USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 2 > Part 57
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A supporter of the Republican party from the time of attaining his majority, Judge Hall was a worker in the ranks of the party as a young man, and when still only twenty-six years of age was brought forward as a candidate for representative to the State Legislature. He was elected with a gratifying majority, and his work as a legislator
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marked him as a young man of whom his constitu- ents might well be proud. During the years 1887- 88 he was appointed to some of the most important committees, including the judiciary committee and the rules committee, and also served as chairman of the prison committee. In 1893 he was appointed by Governor William E. Russell, as judge of the District Court of Bristol county, which responsible position he filled for a full term of ten years. Mean- while, in 1896, Judge Hall was elected delegate to the National Republican Convention which nomin- ated the martyred President Mckinley to the high- est office in the land. In 1904-05 Judge Hall was a member of the executive council under Governors Douglass and Bates, and his work in this connection was also broadly constructive and calculated to ad- vance the good of the commonwealth. His further public services have included membership in the Taunton Board of Trade, of which he was for sev- eral years president, also membership on the Taun- ton School Committee, covering a period of six years. Considering first, at all times, the best wel- fare of the people, Judge Hall has followed the dic- tates of his party whenever and wherever he be- lieved that it led forward. On those issues in which he believed the party hovered on the verge of retro- gression, he has taken able and fearless leadership, and such is his power over men that his contempor- aries have chosen to cast in their lot with him in righteous defeat rather than in inglorious victory.
Judge Hall's private interests and public service have gone forward together. He was counsel for many years for the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, and is at present (1923) counsel for the Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway Com- pany. He has been counsel for the county of Bristol for the past twenty years. Various affilia- tions connect his name with the industries and the world of finance. He was a director of the Bay State Crucible Company, the Bristol County Trust Company, the Pierce Hardware Company and the Taunton Pearl Works. During the World War he was chairman of the Legal Advisory Board, for which service he received a certificate of apprecia- tion from the United States Government. Judge Hall's wide-reaching social connections include mem- bership in the Winthrop and Harvard clubs of Taunton, the Segregansett Country Club, the Que- quechan Club of Fall River, and the Wamsutta Club of New Bedford. He is a life member of the Old Colony Historical Society, and is a leading member of the Young Men's Christian Association and an active patron of its many endeavors. Identi- fied with religious advance from his youth, he is a member of St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, of which he has been vestryman for several years.
Judge Hall married, on November 2, 1888, Bessie H. Perkins, of Taunton, daughter of John B. and Mattie C. (Bright) Perkins, of that city. Five chil- dren were born to this union: Stanley P., whose life is reviewed in the following sketch; Frederick H., a graduate of Harvard University, degree of Bachelor of Arts; Rachel, a graduate of the Winsor School of Boston, and Pine Manor of Wellesley,
Massachusetts; Richard Perkins, who died at the age of six years; and Helen, who died at the age of one year.
STANLEY PERKINS HALL, A. B., LL. B., is counted among the leading young men of Taunton, Massachusetts, in the profession of the law, and his position as a member of the firm of Hall, Hall & Washburn, is one of wide prominence. Born in the city of Taunton, September 3, 1889, Mr. Hall was reared in his native place and educated in the insti- tutions of his native State. A son of Judge Fred- erick Stanley Hall (see preceding sketch), of Taun- ton, the head of the above law firm, Mr. Hall is a direct descendant of George Hall, one of the original settlers of Taunton, and of Captain Benjamin Hall, of Revolutionary fame. His maternal family line has also been long in this country, and his mother, Bessie H. (Perkins) Hall, is a member of a promi- nent family of Hartford, Connecticut.
As a young lad, Mr. Perkins attended the public schools of Taunton, and was graduated from the Taunton High School in the class of 1906. His course in the liberal arts was covered at Harvard University, from which he received his Bachelor's degree in the arts upon his graduation in the class of 1910. The success of his honored father in the profession of the law undoubtedly influenced Mr. Hall in his choice of a career, and entering Har- vard University Law School, he was graduated in the class of 1912, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Admitted to the bar of his native State before the close of the year, Stanley P. Hall took up the practice of his profession in the offices of Hall & Hagerty, and from the beginning his suc- cess was assured. Not only as the progressive son of a brilliant father, but as a rising young lawyer of lofty ideals and a comprehensive grasp of his posi- tion, whatever the issue, Mr. Hall holds high rank in the profession. In the year 1919 he became a member of the firm of Hall, Hall & Washburn, and in this association with his father and Charles God- frey Washburn, he is going forward to ever larger success. In the public life of his native city Mr. Hall has taken the deepest interest from his boy- hood, but until quite recently he has never accepted public responsibilities. On January 3, 1923, he took up the duties of his present office as district at- torney, succeeding Joseph T. Kenney. Mr. Hall is a veteran of the World War, having served in the United States Navy from 1917 until 1919. He was assigned to duty at Newport, Rhode Island, and Pelham Bay, New York, and received his honorable discharge from the service with the rank of ensign. He is now a member of the American Legion. His clubs are the Winthrop, the Bristol and the Segregansett Country, and he is an active member of the Young Men's Christian Association. His religious affiliation is with the Episcopal church.
Stanley Perkins Hall married, on January 1, 1918, Julia D. Burke, of Newport, Rhode Island, and they are the parents of three children: Stanley P., Jr., born November 20, 1918; Frederick R., born Oc- tober 25, 1919; and Nancy, born April 9, 1921.
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GEORGE HENRY EDDY, SR .- The death of the late George Henry Eddy, Sr., of Fall River, Massachusetts, in his eighty-fourth year, brought to its close a career which was notably long and which continued to render service to the last. The year before his death Mr. Eddy was made a mem- ber of the committee of citizens appointed to take charge of the preparation of a "History of Fall River," published by the Fall River Merchants' As- sociation as a feature of the Cotton Centennial held in 1911, and it was only two years previous to his death that he declined reappointment as a men- ber of the board of assessors. Hc had been promi- nent in the business, civic, and official activities of Fall River for fifty-four years, and until a few weeks before the end, his erect, active figure was one of the most familiar in the business section of the city. He was identified with the banking business in Fall River, was president of the Wee- tamoe Mills, manager and treasurer of the Flint Mills, a city and State government official, editorial writer, cotton broker, and an ardent supporter of all measures planned to benefit his fellow-citizens or advance the interests of his city, State, or country.
George Henry Eddy, Sr., was born in Warren, Rhode Island, January 5, 1829, and died at his home, No. 480 Locust street, Fall River, September 9, 1912. His father, a sea-faring man, was lost at sea when Mr. Eddy was an infant. The mother subsequently married Henry H. Hill, and the family in 1838 moved to Fall River, Massachusetts; where the son, George H., then but nine years of age, secured employment as tier boy at the American Print Works, where he remained for three years, and then worked for awhile in the Globe Print Works at Globe Village. During this time he at- tended school three months of each year. He left the mills to accept a position as clerk for Caleb B. Snow, a grocer, whose store was located in a stone building on Anawan street, opposite the Metacomet Mill. Later he was made manager of a cooperative store, one of a series scattered over New England, but, after a time of considerable ex- perience in that connection, he purchased the Snow store, which he continued to conduct until 1861, when he sold his interests and retired from the grocery business. He then formed a partnership with Alexander T. Milne, with whom he conducted a shoe store. Shortly after the incorporation of the Flint Mills he was elected treasurer of the corpor- ation, and that important official position he filled until 1878, when he engaged in the cotton broker- age business in Fall River. In addition to his varied business activities Mr. Eddy was editorial writer for the "Evening News" and his remarkably strong and vigorous articles were often quoted and received favorable comment from many leading newspapers. Despite his fragmentary school attendance he had been a constant reader and had made himself a re- markably well-informed man with a style that was characterized by force and elegance .. In 1889 he was elected an assessor and served through 1894. Ten years later he was reappointed by Mayor
George Grime and continued in office until his re- tirement in 1911, the ycar before his death. He had been a member of the Common Council in 1856, 1857, 1859 and 1876, and was president of that body in 1857. Hc was also a member of the Board of Aldermen in 1861 and again in 1878. He served one year in 1872 as a representative in the Gencral Court and advocated the ten-hour law years before its enactment. In 1895 he was appointed by Mayor Greene a niember of the first reservoir commission and did valuable service. He was re- appointed by Mayor Amos M. Jackson in 1898 and again by Mayor Grime in 1901. For many years he was a member of the board of directors of the Weetamoe Mills, and from 1897 to the time of his death in 1912 he was president of that corporation. He was also a director of the Wampanoag Mills, and was clerk of the Citizens' Savings Bank, of which organization hc was one of the oldest mem- bers. A great reader himself, and lover of the best literature of the day, he was anxious that others should share in these interests, and was one of the first members of the Atheneum, which later de- veloped into the Fall River Public Library. He was at one time a captain in the volunteer fire de- partment and was instrumental in placing in the fire house a library for use of the company. Being a self-educated man, he appreciated the difficulties in the way of those whose opportunities for school- ing were limited and did all in his power to enable them to gain for themselves a liberal education. His unselfishness, his generosity, and his general spirit of helpfulness won for him in a very high degree, the love and cstecm of his associates.
On October 24, 1852, George H. Eddy, Sr., mar- ried Ann Howarth, and they were the parents of three sons: George Henry (2), of whom further; William H .; and John D. Mrs. Eddy and all her sons survive the father.
GEORGE HENRY EDDY, JR .- One of the well known bankers not only of Bristol county but of the State of Massachusetts is George Henry Eddy, Jr., who after forty-seven years of associa- tion with banking affairs in Fall River, thirty of which were spent in official connection with the Fall River National Bank, resigned as cashier of the last-named organization in 1921. In his long service in the banking business he made many friends, and the place he holds in the esteem of his fellow-citizens is a tribute to sterling qualities of heart and mind.
George Henry Eddy, Jr., son of George Henry, Sr., and of Ann (Howarth) Eddy (see preceding sketch), was born at Fall River, Massachusetts, December 12, 1854, and received his education in the public schools of Fall River and in the Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology. In 1873 he en- tered the employ of E. S. Brown as bookkeeper, continuing in that position for two years. He then, in 1875, began his long connection with the banking business by entering the employ of the Fall River Savings Bank in the capacity of clerk. His con- nection with . that institution was maintained for
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Robert M Leach.
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sixteen years, at the end of which time, in 1891, he resigned in order to accept the position as general bookkeeper and teller in the employ of the Fall River National Bank. This last connection was maintained for a period of thirty years. His al- ready long experience, as well as his ability and his faithfulness, soon won promotion for him, and in 1895 he was elected cashier of the bank. In 1914 the cashier was also made chief executive of the institution, and that official position he contin- ued to hold until 1921, when, on account of failing health, he resigned and retired from active service. He still retains his directorship in the bank, but has surrendered executive responsibility.
In addition to his responsibilities in connection with the Fall River National Bank, Mr. Eddy has been and is still officially associated with other enterprises. He is president of the Weetamoe Mills, a cotton cloth manufacturing corporation, of which his father was long president; a member of the board of directors of the Barnard Manufacturing Company; a director of the Massasoit Manufactur- ing Company; and vice-president of the Troy Co- operative Bank, which he served as secretary-treas- urer from 1891 to 1914. He is a member of the Quequechan Club; is secretary of the Fall River Historical Society; and his religious affiliation is with the Ascension Protestant Episcopal Church. Politically he gives his support to the Republican party, and for one term he served as a member of the City Sinking Fund Commission. While keenly alive to all the responsibilities of citizenship and deeply interested in the city which has been his lifetime home, he never has sought political office.
George H. Eddy, Jr., married, in 1878, Alice Stan- wood, of Newburyport, Massachusetts.
ROBERT M. LEACH is a nationally prominent figure, and with interests centering in the city of Taunton, Massachusetts, his energy and business ability have done much toward spreading the fame of the fine old New England city in which he takes the deepest pride as his place of residence and the site of the industry of which he is a prominent executive. Mr. Leach is a native of New England, and a son of Edward G. and Agnes A. (Robinson) Leach. His father, who was born at Meredith, New Hampshire, was a leading attor- ney and counsellor-at-law in that State, and the mother, who was born at Mechanic Falls, Maine, is still living.
Robert M. Leach was born at Franklin, New Hampshire, in 1879. His education was begun in the public schools of his birthplace, and following a preparatory course at Phillips-Andover Academy, he attended Dartmouth College, covering the greater part of the classical course. An eminently practical man of tireless energy and dauntless spirit, Mr. Leach entered the organization of the Weir Stove Company, of Taunton, immediately upon the com- pletion of his education. Thereby identifying him- self with a long established organization producing one of the necessities of life, and giving the highest
type of excellence to their product, Mr. Leach threw himself heart and soul into the activities of the organization, and beginning in a subordinate position in the shipping department, familiarized him- self with every detail of the plant. Every one who knows Robert M. Leach is. well aware that it was only such an organization that could hold his in- terest, for no more splendidly whole-souled man has ever borne a part in the industrial progress of Taunton. His first step upward was to traveling salesman, then sales manager, and eventually he became a member of the corporation, which he has since served as treasurer. The Weir Stove Com- pany has become known the world over as the manufacturers of the "Glenwood Ranges," and its history goes back to a small barn where three young men began making stoves, building on a rough lean-to as a shelter for their melting furnace. Severally equipped as to ability and experience, they were a designer, a foundry foreman and a skilled moulder, and for a time these three com- prised the entire executive and operative force. From this humble beginning, carrying as their slogan, "Make Cooking Easy," they developed a prosperous business, and the enterprise was taken up by other hands when the founders finished their life-work, for they had set in motion an industry so greatly worth while that the world was glad to carry on. In his connection with this enterprise Mr. Leach has put into his work the high enthusi- asm which inspired these pioneers, and at the same time has made the minutest detail his constant care, if in any way it involved the quality of the product and the entire satisfaction of the customer. Some idea of the growth of the enterprise may be gained from the fact that during one month of the year 1922 the sales of the company were greater than during any full year prior to 1900. It is a conserva- tive statement to say that more than a million homes share the comfort and satisfaction of pos- sessing "Glenwood Ranges."
The years of experience which have placed Robert M. Leach in one of the highest offices of this con- cern have made him more widely useful, for he has for some time held office in the National Associa- tion of Stove Manufacturers. He was formerly vice-president of this organization, but is now its president, and in this position wields a powerful influence for industrial advance in this field through- out the nation. His further business connections include the presidency of the Metropolitan Furniture Company, of Springfield, Massachusetts, and he holds a similar office in the Fowler Furniture Com- pany of Worcester, the Atherton Furniture Com- pany of Lewiston, Maine, and the Atherton Furni- ture Company of Brockton, Massachusetts, which has branches in Taunton and in Plymouth in this State. He is further a director of the Burpee Furni- ture Company, of Rockland, Maine, and is identified in the same capacity with the Atherton People's Furniture Company, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, Atherton Furniture Company, of Lowell, Massachusetts, and Waterville, Maine. His local affiliations include a directorship in the Bristol County Trust Company,
Bristol -- 2-5
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and he is a trustee of the Taunton Savings Bank, and trustee of the Morton Hospital.
During the World War Mr. Leach enlisted in the United States Army and was commissioned captain in the ordnance department; also gave his aid and influence to every home war-time endeavor. One of the instances of his interest in the city of Taun- ton and its. people is the Walker Memorial Park, recently completed in what is known as Weir Vil- lage, on the river front north of the Weir Store Company, where for nearly a century ungainly grain elevators have stood. The creation of this beauty spot has taken much of Mr. Leach's time for many months, and it is his gift to the city in memory of his honored father-in-law, William E. Walker. The more personal interests of Mr. Leach include mem- bership in Ionic Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; St. Mark's Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; both of Taunton; St. John's Commandery, Knights Templar, of Providence, Rhode Island; and Palestine Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is a member of the Winthrop Club of Taunton, the Segregansett Country Club, the Rhode Island Country Club, and the Congressional Country Club, of Washington, District of Columbia.
Mr. Leach married, on November 28, 1900, Mary E. Walker, of Taunton, daughter of the late Wil- liam E. Walker, who died in 1918, and Jennie (Carmichael) Walker. Mr. and Mrs. Leach have three children: Walker, born October 9, 1901, now a student at Dartmouth College, class of 1923; Mal- colm, born August 8, 1903, also a student at Dart- mouth, class of 1927; and Virginia, born August 19, 1915.
ELMER TURELL LEARNED, M. D .- Three doctors by the name of Learned have graced the roster of Fall River physicians. Dr. Ebenezer Turell Learned, 1812-1885; his son, Dr. William Turell Learned, 1861-1922; and his son, Dr. Elmer Turell Learned, 1890, who is the present representa- tive of this distinguished family, skilled in medicine and eminent in citizenship. The Learneds are of ancient Colonial lineage, William Learned and his wife, Goodith, becoming members of the First Church of Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1632; and William Learned, born in England about the year 1590, died in Charlestown, Massachusetts, March 1, 1646. The line of descent is traced from William Learned through his son, Isaac Learned, who came to New England with his parents about 1630; his son, Deacon Benoni Learned; his son, Thomas Learned; his son, David Learned; his son, Thomas (2) Learned; his son, Samuel Learned; his son, Dr. Ebenezer Turell Learned; his son, Dr. William Turell Learned; his son, Elmer Turell Learned.
Dr. Ebenezer T. Learned, son of Samuel and Lydia (Knapp) Learned, was born in Gardner, Massachusetts, and died at Fall River, Massachu- setts, in 1885. He was a graduate of Harvard Medical College, class of 1836, and was in practice at Weymouth, Massachusetts, until 1847, when he
removed to Fall River, where he continued in pro- fessional work until his death nearly four decades later. He was the trusted physician of many of the old families of Fall River and was highly re- garded as both physician and citizen. For two years he was president of the South Massachusetts Medical Society, of which he became a member in 1839; and a man everywhere honored and respected. He married, May 14, 1835, Mary Matilda White, and they were the parents of eight daughters, and an only son, Dr. William Turell Learned, of whom further.
Dr. William Turell Learned, only son of Dr. Ebenezer and Mary Matilda (White) Learned, was born at Fall River, Massachusetts, March 24, 1861, and died in the city of his birth on August 13, 1922. He was a graduate of Brown University, A. B., 1882, and of the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, M. D., 1885. After a year as interne he began private practice at Fall River, where he was in successful practice for over thirty years, attaining high rank in his profession. He was one of the incorporators of the Fall River Emergency Hospital, was assistant surgeon of the Massachusetts Naval Brigade, located at Fall River, holding the rank of lieutenant. In 1887 he became a member of the Bristol South District Medical Society, nearly half a century later than his father who joined in 1839. He was also a member of the Massachusetts State Medical Society; a member of the Masonic order, affiliated with lodge, chapter and commandery; a Republican in politics; a Con- gregationalist in religious faith; and a member of the Fall River Country and the Quequechan clubs. Dr. Learned married, in Bridgeton, New Jersey, June 12, 1889, Frances Elmer, born there Decem- ber 11, 1864, daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Hampton) Elmer. Three children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Learned: Frances White, born in June, 1891; Donald Haywood, born May 1, 1898; and El- mer Turell, of further mention. The family home and Dr. Learned's offices were at No. 46 Franklin street, Fall River, and here Mrs. Learned contin- ues her residence.
Elmer Turell Learned, of the tenth American generation, oldest of the children of Dr. William Turell and Frances (Elmer) Learned, was born at Fall River, Massachusetts, September 5, 1890. His education, which was begun in the public schools, continued through three years of high school, and was followed by a year at Allen Preparatory and four years at Yale University, whence he was graduated, A. B., class of 1912. Then, influenced or inspired by the example of his father and grand- father, he embraced the medical profession, pre- paring at Harvard Medical School, receiving his M. D. with the class of 1916. He then spent eight- een months in hospital work in Rhode Island, begin- ning private practice at Fall River, Massachusetts, where for three years he had the benefit of profes- sional association with his eminent father. He continues the general practice of his profession in the city of his birth, the third Dr. Learned to prac-
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tice medicine in that city since 1847, two of these, Drs. William T. and Elmer T. Learned, native sons and lifelong residents.
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