A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 3, Part 14

Author: Hutt, Frank Walcott, 1869- editor
Publication date: 1924
Publisher: New York, Chicago, Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 528

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SETH LEONARD CUSHMAN-In the world of finance in Bristol county, Massachusetts, Seth Leonard Cushman has for many years been a prominent figure, and his connection with the Bris- tol County National Bank has endured for fifty- four years. Mr. Cushman is one of the venerable and highly honored figures still active in business circles in Taunton, and his long experience and pro- gressive ideals give his utterances on any business topic breadth of significance and usefulness to the younger generation today. Mr. Cushman is a direct descendant of Elder Thomas Cushman, who came to America in 1621, his wife, Mary (Allerton) Cush- man, having come down in history as the last sur- vivor of the original Mayflower Company, having lived to a great age. Horatio L. Cushman, Mr. Cushman's father, was born in Taunton, and died in 1894. He was a manufacturer of importance in the industrial world of this city, and in 1883 served in the highest local office in the gift of the people, that of mayor of Taunton.

Seth Leonard Cushman was born at Taunton, Massachusetts, August 13, 1849. His early education was received in the public schools, and he was grad- uated from the Taunton High School in the class of 1866. His first business experience was in the employ of the N. H. Skinner Company, in the cap- acity of bookkeeper, and he filled this position for a period of three years. He then formed the affilia- tion which endured for so many years, accepting the position of teller in the employ of the Bristol County National Bank. This was in 1869, and only twelve years later Mr. Cushman was made cashier of this institution. In 1887, when still only thirty- eight years of age, he was elected to the office of president of the Bristol County National Bank, which office he held continuously until 1916. He then became liquidating agent of this institution upon its absorption with the other financial inter- ests of Taunton, which were merged under the title of the Bristol County Trust Company. In every branch of community advance Mr. Cushman has long been deeply interested. He has also served as secretary and treasurer of the Mount Pleasant Cemetery since the year 1879. For four years during his young manhood he was a member of Company G, National Guard, of the State of

Philemon &. Truesdale

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Massachusetts. Fraternally he is a member of Charles H. Titus Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was secretary and master, and also served as district deputy grand master in 1898-99; member of St. Mark's Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Taunton; New Bedford Council, Royal and Select Masters; and St. John's Commandery, Knights Templar, of Providence, Rhode Island. He was formerly a member of several clubs, now resigned, but is a life-member of the Old Colony Historical Society. His religious affiliation is with Broadway Congregational Church.

Mr. Cushman married, in 1871, Mary Frances Taylor, of Fall River, Massachusetts, daughter of Nicholas and Prudence Taylor. Mr. and Mrs. Cushman are the parents of one child: Elton Gray, a sketch of whom follows.

ELTON GRAY CUSHMAN-Although Mr. Cushman has a home in Pasadena, California, where his children are at school, and another at Barrington, Rhode Island, where the family spend the summer and early fall months, his legal residence is, and always has been, Taunton, Massachusetts. He is a successful lawyer and a world traveler, a man of learning and ability.

Elton Gray Cushman, only child of Seth Leonard Cushman (a sketch of whom precedes) and Mary Frances (Taylor) Cushman, was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, December 25, 1879. He prepared in the public schools of Taunton, finishing with high school graduation in 1898; entered Harvard Uni- versity, whence he was graduated, A. B., 1902; pre- pared for the legal profession at Harvard Law School, and received his LL. B. with the class of 1905. He at once began practice in Taunton, the city of his birth, and has won his way to a leading position among the members of the Bristol county bar. He has confined his energies to the practice of law and has few interests of a business nature outside his professional connection with the cor- porations which he serves.

At Harvard Mr. Cushman became a member of Kappa Gamma Chi and he has many club affilia- tions, being a member of the Winthrop and Segre- gansett clubs of Taunton; the Rhode Island Country Club of Barrington, Rhode Island; the Harvard clubs of Boston, Rhode Island, and Southern Cali- fornia; the University, Flintridge Riding and Valley Hunt clubs of Pasadena, California, and others. He is a member of the Unitarian church of Pasa- dena, and a life member of the Old Colony His- torical Society. He has traveled widely through Europe, and has visited Egypt and parts of Africa, as well as Syria and the Near East, and has also toured quite thoroughly the southern and western sections of his own country.

Mr. Cushman married, in Taunton, Massachu- setts, June 6, 1906, Emily Frances Jenks, daughter of Stephen Arnold and Emily Frances (Burt) Jenks, her father a leading citizen of Rhode Island. Mr. and Mrs. Cushman are the parents of two children: Margaret Frances, born April 23, 1912; Donald Jenks, born July 24, 1914.

PHILEMON E. TRUESDALE, M. D .- Rarely does the gift of administrative ability accompany to a noticeable degree large, professional skill, but in the activities of .Dr. Philemon E. Truesdale, of Fall River, Massachusetts, are given to the com- munity the attainments of a surgeon and the prac- tical capacity for organization and construction which have mapped and built wide avenues of pro- fessional usefulness. Dr. Truesdale stands at the head of the Truesdale Hospital, of Fall River, which for some eighteen years has borne increasing signi- ficance to medical and, surgical advance in the East. This institution found its inception in Dr. Trues- dale's mind, came into being through his dauntless efforts, and has risen to wide prominence coincident- ally with the spread of his reputation as one of the foremost surgeons in this section of New England.

The Truesdale family has been on this side of the Atlantic for several generations, and while in 1880 the family came from Canada, where the doctor himself was born, the founder of the line in the New World came to Massachusetts. The family is of Scotch-Irish origin, with French antecedents in the line of the maternal grandparents. Dr. Trues- dale's paternal grandparents came from Scotland to Canada in the early part of the nineteenth cen- tury, the grandmother, a daughter of Philemon Dugar, whose father came to Massachusetts from Nantes, France, during the old French and Indian War. Philemon Dugar's wife, whom he married in 1805, was Martha Edwards, of Southbridge, Massa- chusetts, and a member of one of the notable Colon- ial families of New England. Philemon Dugar later became a figure of considerable prominence in the Canadian government as a member of Parlia- ment, and was granted an extensive tract of land on the Rouge river, and on that estate the Trues- dale and Dugar families were united. Sons and grandsons were born, and there three generations were successively engaged in lumbering activities, clearing off the virgin forests and converting the logs into such form as the market demanded. Philemon Truesdale, grandson of the founder, and father of Dr. Truesdale, came to the United States in the prime of his young manhood and settled in Fall River, Massachusetts, where he engaged in the paper business. He continued however, to make periodical trips to Canada to look after his inter- ests there, for he retained his share in the ancestral lands until his death. He married, in Canada, Elizabeth Burns Keough, and after many years of residence in Fall River, they removed to Boston, where both died.

Philemon E. Truesdale, son of Philemon and Elizabeth B. (Keough) Truesdale, was born at the family homestead in Canada, August 12, 1874, the change of residence to Fall River being made when he was about five years of age. His education, begun in the grammar schools of the city, was con- tinued in the higher grades and he is a graduate of the B. M. C. Durfee High School, class of 1894. His medical education was pursued at Harvard University Medical School, whence he was grad- uated class of 1898. For about eighteen months

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thereafter Dr. Truesdale scrvcd as house officer of the Boston City Hospital, then for about six months he filled a similar position at the Lying-In Hospital, of Boston. With this comprehensive institutional training and experience Dr. Truesdale came to Fall River in 1900 as a practicing physician. For about five years he went forward along general lines of practice. He was deeply interested in surgery, however, and his achievements in that field were noteworthy even in those early years. In 1902 he performed the operation of Caesarean Section for an unusual but exceedingly hazardous complication of child birth, saving both mother and child. An account of this case was presented later before the Boston Obstetrical Society as the first of its kind to be reported in New England. His articles ap- pearing in surgical literature have been numerous and his contributions to surgical knowledge have received recognition by scientific socicties and jour- nals of surgery. Always a student of conditions and affairs, Dr. Truesdale saw the great need of better hospitals in Bristol county, especially insti- tutions where a high order of surgical skill would be available to deal successfully with emergencies of a major character. In 1905 he founded the pres- ent hospital under the name of the Truesdale Pri- vate Hospital, Incorporated. At the beginning he installed fifteen beds under the supervision of Miss Mary K. Nelson, with a staff of graduate nurses possessing exceptionally high standards. The suc- cess of the institution soon compelled him to in- crease the available facilitics, and after a very few years the original building was entirely inadequate for the necessary expansion. In 1909 Dr. Truesdale began the erection of the present beautiful and spacious structure, one of the most modern and perfectly equipped of the hospitals of New England. Simple and dignified in exterior design, standing in spacious grounds with a fine river view, this institution, now representing a valuation of approxi- mately $450,000, is an ornament to the community when considered only as an excellent example of modern architecture. Its significance as an institu- tion for the care of suffering mankind, with one" hundred rooms for the accommodation of patients, the most complete and approved equipment obtain- able, and dependable skill, both medical and surgi- cal always at command,-this is indeed a house of mercy and a gateway of hope for afflicted humanity.

In 1914 Dr. Truesdale organized a clinic for "group practice," a system the purpose of which was to promote intimate cooperation of specialists in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. He purchased the property of Orlando Hart, at No. 151 Rock street, Fall River, and erected thereon a new building especially designed for group practice. With office suites, waiting rooms, library, X-ray and chemical laboratories, the building was well · adapted for the reception of patients and the most thorough study of their complaints. This organiza- tion, known as The Truesdale Clinic, Inc., has been in active service for nearly a decade. Its progressive development has served as an index of

its usefulness and a credit to the intrepid faith of its founder.

Not only in Fall River but throughout a wide surrounding region the Truesdale Hospital is held in the highest esteem. Physicians from many other localities in this part of the State recommend pa- tients, especially surgical cases, to seek admittance to this institution, and Dr. Truesdale's success, both as a surgeon and as the head of this hospital and clinic, places him among the most noteworthy professional men of the day in Southeastern Massa- chusetts. He is a member of the American Sur- gical Association, the American Medical Associa- tion, the American Gastro-Enterological Society, the New England Surgical Association, the Massachu- setts State Medical Society, and the Fall River Medical Society. Dr. Truesdale was one of the founders of the American College of Surgeons, or- ganized at Washington, District of Columbia, in 1913. He has few affiliations not closely related to his work; is a member of the Harvard Club, of Boston; the Quequechan Club, of Fall River; and the Acoaxet Club, of Westport, Massachusetts.

During the war with Germany, 1917-1918, Dr. Truesdale volunteered his services in the Medical Corps and sailed for France with The Yale Mobile Hospital Unit, in August, 1917, as surgeon, with the rank of captain. After a period of association with the French Service de Sante, he returned to the Yale group and acted in the capacity of director of surgery at Mobile Hospital No. 39. In October, 1918, he was promoted to the rank of major and to the command of Mobile Hospital No. 13. The signing of the armistice, November 11, 1918, pre- vented the further active participation of this unit at the front, and after an absence of eighteen months, Major Truesdale returned to the United States. Hc was assigned to duty at Camp Devens as director of surgery, succeeding Major Homer Gage, of Worcester. Dr. Truesdale was honorably discharged from the service, March 15, 1919.

Dr. Truesdale married, in 1911, Minna Dickenson, of Rockland, Maine, and they are the parents of six children: Elizabeth, Elinor, Lilian, Robert, Mary, and Philemon, Jr.

HON. WILLIAM A. BELLAMY-Few names have attained higher significance in the public life of Bristol county, and, indeed, in the affairs of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, than that of the Hon. William A. Bellamy, who served for three successive years in the House of Representatives of the State and for two subsequent years in the Massachusetts Senate. That Mr. Bellamy has achicved so high a position in professional circles and in the public life of the day is the more note- worthy in consideration of the fact that he has risen by his own effort without aid or influence. An able lawyer and progressive citizen, he be- came an efficient and fair-minded legislator, and both in his private practice and in the service of the people he has demonstrated those qualities of mind which count for steady advance and perma-

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nent well-being. A native of England, Mr. Bellamy came to this country with his parents as a child and was reared in American traditions and edu- cated in American institutions. He is a son of William and Mary (Antcliffe) Bellamy, both natives of England, the father a silversmith by trade.

William A. Bellamy was born at Sheffield, Eng- land, September 16, 1879. His early education was acquired in the public schools of Taunton, Massa- chusetts, and as a young man he was employed in the silver works of the Reed & Barton Company at Taunton for eleven years and also was identified with the Watson & Newell Company of Attleboro for a period of eighteen months. Meanwhile, how- ever, Mr. Bellamy never relinquished his ambitions to enter professional life, and from time to time, as he was able during the earlier years of his industrial activity, he devoted his leisure time to study. With the work of the usual preparatory courses covered, he eventually entered the popular Northeastern University Evening Law School, from which he was graduated in June, 1910. Admitted to the bar shortly afterward, Mr. Bellamy realized the end for which he had striven so long, opening his offices in the Taylor block, in Taunton, and taking up the practice of law. It is only a matter of natural sequence that the perseverance which carried the young man over all obstacles and hin- drances should in the eventuality lift him to high levels of achievement. His professional career was successful from the beginning, and as a leading lawyer of Bristol county, he now handles a very extensive and lucrative practice, principally along general lines. After five years of activity in his original location, he removed to his present offices at No. 46 Taunton Green in 1915 and in this more desirable location has taken rank with the foremost legal lights of the day. A member of the Taunton Bar Association from the time of his entering prac- tice, Mr. Bellamy was elected president of that body in the year 1919 and still serves in that honored and responsible office.

Even before Mr. Bellamy entered upon his pro- fessional career he was brought forward in the public life of the city of Taunton as a member of the City Council. Elected to this body in 1906, he served for two years, and in the following year was made a member of the Sewer Commission, upon which he also served for two years. In 1910, Mr. Bellamy entered upon the duties of a legislator by the vote of the people of his home city, and his record during that year was such that he was reelected to the House for two subsequent years, and in 1913 went to the higher legislative body of the State as Senator from the First Bristol Senator- ial District. During his activities as a legislator, Mr. Bellamy served on some of the more important committees, including the Committee on Harbors and Public Lands, of which he was chairman; the Committee on Banks and Banking, chairman of this committee; the Committee on State House and Library, chairman of this committee; and the Committee on Education. At the time of the Law- rence strike he served as clerk of the special com-

mittee for the legislation in regard to the settlement of disturbance and was also a member of the Committee on Cities.

Devoting to his public labors the same qualities of energy and far-sighted judgment that had won him his position in the professional world, Mr. Bellamy's usefulness was no mere matter of the moment, but rather contributed to the permanent progress and welfare of the people of this State. He did much, not only for his own locality, but for the general advance throughout the Common- wealth. Mr. Bellamy served for a number of years as a member of Company D, 14th Infantry Regi- ment, Massachusetts State Guard, with the rank of sergeant. He is deeply interested in all local ad- vance, and serves as a trustee of the Bristol County Law Library. Fraternally he is a member of Charles H. Titus Lodge, Free and Accepted Ma- sons; Good Samaritan Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past noble grand; Taunton Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Taunton Lodge, Loyal Order of Moose; the Amercan Order of Foresters; the Knights of Malta; and the Grange, Patrons of Husbandry. His clubs are the Winthrop and the Bristol, and he attends the Congregational church.

Mr. Bellamy married, in 1910, Lena Moxon, of Taunton, Massachusetts, daughter of John J. and Harriett (Chandler) Moxon. Mr. and Mrs. Bellamy are the parents of two children: Enid V., born March 31, 1913; and William A., Jr., born June 21, 1918.

WILLIAM RAYMOND PEPLER-In the weav- ing of marquisette curtains, the Fabric Weaving Company, of Taunton, Massachusetts, holds a lead- ing position not only in this section but in the United States, and William Raymond Pepler, as president of the corporation, is one of the widely known executives in the textile industry in Bris- tol county, Massachusetts. Mr. Pepler has been identified with the textile industry since completing his education and in a comparatively few years has risen to his present important position. He is a son of William S. Pepler, who was born in Milford, Massachusetts, and has also been identified with the textile industry during his entire career, now acting as general manager of the United States Worsted Mills Corporation of New England. The mother, Minnie (Spierer) Pepler, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and is also still living.

William Raymond Pepler was born in Woon- socket, Rhode Island, February 25, 1898. His edu- cation was begun in the public schools of Webster, Massachusetts, where the family removed in his boyhood, and a second removal placed him in the Taunton High School, from which he was grad- uated in 1916. Interested from boyhood in the tex- tile industry, he then entered the Lowell Textile School, leaving after one year to enter the service, in 1917, during the World War. With this prepar- ation for a career in one of the oldest industries of the world, which indeed dates back beyond the dawn of history, Mr. Pepler, upon his return from

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service, began his career in the employ of the Danielson Cloth Company, of Danielson, Connecti- cut, as assistant superintendent, and upon his resig- nation from that position, was connected with a Danielson dye house for about six months, in the capacity of manager. On December 17, 1919, the Fabric Weaving Company, of Taunton, Massa- chusetts, was founded and incorporated, Mr. Pepler becoming president of the organization. With plant at No. 13 Porter street, they occupy three buildings, aggregating about 20,000 square feet of floor space, and employing about fifty people. They manufacture, exclusively, marquisette curtains, and are one of the twelve concerns in the United States engaged in this special branch of industry. No other concern in this part of the country produces these goods. As president of this concern, Mr. Pepler holds a prominent position in the manufac- turing world of Bristol county, and he is looked upon as one of the coming men of Taunton. During the World War he served in the United States Marine Corps and was active in France for several months. Fraternally he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is also a member of the Bristol Club. His religious affiliation is with the Episcopal church.

ADAM W. GIFFORD-Giffords trace in New England to the early decades of the English occupa- tion; in England to the coming of the Conqueror; and in Normandy to the eighth century. A Gifford who came to England in 1066 in the train of the Conqueror attracted his favorable notice and was rewarded with lands in Somersetshire and in Cheshire. Giffords came to the Virginia colony in 1626, and to New England perhaps a score of years later. The founder of the Fall River family was William Gifford, of record in 1647 at Stamford, Connecticut, and at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1650. Banking has been a business in which mem- bers of the family have won notable success, and this review will deal with the career of one of these, Adam W. Gifford, treasurer of the Union Savings Bank, of Fall River. He is a son of Adam J. and Annie (Gray) Gifford, he born in Westport, Bris- tol county, Massachusetts, she born at Fall River. Adam J. Gifford was for many years well known in the business life of Fall River, where he was en- gaged in the crockery business, and died in 1919, his widow yet surviving him.

Adam W. Gifford was born at Fall River, Massa- chusetts, October 25, 1872. He was educated in Fall River public schools and under the instruction of private teachers, completing his schooling at the age of twenty, and the same year entering business life an an employee of the Union Savings Bank of Fall River. That was more than three decades ago and the association has never been broken. During that period he has passed from the junior clerkship he first filled through the various grades and ranks that have prevailed in that institution, and filled each one so well that he was always in line for further responsibility.

Mr. Gifford came to his present important post, .

treasurer of the Union Savings Bank, in 1907, and has during the years which have since passed been vitally concerned in the policy and conduct of the institution to which he has given his youth and the strength of his manhood. He holds high rank among the financiers of his city and his own institution reflects the strength of its management. He has been a selectman of the Town of Somerset, Bristol county, Massachusetts, in which he resides, and for ten years has served on that board. He has also served as a member of the Board of Health, and as an overseer of the poor. He is an interested member of the Fall River Chamber of Commerce.

In the Masonic order Mr. Gifford is affiliated with Pioneer Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Somerset, Massachusetts; Fall River Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; and with the various bodies of Massachusetts Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scot- tish Rite; Fall River Lodge of Perfection, St. Lawrence Council, Princes of Jerusalem, St. An- drew's Chapter of Rose Croix, and the Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. He is also a Noble of Aleppo Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; Azab Grotto, of Fall River, of which he is treasurer; Elysean Lodge, No. 73, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Somer- set; and the Lions Club, of Fall River, which he serves as treasurer.

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A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 3, Part 14

Author: Hutt, Frank Walcott, 1869- editor Publication date: 1924 Publisher: New York, Chicago, Lewis historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 528

Author: Hutt, Frank Walcott, 1869- editor
Publication date: 1924
Publisher: New York, Chicago, Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 528