USA > Massachusetts > Biographical history of Massachussetts; biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state, 1911, vol 9 > Part 17
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Mr. Nickerson was one of the real art patrons of Chicago. Along with the growth of his ability to buy the best pictures, he cultivated his taste until he was a judge of the best, and in his collection there were numbered some of the masterpieces of the world. For several years he was a director of the Art Institute, the pride of the city, and to it he devoted many hours of valued service. He gave most generously to its maintenance.
In 1900 Mr. and Mrs. Nickerson removed to New York where their son, Roland C. Nickerson resided, and on their departure from Chicago donated their splendid collection of paintings, engravings, Chinese and Japanese porcelain, jades and lacquers, ivory carvings, arms, and other works of art, to the Institute, and later, Mr. Nicker- son in his will left the sum of fifty thousand dollars to the Institute for the maintenance of this collection.
After retirement from business Mr. Nickerson lived in New York about six months of the year, spending the other six months on Cape Cod, at East Brewster. Thus he came back after his voyag- ing, as did his ancestors after their voyages over the wide ocean, to find rest and peace and well earned happiness, amid the unique beauties and charms of his childhood's home.
None may say that romance has all passed out of American life, when such a biography as that of Samuel Mayo Nickerson, is available for the encouragement and example of American youth.
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ROLAND CROSBY NICKERSON
R OLAND CROSBY NICKERSON was born at Chicago, Illinois, July 27, 1859. He died June 9, 1906, at East Brewster, Massachusetts. His parents were Samuel Mayo Nickerson and Mathilda Crosby, each a representative of an honored Cape Cod family. His grandparents on his father's side were Ensign Nickerson and Rebecca Mayo; his mother's father was Isaac Crosby of Brewster, Massachusetts. These names all stand for honest, sturdy, God-fearing families, in more than one instance of Pilgrim ancestry.
Roland Nickerson was brought up in the city of Chicago, nomi- nally, but actually the days of his youth were largely spent in Europe, as at 11 years of age he entered Selig's School at Vevey, Switzerland, and further completed his education in Germany and France, being a wonderful linguist and master of four languages. Under his father's expert guidance he early acquired a taste for pictures, and became a collector of many of the best works of the old world artists. His own taste was of a high artistic order. His mother was a woman of bright, brave spirit and decided mental endowments, and she exerted a strong influence upon the intellec- tual, moral and spiritual life of her son. He had every advantage from his youth.
It was Roland Nickerson's ambition to become a banker like his father, and, especially, to serve in the First National Bank of Chicago, his father's bank. It was there, accordingly, that he began his apprenticeship in business, learning the details of banking under his father's eye. Later, as he grew in power to handle finan- cial problems, he became a partner in the banking firm of Jamieson and Company, Chicago, Illinois. Afterwards he was a special partner in the firm of Marshall Spader and Company, bankers and brokers, of New York City, in whose business he was interested up to the time of his death. He was a member of the New York Stock Exchange.
Mr. Roland Nickerson held memberships in nearly all of the leading clubs in the United States, among which may be mentioned the Chicago Club in Chicago; and the New England Society in New York City, the Metropolitan, Union League, the New York Yacht Club, the Ardsley, the Eastern Yacht Club, and the Algon- quin Club.
Mr. Nickerson was a Republican in his political allegiance, somewhat Independent, however, for he once voted for Grover Cleveland. He was a member of the Governor's Council from the Barnstable County district in the state of Massachusetts, under Governors John L. Bates and William L. Douglass.
ROLAND CROSBY NICKERSON
From boyhood, water sports had especially fascinated Roland Nickerson; and so perhaps it was not strange that yachting and hunting should be particularly attractive to him in manhood. He maintained a hunting preserve of 2000 acres on Cape Cod and was owner of many fine yachts for cruising and racing, notable amongst which was the famous sloop " Meemer " racing champion of the 30 foot class in Massachusetts Bay for three consecutive years.
On June 16, 1886, he was married to Adelaide T. Daniels, of Chicago, Illinois, daughter of William Y. Daniels and Ann (Atkin- son) Daniels. Mrs. Nickerson's ancestors came from England, and noteworthy among them was Colonel William Ball of Virginia, the brother of Joseph Ball who was the grandfather of George Washington. To Mr. and Mrs. Nickerson were born two sons and a daughter: Roland C., Jr., Samuel Mayo Nickerson, 2nd (de- ceased), and Helen Nickerson.
In 1900 Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Nickerson removed from Chicago to New York, in order to be with their son, Mr. Roland C. Nicker- son. The mild climate of Cape Cod called them back to its shores, and so for about six months of each year the Nickerson families lived in New York, and the other six months they were accustomed to spend together at their summer home at East Brewster, Cape Cod. It was Mr. Roland Nickerson's pleasure to make the later years of his parents happy and delightful, and to cheer them by his presence and by his companionship. He was himself a man of a rarely even temperament, cheerful and optimistic at all times. His public spirit and utter lack of selfishness is shown in the fact that he acquiesced in his father's decision to present to the Art Institute of Chicago his magnificent private collection of paintings and other objects of art.
Mr. Roland Nickerson was like his father in absolute integrity; like him too, in his unusual grasp of the principles that underlie all business complications.
His singularly optimistic temperament was a blessing, not only to himself but to all who were associated with him. Honored and respected in the business world, for his father's sake as well as for his own, hailed joyfully as a welcome presence in most of the best clubs of the United States, loved and admired by the inner circle of his relatives and intimates, he lived a fortunate life and crowded into his comparatively few years the "honor, love, obedience, troops of friends," that most men enjoy only at the end of a long life.
With life full of promise before him his early death was greatly regretted and his memory will live long to bless the world that knew him.
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CHARLES SUMNER NORRIS
C HARLES SUMNER NORRIS was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, December 9, 1856. He is the son of David Holden and Ruth Blake (Norris) Norris. His grandparents on his father's side were John Norris, Jr., 1794 to 1870, and Mira Holden, 1800 to 1867; on his mother's side, Jacob Norris, Jr., 1804 to 1884, and Mary Brown, 1809 to 1849. Among his immigrant ancestors were Nicholas Norris, born before 1640, who came to this country, and married, January 21, 1664, Sarah Cox of Hamp- ton, New Hampshire, and settled at Exeter, New Hampshire, in 1676; and Richard Holden, who came on the ship Francis, in 1634, to Watertown and then to Groton, Massachusetts.
The father of the subject of this sketch was born March 29, 1824, and died April 1, 1905. He was engaged in the Insurance business, in Boston. Besides being a good man, he was fond of music and musically gifted, and he wrote hymn-tunes for Lowell Mason's publications. The mother of Charles Sumner Norris was a woman of excellent mental endowments, a gracious personality and a vigorous religious faith, and her influence was strong upon the intellectual, moral and spiritual life of her son. She aroused his ambition to excel in his studies. In youth he was greatly interested in his school work and in American Political History. The Bible and biographies of noted people furnished his favorite reading. He earned the money for his own classical and musical education.
He began the active work of life as a clerk in a furnishing goods store, July 1, 1872, an arrangement which his father had made for him. But his sphere in life was music. On January 1, 1876, he started as a clerk in a piano store, and rose until he became a partner in the firm, January 1, 1888. In 1907 he became sole owner on the death of his partner, and he is still in business, making, in all, a service of more than thirty years as a piano merchant. He has been organist and choir master of All Saints' Episcopal Church, Brookline, Massachusetts, since its foundation September 30, 1894, giving his services without compensation.
Mr. Norris is an ardent churchman. He was one of the founders of All Saints' Church, Brookline, in 1894, and has been a vestryman
CHARLES SUMNER NORRIS
in this church since its foundation. For many years he has served as delegate to the Diocesan Convention.
Mr. Norris is deeply interested in the civic life of the community where he resides, and is a town-meeting member of Brookline. He belongs to many clubs, among which are the Boston Art Club, the Episcopalian Club, and the New England Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
He is a Republican in politics, and he has never cared to change his political party.
He delights in relaxation in the open air, and he takes a daily morning walk of four miles, with an occasional game of golf to keep him in good condition.
On March 10, 1881, he was married to Mary Lizzie, daughter of Elam Smith and Mary T. (Hollenbeck) Marsh, who died January 3, 1896. Ethel Norris is the daughter of this marriage.
On June 15, 1897, he was married to Alice Waterman, daughter of Joseph Merrill and Susan Rhynar (Hewett) Greenough, and granddaughter of Freeman Parker and Tryphena (Faunce) Green- ough, and of George and Lucy Ann (Bangs) Hewett, and a de- scendant from Robert Greenough, who came to Rowley, Massachu- setts, before 1685 and was town clerk in 1691.
To Mr. and Mrs. Norris have been born two children: Richard Greenough Norris, a student at Groton School, and Guy Holden Norris, attending school at Cambridge.
Asked to give from his own observation and experience some suggestions to young Americans, Mr. Norris says this: " A young man should maintain his reputation, character and credit as 'the apple of his eye.' He must get away from newspapers, magazines and fiction, and get into the habit of reading a few serious books each year, not neglecting the great poets."
Mr. Norris has made in his own life a practical application of the principles he would have others follow. That he has found happi- ness as well as honor in carrying out these principles speaks well for their soundness, and for his clearness of vision.
RICHARD OLNEY
R ICHARD OLNEY was born at Oxford, Worcester County, Massachusetts, September 15, 1835. He died at Boston on April 8, 1917.
He was of English and French Huguenot descent, being a descen- dant in the direct line of Thomas Olney, who came to New England from St. Albans, England, in 1635, settled first in Salem, and, sharing the sentence and expulsion of Roger Williams, of whom he was a strong adherent, became one of the founders of Rhode Island and the Providence plantations. Mr. Olney's grandfather, Richard Olney, born in 1770 at Smithfield, Rhode Island, was a leading merchant in Providence for some years, and was one of the pioneers of the New England cotton manufacturing industry. He estab- lished mills in East Douglas, Massachusetts, as early as 1811. In 1819 he moved to Oxford, where he became prominent as a citizen as well as a merchant and manufacturer. He held numerous offices and died in the neighboring village of Burrillville in 1841. His eldest son, and the father of Richard Olney was born January 10, 1802, in Providence, Rhode Island, and died February 24, 1874, in Oxford.
On the maternal side Mr. Olney was of French Huguenot descent through his mother's grandmother, Mary Sigourney Butler, great- granddaughter of Andrew Sigourney, who fled from France at the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and was a leader in the settle- ment of Oxford by the Huguenots in 1687. His mother's grand- father was James Butler, and her father was Peter Butler, both leading citizens of Oxford in their day. Mr. Olney was the eldest of five children, the others becoming prominent in their respective undertakings.
It was at Leicester Academy that Mr. Olney received his early education. He went to Brown University and was graduated with honors in the class of 1856. He studied law at the Harvard Law School, taking his degree in 1858 and was admitted to the Suffolk bar the following year. Entering the office of Judge Benjamin F. Thomas, he continued in association with him until the latter's death in 1878, after which he practiced alone. He early devoted himself especially to the law of wills and estates and the law of corporations, becoming upon both a recognized authority.
His characteristics as an advocate were thus described by a competent pen: " His logic was keen-cut, his diction wonderfully pure, his rhetoric always perfectly adapted to his subject; his power of condensation was remarkable; his arguments represented a view of the case that was a perfectly adjusted series of perspec- tive."
RICHARD OLNEY
Politically Mr. Olney was always a Democrat. Several times he was offered a judicial place, but declined to serve because of the extent of the interests by which he had been retained. He was for long periods counsel for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy; the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé, and the Boston and Maine rail- roads. He was director and attorney for the Old Colony Trust Company. He served one term, 1874, as a member of the Massa- chusetts House of Representatives from West Roxbury. He was appointed by President Cleveland in 1893 United States Attorney- General, and he entered upon his duties on March 6 of that year.
On June 10, 1895, Mr. Olney was made Secretary of State by President Cleveland. As head of the State Department he achieved his crowning success and lasting reputation as a statesman of com- manding ability and force.
Upon retiring from official life in 1897, Mr. Olney resumed the practice of law in Boston. He occasionally published articles and delivered addresses upon public questions. In the Atlantic Monthly of May, 1898, was published an address delivered by him at Har- vard University upon the "International Isolation of the United States," and in the issue of March, 1900, was published an equally clear and strong article by Mr. Olney upon " The Growth of Our Foreign Policy." In 1897 he was offered a post as professor of International law at Harvard.
In 1913, he was offered the post of American Ambassador to Great Britain but he declined the honor.
Of a retiring nature, he rarely made a public speech; but when he did he spoke with authority. Public office came to him unsought and he refused for personal reasons diplomatic positions and many other opportunities for distinction which were pressed upon him.
Mr. Olney also served as President of the Franklin Foundation - Benjamin Franklin's legacy to Boston. He was a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the American Philosophical Society. From 1894 to 1897 he was a Fellow of Brown University; and from 1900 to 1908 he served as regent of the Smithsonian Institution.
On March 6, 1861, he married Agnes Park Thomas, daughter of Judge Thomas, his old law partner. Besides his wife, Mr. Olney is survived by two daughters, Mrs. George R. Minot of Boston, and Mrs. C. H. Abbot, of Harvard, Massachusetts; a brother, Peter Butler Olney, in legal practice in New York, five nephews, Peter Butler Olney, Jr., Wilson Olney, Sigourney Butler Olney, George H. Olney, and Congressman Richard Olney, 2d, of Dedham, and a niece, Miss Catherine Olney, of Leicester.
The following message was sent by President Wilson to Mrs. Olney:
RICHARD OLNEY
" I am sure that I am expressing the opinion of the whole country when I express to you my heartfelt grief at the death of your dis- tinguished husband. I had relied upon him for counsel and the whole nation honored his wisdom and patriotism in affairs. A great citizen has passed away."
From Senator Henry Cabot Lodge came the following:
" I greatly regret to learn of the death of Richard Olney, an old and valued friend whom I held in the highest regard. One of the most distinguished lawyers in the country, he added to his reputa- tion while Attorney General of the United States and still more as Secretary of State. He will stand in our history as one of the most distinguished men that ever held that high office."
Governor McCall in speaking of the death of Mr. Olney says:
" In the death of Richard Olney, Massachusetts and the country have suffered a very great loss. When I was in the practice of law opportunity was given me to be associated with him in some very important litigation, which continued for a long time. I then gained an insight into his extraordinary capacity. I believe he did not have his superior anywhere at the American bar. I re- member hearing Senator Hoar once say that Mr. Olney's argu- ment in the income tax cases was one of the three or four greatest arguments ever made before the supreme court. I think he may fairly have been called the first citizen of Massachusetts."
Mr. Olney was straightforward and ruggedly honest in all his walks and ways, as a citizen, as a lawyer and as a statesman. He showed himself a man of resourcefulness and capacity, luminous in his exposition of legal principles, and effective in their execution. He may be said to have come but slowly to the front in our public affairs. As attorney general he was conservative rather than partisan or reformatory. His ideas and his nature fitted in ad- mirably with those of his chief, President Cleveland, and his promo- tion to the secretaryship of state proved that Mr. Cleveland was a man who did not in the least object to having at the head of his cabinet a man whose positiveness and independence of character, as well as his natural abilities, might be equal to his own.
Mr. Olney's career, like that of Mr. Cleveland, showed him to be the patriot first and the partisan afterward. The highest light in all his career fell on the stand which he took against Great Britain in the aggression upon Venezuela in 1895. From that day on Mr. Olney's name was a power in our national affairs. A true son of Massachusetts, coming out of our Commonwealth's ancient life, he always held the broadly national view, he never abandoned a just course and never retreated from a righteous stand.
FRANCIS AUGUSTUS OSBORN
F RANCIS AUGUSTUS OSBORN was born in that part of Danvers, Massachusetts, which is now known as Peabody, on September 22, 1833. He died at his home in Hingham, March 11, 1914.
Augustus Kendall Osborn, the father of General Osborn, was born July 7, 1800. He died at the early age of forty-eight years, on March 18, 1849. His father, Sylvester Osborn, lived to the ripe old age of eighty-seven years, dying in 1845. As a boy of sixteen years he took part in the Battle of Lexington. He married Eliza- beth Poole.
General Osborn's mother, Mary Shove, was the daughter of Quaker parents, Squiers Shove and his wife, Esther (Marble) Shove.
After graduation from the Latin School in 1849, he entered the employ of William Ropes & Company, Importers of Russian Goods.
Mr. Osborn joined the Militia in 1855 and in 1861 he had become a Captain in the New England Guards. On the breaking out of the Civil War the Guards were organized into a battalion of two companies and he was commissioned Captain of the original Com- pany, April 19, 1861. After a month spent with the battalion, Major Thomas G. Stevenson (of the Guards) and Captain Osborn offered their services to Governor Andrew. They were authorized to raise a regiment, later known as the 24th Regiment of Massa- chusetts Volunteers. Major Stevenson was appointed Colonel and Captain Osborn Lieutenant Colonel.
Leaving Boston on December 9, 1861, the Regiment joined the Burnside Expedition to North Carolina where it took part in the battles of Roanoke Island and of Newbern, besides which it was in several minor engagements. On December 28, 1862, Lieutenant Colonel Osborn was promoted Colonel of the Regiment to fill the vacancy caused by the promotion of Colonel Stevenson to be General of Brigade. On August 26, Colonel Osborn commanded his regiment in the charge upon the rifle-pits in front of Fort Wagner.
On September 30, 1863, the regiment was sent to St. Augustine, Florida, to recuperate. Here Colonel Osborn remained in command of the post till February 18, 1864, when he was ordered with his regiment to Jacksonville to take command of that post.
During the summer of 1864 the regiment was with the Army of the James and took part in the following engagements: Green Valley, Drury's Bluff, Proctor's Creek, Richmond and Petersburg Turnpike, and Weir Bottom Church. On August 13, Colonel Osborn was assigned to the command of the Third Brigade of the Second Division of the Tenth Army Corps during the absence of its Commander. On August 16, he was struck by a spent ball which disabled him for a few says. On October 28, 1864, he was ap-
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FRANCIS AUGUSTUS OSBORN
pointed by President Lincoln, Brevet Brigadier General of Volun- teers " for distinguished services in the movement on the enemy's works near Newmarket, Virginia." On November 14, 1864, he resigned and was mustered out of service.
Returning to Boston General Osborn occupied for one year the office of Cashier for Blake Brothers and Company, Bankers, and later, in partnership with Hubbard Brothers and Company, he was a Stock Broker for five years, and a Member of the Boston Stock Exchange. On January 1, 1874, he was elected Treasurer of the Corbin Banking Company of Boston and New York and he remained in that position till June 1883, when he resigned. In November following he organized and became President of the Eastern Banking Company which was incorporated in 1887.
General Osborn was the first Treasurer of the New England Mortgage Security Company, Director of the Tremont National Bank, President of the Boston Real Estate Exchange and Auction Board.
In politics General Osborn was an Independent Republican. He was appointed Chairman of the Civil Service Commissioners of Massachusetts in 1886. For five years he was President of the Citizens' Association of Boston and then declining re-election he was made Vice-President. He was also Vice-President of the Municipal League.
He was a member of the Unitarian Club of Boston, the Union and St. Botolph Clubs of Boston, Wompatuck Club of Hingham, and was a Member and Treasurer of the Music Hall Association. He served as Commander of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States in 1868, and as Grand Commander of the Department of Massa- chusetts G. A. R.
In religious belief he was a Unitarian.
He served as one of the Committee to visit the Botanic Garden of Harvard University from 1881 to 1892. He belonged to the Society for Psychical Research.
In 1867 General Osborn married Miss Mary M. Mears, daughter of Granville Mears of Boston, by whom he had one daughter, Miss Esther Osborn of Needham. On June 17, 1879, he married as his second wife Miss Emily T. Bouvé, daughter of Thomas T. Bouvé and his wife E. G. (Lincoln) Bouvé. Mr. Bouvé was of French Huguenot stock while on her mother's side Mrs. Osborn was de- scended from the Lincolns of England who early settled in Hingham and from whom President Lincoln was also descended.
Five children were the result of this last union and these with Mrs. Osborn survive him: Mrs. C. C. Lane of Hingham, Francis B. Osborn, Violet Osborn, Reginald A. Osborn, and Danvers Osborn.
RAYMOND HANSEN OVESON
R AYMOND HANSEN OVESON was born at Newton, Iowa, March 24, 1876. His father, Anders Oveson, born 1850, and his mother, Hanna M. Hansen, born 1850-died 1917, were both born in Denmark and combined in an eminent degree those general characteristics of the Danish people, whole-souledness, frankness, directness and simplicity of character. His grand- father, Anders Oveson, was a colonel in the Danish army. His maternal grandfather was Niels Hansen. His maternal grand- mother before her marriage was Marie Christensen.
The out-of-door life on a ranch, during his boyhood and early manhood, gave Mr. Oveson not only the physical ability to carry through a long course of study, unaided, for his father at this time met with financial misfortune, but also helped him to cultivate re- flection, initiative, and independent thinking.
Mr. Oveson entered the Kansas State Normal school in 1895 and graduated four years later. Thence he came to Hotchkiss school, Lakeville, Connecticut, to prepare for college. At Hotch- kiss he was captain of the football team and leader of the Glee Club. He then went to Harvard where he graduated, cum laude, in 1905. He received the degree of Bachelor of Laws from the Harvard Law School in 1908. While in the law school he acted as President Lowell's assistant, as instructor in Government.
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