USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Essex County, Massachusetts > Part 38
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In politics Mr. Bingham is a Republican. He has been warmly interested in local affairs, and has served the town in various capacities. For a short time he was a member of the School Committee, and for ten years was one of the Board of Selectmen, an Assessor, and an Overseer of the Poor. He represented the Tenth Essex District in the General Court in 1891. In May, 1861, he enlisted in the United States Navy, was assigned to service on board the frigate "Colorado," which was sent to assist in the blockade established in the Gulf of Mexico, and was in the service for some thirteen months. A charter member of
Allen Post, No. 67, G. A. R. at Manchester, he was for four years its Commander, for eight years its Quartermaster, and for a number of years its Adjutant. He is a member also of Magnolia Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In August, 1891, Mr. Bingham was ap- pointed United States Immigrant Inspector at Boston ; and he held that position until Sep- tember, 1893. He was reappointed in Au- gust, 1897, and is now serving in that office. Mr. Bingham has warm friends in Manchester. His well-deserved reappointment to his im- portant post in the service of the federal government gave much gratification to his fellow-townsmen.
ORACE STANDLEY, a leading blacksmith and horseshoer of Man- chester-by-the-Sea, and a native of Wenham, Mass., was born April 18, 1863, son of Andrew and Susan (May) Standley. Andrew Standley, who was born in Wenham, is at present engaged in the retail shoe busi- ness at Beverly Farms. He was formerly a manufacturer of shoes in that town. His wife, Susan, is a native of Beverly Farms.
Horace Standley went to Beverly Farms when five years of age, his parents settling there at that time. He received his early education in the common schools. At the age of sixteen years he began learning his trade with N. P. Allen. After serving an apprenticeship of four years, he worked for a time as a journeyman in Mr. Allen's shop. In 1884 he came to Manchester, and he has since been in business for himself here. He has secured a profitable patronage, and now employs two journeymen and an apprentice.
Mr. Standley married Ella Larcom, of Bev- erly Farms; and three children have been born
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to him - Chester L., Ethel F., and Wesley A. In politics he is a loyal Republican. Frater- nally, he is a member of Magnolia Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Man- chester; and of North Shore Lodge, Ameri- can Order of United Workmen, also of Man- chester. He devotes his entire time to his business. This is probably one reason why he has been so successful. Patrons are sure to find him on the spot when any work requir- ing especial care or supervision is demanded, and they are equally sure that the work will be promptly attended to and skilfully performed. He is esteemed by all who know him, and commands the full confidence of the business public.
OHN LORD PARKER, associate edi- tor of the Lynn Item, was born in Charlestown (now Ward Four, Bos- ton), June 7, 1837. His parents were Eben- ezer and Elsie Lord (Rowell) Parker. He is a lineal descendant of Abraham Parker, who came from England to Charlestown in 1630, and who was afterward one of the founders suc- cessively of Woburn and Chelmsford. On the mother's side he is a descendant of Valen- tine Rowell, one of the founders of Ames- bury, and of Hannah Dustin, the Haverhill heroine. Both maternal and paternal ances- tors saw service in the Revolutionary War, and three of them were at the battle of Bun- ker Hill.
In 1843 his parents removed to Woburn, where he attended the public schools until he was fourteen years of age. Then he entered the office of the Woburn Journal as an appren- tice, Horace N. Hastings, now the senior proprietor of the Lynn Item, being at the time the foreman and his instructor in the art pre- servative. He worked in the Journal office
for several years, set the first type on the Lynn Reporter, was a year on the Coos Repub- lican at Lancaster, N.H., and pursued his craft in Portland, Boston, and Cambridge, perfecting himself in all its branches. From 1858 to 1862 he was associated with Horace N. Hastings in the publication of the Wo- burn Budget, finally disposing of his interest therein to his brother. In 1864 he published the Woburn Townsman, Winchester Tran- script, and Stoneham Sentinel. After the close of the Civil War he was engaged for several years in the life insurance business, residing for about a year in New York City. He purchased the Woburn Journal in 1870, and published it for ten years. In 1880 he sold out his Woburn business, and came to Lynn, under engagement as editor of the Item, which position he has since very ably filled. In connection with the Woburn Jour- nal, he established the Arlington Advocate and Lexington Minute-man, both now pub- lished by his brother, C. S. Parker, to whom he sold them in 1874. He was the secretary of the Massachusetts Press Association from 1872 to 1880, and in 1891 he was the presi- dent of the Lynn Press Club.
His service during the war for the Union covered portions of four years. In 1861 he was active in the enlistment of -volunteers, who afterward became Company F, Twenty- second Massachusetts Regiment. He was with this regiment in the winter camp at Hall's Hill, Va., and in the campaign that followed, taking part in the siege of York- town and in the battles of Hanover Court- house, Mechanicsville, and Gaines's Mill. Having been wounded in the latter engage- ment, he was taken prisoner, and became an inmate of the famous Libby Prison. After his parole expired, he was taken to the West Philadelphia Hospital, whence he was dis-
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charged, September 18, 1862. In September, 1863, he rejoined the army at Culpeper, Va., as a citizen clerk, and was with the First Brigade, First Division, Fifth Corps, in the Centreville campaign. While so employed he contracted malarial fever at Three Mile Station, and suffered a long illness. In 1864 he assisted in raising a company to recruit the Eleventh Massachusetts Volunteers, and joined that regiment in front of Petersburg as Second Lieutenant of Company B. He was subse- quently promoted to the rank of First Lieu- tenant, and placed in command of Company A, served as Adjutant of the regiment, was an Aide on the staff of General Robert McAllis- ter, and A. A. A. G. of the Third Brigade, Third Division, Second Corps. He was in all engagements of the brigade during the last seven months of the war, and was at Appomat- tox, April 9, 1865, when Lee surrendered. After the war he served for three years in Company G, Fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Voluntcer Militia. He joined the Grand Army of the Republic, November 10, 1867, as a charter member of Post No. 33, Woburn, and was its Commander in 1875. On coming to Lynn he transferred to Post No. 5, of which he was Adjutant in 1884, 1888, and 1894. In 1891 he was on the staff of the Department Commander. He joined the Massachusetts Commandery of the military order of the Loyal Legion on January 2, 1895. In politics he is a Republican, serving on the local, county, and Congressional committees. He repre- sented the Ninth Essex District in the legis- lature in 1883. He was in the convention that nominated Bowman in 1878, and in the noted Davis-Converse-Lodge convention of 1882, when as secretary he called the roll one hundred and three times. He served on the Congressional committee from 1878 to 1892, with the cxccption of two years. While a
resident of Woburn he served for six years on the School Committce.
In addition to his regular newspaper work, Mr. Parker wrote the history of Henry Wil- son's regiment, a book of five hundred and ninety-onc pages, which was published in 1887. He also published three volumes of the Woburn Directory, and directories for Reading, Stonehanı, Wakefield, and Winches- ter. A biography of Abraham Parker, written by him, was published in 1891. He is the author of several songs, including "We Old Boys," published in 1884, which is quite pop- ular with the veterans of the war, and " Mus- tered Out," published in 1885.
Mr. Parker has acquired a reputation as a public speaker, especially at Memorial Day celebrations and other patriotic occasions. He has delivered memorial addresses in Wake- field, Reading, Arlington, Foxboro, West Brookfield, and Nahant, Mass .; in Rockland, Bangor, and Carmel, Me .; and in Hampton, N.H., Canton, Middleton, Milton, Needham, Centreville, Southboro, Peabody, and Woburn.
On June 21, 1860, Mr. Parker married Amelia Jane Andrews, a teacher in the Wo- burn public schools. They have had five children, three of whom are living. The latter are: Horace Rowell Parker, a reporter on the Item; Selwyn Bowman Parker and Florence Dustin Parker, both pupils of the Lynn Classical High School. Mr. Parker joined William Parkman Lodge of Masons at Winchester, July 13, 1869; Menotomy R. A. C. at Arlington, May 14, 1874; and, on coming to Lynn, Golden Fleece Lodge and Sutton Royal Arch Chapter. He is a member of the Oxford Club, the Ward Three Repub- lican Club, Lynn Hospital Association, and Associated Charities; and he is the historian of Old Esscx Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution. A communicant of the Central
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Congregational Church, he serves on the Cen- tral Parish Committee. On April 1, 1892, he was appointed Deputy Collector of Cus- toms, District of Marblehead, Port of Lynn, and he served in that office until October 22, 1895; was reinstated April 1, 1897, and ap- pointed custodian of the government building, December 14, 1897, both of which offices he still holds.
SAAC P. FEARS, an ex-member of the Massachusetts legislature and the senior member of the firm of I. P. Fears & Sons, building contractors of Rockport, was born in this town November 12, 1838, son of Isaac and Sarah (Bickford) Fears. His pater- nal ancestry were probably English, and the Bickfords were early settlers in New Hamp- shire. Isaac Fears, a native of Gloucester and a fisherman by occupation, was lost at sea in 1843 while on a trip to Georges Banks, in the schooner "Byron." Sarah, his wife, was born in Rockport, daughter of Andrew Bickford, who was a native of New Hampshire and served in the War of 1812. She became the mother of two children : Isaac P., the subject of this sketch; and Sarah E., who died at the age of sixteen years. After her husband's death she and her son went to reside with her father; while the daughter was taken by her paternal grandfather, Isaac Fears, of Glouces- ter.
Isaac P. Fears was educated in the schools of Rockport, and learned the carpenter's trade with his uncle, William Bickford in Glouces- ter. Having worked as a journeyman for sev- eral years, he established himself in business at Rockport as a contractor and builder in 1869. He continued in business alone until his sons were admitted to partnership, since which time the firm has been known as I. P.
Fears & Sons. It is still doing a large busi- ness in this section. In politics Mr. Fears acts with the Republican party; and he has rendered excellent service to the town as a Selectman, Assessor, Overseer of the Poor, Chief Engineer of the Fire Department, Con- stable, and police officer. In 1891 he ably served as Representative to the legislature, and was on the Committee on County Es- timates.
In 1861 Mr. Fears married Eliza J. Griffin, daughter of James Griffin, late of Rockport. He has four sons, namely : Frank A. and Fred L., members of the firm of I. P. Fears & Sons ; I. Percy ; and Chester S. Fears. Mr. Fears is a Past Grand of Granite Lodge, I. O. O. F. ; and he and Mrs. Fears are connected with the Daughters of Rebecca.
AMES F. SEAVEY, a prominent con- tractor and builder of Lynn, was born December 6, 1842, in Greenland, N. H., son of Shadrach and Lucinda (Edgerly) Seavey.
Shadrach Seavey, the father, was born in Durham, N.H. When a young man, he set- tled in Greenland, Rockingham County, N. H., where he married Lucinda Edgerly, who was a lifelong resident of that town. He was reared to agricultural pursuits, and continued a tiller of the soil until his death in 1894, at the age of seventy-eight years. His wife died in April, 1898, at the age of eighty-two years.
James F. Seavey attended the district schools of his native town, and afterward com- pleted his school education at the Northamp- ton Academy in the old Granite State. When eighteen years old, he left home, hoping to find in the city some more congenial occupa- tion than farming, which was not to his taste. Going to Boston, he worked for about three
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years at the carpenter's trade under the in- struction of E. B. Stackpole. Subsequently he was employed for some years as a carpenter in Stoneham and Lynn. In 1870, having per- manently located in the latter city, he estab- lished himself in business as a contractor and builder, and from that time until the present has been kept busily employed. He is a man of untiring activity, a skilful and thorough workman, noted for his honorable and upright business dealings, and is much esteemed by the community in which he resides.
His energy, sound judgment, and intelligent interest in all that pertains to the welfare of his adopted city made him useful in various official capacities. He was a member of the Common Council in 1893, 1894, and 1895, and of the Board of Aldernien in 1896 and 1897. While serving as a Councilman, he was on the Public Property and Drainage Committees, being chairman of the latter body. In 1896 he was a member of the following committees : the Drainage, Street Sprinkling, Drainage Assessments, Bills in Second Reading, the Almshouse and Poor, and was chairman of the Committee on Ordinances and of the Alms- house and Poor. In December, 1897, he was elected as Representative to the General Court. He is also one of the commissioners of Pine Grove Cemetery. He is an unswerving sup- porter of the principles of the Republican party, and an active member of the Third Ward Republican Club. He is one of the trustees of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Seavey's first wife, in maidenhood Lizzie R. Perry, died in 1870, leaving no children. By his second wife, Susan E. Law Seavey, who died in 1885, he had one child, Lizzie E., now eighteen years old, who gradu- ated from the high school in June of the pres- ent year (1898), and resides at home with her
father. On March 24, 1886, Mr. Scavey married Miss Henrietta E. Rogers, of Lynn, by whom he has no children.
AVID E. CURRIER, of the well- known firm of Maxfield & Currier, lumber dealers of Amesbury, is a descendant of Richard Currier, one of the pio- neer settlers of Salisbury, Mass., who came from England in 1638. The family is one of the oldest in America, and has produced men who have rallied to the support and defence of the nation in the days of sorest need. It has given to the country military heroes and men and women of useful lives and high ideals in times of peace.
Richard Currier, above alluded to, was one of the most influential men in Salisbury, and probably filled more positions of public trust in the town than any other man of his time. He filled them, too, with signal ability; and his sterling qualities of mind and heart seem to have been handed down in his family through the generations that have come after him. His son Thomas was the father of Richard, born in 1673, who married Dorothy Barnard.
David, in the fourth generation back from the present, eldest son of Richard and Dorothy (Barnard) Currier, married Keziah Colby, daughter of Samuel Colby, and lived on the site of the house at present occupied by John H. Clarke. He was a farmer and a man of large property, owning land at the ferry and in other parts of the town.
Captain John Currier, son of David and Ke- ziah, raised two companies for the defence of the colonies in the Revolutionary War. He fought at the head of one of the companies in the battle of Bunker Hill, and his name became synonymous with courage and loyalty.
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He was a man of sound judgment; and that this was recognized not only by his fellow- townsmen, but by his commanding officers as well, is shown by the following warrant issued to him by Major Merrill : -
ESSEX, SS.
TO JOHN CURRIER. CAPTAIN OF MILITARY FOOT COMPANY IN AMESBURY.
This day I have received intelligence that the minis- terial troops under the command of General Gage did last evening march out of Boston and march to Lexing- ton, and there kill a number of our American soldiers, and thence proceeded to Concord, killing and destroying our men and interests. These are therefore to order you to muster so many of your under-officers and sol- diers as you can possibly to meet immediately at some suitable place, and then march. To march off forthwith to Concord or elsewhere, as in your discretion you shall think best. to the relief of our friends and country.
Given under my hand this nineteenth day of April, 1775.
Captain John Currier was also during this period Selectman and Paymaster of the troops, and was at any minute ready, should duty call him, to lay down his life in this world in order to find it in a better. He believed in an over- ruling Providence that guides the destinies of men, was a devoted member of the Ortho- dox church, and for many years a Deacon. In the company of minute-men that he commanded was his youthful son John, who afterward died in the service. Captain Currier married Mary Wells, grand-daughter of the Rev. Thomas Wells, who preached in this town for more than sixty consecutive years. They had a large family of children.
David, one of their sons, the next in this line, married Abigail Huntington, and had three children. David, Jr., the youngest of these, was born May 4, 1811. He married Sarah J. Page, and was the father of three children; namely, Angelina, David E., and one who died before reaching maturity. An-
gelina married Isaiah Maxfield, of Casco, Me. She is now deceased.
David E. Currier, the special subject of this biography, was educated in the common schools of Amesbury and in a private academy, whose principal was the famous one-armed teacher, Mr. James H. Davis. After finishing his course of study, he worked in Exeter, N. H., for a short time at carriage-painting. For three subsequent years he was on a farm in Amesbury. At the end of that period, in ISSO, he formed a partnership with D. C. Maxfield, and engaged in the lumber business, opening a small yard in Amesbury on Friend Street. There was then another yard here and one in Hampton Falls. Maxfield & Currier's business now takes the place of the three. In 1887 the increase of business made it neces- sary for the firm to secure a different location ; and they opened a yard and office at their present place, on the line of the Boston & Maine Railroad. The business has been very prosperous, the sales some years aggregating eighty thousand dollars. During a number of years they shipped three hundred carloads of lumber annually, besides furnishing most of the material for scores of private residences. They have supplied the lumber for the Young Men's Christian Association building, the armory, the opera house, and for the Babcock Carriage Company's Block, which is the larg- est building ever erected in town. The firm carry a stock valued at about twelve thousand dollars. They own several teams, and keep a large force of men at work.
Mr. Currier married Miss Aurelia Frances, daughter of Samuel Woodman, of South Hamp- ton. The following-named children have been born to them : Edwin Wallace; Earl Webster ; Grace A., now a student in a private academy at Merrimac, and a musician of more than ordinary talent; David Leslie, in school at
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Amesbury; and Paul Blaisdell, the baby of the family.
Mr. Currier has served four years on the Board of Selectmen, having received the larg- est vote of any candidate that was ever elected in the town. He has recently been re-elected, and is now (1898) chairman of the board. He takes an active part in politics, is a loyal Re- publican, and has been sent as delegate to various State, county, and senatorial conyen- tions. Mrs. Currier is a prominent figure in the social, religious, and literary circles of Amesbury. She is a member of the Market Street Baptist Church and of the Elizabeth Whittier Club.
OBERT ROYAL HERNE, the super- intendent in Rockport of the Mackay- Bennett Cable Company, was born September 30, 1852, in Limerick, Ireland, son of Andrew and Susan (Royal) Herne. Both the Hernes and the Royals are natives of Norfolk County, England, the Herne family being descended from Danish ancestry who inhabited Great Britain prior to the Norman Conquest. Andrew Herne, who was a native of King's Lynn, Norfolk County, died in Greece in 1854. His widow, who was born in Gibraltar, Spain, a British possession, with her only son moved to Limerick, Ireland, when lace-making was an important industry there. She is now residing in Rockport. Deprived in his infancy of a father's care, Robert Herne was wholly dependent upon his mother until he became old enough to contrib- ute toward his own support. Through his mother's efforts he acquired a good, practical education under private tutorship. When fif- teen years old he entered the service of the Electric and International Telegraph Com- pany in Limerick, with which he remained
until the line was purchased by the British government. In 1874 he entered the employ of the United States Cable Company on the west coast of Ireland. He came to the United States in 1877, and was in the service of the same company at Rye Beach, N. H., until 1884, when he came to Rockport as superintendent of the Mackay-Bennett Commercial Cable Company.
Mr. Herne married Ina Marston, a daughter of Thomas Marston, of Portsmouth, N. H., and a descendant of Robert Marston, who set- tled in Salem, Mass., in 1634. Mrs. Herne is the mother of one son, Leonard G. Herne. Mr. Herne is a naturalized American citizen ; and in politics he is a Democrat, with inde- pendent proclivities. He takes a lively inter- est in local affairs, and has served upon the Democratic Town Committee. He is á mem- ber of the Masonic Blue Lodge in Ports- mouth, a Royal Arch Mason, and a Knight Templar.
AMUEL VEAZY COLBY, propri- etor of the largest sail-making es- tablishment in Gloucester and a naval veteran of the Civil War, was born in Orrington, Me., July 19, 1838, son of Charles P. and Hannah (Wentworth) Colby. He comes of Essex County Colonial stock, being a descendant of Anthony Colby, "planter," who had a grant of land at Salisbury, Mass., in 1640, and acquired land at Amesbury in 1654.
Charles P. Colby, father of Samuel V., was a seafaring man, and in the course of his ac- tive life was the master of different coasting- vessels. About the year 1844 he took up his residence in Newburyport; and two years later he removed from that city to East Boston, where he died in 1847.
ROBERT R. HERNE.
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Samuel Veazy Colby, after the removal of his parents to East Boston, attended the Lyman and Chapman Schools in that part of the city. In 1850 he was employed as clerk in a clothing store on Union Street, Boston; and, when fourteen years old, he spent a sum- mer as cook on a coasting-vessel. After serv- ing an apprenticeship at the sail-maker's trade with Eli Southard, he came to Glouces- ter, where he worked as a journeyman for Christen Nelson during the time he engaged in fishing. Previous to attaining his major- ity, he was master of a fishing-vessel, and at the age of twenty-one he became a partner of Mr. Nelson. In May, 1861, he enlisted in the United States navy, and served as sail- maker's mate on the ship "Colorado." He was with Admiral Farragut's fleet at the re- duction of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, but did not go up the river to New Orleans, as the "Colorado" drew too much water to go over the bar. He was honorably discharged July 31, 1862. Upon his return to Glouces- ter he resumed his trade, which he has since followed with success. He now owns one of the largest sail-lofts in the United States. During the administration of Mayor Garland he served in the City Council. For twenty years he was a member of the fire depart- ment; and, while attending to his duties dur- ing the great fire which took place in Glouces- ter some years ago, he was severely injured.
Mr. Colby contracted the first of his two marriages with Miss Hannah Marston, daugh- ter of Charles Marston and Annie Herrick Marston, of Gloucester. She died in August, 1880. For his second wife he married Har- riet Cook, daughter of Edward L. and Mary Ann (Sayward) Cook, of this city. The Say- ward family is one of the oldest in this sec- tion. Mr. Colby's first wife left four chil- dren, namely: William, born in 1863, who
married Mary Proctor, daughter of Joseph Proctor, and has one son, Allen P., born in 1894; Benjamin H., born in 1865, who mar- ried Lucy Lufkin; Amy, born September 8, 1871, who married Edward Hotchkiss, a book- keeper, and has one son, Edward, born in 1897; and Annie Colby, born in 1875, who resides at home with her parents.
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