USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Essex County, Massachusetts > Part 11
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Mr. Hilton has never married. He is a member of the Veteran Firemen's Associa- tion, also of the Business Men's Association. Public-spirited and progressive, few men enjoy in a greater degree the good will and respect of the entire community.
J OSEPH WHITEHEAD, the well- known dealer in groceries and provi- sions at Saugus Centre, was born in Yorkshire, England, on May 20, 1823. Com- ing to America in 1845, he located at Saugus, and began work in a woollen-mill, having be- come an expert operator before leaving Eng- land. He remained in the mill until 1853, when he went out to California by way of Nicaragua, returning two years later by way of Panama. In California he was engaged in mining, being in the northern part of the State, but meeting with only average success.
Upon his return to Saugus in 1855 Mr. Whitehead opened the grocery store that he has since conducted. His honorable and prompt methods of doing business and his
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uniformly obliging manner have won for him a profitable patronage and many warm friends. To-day he is one of the substantial men of Saugus. For twenty years consecutively he was Town Treasurer, and for a part of that time he was Overscer of the Poor. In 1878 he served in the State legislature, where he exhibited the same sound judgment and busi- ness qualities that have marked his career as a private citizen. While voting the Democratic ticket, he is not a strong party man, as he be- lieves in doing honor to the best man.
Mr. Whitehead married Sarah Townsend, who has now been deceased for twenty years. He has no children living. His son, Ralph Whitehead, who assisted him in the store, died at the age of twenty-seven years. For twenty years he has been a member of Will- iam Sutton Lodge of Masons.
HARLES HENRY DOWNING, Chief of the Lynn Fire Department, was born in South Reading, Mass., on July 10, 1827. A son of John and Lefee (Seger) Downing, natives respectively of Lynn and Marblehead, he is, according to the best information now obtainable, a descendant of Malcolm Downing, who came from Scotland to America in 1654, settled in Lynn, and married Margaret Sullivan on April 4, 1653. Some of his ancestors served in the war of the Revolution.
Having received his education in the public schools of Lynn, Charles Henry Downing began learning the shoemaker's trade at the age of thirteen years. After completing his apprenticeship he worked in small concerns until 1860. Thereafter until 1875 he was employed in large factories. For a year and a half he was foreman for Pillsbury Brothers. Then for two years he was engaged in the gro-
cery business, and later for ten years he was sole-cutting for Hood & Johnson. During the last five years of that time he was a silent partner in the drug concern of J. W. Chase & Co. In 1890 he was appointed Chief En- gineer of the Lynn Fire Department, which position he has since held and filled in an able manner. He has been a member of the com- pany since 1845 and for twenty-nine years an engineer. His promotion to the chief's posi - tion was well merited, and had the unanimous approval of the department members. Chief Downing has made some valuable changes in the service since he assumed the management, and has a just pride in its efficiency and good record. All the people of Lynn share with him this feeling.
Mr. Downing is a member of the Bay State Lodge of Odd Fellows, No. 40. In politics he is a Republican. In 1865, 1866, and 1867 he was a member of the Common Council, during which time he rendered valu- able service on the Committee on the Fire Department. During the years 1862, 1863, and 1864 he was Clerk of Ward Four. On June 26, 1854, he was married in Lynn to Sarah A. Whitney, of this city.
L ANIEL PUTNAM POPE, a popular townsman of Danvers Centre, was born there, March 8, 1826, son of Nathaniel and Abi (Preston) Pope. He is a descendant of Joseph Pope, who settled in Danvers, now West Peabody, in 1636, a son of Elijah and Hannah (Putnam) Pope. She was a daughter of Daniel Putnam. The direct line of ancestry is made by Joseph,' Joseph,? Nathaniel,3 Elijah, 4 and Nathaniel. 5 Na- thaniel 3 married Mary Swinerton. His son, Elijah, married Hannah Putnam, a daughter of Daniel Putnam.
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Nathaniel Pope, son of Elijah and the father of Daniel Putnam Pope, in 1830 bought the farm now owned by the latter, which was a part of the original Swinerton grant, and lived thereon throughout the rest of his life. He successively married Abi Preston and Char- lotte Flint. The first wife died March 4, IS41. His death occurred January 17, 1880. His second wife survived him about twelve years. His children were: Elizabeth Putnam, who married Captain Andrew M. Putnam, and lives in Danvers; Harriet Adeline, who mar- ried Henry F. Putnam, a brother of Captain Putnam; Mary Putnam, who married a third brother, and is also living in Danvers; Asenath Preston Pope, who married Nathan Tapley, both now deceased; Ira Preston, who married Eliza C. Batchelder; Daniel Putnam, the subject of this biography; Hannah Put- nam, who married Dr. B. B. Breed, of Lynn, who is now deceased; and Jasper Felton Pope, who successively married Sophia Jane Richards and Martha Mansfield.
After learning the carpenter's trade Daniel P. Pope was for fifteen years a contractor and builder. Thereafter he devoted his attention to the cultivation of his farm for more than thirty years. On March 30, 1852, he married Lydia Newhall Demsey, a daughter of Isaac and Mary Williams Demsey. Her father was a farmer and shoemaker. The Deinseys are an old family of the place, the ancestry being traced from Christopher Demsey, the first settler, who married Elizabeth Burton, and died in 1762, through Isaac and Hannah (Henfield), Bartholomew and Mary (Britton), Isaac and Mary (Williams). The children of Mr. and Mrs. Pope are: Mary, who died when twenty years old; Fletcher, who married Laura Whittier, and deals in lumber in Dan- versport; Isaac Demsey, who successively married Eliza Lilly and Cora B. Fox, and is
in business with Fletcher, firm of Pope Brothers; and Guy Preston, who married Irene Hynd, of Danvers, and is in the insurance business in that town. Fletcher Pope, while residing in Danvers, spends the most of his time in Reddington, Me., where he is the superintendent of the Reddington Mills and the general manager of the Phillips & Range- ley Railroad. Mr. Pope, Sr., has served for seventeen years past on the Board of Select- men, and has been the chairman of the board for fourteen years. He always votes the Re- publican ticket. A man of sterling traits, he is very popular in the community.
AMUEL A. STACY, the founder of the well-known insurance firm of S. A. Stacy & Co., Gloucester, was born June 11, 1819, in the old Stacy house in this city. He was a son of Eli and Mary Saunders (Hough) Stacy and a grand- son of Benjamin Stacy. Marblehead was the first abiding-place of the Stacys in this coun- try. John, a son of Thomas Stacy, of Salem, and the first of the family to settle in Glouces- ter, came hither in 1723 from Ipswich, Mass., and was licensed as an innholder. He died here nine years later.
Upon leaving the public schools of Glouces- ter Samuel A. Stacy went West, and for a few years resided in Chillicothe, Ohio. Afterward, returning to Gloucester, he made his home here until his death, which occurred on October 19, 1895. For many years he did a prosperous business in insurance, being a member of the firm of S. A. Stacy & Co. He rendered valuable service to the commu- nity as a member of the School Committee in 1861 and 1862, of the Board of Assessors in 1861, 1862, and 1863, of the Auditing Com- mittee in 1847, of the Building Committee of
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the town hall on Dale Avenue, and of the Board of Aldermen during the first two years of Gloucester's existence as a city. For a long time he was a trustee of the Cape Ann Savings Bank and its president from 1888 to the time of his deccase. He was also a trus- tee of the Oak Grove Cemetery and of the Gloucester Water Supply Company, a director of the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Public Library, and a trustee of the library's permanent fund.
In 1846 Mr. Stacy was united in marriage with Miss Harriet Gilbert, who survives him. Of their five children, two died in infancy. The others are: John C., Eliza, and George O. Eliza is the wife of A. H. Calef, the treasurer of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and resides in New York City. George O. Stacy, born November 3, 1863, was local manager for the telephone company for a few years, and is now the landlord of the Hawthorne Inn and its cottages, which he opened in the summer of 1891. The numerous improvements he has effected in this place have converted it into one of the pleasantest summer resorts on the New England coast. He also owns the well-known Moorland at Bass Rock.
RANCIS M. DODGE has had many years of successful experience as a teacher and superintendent of schools, and is now chairman of the School Board of his native town, Wenham, Mass. He was born April 14, 1826, the fourth son of Nicho- las and Prudence E. (Edwards) Dodge, and is of the seventh generation in descent from Richard Dodge, the first of his progenitors in America. In the Genealogy of the Dodge Family his lineage is thus traced: Richard '; Richard,? who lived in the south part of
Wenham; William 3; Richard 4; Nicholas 5; Nicholas 6; Francis M.7
Richard Dodge, first, with his wife and two or more children, came to Salem in 1638, and after living for a time on land owned by his brother William, who came in 1629, settled at North Beverly, not far east of Wenham Lake. He owned an extensive tract of land, on which he made substantial improvements, and for many years afterward it was in the possession of his descendants.
Nicholas Dodge, father of the subject of this sketch, was an industrious and thrifty farmer and a prominent citizen of Wenham. He served as Selectman of the town many years, and, being Justice of the Peace for a long time, was familiarly known to his contempo- raries as "Squire Nicholas." Of the children born to him and his wife, Prudence, but two survive - Jacob E. and Francis M., both of Wenham.
Francis M. Dodge acquired his elementary education in the public schools of Wenham, and, after fitting for college at the Hampton Falls Academy in New Hampshire, took a full course of study at Colby University, Waterville, Me., where he was graduated in 1853. Beginning to teach school when but sixteen years old, he taught for three years in what is now called Beverly Farms. After his graduation he was for two years principal of the high school at Brattleboro, Vt .; later on for a time he was at the head of the Hampton Falls Academy; and he subsequently had a select school in Wenham two years. In 1858 he represented the towns of Topsfield, Bev- erly, and Wenham in the lower branch of the State legislature, being the youngest member of the House. He was afterward for several years one of the corps of teachers in Beverly, and then for four years superintendent of the schools of Weymouth, Mass., a position that
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he was forced to resign on account of ill health. By the advice of his physician he went West to recuperate, and after spending a few months at Red Wing, Minn., had so far recovered his usual vigor that he resumed his educational work by accepting the charge of the public schools of Winona, Minn., of which he was superintendent eight years. Returning then to Wenham, Mr. Dodge has since made this place his permanent home, and has rendered valuable service to his native town as Select- man and as a member of the local School Committee, of which he has been chairman several years. A well-informed man, studi- ous and progressive, he has kept abreast with the times, and has been eminently successful in his chosen field of labor. He is a Repub- lican in politics, an active member of the Baptist church, and is identified with the Ma- sonic fraternity of Beverly.
On August 7, 1862, Mr. Dodge married Miss Sarah J. Philbrick, of Seabrook, N.H. They have one child, Adaline P., wife of Edward B. Cole, of Brookline, Mass.
R ICHARD TENNEY NOYES, a prominent farmer of Newbury, was born here, September 2, 1852. A son of Moses Knight and Hannah M. (Ten- ney) Noyes, he is a direct descendant of Nicholas Noyes, who, coming from Wiltshire, England, with his brother James, settled in Newbury in 1635. Nicholas Noyes was the first man to step ashore when the first boat reached land at Parker River, and therefore may well be called a first settler. He married Mary Cutting. His son, Cutting Noyes, born September 23, 1649, married Elizabeth Knight. Another son, John, married May Noyes, whose son, Amos, married Sarah Jaques, and became the father of John, the
grandfather of Richard T. Noyes. This John Noyes, born October 2, 1784, died April 24, 1864. On February 24, 1812, he married Sarah Knight, who died June 20, 1876. Their son Moses married Hannah M. Ten- ney, by whom he became the father of four children. These were: Richard, the eldest, and the subject of this sketch; Edward Au- gustine, who married Helen Noyes Rolfe, and has two children; Lucy Withington, who married Newman Gould; and Annie Carey, who married Arthur C. Currier, and had one son, Dudley S. Currier.
Having received his education in the public schools, finishing in the high schools, Richard Tenney Noyes decided to become a farmer. From the time he was four years old he had lived on the old Pierce farm, which had been purchased by his father. There he has since carried on a dairy farm, with about thirty head of cattle, horses, and other stock, and has been most successful. He has served on the Board of Selectmen for the past five years, and is now the chairman of the board. A respected member of the Newbury Farmers' Club, he serves on its Executive Committee. On April 22, 1877, he married Ellen H. Adams, a daughter of Giles A. Adams, of Newbury- port. Their only child, Howard Adams, born May 7, 1879, is now in the graduating class of the Putnam High School at Newbury. Mr. Noyes is a representative man from many points of view, and is highly esteemed in the town.
IRAM J. PHILBROOK, one of the best known residents of Rockport, was born on Fox Island, Me., No- vember 13, 1821, son of Daniel and Rachel (Young) Philbrook. The Philbrook family, which is of English origin, began in this country with three brothers, who came here
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during the Colonial period. One settled at the mouth of the Kennebee River in Maine; another at Rye, N.H .; and the third, of whom Hiram J. is a direct descendant, found a home on Cape Cod. Hiram J. Philbrook's parents were both natives of Cape Cod. After residing for a time on Fox Island they moved to Brunswick, Me., where the father died at the age of forty-one. During his ae- tive years he was a fisherman and a farmer. He also served as a soldier in the War of 1812, participating in several battles. Of his children there are three survivors, namely : Hiram J., the subject of this sketeh; Harriet N. Philbrook, of Charlestown, Mass .; and Zylpha Y., the wife of Captain Hugh Stan- wood, of Brunswick.
Hiram J. Philbrook accompanied his par- ents to Brunswick when he was seven years old, and was educated in the common schools of that town. At the age of fourteen he began to learn the blacksmith's trade. After serving an apprenticeship of seven years with John W. Libby, he went to Oldtown, Me., where he was for a time engaged in making axes for Thomas Springer. From Oldtown he went to Portland, and there worked for Joseph Thaxter. Then he went South, and was for a short period engaged in sharpening tools for the United States government at Fort Sum- ter, Charleston Harbor. After subsequently working in Philadelphia for a time, he came to Roekport in March, 1844. From July of that year until 1872 he was connected with the firm of Preston & Fernal, quarrymen and contractors, first as a meehanie and later as a partner ; and for several years he was employed by their successors, the Rockport Granite Com- pany. He is a vice-president, a trustee, and a member of the Investment Committee of the Granite Savings Bank.
Mr. Philbrook married Maria R. Flood, of
Portland, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Daniels) Flood. The father was a native of Buxton, Me., and the mother of Exeter, N.H. Mr. and Mrs. Philbrook have two daughters: Emily, the wife of Eben Blachford, of Rock- port; and Sarah E., the wife of the Rev. Byron G. Russell, of this town.
A Past Master of Granite Lodge, I. O. O. F., Mr. Philbrook has been a member of the lodge for fifty years, and he is connected with the Veteran Odd Fellows Association of Essex County. Politically, he is a Democrat, and, though never actively concerned in publie affairs, he has always evineed a deep interest in the welfare and prosperity of the town.
EORGE EDMUND HERRICK, a prominent farmer and dairyman of Lynnfield and a native of Salem, Mass., was born on March 22, 1835, his par- ents being John and Elizabeth Flint (Foster) Herrick. The first ancestor of the family in this country, Henerie Herrick, settled at Salem on June 24, 1629, among the Puritan colonists. His son, John Herrick, was a farmer in Wenham, where he settled in 1719. John's son, Josiah, who was also a farmer in Wenham, died on May 14, 1772. Josiah mar- ried Joanna Dodge, of Beverly, who died in 1775. Their son, John, who died in 1806 at the age of seventy-five and resided in Boxford, wedded Anna Brown, who was born in Beverly. Edmund Herriek, son of John and grandfather of George E. Herriek, was born at Danvers. He was a teamster in Washington's army under the immediate command of the great general, and was fond of relating ineidents of his army life and of Washington. Settling at Chester, N.H., he first married Mehetabel Curtis, of Middleton, in 1786, and afterward Rachel White. The latter, who survived her
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husband, received a pension from the govern- ment until her death.
John Herrick, son of Edmund and the father of George E., was only sixteen years old at the time of his father's death. Born in Boxford in 1799, he resided there until 1844, when he removed to Peabody, on to the farm of his father-in-law, Captain Aaron Foster, whose daughter he had married in 1828. This homestead was one of the earliest settled in this part of the country, and is now two hun- dred and fifty years old. John died there in 1878 at the age of seventy-nine years. A de- voted member of the Lynnfield church, he had been one of its Deacons for seventeen years previous to his death. Elizabeth Herrick, his wife, died on the old farm, June 17, 1894, being then in her ninety-fourth year. Her children were: Frances Elizabeth; Mary Jane; John Everett; Cynthia Foster; George Edmund; Horace, who was born in 1837, and died in infancy; and Clara, who died in child- hood. Of these, George E. and John Everett are living. Frances Elizabeth, born in 1828, who died in Lawrence, married Gilbert E. Hood. Mr. Hood, now a bank treasurer in Lawrence, taught school during his college course; later became principal of Thetford Academy of Thetford, Vt .; and finally was superintendent of schools at Lawrence for thirteen years. Mary Jane, born in 1830, married Benjamin F. Tweed, an author of some note, who was a professor at Tufts Col- lege and at Washington University, St. Louis, and subsequently a supervisor of the Boston public schools. She died in a Boston hospital while yet a resident of St. Louis. John Everett, born in 1831, lives on the Cap- tain Foster farm at Peabody. Cynthia Foster, who was born in 1833, married Charles Buck, of Stoneham, and died in that town, leaving two sons - Professor Albert Buck and Charles
Frederick Buck, the latter a well-known business man of Boston.
George E. Herrick, who took a course of study in the academy at Thetford, Vt., after completing the course of the common schools taught school for a number of terms in Essex County and in Vermont. In 1861 he came to Lynnfield, and settled on the farm which had been the home of his wife and of her people for a hundred years. In the same year he joined the church, in which he succeeded his father as Deacon after the latter's death. A member of the School Committee for seven- teen years, he was the chairman of the board during the greater part of that time. His main business being dairying, he milks about thirty cows, and has a flourishing milk route. For a number of years he was engaged in the manufacture of a seed sower, which he had patented, and which was an improvement of the old Danvers seed sower. His first wife, Abbie Ann, was a daughter of Henry and Eunice Bancroft and a graduate of Andover Female Academy. Her parents had another child, Eunice Mansfield, who graduated at the Salem Normal School. The sisters were much attached to each other. Abbie's marriage with Mr. Herrick took place on April 24, 1861. Her children are: George Henry, who resides with his father; and Clara Maria, now a professional nurse. She died January 31, 1875. On April 5, 1877, Mr. Herrick mar- ried her sister, Eunice. Mr. Bancroft died in 1879, his wife having died before the mar- riage of Abbie. The children of Mr. Her- rick's second marriage - Gilbert Bancroft and Abbie Frances - live with their parents. In politics Mr. Herrick is a Republican, and has attended various county conventions. He has also attended many church conferences, takes an active part in church work, and is a member of both the Village Improvement So-
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ciety and the Essex County Agricultural Society. Many premiums and diplomas have been granted him by agricultural societies. Among the improvements he has made on the Bancroft farm are the erection of stone fences, the extension of the land, and the enlargement of the house.
OHN EVERETT HERRICK, a prom- inent farmer of Peabody, was born in a part of Salem now included in the town of Peabody, on November 19, 1831. A son of John and Elizabeth Flint (Foster) Her- rick, he is descended from Henerie Herrick, who settled in Salem in 1629. (A sketch of Mr. Herrick's paternal ancestors is given in the biography of his brother, George E. Her- rick.) His mother, Elizabeth, was a grand- daughter of James Foster and a daughter of Captain Aaron Foster. James Foster was the first of that family to settle on the Foster farm. While carrying on general farming, he made a special feature of raising hops, which he shipped to Philadelphia, together with what quantity he could purchase from his neighbors.
Aaron Foster, who was the only member of the family that remained in Peabody, was an extensive farmer, owning about two hundred and fifty acres. He was prominent in town affairs, and was a Captain in the militia. When he died in 1844 he was sixty-eight years old. His wife, whose maiden name was Hannah Brown, was reared on the adjoining farm. Having survived her husband, she died during the Civil War, at the age of eighty- six. The house, now situated on the Foster homestead, was probably built by the Cabots, of Salem, about the time of the Revolution, and came into possession of the Foster family in 1788. The original house was burned.
The children of Aaron and Hannah Brown Foster were: Elizabeth Flint, George, James, Clara, Louise, and Mary N. The eldest son died three years ago in Wakefield, at the age of ninety-three. George was a prominent cit- izen and a heavy real estate owner of Lynn; James was a custom officer at Boston for seventeen years in succession, and resided at Malden and Everett; Clara married Professor Tweed, of Tufts College; Louise married Paul Hart Sweetser, of Wakefield, a lifelong educator; and Mary became the third wife of Moses Dorman, of Boxford, a country squire. Elizabeth, the mother of Mr. Herrick, died three years ago, at the advanced age of ninety- four years. Her husband, who had bought the Foster farm, died in 1881, over eighty years of age. He was a most devoted member of the Lynnfield church, and was for many years a leading Deacon. His children were: Frances Elizabeth, Mary Jane, John Everett, Cynthia Foster, George Edmund, Clara Maria, and Horace. The last two died in childhood.
After attending Thetford Academy in Ver- mont, which was then a celebrated school and received students from all over the country, John Everett Herrick taught school for a year in Essex County. Subsequently he was in business in Peabody for two years and in a hotel at Medway for an equal length of tinie. Being compelled, however, on account of his health to seek an outdoor occupation, he re- turned to the farm, renting it of his father, and actively engaged in agriculture. Upon the death of his father he inherited the farm. He now owns about two hundred acres of the old Foster estate and a part of the Brown homestead. Besides cultivating extensive gardens, he keeps a dairy, and attends a milk route in Lynn. The orchard in which his grandfather, Aaron Foster, set out a large
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