USA > Massachusetts > Biographical history of Massachussetts; biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state, 1911, vol 7 > Part 9
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George Draper was born at Weston, Massachusetts, August 10, 1817. He died at Boston, Massachusetts, June 7, 1887. He received from his father not only a large measure of his taste for mechanics and his genius for invention, but also a mathematical education, in lines not usually obtainable in the schools. His gen- eral education was not extensive, and when fifteen years of age he obtained employment as a weaver in a cotton mill at North Ux- bridge. Two years later he had risen to the position of overseer of weaving and dressing cloth, in a cotton sheeting mill at Walpole. Still two years later he became overseer of weaving in a mill at Three Rivers, Palmer, Massachusetts. While here employed his inventive genius, which became so conspicuous in after life, began to display itself, and he perfected an improvement in the temple which his father had invented.
In the year 1839 he was so unfortunate as to be thrown out of employment and, unwilling to remain idle, he accepted a position of operative in the Massachusetts Cotton Mills at Lowell, at the small compensation of five dollars a week. This was the period of low ebb in his affairs. He could not long remain in this humble position, and in 1843 he was engaged as a designer in the well- known Harris Woolen Mills at Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Two years later he became the superintendent of one of the mills of the Otis Company in Ware, Massachusetts.
GEORGE DRAPER
Shortly before this the Hopedale Community, based somewhat upon the lines of the famous Brook Farm Community, was formed. Like its prototype, this community was based upon Christian prin- ciples and hoped to bring about an industrial millennium by co-op- erative labors. Mr. Draper became interested in this community and became a member of it. It had so far prospered that it was the owner of six hundred acres of land, upon which was a small village of about two hundred and fifty inhabitants. There were also two small shops for the manufacture of hatchets, loom temples, and shoe-boxes, employing about eight or ten men. The remainder of the members of the community were engaged in farming.
The community finally became heavily involved in debt and its failure and dissolution followed. The brothers Draper, whose interests were then closely involved in the enterprise, assumed the liabilities and took the property, forming then a co-partnership for the prosecution of the business.
From this moment the prosperity of the Drapers may be reckoned. Their capital increased as their enterprises grew in number. In 1868 the senior partner, Ebenezer D. Draper, with- drew from the business, and George Draper, who was now married and blessed with a family of intelligent and industious sons, estab- lished the firm of George Draper and Sons. This firm finally expanded, various interests in which the members of the firm finally engaged being capitalized under other corporation names. From this original stock sprang the Hopedale Machine Company, manufacturers of spoolers, warpers, twisting machines, and other forms of cotton machinery ; the Dutcher Temple Company, manu- facturers of loom temples, Shaw knitting machines, and automatic sprinklers; the Hopedale Elastic Fabric Company, manufacturers of elastic webbing; and the Hopedale Screw Company, manufac- turers of machine screws. The firm of George Draper and Sons manufactured spinning rings, as well as acted as selling agent for the constituent concerns. From two small shops, employing less than twenty men, the business of the Drapers expanded, until the combined industries occupied twenty buildings, chiefly built of brick and operated by both steam and water power.
George Draper, after a life of great activity and marked use- fulness, died June 7, 1887, at the age of nearly seventy years, and at the height of his business success. His first wife, whom he mar- ried in 1839, was Hannah Brown Thwing, daughter of Benjamin and Anna (Mowry) Thwing. She was born in Uxbridge, January
GEORGE DRAPER
1, 1817, and died in 1883, leaving five children : William Franklin, well known as General Draper, a Civil War veteran, born at Lowell, April 9, 1842; Frances Eudore, wife of Charles H. Colburn, born February 20, 1848; Hannah Thwing, wife of Edward L. Osgood, born April 11, 1853; George Albert, born at Hopedale, November 4, 1855; and Eben Sumner, afterward Governor of Massachusetts, born at Hopedale, June 17, 1858. Three other children, born to George and Hannah Draper, two daughters and a son, died in infancy. Mr. Draper married, for his second wife, Mrs. Blunt of Milford.
Mr. Draper's character was in one respect at least exceptional, in that he combined the qualities of a successful inventor and an able man of business. Few inventors there are who have found themselves able to make their own inventions pecuniarily remuner- ative. As an inventor he was a man of almost unlimited resource, and fully one hundred important patents for improved machines and mechanical appliances were issued to him by the United States Patent Office. Some of these inventions have proved of the very greatest value to textile manufacturers.
In politics he was, before the outbreak of the Civil War, an ardent member of the Free-soil party which became merged in the Republican party. He was always deeply interested in the welfare of his party, and during the progress of the Civil War he was a personal friend and ardent supporter of Governor Andrew in the recruiting of troops for the field.
After the close of the war George Draper continued his interest in the welfare of the Republican party, and made an especial study of the subject of the protection of home industries through the tariff, until he came to be regarded as an authority. He was one of the founders of the Home Market Club of Boston and was its first President. He devoted much of his energy to the promotion of the purposes of its foundation. He never sought and never would accept public office, although he was always interested in all public affairs. His purse was always open for all good causes and he was generous in gifts, both public and private. He did much to promote the interests of the town in which he lived. The fine Town Hall was his gift. The cause of temperance, the posts of the Grand Army, the Soldiers' Home at Chelsea, and many other phil- anthropie enterprises found in him a constant benefactor. His memory is cherished, not only by his children and his grandchildren, but by his neighbors and his employees, as a man kind, just and generous, unselfish and helpful in every good work.
WILLIAM RAYMOND DRIVER
W ILLIAM RAYMOND DRIVER was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, January 2, 1839, the son of David and Elizabeth (Raymond) Driver.
The ancestor of the family came from England to this country as early as 1630. Mr. Driver's father followed the seas as an expe- rienced and successful shipmaster, who inherited his love for a sea-faring life from a long line of seamen.
Young Driver's early home education was gained in an atmos- phere of moral and intellectual worth, under the instruction of a mother's influence, which has ever been a guiding star in his fortunate career. He attended the public schools of Beverly, and received from them the necessary discipline and intellectual train- ing to fit him for his life career.
He entered upon an active business life as a clerk in a retail drygoods and drug store in Beverly, and then sought and obtained a better and more lucrative position in a wholesale woolen store in Boston, where his services were appreciated, because of the interest which he took in the business. Later he gained employment in the Suffolk Savings Bank, where he had the full confidence of his employers, and won favor by the promptness and accuracy of his work, and by his courtesy and cheerful attention to all who required his services.
On the breaking out of the Civil War, Mr. Driver at once offered his services as a volunteer, and enlisted April 18, 1861, and continued in active service until the cessation of hostilities. He enlisted as a private, but his soldierly bearing and bravery soon gained for him the favor of his superiors, and he received his commission as Lieutenant, then was promoted in rapid succession to the rank of Captain, Major, and finally to Brevet Lieutenant- Colonel, fully attesting his efficiency and fitness as an army officer. He took an active part in all the engagements of the Army of the Potomac, save that of Ball's Bluff, and, singular as it may seem, escaped serious injury through all the strenuous service which he rendered. Colonel Driver was honorably discharged, September 19, 1865, having passed through a military career of which any man might well be proud.
HUR Dina
WILLIAM RAYMOND DRIVER
When the Bell Telephone Company was organized in 1880, Colonel Driver was invited to become its Treasurer. This office he accepted and held the position till December 31, 1913. His counsel and experience have been no small factors in the wonderful and suc- cessful development of the interests of the company. Other im- portant positions which Colonel Driver has held, or is still hold- ing, include the office of Vice-President and Treasurer of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company; Director of the American Trust Company; Director of the National Bank of Com- merce; President of the Southern Massachusetts Telephone Com- pany; and Vice-President and Trustee of the Suffolk Savings Bank for Seamen. These varied and important positions which have been entrusted to Colonel Driver's charge bespeak the com- plete confidence reposed in him by those who know him best.
Colonel Driver is quite a club man, being a member of the Mili- tary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, of the Mili- tary Historical Society of Massachusetts, of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Union Club of Boston. He continues his resi- denee in Beverly, where he enjoys the comforts of a delightful home, and where he is a trustee of the Public Library, and also a commissioner of the Sinking fund.
His political bias moves him to be an Independent, in order to leave him to be at liberty to vote as his judgment may dictate.
William Raymond Driver was married, January 14, 1869, to Miss Ellen Salisbury Brown of Beverly, daughter of Enoch and Mary (Tyler) Brown. Two children have been born to them: Eleanor Salisbury Driver, married to William G. Rantoul; and Wil- liam Raymond Driver, Jr., now general manager of the Telephone Company.
Colonel Driver says the influences which have chiefly made his life successful have been those of early home life, of school, of early companionship, of private study, and of contact with men in active life. He also says that circumstances, rather than the choice of himself or his parents, paved the way for the successive steps in his active life, and that fortune has held him in great favor and has smiled upon his progress in life. The best of it all is the fact that his staunch integrity and faithful devotion to the interests placed in his care have richly merited the success achieved.
FREDERICK LINCOLN EMERY
F REDERICK LINCOLN EMERY was born at Portland, Maine, May 5, 1867. He derives in direct descent from Anthony Emery and Frances, his wife, who came from Rom- sey, England, and landed at Boston on June 23, 1635. They set- tled first in Ipswich and then in Newbury. His father, George H. Emery, was a bookkeeper of sterling honesty, positive and exact. His mother, who was Georgianna W. Smith, had a marked influ- ence on his moral life. As a boy he was keenly interested in all mechanical subjects; and his reading and studies, until he was twenty, consisted almost wholly of works on mechanics.
His father's family moved at an early date to Boston, and in 1871 to Lexington, Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1884 from the Lexington High School.
If circumstances had permitted he would have entered next a technical school, but this was impossible, and in January, 1885, he entered the office of Crosby and Gregory, patent attorneys in Bos- ton, as office-boy and to learn drafting. He abandoned his aim of mechanical engineering and devoted himself to the patent business. At the end of ten years by dint of hard work supplemented by the study of the law, which he pursued evenings after the day's office work, he graduated from the Boston University Law School and shortly after was admitted to the firm. He made the best of his opportunities and the hard struggle was doubtless an important factor in the great success which has attended his career in the law. Though prevented from carrying out his original desires and per- haps from making the freest use of his particular faculties, his mechanical bent was of the greatest use to him in that province of the law to which he gave his especial attention, first as a member of the firm of Crosby and Gregory and later as head of the law firm of Emery, Booth, Janney and Varney.
In 1894 he married Grace Leland, daughter of Larkin and Elizabeth (Chesley) Harrington, and has since resided in Lexing- ton, where he has been an active and prominent citizen. He has
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FREDERICK LINCOLN EMERY
one son, Leland H. Emery, born March 8, 1896. He is President of the Lexington Home for Aged People and President of the Lexington Field and Garden Club. He has also served as Presi- dent of the Emery Family Association, the membership of which covers the whole of the United States. He was also, for a number of years, during the period of its inception and upbuilding, Presi- dent of the Mt. Pleasant Home for Aged Men and Women of Bos- ton.
He is a Republican, and for the past fifteen years of his life has been connected with the Christian Science Church, though his early affiliations were with the Congregationalists.
RUFUS BENNETT FOWLER
R UFUS BENNETT FOWLER was born at Northbridge, Massachusetts, Dec. 5, 1841. He is a direct descendant of Philip Fowler, a native of Marlboro, England, who in 1634 at the age of forty-four arrived at Ipswich and died in 1679. His father, Charles Fowler, who died in 1895 at the advanced age of fourscore years, was a farmer of Quaker faith, noted for his sterling honesty and sound common sense. The boy shared in the labors incident to life on a New England farm, and always regarded this training as of inestimable value for its breadth and diversity of interests, its independence, its training of the judgment, and its intimate contact with nature. His mother, who was Susan Frost Bennett, daughter of Rufus Bennett, 1774-1851, looked especially after his intellectual and spiritual development. She was a woman of naturally excellent mind, with strong reasoning power of theo- logical bent, and of sweet and religious nature. He was early taught to love good literature and found his chief predilection in Shakespeare, in the English novelists, and in translations from Greek and Latin authors.
After graduating from that excellent institution, the Barre Academy, in Barre, Vermont, in 1861, he accepted the position of assistant to the superintendent of a large woolen mill at Uxbridge, Massachusetts. This was his personal preference, as he had a decided turn for mechanical pursuits and desired to learn that business. Thinking, however, that he might better secure what he wanted at Poughkeepsie, New York, he decided to take a course in the Eastman Business College. His evident ability attracted at- tention and he was offered the position of Superintendent and In- structor in the Banking Department of the College, which by means of two banks and a clearing-house gave practical training in that subject. His spare time he occupied in the study of law with such success that he was invited to be the lecturer on Commercial Law at the United States College of Business at New Haven, an institu- tion founded by Thomas H. Stevens, a former teacher of the Claverack Institute in New York.
In 1865 he went to Chicago, where until the time of the great fire he was engaged in wholesale jobbing business. His heart, how- ever, was not so much in trade as it was in legal and mechanical pursuits, especially in patent law. He found that his abilities were in constant and ever-increasing demand as an expert. In 1872 he returned to Massachusetts and was for a time engaged in designing machinery at Worcester, where he completed the invention of a ribbon loom. For several years he was engaged at Stafford Springs, Connecticut, in manufacturing narrow wares on looms of his own invention.
Rufus Be Fowler
RUFUS BENNETT FOWLER
While there in 1875 he married Helen M. Wood of Barre, Ver- mont, daughter of Stillman and Harriet (Clark) Wood and a direct descendant of Hugh Clark who came from England to Water- town, Massachusetts, about 1640. Of his two children a daughter, Susan Bennett, died in 1892; and a son, Henry Wood, a young lawyer of promise, graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School, died in 1912, leaving a widow and three daughters.
In 1881 he returned to Worcester and again took up his pro- fession as a patent attorney and expert in patent causes. His high abilities and remarkable success soon won for him a command- ing position. In 1900 and 1901 he served as President of the Worcester Board of Trade; and his efficiency and public spirit made him so popular that he was offered the Republican nomination for Mayor with the support of all the newspapers, but the pressure of his private business compelled him to decline the honor. He accepted membership, however, on the Board of Park Commis- sioners for Worcester and has taken an active part in the improve- ment of Worcester's open spaces. In 1912, Governor Foss appointed him as one of the Commission to Consider Making Lake Quinsigamond a State Reservation. He has also belonged to vari- ous organizations in Worcester for Social and Economic Reform: the Public Education Association, the Economic Club, the Better- ment League, and the Worcester Child Conference. He has served as President of the Worcester Conference for Child Welfare and on the Commission to Present a Plan for Industrial Education in Worcester. He is a member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, the Engineers' Club of New York, the National Municipal League, the American Civic Association, and the National Geographic So- ciety.
He is an honorary member of the Worcester Continentals, a Trustee of the Worcester County Institution for Savings, and a Director of the Wright Wire Company, the Park Trust Com- pany, and the Morgan Spring Company, and a Trustee of the Worcester Academy.
Mr. Fowler's life is an excellent illustration of his own ideal of a man's duty to the community ; it is not so much that personal success has attended his well-directed efforts; in that respect he was fortunate in having a clear purpose and the unusual gift of inventiveness; but he has cultivated what he calls the "sense of responsibility as a member of the Social Order." He has displayed genuine Public Spirit, not only in serving his fellowmen in many useful ways but-and this not least of all-in always submitting his judgments to the test of reason and in discountenancing every appeal to passion or prejudice. The wisdom of such men immeas- urably enriches the town or city in which they live.
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JOHN ELBRIDGE GALE
J OHN ELBRIDGE GALE was one of the leading citizens of Haverhill, Massachusetts. He acquired his honorable position in life by singular devotion to every task that presented itself to him, from the small duties of a boy apprentice to the larger en- terprises of a successful manufacturer.
His father was Elbridge Gerry Gale (1813-1847), and his mother was Ann Maria Barnes (1813-1891). His paternal grand- father was Henry Gale, and his maternal grandfather was Josiah Barnes. His father combined a knowledge of farming, skill as a mechanic, and a natural fondness for music.
John Elbridge Gale was born at East Kingston, New Hampshire, on January 15, 1841, and died at his home in Haverhill, Massa- chusetts, February 1, 1916. His father died when he was only six years of age, and the family circumstances were such that he was required to assist the widowed mother in the support of the family. Even at a very early age, he engaged in light work on a farm ad- joining his father's and devoted a part of his time to learning how to make certain parts of shoes, an experience which proved most help- ful in later years.
In 1855, when he was fourteen years of age, he left his home at East Kingston and secured a position as clerk in a clothing store at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The opportunities of the secluded farm-house were few, and the attractions of the growing town and the overgrown city were commanding. Portsmouth furnished young Gale an opportunity to earn sufficient money by working in the store in the evenings to pay his way in the schools during the day, and after graduating from the grammar school, he spent three very profitable years in the High School.
He soon exchanged the position of clerk in a clothing store in Portsmouth for that of a manufacturer of shoes in the city of Haverhill, Massachusetts, and the same qualities that made him suc- cessful in his youth, ensured him a commanding position among his business associates in Haverhill.
Johnb. Sale
JOHN ELBRIDGE GALE
Shortly after his coming to Haverhill from Portsmouth he started in the shoe business for himself and soon afterwards took his brother in business with him, forming the concern of Gale Brothers. They continued doing business in Haverhill until 1899, when they moved to Exeter and incorporated under the name of Gale Brothers, Incor- porated.
Mr. Gale was President of this corporation at the time of his death and although not active in it was connected with it 56 years. He was also President of the Gale Shoe Manufacturing Company, a Massachusetts corporation doing business in Haverhill, and during the same period, his business ability and integrity won for him other positions of trust and of responsibility among his fellow citizens. He was chosen Alderman in 1873-4, and was Director of the Haverhill National Bank for more than forty years, and for twenty-three years had been its President, a position which he filled until his death. He was one of the trustees of the Five Cents Savings Bank, and was a member of the Board of Investment. He was also Chairman of the Commission of Sinking Funds. He served as Park Commissioner and donated the plot of land now known as Gale Park, which gift gave an impetus to the development of the present park system of the city of Haverhill.
He was a Republican in politics, and took personal interest in the wider social life of the city. He was a member of the Masonic Fraternity, the Whittier Club, the Fortnightly Club, and the Pen- tucket Club, and was Trustee as well as Treasurer of the Whittier Homestead Association, also Trustee of the Children's Aid Society. He was also a member of the North Congregational Church, and in 1911 donated an organ to be placed in the church. He did not allow his varied interests so to absorb his time that he had no leisure for recreation. He was very fond of golf and travel and in his later years devoted much time to his music.
Mr. Gale married Mary B. Davis on January 13, 1864. She was the daughter of George W. Davis. There were three children by this marriage, Herbert E. Gale, a shoe manufacturer, A. Ernest Gale, and Hyde Gale. The two latter passed away before Mr. Gale's death.
Mr. Gale's second wife was Rachel Elizabeth, daughter of George M. Baker of Boston. They were married September 29, 1896.
JOHN ELBRIDGE GALE
Speaking of Mr. Gale during his lifetime, one of the honored and active citizens of Haverhill said :-
"John E. Gale is one of our most highly respected citizens. He is a man of genuine Christian character, kindly in his make-up, sympathetic with every reform, generous to every charity, and ster- ling in his business integrity. He is a member of the North Con- gregational Church and has been not only a generous giver of money, but devoted to the spiritual interests. He is quiet and un- assuming, a patrician gentleman of the Old School. He gives with- out ostentation, he lives without display, and he dominates by virtue of a kindly, disinterested, unselfish and shrewd business spirit."
Mr. Gale was for years one of the most popular and respected business men in Haverhill. A leader in local life, he well repaid the confidence reposed in him as a citizen by living a life that finely typified the best qualities of manhood. His personal and business career was without a blemish, and his fine traits of character, his great kindness of heart, and his generosity to all won for him the affection and honor of those who became intimate with him. No citizen in Haverhill has ever had more warmly attached friends. In his social side Mr. Gale was one of the most winning of men. His friendships were strong and he took the greatest pleasure in the companionship of his intimates. His family life was pure and wholesome and the best of his nature shone brightly within the domestic circle. He was a man of clear ideas on public affairs and settled convictions. He freely aided his party locally, but never cared for office of any kind. Mr. Gale did much to help Haverhill by his large investments there and by his activity in promoting worthy causes.
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