USA > Massachusetts > Biographical history of Massachussetts; biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state, 1911, vol 7 > Part 22
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Mr. Smith deplored the great loss of time and money caused by destructive lawsuits between the great loom manufacturers, and through his efforts the consolidation of Crompton Thayer and Crompton Knowles Loom Works was effected, the latter becoming the largest manufacturers of weaving machinery in the world. He was retained by the company as a patent expert, and soon devoted himself entirely to work which he aptly describes as "Harmonizing" -the elimination of friction in competing firms-by consolidation.
He sold the Queen Dyeing Company of Providence to the United States Finishing Company for $2,000,000, and later on merged the lathe interests of Worcester into the Reed-Prentice Company, with a capital of $2,500,000.
His knowledge of patents, losses by competition, and the value of organized efforts led him to take up the part of Thomas G. Plant in his battle for supremacy in the manufacture of Shoe Machinery with the United Shoe Machinery Company of Boston.
He brought about an adjustment very profitable to Mr. Plant, but on account of a disagreement was unable to collect his commis- sion until the case was fought through two courts over a period of four years when, by the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court, he was awarded and received $354,403.54.
While he has worked he has worked with tremendous energy, and the same energy has been put into his favorite amusement-
HARRY WORCESTER SMITH
Horses and Hounds. He is quoted as saying: "It is all right to have one's fun but it is a poor policy not to earn the wherewithal to keep the fun going."
For thirty years Mr. Smith has been a moving spirit in clean sport in America. He won the High Jump in Boston in 1896 on Sure Pop, the Gentleman's Race at Saratoga, 1907, the Meadow- brook Hunt Cup for two years in succession, the Radnor Hunt Cup at Philadelphia, and the Calvert Cup at Baltimore.
Riding his own hunter against seven professionals, he won the $10,000.00 Championship Steeplechase of America at Morris Park on The Cad in 1900. Next Spring he was first and second in the Grand National Steeplechase at Sheepshead Bay, value $8000, and earlier that season won the Myopia Steeplechase at Boston, and the Hempstead Cup at Long Island. He headed the list of gentlemen riders for four times in succession.
For years he was one of the most ardent followers of the Gen- esee Valley Foxhounds, Major W. A. Wadsworth Master, Geneseo, New York, and won the Point to Point Steeplechase of the Hunt for three seasons.
With his crack tandem of Sky High and Sue Woodstock he carried all before him at three of the leading Madison Square Horse Shows and won the first Sporting Tandem Prize ever given in the States, and the Cup given for the best driver of Tandems at the Readville Horse Show. His Four-in-Hand was well known in all parts of Worcester County, one of the leaders being the celebrated gray horse "Ting a Ling" purchased off the Worcester street cars and made famous by David Grey, a great friend of Mr. Smith's, in his book called "Gallops."
Mr. Smith has been master of all the great Hunt Clubs of this country, including the Grafton Hounds, the Virginia Foxhounds, the Brunswick Foxhound Club, the Genesee Valley Upland Coun- try, the Piedmont Hunt, and the Loudoun Hunt of Virginia, mak- ing his own hunters and steeplechasers from two and three year olds purchased from the leading stud farms in Virginia and Ken- tucky, and breeding his own foxhounds, both of which were uni- versally successful, he soon began to be looked up to as an authority in both horse and hound, and for a number of years judged all the leading shows, including Montreal, Boston, Newport, Piping Rock, and Madison Square Garden.
He founded the Grafton Country Club and the Masters of
HARRY WORCESTER SMITH
Foxhounds Association in America. He is a member of the cele- brated Piping Rock Club, Long Island, the National Hunt and Steeplechase Association, and is the only member of the English Masters of Foxhounds Association in America; his name is one of the few American names in the English "Who's Who."
He is known all through Worcester County as the "Master of Lordvale," his famous country place in Grafton, seven miles from Worcester city.
Lordvale is one of the show places of New England, with a mile of avenue from the State Road leading through a beautiful Park to Lordvale House. The library shelters one of the best col- lections in America of sporting books and autograph letter editions. It contains the most complete collection of the works of the great American authority on Field Sports-Frank Forrester.
The establishment includes the old Colonial mansion for the family, together with stables for the thoroughbreds, with the Show grounds and Steeplechase course for the hunters to school over. At the other side of the Park are the kennels where the crack Graf- ton hounds are sheltered.
Being a keen sportsman and always in condition to ride his own horses and hunt his own hounds, Mr. Smith has never smoked nor drunk throughout his life, and as a gentleman rider racing continually against the crack men, either amateur or professionals, he has never wagered himself nor allowed his stable connections to do so.
In June, 1911, Mr. Smith was chosen Master of the Westmeath Hunt, one of the most famous in Ireland, and went to Dublin carrying with him his horses and hounds, the first pack ever taken abroad. He took at Mullingar for the season the celebrated manor house, Portloman, on the shores of Lough Owel, late the property of Lord de Blacquiere, and made famous by the visit of the Duke of Richmond and the Duke of Wellington. As an Irish Master he secured the distinction of being the first American ever chosen as Master of a Hunt in Great Britain. When his Grafton horses and hounds reached Ireland for the hunting season even the London Punch commented upon their arrival, and at the end of the season the London Telegraph on the résumé of sport said :
"Harry Worcester Smith, Master of the Westmeath, came over with the reputation as a hard rider. That puts it mildly; he is an abnormally hard rider."
HARRY WORCESTER SMITH
While in Ireland Mr. Smith was accorded every possible honor. He was the guest of eight of the leading Masters of Foxhounds and rode his American hunters after all the crack packs in Erin's Isle.
Mr. Smith is the foremost breeder of American Foxhounds and established the type in this country. For four years he won the Foxhound Pack Prize in Madison Square Garden, defeating all comers with hounds of his own breeding.
In 1905, he won the famous match of $2000 and Plate between his own American hounds (The Grafton) and the English (Mid- dlesex) hounds owned by A. Henry Higginson of Boston. Mr. Smith hunted his little pack of six couple of hounds against a pack of 191/2 couple hunted by an English professional, and by the unanimous verdict of the judges was awarded the match.
At the earnest request of those interested, he some years ago took charge (for the sake of sport) and has made a success of a number of the different Country Fairs held annually in Massachu- setts. Their Treasury has been brought from a minus quantity to a plus surplus in every case, and he enjoys the distinction of being the first "Master of Ceremonies" ever appointed at these events.
One of Mr. Smith's recent services on behalf of clean sport was the first Sportsman's Dinner ever given in America. He worked hard to bring together, purely in the interests of sport, men from the Polo and Hunting Field, the Kennels, and the Breeding and Racing Stables.
He felt that the Turf had been maligned and that the breeding of the thoroughbred horse in this country was practically aban- doned. He believed that horse racing could be conducted on the same high plane as in England, and that the best way to encourage this idea was to bring representatives of the Turf and the Field into close friendly contact with each other.
The dinner and the one that followed the next year (the cus- tom only given up on Mr. Smith's going abroad) was an unqualified success and did much towards making possible the realization of Mr. Smith's ideas.
After hunting in all parts of the world the Master of Lordvale returned to Grafton and took up the hunting of Worcester Country, his own country, with renewed vigor. Of his efforts the leading American authority says :
"The Grafton Hounds, fifteen couples, branded 'S' are kept at
HARRY WORCESTER SMITH
the kennels in the park not far from Lordvale, Mass., where the Master of the Grafton extends a hospitable welcome to all sports- men. The County of Worcester is a stone wall country, fully eighty per cent vast woodlands but thoroughly intersected by soft dirt roads and cart paths. It is a country abounding in foxes, but there are also plenty of deer, porcupine, rabbit, coon, and skunk.
"The contour of the land, while perfect for the art of venery, makes riding to hounds almost impossible, but a hunting enthusiast can obtain the best of sport by following when possible, and gal- loping from point to point at other times.
"It is a hard country to hunt, and successfully to show sport in such a country where conditions are all against one it is an exploit well worthy of the skill and enthusiasm of the most ardent foxhunter.
"Mr. Smith has been and still is one of the best men across coun- try that America has ever produced, and his energy about hunting and the betterment of conditions are beyond dispute, and remind one of the success with which that famous English Master, Asshe- ton-Smith, hunted his home country, the Tedworth, which was looked upon as hopeless.
"For the pleasure of hunting the 'Land of His Fathers' he gave up the Quorn, the finest country in England, but he soon showed sport in Tedworth which rivaled any he had ever shown in Leices- tershire.' "
"For three generations the Smiths have lived and had sport in Worcester County. The present Master of the Grafton is loyal to his own native soil and we wish him good sport."
All the Smithville Smiths and their descendants have been staunch Republicans and the Master of Lordvale is no exception. He has held and sought no public office, however, till last year, when he was appointed a member of a Board of five Park Commis- sioners of Worcester, a position of honor, as the Board has always been made up of the strong men of Worcester City, including such names in the past as Lincoln, Davis, Hardwin, and Draper.
He has published a number of articles on Racing, Chasing, and Foxhunting, and has in the hands of the printers "A Sport- ing Tour in Ireland," a history of his trip with his horses and hounds in Erin's Isle. He expects to publish shortly a history of his successes and adventures in sport, entitled "Thirty Years' Sporting Reminiscences."
LOUIS CARVER SOUTHARD
L OUIS CARVER SOUTHARD, third son and fourth child of William L. and Lydia Carver (Dennis) Southard, was born in Portland, Maine, April 1, 1854. He is the eighteenth generation from Sir Gilbert Southworth (Southard) of Lancaster, Kent, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Dayes of Salnesburye in Lancashire, England, and the eighth generation from Constant Southworth (Southard) of Plymouth, Massachu- setts, 1628.
His father, a merchant noted for his great energy, qualities of leadership, and strong executive ability, was a direct descendant of Constant Southworth, the first American ancestor (1628), and of John Southworth of Plymouth Colony fame, who afterwards went to Maine, having served in the Continental Army, being cap- tured at the Battle of Quebec. Escaping, he made his way to Boothbay, where he located, establishing the Maine branch of this family. His mother, whose influence was great on the intellec- tual, moral, and spiritual lives of her family, was a worthy descend- ant of Robert, brother of Governor John Carver.
His grandfathers were John Southard and John Paul Dennis, and his grandmothers were Joana Carver and Elizabeth Cathland.
The name Southworth was formerly pronounced "Southard," and the branch of the family that emigrated to Maine changed the orthography to conform to the pronunciation. Among Mr. Southard's ancestry was Alice Carpenter Southworth (or South- ard), the second wife of Governor Bradford; also Robert Carver, brother of Governor Carver, and Thomas Rogers, the Pilgrim.
Mr. Southard's special tastes and interests in childhood and youth were athletics and boating, and now he enjoys and finds most helpful for amusement and exercise, walking, golf, and motor- ing, which impart the physical strength so necessary to success. While pursuing his studies he helped to pay his expenses by teach-
Louis Carver Southard
LOUIS CARVER SOUTHARD
ing school and newspaper work, and at the same time improved his mind by reading very thoroughly Blackstone's and Kent's com- mentaries, which he found were of the greatest possible assistance in giving him a ground work in the principles of law.
Mr. Southard, with his characteristic application and easy mas- tery of hard problems, obtained a superior education in the public schools of Portland, at Kent's Hill, at Westbrook Seminary, at the Dorchester (Massachusetts) High School, at the University of Maine, and at the Boston University Law School. The degree of LL.D. was later conferred on him by the University of Maine.
He was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Maine in 1877; establishing himself in North Easton, Massachusetts, the same year, he was admitted to practice before the courts in Mas- sachusetts; and in connection with his successful law business in Bristol County, he opened an office in Boston, which he has ever since maintained to the entire satisfaction of his large clientage. He was admitted to practice in the United States Circuit Court in 1887 and in the United States Supreme Court in 1889. His eminent legal attainments have received wide recognition as is evidenced by the facts that from 1897 to the present time he has served with distinction as a lecturer in the law school of the Uni- versity of Maine, and in 1904 he was delegate to the Universal Congress of Lawyers at St. Louis, Missouri, which was a great honor as representing so many prominent men of his learned pro- fession.
Mr. Southard, while transacting a legal business which would have entirely absorbed the energies of most of our ablest lawyers, has loyally served his state and nation by being a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1886 and 1887, where he was a member of the Judiciary Committee and Chairman of the Committee on Bills in the Third Reading; he was also a member of the State Senate in 1895 and 1896, where he was Chairman of the Committee on Bills in the Third Reading, Chairman of the Com- mittee on Manufacturers, and on the Judiciary and other commit- tees. He was an alternate delegate at large to the National Re- publican Convention in 1896, which nominated President McKin- ley, and a member of the Republican State Central Committee from 1890 to 1896. He is now President of the American Invalid Aid Society, a member of the National Association for the Study
LOUIS CARVER SOUTHARD
and Prevention of Tuberculosis, of the Boston, Massachusetts State, and the American Bar Associations, a thirty-second degree Mason, past deputy grand-master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, former President of the Republican Club of Easton, General Coun- sel and Director of the International Purchasing Company since 1908 and Treasurer and General Manager since 1912; Treasurer of the Hudson Tannery Company since 1908, President of the State Wharf and Storage Company, Trustee of the Dorchester Savings Bank, a member of the Twentieth Century Club, the University Club, and of the Boston City Club.
He has always been a Republican in politics and a Unitarian in religion.
Mr. Louis Carver Southard was united in marriage, June 1, 1881, with Miss Nellie Copeland, daughter of Joseph and Lucy Ann (Keith) Copeland, granddaughter of Oakes and Polly (Pet- tee) Copeland, and a descendant from Lawrence Copeland, who came from England to Plymouth, Massachusetts, soon after 1620. Of this union there are three children, Louis Keith Southard, as- sistant manager of the International Purchasing Company; Fred- erick Dean Southard, now Tree Warden of Milton, Massachusetts; and Lawrence Southard, with the John A. Manning Paper Com- pany, Troy, New York.
He regards the influences of home, of private study, of con- tact with men in active life, of school, and of early companionship, all as potent factors in his own success in life.
From his own varied experience he sends this valuable advice to those young men who would attain true success in life :
"The world does not owe you a living, but you do owe the world the best services you can render it. Honesty, persistency, a tem- perate moderation in all things, determination to do your very best with whatever work comes to hand. Habits of thrift early learned are invaluable, but they should not be allowed to degen- erate into selfishness. Generosity according to one's means, fit- tingly bestowed, not only helps the deserving, but broadens the character of the giver. Cultivate courage, mental, moral, and physical."
LAROY SUNDERLAND STARRETT
L AROY SUNDERLAND STARRETT was born in China, Maine, April 25, 1836. Those were days of large families and he is the sixth of twelve children. His father, Daniel D. Starrett, and his mother, Anna, maintained a large farm and their children early learned the value of hard toil. The elder Mr. Starrett was of direct Scottish descent, and was the first of that name to settle in New England.
The educational advantages of Maine farmer boys, at that time, were exceedingly limited, and Mr. Starrett's school days were few. The larger part of his boyhood was spent on the farm, with inter- vals at school of two or three months each year. But he found a helpful stimulus in his home life and owes much to his parents for the incentive received towards his later success. He inherited a natural taste for mechanical pursuits, and while other boys were spending their pennies in confectioneries and toys, he was in- vesting his surplus earnings in small tools, such as knives, gim- lets, chisels, planes, with which he used all the spare moments he could obtain after the day's arduous work on the farm. Books on mechanics were more attractive to him than fiction, and he early decided that nature had intended mechanics to be his life work.
Accordingly, at the age of seventeen, he broke the home ties, and turned his footsteps towards Massachusetts, intent on secur- ing a position as a machinist. In this latter undertaking, how- ever, he was unsuccessful, and he was compelled to take up farm work again.
In 1861 he married Lydia Bartlett, and, though a machinist by choice, he became a farmer by necessity, and carried on a large stock farm of six hundred acres in Newburyport, Massachusetts, known as the "Turkey Hill Farm," where he remained until 1865. During these years his natural talent had not remained dormant, for he continued to experiment and invent, and succeeded in per-
LAROY SUNDERLAND STARRETT
fecting a meat chopper, a butter worker, and a washing machine, on which he took out patents. The desire to enter mechanical pursuits became so strong that he sold his farm to advantage and started a machine shop in Newburyport, employing a few skilled men. In 1868 he moved to Athol, Massachusetts, where the Athol Machine Company, with a capital of $25,000, which was subse- quently increased to $50,000, was incorporated especially for the manufacture of his inventions, among which the American Meat- chopper was a leading article. In 1866 he invented and patented the first shoe hook, which, with a slight modification, is now uni- versally employed on shoes and was at one time used by the famous Foster Kid Glove Company of New York on gloves, after he sold his patent to the company.
Mr. Starrett became the general agent and superintendent of the Athol Machine Co., and remained in that position for eight years. His inventive genius was at work and a number of pat- ents were obtained in addition to those previously secured. Re- signing this position, he became a manufacturer on his own ac- count, making many articles which he was continuously inventing. Among these were the combination square, surfage gauges, steel rules and calipers. It was in 1880 that he began on his own ac- count, with ten men, the business which has since increased to its present proportions (now capitalized at $5,000,000).
The products of his factory became immediately popular, and made necessary continued growth and the erection of new buildings and additions to the old ones.
Although he has often been solicited to hold public office, he has steadily refused all allurements to political preferments and devoted all his energies to his business affairs. He is ac- quainted with all the details and, by his wide and correct knowl- edge of human nature, has been able to select subordinates who have been skilled co-laborers and enthusiastically devoted to the interests of his establishment.
In politics, he is a Republican. He is a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Athol, to which he has given a fine organ and a $5,000 parsonage, and has been a strong and gener- ous supporter of its work, yet he is broad and tolerant in his re- ligious sympathies, and has been agitating a movement for suc- cessful co-operation among the churches of his town. He is the
LAROY SUNDERLAND STARRETT
leading spirit in the movements that make for the civic and moral welfare of the town in which he lives. He has recently donated to the town a valuable site for a Town Hall and Public Library. He is a Director and large stockholder of the Union Twist Drill Com- pany of Athol, which establishment (now capitalized at $5,000,- 000) he made possible. He is now financing a new plant for the manufacture of imitation leather and rubber goods, incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts for $200,000 called the Athol Manufacturing Company, which promises to be a great success.
His good wife and helpmate died in 1877, since which time he has lived with his daughters. Mrs. Starrett was a descendant of Josiah Bartlett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- ence. Five children were born to them, three of whom are living.
His three sons-in-law are now associated with him and others in an industry that is housed in factories that have over five acres of floor space with up-to-date improvements in sanitation, equip- ment, and machinery, and employ nearly 1000 men. It is the largest establishment in the world devoted exclusively to the manu- facture of small tools.
To quote Mr. Starrett's own words: "I have been inspired be- yond any pecuniary benefits that I hoped might come to myself by a desire to do all the good I possibly could in the interest of my fellow men, in the belief that I could do no better than to furnish people a chance to earn an honest living."
In one of the January issues of the Athol Transcript for 1915 was an item in regard to a paper given before the Men's Club of the Methodist Church by Mr. L. S. Starrett. The subject was "What Is Needed to Attain Success in Business." These words are copied from this item :
"Coming from a man who has himself achieved most extraor- dinary success and reputation as a manufacturer, as well as a citizen, the ideas presented had much more than passing value. It was the utterance of a thinker as well as a worker, a man of very unusual mental quality-an inventor of remarkable ingenuity, an organizer and administrator of great grasp and sagacity, a man of strong tenacity of purpose and patient perseverance, and finally a citizen of unexampled kindliness of nature, benevolent and pub- lic spirited, as his noble works among us eloquently demonstrate; a thorough man, in fact, whom to know is to respect, admire, and
LAROY SUNDERLAND STARRETT
esteem and whose ideas and plans are always of the deepest im- portance and interest to the local community."
The Healthy Home, published in Athol, in the February, 1915, issue, gives an account of the experiences of its editor abroad. The following words are taken from this article:
"It means that in practically every city in the world, however obscure, men are using articles of metal stamped 'Athol, Mass., U. S. A.' These metal articles are the fine tools, made by The L. S. Starrett Company, and they afford a widespread and endur- ing advertisement of Athol, such as few towns and cities ever pos- sess. It gives a fellow a queer feeling to accost a man in any French, German, Italian or Russian manufacturing town, and on learning that you are from Athol, Mass., have him hold up a tool he may have just been using bearing the name, 'Athol, Mass.,' in letters fixed deep in steel. No corner of the world is too far away for this to happen, not Australia, New Zealand or the South Sea Islands.
"After all people are the most interesting objects of study in any place,-even though they may not have found expression in great works of art, or architecture, but just in mere factories and commercial buildings. So not the least important factor in Athol's claim to interest is the man who makes the Starrett Tools, Mr. L. S. Starrett himself, 78 years old, erect, active, abstemious, a won- der of successful accomplishment. He still bears with ease and enjoyment the load of a great business, yet finds time for help- ful activity in many lines. Athol does not boast of many worthy public buildings, but its Young Men's Christian Association build- ing, largely the gift of Mr. Starrett, is one. There is no comfort for the lover of ease, self-indugence, and excess in Mr. Starrett's career. Many a man now old in capacity, if not in years, might wish his earlier life had been ordered with the same self denial, self control, and careful observance of the laws of hygiene which have resulted with Mr. Starrett in an old age remarkable for sus- tained endurance and fine achievement."
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