USA > Massachusetts > Biographical history of Massachussetts; biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state, 1911, vol 9 > Part 20
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The following article from the Philadelphia Inquirer of May 28, 1917, describes another of Mr. Pearson's gifts, a letter written by General George Washington, dated at Cambridge, December 16, 1775, and addressed to the General Court of the Province of Massa- chusetts Bay : -
" As a personal gift to the new Museum of American History at Valley Forge, Pa., Arthur Emmons Pearson, of West Newton, Mass., ... today will present to it ... an unpublished letter of George Washington. The letter has been in Mr. Pearson's possession for a number of years. It is a remarkably fine example of the first President's handwriting and of his peculiar diction. It is in fine condition, being torn only at the point where the seal was broken."
The presentation, which took place in the New Hampshire Bay, was the object of a pilgrimage to Valley Forge on the part of Mr. Pearson and his guests, including his parents, sister, relatives and friends.
In the year 1917, Mr. Pearson and his sister, Miss Nella Jane Pearson, also gave the New Hampshire State Panel in the ceiling of the Memorial Chapel.
Mr. Pearson was unanimously elected a Vice-President of the Valley Forge Historical Society on the formation of the society (1918). The society is sponsor for the Washington Memorial Library and the Valley Forge Museum of American History.
Mr. Pearson naturally belongs to many patriotic and historical societies.
He is a life member of The Society of Colonial Wars in the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts, and was a member of their Commit- tee on Membership for several years. He was a delegate from the Massachusetts Society to the Eighth Triennial Assembly of the General Society of Colonial Wars, held at Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, in June, 1918, and attended the assembly.
He is a life member of the Bostonian Society and was privileged to be one of the members to contribute to the repair of the Town House in Boston, England.
ARTHUR EMMONS PEARSON
He is a member of the Society of the War of 1812 in the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts, and was a delegate to the meeting of the National Society, held at Philadelphia, during the later presidency of Mr. John Cadwalader of the Pennsylvania Society.
He is a life member of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. He is a member of the Brae-Burn Country Club and the Neighborhood Club of West Newton.
Henry W. Keyes, Esq., Governor of New Hampshire, accepted for his State at the hands of Mr. Pearson, a whip which was made and used by Daniel Webster in his later years while pursuing his favorite pastime of hunting and fishing in the vicinity of his Marsh- field home. It is appropriately mounted and is in the keeping of the New Hampshire Historical Society at Concord.
Mr. Pearson has made substantial gifts of many and valuable books to a large number of libraries.
Mr. Pearson is the son of William Henry and Nancy Delia (Benjamin) Pearson, and was born in Boston, January 9, 1869. His father was a Boston business man. His emigrant ancestor, John Pearson (1615-1679) was one of the first seven members of the First Church in Christ of Reading and a Deacon (1652). His son, Lieutenant John Pearson, was chairman of the committee to con- struct the meeting house on Lynnfield Common. This building was built in the same year as St. Michael's at Marblehead, and the only meeting-house in Massachusetts now standing, constructed at an earlier date is the church of the Unitarian Society at Hingham. All the civil affairs of Lynnfield were conducted in this building until the new Town Hall was built in the year 1892; the old meet- ing-house is still used for town purposes. The timbers of oak are sound and should last for many generations.
The mother of Mr. Pearson was the daughter of Benaiah Benjamin and Elizabeth (Noyes) Benjamin. Her paternal emi- grant ancestor was John Benjamin, who arrived on the Lion, the ship dropping anchor in Boston Harbor on Sunday evening, September 16, 1632, after a voyage of three months from Plymouth, England. He settled in Newtowne, now Cambridge, and in 1642 owned the largest homestead in the town. He was appointed con- stable by the General Court (1633). Governor Winthrop speaks of John Benjamin in the following terms:
" Mr. Benjamin's house was unsurpassed in elegance and comfort by any in the vicinity. It was the mansion of intelligence, religion and hospitality; visited by the clergy of all denominations and by the literati at home and abroad."
The will of John Benjamin is in the handwriting of Governor Winthrop.
ARTHUR EMMONS PEARSON
The maternal grandmother of Mr. Pearson was Elizabeth Noyes. Her emigrant ancestor was Nicholas Noyes, who sailed from Lon- don in the Mary and John, and landed at Parker River in the year 1633-4. He was Deputy to the General Court of Massachu- setts (1660, 1679-81). His brother, Rev. James Noyes, settled at Newbury and his house is still standing (1918). His son, Rev. James Noyes, Jr., was the first minister at Stonington, Connecticut, one of the founders of Yale College, sharing the administration under the first president, Rev. Abraham Pierson. Nicholas Noyes married Mary Cutting, daughter of Captain John Cutting, for- merly shipmaster of London. Their son, Rev. Nicholas Noyes, Jr., was a noted divine of Salem and Chaplain of the Massachusetts Regiment at the Great Swamp Fight, King Philip's War.
Nicholas Noyes, Sr. was the son of Rev. William Noyes, Rector of Choulderton Parish, near Salisbury, England, for about thirty years; he was succeeded in the parish by his son Rev. Nathan Noyes. Rev. William Noyes married Anne Parker, sister of Rev. Robert Parker, to whom Mather refers as one of the greatest scholars of the English nation.
Further services given by the maternal ancestors of Mr. Pearson to the Colonial Governments of Massachusetts and New Hampshire include Henry Poore of Newbury, Ephraim Brown and Richard Currier of Salisbury, Thomas Tolman of Lynn and Worcester, Ben- jamin Mills and John Rice of Needham, Jonathan Gay and Na- thaniel Bullard of Dedham, Joseph Jewett, Jr. and John Pickard, Jr. of Rowley, Thomas Hale, Sergeant of the Newbury Military Com- pany - Soldiers of King Philip's War: John Nutting, killed while defending his garrison house at Groton (1676): Abel Platts, Ensign of the Rowley Company on the expedition against Canada and died on the voyage (1690): Thomas Wells, Jr., of Ipswich, Ensign of the Military Company of the Massachusetts, now the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company: Ephraim Brown, Jr., of Salis- bury, one of the snow-shoe men of Essex County under Captain True, Queen Anne's War: Moses Platts, of Rowley, who died from wounds, Siege of Louisburg (1745): Abel Benjamin, of Water- town, soldier in the French and Indian Wars, perished on expedi- tion to Fort William Henry: Ephraim Currier, of Chester, New Hampshire, soldier at Crown Point (1755): Joseph Jewett and John Pickard of Rowley, Deputies to the General Court of Massa- chusetts.
Mr. Pearson well sustains the reputation of his honorable an- cestry.
Mr. Pearson effected an agreement with the American Unitarian Association which provides for a perpetual series of addresses, designated as The Unification Addresses, to be given at five-year
ARTHUR EMMONS PEARSON
intervals by "such scholars of humane and cultured attributes as the President of the Association shall believe to be best equipped by inclination and ability " - to most perfectly consummate " complete mutual understanding and helpfulness between the people of all denominations and creeds " - the addresses never being allowed to become an agency -" to further the particular beliefs of any sect or association of persons in any manner such as a just interpretation could regard as an unwarranted affront to the followers of any faith." No personal belief nor associated ties can be any impediment in the matter of choice of the person to give any of the addresses.
Rev. Samuel A. Eliot, D.D., the President of the American Unitarian Association, happily and concisely sets forth the object of the agreement as an intended assistance in " unifying all the forces of righteousness and good-will in the world." The founda- tion, donated by Mr. Pearson, is to be continuously invested in funds of the United States of America under the care and direction of the President and Directors of the Association. Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President Emeritus of Harvard University, has accepted the invitation to deliver the First Unification Address, which will be given at the Horace Mann Auditorium, Columbia University, in New York City, on October 20, 1918.
Mr. Pearson has made two journeys to Washington since the United States of America entered the World War, and, although considerably over the enlistment age, he has offered his services for the duration of the war without remuneration.
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William Edward Frawow.
WILLIAM EDWARD PEARSON
W "ILLIAM EDWARD PEARSON is essentially a Massachu- setts man, as the major portion of his business life has been lived in the Old Bay State, although he was born in New York City. His childhood and youth were passed in Orange, New Jersey, which naturally led to his attendance at Princeton College; he was in the Class of 1892 and attended the John C. Green School of Science, where he specialized in civil engineering. He was born October 24, 1869, the son of Edward Asher and Sophia Downing (Owens) Pearson. His mother was a woman of great personal charm and beauty. She died when he was but a lad. As a boy he was very fond of out-of-door life and he was a good horseman before his college days.
During the construction of the White City of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, he was engaged as the civil engineer for one of the interests that held one of the most impor- tant concessions granted by the Commission. He then became identified with the quarrying of granite in Massachusetts, and for the five years previous to 1901 he was superintendent of the Glou- cester and Rockport quarries of the Cape Ann Granite Company.
On December 18, 1901, he sailed from Seattle for Manila. When some days out a fire on board was discovered, but the heavy winds and seas delayed the return to port. The ship returned to Port Townsend, and docked at Seattle, where the cargo was dis- charged, and the ship was reloaded and sailed again. Heavy seas made the voyage a long one. On his arrival at Manila he was placed in charge of the quarrying and the stone work incidental to the improvements in Manila Harbor. These undertakings were under construction by the Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Company for the United States Government. Certain of their contracts in the course of this work were of a magnitude that had never before been attempted in the East. Mr. Pearson later took examinations for the Bureau of Engineering of the Civil Government of the Philip- pine Islands, then under the administration of Governor-General Taft, and was appointed Supervisor of Cagayan Province, the most northern portion of Luzon. The seat of the local government was at Tuguegarao and the trip from Manila was a matter of two weeks.
WILLIAM EDWARD PEARSON
In his work of improving the roads and bridges of the Province, he several times penetrated districts which had undoubtedly never been visited by an American, and by few, if any, of the Spaniards, some of this country being inhabited by the head hunters. His service in this climate, so ill adapted to white men, covered three years and he won and held the confidence of the natives. Much of this service was given under great danger. He returned to the United States in 1905 by the Pacific Mail Steamship Line, after a visit to several port cities of China, a tour of Japan and a stop at the Sandwich Islands. He landed at San Francisco, and im- mediately crossed the continent to Massachusetts.
He next became Assistant Superintendent of Construction at the Yuma Dam in Arizona, and was later engaged on the great dam at Rockingham, North Carolina, then in course of construction by the Rockingham Power Company. In 1908 he was employed by the Connecticut River Power Company and was connected with the installation of their dam at Brattleboro, Vermont and after- wards adjusted most of the claims occasioned by the flowage of the great basin that was inundated when the dam was put in use. The New England Power Company took over this work and he is still with that company (1918) being in charge of their department for acquiring rights of way for their high power transmission lines for distribution of electrical power through five of the New England States.
Mr. Pearson is descended from John and Madeline Pearson, who emigrated from England. John Pearson was in Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, before the year 1637 and he was one of the founders of the First Church of Reading, Massachusetts. Mr. Pearson had six ancestors in the American forces of the Revolution- ary War, and more than twenty progenitors who gave civil and military services under the Colonial Governments of Massachu- setts and Connecticut. He is a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, Union Lodge, No. 11, of Orange, New Jersey, Free and Accepted Masons, the Economic Club of Worcester, Massachusetts and the Princeton Club of New York City. He is a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
He married at Gloucester, Massachusetts, December 23, 1909, Caroline Frances Hillier, daughter of Joshua Franklin and Kate A. (Tucker) Hillier. Their home is in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Geo. A. Pendergast.
GEORGE HENRY PENDERGAST
G EORGE HENRY PENDERGAST was born in Charles- town, Massachusetts, November 25, 1848. He died very suddenly on June 3, 1915, after an operation. His parents were George Sherburne and Sarah (Dearborn) Pendergast. Mr. George S. Pendergast his father was a well-known business man of Charlestown and was Chairman of the Board of Assessors in the last years that Charlestown was a City - and when it became a part of Boston through consolidation a First Assistant Assessor for Boston.
His mother was a modest, unassuming woman, devoted to her son and home. Her gentle influence instilled many of her excellent qualities in her son's life. Mr. Pendergast entered a wholesale store in Boston, Massachusetts, after completing his education in the public schools of Charlestown, Massachusetts. He was compelled to relinquish this position on account of ill health. In 1873, he entered the underwriting business. Gradually advancing to positions of trust, he was elected Secretary of the Mutual Pro- tection Insurance Company, in 1873; and on July 19, 1901, he was made President of this Company, He was the head of the firm of Pendergast & Noyes, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, until he retired from business in 1914. At the time of his death, Mr. Pendergast was senior Vice-president of the Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank, and a member of the investment committee.
Mr. Pendergast was a Past Vice-president as well as an honorary member of the Mutual Fire Insurance Union; Sons of the American Revolution; Universalist Club; Twentieth Century Club; Eco- nomic Club; Vesper Country Club, and associate member of Abra- ham Lincoln Post, G. A. R., of Charlestown, a member of the Somerville Historical Society, and of the standing committee of the First Universalist Church, Charlestown.
On July 8, 1873, Mr. Pendergast married Ella Worth, daughter of Ira A. and Emily T. (Jones) Worth. Two children, Mrs. Florence Worth Morey and Harold W. Pendergast, survive their father.
Mr. Pendergast was very fond of traveling and, with his family, enjoyed an extended trip through Europe, and later on, a Med- iterranean cruise, including Egypt and the Holy Land, Turkey and Greece.
Mr. Pendergast was for years one of the most popular and respected business men in town. A leader in local life, he well re- paid the confidence reposed in him as a citizen by living a life that finely typified the best qualities of manhood. His personal and business career was without a blemish, and his fine traits of char- acter, his great kindness of heart, and his generosity to all, won for him affection and honor.
JAMES THAYER PENNIMAN
I T is seldom if ever that we record in our biographical sketches the life of one living so near the century mark as James Thayer Penniman, of Quincy, Massachusetts. He is an illustration of honored longevity after years of industrious life. James Thayer Penniman was born in Braintree, Massachusetts, June 5, 1819. He died at his home in Quincy, February 7th, 1918. He was the youngest of a family of nine children. His paternal ancestor, James Penniman, came over from England in the ship Lion in 1631, and was admitted a freeman the same year. He married Lydia Eliot, a sister of John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians, with whom he came over in the Lion. A maternal ancestor, Richard Thayer, came from England in 1640 and settled in Boston. James Penniman settled in Braintree, and the homestead was near the house where President John Adams was born.
The subject of this sketch was the son of Stephen Penniman, a farmer of Braintree, and Relief Thayer, a descendant of Richard Thayer. A grandfather, Stephen Penniman, was distinguished in the Revolutionary Army in service at the siege of Boston and at Saratoga, rising to the rank of Major and afterwards Colonel.
Mr. Penniman, when a boy seven years old, went to live with Mr. Charles French of Braintree, with whom he remained doing a boy's work on the farm until he was sixteen years old. His limited school education, inducing a fondness for reading history, especially Rollins' Outlines of Ancient History, a standard of those days, was completed in the public schools. At the age of sixteen he went to Quincy to learn the shoe trade with his brother. Quincy was at that time the centre of the hand-made boot and shoe industry. Here he remained and continued working at his trade until 1844, when he started in business with Ozias Pope, as a manufacturer, under the firm name of Pope and Penniman. This partnership continued until 1848, when Mr. Penniman retired and came to Boston, establishing himself as a manufacturer of boots and shoes on Devonshire Street. He continued this business in different localities in Boston for many years, finally locating on Summer
JAMES THAYER PENNIMAN
Street. In those days leg boots were quite generally worn by men; and Penniman's custom made high-top boots had a high reputation for well fitting and stylish foot wear. He returned, however, to Quincy and formed a partnership with John R. Graham in the same line of business. This partnership continued for four years when Mr. Penniman retired to go into business with his son, James H. Penniman, in the manufacture of leather innersoles and heelings. This business was continued to about 1913.
Mr. Penniman was a Democrat in politics and has always main- tained that political faith. In religion he is a Unitarian.
He was an honorary member of the Granite City Club and of the Quincy Yacht Club. In his younger days he was a member of the Board of Engineers of Quincy, and he prides himself on being the oldest fireman in the city, his service going back to seventy years ago. He still kept up his interest in the associations of fire service when the old hand engine was in vogue and the spirit of comrade- ship prevailed among the companies; and no firemen's reunion of a recent day was considered in good form and character without his presence. He was popular among both the older and the younger members of the firemen's fraternity and was familiarly known as " Uncle Jim," a cognomen of affection and good fellowship. He was a member of the Odd Fellows though he did not affiliate with any lodge actively. He was once a member of the Quincy Light Infantry.
Mr. Penniman was married on December 13, 1843, to Maria A. Brooks, daughter of Thomas and Eliza (Thayer) Brooks. Seven children were born of this marriage, two of whom are living: - Ada M. W. Penniman, and James H. Penniman, leather dealer in Boston. His daughter Harriet T. Dolliver died October 27, 1917.
After the death of his first wife in 1879, he was married a second time to Mrs. Elizabeth Osborne, whom he survives.
Mr. Penniman enjoyed the devoted services of his daughter with whom he resided. He was approaching the centennial of his birth, which it was hoped he might reach; in the evenings of his days he was blessed by the esteem of his fellow citizens and the memories of times and events far beyond those of almost any living person.
JOHN BARTLETT PIERCE
J OHN BARTLETT PIERCE, founder and vice-president of the American Radiator Company, was born in Emden, Maine, June 2, 1843, and died at his home in Peabody, Massachu- setts, June 23, 1917.
His advent into the business world was extremely modest, be- cause of the limited means at his command. He was conscious of his own powers and laudably ambitious to create and direct. He early entered upon the manufacture and sale of steam and hot water apparatus and appliances.
He was hopeful, prudent and pertinacious, and he never lost courage. By application and perseverance his business grew and prospered until the American Steam Radiator Company was organized in 1892.
Since then the value of much of the stock in the earlier company, merged with the stock of the company which succeeded it, was largely augmented by the splendid results achieved by the com- pany. To the business associates who demonstrated clear and thorough business ability, combined with a fine sense of honor, a high quality of integrity, and a conscientious and loyal devotion to the performance of their respective duties, Mr. Pierce attributed the success of the American Steam Radiator Company.
Gratefully paying this tribute to his co-workers, he manifested his appreciation by providing tangible benefits for many of them out of the estate which they had helped to expand.
In his will Mr. Pierce made a specific bequest of shares of common stock of the American Radiator Company to upwards of four hundred employees of that company. These employees were classified into form divisions, based on the length and importance of service. The employees again benefit through an endowment known as the Employees Fund, of which the income is to be dis- tributed to such employees of the company previously mentioned who survive, and continue to be employed by the company in ten years time. The will also provides for the organization of the " John B. Pierce Foundation," whose object is the promotion of
e
JOHN BARTLETT PIERCE
research, educational, technical or scientific work in the general field of heating, sanitation and ventilation for the increase of knowledge to the end that the general hygiene and comfort of human beings and their habitations may be advanced.
The disposition of the property is made in a manner so unusual and noteworthy that it is bound to commend itself to the atten- tion of all interested in educational, philanthropic and industrial problems.
Of brilliant practical endowments, public spirited, and prone to large undertakings, Mr. Pierce identified his private interests with the welfare of his employees. He thoroughly understood that whatever would directly or indirectly be of service to each of them would be repaid in cordial, intelligent co-operation.
Mr. Pierce was married February 8, 1904, to Adelaide Leonard, daughter of Walter L. and Annis (Forrest) Leonard, granddaughter of Marcus M. Forrest and Sarah H. Forrest and of William Leonard and Mary Leonard, and a descendant from Edwin Forrest. Mrs. Pierce survives her husband.
Mr. Pierce's life was eminently one of labor-loving service, and like the granite-walled farm from which he sprung, he ever stood dauntlessly for high principles and honorable convictions. The memory of his valorous spirit will long be treasured. He lived above all else to carry forward steadfastly the life work which he was ever grateful that God had given him the wisdom, the courage, and the years to do. Amid the distractions and temptations of a remarkable business career he preserved the sweetness and sim- plicity of Christian living.
ANDREW W. PRESTON
A NDREW W. PRESTON, President of the United Fruit Company, was born at Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, June 29, 1846. His father was Benjamin Preston, of New Eng- land ancestry, a man of sterling character and business energy. His mother was Sarah Preston, a woman who exemplified the virtues of wife and mother in the household, gentle and firm in disposition, refined and educated. Both parents were of Christian character and impressed their influence upon the family in all the relations of life.
As a boy, Mr. Preston attended the public schools of his native town and applied himself industriously to whatever might con- tribute to useful knowledge. Ambitious to engage in some busi- ness larger than the field open to him in his home surroundings, he went to Boston at the age of nineteen and entered the employment of a produce commission merchant. This employment gave him an opportunity to observe the products of other regions. In those early days of the business the banana was rarely enjoyed and was comparatively little known as a nutritious article of food. Mr. Preston believed that the development of tropical lands might be brought about by well-organized plans, and a systematized pro- duction achieved by capital and good judgment. He believed that the market could be regularly supplied with adequate quantities on which reasonable profits could be realized, that the lands of pro- duction could be benefited by intelligent cultivation, and the con- dition of the fruit growers themselves vastly ameliorated.
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