USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 3 > Part 31
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ness men who was formerly active in the carriage business, and with the early development of the auto- mobile transferred his energy and attention to the new vehicle. He has carried his interest in Fall River to a very high position in the trade, and is widely known as one of the foremost executives in this field in Southeastern Massachusetts. Mr. Powers is a son of Maurice and Winifred (Colbert) Powers, who came to the United States from County Waterford, Ireland, in 1882, settling in Fall River. Here the father be- came active employee of the American Linen Company, subsequently going to the Durfee, Mills, in whose employ he served for about thirty years, during the greater part of that time as master mechanic. He was a man of the sincerest goodness of heart, loyal to his employers and cordially respected by all who knew him. He died in 1906, at the age of sixty-seven years, having survived, by five years, his wife, who died in 1901, at the age of fifty-one years.
Robert William Powers was born in County Water- ford, Ireland, September 8, 1876. His education was very limited and was principally acquired in common with so many of America's most able men in the "school of hard knocks." He attended the public schools of Fall River until the age of thirteen years, when he apprenticed himself to the profession of teleg- raphy. After five years of experience in this line of endeavor, Mr. Powers entered the old established firm of Peckham and White, carriage dealers of Fall River, as an office employee. He was later made bookkeeper for this firm, and was with them through the period of evolution from carriage production to automobile distribution. Mr. Peckham, the senior member of the firm, died in 1908, and Mr. Powers bought the interest from his associates in the following year, since which time he has been sole owner of the business. Mr. Powers has built up one of the most important auto- mobile interests in the eastern part of the State of Massachusetts, the scope of his operations in the dis- tribution of Hudson and Essex cars covering South- eastern Massachusetts, the entire State of Massachu- sets, Rhode Island, and the eastern part of Connecti- cut. Since the Hudson Company built their first auto- mobile Mr. Powers has done more than $3,000,000 worth of business. His operations are always carried on in a courageous, broad gauged manner, and his atti- tude toward the world is that of the fearless spirit, confident in its sincerity of meeting like treatment from others. Mr. Powers found his activities out- growing his former headquarters, and, with no suitable structure available, he erected one of the finest build- ings in New England devoted to automobile sales, and this structure was finished in the year 1923. It has the distinction of being the only automobile building in the world with a ground level entrance to five Aoors without an elevator. The character of this building and its unique design are further evidences of the originality of the man and his ability in over- coming obstacles and solving problems .
Mr. Powers is grand eastern director of the National Automobile Dealers' Association, a director of the Rhode Island Automobile Association, a member of the Chambers of Commerce of Fall River, Providence and New Bedford, of the Merchants Association of Fall River, and the Better Business Bureau of Providence.
He is president of the Giant Storage Battery Com- pany of Massachusetts, and a director of the Giant Storage Battery Company of Providence. He is a member of the Fall River Rotary Club, of the Que- quechan Club of Fall River, and the Turks Head Club of Providence. By political affiliation he is a Republi- can, although never an office seeker, and his religious connection is with the Roman Catholic Church.
Mr. Powers married, in 1902, Hannah C. Dunn, of Fall River, Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Powers are the parents of five children, of whom three survive: Margaret Helene, now attending college of New Ro- chelle, New York; Robert W., Jr., a sophomore at B. M. C. Durfee High School; and Rita Winifred, now attending primary school.
STEPHEN WILLIAM HAYES, M. D .- The pro- fessional career of Dr. Hayes was only at its full zenith, although man's allotted term of life had run its course. Three score years and ten had passed into history since he first saw the light in far-away Ireland, but they had been years so well and so wisely spent that eminence among the eminent physicians of Massachusetts was his, and in physique he was still the erect, dignified gentleman whose acquaintance was an honor. He continued to practice even after this time, until his death, and while his interest in humanity came somewhat from the standpont of the scientist, the great impulse to work, labor and strive was his broad humanitarianism, his love for his fel- lowmen prompting him to make every sacrifice and put forth every effort to alleviate suffering and restore health. This warmth of heart and general interest in his fellowmen had won him the love of a very large clientele, and the respect and esteem of all who knew him. He had rejoiced in solving those difficult prob- lems which so often confront the physician, for their solution had meant life and health for others. Genial and kindly-hearted, with a thoroughly well-balanced mind, he had regarded medicine as both a science and a philanthropy, whose problems, however intricate they were, had been the pleasure and privilege of his vigor- ous, well-trained intellect to master. Possessed of every mental and physical requisite to make the successful practitioner, honorable and upright in every particular, and attentive to every detail of his work, he was an honor to the profession of which he had been an accredited member for close to half a century, from 1870.
Stephen William Hayes, New Bedford's medical nestor, was born in County Cork, Ireland, on July 24, 1848, son of William and Mary Hayes. When a child he was brought to the United States, and in the grade and high schools of New Bedford, Massachusetts, acquired a good English education. Medicine was his chosen profession, and with that as the goal he studied and read, entering Harvard Medical School in 1867, whence he was graduated with the coveted diploma and degree of M. D. in the class of 1870. From that time until his death his history is one of interest to the layman as a record of constant striving for "more light," devotion to the duties of an exacting profes- sion, and of successful achievement. The love of his people and the honors of his profession came to him in abundance, and the name of Dr. S. W. Hayes was
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one mentioned with respect wherever physicians were gathered. From 1877 to 1884, he was assistant surgeon of the First Regiment, Massachusetts National Guard, and surgeon of the Third Battalion, ranking as major. During the Spanish-American War he was acting post surgeon at Fort Rodman. He was president of the board of examining surgeons for pensions up to his closing years. He was long a member of the staff of St. Joseph's Hospital; was consulting physician of St. Luke's and St. Mary's hospitals, and had a large consulting practice both in the city and far beyond its limits, in addition to his private clientele. He was an ex-president of the South Bristol Medical Society. ex- vice-president of the American Medical Association, member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and of the New Bedford Medical Society. In all he was list- ened to with marked respect, and papers from his able pen enriched the literature of his profession, most of them before appearing in the medical journals hav- ing been read and discussed in some of these societies.
In the business circles of his city, particularly in that section devoted to cotton manufacturing, Dr. Hayes was well known and influential. He was a director of the Bennett and Columbia Mills, president, treasurer and one of the receivers in liquidation in 1897 of those cotton spinning corporations; director of the Whitman Mills, cotton and silk manufacturers; direc- tor of the Fairhaven Mills (cotton) ; director of the Bristol Manufacturing Company (cotton) ; and vice- president and director of the Holmers Manufacturing Company. He was a Democrat in politics, having served New Bedford as member of the school board for nine years, and as alderman in 1882 and 1883. His club was the Harvard, of Boston, New Bed- ford branch; and in religious affiliation he was a member of St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church.
Dr. Hayes married (first) at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, September 16, 1882, Mary G. McCloskey, born in Woonsocket in January, 1861, died in New Bedford, November 1, 1883, leaving an only child, Mary Step- hanie Hayes, born October 11, 1883, educated at Friends Academy, New Bedford, and the Convent of the Sacred Heart, Manhattanville, New York. She mar- ried, August 6, 1916, Dr. C. J. Leary, of New Bedford. Dr. Hayes married (second) June 6, 1917, Margaret A. Nolan, born in Newport, Rhode Island, October 20, 1898.
THEODORE DEAN WILLIAMS was a promi- nent and successful business man of New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was born July 5, 1829, in Rayn- ham. He died in New Bedford, August 4, 1900, on the dawn of the new day. He was the son of Jona- than Williams, Jr., and his wife, Phebe (Elmes) Williams, of Raynham, Massachusetts. He came to New Bed- ford when he was a young man, and was a clerk in the store of Sylvanus Thomas, who was a relative by marriage. After a few months the firm of Dow & Company wanted Theodore D. Williams, and offered him a very fine position in their store. He asked Syl- vanus Thomas what he should do about accepting it. Mr. Thomas answered and said: "I cannot pay you as much as Dow & Company have offered to you, but you are worthy of it, and, Theodore, I am not going to stand in your way of advancement." In, the year
1849, Theodore D. Williams went to California, with others who had the gold fever, in a ship that sailed from New Bedford, to seek their fortunes. They came near being shipwrecked, and they all returned to New Bedford, with less gold in their belts than they carried away. Afterwards Theodore D. Williams entered into partnership with Amasa Bullard, under the firm name of Bullard & Williams. Later on, in the fifties, he entered into co-partnership with Andrew H. Potter and Simeon Doane, under the firm name of Potter, Doane & Williams, on Water street, No. 28, corner of Shep- herds lane, where they purchased the building and car- ried on a very successful and lucrative business for several years. The firm owned extensively in whaling ships that brought in large returns. Some years after- wards Mr. Williams withdrew from the firm and re- established himself on Union street, in the clothing business, where he remained until Acushnet avenue was cut through to William street, and his store had to be torn down to make room for a new part of the street. Then he retired from an active business life. Mr. Williams was always courteous to everyone, generous and noble hearted, and a man of fine personal appear- ance. No one ever appealed to him for assistance in vain. He never shirked his obligations; to do his part was a pleasure to him, and he was strictly honest in all of his dealings with everyone. He married, January 2, 1849, Caroline Tuckerman, who was born in New Bedford, January 25, 1828, and died in New Bedford, December 24, 1893. She was the daughter of Captain Robert Tuckerman, who was born in New Bedford, July 14, 1795, and died in New Bedford, February 3, 1884, aged eighty-eight years, six months, twenty days, and his wife, Betsey (Buloid) Tuckerman, born in New Bedford in 1798, died August 14, 1875, aged seventy- six years, six months, fourteen days. Captain Robert Tuckerman was the son of Captain Stephen Tucker- man and his wife, Elizabeth Tuckerman, of Nantucket. Captain Stephen Tuckerman and his wife had chil- dren : 1. Sally, born April 5, 1792. 2 and 3. Niobold and Robert (twins), born July 14, 1795. 4. Vollintine, born March 31, 1798. 5. Stephen, born June 14, 1801. 6. Robert, married Betsey Buloid, March 2, 1818; their children were: Stephen, born February 5, 1819, died 1873; Maria, born January 28, 1825, died November 10, 1842; Caroline, married Theodore Dean Williams, of New Bedford; Robert and Charles (twins), born January 6, 1831; Charles died July 28, 1837; Robert died in Auburn, New York, December 14, 1900; he married Harriet Bowman, of New Bedford, September 21, 1865. She was born July 7, 1834, died in Auburn, New York, November 10, 1902. Their daughter, Alice H. Tuckerman, was born in Scipioville, Cayuga county, New York, November 14, 1868, and was married in Auburn, New York, October 12, 1899, to Jesse H. Stanton, of Auburn, New York. The children of Theodore Dean Williams and his wife, Caroline (Tuck- erman) Williams were: 1. Maria Tuckerman, born October 19, 1849, died June 13, 1883, married Alfred M. S. Butler, of Boston, December 23, 1869, the son of Leonard and Sophronia Butler, of Hanover, Con- necticut, afterwards of Hartford, Connecticut. The children of Alfred M. S. Butler and his wife, Maria T. (Williams) Butler were: Theodore, Minnie P., Maria Caroline, Sophronia Elizabeth, Alfred M. and
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Katherine James Butler. The latter married Arthur Taylor; their son was Robert Taylor. Alfred M. But- ler, A. M., married June 23, 1908, Irene (Endrés Von Dilscher) Butler, and their children were: Clara W. Butler, born June 26, 1909, and Elizabeth Caroline But- ler, born February 23, 1916, of Boston, Massachusetts. Alfred Munson Butler, A. M., was head of Science Department, High School of Practical Arts, Boston, 1914. 2. Elizabeth, married, January 22, 1908, in Bos- ton, Massachusetts, Charles Warren Read, the son of Joseph R. and Cynthia A. (Potter) Read, of New Bedford, Massachusetts. 3. Caroline, born May 30, 1855, died August 23, 1855. 4. Charles Dean, born August 17, 1860, died May 8, 1878, in New Bedford.
Jonathan Williams, Jr., father of Theodore D. Wil- liams, was born December 16, 1785, in Raynham, Mas- sachusetts. Married November 12, 1820, Phebe Elmes. He and his wife died in Raynham; their children were: Elijalı, born June 25, 1823, who married Fidelia Leon- ard; Theodore Dean, who married Caroline Tuckerman ; Sophia, who married Eliphalet Thomas, of Middleboro, September 26, 1838; Edward, who died at Sterling, Illinois. The father of Jonathan Williams, Jr., was Captain Jonathan Williams, born June 8, 1764, died January 23, 1814; married, October 14, 1784, Polly Dean, born 1766, died December 27, 1830; their chil- dren were: Jonathan, Jr., who married Phebe Elmes, November 12, 1820; Polly, Hannah, Sally, Eliab, Au- gustus Dean and Eli, who married Fannie Pickens, March 25, 1830. He was born April 12, 1796, died December 6, 1884, in Lakeville, Massachusetts. He was the brother of Jonathan Williams, Jr., who was the father of Theodore Dean Williams. Captain Jonathan . Williams' father was Deacon Abiel Williams, Jr., born 1740, died February 10, 1830, aged ninety years; mar- ried, November 16, 1758, Zeruiah Staples, born January 27, 1740, died February 1, 1814; she was the great- grandmother of Theodore Dean Williams, and the daughter of Deacon Seth Staples, of Taunton, Massa- chusetts, who married Hannah Standish, born 1704. She was the daughter of Ebenezer Standish, born 1672. He was the son of Alexander Standish, born in Duxbury, died 1702. He was the son of Captain Miles Standish, of Duxbury, of the "Mayflower" in 1620. He was born in 1586, died October 3, 1656, married Rose, who died 1621; Barbara, second wife. Deacon Abiel Williams' father was Abiel Williams, Sr. He was born 1713, died December 19, 1778, married Mehitabel Williams. Abiel (1) Williams' father was Seth Williams, born in 1676, married Mary Dean. Seth Williams' father was Samuel Williams, married Jane Gilbert; Samuel Wil- liams' father was Richard Williams, born 1606, in Huntingdon, England. He first came to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1633, afterwards to Taunton.
WALTER HAMER .LANGSHAW -- As the head and a large owner in a great manufacturing corporation, Mr. Langshaw reviews a life of well directed effort, constantly increasing in value to the corporation he serves. He has won his way through merit, each promotion from the bottom upward coming only after it had been well earned. His career in New Bedford began in 1891, in the Po- tomska Mills, in charge of a department, and nine
years later, in 1900, he became the dominating spirit in the Dartmouth Manufacturing Corporation, and president of the corporation. He takes a keen interest in public matters, particularly economics, and has made a very thorough study of the tariff question. His views on the latter question have been different from those of many of his contem- poraries and have caused considerable discussion. In 1913 he issued a pamphlet stating his experience because of his attitude on the tariff, the protective feature of which has been perverted to suit the purpose of certain special interests. He also sub- mitted a brief to the Committee on Ways and Means, 1913, on the cotton schedule. These two pamphlets, which taken together form an enlight- ening treatise on the salient points of the tariff situation, present in a forceful manner the con- clusions of which Mr. Langshaw has arrived at as the result of years of special study of a wide ex- pericnce as a manufacturer, with the practical work- ings of the tariff measure in effect during the past quarter of a century. Holding that protection is necessary for the development of industries in which skilled labor is required in quantity, that moderate tariff on any article is not a burden on the people provided it is manufactured in quanti- ties proportionate to normal market requirements, and that its manufacturing is not of a kind that excludes men of limited capital, he believes that a moderate reduction in the tariff, intelligently ap- plied, would be beneficial rather than detrimental to the industrial and commercial development of the country, and has for a number of years favored such a reduction.
Walter H. Langshaw was born at Eagley, near Bolton, England, in 1859, his paternal and maternal ancestors for many years residents of Lancashire, the records of the family extending back to the year 1570. Cotton manufacturing was a family business, a Langshaw founding the Eagley Mills in 1790. At the age of seven years Walter H. Langshaw was brought to the United States by his parents, there locating in Lawrence, Massachusetts, moving to Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1872, but re- turning to Lawrence in 1874. In all these changes the lad had a part, and from his ninth year was employed in cotton mills. He continued a mill worker in Lawrence from his return in 1874 until 1887, then went to a Rhode Island cotton mill in charge of a small department. Four years later, in 1891, he came to New Bedford to take charge of a large department of the Potomska Mills. During the ensuing four years he gained such high repu- tation that at the incorporation of the Dartmouth Mills, in 1895, he was engaged as superintendent. In 1898 he was elected a director, and in 1900 be- came the head of the corporation. The three mills of the company are located in the South End, the capitalization is $2,600,000; twenty-two hundred hands are employed; two hundred thousand spindles and fifty-eight hundred looms turning out an enor- mous quantity of plain and fancy cotton goods. Over all Mr. Langshaw is the executive agent, and
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controlling spirit. The success of the corporation is a matter of comment in the textile world. From 1896 to 1917 the return to the original shareholder selling out at the market value shows an average return 'for twenty years of forty-five per cent., this result being accomplished in open competition in the same field for machinery and labor. This thoroughly establishes Mr. Langshaw as one of the practical mill executives who, from personal knowledge and experience, direct their corporations wisely. He was also for some years president of the Bristol Manufacturing Corporation of New Bedford, a million dollar cotton manufacturing company, op- erating sixty-three thousand spindles, and eighteen hundred and sixty-six looms, employing eight hun- dred and twenty hands in manufacturing cotton and silk goods. He has other buiness interests of im- portance widely separated. He is president of W. H. Langshaw & Company, of No. 346 Broad- way, New York City; a director of the Massa- chusetts Trust Company of Boston; and director of the Liberty Insurance Company of Boston.
Mr. Langshaw has not sought the sordid in life, but has catered to the finer side of his nature, par- ticularly his talent and love for music. When little more than a boy, he was organist of St. John's Episcopal Church of Lawrence, and in the different cities to which his business took him he often acted in that capacity. He is a patron of art, and one of the trustees of the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Massachusetts. He is a member of the Massachusetts Alliance of Manufacturers and Employers Associations, National Association of Manufacturers, National Economic League, North American Civic League, Massachusetts Forestry As- sociation, American Economic Association, and the Royal Colonial Institute. His clubs show the wide range of his tastes, and the recreations which most appeal to him are: Beverly Yacht, of Marion, Mas- sachusetts; Boston Athletic; Country, of Brookline, of New Bedford and Rhode Island; Megantic Fish and Game, of Maine; New Bedford Rod and Reel; Tin Whistle of Pinehurst, North Carolina; also other clubs; the Algonquin,of Boston; Arkwright of Boston; Brooks; Episcopalian of Boston; Mer- chants, of New York; Rocky Mountain, of New York; Royal Colonial Institute; Seapuit, of Cape Cod; Southern New England Textile; Victorian of Boston; and the Wamsutta, of New Bedford, Massa- chusetts. He is also a member of St. George's So- ciety, and of Grecian Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Mr. Langshaw married (first) August 23, 1884, Sarah Elizabeth Mahan, of Andover, Massachusetts, who died in 1896, leaving sons: Walter Seymour, assistant agent and director of the Dartmouth Manu- facturing Corporation; and Albert Colburn, of W. H. Langshaw & Company, No. 346 Broadway, New York City. Mr. Langshaw married (second) June 23, 1898, Elizabeth Wilkinson, of New Bed- ford, they the parents of a daughter, Eunice, and a son, Richard.
PELEG C. HOWLAND-From the organiza- tion of the Merchants' Bank of New Bedford, Massachusetts, down through the years of its exis- tence as a State and National bank to the year 1885, but two men filled the position of cashier. The first of these' was James B. Congdon, a man of great ability, who began with the organization of the bank in 1825, resigning January 1, 1858, his mantle falling upon Peleg C. Howland, who held the office until his death, October 26, 1885. Upon the records of the Merchants' National Bank are pages devoted to these two men who bore an even closer relationship than that of business con- temporaries, the inscription of Peleg C. Howland reading:
Resolved, The directors of the Merchants' National Bank of New Bedford desire to give expression to their sense of tbe loss which they and the corporation which they represent bave sustained by the death of Peleg C. Howland, whose connection with the Merchants' National Bank, beginning August 13, 1846, continued under a Federal charter until bis death on tbe 26th of October, 1885, a period of thirty-nine years of continuous service; and while it is more fitting that the character of our late cashier in his home and as a citizen should receive proper recognition elsewhere of bis qualities as a man of affairs and of business, we may speak; and so speaking we would com- memorate his unvarying courtesy of manner, bis integrity, bis comprebensive grasp of the largest transactions, as well as the minutest details, none too minute to receive tbat attention which was always bis best; bis rare financial ability; his ripe experi- ence and extensive knowledge of bankng; his instinctive devo- tion to the interests committed to his charge; his wise fore- sight and anxious care for the interests of the bank, and bis pride in its success. All these combined to make him wbat he was, and he was recognized to be a model corporation officer and cashier
Finer tribute from business associates than the foregoing could not be paid nor was tribute more justly paid. As a citizen, neighbor, friend, and father, he was of the best type, patriotic, helpful, loyal and devoted. He was of the seventh genera- tion of Howlands in New England, tracing from Henry Howland, who was of record in Plymouth in 1624, a member of the Society of Friends in his later years, a convert. This Henry Howland lived and died at Duxbury, but he owned a large tract of land in Dartmouth, bought in 1652, and in 1659 was one of the twenty-seven purchasers of what was later Freetown. He married Mary Newland, the line following through their second son, Zoeth Howland, who was killed by Indians as Pocasset, January 21, 1676. Zoeth Howland, like his father, was a convert to the faith of the Society of Friends, but all his sons, except Samuel, were birthright members belonging to the Apponegansett Meeting. Henry Howland, son of Zoeth Howland, was a lumberman, lumber dealer and house builder, his homestead being on the opposite side of the road from the Apponegansett Meeting House, and a little west. He held a high position in town and church, and did a large business in sawing lumber. He married Deborah Briggs, and among his sons was Zoeth .(2) Howland, who, with his wife, Sarah, lived in Westport, all his life. Philip Howland, son of Zoeth (2) Howland, lived and died in Westport, his home farm about one mile west of Westport Village. His son, Isaac Howland, a substantial
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