mr. Smith was a farmer first and chiefly. This is to say that he
had a small republic to administer that requires and tests execu-
tive power, skill, judgment, business talent, and citizenship, com-
bines vocational and professional interests, private and official life,
and develops dignity and worth.
He early came into possession of his father's farm that had an
ideal location on the shores of a lake where nature was lavish of
her beauty in hill and wood and stream.
He could do many things creditably. Time and means that
others spent in going to repair shops in other towns he frequently
saved by his mechanical ability.
He was a good judge of all that pertains to the farm. He
had his farm well stocked with cattle and used it for a variety
of crops, but he was particularly interested in fruit culture and
had large and successful apple orchards. The peach, however, was
his favorite, though the disease that spread through northern
orchards together with the severe winters made crops uncertain and
discouraged extensive plantings. He was an excellent judge of
fruits, and he frequently served as judge in competitions. He fre-
quently entered fruit competitions himself, both at local exhibitions
and at the hall of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and he
carried off many prizes.
As the farm was within a few miles of Boston he was his own
marketman. He was a familiar figure "on the curb" in the
Faneuil HaU Market, where crowded lines of market wagons made
one of the most striking, interesting, and attractive scenes in Bos-
FRANCIS SMITH
ton's commercial life. Here he became one of the most successful
salesmen of farm produce. Leaving his home at midnight he
would be in the city in time for the early morning market at day-
light, and by afternoon, sometimes by noon, he would be at the
farm again to direct matters there. Such a life gives broad con-
tacts, stimulates thought and initiative, and trains judgment. It
was probably through this Boston contact that he was attracted by
financial operations outside the farm, where he had his ups and
downs like others.
He was interested in town affairs and a regular attendant at
town meetings. He did not, however, take a very active part in
town politics, nor give much time to concerns otutside of his
domain, but he served as collector and as selectman for several
terms. In whatever public business he undertook he served with
the same keen intelligence that characterized all his work.
He was a home man, seldom leaving the home acres except
for the advantage of those acres, and then seldom for overnight.
These trips were chiefly to the Boston Market and to his summer
cattle range in the North. In his later years, however, he took
an extended trip through the "West. His constant presence at
home, his emphatic views and persistent activity, with his practical,
thorough, common-sense ways of doing things, in which he put
strength and time to the most effective use and eliminated waste,
formed an impressive part of the education of his boys. He died
on July 17, 1908, not from disease, but as the quiet burning out of
the candle.
Such a life, aside from the personal interest attached to it, is
both interesting and suggestive because of the industrial and social
and sociological contrasts in country life that he witnessed.
There were momentous changes in modes and methods of farm-
ing and in the character of crops. "When Mr. Smith began farm
life the old standard crops, hay, grain, potatoes, with dairy prod-
ucts, were the staples. He lived to see small and large fruits and
garden crops come into the forefront, while grain crops practically
disappeared before the importations from the more prolific "West.
Again, in the twenties, the slow but sure methods of ancient date —
the deliberate ox-team, the hand rake, the scythe, and hand sowing
and planting — stiU ruled. Agriculture was traditional and em-
pirical. At the end of the century quick acting farm machinery
FRANCIS SMITH
had taken the place of old appliances, and agriculture was rapidly
becoming scientific. This change meant the building up land pos-
sibilities and fulfilments as scientific principles. Agriculture was
coming into its own. Francis Smith was ready to give his farm
the benefit of anything that common sense approved; while not
hastily adopting everything new because it was new, he was not
ultra-conservative in such matters. He could not be called scien-
tifically scientific, but he was intuitively scientific.
With these changes the social conditions of the farm had
changed. When he began active life his town was occupied by the
old families devoted to cultivating estates inherited from a genera-
tion of farmers. It was in no sense a residential town. At the
close of his life the town still had a larger proportion of its old
families represented on its farms than was found in many New
England towns, but a considerable part of the land had passed
into the hands of business men of the metropolis or "country
gentlemen. ' '
But there was another social change — the most significant of
all — caused partly by the rise of scientific farming. In Mr.
Smith's earlier years farming was the substantial occupation of
the most substantial class in the community. Later it lost some-
thing of its dignity and was often looked upon with some dis-
paragement. Its personnel in the country as a whole had also
deteriorated. In large sections land had passed into the hands of
small farmers of our foreign population. But at the end of his
life farming was again calling for the best talent of the land and
rewarding it — rewarding it because scientific cultivation made it
more profitable and because intensity of demand for farm products
here and abroad advanced prices. The National Government and
State governments were experimenting for the best processes and
ransacking the world for products adapted to all soils and all
climates, while Burbanks were improving old species and making
new ones possible. Farming suggested and demanded extended
education. It gave scope for the highest ambitions. It offered con-
ditions of country life that agreed with the new demands and
opportunities. Modern inventions, that did away with the disad-
vantages of distance, and the introduction of all the amenities of
life began to make the country attractive again, even specially at-
tractive, and inspired new idyls of country life.
FRANK WEBSTER SMITH
FRANK WEBSTER SMITH, who has spent his life in educa-
tion, is the eldest son of Francis Smith (1822-1908) and Abi-
gail Prescott (Baker) Smith (1823-still living). He was
born in Lincoln, Massachusetts, June 27, 1854. An honorable
colonial ancestry was the starting point of the family in this
country and gave it substance and worth on which to build its
history. Further details may be found in the biographies of his
brothers, Charles Sumner and Jonas Waldo. But since the name
Prescott reappears only in his own family, as the cognomen of his
eldest son, Francis Prescott Smith, it may be well to note that his
mother is descended from the Prescott family of honorable record,
and is related to that Prescott who completed Paul Revere 's mis-
sion by taking his message over the last stage to Conford after
Revere had been captured by the British on the Lexington Road.
In early life Mr. Smith worked with his father on the farm.
This father had admirable waj's of doing things, and these, as
undercurrents in later life, may have played no unimportant part
in inclining him to choose sane and scientific methods in education.
But he owed much to his mother also. She exercised a strong
moral and religious force. She was ambitious for her children
intellectually, and she encouraged and aided them in their special
education. Aside from this general advantage this mother pos-
sessed so forceful a personality and exercised such an insistent and
generous care of her boys that she became a tremendous influence in
moulding their lives.
Mr. Smith was a lover of school. His early education was
gained in the district schools, white, not red, and in the ungraded
village high school, both descendants of the old "Liberal School"
of Lincoln. He finished his preparation for college at Phillips
Andover Academy, graduating in 1873. The same year he passed
FRANK WEBSTER SMITH
the admission examinations to Harvard without conditions and
with honors in Greek. He took his first Harvard degree in 1877,
on his twenty-third birthday, with honors in the classics. His
scholarship at Harvard brought him the honor of election to the
Phi Beta Kappa Society.
His graduate and professional study took him to three universi-
ties and abroad. Returning to Harvard in 1881 he spent two years
there studying classical philology and economics, and took his A.M.
degree in 1882. In 1899-1900 he took some courses in the Teach-
ers' College, Columbia University, and he spent part of the years
1901-1905 in study at the University of Nebraska, where he took
the Ph.D. degree in 1904, as a result of study and investigation in
the three universities and abroad.
In 1877, the year of his graduation from Harvard, he was
appointed an instructor in Atlanta University, Georgia, and re-
mained there four years. In 1883 he was made teacher of classics
and liistory in the State Normal School at Westfield, Massachu-
setts, and held this position thirteen years. His leadership in
education began here. He was appointed Superintendent of Schools
at Grand Junction, Colorado, in 1896, and at once took a credit-
able place among the educators of the State. He remained here
till 1899. In 1900 he was Principal of Gordon Academy and
Training School, Salt Lake, and Superintendent of the Congre-
gational Schools of the State. The years 1901 to 1905 he spent in
the University of Nebraska teaching and studying. Here he rose
to the position of Adjunct Professor. In 1905, as the result of a
competitive examination, he was appointed Principal of the City
Normal School at Paterson, New Jersey. Immediately he became
also a member of the City Board of Examiners.
His wide training and experience have made him an expert in
methodology. He has also developed a love for literature, and abil-
ity as an interpreter of literature.
He has been a leader among his professional associates and has
held high offices in their societies and associations. His writing
has not been prolific, but it has been substantial. He is the author
of various articles on education, but his chief work is a volume now
on press — ' ' The High School, a Study in Origins and Tendencies. ' '
In religion he is a Congregationalist. In polities he is an inde-
pendent Eepublican.
FKANK WEBSTER SMITH
He married, December 31, 1894, Annie Noyes, daughter of Pro-
fessor John E. Sinclair of the Polytechnic Institute, Worcester,
Massachusetts, and Marie (Fletcher) Sinclair. Mi-s. Smith died
in Grand Junction, Colorado, in 1897. Mr. Smith married, October
23, 1900, Helen Louise, daughter of John and Margaret Eliza-
beth Moore of Omaha. Of this second marriage two children have
been born, Francis Prescott and Charles Webster.
Mr. Smith wrote for this work these suggestions that he offers
to young people as to the best means to attain true success in life :
"In general, a good constitution, a sense of humor, a joyous and
courageous look ahead, a good education and power to use it, and,
to infuse it all, inspiration from the Highest in the Universe. In
particular, habits of industry and power to study a situation or
problem with close application, gathering data from all sources as
a basis for sound conclusions ; ability to make quick and clear judg-
ments ; power to project one 's self into other conditions and situa-
tions than one's own so as to be an appreciative interpreter; faith
in the great essentials of a genuine religious life, and hearty and
broad participation in church life, to give sanity and balance and
to bring a just sense of values ; a broad appreciation of one 's rela-
tions, and a disposition to fulfill them, — in other words broad public
spirit, — as an antidote for the individualism to which the education
of the last fifty years has tended. This is, in sum, a philosophy of
living. ' '
JONAS WALDO SMITH
JONAS WALDO SMITH, chief engineer of the Board of Water
Supply of New York City, was bom in Lincoln, Massachu-
setts, March 9, 1861.
He is the third and last son of Francis Smith of Lincoln, whose
biography appears elsewhere in this volume.
His mother was Abigail Prescott Baker, a woman of active per-
sonality, capability, and definite ideals, who exerted a strong influ-
ence over her family. She was the daughter of Jacob and Lavinia
Minot Baker of Lincoln, and a descendant, on the mother's side,
of the Minotts who were prominent in civil and military ofiSces in
colonial days and made honorable records at Bunker Hill and
elsewhere.
In boyhood and early youth Mr. Smith attended the district
school and the high school of his native town. Here, under an
exceptional high school master, he gained his first real interest in
science.
As manager of the town's pumping plant, only a part of his
time was occupied, leaving him free to continue his participation
in farm work and undertake other interests. In this first engineer-
ing position he studied the economics of running a steam plant with
such success as materially to reduce the expense. He studied also
the qualities of his machinery, noted and watched a weak point,
planned for emergencies, and, when they came, met them promptly
and surely -without injury to himself or the machinery. He was
"building the way" of judgment and learning to make his business
a science, an empirical science now, but soon to be far more than
that. The foundation of a career was laid here.
His next step in education took him to the scientific department
of a famous school, Phillips Andover Academy, where he grad-
uated in the early eighties. On leaving the Academy he at once
entered the service of the Essex Water Power Company of Law-
rence, Massachusetts, as an Assistant Engineer, and gained other
valuable experience in hydraulics. Two years later he became a
student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the depart-
ment of Civil Engineering, where he made a creditable record and
rounded out his technical education, as far as formal school work
was concerned. He utilized much of his vacation time in practical
engineering work, chiefly with the Holyoke Water Power Company,
and thus gained most useful practical experience to supplement
s-'=^. s^s^ ff^oh^s ^^n^j^n^
CXXoIaJ ^ -az-v^^aIXXv
JONAS WALDO SMITH
his study and help him financially at the same time. On graduat-
ing from the Institute in 1887 he at once obtained a permanent
position at Holyoke under Chief Engineer Clemens Herschel.
Here were impressed upon him lessons of accuracy that eventually
gave him prominence and helped him to leadership. When Mr.
Herschel went to New Jersey to take the engineering management
of the East Jersey Water Company, Mr. Smith went with him as
an assistant engineer. In this position he participated in the great
enterprise of building an aqueduct from the Passaic Water Shed
to Newark to give that city a water supply adequate for its needs
and growth— one that has proved an important factor in its phe-
nomenal development. He served the Company for a dozen years
and more, in this and other undertakings. His headquarters were
first at Newfoundland, then at Montclair, and finally at Paterson,
where in 1900 he was made Chief Engineer of the East Jersey Com-
pany, and thus practically manager of its great interests. It was
one of the conspicuous engineering positions in the country.
While at Paterson he constructed the filtering plant at Little Falls
that at once became a center of interest in water circles here and
abroad. Here also he had a most thrilling experience at the time
of the Passaic Flood. Barricaded in a critical building of the
water plant, he battled during the night against the raging waters
at the risk of life and limb and kept them at bay till the danger was
over. This shows something of his mettle. His brave deed was
generously recognized, but in it all he played the modest hero.
After such experience, in which he had been student, investi-
gator, and practical engineer, with a clear record, it was not strange
that when in 1903 New York City sought to improve its water
supply he was made Chief Engineer by the Board of Aqueduct
Commissioners. This gave him charge of completing the largest
masonry dam in the world, the Croton Dam. Again in 1905 when
the far greater enterprise of securing a practically inexliaustible
water supply for an indefinite period in the future was undertaken,
it was only natural that he should be appointed Chief Engineer
under the new Board of Water Supply. In this position he has
planned and supervised the construction of one of the greatest
aqueducts in the world. It takes water from the Catskills by
gravity and an immense masonry siphon iinder the Hudson to the
New York mains at a cost of $200,000,000, and is one of the greatest
engineering feats of the ages, rivalling the great Roman Aqueduct
JONAS WALDO SMITH
and challenging comparison with the Panama Canal. Under his
direction it has been completed with a dispatch and thoroughness
that make an epoch in Metropolitan building. It has brought into
relief some of his most telling traits — ^his power to bend his energies
persistently and with a quick force that makes for results, and his
rare faculty of getting large aggregations of men to work enthu-
siastically and happily toward a great end. He has thus succeeded
in saving the city much time and annoyance, not to mention the
saving in expense. A study of his work here reveals his secret of
success.
Mr. Smith has withal special social qualities, often applied indi-
vidually, but again in large gatherings in which he takes genuine
pleasure in entertaining all those working with him. These quali-
ties and his generous treatment of associates have won him friends
everywhere. It is worth noting that he takes his fun as he takes his
work, heartily, which helps to further his work still more.
December 30, 1913, he married Anne Louise Morse of New
York City, daughter of Leander and Cordelia (Tupper) Morse of
Digby, Nova Scotia, and granddaughter of Minor and Elizabeth
(Wetherspoon) Tupper and Abner and Mary (Parker) Morse.
Mr. Smith is a member of the American Society of Civil Engi-
neers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Institu-
tion of Civil Engineers of Great Britain, the New England Water-
works Association, the American Waterworks Association, the Engi-
neers' Club, the Technology'Club, the Century Association, the New
England Society, the City Club, and the Franklin Institute of New
York, and the Hamilton Club of Paterson, New Jersey.
He has written many technical papers and reports, but has been
too busy to prepare books for publication. His books are in great
masonry and in great enterprises successfully completed.
This noted engineer, a leader in his profession, has certain posi-
tive ideas as to the foundations of success. He believes in hard
work and plenty of it, such as he had as farmer boy and has had
ever since as engineer. He believes in courage to follow one's con-
victions of right rather than in easy acquiescence in the popular
way, and, as a corollary, he advises the cultivation of absolute in-
difference to unwarranted criticism. As a balance for all he would
suggest generous consideration for others. Definite ideas, these,
a commentarj' in his career. These are the words of one who has
done high deeds in his profession.
.^^^ T^Mi/u (/^',7^
^
FRANK BULKELEY SMITH
FRANK BULKELEY SMITH, lawyer and manufacturer, was
born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on August 25, 1864.
His father was Charles Worcester Smith, a Massachu-
setts Cotton ^Manufacturer, a good business man, fond of music and
art, and his mother, whose name before marriage was Josephine
Caroline Lord, was a woman who exerted a strong moral and spir-
itual influence upon the character of her son.
His early ancestors in America came to this countiy from
England, between the years 1636 and 1650. The Rev. Peter Bulke-
ley and Col. Simon Willard were among the founders of Con-
cord and Lancaster, Massachusetts; William Worcester was the
first minister at Salisbury, Massachusetts; Thomas Lord was one
of the first settlers of Hartford, Connecticut, and John Smith of
Barre, Massachusetts.
In early boyhood Mr. Smith was fond of general reading and
especially of works on history. He attended the Worcester High
School and graduated from Harvard in 1888 with the degree of
A.M. He was afterwards a student in the Harvard Law School,
was admitted to the Bar in 1899, and since that time has practiced
law in Worcester, Massacliusetts.
As a lawyer, he has been connected with many industrial cor-
porations. From 1889 to 1913, he was Treasurer for S. Slater &
Sons, incorporated, Cotton and Woolen Manufacturers of Webster,
Massachusetts, and in 1913 he became the Treasurer of the New
England Cotton Yam Company, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, of
which he is also a Director. He is also a Director in the Gosnold
Mills Company ; the Danielson Cotton Company ; the Hassam Pave-
ment Company; the Lambeth Rope Company; and the Worcester
Trust Company of Worcester.
His club memberships include the Union Club, the University
and the St. Botolph Club in Boston, the Harvard Club of New
York, and the Worcester Club in Worcester.
Politically he has always been a member of the Republican
party, although he voted twice for Cleveland for President.
FRANK BTJLKELEY SMITH
In his church affiliations he is a Unitarian, and for recreation he
finds much pleasure in Golf.
On June 5, 1890, he married Miss Nancy Hacker Earle, daugh-
ter of Timothy Keese and Nancy Shove (Hacker) Earle, and grand-
daughter of Henry and Euth (Keese) Earle, and of William Estes
Hacker and Nancy (Shove) Hacker. She, on her father's side, was
a descendant of Ralph Earle, who was one of the early settlers of
Newport, Rhode Island.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had five children, all of whom are
now living. Bulkeley is a clerk with Kidder, Peabody & Company,
of Boston; Willard is a clerk with F. S. Moseley & Company, of
Boston; while Earle, Nancy, and Frank Grosvenor are still stu-
dents at various schools.
He regards the influences of home, of private study, of early
companionship, and of contact with men in active life, all as strong
factors in his own success in life.
Being asked what advice he would give to young Americans
anxious to attain true success in life, Mr. Smith replied, "Let them
be earnest, with constant and hard work in any line of endeavor
which they may elect. ' '
HARRY WORCESTER SMITH
MANY people may be pigeon-holed with as little difficulty as
a mortgage or a receipt. They have only one side and a
brief and narrow one at that. The records of Harry Wor-
cester Smith's activities would require a whole filing-cabinet.
Certain of his characteristic qualitiies seem to have come to him
from his paternal grandfather, John Smith, who, a poor boy, came
to this country from England, and was a contemporary of Samuel
Slater, the founder of the manufactm-e of cotton cloth in America.
John Smith lived first at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and thence
moved to the little village on the Ware river near Barre, which from
his name was called Smithville.
From the "Rich Men of Massachusetts" published in 1851 by
Forbes and Greene, we find that John Smith was ' ' a man of indom-
itable perseverance and energy," and in Wood's History of Barre
Cattle Fairs we read :
"Here the grandfather of Harry Worcester Smith made cotton
cloth and a fortune with American labor. Many have spoken of
the fine majestic trees with white trunks scattered about Smith-
ville and intruding upon the roadway, and it is interesting to note
that some sixty years ago on account of their size and proximity to
the road they were ordered to be cut down by the Selectmen, endan-
gering, as they did, traffic at night. John Smith saved them for his
descendants by guaranteeing to keep them painted white fifteen
feet from the ground up, and this agreement has been rigidly ad-
hered to by his sons. ' '
His wife was Clarissa Worcester, whose sister was the wife of
E. B. Bigelow, the inventor of the Carpet Loom and founder of the
Bigelow Carpet Works at Clinton.
Their son Charles Worcester Smith, 1828-1883, a man of high
integrity, distinguished for his remarkable sense of justice, was also
engaged in the manufacture of cotton in Smithville, Stoneville, and
Shirley. At Smithville, following the love of his father for nature
and trees, he planted the beautiful avenue of Rock Maples which
guard the entrance of the village as one enters from Barre.
He married Josephine McCurdy Caroline Lord, who, on the side
of her father, Thomas Durfee Lord, was descended from a family
HAKRY WORCESTER SMITH
possessing in fee from the Indians a tract of laud almost cotermi-
nous with the present State of Connecticut, the Lord family settled
near the beautiful town of Lyme at Tantamaheag, on the bend of
the river known to this day as "Lord's Cove."
One of Mrs. Smith's ancestors was the Rev. Peter Bulkeley,
the learned Divine, who having been removed by Archbishop Laud
from his position as Rector of the Bedfordshire Parish for non-
conformity, came to this country and became the first minister of
Concord.
Josephine McCurdy Caroline Lord was a woman of wonderful
tenacity of purpose and self-sacrifice. Her father, lured by the
tales of the Prairies of the West, journeyed from Lord's Cove to
Canton, Illinois, while the daughter Josephine was yet a child, and
it was there that she was brought up.
Harry Worcester Smith was bom on Elm Street, Worcester,
November 5, 1865. He early manifested a keen love for wild flowers
and animals and delighted in outdoor life. His father died when
he was still a youth, but his mother had a powerful influence on his
intellectual and moral development and by her example made him
realize the value of intense application.
As he grew older, he found no pleasure in spending his school
vacations in idleness and took up a position in one of the leading
stores and worked hard. He fitted at the Worcester High School
for the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, but after passing his first
mid-winter examinations, on the advice of the late George Cromp-
tou, he went to the Lowell School of Design where he took a course
in designing and weaving. Desiring to strengthen himself in this
line he went abroad, and first at the Chemnitz Technical School in
Germany, then at the Glasgow School of Design in Scotland, and
finally at the Bradford Technical School in England laid the foun-
dation of that thorough knowledge of cloth-manufacture which
afterwards enabled him to make valuable and lasting improvements
in its machinery.
In October, 1893, he married Mildred Mary, daughter of George
Crompton and IMary (Pratt) Crompton. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
have one son, Crompton Smith, and one daughter, Isabel Crompton
Smith.
Through his father-in-law he became connected with the Cromp-
ton Loom Works but retired at the latter 's death and invested the
$50,000, his share of his father's estate, in a manufacturing enter-
HARRY WORCESTER SMITH
prise — the Wachusett Mills — of which he was president for eighteen
years.
In Ihis enterprise he lost all his capital and twice as much more,
the investment of his familj', but meantime he perfected a number
of inventions and brought out over thirty patents on automatic
color weaving, which revolutionized the manufacture of ginghams,
or drop box fabrics, in the United States and Europe. These he
sold or leased under royalty to the Crompton & Knowles Loom
Works and to the Draper Company, and was not only able to make
good everj' dollar he had lost in the mill venture, but to pay back
dollar for dollar with interest every penny invested by his family
in the enterprise.
Not long before his death General William F. Draper honored
him as a brother inventor at a dinner given in Hopedale, and he
was an intimate friend of the late Governor Eben S. Draper, who
secured through purchase a number of the labor-saving devices of
the Worcester manufacturer for the use of the Draper Company.
Jlr. Smith deplored the great loss of time and money caused by
destructive lawsuits between the great loom manufacturers, and
through his efforts the consolidation of Crompton Thayer and
Crompton Knowles Loom Works was effected, the latter becoming
the largest manufacturers of weaving machinery in the world. He
was retained by the company as a patent expert, and soon devoted
himself entirely to work which he aptly describes as "Harmonizing"
— the elimination of friction in competing firms — by consolidation.
He sold the Queen Dyeing Company of Providence to the United
States Finishing Company for $2,000,000, and later on merged the
lathe interests of Worcester into the Reed-Prentice Company, with
a capital of $2,500,000.
His knowledge of patents, losses by competition, and the value of
organized efforts led him to take up the part of Thomas G. Plant
in his battle for supremacy iu the manufacture of Shoe Machinery
with the United Shoe Machineiy Company of Boston.
He brought about an adjustment very profitable to Mr. Plant,
but on account of a disagreement was unable to collect his commis-
sion until the case was fought through two courts over a period of
four yeai-s when, by the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court,
he was awarded and received $354,403.54.
While he has worked he has worked with tremendous energy,
and the same energy has been put into his favorite amusement —
HAEKY WORCESTER SMITH
Horses and Hounds. He is quoted as saying: "It is all right to
have one's fun but it is a poor policy not to earn the wherewithal
to keep the fun going."
For thirty years Mr. Smith has been a moving spirit in clean
sport in America. He won the High Jump in Boston in 1896 on
Sure Pop, the Gentleman's Race at Saratoga, 1907, the Meadow-
brook Hunt Cup for two years in succession, the Kadnor Hunt Cup
at Philadelphia, and the Calvert Cup at Baltimore.
Riding his own hunter against seven professionals, he won the
$10,000.00 Championship Steeplechase of America at Morris Park
on The Cad in 1900. Next Spring he was first and second in the
Grand National Steeplechase at Sheepshead Bay, value $8000, and
earlier that season won the Llyopia Steeplechase at Boston, and the
Hempstead Cup at Long Island. He headed the list of gentlemen
riders for four times in succession.
For years he was one of the most ardent followers of the Gen-
esee Valley Foxhounds, Major W. A. Wadsworth Master, Geneseo,
New York, and won the Point to Point Steeplechase of the Hunt
for three seasons.
With his crack tandem' of Sky High and Sue Woodstock he
carried all before him at three of the leading Madison Square
Horse Shows and won the first Sporting Tandem Prize ever given
in the States, and the Cup given for the best driver of Tandems
at the Readville Horse Show. His Four-in-Hand was well known
in all parts of Worcester County, one of the leaders being the
celebrated gray horse "Ting a Ling" purchased off the Worcester
street cars and made famous by David Grey, a great friend of Mr.
Smith's, in his book called "Gallops."
]\Ir. Smith has been master of aU the great Hunt Clubs of this
country, including the Grafton Hounds, the Virginia Foxhounds,
the Brunswick Foxhound Club, the Genesee Valley Upland Coun-
try, the Piedmont Hunt, and the Loudoun Hunt of Virginia, mak-
ing his own hunters and steeplechasers from two and three year
olds pm'chased from the leading stud farms in Virginia and Ken-
tucky, and breeding his own foxhounds, both of which were uni-
versally successful, he soon began to be looked up to as an authority
in both horse and hound, and for a number of years judged all the
leading shows, including Montreal, Boston, Newport, Piping Rock,
and Madison Square Garden.
He founded the Grafton Country Club and the Masters of
HAEKY WORCESTER SMITH
Foxhounds Association in America. He is a member of the cele-
brated Piping Kock Club, Long Island, the National Hunt and
Steeplechase Association, and is the only member of the English
Masters of Foxhounds Association in America; his name is one of
the few American names in the English "Who's Who."
He is known all through Worcester County as the "Master of
Lordvale," his famous country place in Grafton, seven mUes from
Worcester city.
Lordvale is one of the show places of New England, with a
mile of avenue from the State Road leading through a beautiful
Park to Lordvale House. The library shelters one of the best col-
lections in America of sporting books and autograph letter editions.
It contains the most complete collection of the works of the great
American authority on Field Sports — Frank Forrester.
The establishment includes the old Colonial mansion for the
family, together with stables for the thoroughbreds, with the Show
grounds and Steeplechase course for the hunters to school over.
At the other side of the Park are the kennels where the crack Graf-
ton hounds are sheltered.
Being a keen sportsman and always in condition to ride his
own horses and hunt his own hounds, Mr. Smith has never smoked
nor drunk throughout his life, and as a gentleman rider racing
continually against the crack men, either amateur or professionals,
he has never wagered himself nor allowed his stable connnections
to do so.
In June, 1911, Mr. Smith was chosen Master of the Westmeath
Hunt, one of the most famous in Ireland, and went to Dublin
carrying with him his horses and hounds, the first pack ever taken
abroad. He took at Mullingar for the season the celebrated manor
house, Portloman, on the shores of Lough Owel, late the property
of Lord de Blacquiere, and made famous by the visit of the Duke
of Eichmond and the Duke of Wellington. As an Irish Master he
secured the distinction of being the fii-st American ever chosen as
Master of a Hunt in Great Britain. When his Grafton horses and
hounds reached Ireland for the hunting season even the London
Punch commented upon their arrival, and at the end of the season
the London Telegraph on the resume of sport said :
"Harry Worcester Smith, Master of the Westmeath, came over
with the reputation as a hard rider. That puts it mildly; he is
an abnormally hard rider. ' '
HAERY WORCESTER SMITH
While in Ireland Mr. Smith was accorded every possible honor.
He was the guest of eight of the leading Masters of Foxhounds and
rode his American hunters after all the crack packs in Erin's Isle.
Mr. Smith is the foremost breeder of American Foxhounds and
established the type in this country. For four years he won the
Foxhound Pack Prize in Madison Square Garden, defeating all
comers with hounds of his own breeding.
In 1905, he won the famous match of $2000 and Plate between
his own American hounds (The Grafton) and the English (Mid-
dlesex) hounds owned by A. Henry Higginson of Boston. Mr.
Smith hunted his little pack of six couple of hounds against a pack
of 191/2 couple hunted by an English professional, and by the
unanimous verdict of the judges was awarded the match.
At the earnest request of those interested, he some years ago
took charge (for the sake of sport) and has made a success of a
number of the different Country Fairs held annually in Massachu-
setts. Their Treasury has been brought from a minus quantity
to a plus surplus in every case, and he enjoys the distinction of
being the first "Master of Ceremonies" ever appointed at these
events.
One of Mr. Smith's recent services on behalf of clean sport
was the first Sportsman's Dinner ever given in America. He
worked hard to bring together, purely in the interests of sport, men
from the Polo and Hunting Field, the Kennels, and the Breeding
and Racing Stables.
He felt that the Turf had been maligned and that the breeding
of the thoroughbred horse in this country was practically aban-
doned. He believed that horse racing could be conducted on the
same high plane as in England, and that the best way to encourage
this idea was to bring representatives of the Turf and the Field
into close friendly contact with each other.
The dinner and the one that followed the next year (the cus-
tom only given up on Mr. Smith's going abroad) was an unqualified
success and did much towards making possible the realization of
Mr. Smith's ideas.
After hunting in all parts of the world the Master of Lordvale
returned to Grafton and took up the hunting of Worcester Country,
his own country, with renewed vigor. Of his efforts the leading
American authority says:
"The Grafton Hounds, fifteen couples, branded 'S' are kept at
HAERY WORCESTER SMITH
the kennels in the park not far from Lordvale, Mass., where the
Master, of the Grafton extends a hospitable welcome to all sports-
men. The County of Worcester is a stone wall country, fully eighty
per cent vast woodlands but thoroughly intersected by soft dirt
roads and cart paths. It is a country abounding in foxes, but there
are also plenty of deer, porcupine, rabbit, coon, and skunk.
"The contour of the land, while perfect for the art of venery,
makes riding to hounds almost impossible, but a hunting enthusiast
can obtain the best of sport by following when possible, and gal-
loping from point to point at other times.
"It is a hard country to hunt, and successfully to show sport
in such a country where conditions are all against one it is an
exploit well worthy of the skill and enthusiasm of the most ardent
foxhunter.
' ' Mr. Smith has been and still is one of the best men across coun-
try that America has ever produced, and his energy about hunting
and the betterment of conditions are beyond dispute, and remind
one of the success with which that famous English Master, Asshe-
ton-Smith, hunted his home country, the Tedworth, which was
looked upon as hopeless.
' ' For the pleasure of hunting the ' Land of His Fathers ' he gave
up the Quorn, the finest country in England, but he soon showed
sport in Tedworth which rivaled any he had ever shown in Leices-
tershire.' "
"For three generations the Smiths have lived and had sport in
Worcester County. The present Master of the Grafton is loyal to
his own native soil and we wish him good sport."
All the Smithville Smiths and their descendants have been
staunch Republicans and the Master of Lordvale is no exception.
He has held and sought no public office, however, till last year,
when he was appointed a member of a Board of five Park Commis-
sioners of Worcester, a position of honor, as the Board has always
been made up of the strong men of Worcester City, including such
names in the past as Lincoln, Davis, Hardwin, and Draper.
He has published a number of articles on Racing, Chasing,
and Foxhunting, and has in the hands of the printers "A Sport-
ing Tour in Ireland," a history of his trip with his horses and
hounds in Erin's Isle. He expects to publish shortly a history
of his successes and adventures in sport, entitled "Thirty Years'
Sporting Reminiscences."
LOUIS CARVER SOUTHARD
LOUIS CARVER SOUTHARD, third son and fourth child
of William L. and Lydia Carver (Dennis) Southard, was
bom in Portland, Maine, April 1, 1854. He is the eighteenth
generation from Sir Gilbert Southworth (Southard) of Lancaster,
Kent, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Dayes of
Salnesburye in Lancashire, England, and the eighth generation
from Constant Southworth (Southard) of Plymouth, Massachu-
setts, 1628.
His father, a merchant noted for his great energy, qualities of
leadership, and strong executive ability, was a direct descendant
of Constant Southworth, the first American ancestor (1628), and
of John Southworth of Plymouth Colony fame, who afterwards
went to Maine, having served in the Continental Army, being cap-
tured at the Battle of Quebec. Escaping, he made his way to
Boothbay, where he located, establishing the Maine branch of this
family. His mother, whose influence was great on the intellec-
tual, moral, and spiritual lives of her family, was a worthy descend-
ant of Robert, brother of Governor John Carver.
His grandfathers were John Southard and John Paul Dennis,
and his grandmothers were Joana Carver and Elizabeth Cathland.
The name Southworth was formerly pronounced "Southard,"
and the branch of the family that emigrated to Maine changed
the orthography to conform to the pronunciation. Among Mr.
Southard's ancestry was Alice Carpenter Southworth (or South-
ard), the second wife of Governor Bradford; also Robert Carver,
brother of Governor Carver, and Thomas Rogers, the Pilgrim.
Mr. Southard's special tastes and interests in childhood and
youth were athletics and boating, and now he enjoys and finds
most helpful for amusement and exercise, walking, golf, and motor-
ing, which impart the physical strength so necessary to success.
While pursuing his studies he helped to pay his expenses by teach-
•\j CrVi^^^^ .-xlf (Z^m/^JL QJ^c''L,<^^Z-Hi^xJuU^
LOUIS CARVER SOUTHARD
ing school and newspaper work, and at the same time improved
his mind by reading very thoroughly Blaekstone's and Kent's com-
mentaries, which he found were of the greatest possible assistance
in giving him a ground work in the principles of law.
Mr. Southard, with his characteristic application and easy mas-
tery of hard problems, obtained a superior education in the public
schools of Portland, at Kent's Hill, at Westbrook Seminary, at the
Dorchester (Massachusetts) High School, at the University of
Maine, and at the Boston University Law School. The degree of
LL.D. was later conferred on him by the University of Maine.
He was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Maine
in 1877; establishing himself in North Easton, Massachusetts, the
same year, he was admitted to practice before the courts in I\Ias-
sachusetts; and in connection with his successful law business in
Bristol County, he opened an office in Boston, which he has ever
since maintained to the entire satisfaction of his large clientage.
He was admitted to practice in the United States Circuit Court
in 1887 and in the United States Supreme Court in 1889. His
eminent legal attainments have received wide recognition as is
evidenced by the facts that from 1897 to the present time he has
served with distinction as a lecturer in the law school of the Uni-
versity of Maine, and in 1904 he was delegate to the Universal
Congress of Lawyers at St. Louis, Missouri, which was a great
honor as representing so many prominent men of his learned pro-
fession.
Mr. Southard, while transacting a legal business which would
have entirely absorbed the energies of most of our ablest lawyers,
has loyally served his state and nation by being a member of the
Massachusetts House of Eepresentatives in 1886 and 1887, where he
was a member of the Judiciary Committee and Chairman of the
Committee on Bills in the Third Reading ; he was also a member of
the State Senate in 1895 and 1896, where he was Chairman of the
Committee on Bills in the Third Reading, Chairman of the Com-
mittee on Manufacturers, and on the Judiciary and other commit-
tees. He was an alternate delegate at large to the National Re-
piiblican Convention in 1896, which nominated President McKin-
ley, and a member of the Republican State Central Committee
from 1890 to 1896. He is now President of the American Invalid
Aid Society, a member of the National Association for the Study
LOUIS CARVER SOUTHARD
and Prevention of Tuberculosis, of the Boston, Massachusetts State,
and the American Bar Associations, a thirty-second degree Mason,
past deputy grand-master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts,
former President of the Republican Club of Easton, General Coun-
sel and Director of the International Purchasing Company since
1908 and Treasurer and General Manager since 1912; Treasurer of
the Hudson Tannery Company since 1908, President of the State
Wharf and Storage Company, Trustee of the Dorchester Savings
Bank, a member of the Twentieth Century Club, the University
Club, and of the Boston City Club.
He has always been a Republican in politics and a Unitarian
in religion.
Mr. Louis Carver Southard was united in marriage, June 1,
1881, with Miss Nellie Copeland, daughter of Joseph and Lucy
Ann (Keith) Copeland, granddaughter of Oakes and Polly (Pet-
tee) Copeland, and a descendant from Lawrence Copeland, who
came from England to Pljonouth, Massachusetts, soon after 1620.
Of this union there are three children, Louis Keith Southard, as-
sistant manager of the International Purchasing Company; Fred-
erick Dean Southard, now Tree Warden of Milton, Massachusetts;
and Lawrence Southard, with the John A. Manning Paper Com-
pany, Troy, New York.
He regards the influences of home, of private study, of con-
tact with men in active life, of school, and of early companionship,
all as potent factors in his own success in life.
From his own varied experience he sends this valuable advice
to those young men who would attain true success in life :
' ' The world does not owe you a living, but you do owe the world
the best services you can render it. Honesty, persistency, a tem-
perate moderation in all things, determination to do your very
best with whatever work comes to hand. Habits of thrift early
learned are invaluable, but they should not be allowed to degen-
erate into selfishness. Generosity according to one's means, fit-
tingly bestowed, not only helps the deserving, but broadens the
character of the giver. Cultivate courage, mental, moral, and
physical."
LAROY SUNDERLAND STARRETT
LAROY SUNDERLAND STARRETT was bom in China,
Maine, April 25, 1836. Tliose were days of large families
and he is the sixth of twelve children. His father, Daniel
D. Starrett, and his mother, Anna, maintained a large farm and
their children early learned the value of hard toil. The elder Mr.
Starrett was of direct Scottish descent, and was the first of that
name to settle in New England.
The educational advantages of Maine farmer boys, at that time,
were exceedingly limited, and Mr. Starrett 's school days were few.
The larger part of his boyhood was spent on the farm, with inter-
vals at school of two or three months each year. But he found
a helpful stimulus in his home life and owes much to his parents
for the incentive received towards his later success. He inherited
a natural taste for mechanical pursuits, and while other boys were
spending their pennies in confectioneries and toys, he was in-
vesting his surplus earnings in small tools, such as knives, gim-
lets, chisels, planes, with which he used all the spare moments he
could obtain after the day's arduous work on the farm. Books
on mechanics were more attractive to him than fiction, and he
early decided that nature had intended mechanics to be his life
work.
Accordingly, at the age of seventeen, he broke the home ties,
and turned his footsteps towards Massachusetts, intent on secur-
ing a position as a machinist. In this latter undertaking, how-
ever, he was unsuccessful, and he was compelled to take up farm
work again.
In 1861 he married Lydia Bartlett, and, though a machinist by
choice, he became a farmer by necessity, and carried on a lai^e
stock farm of six hundred acres in Newburyport, Massachusetts,
known as the "Turkey Hill Farm," where he remained until 1865.
During these yeai-s his natural talent had not remained dormant,
for he continued to experiment and invent, and succeeded in per-
LAEOY SUNDEELAND STAEEETT
fecting a meat chopper, a butter worker, and a washing machine,
on which he took out patents. The desire to enter mechanical
pursuits became so strong that he sold his farm to advantage and
started a machine shop in Newburyport, employing a few skilled
men. In 1868 he moved to Athol, Massachusetts, where the Athol
Machine Company, with a capital of $25,000, which was subse-
quently increased to $50,000, was incorporated especially for the
manufacture of his inventions, among which the American Meat-
chopper was a leading article. In 1866 he invented and patented
the first shoe hook, which, with a slight modification, is now uni-
versally employed on shoes and was at one time used by the famous
Foster Kid Glove Company of New York on gloves, after he sold
his patent to the company.
]\Ir. Starrett became the general agent and superintendent of
the Athol Machine Co., and remained in that position for eight
years. His inventive genius was at work and a number of pat-
ents were obtained in addition to those previously secured. Re-
signing this position, he became a manufacturer on his own ac-
count, making many articles which he was continuously inventing.
Among these were the combination square, surfage gauges, steel
rules and calipers. It was in 1880 that he began on his own ac-
count, with ten men, the business which has since increased to its
present proportions (now capitalized at $5,000,000).
The products of his factory became immediately popular, and
made necessary continued growth and the erection of new buildings
and additions to the old ones.
Although he has often been solicited to hold public office,
he has steadily refused all allurements to political preferments
and devoted all his energies to his business affairs. He is ac-
quainted with all the details and, by his wide and correct knowl-
edge of human nature, has been able to select subordinates who
have been skilled co-laborers and enthusiastically devoted to the
interests of his establishment.
In politics, he is a Republican. He is a devoted member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church of Athol, to which he has given a fine
organ and a $5,000 parsonage, and has been a strong and gener-
ous supporter of its work, yet he is broad and tolerant in his re-
ligious sympathies, and has been agitating a movement for suc-
cessful co-operation among the churches of his town. He is the
LAROY SUNDERLAND STARRETT
leading spirit in the movements that make for the civic and moral
welfare of the tovm in which he lives. He has recently donated to
the town a valuable site for a Town Hall and Public Library. He
is a Director and large stockholder of the Union Twist Drill Com-
pany of Athol, which establishment (now capitalized at $5,000,-
000) he made possible. He is now financing a new plant for the
manufacture of imitation leather and rubber goods, incorporated
under the laws of Massachusetts for $200,000 called the Athol
Manufacturing Company, which promises to be a great success.
His good wife and helpmate died in 1877, since which time he
has lived with his daughters. Mrs. Starrett was a descendant of
Josiah Bartlett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ-
ence. Five children were born to them, three of whom are living.
His three sons-in-law are now associated with him and others
in an industry that is housed in factories that have over five acres
of floor space with up-to-date improvements in sanitation, equip-
ment, and machinery, and employ nearly 1000 men. It is the
largest establishment in the world devoted exclusively to the manu-
facture of small tools.
To quote Mr. Starrett 's own words: "I have been inspired be-
yond any pecuniary benefits that I hoped might come to myself by
a desire to do all the good I possibly could in the interest of my
fellow men, in the belief that I could do no better than to furnish
people a chance to earn an honest living."
In one of the Januarj^ issues of the Athol Transcript for 1915
was an item in regard to a paper given before the Men's Club of
the Methodist Church by Mr. L. S. Starrett. The subject was
"What Is Needed to Attain Success in Business." These words
are copied from this item:
"Coming from a man who has himself achieved most extraor-
dinary success and reputation as a manufacturer, as well as a
citizen, the ideas presented had much more than passing value.
It was the utterance of a thinker as well as a worker, a man of
very unusual mental quality — an inventor of remarkable ingenuity,
an organizer and administrator of great grasp and sagacity, a man
of strong tenacity of purpose and patient perseverance, and finally
a citizen of unexampled kindliness of nature, benevolent and pub-
lic spirited, as his noble works among us eloquently demonstrate;
a thorough man, in fact, whom to know is to respect, admire, and
LAROY SUNDERLAND STARRETT
tsteem and whose ideas and plans are always of the deepest im-
portance and interest to the local community."
The Healthy Home, published in Athol, in the February, 1915,
issue, gives an account of the experiences of its editor abroad. The
follov/ing words are taken from this article:
"It means that in practically every city in the world, however
obscure, men are using articles of metal stamped 'Athol, Mass.,
U. S. A.' These metal articles are the fine tools, made by The
L. S. Starrett Company, and they afford a widespread and endur-
ing advertisement of Athol, such as few towns and cities ever pos-
sess. It gives a fellow a queer feeling to accost a man in any
French, German, Italian or Russian manufacturing town, and on
learning that you are from Athol, JIass., have him hold up a tool
he may have just been using bearing the name, 'Athol, Mass.,' in
letters fixed deep in steel. No comer of the world is too far away
for this to happen, not Australia, New Zealand or the South Sea
Islands.
"After all people are the most interesting objects of study in
dny place, — even though they may not have found expression in
great works of art, or architecture, but just in mere factories and
commercial buildings. So not the least important factor in Athol 's
claim to interest is the man who makes the Starrett Tools, Mr. L.
S. Starrett himself, 78 years old, erect, active, abstemious, a won-
der of successful accomplishment. He still bears with ease and
enjoyment the load of a great business, yet finds time for help-
ful activity in many lines. Athol does not boast of many worthy
public buildings, but its Young ]Men's Christian Association build-
ing, largely the gift of Mr. Starrett, is one. There is no comfort
for the lover of ease, self-indugence, and excess in Mr. Starrett 's
career. Many a man now old in capacity, if not in years, might
Avish his earlier life had been ordered with the same self denial,
self control, and careful obser^'ance of the laws of hygiene which
have resulted with Mr. Starrett in an old age remarkable for sus-
tained endurance and fine achievement."
These two tributes by Athol editors indicate in how high esteem
Mr. Starrett is held by his fellow townsmen, for they voice the
sentiments of all citizens of the town who easily regard him as their
first citizen. His successful business career from an humble be-
ginning to the present sphere of large influence and great promi-
nence furnishes a story of deep interest.
^
BOWEN TUFTS
BOWEN TUFTS was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, June
17, 1884. His father was Albert Nelson Tufts (1843-1899).
His mother was ]\Iary Tufts Locke. Both parents were de-
scended from the English immigrant, Peter Tufts, who settled
in that part of Charlestown which is now Maiden, about the year
1650. He died in 1700 at the age of eighty-three years. His son,
Peter, born in England, 1648, on reaching maturity settled in Med-
ford, where he was an eminent citizen. Charles Tufts of Somer-
ville gave a hundred acres of land in Medford for the site of the
college that bears his name — Tufts College.
The mother's family of Locke is descended from Deacon William
Locke, who came from London, March 22, 1634.
Peter Tufts was of the party that fortified Dorchester Heights
in March, 1776; his mother, Anne Adams Tufts, helped dress
the wounds of eight soldiers brought to her house on the top
of Winter Hill after the Battle of Bunker Hill, and, later,
when Burgoyne's men were encamped on Winter Hill as pris-
oners of war, went to the camp and nursed the dying wife of
one of the prisoners. In her honor, the Somerville Daughters of
the American Revolution have named their Chapter. Francis
Tufts was Adjutant in the Eighth Massachusetts Regiment. He
enlisted in 1776 and was at Tieonderoga and at Saratoga. At
Stillwater, seeing the standard bearer fall, he rescued the stand-
ard, bore it at the head of his regiment, and that day was made
ensign by General Gates. At Tieonderoga in 1780 he was made
Adjutant. Another ancestor. Dr. Francis Moore, was with Col-
onel Pepperell at the Siege of Louisburg, where he served as sur-
geon. His son, Francis Moore, went undisguised to help throw
the tea overboard in Boston Harbor, and later was in the Battle
of Bunker Hill. A great grandfather, Joseph Adams, gave shel-
ter to the Lady Superior and her pupils, fugitives from the Ursu-
line Convent in Charlestown, when that building was attacked and
burned by a Boston mob in 1834. This Joseph Adams was a de-
scendant of John Adams, who was bom in 1622 and settled, 1650,
in Cambridge as a millwright.
These notes of Mr. Tufts' ancestry show him to be of good,
sturdy. New England stock. His personal qualities are illustrated
by his remarkable success in his chosen business. With little more
than a common school education — his schooling having been cut
short after one year in the high school by the death of his fa-
ther—he entered, as office boy, the banking concern of C. D. Parker
and Company, with which he has ever since been connected. Since
BOWEN TUFTS
1908 he has been elected a director of the following: The Athol
Gas and Electric Company, the Amesbury Electric Company, the
Marlboro Electric Company, the Marlboro-Hudson Gas Company,
the Connecticut Valley Street Railroad, the Massachusetts North-
ern Street Railroad, the Concord, Maynard and Hudson Street
Railroad, the Weymouth Light and Power Company, the Worcester
Suburban Electric Company, the Plymouth Electric Company, the
Southeastern Power and Electric Company, the Union Light and
Power Company, the Norwood Gas Company, the Gardner Gas
Company, the Central Massachusetts Electric Company, the Ware
Electric Company, and the Blackstone Gas and Electric Company.
He is a Trustee of the Lynn Realty Trust Company, the Massa-
chusetts Lighting Company, the Central Massachusetts Light and
Power Company, the Commonwealth Gas and Electric Company,
the Old Colony Light and Power Company, the Merrifield Build-
ing Trust, the Provincetown Light and Power Associates, the
North Brookfield Light and Power Associates, the Franklin County
Power Company, and the Merrimac Valley Power and Building
Company; Treasurer and member of the Executive Committee of
the New England section of the National Electric Light Associa-
tion and member of the Executive Committee of the Massachusetts
Gas and Electric Association.
He is a member of the Engineers Club, the Exchange Club, the
Belmont Springs Country Club, of which he is a director; the Bos-
ton Yacht Club, the Old Beacon Club, of which he is President;
the Medford Club, the Unitarian Club, and the Mt. Hermon Lodge
of Masons.
Mr. Tufts' reading is mainly of business and technical books;
his favorite sports are golf and tennis.
He is a Republican in politics, and in religious faith a Uni-
tarian.
His advice to young people is thus summarized in his own
words: "Don't smoke until age of twenty-one; then moderately.
Total abstinence from liquors is the safest rule. Pick a man who
has won true success and work persistently to duplicate and im-
prove upon his attainments. Depend always on your own efforts.
Acquire the largest possible nmnber of desirable associates who will
help mould your character toward success."
Mr. Tufts married, September 24, 1907, Octavia C. Williams,
daughter of David Williams and Mary Octavia Charlton, grand-
daughter of Richard Charlton and Ann E. Wilson and of Matthew
B. Williams and Margaret McAllister, and a descendant of Sir
Lachlan Maclean of Sudbury, England, and from Sir Roger
Williams. Three children have been bom to them: Mary Octavia
Tufts, Bowen Charlton Tufts, and David Albert Tufts.
THEODORE NEWTON VAIL
Among the leaders of American business industry to-day
/—\ there is no one more prominent than Theodore N. Vail,
JL JL. president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Com-
pany, and the head of the entire Bell Telephone system.
His ancestry, both on his father's and mother's side, connects
him with prominent families in Morris County, New Jersey. He is
a descendant of the Quaker preacher, John Vail, who settled in New
Jersey in 1710.
In early days, Lewis Vail, his grandfather, a civil engineer, went
to Ohio and identified himself with the interests of that state as a
builder of canals and highways. Davis Vail, his son and the father
of Theodore N. Vail, was born there but at an early age went to New
Jersey and became connected with the Speedwell Iron Works near
Morristown, which had been founded by his uncle, Stephen Vail.
Most of the machinery for the Savannah, the first steamship that
crossed the Atlantic Ocean, was built at these iron works. Here,
too, the magnetic telegraph was first brought into successful opera-
tion by Samuel F. B. Morse. He was largely aided in bringing this
about by the help of the Vail family. Stephen Vail furnished the
money and his son AKred the mechanical turn of mind which put
into practical form the scientific theory of the telegraph which Mr.
Morse was trying to work out. The Morse Alphabet in telegraphy
or the Dot and Dash Alphabet, as it was first called, was also
devised by Alfred Vail.
Davis Vail married Phojbe Quinby, the daughter of Judge
Isaac Quinby of Morris County, and a sister of Doctors William and
Augustus Quinby and of General Quinby who, after graduating
at West Point, became distinguished as a mathematician and pro-
fessor of mathematics in Rochester University and as a general in
the Civil War. After his marriage Davis Vail went back to Carroll
County, Ohio, where Theodore N. Vail was born July 16, 1845.
When he was about four years old his father again returned to New
Jersey, where he was connected with the Speedwell Iron Works
until 1866, when he removed to Iowa and took up farming on a large
scale.
THEODORE NEWTON VAIL
Theodore N. Vail took a thorough course in the old academy at
Morristown and then read medicine with his uncle, Doctor William
Quinby, for two years. In Morristown, telegraphy was almost in
the air, as the result of the activity of Morse and Vail, so that Theo-
dore had wires and keyboards for playthings at the Vail homestead.
He also studied and practiced telegraphy in a local ofl&ce.
He went with his father to Iowa, and about a year later took a
position with the Union Pacific Railroad as agent and telegraph
operator at a small station on that line. In the spring of 1869,
through the kindness of Gen. GrenviUe M. Dodge, chief engineer
of the Union Pacific, he was appointed clerk in the Railway Mail
Service. This service was at that time in its infancy. The mail
was not distributed on the cars, as it is now, but was gathered up
and carried on to certain large post-offices where it was sorted and
forwarded. To remedy this delay the scheme of sorting the mail
on the cars was begun, each clerk devising his own way of distribu-
tion. The question of methods was discussed by the clerks among
themselves in the effort to secure more systematic results.
Mr. Vail took up the study of the distribution and dispatch of
mails primarily for his own convenience, but also seeking that of
his fellow-clerks. Looking for the shortest and quickest routes to
destination he arranged a map and charts which he and others put
into immediate use. This proved so helpful that the authorities
at Washington soon called him to that city and he was appointed
Assistant Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service under George
I. Bangs. Mr. Bangs was one of the most progressive officials in
the department at Washington, and, through his large experience
and acquaintance in poUtics, he was able to aid Mr. Vail very materi-
ally in introducing progressive methods into the Service.
A systematic plan for distributing the mail was put into opera-
tion all over the country in connection with an efficient civil service
system. Mr. Vail was also very active in the development of the
fast Railway Mail Service, giving fast mail trains the right of way
over all others. The mail was soon sent from New York to Chicago
in twenty-four hours, and at the present time in eighteen hours.
The marked abiUty of Mr. Vail as an organizer had so mani-
fested itself in building up the progressive ideas of Mr. Bangs and
putting the railway mail service of the country in the high place it
occupies with the business world and the general public, that in
THEODORE NEWTON VAIL
1876 he was appointed General Superintendent, although the young-
est officer in the service. After two years in this position he felt
that he could go no further in this direction without going into poUtics
as a business. This he was not inclined to do and he made up his
mind to leave the service.
At this time American civilization was taking on new forms.
Machinery v^'as displacing the hand and one man in a factory was
doing the work of fifty at the cobbler's bench or weaver's loom.
Railways were supplanting the stage-coach and the team, and the
telegraph and the cable had put people within sight of each other and
given them a deaf and dumb speech. The time was ripe for the
telephone to furnish the hearing. And it did it. It was the key-
stone to the arch.
Professor A. Graham Bell and his three associates in the " Bell
Telephone Association" had been trying for months to get the tele-
phone upon the market, but with no success. They had a monopoly
of the telephone business and everj^body else was willing. They
had the patents but there was no capital. The Western Union
Telegraph Company was their natural enemy as a means of com-
munication by wire. The telegraph people made fun of the telephone
until they learned that some of theu- instruments had been sup-
planted by it. Then they quickly organized the " American Speak-
ing-Telegraph Company," with large capital and such electrical in-
ventors as Edison, Gray and Dollbear upon its staff, and made the
announcement that they had " the only original telephone."
The result was unexpected. Of a sudden the telephone was no
longer a "scientific toy," as people had regarded it, but an article
of commerce. In a short time telephones were being rented at the
rate of a thousand a month and little telephone exchanges were
being started in a few cities, but there was lacking a business
organization.
Of the four men who formed the Bell Telephone Association, Mr.
Bell invented the telephone, Thomas Watson constructed it, Thomas
Sanders, a leather dealer, financed it, and Gardner G. Hubbard,
father-in-law of Mr. Bell, and a prominent lawyer of Boston and
Washington, introduced it, but the business manager was lacking.
Hubbard had recently been appointed by President Hayes as
the head of a commission on mail transportation. He and Mr.
Vail were thus thrown together on trains and in hotels. Hubbard
THEODORE NEWTON VAIL
always had a pair of telephones in his vaUse. His enthusiasm met
with a hearty response in Mr. Vail, who had been interested in the
experiments made at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in
1876, and beUeved that the telephone had a successful business
future before it.
This first-hand acquaintance with Mr. Vail as a successful busi-
ness organizer in the mail service led Mr. Hubbard to say to Mr. Wat-
son one morning, "I know our man in Washington," and he offered the
position of General Manager to Mr. Vail, who accepted it promptly
and, a week later, was in the little office in Reade Street, New York.
He was so confident of the future of the telephone that he after-
wards said he was willing to leave a Government job with a small
salary for a telephone job with no salary.
At this time all Bell telephone apparatus was made by Watson
in a little shop in Court Street, Boston, but the business soon out-
grew the shop and four other manufacturers were licensed to make
bells and switch-boards.
The Western Electric Company of Chicago, had also begim to
make Gray-Edison telephones for the Western Union, so that there
were six groups of mechanics experimenting with a machinery that
could talk. Vail soon recognized the fact that there was plenty of
apparatus but too great variety, and, if there was to be any uni-
formity in their action, the work should be consolidated. By 1881
he had bought the six companies and brought them under one
management. This was the first merger in telephone history and
was of immense importance. Without that the Bell Company could
not have successfully met the warfare that was waged against it for
years.
The business now developed rapidly until the streets in some
cities had become almost black with wires strung on poles some-
times fifty feet in height. The urgent necessity of burj-ing the wires
was evident, but the question was, how to do it. The constructive
imagination of Mr. Vail came to the rescue. He began a series of
experiments to find out what could be done, the result of which was
the laying of an experimental cable in Boston and the next year an
experimental system for New York.
Mr. Vail next started a series of experiments to discover a better
type of cable than the oil-fiUed one then in use, which resulted in
the discovery that hot lead might be moulded around a rope of
twisted wires, thus making tight coverings that shed the moisture.
THEODORE NEWTON VAIL
At first the telephone was thought of as a local convenience,
but the vision of Mr. Vail was not satisfied until he saw the wires
and heard the "Hello" between New York and Boston. Long dis-
tance telephoning was estabhshed and had only to be improved
upon to become longer. The galvanized iron and steel wires in use
were too noisy, and copper wire was too soft and weak. Mr. Vail
asked a Bridgeport manufacturer to experiment upon copper wire
to see if drawing would not harden and toughen it. The experi-
ment was successful. By the use of drawn-copper wire, the estab-
lishment of the long-distance system and the organization of local
companies in the principal cities, all under one general management,
Mr. Vail had by 1884 estabhshed the business on a sound basis, com-
manding national recognition both as to its present value and future
prospects. He organized the Bell Telephone Company of New York
in 1878 and was its president from 1885 to 1890, when he resigned
his position as general manager of the present company and retired
from the telephone business.
While with the telephone he had worked a small farm near Bos-
ton, and when he left the company he bought another farm of 1500
acres in Vermont. This he caUed the Speedwell Farms, and com-
menced stock-raising on a varied and extensive scale. But this was
not enough. He did not confine himself to his farm, but spent
much time in travel, making a trip to South America in 1893, where
the opportunities of the Argentine RepubUc attracted his attention.
With the purpose of developing its resources, he constructed,
by permission of the government, an electric station which furnishes
machinery for factories, light for streets and dwellings, and power
for a street railway in a neighboring city. He bought a horse-car
hne in Buenos Ayres and changed it to a trolley Une with thoroughly
equipped cars from the United States. A well-organized company
controlled it and bought up all competing hues.
This company was a British corporation and for its better manage-
ment called Mr. Vail to London. In 1904, when he had the busi-
ness in thorough working order, he gave up his active connection
with it and returned to his farm in Lyndon, Vermont, which had
now grown to 4,000 acres.
Mr. Vail remarked that the city of Buenos Ayres had paid him
more for giving it a system of trolleys and electric hghts than the
United States had paid him for putting the telephone on a business
THEODORE NEWTON VAIL
basis. He was ready to forget the troubles of city and telephone,
and have a plaji^ime on the farm.
In August, 1869, soon after he entered the Railway Mail Service
as clerk, he married Miss Emma Righter of Newark, N. J. Their
married hfe was veiy happy, as she was in full s^Tnpathy with him
in his successful business career. They had one son, David R. Vail,
who gave much promise as a young lawyer. The great sorrow of Mr.
Vail's life came to him in 1905, when both wife and son passed away.
The supervising of the various interests of his farm, building
barns, watching his Welsh ponies and Swiss cattle and directing the
plowing, harrowing and seeding, occupied much of his time, but the
home-hfe had changed, so that when a delegation of telephone direc-
tors, most of whom were his old-time associates, came to him one
May morning in 1907 to urge him to resume his old place with them,
he was ready to step out into the business world again.
At sixty-two years of age he took the presidency of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company, which unites the Associated
Bell Companies that provide service throughout the countrj\ The
"grand telephone system" that Mr. Vail had imagined thirty years
ago has gone on until the control of the Western Union has passed
over to the American Telegraph and Telephone Company. Many
telephone offices are now telegraph offices also, and still the work
goes on.
Mr. Vail divides his time between the executive offices of the
company in Boston, the headquarters in New York and his Vermont
farm. He is a member of leading clubs in New York and Boston,
and active in the social hfe of the two cities.
In 1907 Mr. Vail was married to Miss Mabel R. Sanderson of
Boston.
From the above sketch of Mr. Vail we may see how well quahfied
he is for the head of this great company. He has known the
telegraph and telephone from the start and has a wonderful faculty
for organi2dng a great business enterprise as well as shaping its
finances, so that we repeat there is no more prominent man among
the leaders of American business industry than Theodore Newton Vail.
Mr. Vail says that his promotion to be the head of one of the
largest industries in the world is the result of beginnmg at the
bottom and " sticking to the job."
f(^^-\-/m^^t-^,
JOSEPH VAN NESS
JOSEPH VAN NESS, author and publisher, was born in
Andover, Massachusetts, December 13, 1849, and died in Lex-
ington, Massachusetts, July 8, 1901. His father, James Van
Ness, was a native of St. Andrews, Scotland ; his mother, Elizabeth
Kobb, came from Dundee, Scotland. The name indicates that the
paternal line harks back to a Dutch ancestry. The family came to
America in 1847.
The father had been a teacher in his native land and continued
the practice of his vocation in his adopted country. Shortly after
the birth of Joseph, the family, lured by the larger opportunities
of the Mississippi Valley, removed to the Middle "West. Here in
1851 when his little son was only eighteen months old, the father
died.
The little boy's mother, a canny Scotch woman, prudent, indus-
trious, and of excellent business ability, became owner and manager
of two farms and a general store in the then comparatively new
country. When Joseph was a little more than four years old she
allied herself in a second marriage with a Scotchman by the name
of Stevens.
Joseph was a bright, active boy, very fond of knowledge and
eager in its pursuit. At eleven years of age he had gained such
knowledge as the elementary schools of his town could impart and
had made diligent use of the town library. He was fired with the
desire for a liberal education. His prudent mother, although very
fond of her bright son, was not impressed with the desirability of
a literary career for him. She did not actively oppose his ambition
but gave it no open encouragement. The hopeful boy was not dis-
heartened by his mother's indifference to his cherished ideal. He
discussed his desire for more education with the genial and tolerant
traveling salesman who periodically visited his mother's store to sell
his goods. The boy finally persuaded the drummer to let him come
and work for his board in his family and go to school. Under such
circumstances Joseph made his preparation to enter and pursue a
course in the Illinois Industrial University at Urbana, Illinois.
That he probably rendered good value for such maintenance as he
received is attested by the fact that he was almost twenty-seven
years old when he gained his degree of Bachelor of Science from the
Illinois University. He was a good student, conscientious in his
work and far more intent upon genuine attainment than the mere
possession of a college degree. His standing in all his studies was
high. He received his degree in 1876 at the Illinois Industrial
Universitj'^ and immediately registered at Cornell University, from
which in 1878 he received the degree B.S. Although he pursued a
JOSEPH VAN NESS
scientific course he was especially fond of languages and made not-
able progress in Latin, German, Spanish and early Swedish, at the
same time paying particular attention to his native tongue. Thus
in mature manhood, seasoned by a long fight to maintain his phys-
ical existence while acquiring the tools for a literary career, he stood
at the gateway of his life work. His Scotch blood, the strict train-
ing of his mother in orderly ways, the strong impress upon him of
her sterling character had proved invaluable assets. But although
thus equipped by parental inheritance and acquired attainment he
well-nigh failed at this juncture of realizing his ambition by reason
of an overtaxed nervous system and a threatened collapse. His
physician ordered him to a life in the open. Selling his library and
other effects to pay the expenses of a journey, he went to Colorado.
For the next four years in the clear stimulating air of Colorado
and under the sunny skies of California he did penance to outraged
nature and wooed back in large measure the well-nigh lost physical
powers which are fundamental to all human achievement. During
this period of rest and recuperation he defrayed his expenses by
writing for the newspapers.
Domiciled near an irrigated section of Colorado owned and oper-
ated by an English syndicate, his reporter instinct led him to
gather a mass of interesting information about irrigation. This he
worked up into a series of interesting articles which the Denver
RepuMican published and paid for. In California he was able to
write of the mining interest of the State in a way to win pay and
patronage from the newspapers of the Golden Gate. With the lapse
of four precious years and a measurable return of health Mr. Van
Ness became impatient to buckle down to a regular business. Ac-
cordingly he returned to Illinois and obtained the position of East-
ern Representative of the Shoe and Leather Review published by
C. L. Peyton of Chicago. He opened offices on Bedford Street in
Boston. Later, he removed to Lincoln Street where he was burned
out and thence removed to Atlantic Avenue where he was a second
time burned out. He managed the aifairs for the Shoe and Leather
Review with so much tact and energy that it became the leading
trade journal in the East. He spent the years from 1882 to 1885 in
promoting the interests of the Review.
In 1885 he cut loose from the Review to establish an advertising
agency for shoe machinery and leather interests. His business
instinct showed him here an unoccupied field where energy, tact
and good sense might win golden returns. Business came to his
hand in satisfactory and increasing volume. At first he paid some
attention to general advertising but the most satisfactory field
proved to be the shoe making interests, especially the machinery end
JOSEPH VAN NESS
of it, and from 1890 to 1896 when the Shoe Machinery Trust Com-
pany was formed his business was confined largely to the placing
of advertising contracts for the multifarious kinds of machines
which had part in the manufacture of boots and shoes.
One day while negotiating an advertising contract for a shoe
thread concern, the idea occurred to him: "Why not establish
some medium whereby the superintendents and 'foremen of shoe
manufactories may get together, compare notes, suggest ideas, try
out new plans, and thereby promote increased efScieney in the whole
industry?" This project received a great impulse when the forma-
tion of the United Shoe Machinery Company, wiped out in great
measure the need of shoe machinery advertising contracts.
"With considerable difficulty he persuaded a friend to lend him
a list of the foremen and superintendents of shoe manufactories
whom he wished to reach. With this list in hand his project took
the definite shape in his mind of a technical shoe trade journal
which should discuss the best methods of manufacture, of factory
management and of dealing with employees. It should also be an
advertising medium throiigh which dealers in all sorts of shoe man-
ufacturing sundries might reach their clientele — a journal which
should be put into the hands of every foreman and superintendent as
well as of every owner and employer of shoe labor — a journal whose
writers and contributors should be the practical men, the experts
of the shoe industry. This was an entirely original idea with Mr.
Van Ness — it being the first technical shoe trade paper ever pub-
lished. A prospectus setting forth the aims and possibilities of
the projected technical journal called forth such hearty encourage-
ment from all classes interested in shoe manufacturing that Mr. Van
Ness proceeded at once to plan the issue of such a periodical. The
date of the first issue was October 20, 1896. In it were contribu-
tions from foremen, from expert operatives and others on methods,
processes and results in the shoe industry, with questions and an-
swers on problems affecting the industry. The journal, named the
Superintendent and Foreman, met with enthusiastic endorsement
from the very first. At the end of its first year it had four times the
circulation of any other journal of the leather industrj- in the world.
It was a pronounced financial success. It was published in Eng-
lish and German and reached every countrj' on the globe where
shoes are made. It earned and merited the sobriquet often given
it of the "Little School Master in the Art of Shoemaking." It
was an industrial journal of the highest order and increased in
popularity from year to year. In August, 1899, Mr. Van Ness
gathered together at Lake Sunapee the superintendents and fore-
men about Boston and suggested the formation of an association
JOSEPH VAN NESS
— to be knowTi as the Superintendents' and Foremen's Associa-
tion, which was established and now is in existence throughout Amer-
ica and England. Social and business plans being completed, May
4, 1904, the first meeting of the Superintendents' and Foremen's
Association was held at Revere House, Boston.
Mr. Van Ness was very ambitious for his periodical and had
many large things planned for it which he did not live to carry
through. He was first to suggest the establishment of Technical
Shoe Schools and used his journal to create interest along that line
which has recently been considered by State Boards of Education.
He died July 8, 1901, in the fifty-second year of his age.
October 4, 1892, Joseph Van Ness was married to Sarah, daughter
of John and Eliza Powel Gittings Bowman. Her father was of
Puritan stock on his mother's side and of Cavalier stock on the
father's side, Francis Bowman being the first Royal Magistrate
appointed by the King in 1720; her mother a direct descendant of
Captain William Powell, one of the earliest settlers of Jamestown,
Virginia, and member of the ' ' First Legislative Assembly in Amer-
ica," 1619.
Joseph Van Ness was a scholar, a clear thinker and writer, a suc-
cessful business man. He was devoted to his ideals, faithful to
every duty and obligation of life. He was no ordinary man from
whatever standpoint considered. He was essentially kind and char-
itable.
He aspired to no public office. In politics he was a Democrat.
He helped organize the Cornell Club of New England. He was a
member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity of Illinois University, of the
Appalachian Mountain Club and of the Megantic Fish and Game
Club. He was fond of tennis, of horseback riding and of horti-
culture.
He said little about religion but his life was true. He was fond
of quoting Tennyson:
"We have but faith, we cannot know,
For knowledge is of things we see ;
And yet we trust— it comes from Thee
A beam in darkness; let it grow."
He expressed his life motto thus: —
' ' Not happiness but duty done is the greatest good that life may
bring. Even death, and whatever there may be beyond it, can
bring no sweeter bliss than comes to him who is conscious of hav-
ing done his duty to his fellowman."
^^..
^(j z^«-^^IL,'d>i^
HENRY MELVILLE WHITNEY
HENRY MELVILLE WHITNEY was born in the town of
Conway, Franklin Countj', Massachusetts, October 22,
1839. He inherited much of his enterprising public spirit,
his inteUigent capacity for business, and unusual tact for managing
men and affau-s, from his father, General James Scollay Whitney,
who kept an old-fashioned country store, where the good people of
the town met to discuss and settle the great questions of the time.
These mfluences had much to do in shaping the career of Henry,
while the beautiful character of his mother, Lucinda (Collins) Whit-
ney, threw about him the charm of a happy home.
The early education of Henry M. Whitney was limited to the
pubUc schools of his native town and one year at the Williston Sem-
inary, Easthampton, where he was accompanied bj' William C.
Whitney, a younger brother, who was later Secretary of the Navy
under President Cleveland. After his brief time at Williston, he
went to work in his father's store and later he served as clerk in
the Conway Bank for three years, and in these ways began to lay
foundations for his business career. He spent two years in the
Bank of Redemption, and some time as a clerk in the naval agent's
office, and later in the shipping business in New York City. In
1866 he took the Boston agency of the Metropolitan Steamship
Company, and became president of the company in 1879.
Mr. Whitney foresaw the magnificent possibilities of that part
of BrooklLne which borders Boston, and, in the spring of 1886, in-
vested quite extensively in land along Beacon Street m that town.
He confidentially interested a number of his intimate and wealthy
friends in his plans and asked them to join him. Having confidence
in Mr. Whitney's integrity, wisdom, and tact, they accepted his
proposition and formed the syndicate now known as the West End
Land Company.
As a result of their efforts one can now see a most attractive
boulevard skirted with beautiful residences and apartment houses.
To bring this property into closer touch with the city, Mr. Whitney
organized the West End Street Railway, running a line eight miles
long out Beacon Street and connecting Brookline with Boston.
A few months after this line had been completed the subject of
Street Blockades began to claim the attention of the public. At
that time the following lines centered in the city: the Metropolitan,
the Cambridge, the West End, the South Boston, and the Consoh-
dated (Middlesex and Highland). The feeling soon prevailed that
the clashing of these individual interests must come to an end.
Mr. Whitney and the business men associated with him became con-
vinced that consolidation was the only way out of the difficulty.
Such a plan was arranged and agreed to by the various roads. At
a meeting of the new corporation in September, 1887, Mr. Whitney
HENRY MELVILLE WHITNEY
attracted the interest of all concerned by his clear statement of
what the new movement meant for the city and for the futm-e.
He believed that affairs could be so administered as to bring satis-
faction to stockholders and employees alike, and that the comfort
and happiness of the people would be conserved by the consolidation
as they could not be conserved under separate corporations.
In 1887 Mr. Whitney went to Richmond, Virginia, to study the
merits of the electric railway in that city which was attracting much
attention. He came back impressed with the fact that electricity
was the coming power and he decided to give it a trial. As a result,
an electric hne was opened in 1888 from Park Square in Boston to
Oak Square in Brighton, a part of it being operated by an under-
ground circuit and the remainder by the trolley system. The next
February a line of twenty motor cars was inaugurated from Bow-
doin Square, Boston, to Harvard Square, Cambridge, by the Thom-
son-Houston Electric Company. This was so successful that, six
months later, Mr. Whitney gave an order for six hundred additional
motors.
Thus began the great electric system which the people of Boston
hold in such high esteem. The leadership of Mr. Whitney was felt
in a marked way all through the development of this system, but
other business interests demanded his attention, and he retired from
the presidency of the West End Company in September, 1893. His
able management had won for him universal admiration and a large
reputation. He has been president and director of the Rhode Island
Coal Company, the American Asbestos Company, and the Boston
and Gloucester Steamboat Company, vice-president of the Real
Estate and Auction Board, and trustee of the West End Land Com-
pany. He organized the New England Gas and Coke Company,
now the Massachusetts Gas Company. He was a strong advocate of
reciprocity with Canada.
Mr. Whitney has a look of decision and firmness, tempered with
courtesy and kindness. He is outspoken in his opinions and quick
in his actions. Socially he is more a good listener than a good talker,
but in public he is an impressive speaker and always commands
attention. He is well-known as a generous man, and not a few
people to-day owe their success in hfe to his kind assistance in time
of need.
"True to his friendships, appreciative of all efforts that tend to
uplift humanity, and ever ready to assist them, he enjoys the
universal respect of the community."
Mr. Whitney was married October 3, 1878, to Miss Margaret
Foster Green, of Brookline, which has been their home. They have
one son and four daughters. The summer home of the family is
at Cohasset.
^
JAMES SCOLLAY WHITNEY
HIGH ideals and indomitable energy characterized the life of
James Scollay Whitney. Though he was a Jacksonian
Democrat and therefore belonged to what was in his time
the minority party, it did not hinder the popular appreciation of
Mr. Whitney's splendid qualities. He was again and again se-
lected for responsible positions, and never once did he betray the
trust that was imposed in him. When he organized a corpora-
tion for public business it was considered a privilege to serve with
him. He was a business man of the most commendable type.
Mr. Whitney was bom in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, May
19, 1811, of a splendid family stock. He was a descendant of
John Whitney, one of the leaders of the English Puritans who set-
tled in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635. He was related, also, to
John Whitney of Harvard, Massachusetts, a Brigadier General in
the Revolutionary Army.
He was educated in the schools of his native town where his
father, Stephen Whitney, was a prominent merchant and manu-
facturer. He succeeded his father in business and shortly after
removed to Conway, Massachusetts, where he engaged in manu-
facturing. His public devotion, his enterprising spirit, and his
tactful management of men and affairs made him naturally a leader
among men.
He was the town clerk of Conway for nine consecutive years
beginning with 1843, £ind gave up the position only to represent
the district in the Massachusetts Legislature from 1851-1854. In
1851 he was also appointed Sheriff of Franklin County and two
years later was elected to the convention that revised the State
Constitution. Here he was conspicuous for his usefulness, his broad
intelligence, and wide experience.
In 1854 he was appointed Superintendent of the United States
Arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts, a position that he held for
six years. He was a delegate to the National Democratic Conven-
tion in 1856 that nominated James Buchanan for the Presidency.
In 1860 he was appointed Collector of the Port of Boston. This
position he held for a year, for the Republicans soon came into
power.
On his removal from the coUeetorship, Mr. Whitney engaged
in business in Boston and soon became identified with enterprises
JAMES SCOLLAY WHITNEY
of large importance. Among these was the organization of the
Metropolitan Steamship Lines with which the name of Whitney-
has been identified for many years. It was the first of the "out-
side lines" from Boston to New York. He was also President of
the Boston Water Power Company, and largely instrumental in
the laying out of the Fenway and the connecting system of
Tarks. No matter how large his business interests were, Mr. Whit-
ney always found time to be a good citizen. In 1872 he was elected
to the Massachusetts Senate from the First Norfolk District. In
1876 he was chosen President of the State Democratic Convention
that nominated John Quincy Adams for Governor. Two years
later he presided over the Democratic Convention that met in
Faneuil Hall and nominated Josiah G. Abbott for Governor. As
this would indicate, he was high in the councils of his party and
never failed to exercise a beneficial influence in the affairs of the
State and nation.
He was married to Miss Lucinda Collins and four daughters and
two sons survived him. Henry Melville Whitney's name will always
he associated with the development of Boston's transportation sys-
tem and other public enterprises. Hon. William C. Whitney of
New York was Secretary of the Navy under President Cleveland
and was a leader of the New York Democracy.
The title of Brigadier-General by which Mr. Whitney was
known through most of his life was derived from his election and
commission to the Brigadier-Generalship of the Second Brigade
of the Massachusetts Militia when he was but twenty-four years of
age.
General Whitney died in Boston, October 24, 1878, greatly be-
loved and deeply mourned by his many friends.
Himself a man among men, he always won the esteem and re-
gard of those, whatever their rank or distinction, with whom he
came in contact. In the course of his long and busy life he met
and knew many distinguished men. In his business relations he
was noted for his sagacity, soundness of judgment, and courage.
Few men were more interesting to meet and know. He had a
wealth of reminiscence and his observations were those of a man
of intellect and refinement who marked well what passed before
him. His various enterprises were prosecuted without fear of fail-
ure and, wherever others grew timid, his self-reliance never deserted
him. He left behind him a memory of good deeds and a high char-
acter.
M-r^, li^e^jt;^
WILLIAM COLLINS WHITNEY
WILLIAM COLLINS WHITNEY was born in Conway,
Massachusetts, July 5, 1841. He died at New York City,
February 2, 1904. He was the son of Gen. James ScoUay
and Lueiuda (Collins) Whitney. His ancestral line traces back
to John Whitney, bom near London, England, in 1589, who in
turn was descended from worthy stock dating back nearly to the
time of the Conquest. John Whitney was well educated and, after
serving an apprenticeship, became in due time a member of the hon-
orable Jlerchant Tailoi-s ' Company, and identified with the Puritans.
He left England with his wife Eleanor and five sons, in 1635,
and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, where he became one of
the most prominent and influential citizens. Among the many
worthy descendants of John Whitney was Brigadier-General
Josiah Whitney of Harvard, Massachusetts, who performed effective
military service in the War of the Revolution, as well as civil serv-
ice for his native State and his country.
In his childhood and youth, William Collins Whitney formed
a taste for roaming in the woods of Conway and for the most se-
lect reading. He had the usual tasks which fall to a boy to per-
form in a home in the country. He was trained with a loving
mother's care in matters moral and spiritual, and his attention was
directed to the reading of history and biography, of which he was
always fond. He was educated in the public schools of Conway,
Williston Seminarj' at East Hampton, JMassachusetts, and at Yale
College, from which he graduated in 1863, and then studied law
at Harvard in 1864. He was honored by Yale with the degree of
LL.D. in 1888.
Immediately after his graduation he entered upon a most suc-
cessful law practice in New York City. He entered upon his po-
litical life in 1871, in organizing the Young Men's Democratic Club
in New York City. In the following year he was chosen Inspector
of Schools, and the county leader in the Democratic party. In
1875 he became corporation counsel for the city of New York, in
which capacity he inaugurated many needed reforms, and elimi-
nated many abuses. In this work he saved the city millions of
dollars, besides greatly reducing expenses. These sweeping and
WILLIAM COLLINS WHITNEY
laudable reforms established a prestige for him which doubtless
paved the way for his appointment in 1885 as Secretary of the
Navy by President Cleveland. In this important position he was
given full powers to exercise the genius for efficiency of which
he was possessed. He found everything connected with the naval
department at a low ebb, and greatly in need of reorganization.
He addressed himself at once to this task and to the building up
of a naval power able to command respect abroad. His untiring
energy was such, that in the short space of four years he laid the
foundation of a navj' now third in the world for effectiveness.
For this achievement, the name of William Collins Whitney will
be immortalized in American naval annals. He retired at the close
of the first Cleveland administration in 1889.
The following quotation is from a speech delivered by Senator
Preston B. Plumb of Kansas, on February 12, 1889, in which he
paid a deserving tribute to Mr. Whitney :
"I am glad to say in the closing hours of Mr. Whitney's ad-
ministration that the affairs of his department have been well ad-
ministered. They have not only been well administered in the
sense that everything has been honestly and faithfully done, but
there has been a stimulus given, so far as it could be done by ex-
ecutive direction, to the production of the best types of ships and
the highest form of manufacture, and more than all that, to the
encouragement of the inventive genius of our people and to the
performance of all possible work, not in navy yards, where
they might be most surely made the instrument of political strength,
but in private ship yards and manufactories to the effect that we
have got to-day enlisted in this good work of building the Amer-
ican navy, not only the Navy Department backed by Congress, but
we have got the keen competition of American manufacturers and
the inventive genius of all our people, so that we may not only
confidently expect the best results, but great improvement each
year. I am glad to say that during the past four years, the navy
department has been administered in a practical, level-headed, ju-
dicious way, and the result is such that I am prepared to believe
and to say that within the next ten years we shall have the best
navy in the world."
Mr. Whitney was a leading worker in the National Democratic
Convention in 1892, and proved his fitness and skill as a politician
in the successful nomination of Mr. Cleveland for the Presidency,
to which office he was elected.
WILLIAM COLLINS WHITNEY
Mr. Whitney was married in 1869 to Flora Payne, daughter
of Senator Henry B. Payne from Ohio. Their home in Washing-
ton was one of the best appointed in the city and was a popular so-
cial center.
While Mr. Whitney owed much to heredity, he was also in-
debted to the influences of early environment for the shaping of
his career. He began life in an ideal home, had the benefit of an
academic and collegiate education, was fortunate in his early com-
panionship ; he was wisely guided in his private studies, and gained
great advantage in his contact with notable men in active life.
He made good use of his talents in every station which was given
him, and bequeathed to posterity a name of which every American
can well be proud.
After Mr. Whitney's death, ex-President Grover Cleveland said
of him:
"As I think of him, my mind, passing beyond recent years,
dwells upon the days of my association with him in high official
duty, and recalls the time when I had the opportunity to enjoy his
unreserved intimacy and friendly companionship.
"Our relations have never changed, but the exigencies of life
have forbidden recent close intercourse.
' ' Mr. Whitney had more calm, forceful efficiency than any man
I ever knew. In work that interested him he actually seemed to
court difficulties and to find pleasure and exhilaration in overcom-
ing them.
"His conquest over the obstacles he encountered in undertak-
ing to build up our navy afforded him greater delight than the con-
templation of the great results he achieved in his department of the
government.
"His judgment was quick, clear, and astonishingly accurate,
and when it was called into action his mental poise was so complete
that neither passion nor irritation could lead it astray.
' ' While I remember all this with admiration and affection, I re-
call with more tender sentiment Mr. Whitney's devotion to his
friends, his extreme consideration for all with whom he came into
contact, his thoughtfulness for the ease and comfort of others, his
ready impulse to help those who needed help.
"1 mourn the death of a friend of whom it can be truthfully
said that in his character were combined mental traits of a high or-
der and loving qualities of heart that linked him to his friends with
hooks of steel."
GEORGE BROWNING WILBUR
THE life of George Browning Wilbur is typical of the suc-
cessful American of the early part of the last century.
His father, Williams Wilbur, was a carpenter, whose marked
characteristics were honesty, industry, and ambition. In those
three traits lay the key to the situation. The man who possessed
them was bom on the 25th of November, 1791, and lived to the
great age of ninety-eight years, seeing many of his ambitions real-
ized in his son. He was a descendant of one Samuel Wildbore,
who came with his wife from England and was made "freeman of
Boston" on the fourth of March, 1634.
Williams Wilbur married Rebecca Browning, and when their
son was born January 13, 1820, they gave him the name of George
Browning. The family was at the time living in Hubbardston,
Massachusetts. It was a rural community and the boy loved the
out-of-door life and grew sturdy and strong of body and soul in
the simple, hard life of a country boy with plenty of work ex-
pected from him. His schooling was of the most meagre descrip-
tion, confined to a few months each year in the district school, sup-
plemented by a course at a business college in later life. He learned
his father's trade of carpenter.
Like most boys who go far in life, his mother was the strong
influence which moulded his character, intellectually, morally, and
spiritually. School, early companionship, private study, and the
contact of men in active life, all contributed their share to make
him strong and self reliant; a man with the power to plan largely
and to get his plans carried out.
In 1859 he entered into partnership with Jonas G. Clark in
the furniture business. Those were the days when California set-
tlements were growing like weeds and the demands for household
necessities far outstripped the supply. These men saw the op-
portunity and began shipping their furniture to California where
it could be sold to advantage. The profits made were enormous and
the poor boy became a rich man.
At that time, the roads across the continent were few and Mr.
Wilbur saw that there was great need of railroad facilities to de-
velop the Southern section of the great Western country. He was
willing to risk his own fortune in this new venture. Before long,
he had succeeded in interesting Mr. Thomas Nickerson and other
Boston men in his plan for a new, transcontinental railroad to
GEORGE BROWNING WILBUR
follow the line of the old Santa Fe trail, on which Indians and
settlers had for years been traversing the hot deserts of the South.
The result of his labors allows many to-day to travel in luxury
across the regions which took so heavy a toll of life when the trail
guided the prairie schooner to California. For these men built the
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, 1870 to 1872.
This proving a success, Mr. Wilbur and Mr. Niekerson financed
another great road in 1880, the Mexican Central Railroad, furnish-
ing the millions necessary, and gaining large returns on their in-
vestment.
There is a spice of humor in the fact that the man who was
instiTimental in causing so many to ride, loved walking above every
other form of amusement. It was a reminiscence of the days of
the country boy. He was further interested generally in all out-
door sports, and billiard playing was his recreation in later life.
He also found great profit and pleasure in his reading of History,
Biography, and the current topics of the day.
In politics Mr. Wilbur was always a Republican, although avoid-
ing the holding of office, excepting during the period of the Civil
War when he held the position of First Selectman in Watertown,
Massachusetts.
In religion he was a Unitarian. In his own quiet way he had
a deep artistic taste and was one of the original members of the
Boston Art Club. He was also a member of the Unitarian Club and
the Republican Club.
Mr. Wilbur was a Director in the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa
Fe Railroad, a Director in the Mexican Central Railroad, a Direc-
tor and President of the California Southern Railroad, a Director
in the Pawtucket Haircloth Company, and Director in the Boston
Safe Deposit Company.
He married in 1845, before wealth was more than a dream to
him. It was on the 18th day of May and the bride wa.s Hannah,
daughter of Maccajah and Ruth Reid.
His first wife, Hannah Reid, died in 1882 ; and in 1884 he mar-
ried Frances M. Decker of Clinton, Maine, who survives him.
By the first marriage four children were bom, three of whom
outlived their father. Charles A., Clara, married James C. Melvin,
and ]\Iabel. His eldest daughter, Mary R. (Mrs. George Townsend
Hill), died in 1905.
Mr. Wilbur died at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on the 15th day
of July, 1914.
CLARENCE WEST WILLIAMS
CLARENCE WEST WILLIAMS was bom in Greensboro,
Vermont, November 12, 1863. His father, Arthur West
Williams, was a farmer who also had a country store. The
great-grandfather of Clarence West Williams was James Williams,
son of Samuel and Phebe Williams, bom in Andover, Massachu-
setts, August 22, 1759; married, 1786, Susannah Merrill, who was
bom in Methuen, Massachusetts, March 27, 1767. He resided in
Littleton, New Hampshire, from 1789 until he died June 14, 1822.
He was a farmer and hotelkeeper; later, a Revolutionary soldier;
he enlisted as a Private in Captain Seth Drew's Company, Col.
Ebenezer Sprout's Regiment, Massachusetts Continental Line, in
March, 1781, and was discharged December 19, 1783. He was ac-
tive and useful in town affairs. The town records gave him the
title of Captain. He served as Selectman in 1790, 1792, 1794, 1799,
and from 1801 to 1807; Moderator, in 1801 and 1802; Treasurer,
in 1807 and 1808; Representative, in 1804; and first Postmaster in
Littleton, appointed in September, 1802.
Clarence West Williams had the misfortune to lose his father
when he was but ten years of age. The elder Williams was a
most estimable man, very energetic and public spirited. To his
mother, Eliza Ann (Clark) Williams, he is deeply indebted for a
strong and wholesome bias toward those primary virtues which
make the basis for a noble character. Such education as the dis-
trict schools of Northern Vermont furnished, he received regularly.
He was a sturdy boy and it seemed imperative that he should do
what he could to fill the vacant breadwinner's place. At eleven
years old he went to work in a country hotel. His difficulties and
privations made him only the more keen to know and to learn. He
obtained, in spite of his handicaps, a respectable training in the
local academy and in the Tilton, New Hampshire, Seminary.
The range of his boyhood reading was quite restricted but it in-
eluded the Bible, "Pilgrim's Progress," "Robinson Crusoe," and
any books on mechanical subjects which he could get hold of. He
had from childhood a decided bent for mechanics.
At sixteen years of age he went to Littleton, New Hampshire,
to learn the business of heating, ventilating, and sanitation. He
had the ambition to become more than a workman in his chosen line
of activity — his purpose was to become a mechanical engineer. He
joined the Young Men 's Christian Association and made all the use
he could of the night school it afforded. Mastery of the practical
or workmen's side of his chosen department of mechanics was duly
d^^.^
CLAEENCE WEST WILLIAMS
acquired, and he studied the theoretical part in the available lit-
erature on the subject. He continued for some time to apply his
acquired skill and knowledge in New Hampshire with a good de-
gree C)f success, but the increasing attention to scientific ventila-
tion of public buildings, institutions, and hospitals finally led Mr.
Williams to seek a new field in Massachusetts.
He was appointed Mechanical Superintendent and Chief Engi-
neer of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and held that position
for eight years. Increasingly frequent calls for expert advice
from outside quarters led him to devote his whole time and energy
to the business of a consulting engineer.
Mr. Williams is a member of the American Society of Heating
and Ventilating Engineers, the New England Association of Com-
mercial Engineers, the American Hospital Association, the New
England Deaconess Corporation; Chairman of the Standing Com-
mittee of the Deaconess Hospital, President of the Men's Bible
Class, Park Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, member of the
Somerville Board of Trade, Chairman of the Public Affairs Com-
mittee.
He has been a member of the Young Men's Christian Associa-
tion since he was fourteen years old and belongs to the Somer-
ville branch. He belongs to Somerville Lodge, A. F. and A. M.
He was a member of the School Committee in 1895 in Hopkinton,
New Hampshire, and a member of the Somerville School Committee
for 1914-15, and is now its Vice-Chairman. He is a Republican in
politics and has been twice a delegate from Somerville to the Re-
publican State Convention.
He has been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church since he was thirteen years old.
He was married April 10, 1885, to Lillian, daughter of A. W.
Streeter, granddaughter of Levi Streeter, and a descendant from
Stephen Streeter, who came from Kent, England, to Charlestown,
Massachusetts, about 1652. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have had two
children, of whom one is living, Arthur Phillips, student in class of
1915, Dartmouth College.
Mr. Williams attributes his success in large measure to the
childhood home training of his mother. He places strong emphasis
on the constant private study he has carried on. He feels a debt
of gratitude to the virile men with whom he has rubbed elbows.
He is positive that a young man to succeed in life needs early
to choose a life vocation, suited to his tastes and ability; and he
is sanguine that if the young man pui-sues it with determination
and energj^ and a "Never say die" persistence, clean of life and
honest of purpose, he will arrive at the desired goal.
WALTER PELLINGTON WINSOR
WALTER PELLINGTON WINSOR was bom at Fair-
haven, Massachusetts, Au^st 11, 1846, and died there
December 8, 1911. He came from splendid sea-battling
stock, men who in their day carried the fame of New England to
every shore. He could trace his ancestry back to William Winsor
of Devonshire, England, who settled in Boston in the daj's of the
Colonies. His son, Samuel Winsor, settled in Duxbury, Massa-
chusetts. Samuel Winsor 's grandson was Zenas Winsor, who was
the first of the line to follow the sea.
Walter Pellington Winsor 's father was Alexander Winsor, who
was one of the old-school clipper ship captains. He was master of
some of the most famous vessels that sailed the sea: the Flying
Cloud, the Herald of the Morning, and the Sea Nymph. Captain
Winsor married Sarali Pellington Allen of Fairhaven. Besides
Walter P. Winsor, there was another son. Captain Alexander
Winsor (born 1845), who inherited from his father and his environ-
ment a love for the sea. For over twenty years he handled the
greatest steamers of the China Merchant Steam Navigation Com-
pany. "V\Tien the war between China and Japan broke out, he was
in charge of the transport Mee Foo. In recognition of his services
during this war, the Chinese Government decorated him with the
order of the Double Dragon — a notable emblem presented to him
by the Prime Minister himself, Li Hung Chang.
Walter P. Winsor was educated in the public schools of his
native town and later completed his course at the private school
of John Boadle of New Bedford.
At the age of seventeen he left his home for the position of book-
keeper with a firm on Broadway, New York.
In 1866 he became clerk for the Union Mutual IMarine Insur-
ance Company of New Bedford. Here his worth soon became
known. He rose rapidly from clerk to be the Secretary and Treas-
urer of the company and retained that position until 1874.
Immediately upon severing his relations with the Insurance
Company he M-as offered and accepted the office of Cashier of the
First National Bank. In this capacity he served for twenty-five
years. On the death of the President of the bank in 1899 he was
unanimously elected his successor. This position, for which he was
so eminently fitted, he held up to the day of his death.
In politics Mr. Winsor was a staunch Republican. He served
his town of Fairhaven in the position of Selectman for thirteen
WALTER PELLINGTON WINSOR
years, a service which reveals how his friends, neighbors, and fellow
citizens appreciated him.
In religion, Mr. Winsor was an ardent Unitarian and always
carried the interests of the Unitarian Church in Fairhaven near to
his heart. He was a close friend of the late Henry H. Rogers. So
highly did Mr. Rogers value his integrity and business sagacity,
that he made him one of tlie executors of his great estate. He was
also a Director of the Virginian Railway which Mr. Rogers organ-
ized and built. He was Vice-President of the Atlas Tack Com-
pany ; Director of the Wamsutta Mills ; Director of the Union Street
Railway Company; Treasurer of the Fairhaven Water Company;
and Treasurer of the Millieent Library of Fairhaven.
Mr. Winsor was married in 1876 to Mary G. Bancroft, daughter
of Sylvia W. (Thwing) Bancroft and Joseph B. Bancroft of Hope-
dale, Massachusetts. Three of his children survive him, the eldest,
Walter Pellington, Jr., having died only six months previous to his
father's death. Those surviving him are: Anna Bancroft, now
Mrs. Carl Clapp Shippee, who has two sons, Winsor and Robert;
Bancroft, who studied at the Worcester Polytechnic and Massachu-
setts Institute of Technology ; and Allen Pellington, who is a gradu-
ate of Harvard University.
In appreciation of ilr. Winsor the following editorial appeared
in the Morning Mercury of December 11, 1911 :
"In the death of Weaker P. Winsor there passes out one who
has been for many years, a prominent figure in the large financial
affairs of this community. Throughout his long business career, no
act of Mr. Winsor 's was ever at variance with that first impression
which his noble appearance inspired. His ability as an accom-
plished banker and financier was high, but the surpassing trait was
his exalted honor and trustworthiness, and his judicious conserva-
tism in handling the important affairs and the responsibilities en-
trusted to his management and care. Outside of his business ca-
reer lie lived the life of a gentleman of quiet and refined tastes, one
who loved flowers and simple pleasures, and his home above all.
"Of soul sincere
In action faithful, and in honor clear,
Who broke no promise, served no private end,
Who gained no title, and who lost no friend."
The life of such a man lives after him. When men of a later
generation are tempted amid the stress and strain of almost im-
possible business conditions, they will be steadied and held firm
to their highest ideals, when they think of such a man as Walter
Pellington W^insor.
JOHN WOOD
JOHN WOOD was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, June
21, 1847 and died at his home in Brookline, June 18, 1914.
He was the son of Edward E. Wood, a Boston commission mer-
chant, and Sarah (Spaulding) Wood.
John Wood's devotion to his mother during her entire life was
very marked, while her moral and spiritual influence was of the
greatest service to him throughout his career.
His grandfather, John Wood, was bom in Bath, Maine, May 13,
1775, and died in Newburyport, Massachusetts, May 13, 1853. His
grandmother was Elizabeth Smith.
The founder of the family in America, Daniel Wood, came from
England about 1675 and, having settled in Rowley Village, served
there for a term of years both as Selectman and Town Treasurer.
As a young lad John Wood removied with his parents to Dor-
chester, and after a course of study in the public school was grad-
uated from the Dorchester High School. He subsequently worked
on his father's farm, then took up the carriage business, and, a few
years later, established with his brother Edward E. Wood, a paint
and oil business in Boston. This was carried on successfully for
thirty years under the firm name of Wood Brothers, till ill health
compelled retirement from active business life.
Even from boyhood John Wood took the greatest enjoyment in
reading, especially works of history, travel and fiction. Music made
a strong appeal to his nature, and he enjoyed greatly hearing
symphony and classical music generally.
He was a liberal in religion and regularly attended the Unitarian
Church while his political sympathies were with the Republicans.
Loving home life more than most men, he could never be induced
to accept any public office or become a candidate. His interest in
civic affairs, however, was both active and intelligent. He was long
a member of the Boston Paint and Oil Club and a charter member
of the Boston Athletic Association.
Mr. Wood was married on January 18, 1893, to Caroline D.
Hodges, a daughter of William G. Hodges, and a granddaughter of
James Leonard Hodges, a once prominent citizen of Taunton, Massa-
chusetts, who served as Representative in Congress from 1827 to
1833 and was State Senator in 1823 and 1824. The only child of
Mr. Wood is John Wood, Jr., who is in the insurance business in
Boston.
Mr. Wood kept himself well informed as to the trend of current
events ; he took much pleasure in driving about the country ; and the
lure of the best in literature as well as in the symphony concert haU
seldom appealed to him in vain.
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