USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Athol > Athol, Massachusetts, past and present > Part 14
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Homeopathic Societies, and is also a prominent member of the Masonic and Odd Fellow organizations, and a mem- ber of the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island Knights Templars.
Dr. HIRAM H. BURNS was born at Kingston, Mass., in 1856. His early education was received in the public schools of his native town, and he graduated from the Kingston High school in the class of 1876. Entering Tufts College in the class of 1880, he graduated as vale- dictorian of his class, having attained the highest average during his four years course, of any student in that Insti- tution for years. After leaving College, he was a teacher for four years, being Assistant in Natural Sciences at the Marlboro, Mass. High School, Principal of the Hollis, N. H. High School, and teacher of Natural Sciences at Dean Academy, Franklin, Mass. Mr. Burns then turned his at- tention to the study of medicine, studying wtth Dr. J. B. Brewster of Plymouth, Mass., and also taking the course at the Harvard Medical School, from which he graduated in 1887 ; practiced for a short time at Kingston, his native town, and removed to Athol, in February, 1888, where he has since practiced, moving to the Upper Village in Feb- ruary, 1890. He was married in March, 1888, to Sarah B. Faunce, of Kingston, Mass., a graduate of Wellesley College, and former Principal of Kingston High School. Dr. Burns is a member of the following medical societies ; American Medical Association, Massachusetts Medical So- ciety, Harvard Medical Alumni Association, and Millers River Medical Society. Also of the Tufts College Alumni.
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DR. HIRAM H. BURNS.
DR. ALPHONZO V. BOWKER.
DR. WINDSOR A. BROWN.
DR CHARLES H. FORBES.
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MEDICAL PROFESSION.
DR. ALPHONZO V. BOWKER was born in Savoy, Mass., Jan. 17, 1857. His parents moved to Bernardston, Mass. in 1865, which was his home until he commenced the practice of his profession. His education was obtained at Powers' Institute, and he graduated from the medical de- partment of the University of Vermont, in June, 1879. He then practiced for two years in Millers Falls, after which he took a post graduate course in the hospital of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He returned to Millers Falls, where he practiced his profession until he came to Athol, in 1890. While in Millers Falls he was a member of the school committee of Montague for several years, and also served on the Board of Health of that town. He married E. Louise Amidon of Millers Falls, in November, 1884.
DR. H. R. THAYER. born in Pittsford, Vt., November 5, 1819. Graduated from the Hahnemann Homeopathic School, Philadelphia, in March, 1855. Was in the South from 1855 to 1860, and had a large practice in the city of Augusta, Georgia, from which place he was driven out with his family just before the war, because he was a northern man. He practiced in Athol from 1871 to 1876, when he removed to Boston, and returned to Athol in February, 1892, where he has since practiced.
DR. W. L. EDGAR, a graduate of the Hahnemann Medi- cal College of Philadelphia, in 1894, and commenced prac- tice in Athol, in June of that year.
DR. LILLEY EATON, graduated at the Dartmouth Medical College in 1892, served in the Boston City Hospital, as as- sistant superintendent and physician at the Hospital Cot-
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tages for children at Baldwinville, and commenced practice in Athol, in January, 1895.
DR. HARRIE M. GARDNER, a graduate of the Medical School of the University of Vermont, at Burlington, in 1895, commenced to practice in Athol, in July of that year.
DR. WINDSOR A. BROWN, is a native of Aurora, Ill., where he was born Nov. 15, 1868. He graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Vermont in 1889, practiced in Oakham and North Brookfield, and came to Athol, in October, 1895.
DR. GARRETT LARKEQUE commenced practice in Athol in 1894.
W. F. WHITMAN has been employed as a Medical Clari- voyant upwards of forty years. He was born in Palmer, Mass., Dec. 10, 1825, and came to Athol in 1857. O. S. Wheeler has also had quite an extensive practice in the same profession for more than fifteen years in Athol.
DENTISTS. The first dentist in town was Dr. John H. Williams, a son of Dr. Wm. H. Williams, who was born Aug. 24, 1824. He studied dentistry with Dr. Ball of Boston, and was engaged in the business for twenty-five years. He also combined the drug business with his dent- istry, and was engaged in that for about thirty years, be- ing for a long time the only druggist in town. He was one of the most genial and companionable of men, and had a strong vein of humor hidden under a surface appearing to be the opposite. He was for nearly four years post- master of the Centre office. He married Harriett M. Ball, Oct. 14, 1850. His death took place Aug. 22, 1875.
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MEDICAL PROFESSION.
Dr. H. M. Humphrey studied dentistry in Boston for two years, and then took a course in the Philadelphia Dental College, from which he graduated and received his degree of D. D. S., and practiced ten years.
DR. H. C. SMITH, the senior member of the dental pro- fession, was born in Cooperstown, N. Y., where his father was a manufacturer, in 1837. He attended the schools of that town and Hartwick Seminary. He pursued his studies at the Baltimore Dental College, and studied den- tistry with Dr. Robinson, of Watertown, N. Y. In Dec- ember, 1861. he commenced to practice dentistry in Athol, and has been engaged in his profession continuously, to the present time. His first office was in the old Foster house. now owned by A. J. Hamilton, and for many years in the old Bank building, until he moved into his present office in Webb's block. He was married in 1861, to Sarah F. Steere, daughter of Rev. M. J. Steere, of Provi- dence, R. I.
DR. E. WARD COOKE studied dentistry with Dr. H. C. Smith, and finished his dental studies at the Dental Col- lege in Philadelphia. He commenced practice for himself in Athol. in 1875, and remained here eight years, going to Cambridge in August, 1883, and has continued in prac- tice there to the present time. He married Etta J. Lewis, June 16, 1875.
Dr. J. J. Coxeter commenced to study dentistry with Dr. L. F. Tolman in 1876, and afterwards was in partner- ship with him for three years, when he opened an office for himself, and practiced here until 1888, when he re- moved to Newton.
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Dr. C. E. Smith first studied his profession in the office of Dr. L. F. Locke, of Nashua, N. H., his native city. He graduated from the Dental Department of the University at Pennsylvania", in 1888, with the degree of D. D. S. He came to Athol in 1888, purchasing the business of Dr. J. J. Coxeter. He now has an office in the Bank building, and has a good practice.
DR. L. F. TOLMAN was born in Fitchburg in 1843. When the rebellion broke out, in 1861, he enlisted in the sixth New Hampshire Infantry, and served until the close of the war. After the war he studied dentistry with Dr. Stebbins, of Shelburne Falls, for three years, and con- tinued in his office until 1875, when he removed to Athol, having purchased the dental business of Dr. James Hem- enway. He continued in the practice of his profession un- til partial blindness compelled him to give up business, when he was succeeded by his son, Leon C. Tolman, in 1894.
Dr. James Hemenway practiced dentistry in town for many years, and others of recent years have been Dr. A. O Stoddard and Dr. V. W. Leach, who had offices at the Highlands.
CHAPTER XIV.
OLD ATHOL FAMILIES.
" If, however, a man says that he does not care to know where his grandfather lived, what he did, and what were that grandfather's politics and religious creed, it can merely mean that he is incapable of taking interest in one of the most in- teresting forms of human knowledge-the knowledge of the details of the Past."
N this chapter we give sketches of some of the old Athol families, whose history is inter- twined with that of the town through many decades. Although much attention has been paid to the ancestry of many families, yet we have not attempted a complete genealogy of all branches of the various families of whom sketches are given. Sketches of the heads of families, and some of the most important members, who have been residents of this town, or who have gone out into other communities and become distinguished in various walks of life will be given. Among the families selected are the Lords, Mortons, Olivers, Humphreys, Kendalls, Morses, Sweetsers, Estabrooks, Havens, God- dards and others.
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THE LORDS.
Of the first five settlers of old Pequoig, the one whose family has been most prominently identified with the town through all the generations to the present time, was Joseph Lord.
The first ancestor of the Lords in New England was Robert Lord of Ipswich, whose name appears on the rec- ords of that town as a freeman in 1636, and a representa- tive in 1638. He was town clerk, clerk of the courts and register of deeds. He married Mary Waite, and had eight children. He died in 1638. Of his children, Thomas, born in 1633 at Ipswich, married Alice Rand ; they had eight children. Of these, Joseph Lord, was born in Charlestown, Mass., June 30, 1672, and graduated at Harvard College in 1691. From 1692 to 1695, probably, he taught the school in Dorchester. He married Abigail, daughter of Governor Thomas Hinckley, (by his first wife ) on the third of June, 1698. In the fall of 1695, a church was gathered in Dorchester with the design of re- moving to South Carolina, and Joseph Lord was ordained as pastor. He accompanied the church to that state and remained as its pastor over twenty years, when he re- turned to Massachusetts, and in 1720 was installed pastor of the church in Chatham, where he continued to preach until his death in 1748. His diary containing many in- teresting notes and observations relative to the church and people on the Cape, is said to be in existence. He had eight children, of whom Joseph and Abigail were born Sept. 27, 1704.
JOSEPH LORD, who was one of the first five settlers of
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Athol, was graduated at Harvard College in 1726, and practiced medicine for a time in Sunderland, Mass., being the first physician of that town. In September, 1735, with four others, he came to Pequoig, and commenced the first settlement of this town ; his dwelling was located on the " Street," on the place known for a long time as the Humphrey place. He appears to have been the principal man among the company of settlers, both in education and influence, and was the first clerk of the Proprietors, which office he continued to hold up to Oct. 18, 1758. He was during all these years the leading spirit in ancient Pe- quoig, being the first doctor, the first preacher, the first magistrate, the first treasurer, the first tax gatherer, the first surveyor, in fact, as an old manuscript has it, he was " Boss and all hands." At length a misunderstanding arose between Mr. Lord and the proprietors, the particular cause for which it is impossible for us to satisfactorily de- termine. For some reason he refused to give up the rec- ords, and an action was commenced against him for the recovery of the books, records, plans etc. The court rend- ered judgment against Mr. Lord in November, 1759, for one thousand pounds. The result was that Mr. Lord left Pequoig and went to Putney, Vt., then New Hampshire, where he lived for thirty years, holding high and responsi- ble positions. By commissions dated the 16th of July, 1766, he was appointed second judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and a justice of the peace for Cumber- land County. These commissions were renewed on two subsequent occasions, and he was continued in office until the commencement of the Revolution. He was also ap-
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pointed by a writ of dedimus potestatem, a commissioner to " swear all officers" chosen in that county, and held the office until the 14th of April, 1772. A few months pre- vious to the time for appointing judges, in the year 1772, Mr. Lord was desirous of withdrawing from the service of the province. In his letter to Governor Tyron, dated the 29th of January, he declared his reasons for wishing to re- tire, in these words : "I being now arrived at the sixty- eighth year of my age, and attended with the infirmities common to advancing years, such as great deafness, loss of memory, dimness of sight, and at times, a paralytic tremor in my hands, etc., which disqualifies me for the full, free, and perfect discharge of the offices of second judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and justice of the peace, which I have sustained in the county for several years last past, and having a desire to retire from public business and spend the remainder of my days in a calm retirement therefrom, and concern myself in nothing else, but doing good to my numerous family and neighbors, and praying for the King, your Excellency, and all others, the King's officers, and prepare for a glorious Immortality-therefore humbly entreat your Excellency to appoint some other person to said offices in my room and stead."
Having been informed that his colleague had tendered his resignation, Judge Chandler wrote to Governor Tryon, begging him to continue Judge Lord in office in the next commission, and suggesting the propriety of rewarding him for his past services-especially for his efforts in quell- ing a disturbance, in which the inhabitants of Windsor had been engaged. Previous to this time the court had
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OLD ATHOL FAMILIES.
been constituted with three judges. A fourth was added at the next commission, and Judge Lord was continued, but with the understanding that he was to take only " as little share of the burden of the office " upon himself as should be agreeable to him. Governor Tyron wrote him in a letter dated the 3d of April, 1772: " His Excellency desirous of retaining in office the most respectable persons in the county, could not think of appointing any person in your stead." Hall, the historian of Vermont, says of him : " Respecting his abilities, there are no means of deciding ; but of his uprightness and candor as a man and as a judi- cial officer, there can be no doubt. The little that is known of this worthy magistrate is so favorable, that a natural regret arises at the absence of the data which might supply the details of his life, character and services."
He died at Westmoreland. N. H., Dec. 7, 1788, in the 85th year of his age, having moved to that place from Putney, some time before.
Dr. Joseph Lord had seven children, viz: Joseph, born April 17. 1730. William, born May 3, 1732, Mary, born May 2, 1733, Thomas, born Jan. 17, 1736. the first winter after the settlers arrived in Athol, Stephen, Nathaniel and Sarah, who married Judge Thomas Chandler of Vermont. Thomas Lord, the third son of Dr. Joseph Lord, married Leonard Smith, Oct. 18, 1760. He was one of the Athol minute men who marched to Lexington, being sergeant of the company, and was afterwards captain of a company that went to Bennington. He had eleven children : Asa. born Oct. 1, 1761, married Lydia Humphrey, Joseph, born Oct. 26, 1763, married Esther Johnson, Aaron, born
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Dec. 25, 1766, married Hannah Graves, Abigail, born July 7, 1772, married Abijah Ellis, Abel, born March 12, 1774, died in 1799, Rhoda, born March 1, 1776, Thomas, Jr., born Jan. 17, 1780, was a hotel keeper at Northfield, Jotham, born June 4, 1783, married Julia Allen in 1806, Leonard, born in 1785, Gardiner, born April 8, 1788, married Nancy Young, and Absalom, born June 30, 1790. Jotham Lord, the sixth son of Capt. Thomas Lord had ten children.
ETHAN LORD, the second child, was born in Athol, Aug. 9, 1808. In his twentieth year he left home, and came to what was then known as the factory village, to begin life for himself. His fidelity to his parents and love for them was shown, when his father had lost a number of cattle by disease, and in consequence was forced to mortgage his little farm. This misfortune weighed heavily upon Ethan, and at the end of his first years service, he carried home his entire earnings, one hundred dollars, and gave it to his father to clear off the mortgage. He was married Sept. 6, 1836, to Thankful Richardson of Swanzey, N. H. He had a saw mill and grist mill on Freedom street, and carried on business there for more than fifty years. He bought large tracts of real estate in the village and near by, that at the time of his death had become some of the most desirable property in town. He always shrank from positions of a public na- ture, was a man of unflinching integrity, just and exact in his business dealings, and generous in every cause to every person that appeared to him as worthy. Was identified with the old First Church until the founding of the Sec-
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ETHAN LORD.
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ond Unitarian church, when he became an earnest sup- porter of the latter. He had three sons and two daugh- ters : Ethan, Jr., Lucien, Wallace, Sabra J. and Mary. Sabra married Dr. Vernon O. Taylor, and Mary married John L. Earle.
LUCIEN LORD was born in Athol, Oct. 11, 1840, a son of Ethan and Thankful ( Richardson ) Lord. He attended the village schools, and at an early age went to work for his father in the lumber and saw mill business. When the war broke out Mr. Lord wished to enlist, but ill health prevented him, and he purchased the store of H. R. Barber on Exchange street. A year later he sold the business and went into the store of Walter Thorpe and J. W. Sloan as clerk, where he remained three years. He then went in company with Howard B. Hunt, who was then the village postmaster, in the book and music busi- ness. In 1869, Mr. Hunt resigned as postmaster, and on his recommendation, Mr. Lord was appointed his successor by President Grant, April 21, 1869. He held this posi- tion through the administrations of Presidents Grant, Hayes, Garfield and Arthur, nearly 19 years, when he was succeeded by Wm. W. Fish, in February, 1888. He also during most of the time that he was postmaster, carried on an extensive book and stationery business. In 1873, he purchased the Twitchell property on the south side of Main street, and soon after built the fine Masonic Block, which was destroyed by fire in December, 1890, and other blocks of stores and tenements. Few citizens of the town have been so prominently identified with the social, religious and business interests of Athol during the
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last quarter of a century as Mr. Lord. He is one of those who believe that every man should have a family home, a religious home, and a business home, and he has been eminently successful in building up all of these, not only for himself, but in assisting others to have the same. Since retiring from the post office and mercantile business, Mr. Lord has been engaged in real estate operations of great magnitude. Among his enterprises has been the development of the Lake Park property, which has opened up to the town from the pine forests of six or seven years, a most desirable location, from which the chimneys of more than thirty homes look out upon the village. He has also developed other tracts known as South Park, Intervale and Pleasant Valley, nearly two hundred acres in all. But the enterprise that has re- quired the most courage and backbone, was the building of the new Pequoig House and the Academy of Music, the former of which erected at a cost of sixty-five thousand dollars, is the finest hotel building in Western Massachu- setts, while the Academy of Music, built in 1892, at a cost of nearly forty thousand dollars, is the pride of the town. Mr. 'Lord started the first street sprinkler, was instrumen- tal in organizing the Board of Trade, and was actively interested in the introduction of the gas and water sys- tems. He has also assisted generously in promoting other local business enterprises, among which is the Athol Silk Co. In 1871, with the late E. F. Jones, he started the Athol Transcript. In religious belief he is a Unitarian, and was for several years superintendent of the Sunday school of the old First Church. He was instrumental in
LUCIEN LORD.
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OLD ATHOL FAMILIES.
the organization of the Second Unitarian Church, and has been the superintendent of its Sunday school ever since it was organized. In 1891, he represented the First Wor- cester District in the Legislature, and is now a trustee of the Athol Savings Bank, a member of the School Com- mittee, Trustee of the Public Library, and Secretary of the Board of Trade. He married Delia M. Pierce of Rovalston.
GARDINER LORD, youngest child, save one, of Captain Thomas Lord, was born in Athol, April 7, 1788, on the place now owned and occupied by Ira Wright, on the road leading from the brickyard of R. A. Bailey & Co., to North Orange. Being of a large family, and his father's means limited, he was obliged at an early age to earn his own living. He worked as a farm hand and hostler until 1813, when on March 4, he married Nancy Young. daughter of Samuel Young of Chestnut Hill, and went to her home to live. His wife died in less than a year, leaving a daughter who died in early womanhood. On March 2, 1815, he married Sally Smith, a native of Truro, Mass., whose father had lately moved to Phillip- ston, then Gerry; by her he had six children : Abigail, born Nov. 6, 1816, Nathaniel Y., born Nov: 5, 1820, Sarah S., born July 30, 1822, Gardiner, Jr., born Feb. 26, 1824, Franklin G., born Oct. 4, 1827, and Charles L., born Dec. 26, 1832.
He continued on the farm until his death, Nov. 24, 1869. Of his children, Abigail, the oldest, married John Wood of Royalston, Dec. 5, 1834; they had four child- ren, three of whom are now living, Henry S. Wood and
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Mrs. B. H. Brown of Royalston, and Geo. H. Wood of Tangerine, Florida. Nathaniel Y. married Sarah Miller of Phillipston, Feb. 11, 1847; she died Sept. 16, 1854, and he married Elvira R. Goodnow of Whitingham, Vt. He had no children. In early life he assumed the care of his father's place, which he occupied to the time of his death, April 28, 1876. He was one of the cemetery committee, who had charge of the laying out of Silver Lake cemetery, and was one of the first to be buried there. Sarah S. Lord was never married, and resides in Athol with Mrs. C. L. Lord.
GARDINER LORD, JR., in early life learned the shoe- makers trade, and was for several years identified with the firm of F. G. & C. L. Lord & Co., boot manufacturers. He was Deputy Sheriff for thirty years, and was one of the Selectmen of Athol in 1864, 1889 and 1890, and has also served as Overseer of the Poor for several years. He married Mary Barker, of Oswego, N. Y., March 18, 1868. He has one son, William G., born Sept. 7, 1871.
FRANKLIN G. LORD, worked on his father's farm until seventeen years of age, attending school about eight or nine weeks during the winter, and then went to work bot- toming boots. When twenty-one years of age he went to Natick, and worked at cutting shoes for George Walcott, the goods made being brogans for the Southern trade; Mr. Lord for two years had charge of the shop. He re- turned to Athol and engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes, at first with the late C. C. Bassett, then with Geo. W. Babbitt, and later formed a partnership with his brothers, Gardiner and Charles L., for the manufacture
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NATHANIEL Y. LORD.
GARDINER LORD, JR.
GARDINER LORD.
FRANKIN G. LORD.
CHARLES L. LORD.
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of boots, which continued from 1863 to 1872. When this firm was dissolved, he went into mercantile business with S. M. Osgood for two years, and afterwards was travelling salesman for O. Kendall & Co. for fifteen years. He has been in the retail boot and shoe business since the fall of 1887. He was one of the engineers of the fire de- partment for thirteen years, and also served on the School Committee. On July 4, 1851, he was married to Eliza A. Flint of Athol ; they have two sons, Geo. F. Lord and Fred W. Lord, both of whom have been engaged in busi- ness in Athol.
CHARLES L. LORD also learned the shoemakers trade, and was in company with his brothers, as already stated, in the manufacture of boots. For a few years he carried on the crockery and furniture business on Exchange street, which he sold out on account of failing health. His first wife was Lottie A. Wight, by whom he had two children, one who died in infancy, and Milton Kirke, who died Dec. 21, 1889, aged twenty-two years. On April 18, 1876, he married for his second wife Miss Eldora Bur- nett of Holden, Mass., who survives him. Mr. Lord died May 14, 1892.
THE OLIVERS.
Among the early settlers of Athol, were four brothers John, Robert, William and James Oliver, who settled in town either in the fall of 1735 or the spring of 1736. They were Scotch-Irish, and came to America directly from the north of Ireland. They are said to have been healthy, stout, robust men, who had the strength and will to build for themselves homes among the forests of old
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