Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 1

Author: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Boston, Biographical review publishing company
Number of Pages: 1238

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts > Part 1

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IOGRAPHICAL

EVIEW

GENEALOGY 974.401 W89B

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

3 1833 01809 4224

GENEALCE

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW 18 - 30

VOLUME XXX

CONTAINING LIFE SKETCHES OF LEADING CITIZENS OF 18 -30

WORCESTER COUNTY

2% - 30

MASSACHUSETTS

ELEN COUVYVIN.D.

Who among men art thou, and thy years how many, good friend ? - XENOPHANES.

BOSTON BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY

1899

ATLANTIC STATES SERIES OF BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEWS.

The volumes issued in this series up to date are the following: -

I. OTSEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

XVIII. PLYMOUTH COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

II. MADISON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

III. BROOME COUNTY, NEW YORK.

IV. COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

V. CAYUGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

VI. DELAWARE COUNTY, NEW YORK. XXI. STRAFFORD AND BELKNAP COUNTIES, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

VII. LIVINGSTON AND WYOMING COUNTIES, NEW YORK. XXII. SULLIVAN AND MERRIMACK COUNTIES, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

VIII. CLINTON AND ESSEX COUNTIES, NEW YORK. XXIII.

HILLSBORO AND CHESHIRE COUNTIES, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

IX. HAMPDEN COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

X. FRANKLIN COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. XXIV.

XI. HAMPSHIRE COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS. XXV. NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

XII. LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. XXVI. NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

XIII. YORK COUNTY, MAINE.

XXVII. MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

XIV. CUMBERLAND COUNTY, MAINE.

XXVIII.

ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

XV. OXFORD AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES,

XXIX. SOMERSET, PISCATAQUIS, HANCOCK, WASHINGTON, AND AROOSTOOK MAINE.

XVI. CUMBERLAND COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

COUNTIES, MAINE.

XVII. ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

XXX. WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

NOTE .- All the biographical sketches published in this volume were submitted to their respective subjects or to the sub- scribers, from whom the facts were primarily obtained, for their approval or correction before going to press, and a reasonable time was allowed in each case for the return of the typewritten copies. Most of them were returned to us within the time allotted, or before the work was printed, after being corrected or revised; and these may therefore be regarded as reasonably accurate.

A few, however, were not returned to us; and, as we have no means of knowing whether they contain errors or not, we cannot vouch for their accuracy. In justice to our readers, and to render this work more valuable for reference purposes, we have indicated all uncorrected sketches by a small asterisk (*), placed immediately after the name of the subject. They will be found printed on the last pages of the book.

B. R. PUB. CO.

PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

XIX. CAMDEN AND BURLINGTON COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

XX. SAGADAHOC, LINCOLN, KNOX, AND WALDO COUNTIES, MAINE.

PREFACE. 1138943

A FTER many months of unremitting toil we take pleasure in presenting to our patrons the long-promised Biographical Review of Worcester County, Massa- chusetts, the thirtieth in our Atlantic States Series of biographical works. In so doing we desire to render hearty thanks to all those who have in any way co-operated with us in our labors, realizing the full value of their sympathetic interest and ready assistance in the result obtained. We need at this day make no apology for the publication of such a volume, the success of previous works of a similar nature pub- lished by us having justified in advance the present issue. The real history of a State is the combined history of all its citizens. Popular biography is history intimately written, the dry bones of material facts being clothed with the living tissues of per- sonality and individuality, beneath which beats the pulse of human sympathy. It comprises the lives, not only of those whom genius, talent, or opportunity have brought conspicuously before the eye of the world, but of those also whose modest achievements have won a more local and restricted fame, each one, however, forming an integral portion of the great sum of human endeavor, and worthy of its due meed of praise, encouragement, or remembrance. To the question asked on the title-page of this volume, as it applies to the citizens of Worcester County herein represented, we have endeavored in each case to furnish an adequate reply. In many we have gone beyond the strict scope of personal biography in gathering and presenting gene- alogical data, compiled from hitherto unpublished family records; and, where possible, we have verified other and similar data by comparison with records previously pub- lished, or accessible in manuscript form in the genealogical libraries of this city (Boston). The propriety and utility of preserving such material and giving it a wider publicity will be generally apparent, and our efforts in doing so, we trust, as generally appreciated. In conclusion, we venture to borrow in part the familiar and oft-quoted words of President Lincoln, and assert that the present volume is emphatically a book " of the people, by the people, and for the people." In the belief that it will be so accepted, we commit it finally to the judgment of our patrons.

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW PUBLISHING COMPANY.

APRIL, 1899.

William J. Drapel-

BIOGRAPHICAL.

ON. WILLIAM FRANKLIN DRAPER, of Hopedale, whose gallant efficiency in the field during the Civil War won for him the brevet of Brigadier- general, now occupies one of the highest posts in the diplo- matic service of the country, that of Ambassador to Italy, to which he was appointed by President Mckinley in 1897. General Draper was born in the city of Lowell on April 9, 1842, eldest son of George and Hannah (Thwing) Draper. He is a repre- sentative of the seventh generation of the family founded by James Draper, a native of Heptonstall Parish, Yorkshire, England, who joined the Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1650. A glance at the ancestral record shows that his patriotism, his military spirit, his in- ventive genius and business capacity, and the liberality and kindliness which form the basis of his pleasing urbanity of manner are in- herited traits.

James Draper, the immigrant, was the son of Thomas Draper, a cloth manufacturer of Heptonstall, England. He settled at Rox- bury, and engaged in the manufacture of cloth, owning a number of looms. His son, James Draper, second, was a soldier in King Philip's War. James Draper, third, son of James, second, and his wife, Abigail Whiting, settled at Dedham. He was a manufacturer and a farmer, and was captain of a trainband .. He died in 1768. Abijah Draper, the next in this line of descent, born May 10, 1737, son of James, third, and Abigail (Child) Draper, married Alice, daughter of John and Elizabeth Eaton, of Dedham. Abijah Draper was a

Major of the First Suffolk Militia in the Revolution.

Ira Draper, General Draper's grandfather, born December 29, 1764, second son of Major Draper, lived to be past eighty years of age. "He was a man of large natural intelli- gence, mechanical ingenuity, and progressive thought." His first wife, Lydia, daughter of Lemuel and Rebecca Richards, died in 1811; and his second wife, her sister, Abigail Rich- ards, died in 1847. He reared nine children.

George Draper, second son of Ira and Abi- gail (Richards) Draper and the father of Am- bassador Draper, was born in Weston, Mass., August 16, 1817. He died June 7, 1887. Devoting his energies at an early age to the hereditary occupation of manufacturing, in 1832 Mr. George Draper was superintendent of a mill at Ware, Mass. In 1842 he became a resident of Hopedale, joining the commu- nity under the leadership of the Rev. Adin Ballou, of which his brother, Ebenezer Dag- gett Draper, was one of the founders. This "joint-stock, practical Christian association, with a united industrial arrangement," was dissolved by common consent in the spring of 1856, "property and business " returning "to the customary channels of general society." (For further particulars see History of Mil- ford, by Adin Ballou, to which we are in- debted for much of the foregoing.)

The successor of the Hopedale community, it may be mentioned, the Hopedale Parish, a liberal Christian society, in which the com- munity was virtually merged, was organized in 1867, the Rev. Adin Ballou of sainted memory continuing his faithful ministry till April, 1880, when his resignation was ac- cepted. A beautiful new church, dedicated

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

on September 15, 1898, was presented to the society by George A. and Eben S. Draper, in memory of their parents, George and Hannah T. Draper.

George Draper was happily possessed of both inventive skill and excellent business abilities, a rare combination, together with the spirit of enterprise and the quality of persistence. Purchasing the water-power at Hopedale, he entered upon a long and success- ful business career. He was president of several extensive manufacturing firms, among them that of George Draper & Sons, manu- facturers of various improvements in cotton and woollen machinery; the Hopedale Ma- chine Company, manufacturers of patent warp- ers, twisters, spoolers, etc .; the Dutcher Temple Company, sole manufacturers of Dutcher's patent temples, etc. Many of the improvements in the line of machinery were of his own invention. He was interested in the Shaw Knitting Company, of Lowell; and he was president of the Milford, Franklin & Providence Railroad and of the Milford & Hopkinton Railroad. In politics he was a strong Republican, deeply interested in public affairs. He was the founder and the first president of the Home Market Club. He gave generously of his wealth to public and private charities.

He married March 6, 1839, Miss Hannah Thwing, daughter of Benjamin and Anna (Mowry) Thwing. She died in 1884, and he married in 1886 Mrs. Blunt, of Milford. Five children, all born of the first marriage, are now living, namely: William Franklin, the special subject of this biography; Frances E., wife of Charles H. Colburn, of Milford, now deceased; Hannah T., wife of Edward Louis Osgood, of Hopedale; George Albert and Eben Sumner, both of Hopedale.

William Franklin Draper in his youth ob- tained an education fitting him for Harvard College, and made further preparation for the activities of life by various periods of labor in the machine shop and cotton-mill, the three years directly before the breaking out of the Civil War being devoted to study of the man- ufacture of cotton machinery, with valuable practice as a draughtsman. On September 9,

1861, he enlisted in the local volunteer com- pany that his father was instrumental in rais- ing. This became Company B of the Twenty- fifth Massachusetts Infantry, and in October he was commissioned Second Lieutenant. Three years of campaigning followed. As signal officer on the staff of General Burnside he went through the battles of Roanoke Island, Newbern, and Fort Macon. In April, 1862, he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant, and thereupon rejoined his regiment. In August, 1862, shortly after the battle of South Mountain, he was commis- sioned Captain in the Thirty-sixth. Regiment. With this regiment he went through the rest . of the Antietam campaign, and after the battle of Fredericksburg was sent to Newport News. Seven months were spent in Kentucky in pur- suing Morgan's cavalry and sundry guerilla troops. He then went, in June, 1863, to join Grant's army at Vicksburg. He was present at the fall of that city, and later was in some hard fighting in the vicinity of Jackson. From June to September, 1863, his regiment was reduced in numbers from six hundred and fifty to one hundred and ninety-eight men. He was now promoted to the rank of Major. Returning from Kentucky in August, 1863, he marched through Cumberland Gap into East Tennessee, where he remained through the winter, taking part in the siege of Knox- ville and the battles of Blue Springs, Camp- bell's Station, and Strawberry Plains. Colo- nel Goodell having been wounded, subsequent to the Ioth of October Major Draper was in command of the regiment. In the battle of the Wilderness, on the 6th of May, he was shot through the body while leading his regi- ment, a rifle-pit just being captured by his men. He was left on the field as hopelessly wounded, and was captured by the rebels, but was subsequently retaken and sent to the hos- pital at Washington. From this date onward he was Lieutenant Colonel. Upon recovery he rejoined the army, and was present at the siege of Petersburg and at the Weldon Rail- road engagement, where he commanded a bri- gade. A month later, at Poplar Grove Church and Pegram's Farm, his division was severely engaged, and was cut off from the others.

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

His regiment, however, was the only one in the brigade that came out as an organization, and they brought back the colors of several other regiments. Having been again wounded in the shoulder by a nearly spent ball, and his wounds proving very troublesome, he accepted a discharge on October 12, 1864. He was brevetted Colonel and Brigadier-general, United States Volunteers, for gallant and meritorious services in the field.

Both of his commands during the war were fighting regiments, the Twenty-fifth losing seventy per cent. of its number in one engage- ment (Cold Harbor), a record broken but by three others in the whole army; while the Thirty-sixth, in the campaign beginning with the Wilderness, had every field and line officer, except one, killed or wounded, and three- quarters of its enlisted men.

Returning to business life, General Draper entered the employ of the firm of E. D. & G. .Draper, manufacturers of cotton machinery. In April, 1868, he purchased the interest of Mr. E. D. Draper in the business, and en- tered into partnership with his father, the firm name being George Draper & Son. General Draper's reputation as a business man has steadily increased, and since his father's death the firm has become widely known as the leading introducers in this country of cot- ton machinery improvements. Besides man- aging his own large transactions, he has been directly connected with many other large man- ufacturing concerns. He is now president and director in more than twenty corporations covering the manufacture of machinery, cotton cloth, shoes, and electrical goods, and gas, water, and insurance companies. He has strong inventive talent, and has personally patented over fifty inventions. He is known as the first expert in the country on spinning machinery, and he has written standard arti- cles on this and other mechanical subjects.

General Draper held no elective office ex- cept that of Town School Committee until his election to Congress. He was a member of Governor Long's staff during the three years of his official term, was a delegate to the con- vention that nominated President Hayes, and an elector at large who voted for President

Harrison. In 1888 he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor, being strongly backed by the soldier vote, but was defeated by Governor Ames. In 1892, when General Draper was nominated for Congress in the Eleventh District, his campaign against George Fred Williams was one of the most brilliantly successful ever made in Massachu- setts. He was on the stump nearly every night, and his speeches won favor for himself and his party wherever he went, although he made no pretensions to oratory. While a member of Congress he was instrumental in pressing through the House the bill to revise patent laws and the bill to protect the copy- right on theatrical and operatic productions. During both terms he was a member of the .Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of the Patent Committee. He is known as a hard student and practical thinker on eco- nomic subjects. The protective tariff has been his special line of research, and he has personally investigated at great length eco- nomic conditions, both in Europe and in this country. His pamphlets and magazine arti- cles on the tariff question have been widely read and discussed. He succeeded his father as president of the Home Market Club, which is the strongest and most influential protective organization in New England, rank- ing nationally with the American Protective Tariff League. He is also a member and an officer of the Arkwright Club.

Socially, General Draper is well known among a large circle of acquaintances, both at home and abroad. He is a member of the Loyal Legion, of the Grand Army, the Knights Templars, the Sons of the Revolution, the Society of the Colonial Wars, the Union and Algonquin Clubs of Boston, the Hope Club .of Providence, and many other frater- nities.

In 1862, while home on a four days' leave of absence from the army, he married Miss Lydia D. W. Joy, adopted daughter of the Hon. David Joy. Of this union five children survive the mother, who died in 1884. In May, 1890, General Draper married Susan Preston, daughter of the late General William Preston, of Kentucky, who was an officer in

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

the Mexican War, a Major-general in the Confederate army during the Civil War, and United States Minister to Spain under Bu- chanan, also Confederate Envoy to Mexico. Needless to say, this union between the North and the South has been a happy one.

General Draper's children are: William F., Jr., who resides in New York City; George Otis, a sketch of whom appears on another page; Edith; Arthur Joy, who re- cently earned his commission as Second Lieutenant in the Porto Rico campaign; and Clare Hill Draper, who is a student in Yale University. Edith is the wife of Montgomery Blair, an attorney in Washington, D.C., and son of ex-Postmaster General Blair, who served in Lincoln's cabinet.

ON. FRANCIS ALFRED HAR- RINGTON, ex-Mayor of Worcester and one of the city's most influen- tial citizens, was born on the farm where he now resides, on November 17, 1846, son of Daniel and Clarissa (Gray) Harrington. The family is one of the oldest in Worcester, and has produced men of solid worth and in- tegrity.

The first ancestor in New England of whom there is record was Francis Harrington, who was born in Watertown in 1709, and died in Worcester on this farm in 1793. His son, Nathaniel, was born here in 1742, and died in 1831. Nathaniel's wife, whose maiden name was Ruth Stone, was born in 1748, and died in 1817. The original farm of four hundred acres was divided after Nathaniel's death be- tween his two sons, Francis and Jonathan, each receiving about two hundred acres. Francis, who was the grandfather of Francis Alfred Harrington, was born here in 1777, and died on May 3, 1841. He was married in 1801 to Lydia Perry, daughter of Josiah Perry and grand-daughter of Nathan Perry, of Worcester, who was for twenty-three years, from 1783 to 1806, Deacon of the Old South Church. Mrs. Lydia Perry Harrington was born in 1778, and died in 1808. She was the mother of six children, the eldest of whom was Daniel, above named.

Daniel Harrington was born at the home- stead on October 4, 1802, and died here on September 11, 1863, leaving a wife and eight children. He was a lifelong farmer and one of the leading business men of the town. He commanded a company of the State militia, and was familiarly known as Captain Daniel Harrington. Warmly interested in public affairs and recognized as a man of sound judg- ment and of unimpeachable integrity, he could have had almost any gift within the offering of his townsmen; but he was content to remain in private life, and, with the excep- tion of serving as a member of the second Common Council and as Alderman in 1848 and 1849, declined to have his name used as candidate for public office. He was an active and devoted member of the Old South Church and one of the founders of the Union and Salem churches, which are now consolidated. Daniel Harrington built the house in which his son now resides in 1852 and the fine barn that is on the premises in 1841. He was married on March 27, 1828, to Clarissa Gray, who was born on August 23, 1809, and died on June 6, 1884. She was a grand-daughter of John Dickerman, who is said to have been one of the celebrated "Boston Tea party." Of the nine children born of this marriage eight grew to maturity; namely, Joseph A., Emily A., Charles A., Delia A., Maria A., Francis A., George A., and Daniel A. Henry M. was born on March 20, 1836, and died at the age of a year. Joseph Harrington was born on October 6, 1829, and died on December 4, 1875. Emily, who was born on October 23, 1831, and died in 1883, was mar- ried in 1873 to George Sumner Battelle. Charles, who was born on May 20, 1834, is a member of the firm of Garfield & Harring- ton, coal and ice dealers in this city and one of the old and solid business firms of Worces- ter. He has served in the Common Council. Delia A., who was born on March 21, 1841, was married in 1863 to George B. Andrews, a livery-keeper of Clinton. Maria A., who was born on September 2, 1843, is the widow of Edward W. Wellington, and resides in this city. George A., who was born on July 8, 1849, died in 1885, unmarried, Daniel Har-

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

rington, born on May 8, 1851, is the successor of Harrington Brothers in the livery business. He has served two terms on the Board of Aldermen.

Francis Alfred Harrington was educated in the public schools, and subsequently worked on the home farm until he was twenty-one years of age. He then entered the employ of his brother Charles, and was with him at the Bay State Hotel livery stable, which was opened in 1869. In 1871 he became a part- ner, and the company was known as Harring- ton Brothers. About five years later the stable was removed to Central Street, where it is now located, and a carriage shop was opened in connection with it. On the retire- ment of his brother Charles in May, 1882, Mr. Harrington took into partnership his brother Daniel, who in October, 1896, be- came full proprietor, and has since conducted the business with excellent success. Mr. .Harrington now gives his attention to farming on the homestead acres, which are among the most valuable farming lands in this section of Massachusetts, having been for many years highly fertilized and carefully tilled. The place was formerly a dairy farm, but more recently the fields have been devoted to grass crops.

Mr. Harrington is a prominent member of fraternal organizations in Worcester. He belongs to all the orders of Masonry; is Past Master of Athelstone Lodge, F. & A. M .; and is Past Commander of Worcester County Commandery, K. T., which numbers, six hun- dred members, and is the third or fourth largest in the world. He is a member of the Odd Fellows Society; Past Master of Strong Worcester Grange, which consists of over three hundred members; Past Master of the county grange and treasurer of the State grange; also a member of the Royal Arcanum and Past Patron of the Order of the Eastern Star. In politics he is a Republican. He was Alderman from Ward Three from 1887 to 1889, being unanimously re-elected; and dur- ing the last year he was president of the board. He served on the Committee on Sewers when the new and improved disposal plan was originated, and during the third year

of his occupancy of the Mayor's chair had the satisfaction of seeing the plan carried into effect. He was Mayor of the city in 1890, 1891, and 1892, during which time also the English High School and the new building of the public library were constructed. Mr. Harrington was one of the organizers of the Ridgely Protective Association in 1894, and has been its president ever since. He is one of the directors of the public library.

On November 16, 1871, Mr. Harrington was united in marriage with Roxana M. Grout, who was born in Spencer, daughter of Silas and Eliza (Draper) Grout. Her father, who was an able farmer of Spencer and an ac- tive and prominent citizen, was fifty years old when Mrs. Harrington was born to him by his second marriage. He died on March II, 1879. His two wives were sisters. Mrs. Harrington's mother died on October 18, 1869, at the age of fifty-eight.

Mr. and Mrs. Harrington are the parents of three children - Charles Arthur, Frank C., and May E. The first named of these is a graduate of the Polytechnic Institute, and is now a teacher of mathematics in the Worces- ter High School. Frank is now a Senior in the Polytechnic Institute, class of 1898. The only daughter, May, has received a fine musical training, both vocal and instrumental.

EORGE E. HAYWARD, a real estate dealer of Fitchburg, was born in South Acton, Mass., October 29,

1854. His father, Moses Hayward, and his ancestors for several generations were natives of South Acton. Moses Hayward, who was a building contractor, and erected several houses for the Fitchburg Railway, represented Acton in the legislature for two terms, and was a member of the Universalist church. Of his five children, one son and four daughters, George E., the subject of this sketch, was the third-born.

George E. Hayward attended the common schools of South Acton and Milford and the grammar school in Fitchburg. Having pre- viously served an apprenticeship to the ma- chinist's trade, he was given the charge of

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 1

Author: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, pub Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Boston, Biographical review publishing company Number of Pages: 1238

Author: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Boston, Biographical review publishing company
Number of Pages: 1238