USA > Massachusetts > Biographical history of Massachussetts; biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state, 1911, vol 7 > Part 16
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In the fall of 1874, he opened a law office in Boston, in company with J. B. Warner, and there began a career in which he attained eminence, ranking among the foremost in his profession in Massa- chusetts. He had a career of high distinction in public life and was for many years a prominent figure in Massachusetts politics.
He was one of the men who always took his citizenship seriously, believing that the duty of attending a caucus was as important as that of attending church. He took a deep interest in politics even before he had a right to vote, and kept that interest through life. He accepted office as a trust and fulfilled its duties as a servant of the public, without regard to his own interests.
Beginning in 1892, Mr. Myers was the Representative from the First Middlesex District to the General Court of Massachusetts for eleven consecutive years, and for the last four years was a Speaker
JAMES JEFFERSON MYERS
of the House. In all the terms that he was a member of the Legis- lature, he never missed a session. Private business was put entirely aside until his work for the State had been completed.
From the first, Mr. Myers was placed upon the most important committees of the House, and was frequently appointed Chairman. He had the faculty of expressing his exact meaning in words which were not only clear but forceful and convincing; and the meaning was full of practical commonsense. This soon made him a leader both in committee room and on the floor of the House.
Among the subjects in which he felt a special interest were the commission to inquire into the Norwegian liquor system, the Metro- politan Parks bill, the bill to abolish double taxation, the Bay State Gas investigation, the prevention of the watering of public utility stocks and the revision of corporation laws.
He also worked hard for a bill authorizing any municipality to construct conduits for electric wires in its own streets; but this measure he was unable to carry.
Mr. Myers never came to hasty decisions. He liked to get in all the evidence, weigh it carefully, and base his opinion on the result. This made the decision of value when it came.
Twice, during his Speakership, however, he was obliged to decide quickly and to act when action required a rare degree of courage. There was at one time a tie-vote on two questions of strong class interest. The first was a labor bill, the second the Spanish Vet- erans' Preference Bill. In both cases he put aside his love of delayed decision and promptly killed both bills by his casting vote without regard to the powerful enemies he might make. He be- lieved the first bill was unfair, and that the other would deal a fatal blow to the merit system in appointments.
He brought to the position of Speaker of the House superb natural gifts and an unexcelled legislative training and experience, and he filled the office with ability and distinction. It was to the great regret of a multitude of friends, whose confidence and admira- tion he had won during his public service, that he did not seek higher honors after retiring from the Speakership.
He was a member of the Century Association and the Harvard Club of New York; the Union Club, the St. Botolph Club, and the Harvard Club of Boston, the Colonial and Oakley clubs of Cam- bridge, of the Masonic Order, and of the Zeta Psi Fraternity. He
JAMES JEFFERSON MYERS
also belonged to a number of political clubs and associations and business organizations.
Mr. Myers was president of the Colonial Club of Cambridge, and also of the Merchants' Club of Boston, and of the Cambridge Club of Cambridge. He was an ardent Republican in politics, but above party he held the State. Thus he voted for William E. Russell for Governor of Massachusetts and for Grover Cleveland for Presi- dent of the United States.
Mr. Myers never married. He lived in Cambridge, in the Wadsworth House, formerly the home of the Presidents of the University, which stands in the yard of Harvard College. He was a man with many friends. His genial manner, tact, and absolute fairness to all sides gained him the good will of even those who differed from him.
He was in demand as a speaker upon public occasions such as the Memorial Service in honor of President Mckinley, the dedica- tion of the monument to the Northern Soldiers at Andersonville, Georgia, and before numerous bodies from Boards of Trade to Unitarian Conventions.
His public interests covered a wide range. He was long a member of the Cambridge Civil Service Reform Association and Treasurer of the Cambridge branch of the Indian Rights Associa- tion. He was also Treasurer of the Citizens' Committee for raising funds for the public library, and was President of the Library Hall Association in 1892. Whatever he undertook, he carried through with energy and good sense.
The open air afforded him his chief recreation. In earlier life he was fond of fishing, hunting, canoeing, and games of ball and tennis.
From his ripened experience he counselled youth as follows: "Success in life depends so much on sex, training, opportunities, occupation, and ambitions, that one cannot be definite. But abso- lute honesty, courage of conviction, optimism in life, temperate habits, and loyalty to friends and to ideals will go far."
Mathil b. Nash,
NATHANIEL CUSHING NASH
N ATHANIEL CUSHING NASH, the son of Nathaniel Cush- ing and Lucy Turner (Briggs) Nash, was born in Boston, on April 4, 1862. He died at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on October 10, 1915.
He was a descendant of William Brewster, who came from Eng- land on the Mayflower and settled at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. Among Mr. Nash's distinguished ancestors was James Cud- worth, who was a Deputy Governor of Plymouth County, Assistant to the Old Colony Government, Deputy to the General Court, and Commissioner to Great Britain for the United Colonies. He also served as a soldier in King Philip's War.
His grandfathers were John Nash and Henry Briggs; and his grandmothers were Deborah Cushing and Betsy Ruggles.
Mr. Nash's father was a highly successful merchant who was possessed of a strong individuality and greatly interested in all affairs. He served for several years as an Alderman of the City of Boston, and he was a Representative to the General Court of Massachusetts. At the time when the question of slavery was agi- tating our country, he was an ardent abolitionist.
Mr. Nash attended David Mack's School in Belmont, and G. W. C. Noble's School in Boston. Then he entered Harvard University, and graduated in the class of 1884. Subsequently he took up post- graduate work in the Graduate School of the University and in 1892 received the degree of A.M.
After his graduation he found that the management of the property inherited from his father's estate required all his atten- tion and so to that work he devoted himself.
When he was a boy in Arlington, he spent many happy hours in boating on the Mystic Lakes and in roaming through the woods nearby. In this way there was born in him a love of nature which formed the key-note of his life. Long before he entered college, he was an adept in the use of the shot-gun. In his youth he won the highest medals in competition with the rifle, and from that time until he was already overtaken by the first signs of his last illness, hardly a year passed without finding him spending sev- eral weeks in Maine or New Brunswick in the pursuit of moose, deer, caribou or bear.
His early boating experiences also were the forerunners of his love of the sea. From his college days up to 1902, he spent nearly
NATHANIEL CUSHING NASH
every summer at the seashore, and usually spent at least a month of this period in cruising in his yacht along the New England coast, acting much of the time as his own navigator. After he gave up yachting, he took up fishing, and visited many lakes and streams in Maine, New Brunswick and Canada for salmon and trout, and made several trips to Florida for tarpon, amber-jack, barracouta and other game fishes.
He was also greatly interested in the study of Botany, and after making a special study of microscopic Botany at Harvard, served for many years on the Committee to visit that Department of the University. The N. C. Nash Botanical Lecture Room in the Uni- versity Museum is his gift and a memorial to his father.
His library contained many volumes dealing with sport. Among these, was an unusually fine collection of "The Compleat Angler" by Walton and Cotton, some excellent editions of Au- dubon's Birds and Quadrupeds, and a particularly fine collec- tion of books on African hunting and exploration.
Mr. Nash never sought political preferment, and never served in public office. In politics he was a Republican, and while he did not always agree with the views of party leaders, and freely criti- cised them, nevertheless he was steadfast in his political allegiance.
He identified himself with the Cambridge Trust Company, and was connected with it for several years, serving as President and Director.
He was a member of the Masonic Fraternity, being a 32nd degree Mason, and he belonged to many clubs and societies, among which may be mentioned the American Society of Natural History, the Mayflower Society, the Algonquin Club, the Union Club, the Boston Athletic Association, the Eastern Yacht Club, the Brookline Country Club, and the Oakley Country Club. He was also a mem- ber and President of the Massachusetts Rifle Association, and a member and Commodore of the Corinthian Yacht Club.
His religious affiliations were with the Unitarian Church.
On June 26, 1884, he married Nellie Munro, the daughter of Nehemiah and Mary E. (Fiske) Fessenden, granddaughter of Philip Bemis and Rebecca (Tufts) Fessenden, and of Jonas Stone and Pamelia (Brown) Fiske. Two children were born of this marriage, one of whom is now living-Nathaniel Cushing Nash, Jr., who has served in the Common Council in Cambridge, and is now a lawyer with offices in Boston.
Hilly Page
KILBY PAGE
K ILBY PAGE was born in Lynde Street, Boston, May 2, 1836, and died at Del Monte, California, May 2, 1903. He was the son of Kilby Page, born 1797, died 1868, and Re- becca Dana. His father's parents were Thomas Page and Sarah Cogswell; his mother's were Judge Samuel Dana of Groton and Rebecca Barrett. His father was engaged in the shipping busi- ness. His ancestors came from England and one of them, Chris- topher Kilby, gave the name to Kilby Street, Boston. Kilby Page was favored with a mother whose influence was uplifting and en- nobling, not only intellectually but morally and spiritually.
He obtained his education in the public schools, and in Charles Green's School at Jamaica Plain.
He commenced his business career with E. N. Blake in the produce business. He became President of the Rockport Granite Company and Director in many corporations.
He was a member of the Boston Art Club, and President of the John Eliot Club of Roxbury. In his political relations he was identified with the Republican party, and in his religious life he was affiliated with the First (Unitarian) Church of Roxbury. For exercise and relaxation from regular lifework he always enjoyed traveling.
He was married June 18, 1866, to Anna Catherine, daughter of William Hancock and Catherine Downer, granddaughter of Belcher Hancock and Ann Ackers, and of John Downer and Catherine Wyman.
They have three daughters, all married: Katherine Mary Stone, Annie Dana Osborne, and Elizabeth Hancock Hall.
Rev. James DeNormandie wrote for this work the following tribute to Mr. Page :
"Kilby Page gave you at once the impression of a man in whom to put confidence. Dignified and yet easy to approach, open to counsel and yet of settled convictions, honorable in business, devoted at home, interested in his church, strong in his friendship, not courting place nor applause, he was what one liked to call an 'all around man.'
"The gifts he had he used, and he used them to help others. Principle was the moving element in the daily life of Kilby Page. All other honors in the world are weak and fade away before the mysterious, far-reaching, triumphant power of example, which be- longs to each one of us in every position. The life of Kilby Page bore witness to all this, and he left behind him a good savor of prin- ciple, of human nature's possibility and worth."
THEOPHILUS PARSONS
T HEOPHILUS PARSONS was born in Brookline, July 1, 1849. He died at his home in Boston, January 4, 1916. He bore the name of the distinguished Chief Justice of Massachusetts, a name which is among the fifty-two Immortals of Massachusetts, to be seen in the rotunda of the State House, and which is among those carved on the front of the Boston Public Library.
His father was Thomas Parsons, who died in 1886, at the age of seventy; his mother was Martha Watson Franklin, daughter of Henry Paine Franklin, a remarkably successful manufacturer, of Providence, Rhode Island. His earliest ancestor in this country was Jeffrey Parsons, who came from near Exeter in Devonshire, England, and about 1654 married Sarah Vinson of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Another of his distinguished ancestors was Rev. Moses Parsons of Byfield, the father of Chief Justice Theophilus Parsons. Among the collateral families whose blood ran in his veins are the Chauncys, the Watsons, and the Bicknells. His father, who was engaged in public official life, was also a great lover of out-of-door sports and exercises. Although the son was properly prepared for college, he cared little for the routine of a student's life and it was perhaps natural that he should take a far greater interest in out-of-door games, especially boating, rowing and yachting, fishing, riding, and driving horses. His mother, how- ever, exercised a restraining influence upon him and skilfully directed his intellectual and moral life. The books that he espe- cially affected were the biographies of great men and history, especially the history of the Middle Ages. Though caring little for the classics, yet he took a keen delight in Cicero's Orations against Cataline and his treatises on Friendship and Old Age.
He finished the preparatory course in the Brookline High School and was graduated from Harvard College in the Class of 1870. In accordance with the wishes of his parents, supplemented by his own strong personal preference for working at something other than a profession, he entered upon the active duties of life as a laborer in the Lyman Cotton Mills of Holyoke, Massachusetts, where he thoroughly learned the business from the bottom. After two years of strenuous toil he was sent abroad to visit the cotton mills in various European countries. As a result of his experi- ence he found himself able to take an active and intelligent part in the business. In 1879 he became the agent of the Pocasset
Theophilus Parsons .
THEOPHILUS PARSONS
Mills; the following year he was appointed agent of the Lyman Mills and in 1884 he was promoted to be Treasurer of the same corporation. He had held other important offices of trust, such, for instance, as President and Trustee of the Amoskeag Manu- facturing Company, Director of the American Mutual Liability Insurance Company, Vice-President and Director of the National Union Bank, Trustee of the Provident Institution for Savings, President and Director of the Dwight Manufacturing Company of Boston, Director of the Boston Manufacturers' Mutual Fire Insur- ance Company, Director of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insur- ance Company, and of the New England Trust Company.
He also served as Trustee of the Sailors' Snug Harbor and as Senior Warden of Saint Paul's Church in Brookline. He was a member of the A. D. Club, Cambridge; of the Somerset and Uni- versity Clubs of Boston; of the New York, of the Beverly, and of the Eastern Yacht Clubs; and of the Myopia Hunt.
He never mingled in politics, and although he sometimes found it hard to swallow all the principles of the Republican party he customarily voted for the Republican candidates.
In August, 1894, he married Mary Mason Oliver, daughter of Fitch Edward and Susan Lawrence (Mason) Oliver, granddaugh- ter of the Rev. Charles and Susan Lawrence Mason, and of Daniel Oliver and Mary Robinson Pulling, and a descendant of Thomas Oliver, who came to this country from London in 1632. They have one daughter.
Mr. Parsons attributed his own success in life principally to the home influences that surrounded him, together with a particu- larly congenial coterie of early friends, and not a little to his con- tact with men in a wide and interesting acquaintance.
He believed that it is best if men cannot make accurate state- ments to say nothing at all. "Truthfulness under all circum- stances" was his motto for life, and he gave the following advice to young Americans: "Success may be attained by any one of average ability provided that one finds something-no matter what -- and sticks to it with grim determination, to spare no labor and no self-sacrifice in carrying it through. Though it may take years, success will be ultimately attained and generally before a man is forty." As a man Mr. Parsons was a credit to his ancestry, and as a successful business man he was one of the fine products of Massachusetts opportunities and institutions.
BENJAMIN WARREN PORTER
B ENJAMIN WARREN PORTER was born in Freeport, Illi- nois, on the 30th of June, 1865. His father, Benjamin Lord Porter, a merchant possessed of much business sense and strength of character, died when his son was six years old. His mother was Sarah Clark, and to her fell the task of watching over and guiding the development of the boy. Some of his ancestors, natives of England and Wales, came to America about 1755 and set- tled in Massachusetts. On his mother's side his grandfather was Warren Chapman Clark (1814-1877). He married Emily Everett. His father's father was Henry Wheelock Porter (1803-1887), a na- tive of Vermont, whose wife was Marion Hale.
Mr. Porter was educated in the public schools of Freeport. While still in high school he worked afternoons and evenings in a drug store. After finishing his schooling in 1882 he became a re- porter on the Daily Journal. Then he entered the employ of the Henny Buggy Company as office boy, and soon rose to be book- keeper. Then his grandfather, an old time Democrat and formerly landlord of the Brewster House, where Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas stayed when holding their debates, invited him to enter his office. As he was City Clerk as well as a general fire-in- surance broker, he could put before the young man opportunities for a very considerable business training. On the death of his grandfather Mr. Porter was elected to fill out the unexpired term as City Clerk, a very real tribute to his knowledge and ability as well as a mark of the genuine respect which the community had for his grandfather. Shortly before this and during a lull in business he went out with a surveying party across the prairies locating a new railroad. He was at this time but nineteen years old.
In 1888 he went to Derby, Connecticut, and entered the office of the Derby Street Railway Company. Here his rise was very rapid, for within two years he had become Secretary, Treasurer and General Manager. When the company was absorbed by the
BENJAMIN WARREN PORTER
United Gas Improvement Corporation of Philadelphia, he became the Assistant General Manager of that system in Connecticut.
A short time before the change in the railroad ownership Mr. Porter had associated himself with the President of the company, who was interested in the manufacture of boxes. Removing to Newton Center, Massachusetts, in 1898 he became Vice President of the National Box and Lumber Company. In 1899 The New Eng- land Box Company was formed with Mr. Porter as its Vice Presi- dent, and a factory was established in Orange, Massachusetts. Mr. Porter decided to give himself wholly to the development of this business. He removed to Greenfield the same year and there the office of the company was finally located. Four years later Mr. Porter was made President of the company. The one mill had grown to eight, and a business organization had been developed which was a model of its kind. The underlying idea upon which the greatest stress was laid was efficient cooperation. This, together with the force of Mr. Porter's own personality, was responsible in large measure for the success of the business, which at the time of his death on the 6th of March, 1914, was rated as one of the strong- est in Western Massachusetts.
Mr. Porter was more than a successful business man. He was not only keen minded but also great hearted. He was one of the most public spirited citizens of the town of Greenfield. He was always ready and eager to support any movement for community betterment. In the reorganizing of the Board of Trade, in service on the Town Finance Committee and other local commissions, as a Director in the Franklin County Trust Company and Trustee of the Greenfield Savings Bank, he placed his time and ability at the service of his fellow townsmen. Impressed with the folly and waste of so much overlapping and competition among the benev- olent organizations in the town, he conceived the idea of the Fed- erated Societies, a forerunner of what must some day become a form of organized charity.
A member of the Greenfield Club and one of the organizers of the Country Club, he enjoyed mingling with other men and was always keenly interested in clean sport. He was intensely fond of horses and an expert rider and driver.
His interests were wider than those of his own town. He was a member of the City Club of New York, of the Springfield Board
BENJAMIN WARREN PORTER
of Trade, and of the Boston Chamber of Commerce. He was one of the leaders in the organization of the Western New England Cham- ber of Commerce and its first President. He put his energy to work for improved labor laws, for good roads, for improvements on the Connecticut River, for the conservation of natural resources, for organized cooperation among the farmers, for the developing of a better understanding between the public and the railroads. His business being the making of boxes, he was naturally interested in trees and particularly in reforestation. He was a member of the State Forestry Commission.
Mr. Porter was by birth and inclination a strong Churchman. He was not only a Vestryman of St. James' Episcopal Church, but for some years Treasurer as well. He was devoted to the Parish and at a period when it was greatly expanding its active life.
Politically, first a Democrat and then at the time of the free silver agitation a Republican, he was never a partisan. His sympa- thy and breadth made it possible for him to see the good in every measure that concerned the welfare of the people, no matter what party might be its advocate.
On December 16, 1890, Mr. Porter married Miss Harriet Charry Downs, of Derby, Connecticut, the daughter of Dwight Joseph Downs and Anna Elizabeth Gray, and granddaughter of James Downs and Charry Johnson, and of Frederick Gray and Harriet Elizabeth Tuttle. To have known Mr. Porter in his home was to know him at his best. He was hospitality itself and the most gracious host imaginable. Genial and sunny by nature, big in frame and in heart, a born leader, alert and vigorous and yet kindly in disposition, fearless and outspoken and yet considerate always of the other man's point of view,-such a man was Benjamin War- ren Porter. To be his friend was to partake of a happy experience. To know him intimately was to love him.
Llewellynbowers
LLEWELLYN POWERS
L LEWELLYN POWERS was born on December 14, 1836, at Pittsfield, Maine. He was the son of Arba and Naomi (Matthews) Powers, who a few years before had gone to Somerset County as pioneers and built their home on the edge of the forest; and there Llewellyn Powers grew up amid the stimulat- ing surroundings and hardy activities of pioneer life. The Powers' homestead was the seat of plain but ample country hospitality. The neighbors gathered there and the ministers in their rounds always came to the Powers' house. It was the center for local political plans, and for religious and educational endeavors. His mother had a good education and personally attended to that of her children. She was, moreover, a woman of great religious zeal and remarkably strong personality, and there obtained in the home to an unusual degree the strict, puritanical atmosphere that has al- ways characterized life in the New England countryside. This serious environment, and the sturdy life in the open, moulded the young man's character in earnest and rugged lines, and gave an early inspiration and training that he always looked back upon with satisfaction and gratitude.
There were eight sons in the Powers' household, and six of them attained distinction in the legal profession. One, Gorham Powers, who died in 1915, was for twenty years a District Judge in Minne- sota. Another, Cyrus Powers, who died in 1884, was a distin- guished lawyer of the Maine Bar, for three terms a member of the Legislature of Maine, and twice a member of the Executive Council of that State. Cassius Clay Powers was graduated from Bowdoin College and became a successful lawyer in Boston. Amos Powers for many years had a large school in Lincoln, California. Sceva Powers was sucessful in lumbering and mining interests in Wiscon- sin and California, and is now retired and living at the old home- stead at Pittsfield. Don A. H. Powers, a prominent lawyer of Houlton, Maine, served in the Legislature of that State for four years, was Speaker of the House of Representatives, and was after- wards for two terms a member of the Governor's Council; while the youngest son, Frederick A. Powers, after practicing law in Houlton, Maine, became Attorney General of the State, and later a Judge of the Supreme Court.
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