USA > Massachusetts > Biographical history of Massachussetts; biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state, 1911, vol 9 > Part 18
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At Harvard he was prominent in athletics, played tackle on the 'Varsity Football Eleven, and was champion hammer-thrower on the 'Varsity Track Team. He was also president of his class, organizer and first president of the Phillips Brooks House Associa- tion, and was elected First Marshal of his class.
In Harvard he stood for democracy and in developing this trait among Harvard men he raised the necessary funds to put modern improvements into certain yard dormitories which he had petitioned the Corporation to reserve for seniors. Before beginning actual practice as an attorney, with the firm of Ropes, Gray and Gorham in Boston, he spent a year abroad in travel and study, and at- tended a course of lectures at the École de Droit, at the Sorbonne
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RAYMOND HANSEN OVESON
in Paris, in 1909. He also spent some months in Egypt and rode horseback across country from Jerusalem to Damascus.
His professional career has been eminently successful. After two years with the above mentioned firm, in 1911, he started for himself, under the firm name of Hale, Oveson, and Kendall. He is director of the Cosmopolitan Trust Company, Boston; director and treasurer of the Boston Journal; director and treasurer of the New England Co-operative Society; director of the Charles River Co-operative Society; director and treasurer of The American Match Company; besides holding various trusteeships. Since 1913 Mr. Oveson has been chairman of the Selectmen of the town of Southboro.
In politics Mr. Oveson is a Republican, but allied himself with the Progressive party in 1912, and was a member of the state Executive Committee. In 1914 he was candidate for the Massa- chusetts House of Representatives from the tenth district.
He is a member of the Bar Association of Boston; the Hasty Pudding Club, the Fly Club, the Signet Club, and the S. K. Club of Harvard; also of the Boston City Club, the Harvard Club, and the Agricultural Club of Boston, Union Boat Club, and the Harvard 'Varsity Club, and of the Copley Society of Boston. Besides all of these various associations Mr. Oveson finds time for recreation in automobiling, playing tennis, and running a farm on Turnpike Road, Southboro, Massachusetts. He also finds time to do his- torical reading and to study foreign languages. While in the Kansas Normal School he received military training, was captain of a company, and major of the battalion, so, in this his country's emergency he gives of his military knowledge and training, being Major of the Third Battalion, 13th Regiment, Massachusetts State Guard.
On June 11, 1908, he married Catharine Sabine, daughter of Dr. G. K. and Caroline Webb Sabine, and granddaughter of William H. and Catharine Krans Sabine, and of Stephen P. and Hannah Robinson Webb, and to them have been born two daughters, Margaret and Caroline Sabine Oveson.
Mr. Oveson believes that habits of industry, economy, and cour- tesy should be emphasized in the early life and education of the young rather than habits of leisure and extravagance. Less should be said about rights and more about duty and obligation.
CHARLES JACKSON PAINE
G ENERAL CHARLES JACKSON PAINE, a Civil War veteran of note, a railroad man of ability, and a notable figure in yachting circles was, born in Boston, Massachu- setts, August 26, 1833, and died at his summer home in Weston, Massachusetts, August 12, 1916. Few people in this country could boast of a more distinguished line of ancestry than General Paine. Nearly fourscore of the early settlers of this country, in Plymouth, Cambridge, Boston, Salem, in Connecticut, and in Virginia, con- tributed of their blood to combine in their descendant. The names of Thatcher and Willard, Sherman and Whitman, Cushing and Shaw, Conant and Sumner, Cogswell and Quincy, Hutchinson, Bradstreet and Dudley, Cabot and Higginson, Gardner and Bord- man, are a few of those numbered in the family book from the early days of the seventeenth century. He was third in direct descent from Robert Treat Paine, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and back of that he derives from John Cotton and not less than two colonial governors. His father, Charles Cushing Paine, was a lawyer. His mother was Fanny Cabot Jackson.
During his vacations from his studies at the Boston Latin School and Harvard College he principally devoted himself to sailing and shooting, and he was fond of playing ball. While at Harvard, rowing was his chief college sport - he was a member of the famous Oneida crew of Harvard, which rowed a Yale crew for the first time on August 3, 1852 - but sailing a cat-boat was his greatest private pleasure.
He took his degree of Bachelor of Arts at Harvard in 1853, with Charles W. Eliot, Robert S. Rantoul, Justin Winsor and several others of note, and after pursuing his regular law studies in the office of Rufus Choate, he was admitted as a member of the Massa- chusetts Bar in 1856. Two years later he received the degree of Master of Arts.
When the Civil War broke out General Paine enlisted and served throughout. He was made captain of the Twenty-Second Massa- chusetts Infantry in October, 1861; major of the Thirtieth Massa- chusetts Infantry, January, 1862; colonel of the Second Louisiana Infantry, 1862; brigadier general of volunteers July 4, 1864, and was brevetted major general of volunteers, January 15, 1865, “ for meritorious and valuable services," and was honorably mustered out on January 15, 1866. He commanded a brigade during the siege of Port Hudson in 1863 and in 1864 resigned in order to accept
Chas. J. Paine
CHARLES JACKSON PAINE
a place on the staff of General Benjamin F. Butler in Virginia. He led a division of colored troops in the attack on Newmarket, Virginia, September 29, 1864. After Lee's surrender he com- manded the District of New Berne, North Carolina. On his re- turn from the war he served a term as a member of the Massachu- setts House of Representatives.
General Paine later ventured in railroad investments, and his unusual ability and clear-sightedness in this field led to his election to the Boards of Directors of various railways. Between 1875 and 1901 he was director of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Mexican Central and other less important railways. He became a pioneer railway promoter, and a power among the Boston capitalists who laid the steel bands across desert and mountain that first bound the East to the great West.
In 1897 he was sent as an associate with Senator Wolcott and former vice-president Adlai E. Stevenson as a special envoy to France, Great Britain and Germany to represent the United States Government in an investigation in the interests of international bimetallism. He rendered valuable service at the time on the international monetary commission, which greatly strengthened the financial status of the United States.
General Paine came honestly by his powers as a master yachts- man. He was Boston born and bred and in his early years came in close association with the sea. He managed three successful cup defenders, the "Puritan," the " Mayflower," and the " Volun- teer," and Bostonians retain in their hearts a warm place, for the dashing manner in which he upheld America's supremacy on the sea in 1885, 1886 and 1887. In 1877 he purchased the New York schooner "Halcyon," and so improved and changed her that she became one of the fastest yachts then sailing. In 1885 the " Puritan," designed by Edward Burgess, was built by a syndicate formed by General Paine, who with Commodore J. Malcolm Forbes had charge of her in her races. The "Puritan " outsailed the " Genesta " in the International test of 1885. In 1886 he built the sloop, "Mayflower," also designed by Burgess, which defeated the "Galatea." She achieved great honors over America's fastest yachts of all classes, as well as securing the renown of successfully defending the challenge for the America's Cup in 1886.
In 1887 he built the " Volunteer," at that time the fastest sloop in the world. General Paine turned again to his designer, Edward Burgess, and together they labored long and hard to produce this craft, and their work resulted in one of the greatest American
CHARLES JACKSON PAINE
victories in American yachting. On the victory of the defender "Volunteer " over the challenger " Thistle " in 1887, the City of Boston gave a celebration in Fanueil Hall in honor of the event, and the New York Yacht Club presented General Paine with a silver cup, in recognition of his great success in defending the trophy on this side of the Atlantic. Probably no other yachtsman in this section was ever tendered such a tribute as was General Paine by the City of Boston. It was a gathering that has seldom been seen, the men coming from every section of New England, to do honor to the one man who, through his liberality and his energy, brought to Boston the honor of having three times successfully defended the America's Cup.
General Paine married Julia, a daughter of John and Mary Anna Lee Bryant. They had a beautiful home in the town of Weston. As becomes one whose ancestry is entwined with the finest traditions of New England history, General Paine's whole life was devoted to strengthening and broadening American interests in some of its most vital phases. General Paine is survived by three sons and three daughters: John Bryant Paine, Charles Jackson Paine and Frank Cabot Paine, all of Weston; Mrs. Frederick Winsor, of Con- cord, Massachusetts; Mrs. Thatcher R. Kimball, of Weston, and Mrs. Richard T. Fisher, of Petersham, Mass.
In speaking of General Paine, Major Henry Lee Higginson pays the following tribute:
" Another old friend, who has also lived in the shade, and yet has been keenly alive to the events of our day, died yesterday - Charles Jackson Paine.
" He was the grandson and namesake of Judge Charles Jackson - an upright, learned, high-minded judge and gentleman of courteous mien and manners. His grandson inherited many of his character- istics. At school he led in play and in studies, showing in debate his power of logic and clearness. In leaving Harvard College in the class of 1853, he studied law, and presently served with dis- tinction in the Civil War; and later took much interest in various railroads, of which he was an important director. A great railroad president said to me: 'When, on an important question, I can convince Charles Paine of my view, I know that I am right.' He was a noted yachtsman of his day, and won for his country renown on the water. In short, whichever way he turned, he showed the same quality and character. To his comrades he was true, loyal and courteous, and to his intimates something more; and we, his old friends, will miss him sadly. I wish that the younger gener- ation had seen oftener this modest, high-minded gentleman."
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GEORGE JUDSON PARKER
G EORGE JUDSON PARKER was born at Reading, Massa- chusetts, February 10, 1850, and died in Boston, Massa- chusetts, May 6, 1917. His father, Samuel Worcester Parker (September 8, 1820-December 4, 1886), son of Jabez D. Parker and Betsey (Holden) Parker, was a cabinet and piano manufacturer, and a man of skill and invention, with Puritan characteristics. His mother, Charlotte Bowen (George) Parker, daughter of Gideon George and Nancy (Chase) George, was a woman of character and decision, who exerted a strong influence on her son's life.
Mr. Parker was of English descent, his first American ancestors being Thomas Parker, who came from England to Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the " Mayflower."
George Judson Parker received his early education in the public schools of his native town and in the Dwight School of Boston and the English High School. During his school days he became deeply interested in music and everything pertaining to it and with the willing consent of his parents he decided to make that his life work.
Mr. Parker began the active work of his life in 1867 as an ap- prentice in the finishing department of the pianoforte factory of George M. Guild. He later became associated with Allen and Jewett of Leominster, Massachusetts, then entered the piano house of Henry F. Miller, now known as the Henry F. Miller and Son's Piano Company of Boston.
In 1872 he began the study of vocal music and for the following eight years devoted his whole time to his work, studying at Boston, at London, England; Paris, France; and Milan, Italy. In 1880 he returned to America and began his career as a professional musician at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, A few years later he removed to Boston and worked as a teacher and a professional public singer in church, concert, and oratorio work. He filled many church en- gagements, including one with the First Church of Boston, where
GEORGE JUDSON PARKER
he remained for twenty years, and where he was associated with Arthur Foote and Clarence Hay.
Mr. Parker had many pupils, continuing to teach for several years after he had retired from public life. From 1874 until his death in 1917 he was closely associated with the musical circles of Boston, and his ability and skill made him a prominent figure in every musical gathering.
Mr. Parker was a member of the Boston Apollo Club from 1877 until 1893. He also belonged to the Temple Quartette, the Beacon Quartette and to the Schubert Quartette. He was a member of the Masonic Order. He belonged to the St. Botolph Club and to various other local clubs and societies.
He was identified with the Democratic political party, and he was affiliated with the Bahai philosophical movement.
Mr. Parker found much help and inspiration in theological, biographical, and historical works, and his private study along these and musical lines was accounted the chief factor in his success.
Mr. Parker had a wonderful collection of jewels which has been stated to be the largest private collection in the country. He also had a fine collection of canes, numbering at least a thousand, many of which he had cut and finished himself as a pastime. He had a large library with many rare volumes, and he was also a col- lector of paintings.
Mr. Parker was married May 14, 1873, to Helen, daughter, of Helen and Elkanah Crosby who died six years later. On April 28, 1882, he married Adeline, daughter of Adeline and Frederick Nickerson. She died February 13, 1916. Mr. Parker had five children, of whom one is living: Helen Parker, wife of Gifford Le Clear of Waban, Massachusetts.
George Judson Parker had many splendid qualities that gave him as high a rank as a private citizen as he had as a musician and singer. He was a kindly neighbor and a loyal citizen of his com- munity, and was devotedly attached to his summer home at Brew- ster where he found relaxation and peace after his busy winters in the city.
A man of genial presence and sympathetic understanding Mr. Parker was respected and liked by all and his loss has been deeply regretted.
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WALTER EDWARD PARKER
W "ALTER EDWARD PARKER was born in Princeton, Massachusetts, September 27, 1847, son of George Parker and Emily R. (Coller) Parker, grandson of Ebenezer Parker, a farmer of Princeton, and of Hezekiah Coller, a Methodist preacher of Northfield, Massachusetts. He is a descendant of Thomas Parker, a farmer who embarked at London, March 11, 1635, with Sir Richard Saltonstall, with whose family he was con- nected by marriage. Captain John Parker, who led the company of farmers in Lexington in 1775, also Rev. Theodore Parker, the eminent preacher, were of this family. George Parker, the father of Walter E., was a farmer and also a manufacturer of textile goods. The farm was in Illinois and Walter lived there from March, 1857 to April, 1861.
Walter Edward Parker started his business life in the Social Cotton Mills. He was appointed Superintendent of the Globe Mills, owned by the Social Manufacturing Company, in 1876, and remained until 1881, when he became Superintendent of the Cotton Department of the Pacific Mills of Lawrence. In 1887 he was made Agent of all of the mills and print works controlled by that company.
He was a Trustee from the organization of the Lowell Textile School; a Trustee of Tufts College and Chairman of the finance committee; Trustee and President of the Essex Savings Bank, Lawrence; of the " White Fund " of Lawrence, and. of the Law- rence Public Library. He has served as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Lawrence General Hospital and as Chairman of the Board of License Commissioners of Lawrence by appointment of Mayor Rutter; President of Lawrence City Mission, and of the Lawrence Lumber Company; Director of Merchants National Bank, New Merchants Trust Co. of Lawrence, and of several textile mills.
He is a life member of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacture, and Commerce, London, England; of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, of the National Asso- ciation of Cotton Manufacturers, serving as President of the Asso- ciation in 1889-92; of the Geographical Society of Washington, D. C. He was admitted a member of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers and of the Society of Arts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was a founder and second Vice-president of the Textile Club.
In 1902 he received the degree of M.A. from Tufts College. A member of the Republican party, he was a delegate to the Chicago Convention which nominated Theodore Roosevelt in 1904, and to the Republican Convention of 1908, which nominated William H. Taft.
In 1877, Mr. Parker married Alida C. Willis, daughter of Rev. John Howard Willis and in 1888, he married Mary Bradley Beetle.
FRANCIS HOWARD PEABODY
F RANCIS HOWARD PEABODY was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, October 9, 1831. He died September 22, 1905. Of a long-lived stock, he counted back only six generations to Lieutenant Francis, who in 1639, at the age of twenty-four, emigrated from St. Albans, Hertfordshire, Eng- land, to Ipswich, and thence removing to Topsfield in 1651 be- came one of the wealthiest and most prominent men in that Essex County town. His great-grandson Oliver, son of Lieutenant Oliver, lived in Exeter, New Hampshire, was judge of the Su- preme Court, President of the Senate, and State Treasurer, and died in 1831 at the age of seventy-eight. His son, William Bourne Oliver Peabody, entered Harvard College at the age of thirteen and was graduated in the class of 1816. He studied theology and in October, 1820, was ordained minister of the Third Con- gregational (Unitarian) Church in Springfield. He was a bril- liant scholar and poet. He contributed to the North American Review. He was an enthusiastic student of birds; he was also a student of anatomy and frequently lectured on that subject. He was a man of singular refinement in his tastes and of the loftiest character. He died at Springfield in May, 1847. His wife, Eliza- beth Amelia White, was the daughter of Major Moses White who was born at Rutland, Massachusetts, in June, 1756. She was a noble-minded woman, of beautiful Christian character, and greatly beloved. She had decided literary tastes and wrote a number of short stories as well as a catechism for the Sunday school. Her grandfather, John White of Haverhill, Massachusetts, was a Revo- lutionary soldier and served through the war. Her mother was Elizabeth Amelia, daughter of the Hon. William Augustus Atlee of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a judge of the Supreme Court. Judge Peabody's wife was Frances Bourne of Marblehead. One of his daughters, a lady of rare character and ability, Lucretia Orme Peabody, was married to the Hon. Alexander H. Everett, who, after graduating from Harvard College, accompanied John Quincy Adams to St. Petersburg as secretary of legation, and was ambas- sador to the Hague, to Madrid and to China. He died and was buried in Canton, China, in 1847. He was the author of a number of books, the best known being " Europe, or a General Survey of the Present Situation of the Principal Powers," published in 1822. Five years later he published a similar work on America.
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FRANCIS HOWARD PEABODY
Francis Howard Peabody was an omnivorous reader -in English, German, French and Latin. He acquired languages easily and had a very retentive memory. Though his mother died when he was only eleven she had a great influence upon him. For a time he studied at the private school kept by George Eaton at Springfield, but left when he was fourteen, and kept up his studies under the direction of his father who gave him a thorough foundation in the elements of Latin, French, and German. In 1845 he began his life- work as a clerk in the Chicopee Bank of Springfield. The following year, having been highly recommended by William Dwight, a family connection, he went to Boston and entered the employ of John E. Thayer and Brother, bankers. In 1865 he entered into partnership with his brother Oliver W. Peabody and Henry P. Kidder, who, under the name of Kidder, Peabody and Company, succeeded the firm with which he began his career. As a success- ful financier he was called upon to take the office of director in many large and important railway enterprises, both steam and electric. All this appealed to him, because he was naturally of an inventive nature. He made the plans for a steam yacht, and in- vented a microscope, which is still preserved in the museum of the Harvard Medical School. Although he was not a college graduate he took a lively interest in the affairs of Harvard University and was appointed to serve on the Committees of the Observatory, the Herbarium and the Department of Modern Languages.
He was identified with the Republican party, but took no active part in National politics. He shunned publicity, and was most modest and unassuming; but he served two terms as a member of the Boston City Council. He was connected with the Unitarian denomination and served as superintendent of the King's Chapel Sunday school. His favorite recreations were walking, riding horseback, and boating, also botany and astronomy. He cared for wealth only " in the light of its potentiality for doing good to others." He was a generous contributor to all worthy objects. He was said to be always on the look out to find causes that re- quired aid. He was particularly keen in his interest in young men.
He was married April 27, 1854, to Lucy Adelaide Kinsley, daughter of Lyman and Louisa (Billings) Kinsley; one daughter survives.
SAMUEL ENDICOTT PEABODY
S AMUEL ENDICOTT PEABODY was born in Salem, Massa- chusetts, April 19, 1825, on the anniversary of the famous battle of half a century before. Doubtless that fact served in some degree to quicken the ardent patriotism of his later life. He came of noble Puritan stock, which well maintained its vigor in this descendant.
His father, Francis Peabody (1801-67), was the son of Joseph Peabody (1757-1844), an eminent merchant of Salem, who early made voyages to the far East, and later became the owner of many ships, employing at different times some seven thousand seamen and extending widely both the name and influence of the maritime town.
His mother, Martha, was the daughter of Samuel Endicott (1763-1829), a direct descendant of John Endicott. His grand- mothers were Elizabeth Smith and Elizabeth Putnam.
The Peabodys were first represented in this country by Lieut. Francis Peabody, who came from St. Albans, England, and landed in Salem in June, 1635. John Endicott came from Dorchester, England - commissioned as first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony - and founded the town of Salem in 1628. Mr. Peabody's ancestral tree was thus a notable one, of which he was justly proud.
Francis Peabody, his father, was interested in developing the manufacturing, mercantile, and educational interests of Salem and was highly esteemed by its citizens. He was colonel of the First Regiment of the State Militia. A student of natural science, an inventor and administrator, he succeeded in applying his knowledge and skill to the popular needs, and he inspired his son with a worthy ambition to emulate his industry and enterprise.
The childhood of Samuel Endicott Peabody was a happy one, spent amid elevating and beautiful influences, in abundant comfort, and under the watchful care of wise parents. His mother's strong moral and religious nature made its due impression upon the duti- ful son. His boyish tastes were for the sailor's life, which charmed so many of the youth of Salem to try their fortunes in foreign waters. The life of the soldier also had its attractions for him. This taste early led him to enlist in the militia and he was ap- pointed captain of the Salem Light Infantry, which office he held for several years. He was educated in the Salem schools and entered Harvard College, but remained there only one year. He then sailed as super-cargo in one of his grandfather's vessels, and rapidly advanced to important positions in foreign and domestic commerce. He was associated for a number of years with Francis
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