USA > Massachusetts > Biographical history of Massachussetts; biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state, 1911, vol 9 > Part 24
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Dr. Strong is credited with valuable discoveries in relation to the etiology, prevention and treatment of infectious, exotic and tropical diseases, which is good evidence that he is alert to the necessity of extending the boundaries of medical science to all possible degrees.
In 1916 he was Chairman of the United States Financial Com- mission to Brazil, and in 1917 he was sent to France and England by the U. S. Government as Representative of the Council of National Defence.
He is a member of the following medical and scientific societies: the Association of American Physicians (Alternate delegate to the Congress of Physicians and Surgeons); the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists; he is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; a member of the American Society for the Advancement of Clinical Investigation; a Fellow of the Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, London; a member of the Société de Pathologique Exotique, Paris; of the Massachusetts Medical Society; of the American Medical Association; he was President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine, 1913- 1914; he is also a member of the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine; of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement; of the American Society for Experimental Pathology; of the Boston Society of Natural History; and of the International Association of Medical Museums. He is also a member of the Aurelion Honor Society of Yale University, the Travelers' Club from which he re- ceived the gold medal for 1916 for distinguished travel and of the Army and Navy (Washington), Brookline Country, Harvard, St. Botolph, University, Yale, Tavern and Union Clubs, (Boston); Bankers', India House, and Harvard Clubs of New York City.
Massachusetts may well take pride in the achievements of such a man as Dr. Strong. He has worthily upheld the traditions of his family, and his notable service in the relief of suffering humanity is an honor to the profession of which he is a member.
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Walter B. Swift.
WALTER BABCOCK SWIFT
W "ALTER BABCOCK SWIFT was born in the city of Geneva, Switzerland, but is of the best American stock. His parents were tourists in Europe at the time of his birth, December 24, 1868. His father was Nathaniel Hathaway Swift (1826), son of Jireh and Elizabeth (Hathaway) Swift, known as a wholesale oil merchant honest and altruistic. Dr. Swift's mother was Isabella Beecher Babcock, daughter of Eliza Hibbard, and the Reverend Elisha Gulliver Babcock. She had a powerful influence upon her son, and to this day he gives her the honor of his successful career.
Dr. Swift's ancestors originally came from England. There were three brothers. One settled in New Bedford, one on Cape Cod, and the other became a pioneer of the West. His grand- father, Jireh Swift, served in the legislature longer than any one had done up to his time. On the maternal side he is a descendant of Captain William Babcock. His paternal ancestors were pre- sented by the English royalty with a coat of arms decorated with a figure of that species of bird known as the swift.
Dr. Swift received his preparatory training at the Newton High School and Mr. Hopkinson's School in Boston. From 1895 to 1897 he received training in public speaking and graduated from the Emerson College of Oratory, Boston. Four years were spent at Harvard College where he graduated in 1901. From 1901 to 1903 he studied at the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard Col- lege receiving at the completion of his course there the degree of S. B. in Hygiene. The Course in Hygiene constituted a special preparation for medical study. In 1907 he graduated from the Harvard Medical School. Meanwhile, in 1902, he had received, from the New England Conservatory of Music the College of Oratory degree of O. B.
From 1904 to 1907 Dr. Swift served during the summers in the out-patient department of numerous hospitals in Boston and practised along general medical lines. From 1906 to 1907 he was an intern at the Long Island Hospital. He says that this year's experience amounted to ten years' private practice and was an adequate general medical foundation upon which to build his specialty in nerve and speech disorders.
In taking up this work he had ample financial backing, and it was solely his personal desire which determined his choice of the medical profession. Three years from 1907 to 1910, were spent in Europe, studying in Berlin, as follows: one half year in the nerve clinics of Berlin under Ziehen, Forster, Oppenheim, Toby Cohn, Liepmann and Shuster. In 1908 he was appointed "Assistant to Professor H. Oppenheim " Germany's authority on Clinical Neu- rology. Then followed one year's work in the laboratory of Pro-
WALTER BABCOCK SWIFT
fessor L. Jacobsohn on a research upon Tone Differentiation in Dogs after Temporal Lobe Extirpation. He took courses in nerve anatomy, in neuropathology, physiology, psychiatry and speech disorder. The other lecture courses pursued were Gutzmann's didactic lecture course in Phonetics, his demonstration course on the History of Instrumental Production, and his clinical course on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Speech Disorder.
In 1910 he read the results of his year's research in Jacobsohn's Laboratory upon Tone Differentiation in Dogs, before the Berlin " Gesellschaft fur Psychiatrie und Neurologie." He visited seventy- two nerve specialists throughout Europe, in Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, France, and England. That year he returned to America with a collection of over two thousand nerve slides.
From 1910 to 1914 he was appointed Assistant to Physicians for nervous diseases at the Boston City Hospital and was in service with Professor John Jenks Thomas. In 1911 he was assistant in Neu- rology at the Tufts Medical School where Professor Morton Prince was the chief of the Neurological Department. In 1913 he was made assistant in Neuropathology; in 1914 he received the appointment as instructor in Neuropathology; from 1912 to 1917 he was in charge of the voice clinic at the Psychopathic Hospital, Boston.
Doctor Swift founded the speech clinic at the Massachusetts General Hospital, under Professor A. Coolidge, Chief of the Laryn- gological Department. During 1916 he gave courses on speech disorder in the Harvard Graduate School of Medicine, and lectures were also given to the Harvard Medical students with the title, " Clinical Assistant in Laryngology." In 1917 he was appointed Medical Supervisor of speech classes in the public schools of Fall River, Massachusetts, and instructor in Speech Disorder in the Wheelock School, Boston. In 1918 was appointed Instructor in Speech Disorders in the School of Education of the Western Re- serve University, Cleveland, and instructed eighteen teachers who will correct Speech Defects in Cleveland Public Schools. He was also appointed " Consultation Expert " to guide this move- ment. In this way the Swift methods and systems have been recog- nized and adopted by America's highest educational authorities. This will make Cleveland America's model in Speech Improvement. Five American cities, five normal schools and nine speech clinics now teach his methods of speech correction.
He has given numerous addresses and as an author is well known, having written four medical works and over one hundred articles. His researches on speech have been printed in over two' hundred papers. He is president of the " National Society for the Study and Correction of Speech Disorder," with 250 members-his own former students.
JOSEPH WARREN TEMPLE
A MONG the many men in the Commonwealth who have quietly met the obligations of life in such a manner as to win the esteem of their associates and to merit more than a passing notice, Joseph Warren Temple surely deserves a place. Mr. Temple was born in Spencer, Massachusetts, which was his home, February 17, 1833. He died there November 11, 1914. He was the son of Alonzo Temple, who was born November 19, 1797.
Alonzo Temple was a successful contractor and builder. He married Adaline Rider, who was an estimable woman. Her in- fluence was strongly felt in the home and was always exerted to make her son the man that he was. The strength of his intellectual life, his unblemished moral character and his sincere and earnest spiritual convictions were, to a great degree, the result of his mother's careful training and example.
Joseph Warren Temple had the educational opportunity which the country schools of his day afforded, supplemented by the Leicester Academy of which he was a graduate. He was especially interested in history and added to the knowledge obtained in the schools by extensive reading. He remembered well what he read and as a result became an authority upon historical subjects. In 1889 he published an historical sketch of Spencer. Mr. Temple found great pleasure and recreation in travel and indulged this taste extensively.
Mr. Temple began the active work of life in a country store. Here he supplemented the education which books and the schools had given him with the education which contact with men gives. In a country store one meets all sorts and conditions of men, and the knowledge of men gained there is a valuable acquisition. After a few years he left the store and became a manufacturer of boots and shoes. This business he followed for twenty years, when he became Treasurer of the Spencer Savings Bank, a position which he held for eighteen years. He was then President for six years covering a quarter century of association with this institu- tion. During these years he served with marked fidelity, making many friends by his quiet, kindly courtesy.
JOSEPH WARREN TEMPLE
Mr. Temple was a constant attendant and consistent member of the Congregational Church, an earnest and sincere supporter of its work.
In politics he was a Republican. He never sought public office, although he held several of the offices in the town. For many years Mr. Temple held these offices with credit. He was also a member of the Massachusetts Legislature. He was Justice of the Peace and Notary Public, and held these positions until his death.
He was married April 19, 1859, to Sybil A. Green, daughter of Josiah and Sybil (Underwood) Green. They had no children, but an adopted son, Ellis Lazelle.
A friend said of Mr. Temple: -
" Mr. Temple has been a valuable citizen in many ways.
" He was valuable because he was interested in every movement that sought the betterment of his native town. He was valuable because of his kindly nature and habit of helping make pleasant the ways of others. He was valuable because of a courage to de- fend and support what he believed to be the right things. He was valuable because of the wholesome influence which he exerted with kindred spirits in his earlier days upon the musical life of the town. He never lost his interest in musical matters.
" He was valuable because he never grew old in spirit and could appreciate the things which youth enjoyed. He was valuable be- cause of his deep interest and large information upon matters of local history, which he helped to preserve through investigation and by his writings."
In the winter of 1883-1884 he represented the district in the General Court at Boston; was appointed Clerk of Mercantile Committee.
He had served the town as Assessor, Town Clerk and on Com- mittees of conference.
He was active in the inception, progress and completion of the branch railroad connecting the village with the main line of the Boston & Albany railroad at South Spencer.
Oakley S. Walker
OAKLEY SMITH WALKER
A MONG the many men in this country who can rightly be called self-made, Oakley Smith Walker clearly belongs in the front rank. He was born in South Ruthland, Jeffer- son County, New York, in 1857. His father was Benjamin F. Walker, who was born in 1833 and died in the Union Army in 1864, and was a descendant of Nathaniel Oakes of Marlborough, who came from England in 1660. His mother was Ursula C. (Smith) Walker. His grandfathers were Benjamin Walker, who married Sarah Oakes, and John Smith, who married Polly Under- wood.
Benjamin F. Walker was a cooper by trade. He was a man of great industry and was also intensely patriotic. When the call for volunteers came in 1861, although he could have made an ex- cuse for remaining at home from the fact that he had a wife and five small children, he did not hesitate but answered the call at once by enlisting in a New York regiment. He died in the service at the age of thirty-one, having thus early given to his country his full measure of sacrifice.
Ursula C. (Smith) Walker, the mother of Oakley Smith Walker, was a woman of extraordinary ability and noble character. She had no income and had to give up her home with her children for a time that she might better fit herself to take up the burden of their support. Instead of sitting down and mourning over her hard lot she immediately found temporary homes for her children while she went through the course at the Albany Normal School. She taught school for many years and became Principal of a large grammar school in Watertown, New York. Later she became Secretary of the Bureau of Charities in that city and died there at the age of eighty-three. Hers was a wonderful achievement for a woman starting under such adverse circumstances.
Under these strenuous conditions Oakley Smith Walker grew to manhood. He was but seven years of age when his father died. He had to work on a farm, and alternated what schooling he re- ceived with farm duties. Besides the grammar school he had two terms of High School. The farm work was hard and distasteful to him but he acquired there the virtue of patience. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed in a machine shop. The work there was more to his liking for, although he entered the shop at that age from force of circumstances, the study of machinery was his delight.
OAKLEY SMITH WALKER
While his mother's influence was of great assistance to him, he had no real home life as a boy and so the influence of home upon his success in life was less than that of private study, school discipline and of contact with men in active life. As a boy he was especially interested in history and was proficient in mathematics and me- chanical subjects.
It was in 1872 that he was apprenticed in the machine shop and such was his aptness for the work, his skill and perseverance that he became the foreman of a shop in 1883. In 1887 he came to Worcester, where he has since lived. He had been for three years connected with the Worcester Polytechnic Institute as Designing Engineer, when in 1890 he accepted the same position with the Norton Emery Wheel Company. He stayed with them seven years when he established his present business under the name of the O. S. Walker Company. He started the company with a capital of one hundred dollars and it has grown in twenty years until now it has been conservatively capitalized at ninety thousand dollars. The business has been built up by a policy of fair dealing and upon the principle that dishonesty never pays.
Mr. Walker has had patented many of his inventions, the chief of which is the magnetic chuck, the original patent for which was issued in 1896. At that time there was practically no demand for magnetic chucks and Mr. Walker had to create his market. He has been so successful in proving its worth that his magnetic chuck is now used over the entire world and the idea has been copied by both English and German manufacturers.
Mr. Walker has always been a Republican in politics. He has always refused public office and his public services have been rendered by financial contributions, which have been liberal. He takes his relaxation from business cares in motoring about the country.
He was married December 22, 1880, to Mary Cutler, daughter of Orville and Delia (Babcock) Cutler, and a granddaughter of Isaac and Mary Cutler and of Ambrose and Hulda Babcock, and a descendant of John Cutler, who came from England in 1637 and settled in Hingham. They have had three children: Mildred A. Walker, living at home; Dorothy C. Walker, a student; and Oakley C. Walker, also a student.
Wrote the following, expressly for this volume: " First of all, in- dustry and determination to succeed. In business always deal fairly. Live and let live is a good motto. True success lies in do- ing one's duty according to one's conscience. Dishonesty never pays."
Fadini Q. Washburn
FREDERIC AUGUSTUS WASHBURN
T HE Washburn family originated in the county of Worces- ter in England. Below the Bredon hills to the south are two little villages of Washburn, which gave name to an ancient and illustrious family stock, noted for ability, philanthropy and statesmanship. From this stock came Dr. Frederic Augustus Washburn, who was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Novem- ber 22, 1869. His father was Frederic Augustus Washburn (January 5, 1834-January 23, 1908), a son of Marsena Washburn (1789-1876) and Lucy (Gifford) Washburn. Frederic A. Washburn, Senior, was for fifty-eight years a banker in New Bedford banks, a man endowed with fidelity, piety, and a love of mankind. Dr. Wash- burn's mother was Mary J. Swan, daughter of Perez Wheeler Swan (1811-1864) and Almada A. Shurtleff (Swan), a woman of fine character, whose early training and influence made a strong im- pression upon his intellectual and moral life. Among his dis- tinguished ancestors were John Washburn from Evesham, England; who emigrated to Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1630. Among the Mayflower ancestors were Francis Cooke, Isaac Allerton, and Peter Brown, who settled in 1620 in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Dr. Washburn received his education in the public schools of New Bedford going through the high school, graduating there in 1888. Then he took a course at Amherst, and graduated in 1892, with the degree of A. B. He was always fond of reading biographi- cal and historical works, and military affairs greatly attracted him. As a youth he did all the chores about the house, such as cutting the grass and chopping the kindling wood. These beneficial tasks instilled in him regular habits of industry.
Dr. Washburn graduated from the Harvard Medical School in 1896. While studying there he acted as an intern at the Children's Hospital. In 1896 he became house officer at the Massachusetts General Hospital. It was by his own choice that he took up the practice of medicine. In 1899 he became Assistant Resident Physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital, also, from 1903 to 1908. He was elected Administrator and Resident Physician in 1908, and he still retains that position.
At the time of the Spanish American War in 1898, Dr. Washburn was first lieutenant and assistant surgeon of the Sixth Massachu- setts United States Volunteers. In 1899 he became captain and assistant surgeon of the 26th United States Volunteers and served in the Philippine Islands. In 1901 he became a surgeon with the rank of major and served as such until 1903 with duty in the Philip-
FREDERIC AUGUSTUS WASHBURN
pine Islands, to which he made two trips during his army service, returning to Massachusetts in 1903. In July, 1917, Dr. Wash- burn went to France as head of the Massachusetts General Unit,
Dr. Washburn is a member of the Chi Psi fraternity, the Uni- versity Club of Boston, the Masons, the American Medical Asso- ciation, the Massachusetts Medical Association, the Society for Medical Improvement, and the American Hospital Association, and in 1913 was President of that society. He belongs to the St. Botolph Club, and is Deputy Governor of Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, and Director Massachusetts General Hospital, Base Hospital No. 6. His favorite forms of diversion are reading and playing golf.
January 10, 1911, Dr. Washburn was married to Amy, daughter of Francis Henry and Fanny Rollins Appleton, a granddaughter of Francis Henry and Georgianna Crowninshield Appleton and of Sewell and Elizabeth Sawyer (Rollins) Tappan, a great grand- daughter of Nathaniel Silsbee, United States Senator from Massa- chusetts, and a descendant from Samuel Appleton who came from Waldingfield Parish, Suffolk, England, to Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1635. They have had two children, one of whom is living, Amy Washburn.
Dr. Washburn is greatly interested in the building of a hospital for the care of persons of moderate means. In a report of the Massachusetts General Hospital made by him there is this state- ment: "Such a hospital would meet a want which is generally felt, as people of moderate means are getting to-day the least efficient care of any class in the community.
Under his direction the Massachusetts General Hospital has been organized and equipped by the Red Cross Society for a base hospital of five hundred beds for the service of the government in time of war. It consists of a medical staff of twenty-six physi- cians, two dentists, fifty nurses, twenty-five nurses' aids, twenty- five in reserve, one chaplain, seventy-seven male administrative personnel and fourteen civilian employees. This base hospital can only be called in time of war in which the United States is a party. If so called the physicians of the staff, who are required to be members of the officers' reserve corps, become officers of the medical department of the United States Army. The nurses become members of the army nurse corps and the male per- sonnel become enlisted men of the medical corps.
It is through men of the type of Dr. Washburn, filled with his energy, industry and persistence, and practicing his methods, that new discoveries in the medical world are being constantly made and the erection of modern hospitals accomplished.
Webster Wells
WEBSTER WELLS
W EBSTER WELLS was born in Boston, September 4, 1851, and died in Arlington, Massachusetts, May 23, 1916. His father was Thomas F. Wells, who was born July 22, 1822, and died January 30, 1903; his mother was Sarah Morrill. On the paternal side, he is the grandson of Thomas Wells, born 1790, died 1861, and Anna (Foster) Wells; while on the maternal side, Joseph, born 1790, died 1861, and Nancy (Whiting) Morrill were his grandparents. Samuel Adams, the revolutionary hero, was his great-great-grandfather. If he was fortunate in his heredity, he was also fortunate in his opportunity. His father, who was a merchant and a man of culture, gave his son every opportunity for a thorough education. His preparatory training was secured at Allen's English and Classical School at West Newton. He graduated from the Institute of Technology in 1873, taking the degree of Bachelor of Science.
After graduation, Mr. Wells had no need to hunt for work; his task was ready at hand. His remarkable talent for mathematics had already attracted attention, and in October after his gradua- tion, he became instructor in mathematics in the Institute of Technology. This position he held from 1873 to 1880 and from 1882 to 1883. From 1883 to 1885 he held the position of assistant professor in mathematics. In 1887 he was promoted to the asso- ciate professorship in mathematics, and in 1893 became full pro- fessor of mathematics, a position he held until his voluntary re- tirement in 1911.
Some idea of the industry of this scholar may be formed from a glance at the long list of books he wrote, especially if we remember that his chief work was in the classroom. His first book, " Elemen- tary Treatise on Logarithms," came from the press in 1878. Then followed " University Algebra," 1880; " Plane and Spherical Trigonometry," 1883; " Academic Algebra " (with key), 1885; " Plane and Solid Geometry " (with key), 1887; " Essentials of Trigonometry " (with key), 1888; "Four Place Tables," 1888; " College Algebra," 1890; "Six Place Tables," 1891; " Academic Arithmetic " (with key), 1893; " Revised Plane and Solid Geom- etry " (with key), 1894; " New Plane and Spherical Trigonometry " (with key), 1896; "Essentials of Algebra " (with key), 1897; " Essentials of Geometry " (with key), 1898; " Complete Trig-
WEBSTER WELLS
onometry " (with key), 1901; "Advanced Course in Algebra," 1904; "Algebra for Secondary Schools " (with key), 1906. He also published works entitled " Higher Algebra," " New Higher Alge- bra," and " Text Book in Algebra," which consist, respectively, of " Academic Algebra," " Essentials of Algebra," and "Algebra for Secondary Schools," in each case with certain important additional chapters.
Professor Wells was married on June 21, 1876, to Emily, daughter of John H. and Emily W. (Dodge) Langdon, granddaughter of John and Mary E. (Jones) Langdon, and Reuben and Sarah (Peters) Dodge, and a descendant from Governor Dudley, and from John Winthrop, who came from Groton, England, to Boston, Massachusetts, on the " Arbella " in 1630. No children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wells.
Professor Wells was a Unitarian in religion, and a Republican in politics. He was a member of the M. P. Club, the Technology Club (Boston), the Technology Club (New York) and the American Mathematical Society. He was old-fashioned enough to say, " Walking always has been my form of exercise."
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