USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Essex County, Massachusetts > Part 25
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Orlando Sargent Bayley (or Baley, as he spelled his name), was born April 5, 1818. In young manhood, after a short time spent as a clerk in his father's store, he entered the Salisbury Mills, and became overseer of the wool-sorting department. He was later em- ployed for some years as accountant, and in 1862 was elected to the legislature to fill the unexpired term made vacant by the death of E. G. Colby. He was subsequently appointed Trial Justice, which office he held for many years; and he was afterward appointed by President Hayes to a clerkship in the ap- praiser's department of the Boston custom- house. He was again elected to the legisla- ture from the First District. He was a mem-
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ber of the Board of Selectmen at the time of the separation of Merrimae from Amesbury, and for three terms was an associate of W. HI. B. Currier and William D. Lowell at the time of the annexation of Salisbury. He served on the School Board for many years, and was appointed probation officer under the new law to try persons arrested for drunken- ness, filling this office satisfactorily until the time of his decease. He was originally a Whig, but early indorsed the anti-slavery movement, and was one of the few political associates of John Greenleaf Whittier at a time when the men and principles of that party were derided and scorned. He was one of the original members of the Free and Easy Club, organized in the town fifty years ago. In religious faith he was a Congregationalist. In all the various phases of his life Mr. Bayley showed devotion to duty and earnest- ness of endeavor. He married May 5, 1839, Mary, daughter of Charles Gove. They had four children : Charles William, who married a daughter of David Batehelder, of Newbury- port, and is now a bookseller and stationer; Elizabeth Boardman; Ralph Origen, the sub- jeet of this sketch; and Austin.
Mr. Ralph O. Bailey after acquiring his education in the Amesbury schools, entered a carriage shop, where he worked industri- ously for ten years. In 1884 he was elected Collector of Taxes, which position he held for six years. He then formed a partnership with the late Benjamin L. Fifield, and established a large furniture business. Mr. Fifield being shortly afterward appointed Postmaster of Amesbury, the business from that time on was conducted by Mr. Bailey ; and two years later, at the death of Mr. Fifield, he bought out the interest of the heirs. He now occupies two floors in the block, and carries a large stock of goods, an energetic and successful business
man. He succeeds his father as probation officer for the Second Essex District. He married Hannah Matilda Hill (born Trussell), daughter of John L. and Hannah Trussell, both of whom were born in Amesbury, as were, probably, their ancestors for genera- tions back. Mr. Bailey has no children.
ILLIAM HENRY NEWHALL,
formerly Town Clerk of Saugus, was born in Groton, Mass., Febru- ary II, 1821, son of Captain David and Phœbe (Kimball) Newhall. The father plied the calling of shoemaker in Saugus and Groton, when boots and shoes were made by hand. A prominent man in his day, he held various town offices, and served as Captain in the State militia. He died in Saugus Cen- tre at the age of eighty-one years. Of his large family of children, five sons lived to maturity, namely: John Edwin Newhall, now a resident of Saugus; Charles Addison, who served in the Civil War, and now resides in Chelsea, Mass. ; Hiram Harrison, also a vet- eran and now a resident of Reading, Mass. ; David Kimball, who died in Lynn in January, 1897; and William Henry, the subject of this sketch.
William Henry Newhall was educated in Saugus. After completing his studies he en- gaged in the manufacture of shoes. He is a prominent man, and has taken an active part in public affairs. In 1852 he was elected Town Clerk, and he had filled that position for forty-three years when he was succeeded by his son. He was chairman of the Board of Selectmen and Assessors for twenty - seven years, was Tax Collector five years, and represented his district in the legislature in 1856. Originally a Democrat in politics, he joined the Republican party in 1860. He
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first married Harriet L. Fisk, of Saugus. She died, leaving two sons : George Francis, who resides in Lynn, Mass. ; and Henry L., a resident of South Durham, Me. His second wife was Lucinda H., daughter of Abijah and Sarah (Sargent) Boardman, and grand-daugh- ter of Aaron and Mary (Cheever) Boardman. The Boardman family is one of the oldest in the county, and the house now standing on the old homestead at Oakland Vale was built at an early day. Mrs. Newhall's maternal an- cestors came from Hillsboro Bridge, N. H. A cousin of hers was the late Mayor John Sargent, of Cambridge, a prominent man in his time and a native of that place. Jonathan and Sarah (Booth) Sargent, ancestors of Mrs. Newhall, were married August 13, 1774, and moved from Bradford, Mass., to Hillsboro, N. H. Mr. Newhall has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for fifty-three years, has occupied the important chairs of the local lodge, and has represented it in the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.
Elmer Boardman Newhall, the only son of William H. and Lucinda H. Newhall, was born in Saugus, December 3, 1863. He was educated in his native town, and graduated from the high school with the class of 1879. He then engaged in the grocery and provision business in Melrose, where he remained two years. At the expiration of that time he returned to Saugus; and, having previously learned the carpenter's trade, he started as a contractor and builder. He is now conduct- ing a profitable business in that line, and his work extends to all the adjoining towns. He has erected many fine residences in Wellesley, Newton, Cambridge, and Lynn, and employs from ten to forty nen. He is also a manu- facturer of finishing material, and operates a steam planing - mill for that purpose. For many years he assisted his father in the duties
of Town Clerk. Since he succeeded to that office in 1894 he has proved a most capable public official. In politics he is independent. Mr. Newhall, Jr., is unmarried ; and his par- ents reside with him at the old homestead. He is a member of the Nanepashmet Club, a social organization of this town.
OHN E. DUSTIN, a prominent manu- facturer of machinery in Lawrence and a resident' of Methuen, was born Jan- uary 3, 1836, in Derry, Rockingham County, N. H., son of William and Lydia (Corliss) Dustin. On the paternal side he is of Scotch and English descent. His grandparents were Beniah and Sarah (Rowell) Dustin, of Salem, N. H. Mrs. Sarah Dustin was a daughter of William Rowell, a Revolutionary patriot who fought at Bunker Hill. She and her husband are buried in Salem. They reared five sons and four daughters, who all reached an age between those of seventy-five and eighty years.
William Dustin, born in Salem, N. H., followed the trade of ship-carpenter in Boston, Portsmouth, and Newburyport, and died in 1856. He was married in 1821 to Lydia, daughter of Dr. Joseph Corliss. Dr. Corliss was married twice, and had a family of twelve children. Mrs. Lydia Dustin's mother, of French parentage, was born on the ocean during the voyage from France to America. Lydia was born in Windham, N. H., in 1801. She died in 1881, and lies buried with her husband in Salem, N.H. They had a family of six sons and three daughters, namely : William C., now an ice dealer in Stoneham, Mass. ; Adelia, now the widow of William Marshall, in New York City ; John E., the subject of this biography ; Beniah C., residing in Worcester, Mass., and in the baking business; Joseph J. A., a ma-
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chinist and the superintendent of John E. Dustin's shop; Elijah, a farmer in Billerica, Mass., who died at the age of fifty-six, leav- ing a widow, two sons, and two daughters; Susan, who was the wife of William Marston, and died in Boston at the age of sixty-four ; Lydia A., who died at the age of sixty-four, being then the widow of Charles A. McGin- ley ; and Archibald E., who died at the age of nineteen. Mrs. Marston left a daughter and a son, and Mrs. McGinley left two sons and a daughter.
John E. Dustin was educated in the district school and in an academy of his native town. He came to Lawrence in 1851, when he was fifteen years old, and began to learn the ma- chinist's trade in the works of Aratus Blood, a wealthy locomotive manufacturer, now of Manchester, N. H. Having served an appren- ticeship of three years, he was subsequently employed for two years in the locomotive works of Seth Wilmarth in Boston, and then returned to Lawrence for a while. In 1871 he went to Whitefield, N. H., where he was connected for five years with the Brown Lum- ber Company as master mechanic. In 1876 he started his present business in Lawrence, at 30 Adams Street ; and in 1893 he purchased the property. In financial matters he has been very successful. Starting without capi- tal, he has built up a prosperous business, which has sometimes amounted to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year. While he has met with reverses, he has never been har- assed by debt, and has always paid one hun- dred cents on the dollar. He is a stockholder of the Merchants' Bank of Lawrence. The handsome residence of his family on Prospect Street, in Methuen, was erected by him in 1891.
Mr. Dustin has been three times married. The first marriage was contracted March 15,
1861, with Harriet J. Thompson, of Solon, Me., who died in 1882, at the age of forty- eight. She bore him two children: Carrie F., a beautiful and lovable girl, who died at the age of seventeen; and John Edgar, born twelve years later than his sister, who lived but seven days. The second marriage was made in 1884 with Mrs. Ellen M. Cummings, of Littleton, N. H., the widow of Jonas M. Cummings, by whom she had one son. She died in 1892, aged forty. On April 18, 1894, the third marriage united Mr. Dustin with Emily J., daughter of Jerome and Mary (Sar- gent) Cross, of this city. Mrs. Emily J. Dustin, one of ten children, was born in Methuen. Her father, who died in 1880, was a farmer in early life, and served for a time in the Civil War. Later he had a prosperous coal and wood business. A strong Republi- can in politics, Mr. Dustin has served on the Lawrence Common Council, and is now one of the Water Commissioners of Methuen. In the Masonic fraternity he has attained the degree of Master. He is not a church mem- ber, believing that deeds avail without creeds.
SCAR ANDREWS, of the well-known firm of Ayer & Andrews, fish dealers of Gloucester, was born in Lanesville, December 25, 1843, son of Joseph L. and Hephzibah (Sargent) Andrews. His first an- cestor in this country, Robert Andrews, was made a freeman at Ipswich, Mass., in 1635. As Robert was an innkeeper there, it is quite probable that he opened the first public house or tavern in that town. William Andrews, another ancestor, was wounded while serving in the expedition against Louisburg, and died upon the passage home. Several of the family enrolled themselves among the patriots during the Revolutionary War.
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Stephen Andrews, the grandfather of Oscar, was a native of Essex. He removed to Lanes- ville somewhere about 1800, and there married Mary Lane. They had four children - Stephen, Amaziah, Joseph L., and Mary J. Joseph married Hephzibah Sargent, who was a daughter of Henry Sargent and a grand- daughter of Winthrop Sargent. She was a descendant of William Sargent, a native of Bristol, England, whose son, Epes Sargent, was the common ancestor of several distin- guished Americans and of the Sargents of Gloucester. Joseph and Hephzibah Andrews were the parents of two sons and one daughter. Joseph H., the first-born, now an Assessor of this city, married Martha J. Woodbury, and has one son- Edgar W., who was born in 1871. Edgar is now in charge of the store of the Rockport Granite Company. The daugh- ter, Mary O., married Charles H. Sargent, of Reading, who served in the Eighth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, during the Rebel- lion. He was formerly a civil engineer on the Union Pacific Railroad, and is now residing in Garrison, Neb. His children are : Joseph S., Marianne, Charles R., Helen M., and Grace.
After receiving his education in
the Gloucester public schools Oscar Andrews entered his father's employ in the fishing business, and when twenty-one years old he was admitted to partnership. He carried on a wholesale fish business on his own account from 1878 to 1888. Then he associated him- self with Benjamin Low, a partnership that continued until 1894, in which year the pres- ent firm of Ayer & Andrews was organized. He married Susanna Lane, of Folly Cove, Rockport, a daughter of Nathaniel and Esther (Sargent) Lane and a grand-daughter of Na- thaniel and Sarah Lane. Mrs. Andrews is the mother of five children, namely : Will O., born in 1870, who married Edith L. Favor,
has two children, and is in business with his father; Josephine, born in 1872, who resides at home; Ralph, born in 1876, who is book- keeper for Ayer & Andrews; Esther S., born in 1879; Earl, born in 1895; and Doris, born in 1897. Mr. Andrews has long occupied a prominent place in the fishing industry of this city, and is highly esteemed both in busi- ness and social circles. He is a member of Constantine Lodge, Knights of Pythias.
IDNEY F. NEWMAN, a highly respected farmer of Newbury, was born here, February 18, 1843, son of John and Henrietta (Woodbury) Newman. The great-grandfather, Captain John Newman, died in Guadeloupe at the age of thirty-one. Samuel Newman, son of Captain Newman, married Phœbe Hale, and in 1812 moved to Newbury from Newburyport, where he had kept a store. He afterward bought a farm and built the house which is now standing on the old estate. Punctuality and vigor were his chief characteristics. Subsequently appointed the agent for the Eastern Stage Company, conducting the line between Newburyport and Boston, he was obliged to take up his resi- dence again in Newburyport for the period of seven years. He was frequently employed to settle estates, and he served in the State leg- islature for three terms.
John Newman, the father of Sidney F., was educated in Newbury and at the Bradford Academy. His principal occupation was farming, and at one time he served on the School Committee. He first married Rebecca B. Danforth, of Newbury, whose children by him were: Edna D., who married Jeremiah Allen, a merchant of Newburyport ; and John H., who married Abby A. Tenney, and has two daughters. Mrs. Rebecca Newman died
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soon after the birth of her second child. A second marriage subsequently united Mr. Newman with Henrietta Woodbury, of Gloucester, who became the mother of Sid- ney F.
Sidney F. Newman was educated at the public schools of Newbury. As soon as his school days ended he began a farmer's life on a farm of three hundred acres. He has de- voted most of this property to the production of milk, hay, and fruit. He keeps forty cows, the milk of which he sells at wholesale to the milkmen of the place; and he sends a large quantity of fruit to market in the season. For six years he was Selectman, and at the same time served on the School Committee. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., Quascacunquen Lodge, No. 39, of Newburyport ; of the Essex County Society and the Amesbury and Salis- bury Agricultural Association; and of the Newbury Farmers' Club, of which he was the first president. On December 16, 1867, Mr. Newman married Mary Jeanette Bayley, who was born November 8, 1841, in Pennsylvania. Her father, William Bayley, belongs to the old Newburyport family which for six genera- tions has occupied the old house at the head of Summer Street, on High Street. He was one of the party that went in ox teams from Haverhill and the surrounding towns, intend- ing to settle near Ithaca Lake. He settled at Moosic Mountains, near Elk Lake, Pa., taking up about one hundred acres of land in a place which has since become a noted summer re- sort.
Mr. and Mrs. Newman have had five chil- dren - George Edward, John William, Mary, Lillian, and Ada Elizabeth. George Edward, who is now in California, graduated from the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Am- herst in 1888, and spent some years in Utah. John William graduated from the Putnam High
School in Newburyport, and went to Boston in 1888 to engage in the wholesale fruit com- mission business. Mary graduated from the same high school in 1888, from the State Normal School at Salem in 1891, took one year's course at Radcliffe College, and is now a teacher in Detroit Seminary at Detroit, Mich. Lillian graduated from the high school in 1892, taught for two years in Newbury and West Newbury, and has since attended the Normal Art School in Boston ; and Ada Eliza- beth, who graduated from the high school in 1894 and lives at home, is teaching the lower grammar school in Newbury.
A USTIN W. STORY, a prosperous gen- eral merchant, the - Postmaster of Pigeon Cove, and an ex-member of the State legislature, was born February 20, 1829, in what is now Rockport, son of John and Abigail (Walen) Story. The grand- father, James Story, who served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War, came from Essex, Mass., to Rockport when this town was a part of Gloucester, and resided here for the rest of his life. John Story, father of Austin W., was a fisherman during his active period, and for many years the master of a schooner en -. gaged in that industry. He served in the War of 1812, and in his later years he received a pension from the government.
Having acquired his elementary education in the common schools, Austin W. Story at- tended the Liberal Institute at Waterville, Me., and studied for one term at the academy in Thetford, Vt. Subsequently he taught two terms of school. At the age of twenty-four he engaged in business at Pigeon Cove, where he has since resided, having oc- cupied his present store for the past forty-two years. He has served as a Selectman, Asses-
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AUSTIN W. STORY.
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sor, and Overseer of the Poor nine years; was chairman of the Board of Selectmen one year ; was a member of the School Board for two years; a Representative to the legislature in 1861 and 1864; and he has held the office of Postmaster for nearly thirty-nine years, hav- ing been originally appointed by the Buchanan administration. In politics he is a Republi- can, and was so at the time of his appointment as Postmaster.
Mr. Story married Frances E. Hovey, of Gloucester, who had five children, two of whom are living, namely : Mrs. Edward W. Banks, of Pigeon Cove; and Mrs. David L. Durgin, of Lewiston, Me. Mrs. Story died August 2, 1894. Mr. Story is one of the best known men in this section, and has had a long and successful business career. He is con- nected with Ashler Lodge, F. & A. M., of Rockport, and was for thirty years the super- intendent of the Sunday-school of the Univer- salist church.
ANIEL WEBSTER, a popular town official of Amesbury, was born in Salisbury (now Amesbury), August 23, 1838. His parents were Ezekiel F. and Betsey M. (Low) Webster. His paternal grandfather, Daniel Webster, was a merchant of Salisbury Point, where he was a lifelong resident.
Azor Webster, son of Azor, Sr. (brother of Ezekiel), and cousin to Daniel of the same generation, is president of the Amesbury and Salisbury Savings Bank. He settles estates, makes wills, and attends to other legal mat- ters. He was Town Clerk of Salisbury many years, and is a very public-spirited man. He married Idaletta True, of Salisbury. His son and only child, Alfred C., is treasurer of the savings-bank.
Daniel Webster, the direct subject of this sketch, was in the provision business for twenty years. On the death of his father in 1872 he sold out, and since that time he has dealt in real estate. He filled the office of librarian for some time, and has been trustee of Mount Prospect Cemetery fifteen years. He is also a trustee of the Amesbury and Salisbury Savings Bank. All the Websters have been good citizens of Amesbury, and it may be truthfully said that Daniel Webster has not an enemy. At the election last year he received a thousand votes out of thirteen hundred. In 1882 he was elected Selectman, and spent much of his time in the office in the bank. He was Selectman four years in Salisbury and two years in Amesbury. He has also been a member of the School Com- mittee of Salisbury and a Constable. Mr. Webster has served as delegate to a number of State and Senatorial conventions. He is a member of the Village Improvement Society and of the Literary and Historical Society.
On January 5, 1872, he was married to Helen M. Collins, of Amesbury. They have one child, Annie E., who is attending the Russell Home School in Merrimac. Mr. and Mrs. Webster are members of the First Bap- tist Church.
HARLES L. AYERS, a Deputy Sheriff and a prominent resident of Newburyport, was born in Ports- mouth, N. H., January 1, 1838. He is a descendant from one of the old families of Portsmouth. The grandfather, Johnathan Ayers, was also born in the same town, and was a butcher. His wife (who was a Miss Tutherly, of Maine, before her marriage) bore him five sons and four daughters.
Charles W. Ayers, the father of Charles L.
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Ayers, was the third-born child of his par- ents. He received a public-school education. In company with a Mr. Roach, under the firm name of Roach & Ayers, he was successfully engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes. His death occurred when he was thirty-one years of age. In religion he was a Univer- salist and a prominent member of the society. His religious creed voiced itself in his daily life through his many acts of benevolence. He married a daughter of Samuel Goodwin, a well-known citizen of Newburyport ; and three children were born to them, two of whom are now living.
Charles L. Ayers, the eldest child of his parents, attended the graded schools of New- buryport, finishing his education at the high school. Then he went into the provision store of Mr. Knight, for whom he worked from his sixteenth to his twenty-first birthday. Next he became a partner in the firm of John L. Knight & Sons, and remained with them until 1864. He enlisted in the Third Unat- tached Company of Infantry, and became its Second Lieutenant in 1863; and on May 3, 1864, the company was ordered for service. In August of the same year, having been mustered out at the end of his term of three months, he re-enlisted, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant of the Fourth Heavy Ar- tillery Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, which was stationed on the Virginia side of the Potomac, in the very heart of the great struggle. On July 17, 1865, he was able to leave the army; and he then returned to his native city. Thereafter he was in business, in company with Knight & Sons, until 1870, when he was made City Marshal. When he had been in that position for a year, he was appointed Deputy State Constable, which office he held from 1871 to 1873. Upon the death of Mr. Knight, Sr., he went into the
provision business with that gentleman's half- brother, forming the firm of Knight & Ayers. This partnership lasted until 1876, when he was again appointed City Marshal. In the following year he was appointed on the State force as Constable. This he resigned in 1878, to become keeper of the jail and Deputy Sheriff. He entered the militia in March, 1866. Elected Captain of his com- pany, he served in that capacity until 1874, when he was chosen Lieutenant Colonel of the Eighth Regiment. In 1882, upon the promo- tion of Colonel Peach to the rank of Brigadier- general, Mr. Ayers was elected Colonel. This rank he held with distinguished ability until December, 1885, when he was forced to resign on account of ill health. Mr. Ayers's political creed is that of the Republican party. He has been twice in the Common Council and once in the Board of Aldermen. He was a charter member of A. W. Bartlett Post, No. 49, G. A. R., and was its first Adjutant. For three years he was Commander of the Newburyport Veteran Artillery Company, and is still an honored member. He is a member of Eighth Regiment Veteran Association, which he helped to reorganize, and was then its Commander. He belongs also to the mil- itary order of the Loyal Legion of Massachu- setts, and is the secretary and treasurer of Company M, Fourth Heavy Artillery Veterans' Association. A member of the city fire de- partment from 1862 until 1875, he was cap- tain of one of the steam-engine companies for five years, and the chief marshal in a number of parades. Fraternally, he is a member of Quascacunquen Lodge, No. 39, I. O. O. F., and of Merrimack Encampment, of which he was Chief Patriarch in 1871; and he is connected with the New England Order of Protection. In religion he is a Universal- ist. He was married to Miss Adams, a
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