USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Essex County, Massachusetts > Part 36
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John Burnham, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, resided in Essex, and was a farmer. The father, who was a native of Pea- body, followed the blacksmith's trade; and his last years were spent in Andover. He married Diantha Stevens, a daughter of Leonard Stevens, of that town, and became the father of six children, four of whom are living. These are: Albert P., the subject of this sketch; Oliver R., a successful business man of Kansas City, Kan. ; George, the superin- tendent of the town farm in Andover; and Mary, the wife of James P. Smith, of Exeter, N. H.
Albert P. Burnham attended the public schools until he was fourteen years old. Then he began to serve an apprenticeship at the shoemaker's trade with Joshua Hill, of An- dover. After working as a journeyman in his native town for a time, he went to Lynn in 1868, and was employed at his trade in that city for seventeen years. After this he pur- chased a farm in Ipswich, and he resided there for some years. Since 1892 he has occupied the responsible position of superintendent of the North Andover town farm. He has gained the reputation of an able farmer and a thoroughly upright and conscientious man. He is a Democrat in politics, holds the ap- pointment of Sealer of Weights and Measures, and is a special police officer. He joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 1870,
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and is a member of the Bay State Lodge, of Lynn.
In 1871 Mr. Burnham married Mrs. Hannah C. Woodard Taber, a daughter of Amos Woodard, of Canada, who moved to the town of Jay, N. Y. Mrs. Burnham was born in Jay (where her parents were married), and resided there until she was thirteen years old. She then accompanied her parents to New Hampshire, where she resided about twelve years. In 1860 her father went West, and died in Minnesota in 1881. Mrs. Burnham's first husband died in 1862 in the army. After his death she moved to Lynn, where she was marricd to Mr. Burnham. By her first hus- band she had two children, both of whom died in infancy.
ILLIAM H. DEWHIRST, an enter- prising coal dcaler of Groveland, is a native of this town, born October 16, 1863. His father, James Dewhirst, was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1832. James was reared in the manufacturing districts, and became an expert mill operative. In 1857 he emigrated to the United States. Landing in Boston, he subscquently settled in Groveland, where he followed his trade. He also engaged in farming. The maiden name of his wife, to whom he was married in England, was Sarah Skelton.
William H. Dewhirst was graduated from the Groveland High School in 1880. He was employed at the Groveland Woollen Mills for three years, at the expiration of which time he went to New Bedford, Mass., where he worked in the Oneko Mills for seven years. He then embarked in the coal trade in Groveland, and, in addition to dealing in that commodity, is now doing quite an extensive business in hand- ling grain, ice, hay, and fertilizers. He has
attained a place among the leading business men of the town, and is a director of the Groveland Co-operative Bank. In politics he is Independent.
In September, 1888, Mr. Dewhirst was united in marriage with Alice W. Renton, daughter of William A. Renton, of Groveland. He has four children, namely : Sadie M., born in 1889; William R., born in 1891; Anna S., born in 1893; and Theodore H., born in 1 895. Mr. Dewhirst is a member of Vesta Lodge, No. 166, I. O. O. F., of New Bed- ford, and a charter member of Union Lodge, No. 7, K. of P. of that city.
HARRISON TENNEY, a farmer of Rowley and the author of anthems and ยท gospel hymns, was born there Novem- ber 22, 1840, son of John and Sally Lum- mus (Chapman) Tenney. His father was choir leader in Linebrook Church, Ipswich; and his mother was the leading soprano in the choir, so that J. Harrison's childhood must have been spent in a musical atmosphere. The former was a native of Ipswich. In his young manhood he was a last-maker. After- ward he became a farmer. It was said of him in the village that, if there was an honest man in the world, it was John Tenney. He was a man well informed and an enthusiastic musi- cian as well as a modest one. He was not an office-holder in the town. Though he was not a member of the church, he was for many years an officer of the parish. Mrs. Tenney died when eighty-five years of age. Her son spcaks of her as "the best woman he ever knew." So, likewise, said her neighbors and friends. John and Sally Tenney's children are: Silas M., who married Sarah A. Dawkins, and has one son, now twenty-nine years old, a graduate of Dummer Academy, and living at home;
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Lucy, who is unmarried and resides at home ; and J. Harrison, the subject of this biography and the youngest member of the family.
Mr. Tenney's first song was published in the Musical Pioncer. Afterward he contrib- uted to the New York Musical Gasette many beautiful songs of a religious character. He has published thirty books of his songs and anthems for the church, Sunday-school, and prayer-meeting. Scarcely a book or collec- tion of this kind has been made for the last twenty-five years that has not his name in its list of composers. His tastes have always been in this line of music. His most success- ful work is "Work and Worship," of which one hundred thousand copies have been sold.
The most modest of men, Mr. Tenney in- sists that he is not a professional musician, and only employs himself in his musical work during the little leisure left him by his farm duties, and for his own pleasure and profit. He is a Deacon in the Congregational church, where he leads the choir and plays the organ, making a free offering of his services. He does not now write as much as formerly, but it has been said of him that "he writes music as the robin sings." Mr. Tenney married Alice Potter, of Rowley, a daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (Mack) Potter. He is now the father of two children, Miriam and Esther Louise.
AMUEL G. POOL, a successful business man and an esteemed citi- zen of Gloucester, who has been identified with the Atlantic Halibut Company since the firm was established, is a native of Bristol, Me., born January 20, 1841. A son of Ebenezer C. and Martha (Plummer) Pool, he comes of Colonial stock, being a descend- ant of Stephen Hopkins and his wife, Eliza- beth, who were passengers on the "May-
flower." John Pool, the first representative of the family in Gloucester, to which place he came from Beverly in the year 1700, was born in 1670 in Taunton, England. He was a car- penter by trade. The timber land on his farm at Rockport furnished the lumber with which Long Wharf, in Boston, was built in 1710. Little is known regarding his son John, except that he had a son Isaac, who married Olive Cleveland, daughter of the Rev. Ebenezer Cleveland, the minister at Sandy Bay, who had been a chaplain in the Continental army. Isaac and Olive Pool had a son Ebenezer, born at Sandy Bay. Four years after his birth they removed to Bristol, Me., which was the birthplace of Ebenezer C. Pool, son of Ebenezer Pool, and named for his grandfather, Ebenezer Cleveland.
Samuel G. Pool was educated in the public schools of Bristol, Me. The first four years after he left school were spent with his father . on the farm. When about twenty years of age, he engaged in seafaring, which he afterward followed for several years, becoming in time the master of a fishing-vessel sailing from Gloucester. After serving for two years in this capacity, he had a vessel of his own built in Bristol, and during the succeeding four years he was engaged in fishing for a liveli- hood, finding a market for his fish in Glouces- ter and Boston. About this time an incident occurred which changed the entire future course of his life. His vessel, which he thought safely moored, broke loose and was wrecked. This misfortune proved a blessing in disguise. Previously Mr. Pool had not thought it possible to follow any avocation on land. Now forced to try, and largely influ- enced by the importunities of his wife to find some employment so he could remain at home, he soon found that he was possessed of good business ability. For a year he was employed
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by Stockbridge & Co., during which time he gained a knowledge of the fresh fish business. He then formed a partnership with William H. Gardner, under the style of Pool & Gardner. Four years later they consolidated with Oakes & Co., under the firm name of the Gloucester Fresh Fish Company. This firm, after two years of successful business, consolidated with Stockbridge & Co. and Stetson & Co., form- ing the now famous Atlantic Halibut Com- pany.
Mr. Pool was married in July, 1867, to Miss Helen Marr, a daughter of Chester and Elizabeth (Green) Marr. Six children have been born to them, namely: Herman Everett, in 1868; Clementine, in 1870; Gardner, in 1877; Blanche Elizabeth, in 1880; Samuel Seroy, in 1883 .; and James Plummer, in 1889. Herman attended the public and high schools of Gloucester, and subsequently graduated at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College in Boston. After spending a few years as book- keeper for Swift & Co., he formed a partner- ship with John T. Hodge, which was dis- solved by the death of the latter in 1896. While the firm name of Hodge & Pool has been retained, the business is now conducted by Herman Pool alone. Herman E. Pool is a prominent member of Tyrian Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; of McPherson Chapter, R. A. M .; of Bethlehem Commandery, K. T .; and of the Mystic Shrine. He has also for several years been a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston. He married Louisa Rider, daughter of Enoch Rider. The Rider family, which has been well known on Cape Cod for many generations, traces its ancestry back to Peregrine White, the first white child born in New England. Herman and Louisa Rider Pool have two children, of whom Chester was born in 1893. Clementine Pool married Hugh Parkhurst, who is in the
employ of A. Manton Patillo. They have two daughters: Helen, born in 1893; and Mildred, born in 1896. Gardner Pool, who attended the public schools of Gloucester and is a graduate of the Bryant & Stratton's Bos- ton College, is now with the firm of Hodge & Pool. Blanche Pool is a student of the Gloucester High School. Samuel and James are pupils of the graded public schools. Blanche and Samuel are members of the order called the Children of the American Revo- lution.
ALLACE BATES, Superintendent of Streets in Lynn, was born here October 14, 1839, son of Thomas S. and Elizabeth (Brown) Bates. The father, born in Saugus, was a son of Thomas Bates, a shoemaker, who passed the greater part of his quiet, uneventful life in that town, and his closing days in Lynn, dying in 1862. Thomas S. Bates learned the shoemaker's trade in his native town. When a young man, he removed to Lynn, and there married Miss Brown, who was a native of this town. He subsequently engaged in the manufacture of shoes, contin- uing in that occupation until his death in 1878. Much interested in the welfare of his adopted city, he served in several of its minor offices.
Having attended the public schools of Lynn for the usual period, Wallace Bates at the age of fifteen began shoemaking with his father. In 1860 he embarked in business as a shoe manufacturer, continuing ten years. From 1870 until 1887 he confined his operations to speculating and trading in horses, cattle, real estate, etc., his natural ability, shrewdness, and tact bringing him success. On January 1, 1888, he assumed the duties of the Superin- tendent of Streets, an important city office to
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which he has since been annually re-elected. During his incumbency great improvements have been made in the city's thoroughfares. New streets have been laid out; and it has been his privilege and pleasure to build and open Eastern Avenue, one of the principal thoroughfares.
In ISSO Mr. Bates was a member of the Common Council, and did efficient service in the Committees on Laying out Streets, Alms- house, and the Poor. In politics he is a sound and loyal Republican. He is intimately iden- tified with the welfare and advancement of several secret organizations of Lynn, being a charter member, and Past Grand of West Lynn Lodge, No. 65, I. O. O. F. ; Past Chief Patriarch of Palestine Encampment, No. 37; - a member of Abraham Lincoln Lodge, K. of P. ; and of the Lynn Lodge of Elks, No. 117. He is also a member of the Lynn Republican Club and of the Park Club. On June 17, 1863, he married Miss Mary A. Alley, a daughter of James Alley and Abigail (Witt) Alley, who was born and educated in Lynn. Mr. and Mrs. Bates have three children - Edgar W., James A., and Herbert W.
AVID HOLBROOK, a well-known stone-cutter in the employ of the Pigeon Hill Granite Company, Rockport, is a native of this town, born May 1, 1835, son of David and Abigail C. (Parsons) Holbrook. His father, who was a native of Massachusetts, resided in Rockport from the early thirties until his death in 1859. His mother was a native of Rockport.
David Holbrook was educated in the pub- lic schools. At the age of thirteen he went to work in the quarries in this vicinity, and has remained thus engaged up to the present time. In 1876 he entered the employ of the Pigeon
Hill Company, and he has acted as foreman of the granite cutters a greater part of the time for the past twenty years.
Mr. Holbrook married Sarah T. Grover, daughter of the late Captain William Grover, a well-known fisherman of Rockport, who was sent as Representative to the legislature soon after Rockport became a town.
In politics Mr. Holbrook acts with the Re- publican party, but has Prohibition sympa- thies. He has been a trustee of the Granite Savings Bank since its organization, and is actively concerned in all movements having for their object the benefit of the community. He is a Past Grand of Granite Lodge, I. O. O. F., and also belongs to the Order of American Mechanics.
OSHUA N. FOSS, a former resident of Rowley, and a son of Joshua and Eliza Foss, was born October 5, 1829, in Strafford, N. H. He received his earlier edu- cation in Strafford and in Atkinson, Me. Afterward he attended Dummer Academy in Byfield, Mass., to which place his parents removed when he was fourteen years old. The family first lived on the Stedman and Harrod place, then upon the Colman place, and finally on the old Nelson estate in Rowley, which was bought by the father. Here Joshua N. became the man of the family, and for a time was assisted on the farm by his brothers. James, the youngest, studied for the Baptist ministry, and afterward went into the book business.
Though originally a farmer, Mr. Foss was engaged in the insurance business for ten years, at one time with Mr. Carter, and then with Brewster Brothers of Newburyport ; and he was a director of the Groveland Mutual Insurance Company. Much of his time was
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spent in politics. He was a Selectman for several years, represented his district in the legislature in 1887, and he held the commis- sion of Justice of the Peace. Always a stanch Republican, he was entirely candid in his ap- proval or disapproval of candidates or meas- ures. Among his firmest friends were the young men of the town, with whom he kept in close touch. He was apparently in perfect health two days before his death, which oc- curred January 11, 1894, at the age of sixty- four. He belonged to the Masonic body at Georgetown, and was very active in the affairs of the Universalist church in Rowley, of which he was a member.
Mr. Foss first married Rebecca Balch, a daughter of Deacon Phineas C. Balch, one of the prominent men of Byfield. On September 22, 1890, Abbie C. Adams, daughter of Al- bert S. and Abigail (Dummer) Adams, be- came his second wife. Her father, a repre- sentative machinist of Amesbury, Mass., was born in Newbury, July 9, 1825, and received his education at Dummer Academy. He began business at Newport, where he and N. N. Dummer carried on a grist and saw mill. After returning to this vicinity a few years later, he lived in Amesbury for twenty- five years. Here he obtained a position as machinist with the Amesbury and Salisbury Woollen Company, under Deacon Bagley, and afterward in the Amesbury Woollen Mill with Mr. Bleakie. After this mill was dis- continued, Mr. Adams went with Robert Bleakie, whose father introduced the first power loom in the country. Mr. Bleakie now controls the Hyde Park Water Company, for which Mr. Adams was superintendent during the twelve years preceding his death.
Throughout the last eight years of his resi- dence in Amesbury, Mr. Adams was active in town affairs; and, when the division between
Amesbury and Merrimac was effected, he was a member of the Board of Selectmen. He served on the Amesbury School Board for four years; and in 1879 he represented that town in the State legislature, where he served on the joint standing committee on Roads and Bridges.
YLVANUS FLINT, a farmer of South Middleton and a mason by trade, was born on his present homestead, December 22, 1828. A son of John and Sally (Holt) Flint, he is a descend- ant of Thomas Flint, who came to New Eng- land with his wife, Ann, about the middle of the seventeenth century, and was one of the first settlers at Salem Village, as it was then called, later Danvers, now Peabody, his home- stead property being near what is known as Phelps's Mills, about five miles from North Reading.
From Thomas the line was continued through his son, Captain Thomas, born in 1645, who fought in King Philip's War and died in 1721, to Captain Samuel, born in 1693, who married Ruth Putnam, daughter of John Putnam, third, son of John, Jr., and grandson of John, Sr., the immigrant founder of the Putnam family of New England.
Deacon John Flint, the next ancestor in this line, born in 1725, son of Captain Sam- uel and Ruth, married in 1746 Huldah, daughter of Jethro and Ann Putnam. Jethro Putnam, we learn from the Putnam Genealogy, lived at the old Putnam place in Danvers, for- merly owned by his father, James Putnam, now known as Oak Knoll.
Samuel Flint, a brother of Deacon John, was a Captain in the Revolution. He took an active part in the battle of Lexington. Being asked by an officer where he should be found on a certain occasion, his reply was,
2
SYLVANUS FLINT.
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"Where the enemy is, there you will meet me." He was slain at the battle of Still- water, October 7, 1777.
Jeremiah Flint, born in 1749, son of Dea- con John and his wife, Huldah, married Sarah Elliott. Their children were: Roger; James ; Anna; John; Jeremiah ; Jesse; Sally; Samuel; Fanny; and one, the fourth son, that died an infant of a few days. Roger Flint lived in Boxford; James went to Maine; Anna married Deacon Joseph Peabody, of Middle- ton; Jesse made his home for some years in Lynn, but died in Middleton; Sally married Asa Russell, of Peabody; and Fanny married Adrian Putnam, of Danvers.
Jeremiah, Jr., the fifth son, born in 1785, married in 1816 Mary Howard, who died in 1836. He died in 1853, survived by four children : James, whose younger son, James H., of Weymouth, Mass., a lawyer, is the present State Senator from the First Norfolk District (1898) ; Charles Louis, now deceased, who was secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, 1853-81, and for one year president of the Agricultural College at Amherst; Sarah A., who married James S. Campbell, and since her husband's death con- tinues to reside with her daughter, Mary F., at their home in Newton; Mary A., who lives at Needham. Jeremiah Flint, Jr., built a house on his share of his father's lands, near the old family dwelling.
John Flint, born in 1782, third son of Jeremiah, succeeded to the paternal home- stead. He married in 1824 Sally Holt, of Wilmington. They had seven children, namely: John Calvin, now a resident of Bos- ton; George Bradley, of Middleton; Sylva- nus, the subject of this sketch; Abigail, who lives at the homestead with her brother Sylva- nus; Jeremiah, who resided at Reading, and died there in 1894; Sarah Elizabeth Flint,
who died in 1884; and Justin, who enlisted early in the war of the Rebellion in Company C, Seventeenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, was taken ill in Baltimore, Md., and died there in 1861. Much esteemed in the town, the father was often chosen Select- man. He died in 1852.
Sylvanus Flint passed his boyhood on the home farm. He learned the mason's trade, and then worked for a time in a paper-mill. Afterward, in Boston, he followed his trade for twenty-five years, residing during that period in Somerville and Malden. Having returned to the ancestral farm at the beginning of the Civil War, he has since resided here, except when working at his trade in New Hampshire, Maine, or in other parts of Mas- sachusetts. At the age of twenty-five he mar- ried Miss Miranda Pitts, daughter of William and Mary Pitts, of Liverpool, England. She died in 1867, having been the mother of four children, namely: Nelson P., now a mason of Everett, Mass., and a maker of steam heaters, etc. ; M. Adelaide, now the wife of H. M. Preston, of Jamaica Plain, Mass .; Fannie, who became a teacher, and now holds the office of Postmaster of South Middleton, and has since 1893, when the post-office was es- tablished here; and Sylvanus, who died in infancy.
Mr. Flint is a Republican in politics. He has long held offices in the gift of the town. About three years ago he started a general merchandise store in connection with the post-office, and has since successfully con- ducted it.
Mr. Flint's farm now consists of about eighty-five acres. It was a part of the estate of Deacon John Flint, who owned besides other lands the mill privilege on the Ipswich River, which was formerly held by his grand- father, Captain Thomas Flint. Deacon
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Flint's will was dated December 22, 1773. It is thought that he built the house which has come down to his descendants of the fourth generation. His grandson John, Mr. Flint's father, owned a saw-mill and a grist- mill. The mill privilege was sold somewhat more than sixty years ago to Colonel Francis Peabody, who built the first Middleton paper-mill.
ALEB SAUNDERS, an able lawyer of Lawrence, Mass., and one of its most prominent and valued citizens, was born September 4, 1838, in Andover, Mass. He is a son of the late Hon. Daniel Saunders, founder of the city of Lawrence, and a brother of Daniel Saunders, in whose sketch, which appears on another page of this volume, an extended ancestral history may be found.
Caleb Saunders received his early education in Lawrence, and has the distinction of being the first graduate of the city high school to become a collegian. In September, 1855, he entered Bowdoin College at Brunswick, Me., from which he was graduated in July, 1859, as one of the first six in a class of thirty-nine, though he had neither the salutatory nor the valedictory. In the office of his brother Dan- iel he then began the study of law, which he continued until the breaking out of the late Civil War, when he gladly responded to his country's summons for volunteers, being the first man to enlist in the city of Lawrence after the call from President Lincoln was received. He enlisted April 14, 1861, in Company I, Sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, under Captain John Pickering and Colonel Jones, and participated in the first fray of the Rebellion, the Baltimore riot, in which he received a slight flesh wound. Four of his comrades there bravely met death, one of them, Corporal Needham, falling directly
in front of Mr. Saunders. His first term of enlistment was for three months. He after- ward joined the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, in which he was commissioned First Lieutenant, and served as acting Adjutant. Under the exposures and hardships of life in camp and field, he lost flesh rapidly, becoming reduced from one hundred and sixty pounds avoirdupois to ninety-eight pounds. His health being seriously impaired, he resigned on December 10, 1862.
On returning to Lawrence and regaining his health, Mr. Saunders resumed his law studies, and in 1864 was admitted to the bar with the privilege of practising in any of the courts of the Commonwealth. He has since been asso- ciated with his brothers in legal work, being a member of the firm of Daniel, Caleb, and Charles G. Saunders. During his entire career he has been very active in municipal affairs, and at different periods has held all the important positions within the gift of his fellow-citizens. He was a member of the Common Council for three years, was an Al- derman three years, on the School Board fif- teen years, and in 1877 was Mayor of the city.
He is a stanch Democrat in politics, as is his brother, thereby differing from their father, who was first a Free Soiler and later a decided Republican. He is very much in- terested in Masonry, and has done much to promote the good of the lodges to which he belongs, having been very active in cach. He has passed all the chairs, and is now Past Grand Commander of the Knights Templars of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He belongs also to the Needham Post, G. A. R. Though not a member of any religious organization, he is an attendant of the Episcopal church.
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