USA > Massachusetts > Biographical history of Massachussetts; biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state, 1911, vol 9 > Part 19
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SAMUEL ENDICOTT PEABODY
Curtis (under the firm name of Curtis & Peabody) in the East India trade, with offices on India Wharf, Boston.
In 1871 Mr. Peabody removed to London, where he became a partner in the banking house of J. S. Morgan & Company, suc- cessors to George Peabody & Company, and remained in the London office for eight years. When he returned to America, he intended to retire from active business life, but found himself un- able to withstand the calls which naturally came to a man of his powers of initiative judgment and his wide experience. He was president of the American Loan and Trust Company of Boston; director of the Eastern Audit Company; president of the Salem National Bank; director of the Thomson-Houston Electric Com- pany; trustee of the Massachusetts Electric Corporation; of the West End Land Company; director of the Peabody Academy of Science from its incorporation, and he was connected with a number of local financial and charitable associations.
He was a member of various social clubs but had no desire for political notoriety. A pronounced and loyal American, he came back to its duties, opportunities, and traditions, from life in London, fearing lest his family would be weaned from them if he tarried longer under another flag. For years he acted with the Democratic party, but, later, usually supported the measures and candidates known as Independent.
His religious affiliations were with the Unitarian body and he was connected with and a liberal giver to the North Church in Salem.
Mr. Peabody married, November 23, 1848, Marianne Cabot, daughter of John C. and Harriet (Rose) Lee, granddaughter of Nathaniel and Mary Ann (Cabot) Lee, and of Joseph and Harriet (Paine) Rose.
He died at his home in Salem, October 30, 1909.
Four children, John Endicott, Francis, Endicott and Martha Endicott, survive him.
His home, " Kernwood," was one of the finest and most pic- turesquely located estates in Essex County. In its care and im- provement he found great pleasure. He had traveled extensively, was an intelligent patron of the arts and a lover of those who prized the best things in social life. His charity was constant but un- ostentatious. No worthy cause which benefited the community appealed to him in vain.
In figure and carriage he was the perfect gentleman, with a heart genuine in its sympathies and a spirit which rejoiced in the true, the beautiful and the good.
ENDICOTT PEABODY
T r HE Groton School illustrates the effects of applying to the education of boys in America certain methods and ideals brought from England. The experiment has been inter- esting and important; and the marked success of the school has been chiefly due to the fact that the founder and headmaster Endicott Peabody, is a man unusually well fitted by character, training and attainments to conduct such an educational experi- ment.
His own education, from the age of fourteen to twenty-two, was obtained in England, first in Cheltenham College, where he was prepared for the University, and then at Trinity College, Cam- bridge, in 1880. During this formative period of his life, he was not separated from his family; for his father was then a member of the London banking firm of J. S. Morgan and Company, and re- sided in London. The father, Samuel Endicott Peabody, was a sturdy and loyal American, and was not disposed to allow his son to forget that he, too, ought to grow up an American. What the home influence was may be learned from the accompanying biog- raphy of the father, of whom it is recorded that he came back from London to the duties, opportunities, and traditions of Ameri- can life, " fearing lest his family would be weaned from them if he tarried longer under another flag." Under influences of this kind, the son became deeply imbued with the spirit of English education without, however, losing his American attachments and ideals.
The headmaster of Groton is thus a man inspired but not subdued by the English spirit in education, and the school, while embodying English methods and ideals, flourishes in American' soil and is American in its essential aims and character. Aside from any special characteristics, the school has become famous for its thorough scholarly work, high tone, athletic prowess, and wholesome disci- pline. The headmaster well merits the high renown his success has won for him.
Endicott Peabody was born at Salem, Massachusetts, May 31, 1857. His father was Samuel Endicott Peabody, and his mother was Marianne Cabot Lee, daughter of John C. Lee. The details of his ancestry may be found in the biography of the father.
Endient Probary
ENDICOTT PEABODY
After a boyhood spent in Salem, he lived with the family in England for a period of eight years, where his university education was received, and the degree of LL. B. was conferred upon him by the University of Cambridge in 1879. Returning to America he entered the Episcopal Theological Seminary at Cambridge and re- ceived from that institution the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. Soon afterwards he entered upon his work at Groton and has ever since devoted himself to the interests of the school.
He was for three years one of the Board of Preachers to Harvard University. From Yale University he received the honorary de- gree of Master of Arts in 1902; and from Harvard University the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1904.
Doctor Peabody married, June 18, 1885, Fanny Peabody, daughter of Francis and Helen Bloodgood Peabody.
He is an athlete, scholar, churchman, and yet acquainted with the affairs of the world. His personality is especially adapted to win the confidence of the lads who attend the Groton School. The school began with a small number of pupils and instructors selected according to their social standing. This school has at- tained unequalled social prestige. It possesses an English atmos- phere and is recognized as one of the most remarkable institutions in America to-day.
Doctor Peabody is an exceedingly well-read man. His thoughts and deeds are actuated by high motives. To the carrying out of high and noble ideals he brings a strength of will, intellectual re- source, and a wealth of wide and varied learning. He loves his school and the responsibilities which it engenders. His attain- ments are but the outward expression of his remarkable character and of his spiritual gifts. Of distinguished birth and valorous soul, his life is based not only on force, truth and courage, but his personality is expressed in the institution which has these high qualities. His is an aristocracy of birth, culture and accomplish- ment, creating in him a nature which radiates far beyond his im- mediate circle. Doctor Peabody may well be regarded as a typical son of New England living in the larger world of affairs, and mak- ing his contribution to the comfort and joy of a multitude of grate- ful men and women. Within the circle of his personal influence he is powerful. His name is an inspiration to upright living, to in- dustry, to efficiency and to courage.
GEORGE LEE PEABODY
M UCH is expected of a man who is the heir, not only of wealth, but of superior intellectual, social, and moral antecedents. George Lee Peabody enjoyed these ad- vantages to an unusual degree. He honored a family name which has always stood high in Massachusetts, and his untimely death left many hearts sorrowing over their loss.
He was the son of Samuel Endicott Peabody and Marianne Cabot Lee, and was born in Salem, Massachusetts, May 16, 1865. His father, Samuel Endicott Peabody (1825-1909), Francis Pea- body, his grandfather (1801-1867), and John C. Lee, his mother's father, were distinguished citizens of their respective communities. His grandmothers were Martha Endicott (1763-1829) and Harriet Paine Rose. The first of the family name in America, Lieutenant Francis Peabody, came from England to Salem in 1635. He was also directly descended from Gov. John Endicott, Nathaniel Lee, and Joseph Rose Saltonstall, who are among the foremost of the founders of New England.
Samuel Endicott Peabody, the father of George Lee Peabody, was widely known and respected in the financial world. He was a member of the London banking house of J. S. Morgan & Co. His career was unusually successful. Integrity, fairness, and good judg- ment were marked characteristics of this honorable business man.
The mother of George Lee Peabody was a gentlewoman of great force of character, training her children with care, wisdom, and grace. Education was primal in her thought for them, and her counsel, inspiration, and high standards of conduct they well exemplified.
Mr. Peabody prepared for college at St. Mark's School, South- boro, and entering Harvard, was graduated in the class of 1886. Having a decided taste for a business life, he became a clerk in the banking house of Lee, Higginson & Co. (Boston), of which his grandfather, John C. Lee, was one of the founders. There he developed marked ability, later becoming a partner in the firm, in which connection he remained till compelled by ill health to withdraw.
Farge Lee Sealing
GEORGE LEE PEABODY
Mr. Peabody was not specially active in political matters, though interested in the election of able and worthy candidates for public office. He was, for three years, a member of the Salem Common Council, and acted in general with the Republican party. He was an enthusiastic sportsman, being especially fond of, and expert in, golf and polo. It was while engaged in the latter game that he met with an accident which eventually resulted in his death. He was a member of the Somerset, Myopia, Country, Exchange, Tennis, and Racquet Clubs, and of the Harvard and University Clubs of New York.
June 4, 1891, Mr. Peabody married Elizabeth Copely Crownin- shield. He left an honorable record and made numerous and abid- ing friendships.
In speaking of Mr. Peabody, Major Henry L. Higginson said: " When, at George Lee Peabody's funeral, the organ began to send forth the notes of Handel's beautiful Largo, so familiar to us, the music seemed to be telling of George Peabody's life - at first cheer- ful, kindly, earnest, strong - and then the single voice singing a more plaintive note which told us of life's doubts and troubles. But presently came forth a full, strong tone giving in the noble melody and the splendid, sure chords the assurance of victory over all ills, be they physical or spiritual. The music spoke of his steadfastness and sweetness under the great suffering and sorrow of his last year and of his quiet courage. So it seemed to me while sitting in the church and thinking of the true gentleman who for twenty-five years had sat beside us and thought and worked and shared with us - most cheerful in the dark days, and ever solicitous for our general good, and ever eager to guard our friends and cus- tomers against mistakes and losses. A young friend said of him: ' I have been around the world with him, and would go again. He was the most perfect gentleman of my acquaintance.' Thank heaven, he had his little failings, else he would have been no com- panion for us, and would not have been so dear to us.
" When we die let only friends and lovers speak of us, for they alone have known us well. His great virtues and little charms offset his weaknesses, and made up for them. We have known George Peabody well, and have respected and loved him. Can we say more of any man?"
WILLIAM HENRY PEARSON
W ILLIAM HENRY PEARSON has been identified with the business life of Boston for over seventy years. He was em- ployed in a retail shoe store before the year 1850. In 1857 he entered a partnership in the shoe trade on Hanover Street, then the center of the retail district. As the trade center changed, he removed his store to Washington Street, north of West Street, and when Temple Place ceased to be residential and was cut through to Washington Street, he removed to that thoroughfare, where his store was located for many years. He manufactured boots and shoes at Woburn and afterwards at Lynn. During the last twenty- five years of his active business life, he was a Deputy Collector of the City of Boston, and all but the first five years of that time, his district comprised a large portion of the business section. His success in filling this position to the satisfaction of the successive administrations and to the great numbers of the business men of the district was largely due to his genial nature and to his efficient methods. He retired from the office in his eightieth year (1912), his former associates in the Collecting Department attesting their friendship and appreciation of his services and companionship.
As a shoe manufacturer he was affiliated in early life, with the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. He was a mem- ber and chairman of various committees for the triennial fairs that were so successfully conducted, especially since the completion of Mechanics' Building on Huntington Avenue. He was one of the earnest supporters of Mr. Slack, who at that time was the President of the Association, in the erection of that building, which ultimately has proved to be a remarkably fortunate investment for the Associa- tion. Mr. Pearson was repeatedly elected as a Trustee of the Association and was a member of the committee to administer their Charity Fund. He retired from the board in the year 1916.
His early membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows makes him, now (1918), one of the oldest members in the Order. For many years he was a Director and Treasurer of the Odd Fellows Beneficial Association of Massachusetts and for them disbursed large sums for the benefit of the members, their widows and kindred. He was also a Trustee of the Odd Fellows Burial Lot in Mount
WILLIAM HFURY FI
From the original painting by Stunden Yield
WILLIAM HENRY PEARSON
Hope Cemetery and was entrusted with the care of their funds. He acted in a fiduciary capacity for many other of the allied bodies in the Order. He was for many years Clerk of the Corporation of the Odd Fellows Hall Association and also one of their Directors.
Mr. Pearson was a member of the Mercantile Library Association and was closely in touch with the many public-spirited men who composed the membership of that representative body of men between the years 1850 and 1870.
He attended the meeting for the organization of the Massa- chusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and was chosen a member of the first Board of Managers of the Society. He was sometime Vice-President of the Roxbury Chapter of the Society. He is a member of the Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
He attends worship at the church of the First Unitarian Society in Newton.
As a youth he participated in the amateur games of baseball on Boston Common. He was one of those who organized the Bowdoin Baseball Club in the year 1859. The Club was consolidated with other players, resulting in the formation of the Lowell Baseball Club and he played with them for several seasons. Among his chief pleasures has been the reading of works on natural history and travel.
Mr. Pearson is the son of William and Lucinda Maria (Green- leaf) Pearson and was born at Lancaster, New Hampshire, July 31, 1832. He married at North Whitefield, Maine, February 21, 1861, Nancy Delia Benjamin. They had a married life of more than fifty-six years. The portrait of Mr. Pearson accompanying this memoir, together with one of Mrs. Pearson, was painted in observ- ance of his seventy-fifth birthday. Their family included two sons and a daughter: Seth Greenleaf Pearson, who died in 1864; Nella Jane Pearson and Arthur Emmons Pearson.
In the year 1910 Mr. Pearson presented the President's Pew in the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in memory of his parents. The inscription placed upon the pew cites certain interesting facts pertaining to the history of Valley Forge, as well as attesting the tribute of Mr. Pearson to his parents. The pew is of oak, Gothic in design and surmounted by carved poppy heads.
WILLIAM HENRY PEARSON
The Screen to the President's Pew was given in the following year by Mrs. Pearson. Like the pew, the screen is of oak. The symbolism of the frequent references by Washington to the
Un the Glory of Ond and in Memory of George Washington
First President of the United States and
James Monroe
Fifth President of the United States who were encamped at Halley Forge 1777-1778 and in Commemoration of the Address by
Theodore Roosevelt
Twenty-sixth President of the United States June 19, 1904, the first President to visit Halley Forge
And in Memory of William Pearson anù Aurinda Maria Greenleaf his Wife
Descendants of flatrinta of the Continental Army This Peu is given by their Son William Henry Pearson May 29, 1910
Providence of God as directing our National destiny is expressed by angels in the attitude of prayer. These figures carved in the oak kneel on the central buttresses of the screen. The ends of the screen are also surmounted by carved poppy heads. .
Mrs. Pearson was devoted to her family and to her many friends, who deeply valued her sterling and kindly attributes. Her opti- mistic and generous spirit finely balanced her strong will and strict code of ethics. She died at their home in West Newton, June 9, 1917.
The emigrant ancestor of Mr. Pearson was John Pearson (1615- 1679), who came from England in 1637 and settled at Lynn and then at Reading, Massachusetts. His son, Lieutenant John Pear- son (1652-1728), was chairman of the committee appointed to effect the establishment of Lynnfield as a separate town and was chosen as Representative to the General Court (1702-3, 1710-11). Mr. Pearson is descended through the son, Captain James Pearson.
WILLIAM HENRY PEARSON
The ancestors of Mr. Pearson, who served in the Revolutionary War were Amos Pearson, who, as Sergeant of the Third Parish Company of Reading, answered the call at Lexington; Ensign Joshua Barron, a soldier from Ashby; Lieutenant Jonathan Derby,
On the Glory of Bud in Honor of
General George Washington
Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and his Major Generals at Valley Forge and in Memory of
Benaiah Benjamin and
Elizabeth Noyes his Wife this Hem Screen is given by their Daughter Nancy Delia Benjamin Pearson Junte 19, 1911
of Hebron, Connecticut; David Greenleaf, who gave a long service in the Continental Army, and was at the Surrender of Burgoyne; Emmons Stockwell, of Lancaster, New Hampshire, whose family and one other family did not retire from the frontier town during the continuance of the war; David Page, a soldier from Lancaster and the first-named Grantee of Lancaster, New Hampshire. Among those of his ancestors who gave service to the Colonial governments were Isaac Morrill of Roxbury, Massachusetts, a member of The Military Company of the Massachusetts (now the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company) in 1638, the year of the formation of the Company: Timothy Barron, a soldier in the Indian Wars 1724-5, and afterwards severely wounded at the Siege of Louis- burg (1745): Cornet Thomas Dewey of the Windsor (Connecticut) Troop: Thomas Ford of Windsor, Connecticut, repeatedly elected to the General Court of Connecticut and an influential citizen: Major Jeremiah Swayne of Reading, an officer in command at the
WILLIAM HENRY PEARSON
Great Swamp Fight, where King Philip was slain; he was badly wounded in this engagement; Captain of the Military Company of Reading; appointed Commander-in-Chief of all the Forces of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and led an expedition against the " Indian Enemy - in the direction of the Kennebec "; many times Deputy and Representative to the General Court; Member of the Council: David Greenleaf, in frontier service on the Upper Coos: Emmons Stockwell, one of Roger's Rangers: Thomas Nichols, Captain of the Reading Military Company, Deputy to the General Court, and Selectman of Reading for thirty-one consecutive years: Richard Swan of Rowley, a soldier in King Philip's War, in service on an Expedition to Canada, Deputy to the General Court: Sergeant John Heald of Concord, who marched to the relief of Brookfield, the father of Lieutenant John Heald, who commanded the Concord troops when the company marched to Boston to participate in the overthrow of Sir Edmund Andros, as Governor: Simon Gates of Cambridge, a soldier in King Philip's War and a descendant of Sir Geoffrey Gates and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Clapton, the parents of Sir John Gates, Master of the Horse to Edward VI of England; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Peter Emmons of Ipswich, Edward Culver of Dedham and New Haven, John Batchel- der of Reading, Sergeant Josiah Dewey of Westfield, Joseph Jewett, Jr., of Rowley, Thomas Wood of Rowley, soldiers in King Philip's War: Lieutenant John Pearson of Lynnfield, Ensign Nathaniel Lawrence of Groton, John Page of Watertown, Joseph Jewett of Rowley, William Titcomb of Newbury, Captain Joseph Boynton of Groton and Rowley, and Lieutenant John Smith of Reading, Members of the General Court of Massachusetts.
Arthur Emmons Carson.
ARTHUR EMMONS PEARSON
A RTHUR EMMONS PEARSON has been for nearly thirty years connected with the Hollingsworth & Whitney Com- pany, one of the largest paper manufacturing concerns of New England.
He was a Franklin Medal scholar of the Boston Schools and passed the examination for entrance to the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology, but entered immediately on business life.
He has been much interested in American history, particularly of the Colonial and Revolutionary periods. He has compiled a genealogical record of about four thousand descendants of John Pearson (1615-1679) of Lynn and Reading and of John Benjamin (circa 1598-1645) of Newtowne, now Cambridge and Watertown, his paternal and maternal emigrant ancestors. He has also made a record of more than four hundred of the progenitors of his parents, including their military and civil services and their ecclesiastical ministrations. These records have been edited by Mr. Pearson and published in Colonial Families of the United States of America (Baltimore, Vol. II and Vol. VII, the latter named volume in preparation), the Benjamin Genealogy (Winthrop, 1900), American Families of Historic Lineage (New York), the Noyes Genealogy (Boston, 1904), and the Cyclopedia of American Biography (Ap- pleton's Revised - New York, 1918), Colonial Wars, Vol. I, and the Chart Book of The Society of Colonial Wars in the Common- wealth of Massachusetts, in preparation.
Mr. Pearson is a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and was a member of the Com- mittee on Dedication of the Massachusetts Bay in the Cloister of the Colonies of the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on June 19, 1909. The Washington Chapel Chron- icle of June 15, 1915, describes his connection with the Memorial as follows:
" The New Hampshire Bay in the Cloister of the Colonies will be built this summer. This has been made possible through the generosity of Mr. Arthur E. Pearson, ... who will give the Bay in honor of the men of New Hampshire. ... Mr. Pearson and his father were deeply interested in the erection of the Massachu- setts Bay, and gave largely of their own time and means to have this memorial erected at Valley Forge.
" The New Hampshire Bay will adjoin the Chapel and like it will be built of Holmsburg granite and Indiana limestone. The floor will be of Knoxville marble and in the centre will be a re- production in bronze of the seal of the Colony of New Hampshire. The ceiling will be of hand-carved oak, and on the central boss will be the arms of the State, carved and colored.
ARTHUR EMMONS PEARSON
To the name of God Amen
amen
Intribute to the Lopaktu and the Sacrifice of the hoops of the
Produce of new Hampshire
in the Continental Army dương the Vinter Encampment of 1777=1778 In grateful Recognition of the Deagtion and the Serdice ofthe Sons and Daughters of the Proonce
Cobo contributed by word or act toward the establishment of American Independence and on Loving Memory Amos Pearson John Beyaum
EVE Ensign Joshua Barton Knorrtenant Jonathan Derbu David Page Emmons Stort well and Dand Greentea Soldiers of the Revolutionary Fortes this ben is erected by Arthur Fumone Pearson
1915 nul Desperandum Ofcusto Duce
REPRODUCTION OF INSCRIPTION CUT IN THE STRUCTURAL STONE OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE BAY IN THE CLOISTER OF THE COLONIES OF THE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL CHAPEL AT VALLEY FORGE PENNSYLVANIA (REDUCED)
ARTHUR EMMONS PEARSON
" In this Bay will be two entrances into the Chapel. To the west will be the 'Inauguration Door' . . . in commemoration of Washington's inauguration as First President of the United States. . . . The North door will open into the choir room. .. . "
The maternal great-grandfather of Mr. Pearson was John Ben- jamin (1758-1814), seven years a soldier in the Continental Army, and at Valley Forge; his powder-horn, carried in the service, has been given by Mr. Pearson to the Valley Forge Museum of Ameri- can History. Lieutenant Samuel Benjamin, a brother, was also in service at Valley Forge.
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