USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 2 > Part 9
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD
$600,000 of government bonds was stored, and going to Fall River by team took the boat to New York. Mr. Crapo could not recall a few years since whether it was Mr. Hervey or himself that slept with the precious carpet- bag, but together they had it in the state room, and together they carried it up to the Astor House in the morning and took a room and deposited it on the floor. Mr. Hervey went down stairs and had some breakfast, Mr. Crapo guarding the bag in the chamber, and then, in turn, Mr. Hervey guarded the bag while Mr. Crapo went down stairs to his breakfast; and then together they guarded the bag until the next train was ready to leave Jersey City for Washington, which was not until noontime. In those days of the war, traveling was neither luxurious nor safe. The train, called a "mixed train," was crowded with soldiers and camp-followers, and assault and robbery were incidents to be expected. The carpet-bag was placed on the floor of the car, closely between them, and they tried to appear uncon- cerned. The train reached Washington long after the Treasury Department had closed, and the guarding of the bag was continued in the old Willard Hotel, with watches turn and turn about. As soon as the Treasury was opened the next morning, two tired, travel-worn men deposited their old carpet-bag with the Treasurer of the United States. A considerable time was taken in checking up the bonds and listing the numbers and fulfilling necessary formalities. In the end, a receipt was issued to the Mechanics' Bank, and Mr. Hervey and Mr. Crapo, with a feeling of intense relief, walked down Pennsylvania avenue and had a bite for breakfast. Mr. Crapo subsequently became, through various employments, extremely familiar with the Treasury Department, its methods and varying personnel, and twenty years later he drafted and, as chairman of the finance committee of the Con- gress, was instrumental in the legislation which renewed the National Bank charters, yet nothing connected with the Treasury or the National Bank system has ever made so deep an impression on him as that perilous jour- ney from New Bedford to Washington with the old carpet-bag bulging with more than a half million dollars precious bonds.
In 1833 this bank moved to a new building, which still stands. In 1914 the present bank building was commenced, and is a handsome structure of modern architecture. The first president of this bank was William Rotch Rodman, who served twenty years and was counted an aristocrat by some, but a truer, kinder man never lived in New Bedford. The first cashier was Joseph Congdon, who wore a swallow-tailed coat. He carried parched corn in his vest pocket, and was continually nibbling at it in banking hours.
The First National, formerly the Marine Bank, was an old concern when the Civil War came on, and when it became a National bank, it was the first in New Bedford to make the change. Its first president was Joseph Grinnell, who served fifty years. John Williams, Jr., the original cashier of the old Marine Bank that preceded this National bank, was an able man. Later he went into banking in New York City. The statement at close of business, September 14, 1923: Loans and discounts, $7,536,045.28; capital stock, $500,000; cash and due from banks, $1,597,687.06; deposits, $10,802,569.23. The officers: President, Irving W. Cook; vice-president, Harry C. Robinson; cashier, Frank B. Chase; assistant cashiers, William C. Phillips and Louis W. Tucker; directors: Walter H. Bassett, Charles F. Broughton, Edward S. Brown, Irving W. Cook, Henry H. Crapo, Herbert
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
E. Cushman, Stanislaus Desautels, Thomas F. Glennon, Thomas S. Hath- away, Charles M. Holmes, Joseph T. Kenney, William A. Mackie, Clarence Obrion, Andrew G. Pierce, Jr., Edward T. Pierce, William F. Potter, Oliver Prescott, Frederick D. Stetson, Thomas A. Tripp, William R. West, Ernest A. Wheaton.
In 1872 Joseph Arthur Beauvais formed a partnership with Thomas B. Fuller, of Fairhaven, and they engaged in private banking in New Bedford, taking deposits, making loans, dealing in securities and acting as financial advisers. They located at the corner of Water and Center streets, opposite the Commercial Bank. In 1875 the Citizens' National Bank was organized and the business of Beauvais & Company was taken over by it. Mr. Beau- vais was president, and Mr. Fuller cashier. The original capital was $250,- 000, later increased to $500,000. In 1891 the bank moved into new modern banking quarters at Second and William streets; in 1899 the bank liquidated for the purpose of uniting with the Mechanics' National Bank.
The first savings banks in this country were established at Newbury- port and Boston early in the nineteenth century about 1807, and next came the one at New Bedford, the New Bedford Institution for Savings, estab- lished in 1825. Its founders had no motives of self-interest, and expected no profit to themselves. They were men of broad minds who wanted the poorer classes to get the weekly habit of laying up for that inevitable "rainy day," and in that they succeeded in building up what has come to be a nationwide savings bank system. The prime movers in the estab- lishing of this bank included the Rotch, Russell, Grinnell, Robeson, Haskell, Howland, Shearman, Greene, Nye, Warren and Morgan families. The first meeting was held July 19, 1825, at the counting room of Samuel Rodman, Jr. The first deposit of fifty dollars was made August 15, 1825. In the first two weeks $950 had been deposited by eleven persons. The first report in December, 1825, shows a total of $13,050. The report for the same day in 1916 showed the deposits to be $19,841,265.15. There were at the last date named 40,155 depositors, and resources of $21,766,193.59. The institu- tion has never passed a semi-annual dividend. Abraham Shearman, Jr., was the first treasurer. At first the bank was only open from twelve to one o'clock each Monday, but soon had regular daily office hours. They rented a building until 1833, when one was built by the bank, costing $8,000. In 1853 another location was sought out and a bank building constructed of brown freestone blocks. The lots and bank edifice cost $18,000. It still stands, having been used after its abandonment for a bank, as the court- house of the Third District Court of Bristol. Here the savings bank had its home forty-three years until 1897, when it moved to its present stately home. There have been erected many other fine banks within this county, but is is doubtful whether any banking house hereafter built can vie with the Old Savings Bank of New Bedford in the quality of its Sienna marble and San Domingo mahogany. It has hanging on its walls the portrait of William Rotch, Jr., the first president, who served twenty-six years and lived until he was ninety-one years of age. On September 29, 1923, this bank had deposits amounting to $25,913,215.80. Its officers were: President, Thomas S. Hathaway; vice-presidents : Oliver Prescott and Joseph T. Ken- ney; treasurer, Elmer A. MacGowan, who succeeded George H. Batchelor in that office October 15, 1923; assistant treasurer, Philip E. Macy; secre-
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD
tary of board of trustees, Henry S. Hutchinson; trustees: William A. Rob- inson, Edmund Wood, Edward T. Pierce, Henry H. Crapo, William W. Crapo, Thomas S. Hathaway, Oliver Prescott, Herbert E. Cushman, John W. Knowles, Benjamin Cummings, Benjamin H. Anthony, Edward S. Brown, George N. Alden, Henry S. Hutchinson, Edmund W. Bourne, Frederic H. Taber, Henry L. Tiffany, J. E. Norton Shaw, Elton S. Wilde, Charles M. Holmes, Charles S. Kelley, Joseph T. Kenney, Daniel W. Baker, John Duff, Charles O. Dexter, Frederick R. Fish, William F. Potter, Albert G. Mason, George H. Reynolds, James L. Humphrey, Jr., Charles F. Wing, Jr., Frank A. Milliken.
The Fairhaven Institution for Savings is known as "The National Bank of Fairhaven." It was established as a savings bank, April 19, 1831. Its early records show, "Voted, that the directors be a committee to erect a bank building with suitable provisions for an office for the Fairhaven In- surance Company." The record-book shows the first depositors and amounts deposited as follows: No. 1, James Neil, $25, Fairhaven; No. 2, Thomas Pray, $30, mariner; No. 3, Francis Silvara, $50, mariner; No. 4, James H. Tilton, $100, mariner ; No. 5, Jacob T. Davis, $200, mariner ; No. 6, Sarah E. I. Hitch, $7, Fairhaven. Received from six depositors $412 (March 19, 1832). The first dividend declared called for five and one-half per cent. on deposits, agreeable to law. The first president was Ezekiel Swain, who served fourteen years. This institution was successful both as a strict savings institution and later in its history as a National Bank.
The New Bedford Savings Bank having proved so useful to the com. munity, it was deemed wise to establish another savings bank, which would care for the savings of another class of citizens-the New Bedford Five Cents Savings Bank. The motive of the men who started this later savings bank is shown by the fact that five cents might be deposited instead of "not less than one dollar," as was the position taken by the older sav- ings bank of the place. Thomas B. White was one of the incorporators and sent out the first call for an organizing meeting, which was held in the Marine Bank. The date was May 5, 1855. The State charter was granted in April, 1855; George Howland, Jr., was elected president, and Henry H. Crapo and Alexander H. Seabury, vice-presidents. The insti- tution leased various rooms for many years, rather than build a bank building. Finally, in March, 1891, the bank purchased the old "Tan- nery Lot" over which much litigation has been had with the passing years, and there erected the bank. At the close of business September 29, 1923, the amount due 41,218 depositors was $16,940,821.36. To meet the depos- itors the bank had bonds amounting to $7,160,002.15, and loans and other stock amounting in total to $19,075,795.48. The total surplus was $17,302,- 752.02. The officers of the bank: President, Jireh Swift, Jr., who succeeded Loum Snow in 1916; vice-presidents, Otis N. Pierce and John H. Clifford; treasurer, William F. Turner; assistant treasurer, Arthur W. Austin. The bank to date has had three presidents: George Howland, Jr., May 5, 1855, to February 18, 1892; Loum Snow, Jr., April 18, 1892, to January 6, 1916; Jireh Swift, Jr., January 1, 1916 -. William H. Pitman was elected assist- ant to the president January 15, 1923. The vice-presidents: Henry H. Crapo, 1855-57; Alexander H. Seabury, 1855-73; Dennis Wood, 1858-78 : Frederick S. Allen, 1874-76; Lemuel M. Kollock, 1879-88; Walter Clifford,
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
1889-1911; Otis N. Pierce, 1897; John H. Clifford, 1911. Secretary, Charles Almy, May 5, 1855, to March 4, 1877. Clerks: Charles Almy, March 4, 1877, to November 1, 1886; George R. Phillips, November 22, 1886, to Janu- ary 11, 1887; James Taylor, January 11, 1887, to February 22, 1907; George H. H. Allen, April 9, 1907 -. Treasurers : John P. Barker, May 9, 1855, to October 10, 1855; James C. Ricketson, October 10, 1855, to April 6, 1861; Barton Ricketson, Jr., April 6, 1861, to June 1, 1889; William H. Pitman, Jr., June 3, 1889, to January 15, 1923; William F. Turner, January 15, 1923.
The New Bedford Co-operative Bank was organized July 8, 1881, chartered July 11, that year, and commenced business August 19. Its loca- tion is at 41 William street. The officers are: President, Lot B. Bates; vice-president, Edward E. F. Potter; treasurer, William F. Desmond; directors, Frederic Taber, Henry W. Tripp, Edward E. F .Potter, Ben- jamin A. Tripp, Lot B. Bates, John Gibson, Edward F. Nicholson, Seth J. Besse, Samuel F. Winsper, Charles R. Price, William B. Gardner, Frederick H. Taber, James O. Thompson, Jr., Elliot H. Wefer, William F. Desmond. The dues capital in 1923 amounted to $1,170,870; the profits capital, $215,- 414.26; real estate loans were $1,552,525; number of shares in force were 28,319.
The statement of condition of the Safe Deposit National Bank to Sep- tember 14, 1923, was as follows: Loans and discounts, $6,355,573.62; capital stock, $350,000. The officers: President, William S. Cook, who succeeded Edwin S. Bourne, July 1, 1922; vice-presidents : Benjamin Wilcox, Frederic H. Taber, Charles S. Ashley ; cashier, A. P. Cunningham; assistant cashiers, Harry I. Gifford, Marcus M. Gray; directors: Chairman Frederic Taber, William S. Cook, Benjamin Wilcox, Frederic H. Taber, Charles S. Ashley, Lot B. Bates, Charles F. Cushing, William B. Gardner, Rufus A. Soule, Jr., George R. Cherry, Elliot H. Wefer, Charles O. Dexter, John Sullivan, Otis S. Cook, Walter H. Underdown, William S. Bourne, Charles F. Wing, Alphonso H. Smith, William A. Robinson, Jr., John Neild, E. Eugene Ashley, Frank Croacher, Joseph M. Read. The former Textile Trust Com- pany was taken over by this bank, April 15, 1922.
The Acushnet Co-operative Bank, 41 William street, was organized November 12, 1889, chartered November 18, that year, and commenced business November 16. The officers in 1923: President, Frederic Taber : vice-president, Elliot H. Wefer; treasurer, William F. Desmond; directors : Lot B. Bates, Frederic Taber, Henry W. Tripp, Edward E. F. Potter, Charles R. Price, Samuel F. Winsper, Edward F. Nicholson, William B. Gardner, Elliot H. Wefer, Frederic H. Taber, John Gibson, Benjamin A. Tripp, Seth J. Besse, James O. Thompson, Jr., William F. Desmond. The dues capital amount to $889,568; the profitfis capital, $150,482.71; real estate loans, $1,125,100; number of shares in force, 23,210.
In March, 1916, a Morris Plan Bank was incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts, and organized in New Bedford. Its capital is $100,000. The object of this bank is to make small loans to persons of small means who repay the same in weekly payments. It was an innovation in banking systems and has proven a success. During its first year's history it loaned $140,000 to borrowers; one thousand persons borrowed this money.
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD
CHAPTER XI.
THE PROFESSIONS-LAW AND MEDICINE
Lawyers and Judges-In 1767 there was reported only four lawyers in Bristol county, viz : Hon. Samuel White, Robert T. Payne, Daniel Leon- ard, and George Leonard, of Norton. The members of the bar, residents of New Bedford, who died or retired from practice between 1779 and 1834, were Peleg Sprague, John M. Williams, R. H. Williams, Thomas Hammond, James Washburn, John Nye, and John S. Russell. In 1834 there were prac- ticing in Bristol county and residents of New Bedford the following: Lem- uel Williams, Charles H. Warren, Timothy G. Coffin, W. J. A. Bradford, Ezra Bassett, John Burrage, Thomas D. Eliot, John C. Clifford, Oliver Prescott, and John H. W. Page. In this list were to be found men of celebrity as jurists and statesmen.
All the sessions of the early courts were held in Taunton, but in 1828 the Legislature created New Bedford a half-shire town, and a local court was held in the old town hall on Second street. Judge Williams was the first presiding judge in New Bedford. A law enacted in 1834 created a police court in the town of New Bedford, in which Nathaniel S. Spooner was the first justice of the peace. The Superior Court of Bristol County for civil cases holds its terms in New Bedford, as does the court for criminal cases. A session of the Supreme Judicial Court meets at New Bedford for the counties of Bristol, Nantucket and Dukes. A probate and an in- solvency court also holds regular sessions in New Bedford.
In the role of county judges the oldest was Edward Pope. He was a man of ability and long judicial experience. He was also collector of the port, and judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Oliver Prescott, upon first coming to New Bedford after his graduation at Harvard, class of 1828, taught the Friends' Academy. Later he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1832. In 1845 he was elected police judge of New Bedford. He was appointed in 1858 as judge of probate, and for fifty years was in the public eye as a professional man, and won an enviable reputation. He passed from earth in 1890, aged eighty-four years. George Marston, gradu- ate of Harvard Law School, was admitted to the bar in 1845, removing to New Bedford in 1869. In 1879 he was elected attorney-general of the State, resigning that office. He died in 1883. Lincoln Flagg Brigham from Dartmouth College in 1842 entered law school at Harvard, but in 1845 was admitted to the bar, becoming a law partner of John H. Clifford. On Janu- ary 28, 1869, he was appointed chief justice of the Superior Court. He retired from public life in 1890. Robert C. Pitman was one of the old school lawyers, born in New Bedford, came to the bar in 1847. He later served as judge of the police court, and was also a State Senator. He was elevated to the Superior bench, but soon retired from politics, devoting his entire time to his profession; he died in March, 1891. Edwin L. Barney, another old-school attorney, was born in 1827. He attended Brown University and Yale University Law School. He came to the bar of this county in 1850; was State Senator two years, city solicitor a number of years, and judge-advo- cate on General Butler's staff. Thomas M. Stetson, born in June, 1830, son of Rev. Caleb Stetson, graduated from Harvard in 1849, studied law under
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
good lawyers and at the Dane Law School, Cambridge. He was admitted to the bar in 1854, and was a law partner of several well known law firms in New England. He conducted the famous Sylvia Ann Howland will case, the most interesting and hardest contested case ever known in New England courts. Another brilliant lawyer of New Bedford was Hosea M. Knowlton. He was a Tufts graduate; was many years district attorney, and achieved national fame as the prosecuting attorney in the Lizzie E. Borden case; she was tried and acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother. Mr. Knowlton was attorney-general of the Commonwealth many years. Lemuel Le B. Holmes, was admitted to the bar in 1875. He was a native of Rochester, New York, studied law with Thomas M. Stetson, became city solicitor, then district attorney, and was finally appointed a judge of the Superior Court, a position he held at the time of his death several years ago. The list of all lawyers who have from time to time and who are still in practice is all too long to here insert, suffice to say they were well quali- fied men and had good clientage.
The Medical Profession .- Massachusetts has had a Medical Society since 1781. The State is divided into seventeen districts, and one of these includes Bristol county. This society was chartered April 3, 1839 under the title of the Southern District Medical Society. Its present name is Bristol South District Medical Society. The records are in no wise com- plete, but this much is known: The following physicians, resident in New Bedford were members of the Massachusetts Medical Society prior to the formation of the local society above named: Samuel Perry, 1803; Alexander Read, 1816; Paul Spooner, 1821; William C. Whitridge, 1822; Andrew Mackie, 1824; Julius S. Mayhew, 1830; Jeremiah Stone, 1831; Lyman Bart- lett, 1833; William A. Gordon, 1835; Thomas P. Wells, 1836; William R. Wells, 1838.
William Logan Fisher, in speaking of early medical literature and records states: "The medical literature of New Bedford prior to the present century was mostly confined to Ebenezer Perry, the only physician of the place. About the year 1795 his charge for a visit was sixpence, and thus he kept all other physicians at a distance. An English lady who was under treatment at this time was so much surprised at the smallness of his charges that she requested that she might be furnished with the par- ticulars of the bill, that she might take it to England. After this the doctor raised his prices to one shilling per visit. It is said this doctor was a good, plain, practical physician, and an honest man."
The earliest physician in Dartmouth was Dr. Benjamin Burg, who died September 18, 1748, aged forty years. Dr. Daniel Hathaway was also an early physician, beginning in Dartmouth soon after the death of pioneer Dr. Burg, and continuing until his death in 1772. Drs. Elisha Tobey, Samuel Perry and his son Samuel, were all very early in the medical prac- tice. Other physicians who were favorites in the homes of New Bedford and surrounding country were inclusive of the following: Drs. William Cushing Whitridge, came to New Bedford in 1822, he practiced till death, dying in 1857, aged seventy-four years. Alexander Read, graduate of Dart- mouth, class 1808, located here in 1811; he was a devoted Christian and defender of the Bible. Elijah Colby came to New Bedford in 1830, and
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD
practiced until death in 1856; he was treating a patient an hour before his own death; was never known to speak a cross word in all his life. Julius Stewart Mayhew came here as a young school teacher and gave singing lessons, entered Harvard College Medical School; he came from a family of physicians there, having a doctor in every generation for hundreds of years before his birth. He was among the first to cast an Abolition vote in New Bedford; was a foe of all types of oppression. He was in truth a man of the "Old-School." Dr. Paul Spooner opened an office in New Bed- ford in 1807, and for half a century practiced successfully in maternity cases; he died in 1862, aged seventy-six years. Dr. Gordon was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts; graduated from Harvard Medical School, coming to New Bedford in 1839; he died here of heart disease in 1887; he was the president of the District Medical Society a number of terms. Dr. Charles Lamson Swasey, born in Maine, graduated from Bowdoin Medical College in 1838, and practiced his chosen profession until overtaken by death in 1860; he was well versed in history, and a great believer in the theory of evolution. Dr. William Howland Taylor, a native of New Bed- ford, born in 1853, graduated from Harvard Medical School and entered the Medical Department of the New York University, graduating in 1876. He took the Loomis prize with his essay on "Theory and Practice of Medicine." He was a member of the Bristol South District Medical Society, and was its secretary at one time.
Other physicians are mentioned at length in the biographical depart- ment of this work, hence need not be here treated. Suffice to state that with the passing years and decades, the medical science has made great strides forward, and today the physicians in and near New Bedford are fully abreast with the modern ideas of the healing art, as it was once popu- larly styled. In all that is good for the health of the community, New Bedford physicians have ever tried to do their best to aid those outside the profession to clean up and make a city sanitary in all possible respects.
CHAPTER XII.
THE POSTOFFICE AND CUSTOM HOUSE
New Bedford had its first postoffice established in 1794, with William Tobey as postmaster. The office was located in the old Tobey House, a two-story wooden building at the corner of Purchase and Union streets. Mails were received and sent out once a week by stages. Postage in those days was so expensive that only the most urgent demand called for a letter to be sent over the old post-road. In 1806, with the appointment of William Smith as postmaster, the office was moved to a building on Middle street, where the old custom house was also kept. The postoffice only occupied one very small room, and when the stage arrived the postmaster would call out the names of persons having letters, and if they were present they would make it known and receive their mail. Neither stamps nor envelopes were used then. Postage was paid, usually by the party who received the letter, but occasionally it was demanded in advance of mailing. The rate was ten
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
cents from Boston on letters; on a weekly newspaper it usually ran about $1.50 per year. From New York the postage on a letter was eighteen cents to New Bedford. To Philadelphia it was twenty-five cents per letter. Few letters were sent by stage, but one friend would trust another who was go- ing the route the letter was going, who would deliver it to the addressee. Often the traveler was overburdened with such free mail, but all was taken good-naturedly ; merchants going for goods would kindly carry a pocket full of letters for his customers. This prevailed until as late as 1847, when postage rates were lessened. In 1826 the postoffice changed hands and Richard Williams was made postmaster, and it was during his administration that the penny-post was established. This commenced in 1832, and under its provisions the recipients of mail matter could have their mail delivered by paying an additional two cents. When the U. S. Custom House was finished in 1836, the postoffice was moved to that building. It remained there a half century. April 1, 1893, the new government building at the corner of Acushnet avenue and William street was completed. This build- ing especially constructed for postoffice uses, was well furnished and its cost was $100,000, exclusive of land. This only gave accommodations until the present postoffice was finished in September, 1915, at a cost of $287,- 964.15. The following is believed to be a list of all postmasters regularly appointed at New Bedford :
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