USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Essex County, Massachusetts > Part 29
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Many of the customs in those days would seem strange in this age of modern improve- ments - notably, the method of striking fire, which was after this wise: Every well-regu- lated family was supplied with a tin box con- taining a steel, a flint, and a quantity of tinder, the latter being charred cotton or linen cloth. By the concussion of the flint and steel a spark was thrown upon the tinder, which retained the spark until the breath could be blown upon it. When it increased, a piece of charcoal was added, the blowing being continued a few moments until the coal ignited, to which was added white birch bark or pine cone, and the work was accomplished.
It sometimes occurred - though never, to my recollection, in my mother's family - that people would find themselves without tinder or fire in the house. As tinder cannot be made without fire, they were obliged to borrow one or the other from a neighbor; but, with judicious care, no family was without fire or the means to produce it. In warm weather,
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when little fire was needed, a hemlock knot buried in live coals and covered with ashes proved one of the best means of retaining it. In those days people didn't require half the artificial heat or clothing that is now needed to make them comfortable. A warm room, like what we require to-day, was then un- known. People had no stoves in their houses. One fire in the kitchen fireplace was all that was thought necessary, except on special occa- sions.
I never wore a flannel under-garment or an overcoat until I was eighteen years old. I did not know that I needed them - in fact, I did not, being comfortable without them. The same was true of all the other boys in our neighborhood. Wet feet every night caused no sickness, colds, or alarm. They were a
common occurrence. We had only to dry our stockings at the chimney corner during the night, to be all right next day. Such a condi- tion and experiences would to-day be thought real hardship; but they were not then so re- garded, neither were they so in reality. The thought being assimilated to the conditions and circumstances by which we were sur- rounded formed the balance which held us and made life easy and comfortable.
Advantages for education were very limited. After we were eight or nine years old, two or three months' schooling in the winter was all that could be allowed, mornings and evenings of that time being largely devoted to the care of live stock and the preparation of fuel.
At the age of eleven and one-half years I began to mow, and one year later could per- form such work with comparative ease. Much of the field work, such as driving oxen from pasture, yoking and driving them with hay rigging into the field, loading and stowing hay, spreading, raking, etc., could be done by a well-trained boy of thirteen or fourteen about
as well as by a man of mature years. Such was my experience up to the age of thirteen and one-half years, when father told me that I must go from home and learn the trade of a carpenter. This matter had previously been talked up in the family, though until then I had had no knowledge as to the proposed time of departure. That night there appeared the fairy-land and castles built especially for me, I little dreaming the realities held in store for me by the future.
On the morrow, with a bundle of clothing, on foot, I left home to go to my new work, ten miles distant. The house being reached, I was kindly received; but all was new to me, and for the first time I realized that there is "no place like home." When night came, I remembered that I had placed myself ten miles from father, mother, and baby. How twenty-four hours can change the visions of a child! Tears plenty, but castles few! Yet these experiences of the rough side of life had better come to us too early than too late.
The first work given me was trimming limbs from small felled trees on a piece of burned ground, and putting them in piles convenient for loading on the team wagon. Not much "carpentering " about that job, which lasted about one week! The next job was sawing and planing not less than fourteen hours per day. When hours by daylight were short, we had the light of one tallow candle supplied, lamp oil not being in use with us. In those days a power planer or a circular saw was un- known, the hard work of planing and sawing, now done by machinery, then being executed by hand.
When leave was granted to visit home, the fact of there being neither cars, stage, nor horse available afforded no barrier. Few horses could cover the distance quicker than I could by cutting across lots. Fences were
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no more a hindrance to a boy than to a fox or a dog. Thus I bounded over hill and dale like a roe, touching ground, much of the way, about once in four or five feet. The joy of reaching home was sufficient inspiration not to believe myself tired.
During one very severe winter, the snow being four feet deep, we had no fuel except as I drew it on a hand sled. Oxen couldn't be driven into the woods, but the snow was hard enough to bear the weight of a boy and his load. So I was assigned the job of drawing for my master's family the wood already pre- pared for the fireplace. It did not occur to me that I was undergoing any hardship. I knew that we must have the fuel, and that I could not do the work my master was doing, so cheerfully supplied the place of a beast of burden. I possessed a physique equal to the task, and no bad results came of it.
During that winter, also, there came to my master's family an addition, which necessi- tated changing my sleeping-room. from a fin- ished bedroom to an unfinished, open chamber, where not only daylight but snow could freely enter through the boarding of the walls of the house. With the thermometer registering ten degrees below zero, to sleep alone and be com- fortable under such circumstances would to-day be thought impossible; but such was my ex- perience. It did not then appear a hardship, nor was I conscious of suffering, though a boy having a constitution less vigorous evidently would have suffered under such exposure.
As years rolled on, we busied ourselves building houses and barns in summer, win- dows, sleighs, and furniture in winter. When I was seventeen years old my master died, cutting short the term of my apprenticeship two and one-half years. Yet I was sufficiently skilled to carry forward some unfinished work, as well as some not yet begun. Thus early in
life I was largely thrown upon my own re- sponsibility.
In the year 1837 I went to Watertown, Mass. ; but, that being the year of the great financial panic, work was suspended, and I re- turned home to pursue my calling as best I could, at fifty-eight cents per day. At this rate of compensation I executed far more work than is now performed at two and one-half dollars per day.
In the light of this last statement can be seen something of the changed condition brought to a skilled mechanic by the last fifty- five years. In 1838 skilled house carpenters commanded one dollar and fifty cents per day of twelve hours. In 1893 the same class of mechanics command three dollars per day of nine hours. Articles of food now average as cheap as then, and clothing averages fifty per cent. cheaper. Yet fifty years ago strikes were unknown, while to-day a spirit of dis- satisfaction and unrest seems to rule the work- ing-man.
In 1838 I engaged work for the season in Newton, Mass., at eighteen dollars per month and board. The following year, believing I could there find my level, I went to Boston. Though at this time little more than nineteen years of age, I was obliged to measure both strength and skill with those of mature age and large experience. My first venture came in the form of a contract to finish one hundred doors and work all the mouldings by hand, myself. On this job I cleared about the aver- age day pay. Next I took a similar job, on which I cleared two dollars per day. This brought me to the front, when I found no diffi- culty in commanding the full pay of a skilled workman.
One sight made a deep and lasting impres- sion upon me, namely : it was not unusual for old men to call from shop to shop in search of
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employment or to go through the streets with heavy boxes of tools upon their shoulders. Witnessing these sights, altogether new to me, brought me face to face with some of the reali- ties of my calling, as well as with some of its possibilities. It was then and there that I resolved that old age should not find me in that situation, that the race for success began in the determination not to recognize failure.
Since leaving the parental roof I had been under scarcely any restrictive influence, except that of the good seed sown during childhood's years by pious parents. Now there came to my assistance an older sister, who not only looked after every detail of my clothing, but took care to know my associates, and that I accompanied her to church every Sabbath. No one else can supply the place of an older sister to a younger brother in a great city.
This period of my life brought me face to face with my first great responsibility ; namely, that of providing a home for my parents, who did not own the farm upon which they lived nor the live stock thereon. It can hardly be understood how parents could respectably rear eleven children under such circumstances, yet such is the fact. When, owing to the infirmi- ties of age and other reasons, it became evi- dent that our parents must leave the old home, an older brother and sister and myself resolved to buy them a farm and lightly stock it. Though the sum jointly possessed was less than five hundred dollars, we agreed to pay eighteen hundred for our farm. Going into debt proved a great incentive to activity and economy.
This enterprise cost me the first thousand dollars of my spare earnings, never to return in kind, though it did return many fold in bless- ings. We must at some time part with all things material, but the fruition of a good act is that which we can forever keep.
Early discovery that the largest share of the purchase money must be paid by myself proved an incentive to look for business offering greater inducements than journeyman's wages. Within the next six months I had two oppor- tunities to enter into a copartnership with ex- perienced builders. One of them came from a poor man who had a daughter, the other from a rich man who had no daughter. I chose the former, and in due time we formed the copart- nership.
Within two years, with the daughter afore- said I entered into another copartnership which continues to this day. Fifty years, with never a thought of dissolution! In making the choice of my second partner, I builded better than I knew. The result has proved a good, true, loving wife and mother, who has well and truly filled every office in her sphere. Three children, two sons and a daughter, also came to brighten our home, all being now full grown and living within easy access of us. The first copartnership was successful, but the second has proved a greater success, though, upon en- tering it, I soon found that I had assumed still greater responsibilities, which meant to me only greater incentives. About all the spare money I had earned thus far had been appro- priated toward paying for the farm and stock for my parents. Our first contract, to furnish material and build two houses, afforded but small margin; while the next, to build two more, by reason of failure of the owner afforded still less. If the wind favored, the tide did not, and vice versa; but the ship still obeyed the helm. My partner was a skilled builder, yet lacked on many points essential to success. Early discovering this fact, I set myself to work to supply those essentials wherein he was lacking. By reason of the failure above mentioned, in order to secure ourselves, we were obliged through process of
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law to take possession of the real estate last built upon and sell it at auction. After paying all debts, we found ourselves again scarcely more than square with the world.
Those early experiences and conflicts, seem- ingly hard to meet victoriously, nevertheless proved some of the most valued lessons of my life. True manhood and womanhood are never developed on "flowery beds of case" : there- fore the conflicts of life have their uses. Having learned to wrestle with some of the harder problems of a business life, though without capital, I resolved upon another and bolder step forward; namely, the purchase of a lot of land and the erection of a house for myself. This I accomplished by employing masons, slaters, painters, etc., whom I could pay with my work and material bestowed upon their houses, thus weaving the carpenter's profit on several houses into one. The capi- talist, of course, was under us all.
Within one year I sold my house at a price which gave me a good margin, a capital suffi- cient to do business, and which never grew less. Soon after this, without embarrass- ment, I met the last payment due on the farm.
Not many years afterward my father passed from earth, leaving mother many years of widowhood and home enjoyment. No retro- spective thought affords greater peace than the association and help bestowed in providing that paternal home. If any regret lingers, it is that I gave no more. The passing oppor- tunity to do good is always the one to em- brace.
Being blessed with good health and a good helpmeet at home, not many years elapsed before I was able to build me a home and pay for it.
At twenty-one years of age, with the young lady who afterward became my wife, I was baptized, and both joined a Christian church
in Boston, where our names are still retained. I would not in any wise undervalue church influence, yet I can truly say that no church or other influence has ever produced more vital effect for good upon my thought than that re- ceived during early childhood days at my mother's knee. There are mothers who intui- tively impart to their children a Christian training, while unfortunately there are others who in those duties are defaulters. Were I to be asked the question, Who in the human family share the greatest accountability and responsibility? my answer would be, The mothers of our youth. Good seed bears good fruit. We do not "gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles." If we sow to the wind, we "reap the whirlwind."
When thirty years of age there had been laid the foundation for whatever of success in life has since appeared. Soon after this time I made an attempt to join one of the then popular orders. The introduction thereto proved so distasteful that I proceeded no further.
In the political field I met with little better success, filling elective offices for a period of five years only to learn that I cherished scarcely anything in common with the politi- cian except strict observance of the elective franchise. Therefore I withdrew from the field altogether, to pursue simply a legitimate business calling.
During a business experience of forty-five years I have never become party to a contract that I did not honorably fulfil, or that did not in some measure prove a financial success, even to the contract with myself not to spend my last days in adversity.
Some time since, I turned over to my younger son a prosperous business, which he is now successfully carrying on for himself. Thus, knowing that, in any event, my family
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is well provided for, I feel free to devote the balance of my years to other activities in the furtherance of "peace on earth, good will to men."
ILLIAM TALCOTT KIMBALL, City Clerk of Lawrence, was born in this city, November 30, 1854. His parents were William Addison and Caro- line L. (Smith) Kimball. He is a lineal descendant of Richard Kimball, a well-to-do yeoman, who, with his family, came to Massa- chusetts from Ipswich, England, in 1634, and located first in Watertown, moving thence to Ipswich, in the county of Essex. His prop- erty amounted to seven hundred and thirty- seven pounds sterling. His son Benjamin, who was born in 1637, about the time of the removal to Ipswich, fought in the Indian
wars. Benjamin Kimball died June II, 1695. Samuel, son of Benjamin, was born in Brad- ford, Essex County, Mass., in 1680, and died in 1739. He married Eunice Chadwick ; and their son Edmund, who was born in Bradford in 1716, is the next in this line. He was a man of large landed estates, a prominent and influential citizen. He died in Bradford in 1795. Edmund's son David, who was born June 16, 1749, died in Pembroke, N. H., in 1816 or 1817. His wife was Mehitable Clement. They had thirteen children, ten of whom - namely, four sons and six daughters - attained maturity.
The eldest, William, who was William T. Kimball's grandfather, was born in Pembroke, N. H., October 2, 1771. The other sons who grew to manhood were: Eliphalet, John Carle- ton, and Jesse. William Kimball was a farmer of Pembroke. He died in 1845. He was married November 4, 1802, to Sarah Os- good, who was born in Andover, Mass., in
1780, daughter of Samuel Osgood. She sur- vived her husband many years, and was nearly ninety years old when death called her to rest. Mr. and Mrs. William Kimball were members of the Orthodox Congregational church. Four- teen children were born to them, and four sons and two daughters attained adult age. William Addison was the youngest son.
William Addison Kimball was born in Pembroke, N. H., February 21, 1821. He was for some time mill overseer in Newbury- port, Mass. In 1852 he came to Lawrence as an overseer in the Atlantic Mills, and in 1859 he engaged in the hardware business. A self- made man, having earned his own capital, he was quite successful in its investment. In politics he was an active Republican. He was elected to the office of Overseer of the Poor in 1879 and 1880. He was a prominent member of the Orthodox Con- gregational church, an officer in the society. William A. was twice married. His first wife, to whom he was united June 2, 1852, was a daughter of Daniel and Abigail (Jewett) Smith, born in 1823. The Jewetts are an old and worthy New England family, springing from Maximilian Jewett, who came from Eng- land in 1639, and settling in Rowley, Mass., was one of the prominent citizens of his time, and was a member of the General Court. Mrs. Caroline L. Kimball died August 6, 1869, leaving two children : William T., the subject of this sketch; and Edward P., now cashier of the First National Bank in Malden, Mass. The father's second marriage, to Miss Kate F. Chandler, of Lawrence, took place December 30, 1874. William A. Kimball died March 6, 1880. He is survived by his second wife, a sketch of whom appears on another page.
William Talcott Kimball graduated from the Lawrence High School, and afterward
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studied for one year in Stuttgart, Würtem- berg, Germany. Returning to Lawrence, he was for a number of years confidential clerk for the Hon. Edgar J. Sherman, who was then registrar of bankruptcy, having full charge of that branch of his business. In politics he is a Republican. He was elected City Clerk in 1885, the office in 1886 being awarded a Democrat. In 1887 Mr. Kimball was again elected; and he has held the position up to the present time, with the exception of '1892, when he was editor of the Lawrence Daily American. But one other citizen of Lawrence has held the office as long as Mr. Kimball. Mr. Kimball has all the details of the city administration at his finger ends, and is one of the best authorities here on such matters. He is a member of the Essex Club, the leading Republican organization of the county; of the Home Market Club; and of the Republican Club of Massachusetts. He is one of the directors of the Lowell, Lawrence & Haver- hill Street Railway.
On May 20, 1885, he was married to Mina, daughter of Myron HI. Kelley. Her mother was a Spanish lady ; and she herself was born in Concepcion, Chili. She died April 23, 1886, aged thirty years, leaving one daughter, Mina Elizabeth, who was born March 13, 1886. On June 4, 1887, Mr. Kimball was married to his first wife's sister Lillia, who also was born in Chili. She is the mother of one child, Lillia Carrita, born July 20, 1890. Mr. Kimball is a Knight Templar, a mem- ber of the Mystic Shrine, and Past Master of Phoenician Lodge, F. & A. M. He belongs to the order of Pilgrim Fathers, and is secretary both of the Home Club and the Merrimack Valley County Club of this city. He is one of the few citizens of Lawrence honored with a medal by the Massachusetts Humane So- ciety. The occasion was this: In 1881, while
on the rocks at Gloucester, at a time when the sea was very high, he saw a boat, in which were six persons, capsize. Though not able to swim, he at once put out in a boat, and at the risk of his own life rescued four boys. Mr. Kimball resides at No. 95 Summer Street, where he was born and where his grandfather Smith settled in the early days of Lawrence.
OHN MERRILL POOR, a representa- tive of one of West Newbury's oldest families, was born in this town, Au- gust 14, 1829, son of John and Lydia E. (Merrill) Poor. The family dates its origin in England from the Norman Conquest, and was prominently identified with both Church and State affairs under the early Plantagenet rule. Rodger le Poer, who was Bishop of Salisbury in 1121, officiated at the marriage of Henry I. with the daughter of Godfrey, Count of Louvain, and placed the crown upon her head. This ceremony took place at Wind- sor Castle. Richard Poor, also. Bishop of Salisbury, distinguished for his piety and learning, was the founder of the famous old cathedral in that town. He died at an ad- vanced age in 1237. Richard Poor, a nephew of Bishop Roger Poor (or Le Poer), located in Gloucestershire, and reared three sons - Her- bert, Richard, and Philip. Herbert and Richard were educated for the church, and were advanced by old friends of their great- uncle, Bishop Roger Poor. The third son, Philip, is supposed on good authority to have been the ancestor of the present branch of the family in America.
Samuel Poor (first), the first ancestor of John Merrill Poor to emigrate to America, died in old Newbury in 1694, aged eighty-one years. His son, Samuel Poor (second), born in old Newbury in 1648, died in 1728.
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Samuel Poor (third), who was born in the same town in 1683, died in 1769. John Poor, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born there in March, 1709, and Moses Poor, the grandfather, in 1760. After follow- ing the occupation of farmer throughout his active period Moses died in 1840. John Poor, son of Moses, born in 1783, was a life- long resident of Newbury. He was also a farmer, and died in 1866. His wife, Lydia E., was a daughter of Deacon Abel Merrill, of West Newbury.
John Merrill Poor's attendance at the dis- trict school in the winter season ceased when he was seventeen years old. For the succeed- ing fourteen years his summers were spent as a farm assistant; and during each winter he worked at shoemaking in Haverhill, Mass., for Moses Howe. About the year 1860 he settled upon the farm he now owns. To-day he is one of the most prosperous farmers in this town. In politics he is a Republican. He has served with ability as a member of the Board of Selectmen for three years, and was inspector of cattle for one year. He has been treasurer of Newbury Grange, No. 146, Patrons of Husbandry, for eight years; and he is also a member of the Essex County Pomona Grange.
In 1870 Mr. Poor was united in marriage with Mary Alice Merrill, daughter of William Merrill, of West Newbury. Mrs. Poor has had six children, as follows: John, born in 1872; William, born in 1873; Lydia C., born in 1876; Dean Stanwood, born in 1880; Charles A., born in 1882; and Albert, born in 1885, who died in 1894. John fitted for his collegiate course at Professor Carlton's preparatory school, and graduated from Dart- mouth College, class of 1897. William assists his father upon the farm. Lydia C. attends school in Bradford. Dean Stanwood
is a graduate of the West Newbury High School, class of 1897.
OSEPH E. BAILEY, of Georgetown, who is extensively engaged in the man- ufacture of boots and shoes, was born at Newbury, Mass., 1839. A son of Joseph Jenness and Myra (Danforth) Bailey, he is of English descent. His first ancestor in Amer- ica was James Bailey, who came over with the Rev. Ezekiel Rogers and settled in Belleville, Newbury, now a part of Newburyport. Mr. Bailey's great-grandfather was Deacon Ed- mund Bailey. His grandfather, Josiah, was born in West Newbury, Mass. Joseph Jen- ness Bailey, son of Josiah, born in London- derry, N. H., in 1802, besides being a farmer, dealt extensively in lumber, purchasing stock in the North, shipping it to Newbury and then selling it at the ship-yards. He lived in Newbury, and married Myra Danforth, a daughter of Master Daniel Danforth, who belonged to one of the old families of Essex County.
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