USA > Massachusetts > Biographical history of Massachussetts; biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state, 1911, vol 9 > Part 16
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It was due to Mr. Meyer's diplomacy and tact in securing a personal interview with the Czar at the time of peace negotiations between Russia and Japan that the Treaty was signed at Ports- mouth. When leaving Russia the Czar presented Mr. Meyer with the Grand Cordon of Alexander Nevskii order - the highest Russian decoration, founded by Catherine II. Japan likewise decorated him with the order of the Rising Sun. In 1907 he was recalled from St. Petersburg to enter the cabinet of President Roosevelt as Postmaster-General, taking the oath of office March 4, 1907. It was during his term as Postmaster-General that he started his campaign for the parcel post which has now become so great a factor in the business world. In 1908 he was chairman of the Republican State Convention held at Boston. Mr. Meyer was made Secretary of the Navy under President Taft, taking the oath of office March 6, 1909.
During his term as Secretary of the Navy he made an enviable record, being credited with vitalizing the Navy department, an achievement now more than ever appreciated by the nation. He put the Navy on a business basis. He was the champion of " the fleet in being," set up by executive order a general staff, and intro- duced into the administration of the Navy economies and effi- ciencies which are standing the Nation in good stead at the present.
Mr. Meyer was President of the Ames Plow Company, Director of the Old Colony Trust Company, and Director of the National Bank of Commerce. He also served as director of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, the Electric Securities Company, the Electric Corporation, the Manchester Mills, the Amory Manu- facturing Company, Trustee of the Provident Institution of Savings, and treasurer of the Boston Lying-in-Hospital.
GEORGE VON LENGERKE MEYER
He was a member of the Somerset, the St. Botolph, the Puritan and the Tennis and Racquet Clubs of Boston, of the Myopia Club and Tavern Club, of Hamilton Massachusetts, the Knickerbocker and Harvard Clubs of New York City, and the Metropolitan Club of Washington, D. C. He served as president of the Myopia Club of Hamilton and the Puritan Club of Boston. His church rela- tionship was with the Episcopal denomination.
Mr. Meyer was an enthusiastic and skilful sportsman, and always enjoyed hunting and sea-fowl shooting. He was an active mem- ber of the Restigouche Salmon Club.
On June 25, 1885, Mr. Meyer was married to Alice, daughter of Charles H. and Isabella (Mason) Appleton, and granddaughter of William Appleton and Mary Ann Cutler Appleton, and of Jonathan and Isabella (Weyman) Mason, and a descendant of Samuel Apple- ton, who settled at Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1635, and died at Rowley, Massachusetts, in June, 1670. There were three children, born of this marriage; Captain George von Lengerke Meyer, Junior; Mrs. Christopher R. P. Rodgers, wife of Commander C. R. P. Rodgers U. S. N., and Mrs. Guiseppe Brambilla, wife of a former councilor of the Italian embassy at Washington, now in Rome, Italy.
What George von Lengerke Meyer set out in life to do, that he did with diligence and distinction. To definiteness of purpose he added persistency of effort. So it was that his record on every round of the ladder of public service up which he went, from councilman of his city through the Legislature of his State to a place in the friendship and official family of three Presidents, be- came a recommendation for advancement that did not depend upon the indorsement of popular applause. An aptitude for busi- ness he indulged without subjecting himself to its absorption; the life of leisure which the rewards of wealth and social position offered him he put aside for hard work as a public servant. As legislator, diplomat and administrator he was never content with the com- fortable satisfaction of filling his predecessor's shoes, but to each tour of duty he applied his own peculiar gifts - good judgment of men, sound business sense, a talent for organization, thoroughness in execution, and in insistence upon results as the only reliable barometer of progress.
It is given to few men in any generation to serve their country in as many public stations of influence as those that claimed and benefited by the best that was in Mr. Meyer. In these fateful days when so many of his countrymen are looking and longing for an opportunity to justify their citizenship, his work as legislator, diplomat and administrator will be an example, and in his death the Nation loses a leader it can ill afford to spare.
Stephen moore
STEPHEN MOORE
S TEPHEN MOORE was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, February 9, 1835. He is the son of Ephraim Moore and Mary Rogers and a descendant on the Moore side from John Moore who settled in Sudbury in 1635 or 1638 and on the mother's side from John Rogers who came to America in 1640. His father was a miller, conducting a country saw and grist mill. He was a man of some prominence in his time and represented his town in the Legislature for several terms. The son helped in the mill in boy- hood and developed some mechanical ingenuity.
He attended the public schools commencing in the little " Red Schoolhouse " which he considers his university and completing his course in the Saxonville High school. Home study was his chief means of education. This was supplemented in after years by a correspondence course with the University of Chicago in Psychology and also a course in the Psychology of Religion. Fond of reading he paid little attention to the lighter literature and at first gave his attention to works on mechanical subjects. Later in life he was a great reader of religious works and those treating of social and economic problems. Bible commentaries and books relating to the mysteries of religion and psychology and the higher literature are now his favorite reading and study. His poetic fancy gained an inspiration from his habits of study and he early tried his hand at versification.
In 1860 Mr. Moore began the active business of life in a hat factory in Natick and later in Sudbury. In 1865 he was associated with S. B. Rogers and Company as a member of the firm in the manufacture of leather board and when the concern was merged into the South Sudbury Manufacturing Company he became Treasurer and Manager. At present he is Treasurer of the National Fibre Board Company, and of the Mousam Counter Company and Assistant Treasurer of the Leatheroid Manufacturing Company. He has devised many patents for machines and processes in con- nection with the manufacture of Fibre Board and kindred products. Though now over four score years of age he is active in business, and may be found almost every day at his office as ready in atten- dance to the operations of his companies as his younger associates.
Since his early manhood Mr. Moore has been devoted to religious work as a layman in the Baptist denomination. He is especially interested in the Sunday School and it is his conviction that it is one of the most potent influences for good in the world. He has seen the good seed sown in hundreds of youthful hearts and has lived to see it bear abundant fruit. Not only by his example but by his voice and pen has he been a strong advocate of the Sunday School. He was President of the Massachusetts Baptist Sunday School Association for twenty five years and as one of the projectors
STEPHEN MOORE
gave the first three thousand dollars for its chapel fund. He was one of the originators of the Baptist Sunday School Superintendents Association and has been President of the association. He was President of the Baptist Social Union and a member of the Building Committee of the Ford Building, and a Director in numerous charitable and religious organizations. He has been Superintendent of the Sunday School at the Emmanuel Baptist Church of Newton for over nine years, and for forty years a teacher or Superintendent in Sunday School work. In church work, apart from the Sunday School, his services as Deacon for nearly thirty years; as chair- man of the Building Committee for a new church edifice; as a trustee for the Baptist Old People's Home in Cambridge; a Dir- ector of the North End Mission.
Mr. Moore has a large acquaintance with books and has devoted his pen to writing for the religious papers and magazines. His poems are characterized by a reverent spirit and breathe the feelings of the author towards all that makes life beautiful and exemplary. Many of these poems are embodied in a book called " Sunshine in Song " which has met with high commendation and also a booklet entitled "The Journey " of which nearly 10,000 copies have been distributed and hundreds of letters received expressing gratitude for its cheering help. Many fugitive poems have come from his pen. He learned French after he was sixty.
In politics Mr. Moore is a Republican.
Mr. Moore was married in 1858 to Lizzie M. Blanchard. His wife and one child died a few years after. On October 18, 1864, he was married a second time to Miss Alice R. Goulding of Natick. Seven children have been born of this union of whom five are living: Leslie R. Moore a Technology graduate and State Gas Inspector; Alice May, Mrs. Arthur J. Ball; Clarence V., in business with the Leatheroid Manufacturing Company; Edith Harriet, Professor of Art at Mount Holyoke College; Ethel Allegra, Mrs. Dr. Leslie H. Naylor.
On October 18, 1914, Mr. and Mrs. Moore celebrated their golden wedding at their home in Newton, Massachusetts, the invitations to which had the novelty of being written in verse by Mr. Moore. A large representative gathering of friends, including nine grand- children, greeted the aged and beloved couple.
Mr. Moore attributes his long and active life in good health and spirit to careful attention, to mental and physical habits, to exemp- tion from the use of alcoholic stimulants and tobacco, to moderation in diet, to exercise in the open air, especially in walking, and to a cheerful disposition. He tries to eliminate worry from his mind. These simple rules, faithfully followed, have resulted in a happy, well-rounded life.
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GEORGE MASON MORSE
D R. GEORGE MASON MORSE was born in Walpole, New Hampshire, on August 27, 1821. He died in Clinton, Massa- chusetts, September 23, 1901. He was of the 8th generation in line of descent from Samuel Morse, who came to this country on the ship Increase from Dedham, England, where he was born in 1585. Samuel's wife, Elizabeth, and one son, Joseph, aged twenty, came with him. The family settled in Watertown. In 1638 a Company, of which Samuel Morse was one, having received a grant of land South of the Charles River, afterwards called Dedham, he moved to that place. On his arrival in Watertown he joined the church and was admitted as a citizen, but soon changed his church membership to Dedham, where he was one of the first Board of Selectmen of that town. When the town of Medfield was estab- lished in 1650 his farm was within its borders. In King Philip's War, 1675, his house was burned, but was at once rebuilt. The place has never passed out of the family. Samuel Morse died, in Medfield, April 5, 1654.
On his mother's side Dr. Morse was descended from Lieutenant Griffin Crafts, who came to this country on the ship Arabella in 1630 along with Governor Winthrop, and settled in Roxbury. In 1631 he was admitted a freeman, and was active in public affairs; - twenty-one years a Lieutenant in the militia, twenty-one years one of the Selectmen and eleven years a commissioner. At different times he was Deputy to the General Court, and to special sessions of the same, and twice to the Court of elections.
From such ancestry came the Puritan virtues which marked Dr. Morse's character through life - on the one hand, high ideals of integrity and honor, loyalty to convictions of duty and generous public spirit; and on the other hand a warm heart and strong do- mestic affections. He was early set apart for the medical profession, both from his own choice and from the wishes of his parents. His early education fitted him for the calling. Under the training of a stern father he was disciplined to habits of industry and taught the value of work in the development of mind and body, which made him independent and self reliant in thought and action. From his devoted mother he inherited kindliness of heart and humane sym- pathies.
He attended the Academies of Walpole and Keene, and in 1841 began the study of medicine at Dartmouth Medical College. Later he entered the Harvard Medical School, from which he received his degree in 1843.
On receiving his degree he began practice in Claremont, New Hampshire, where he remained three years. He then went to Clintonville, afterwards Clinton, Massachusetts.
GEORGE MASON MORSE
His skill and devotion to his profession, united with his sympathy and loyalty to his patients, soon won a large clientele, which never left him until age and failing health compelled him to withdraw from practice.
It was his often expressed desire in his later years that when he had gone the site of his house might be utilized for a public library building. His wish was fulfilled. After his death the lot was pur- chased by the town and on the spot where Dr. Morse had had his home for more than fifty years now stands a beautiful public library, a lasting honor to the town and its people.
First of all, Dr. Morse was a physician. He was a student of his profession through his whole life. To him it was a science, and he was never content until he had reached the fundamental cause of the disease he was treating, and the most effective means of cure. In the diagnosis of a case his judgment rarely erred. He made himself the friend of his patients. In surgery he was a skilful operator and stood among the very first in his community. He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society and also of the Worcester County Medical Society for many years.
The year of his arrival in Clintonville he was appointed trustee of a private school, out of which ultimately grew the Clinton High School. He was a member of the Board of Overseers of District No. 10, was one of the School Committee of Lancaster in 1848, and had charge of the construction of the first High School building in Clinton. When the Bigelow Mechanics Institute was established, he was active among its promoters, and lectured before it in the Winter of 1846 and 1847. The Institute afterwards established a library, and in 1873 its books were turned over to the Bigelow Free Public Library. For twelve years Dr. Morse was a member of its Board of Directors, most of the time serving as Chairman and writing its reports.
He read none but the best books, and in the choice of friends selected those in whom he found exemplified the qualities kindred to his own. Besides the study of medicine he was fond of science, being deeply versed in Botany, and was a close student of insect life. His pastime in the open seasons was his garden. He loved plants and flowers and cultivated them with great success.
He was Secretary of the first meeting called to consider the separation of Clintonville from the town of Lancaster; served the town as Assessor and Fire Engineer, and in 1874 was one of the building committee of the Town Hall erected that year. The Clinton Savings Bank was organized in 1851 and he was chosen one of the trustees, serving on the Board until 1877. He was one of the incorporators of the Clinton National Bank in 1864, and the first certificate of stock was issued to him.
GEORGE MASON. MORSE
When the conscription act was enforced in 1863 he was made examining surgeon to the Provost Marshal's office. On the estab- lishment of the office of medical examiner, in 1877, Dr. Morse was made the first medical examiner for Worcester County, a position which he held until 1892, when under a change of political adminis- tration, his successor was appointed. For more than forty years he was examining surgeon of the U. S. Pension Bureau. In the battle of Antietam, in 1862, a large number of Clinton men were killed or wounded. The Ladies Aid Society of the town made up a box of supplies for the relief of the wounded, and commissioned Dr. Morse to go to the battlefield, hunt up the Clinton men and relieve them as far as possible with the hospital supplies that the ladies had furnished him.
The Clinton Hospital was founded in 1889. Dr. Morse was one of the incorporators, and at its organization was made 1st Vice- President and Chairman of its medical staff, holding both offices until his death.
At the graduation of the first class of nurses from the hospital he gave the address. His advice to the class was a complete code of rules for their guidance in the practice of their profession.
At his death the trustees placed upon the records of the Associa- tion a beautiful tribute to him as a gentleman and a physician, and a fitting recognition of the loss the hospital had sustained in his death. May 6, 1846, in Claremont, New Hampshire, Dr. Morse married Eleanor Carlisle, daughter of Right Rev. Carleton Chase, (the First Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire) and Harriet (Cutler) Chase. Seven children were born of this marriage, of whom only one survives, George F. Morse, Esq., now a resident of Lancaster, Massachusetts. Mrs. Eleanor C. (Chase) Morse died November 6, 1861. January 15, 1863 Dr. Morse married Mary Frances, daughter of William and Mary Ann (Brown) Stearns, of Clinton, by whom he had two children, - Esther Crafts and Mary Stearns, both of whom are living.
In politics Dr. Morse was Republican, and in religious belief a Unitarian. Though a member of the Masonic Order and an Odd Fellow, he held no official position in either body.
To all his various activities Dr. Morse gave the best of a sound judgment and loyal heart. His labors exemplified the virtues of the Puritan that he was, and illustrated the highest type of the patriotic American.
For more than fifty years he filled a large place in the com- munity, an example of everything that was generous in spirit, and upright and moral before his fellow men. His passing left a void that has never been filled. It was the end of a long, useful, and finished life.
SAMUEL MAYO NICKERSON
I "T was in Chatham on June 14, 1830, that Samuel Mayo Nicker- son was born. He died July 20, 1914. His parents were Ensign and Rebecca Mayo Nickerson. These are good old Cape Cod names. You can hardly see or hear them anywhere on the face of the earth without thinking at once of Cape Cod or " The Vineyard." Mr. and Mrs. Nickerson were self respecting, prudent, patriotic, ambitous for their boy. They wanted to give him every advantage, and so they removed to Boston in 1837, and he there began his education which was continued in the Academy at New Hampton, New Hampshire. He concluded his schooldays when he was seventeen. His intellectual, moral and spiritual life was largely moulded by his noble mother. It may appear that this was an inadequate equipment of education for success, but we must remember that the education of those times was a good deal like the food, very simple, but very nourishing. The boys did not learn so much, but most of what they learned was true. It was elemental and gave range for the play of intelligence and common sense.
When his schooldays were completed, in 1847, Samuel faced the world eagerly with a capital of character and brains, an eager ambition to win in business, and money enough to pay his passage on a sailing packet to Appalachicola, Florida, where an elder brother had opened a general store, and had promised him employ- ment. For three years he worked hard to earn his small salary, obtaining meanwhile what he most desired, the business experience which was later to serve him in good stead. Then he started out for himself, and through various experiments, some of them suc- cessful and others failures, he at length commanded the support of some northern friends. The money they advanced, together with his own savings, enabled him to enlarge his enterprises; yet the way was difficult and there came many discouragements, and at last a fire, which took all he had. Undaunted, though apparently ruined, his purpose and his pluck never deserted him. He de- termined to preserve his most valued asset, his good reputation, and though the outstanding indebtedness against him was legally compromised, he never rested until, when prosperity again smiled upon him, he had paid up every cent, - one hundred cents on the dollar.
In 1858 after eleven years in business as a country merchant, during which time he had been studying other lines of trade, the turning point in his career came and he removed to Chicago, where upon borrowed capital he began anew. His first venture was in the distilling of alcohol in which he was so successful that he pres- ently began to take part in other and larger business enterprises. He abandoned the distilling business in 1864. In 1862 and 1863 there seemed to be a demand for a National bank, and a group of
Sam&M Nickerson
SAMUEL MAYO NICKERSON
men, of whom Mr. Nickerson was one, ardently advocated the project. Mr. Nickerson subscribed liberally to the stock of the First National Bank of Chicago, assisted in its organization, and was elected one of the first directors. Not long afterwards he was chosen First Vice-President, and in 1867, on the death of the President, he was selected as the successor. He served for twenty- four years in this capacity, and resigned in 1891, finally, as he sup- posed. But in 1897 he was prevailed upon once more to direct the affairs of his bank, and for three years he remained its president.
It is a long step from a humble cottage on Cape Cod to the presidency of the First National Bank of Chicago, with all its serious responsibilities and its splendid opportunities, its dignities and its honors. Samuel Nickerson took the step, a victor over circumstances, and came into wealth and emoluments which he honored by holding them modestly and always as a sacred trust that he was to administer for the good of humanity.
Of course with the development and disclosing of his financial talent, he was of necessity drawn into the great projects which unfold in a rapidly growing city. The year after his election to the presidency of the bank, he was made president of the City Horse Railroad Company, in which place he displayed distinguished ability. He held this position for seven years. Another bank, " The National Live Stock," was organized a few years later and he became its first president, serving in that capacity for six years, and as director for a longer time. He was also largely interested in important railroad and commercial enterprises. But the presi- dency of the First National Bank gradually absorbed his interest and attention, and to it he gave a large measure of his life, in " a career of indefatigable activity," carrying it through a number of critical periods with marvelous ability, winning for it a place in the front rank. Incidentally, he was called upon no less than three times to plan for the building of an edifice to house the Bank.
With all his achievements in the business world, and with the attainment of material success which must have exceeded the wildest dreams of the Cape Cod boy, Mr. Nickerson never lost the charm and worth of a personality. After all, it is not what we have, not what we do, but what we are, which fixes the standard by which the enduring judgment of men and time, as well as eternity, is formed.
Mr. Nickerson with all the changes in his social and financial position, never lost his democratic tastes and habits. His disposi- tion was genial and his manner gracious, and his consideration of the point of view of others, marked. He never sought public office nor renown, but, whenever duty or opportunity called, he never shirked. He held riches to be a trust to be sacredly administered
SAMUEL MAYO NICKERSON
for the welfare of humanity. His work was strenuous but always straightforward; his pleasures were simple and genuine. It may be that his mind was centered in his business, but not less was his heart centred in his home. Life there was ideal.
In December, 1858, Mr. Nickerson was married to Mathilda, daughter of Isaac Crosby of Brewster, Massachusetts, and two of the oldest and most honored Cape Cod names were thus con- nected.
One son was born, Mr. Roland Crosby Nickerson, first associated with his father's bank, the First National Bank of Chicago, and later in the banking business in New York City. He married Adelaide T. Daniels of Chicago, Illinois, June 16, 1886, daughter of William Y. Daniels, and Ann (Atkinson) Daniels.
Two sons and a daughter were born of this union Roland C., Jr., and Samuel Mayo Nickerson, 2nd, -(deceased,) and Helen Nicker- son.
In the marriage of Samuel L. Nickerson and Mathilda Crosby two people of like tastes were associated for life in work and plea- sure. After their first residence had been destroyed by the great Chicago fire, they built a beautiful house, in which their own love of art, and artistic tastes found expression. Their private art gallery was renowned for its choice collection of pictures.
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