USA > Massachusetts > Biographical history of Massachussetts; biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state, 1911, vol 1 > Part 13
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ROBERT McNEIL MORSE
lands taken for park and other public purposes and much complex litigation affecting gas, telephone, banking, railway and other cor- porations.
He has avoided political life, but he was State Senator in 1866 and 1867, and Representative in 1880. While in the Senate he introduced and carried through the bill for the repeal of the usury laws and was chairman of the special committee on the prohibi- tory law before which John A. Andrew appeared to favor its repeal and he made the report providing for a license law. In the House he was chairman of the committee on the judiciary and was promi- nent in securing the revision of the general laws known as the Public Statutes, the grant of the land on which the Boston Public Library was built and the enactment of the first law authorizing a great capitalization of the Bell Telephone Company.
In 1880 he was a delegate from the Eighth Congressional District to the Republican National Convention at Chicago. He was a member of the board of overseers of Harvard University, from 1880 to 1899, and of the Union, University, St. Botolph, Apollo, Uni- tarian and Country Clubs of Boston and of the Harvard Club, New York, serving as vice-president of the Union and University Clubs and as president of the Unitarian and Apollo Clubs.
He was married November 12, 1863, to Anna Eliza, daughter of James L. and Jerusha A. Gorham, of Jamaica Plain, and they have had seven children: Mabel, born August 10, 1864; Arthur Gorham, born October 15, 1865, died October 15, 1866; Harold, born Septem- ber 13, 1866, died September, 1868; Alice Gorham, born November 19, 1867; Sarah Clark, born August 12, 1872; Robert Gorham, born August 23, 1874 (H. C., 1896); Margaret Fessenden, born November 28, 1877.
Walt files
WILLIAM HENRY NILES
I N the village of Orford, New Hampshire, December 22, 1839, is the record of the birth of this well-known man, and Mr. Niles points with pride to the fact that both he and his wife, their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents were born in the old Granite State.
Samuel Wales Niles, the father of William Henry Niles, was born August 22, 1798, and died December 6, 1843. His mother's name was Eunice Newell. The earliest paternal ancestor of the family, so far as known, was one John Niles, born in Wales about 1603, settling in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1640. He is believed to be the ancestor of all persons bearing the name of Niles in America. Nathaniel Niles, great-grandfather of William, was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary War, as was also John Niles, the grandfather, the former serving as a lieutenant. The father, Samuel Niles, was much inter- ested in religion, zealous in promoting agriculture, and deeply in- terested in all the affairs of his town.
When not in school, William Henry Niles worked at farming dur- ing the years of his youth, always filling his vacations in this manner. He testifies that the habits of industry then acquired have aided all through life. In speaking of the influence of his mother, he affirms emphatically that in morality, industry and thrift, she helped him greatly.
It was with much difficulty that Mr. Niles succeeded in gaining an education, but by persistence and industry he was able to progress from day to day and is still an earnest student in the line of his pro- fession. Beside the training he received at the public school he studied four years with the Rev. R. W. Smith, four years at Provi- dence Conference Seminary, and pursued a course in law under the direction of Caleb Blodgett, late Justice of the Superior Court.
Mr. Niles began the practice of his profession, the law, in Lynn, Massachusetts, and occupies still the office on the ground where first he began practice. He has never regretted that he entered upon
WILLIAM HENRY NILES
this line of work, to which he was strongly influenced by the advice of Justice Blodgett.
Mr. Niles has for several years been president of the Essex Bar Association and still retains that honorable position. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, a director of the Manu- facturer's National Bank since its incorporation in 1891, and served also several years as member of board of education of the city of Lynn. In politics, Mr. Niles is a Republican.
For recreation Mr. Niles inclines to out-of-door life and finds great help from horseback riding and driving, and the general in- terest and activity of country life. In this way he renews himself physically and mentally, and so is able to carry on his exacting pro- fessional and other labors without breaking of health or impairment of faculties.
Mr. Niles was married September 19, 1865, to Harriet A., daughter of Lorenzo D. Day and Harriet Stevens Day, granddaughter of Manley and Lavina Stevens. From this union three children were born, all daughters. They all married and are Mrs. Florence Moulton, Mrs. Grace Henderson and Mrs. Ethel Farquhar.
Residing at Lynn, Mr. Niles enjoys the returns of a successful, well-spent life. He is still actively engaged in his professional duties and each day finds him at his desk in his well-known office. So with friends and clients and the blessings of a happy family, he passes his days with the feeling that each one counts much in the making of his life successful in the best way, because each day is a real contribution to the welfare and happiness of others.
The old adage, "The safety of the throne is the welfare of the people" may be paraphrased by saying the safety of the Republic is in the probity, uprightness and industrious thrift of the people. Here we have a fine example of this type and can well hope that many like him may arise in days to come for the security and pros- perity of the Nation we cherish.
Port Treat Paine
ROBERT TREAT PAINE
R OBERT TREAT PAINE, lawyer, publicist and philan- thropist, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, October 28, 1835. His father, Charles Cushing Paine, was graduated at Harvard in 1827, and practised law in Boston. He was the son of Charles and Sarah Sumner (Cushing) Paine; grandson of Robert Treat and Sally (Cobb) Paine and of Charles and Elizabeth (Sumner) Cushing, and married Fanny Cabot, daughter of Judge Charles Jack- son (1775-1855). Robert Treat Paine (1731-1814), the Signer, was a noted jurist, a founder of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences of Boston, and he married Sally, daughter of Thomas and Lydia (Leonard) Cobb and sister of Gen. David Cobb, aide-de-camp to General Washington, and major-general of Massachusetts militia in Shay's rebellion. The Signer's father, the Rev. Thomas Paine, was pastor of the church at Weymouth, and subsequently a mer- chant in Boston, married Eunice, daughter of Rev. Samuel and Abigail (Willard) Treat, granddaughter of Robert Treat (1622-1710) lieutenant-governor and governor of Connecticut for thirty years; prominent in the Charter Oak incident and as commander of the Connecticut forces in protecting the settlers of western Massachusetts during King Philip's War, and of the Rev. Samuel Willard, colleague of the Old South Church, Boston, vice-president of Harvard College, 1700-01, acting president from the retirement of President Cotton Mather to January 14, 1701. The Rev. Thomas Paine was the son of James Paine, a member of the expedition against Canada in 1694, and grandson of Thomas Paine of Eastham, an only son who with his father, Thomas Paine the elder, emigrated (according to tra- dition) from the North of England in 1624, and settled on Cape Cod.
Robert Treat Paine is also descended from Richard Willard, who came from England and was one of the founders of Concord in 1634; of Austin Cobb, who received a deed of a farm in Taunton, Massachusetts in 1679; of Jonathan Jackson; and of James Tyng, of Tyngsboro, Massachusetts. His childhood was spent, six months
ROBERT TREAT PAINE
in Boston and six months in the country at Beverly, Massachusetts, and he was carefully nurtured by a wise and prudent mother, who permanently shaped both his intellectual and his moral and spiritual life. He was prepared for college at the Boston Latin School, gradu- ating at the age of fifteen and entering Harvard the same year. He shared the honor of the head of his class with Francis C. Barlow, and in the class were Alexander Agassiz, Phillips Brooks, Theodore Ly- man, James Tyndall Mitchell, Frank B. Sanborn and others, since famous in the world of letters, science, law, theology and medicine. His father, both grandfathers, his four great-grandfathers and fourteen earlier ancestors were graduates of Harvard. He was led to practise law through his own inclination, the influence of his parents and the tradition of the family. He studied law for one year, 1855-56, at the Harvard Law School, then passed two years, 1856 and 1857, in travel and study in Europe and on his return entered the law office of Richard H. Dana and Francis E. Parker, of Boston, and in 1859 he was admitted to the Suffolk Bar. He practised law in Boston, 1859-72, and when he retired in 1872 to take up philan- thropic work he was possessed of sufficent wealth to enable him to fully gratify his wishes in that direction. Writing of this purpose and the impulse that prompted it Mr. Paine says: "I cannot remem- ber the time when I did not have a strong desire to make my life useful." His zealous churchmanship pointed out various ways to promote the welfare of his fellow man and his experience as a worker in the missions where he was a lay-reader prompted many of his future benefactions. He had been made a member of the sub- committee of three to direct the building of Trinity Church, of which he was a vestryman from 1874, becoming junior warden in 1904. He was most active in raising funds and buying the land that made possible the present Trinity Church, at the time of its completion pronounced to be the noblest ecclesiastical edifice in America. The inspiration of Phillips Brooks, the rector, the skill and artistic dis- cernment of H. H. Richardson, Massachusetts' great architect, and the industry, persistence and financial judgment of Mr. Paine, were the three most powerful forces that accomplished this great work.
Mr. Paine was elected the first president of the Associated Chari- ties of Boston, when that movement took shape in 1879; was made a trustee of the Episcopal Theological School at Cambridge, Massa- chusetts in 1883, and served as president from 1898. He was elected
ROBERT TREAT PAINE
president of the American Peace Society in 1891. His work in behalf of working men and women began to take institutional form in 1878, when he was chiefly instrumental in organizing the Wells Memorial Institute in Boston and in 1890, he built the Peoples Institute for Working Men and Women in Boston. In 1888 he established the Workingmen's Building Association and the Workingmen's Loan Association in connection with the Wells Memorial Institute and held the office of president of the last four-named corporations from their beginning. He also organized the Workingmen's Cooperative Bank, of Boston, and served as its president from its organization in 1880 up to 1903. He also built more than two hundred small houses for working men and sold them at moderate prices and on easy credits. In 1887 he endowed the Robert Treat Paine Fellowship in Social Science with $10,000 at Harvard College for "the study of ethical problems of society; the effects of legislation; governmental administration and private philanthropy; to ameliorate the lot of the mass of mankind" and in 1890 together with his wife he estab- lished a trust of about $200,000, called the Robert Treat Paine Asso- ciation, to maintain institutes for working people; to provide model houses for working people; and otherwise to improve their condition. He could not content himself by giving away at his death what he could no longer use, and so had the pleasure of bestowing his wealth while living, and witnessing the ripening fruit of his benevolence.
He represented the town of Waltham in the General Court of Massachusetts in 1884. His club membership included the Twen- tieth Century, Round Table; Thursday Evening; Union University and St. Botolph Clubs, of Boston; and the Reform and City Clubs, of New York City. He was a Republican in political faith up to 1884, when "the Democratic national platform seemed more patriotic and I could not follow Mr. Blaine and from that time was classed as a Democrat, but was always independent." He was the unsuccessful Democratic and Independent candidate for Representative from Massachusetts to the Forty-ninth Congress in 1884.
He was married in Boston, Massachusetts, April 24, 1862, to Lydia Williams, daughter of George Williams and Anne (Pratt) Lyman, of Boston; and of the seven children born of the marriage five were living in 1908, the mother dying early in 1897. The eldest, Edith Paine, married John H. Storer; Robert Treat Paine, Jr., a trustee and associated with his father in philanthropic work was the
ROBERT TREAT PAINE
unsuccessful candidate of the Democratic party for governor of Massachusetts, in 1903; George Lyman Paine became a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church; Lydia Lyman Paine married Charles K. Cummings, and as both sons also married, the grand- father rejoices in a troop of fourteen grandchildren. Mr. Paine's published writings embrace seventy subjects, issued as pamphlets, in- cluding reports, addresses, papers, discussions, leaflets and circulars issued between 1868 and 1908. His biography has been published in "One of a Thousand" (1890); "Boston of To-day" (1892); "Massa- chusetts of To-day" (1893); "Professional and Industrial History of Suffolk County" (1894); "Men of Progress" (1896); "Judiciary and Bar of Massachusetts" (1898); "Representative Men of Massa- chusetts" (1898); "Who's Who in America" (1899); "Universities and their Sons" (1900); "Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States" (1902); "Contemporary American Biography" (1902). To young men he offers the following suggestions as gath- ered from his own experience: "I should say that in 1872 and there- after the conviction was forced upon my mind that we only have this life in this world once, and that I was not willing to devote it to business when noble uses of it could be found to make the world a bit happier around me. In carrying out these aims my life has been very happy. No man should be so absorbed in the business affairs of life that he cannot devote some share of his interest and energy in other and nobler directions."
F.8. Peanso
FRED STARK PEARSON
T HERE are so many examples of men winning success in spite of obstacles, that a father who should wish to see his sons evolving sterling character might well pray not for a fortune to distribute among them but for difficulties to be overcome. If a young man has ability and health and a good start in the path of education nothing else seems to be needed. A most striking illus- tration of this principle is afforded by the career of Fred Stark Pear- son, who has risen to the very top of his profession, and though a comparatively young man, has won fame and fortune.
He was born on the third of July, 1861, at Lowell, Massachusetts, where his father, Ambrose Pearson, a well-known railway engineer, was temporarily settled while employed on the Boston and Lowell Railroad. Through his father, Ambrose, his grandfather, Caleb, and his great grandfather, Thomas, he was descended from John Pearson, who emigrated from Yorkshire, England, in 1637, and settled in Salem Colony.
His mother was Hannah, daughter of Samuel and Eliza Edgerly. He began his education in the primary schools of his native town, but as his father, on account of his professional work in the con- struction of railways, not only in New England but also in the Western States, was frequently obliged to change his residence, his schooling was continued in various places. Between the age of eleven and fourteen he was at Wilton, New Hampshire, and there his father died in 1876.
Fred, the elder son, had up to this time cherished the intention of pursuing a college career, but his hopes were dashed by this bereave- ment as he found that the support of his widowed mother and younger brother devolved largely upon him. They removed from Wilton to Charlestown, and at the age of sixteen he secured the position of station-master at Medford Hillside on the Boston and Lowell Rail- road. His family moved to Medford for his greater convenience, since the work began before six-twenty in the morning when the first
FRED STARK PEARSON
train left for Boston and the last one left at ten-twenty in the evening. The duties were not very arduous as there was no freight service or telegraph station at that point. It occurred to him after he had enjoyed a year's experience as station-agent that he might utilize the spare moments between trains to continue his studies. Tufts College was situated less than a mile from Medford Hillside station, and he went to President Capen and asked if he could be permitted to attend classes and, when the train-duties called him away, allowed to leave the class-room so as to be at the station to sell tickets. The intervals between trains varied from forty minutes to an hour and a quarter. The president and Faculty, liking the young man's spirit and enterprise, granted his request, and for two college years he attended classes, every day walking seven times each way between the station and the recitation rooms. He has never ceased to hold in grateful remembrance the cordial and friendly interest manifested by the members of the Faculty whose recitations he attended, and attributes no small part of his success to the education which he thus acquired and which he would have been unable to acquire had his somewhat unusual request been refused.
He devoted his attention principally to chemistry and at first intended to adopt that branch of science as his profession. He be- came extremely proficient and at the end of two years was offered a position as instructor in qualitative analysis and assistant to Pro- fessor William Ripley Nichols at the chemical laboratories of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He held this position for a year, and then wishing to obtain a broader education he decided to return to Tufts College and follow the course of civil engineering. As it was necessary for him to earn his own living besides helping his family during all the time required for this course, he applied for the position of post-master of the station at College Hill. He was still under age and was therefore incapable, in accordance with the postal regulations, of holding this office, but it was secured for him in his mother's name. Here, though the salary was not large the duties were not exacting and he had plenty of time to pursue his studies. With no less zeal and energy than he had shown in his other undertakings he now took up the course of civil engineering and by dint of arduous work succeeded in accomplishing the three years' course in two, graduating in 1883 with a "summa cum laude," and receiving the degree of civil engineer. During this time he de-
FRED STARK PEARSON
voted his attention especially to higher mathematics, in which science he showed remarkable aptitude and took the keenest interest. This resulted in his being offered the position of Walker Instructor of Mathematics in Tufts. He decided to accept this and for three years held it, still continuing his studies in electrical and mining engineering and mathematics, so that in 1884 he received the degree of Electrical Engineer and the following year that of Master of Arts.
He now abandoned his academic position to take up a more active line of work. He found his opportunity right at hand. The Somerville Electric Light Company was just organizing and his training adapted him to become a valuable factor in the installation of all its practical appliances. He was appointed its general manager. His success in this new position attracted attention and he was shortly afterwards asked to assist in establishing the Woburn Electric Light Company. Here again he proved his extraordinary ability both as an organizer and a practical worker in the newly developing field of electric lighting and power. At this time Henry M. Whitney, Esq., was engaged in effecting the consolidation of the numerous lines of the West End Street Railway of Boston, Massachusetts, and was contem- plating the installation of an electric equipment for the entire system.
The plan was almost wholly experimental, its universally wide spread success and adoption since being one of the scientific miracles of the century. But then only one or two comparatively insignificant street railways in this country had tried electricity as a motive- power and of course only on a small scale. But Mr. Whitney found in the young Tufts College instructor the very man whom he had been searching for and at once engaged him as chief engineer to undertake this tremendous task. Before a year had elapsed his perspicacity had been completely justified. Mr. Pearson had made himself so indispensable that he was Mr. Whitney's practical partner as chief engineer in the organization of the first great electrical street railway system in the world. His grasp upon the multifarious and complicated details and his extraordinary intuition in foreseeing and overcoming difficulties astonished the veteran master of street railway promotion, and Mr. Whitney's readiness to carry out in detail any suggestion emanating from his resourceful assistant at- tested the confidence which the elder man felt in the superior engineer- ing skill of the younger.
The success attaining the electrification of the street railways of
FRED STARK PEARSON
Boston was properly attributed to the chief engineer and he was immediately overwhelmed with most flattering offers from other cities which stood in need of his help under similar conditions. He resigned his position as acting engineer and became consulting engineer for the West End Street Railway, thus being free for undertaking similar work elsewhere. In 1890 he became interested in the street railway company of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and organ- ized a syndicate for the purchase of this property and for its electrical equipment. While engaged in this enterprise he looked into the coal-mining industry of the province and saw the great possibilities of an intelligent and scientific exploitation of the mines. On his return to Boston he laid his plans before Mr. Whitney. From this resulted the organization of the Dominion Coal Company, with Mr. Whitney as president of the corporation and Mr. Pearson in general charge of the management. As soon as the Dominion Coal Com- pany was in successful running order, Mr. Pearson again undertook the business of general consulting engineer and was employed in this capacity by the street railway companies of Toronto, Montreal, St. John, New Brunswick and Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was also consulting engineer for many similar enterprises in the United States, among the most important being the extensive system that was planned to meet the needs of Brooklyn, New York, and now con- solidated in the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company.
His reputation crossed the Atlantic and he was summoned to England as consulting engineer for the Birmingham tramway sys- tems and was also engaged by the municipality to report on the tram- ways of Liverpool. From there he was recalled to New York City as chief engineer of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company. Here he developed and installed the underground slotted conduit system which is now in use there.
His next summons came from a still more distant country than England. He was asked to go to Sao Paulo in Southern Brazil, and there he organized the Sao Paulo Tramway Light and Power Company, Limited. In connection with this enterprise he con- structed at a distance of twenty miles from the city a large hydraulic power station of 10,000 H. P. capacity, which furnishes the electric power for the operation of the street railways, electric lights and manufactories. This company with a capitalization of $15,000,000 has been a most successful enterprise from the start.
FRED STARK PEARSON
In 1903 he was called to Mexico and there completed the organiza- tion of the Mexican Light and Power Company, for which he superin- tended the construction of an immense hydro-electric plant of 48,000 H. P., situated about one hundred miles from the city of Mexico, to which power is transmitted over high tension lines. This company owns all of the electric light companies in the city and is now developing a second station of about 50,000 H. P., capacity, the capacity of the first having been speedily absorbed by the power- consumers.
Niagara Falls next attracted his attention and he was engaged to utilize the water-power on the Canadian side of the river for the benefit not only of the City of Toronto eighty miles away, but also of the neighboring places in Ontario. His experiences in Mexico and Brazil made him invaluable as consulting engineer in charge of the great enterprises known as the Toronto and Niagara Falls Trans- mission Company and the Electrical Development Company of On- tario, for which he designed and superintended the construction of a power-station, planned to produce 125,000 H. P. He was also consulting engineer in the organization and construction of the Winnepeg Power Company with a power-station of 20,000 H. P., and transmission lines sixty miles in length. At the same time he was entrusted with engineering projects for electric light, tramways and power in many other cities in South America, Mexico and Canada. Among these may be mentioned the Mexico Tramways Company, controlling the entire street railway system of the City of Mexico.
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