USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Essex County, Massachusetts > Part 56
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this Republican stronghold, though at that time he was one of the most active Democrats in this section of the county. Since 1896, however, Mr. Norwood has acted with the Re- publican party.
REDERICK L. ATKINSON,* of the old Atkinson family of Charleston, Me., was born there, November 12, 1856. The Atkinsons, who were among the very early settlers of Newbury, figured in the Revolutionary War. The family's coat of arms may be seen at Concord, N.H. Ben- jamin Atkinson, the grandfather of Frederick L., was an extensive farmer in Charleston and a Deacon of the Orthodox church of that place. He married Mary Clement, who had seven children.
Benjamin F. Atkinson, the father of Fred- erick L., was born in Franklin, Mass., in 1822. He was liberally educated, and taught school carly in life in his native town. Afterward he kept one of the largest general stores in Bangor, disposing of large quantities of potatoes in the Boston market annually. He married Harriet Seavey, who belonged to an old Mount Desert family, and by her be- came the father of five sons and two daugh- ters. In 1864, owing to the illness of his wife, Mr. Atkinson removed to Newburyport, and resided at the Ocean House until 1870. For the next thirteen years he was engaged in ship-building. During that time he built over fifty vessels, most of them destined for foreign voyages. In 1878 he commenced the building of three-masted vessels; and in 1883 he laid the keel for the largest square-rigged vessel ever built on the Merrimac River, a bark called the " Adam W. Spies." In 1884 he engaged in the coal business with his son Frederick. In February, 1896, he retired
from business life. He is a Republican in politics. His first Presidential vote was cast in 1844. He was Mayor of Newburyport in 1875 and 1876, when no salary was attached to the office. In 1878 he was elected to the Lower House of the State legislature. He has been also the chairman of the Public Library trustees, and occupied many other po- sitions of trust.
Having graduated from the Newburyport High School, Frederick L. Atkinson was a clerk in the office of the Merrimac Coal and Wood Company from 1871 to 1874. That position he left to act as clerk and deputy to Collector Charles C. Dame of the internal revenue service. In 1881 he resigned this post on account of illness, and afterward, for three years, was associated with his father in the firm of B. F. Atkinson & Son. Three years later he entered into partnership with Mr. Henry M. Cross, in the retail coal busi- ness. He retired from this connection at the close of the year, and formed with his father the Atkinson Coal Company. Upon the death of Eben F. Sumner, he became a direc- tor in the First National Bank.
In politics Mr. Atkinson has always been a Republican, has been much interested in pub- lic affairs, and has served on the Republican City Committee for a number of years. He married Susan B., daughter of Albert Russell, the owner of an iron foundry in Newburyport. Russell Atkinson, named after Mrs. Atkin- son's family, is his only child.
ILLIAM FRANCIS BRACKETT,* City Auditor of Lynn, Essex County, was born in this city, Oc- tober 9, 1844. His father, also named Will- iam F., born in Lynn, was a son of George Brackett, one of the pioncer manufacturers of
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morocco in this vicinity, and one of the four- teen men who were instrumental in organiz- ing the Unitarian Congregational church of Lynn. Mr. Brackett's mother, whose maiden name was Susan Wardwell Harris, born in Ipswich, this county, came of honored Revo- lutionary ancestors.
Mr. Brackett was educated in the public schools of Lynn, and graduated from the high school with the class of 1862. Since begin- ning his active business career, he has been employed in the manufacture of shoes for a large part of the time, having been with A. & J. Smith as cutter for four years, with Hor- gan & Donovan as foreman of their shop for eight years, and for three years with B. F. Spinney & Co. In 1885, when Messrs. Spin- ney & Co. transferred their plant to Norway, Me., Mr. Brackett obtained a position with Rumsey Brothers, for whom he worked two years. On January 1, 1888, he was appointed Auditor of the city, an important office, to which he has since been annually re-elected, his long term of continuous service being strong evidence of the confidence reposed in him by the people and of the fidelity and dis- crimination with which he has fulfilled his various duties.
Mr. Brackett has always taken a deep inter- est in local affairs, being especially interested in educational matters. From 1875 to 1882 he was a member of the School Board. In 1879 he was the secretary of the board - an office which was abolished in 1880, its duties being relegated to the Superintendent of Schools. He is a steadfast Republican, being a valued member of his party. He served from 1869 to 1876 as a member of the Repub- lican City Committee. Connected with sev- eral social and secret organizations of Lynn, he belongs to the West Lynn Lodge, No. 65, I. O. O. F., of which he was a charter mem-
ber and the first secretary; to the Fraternity Encampment, No. 67, the same organization ; to the Ivy Rebecca Lodge, No. 49; and to Mount Sion Senate, K. A. E. O. He is also a director in the West Lynn Odd Fellows Building Association. On November 25, 1880, he was united in marriage with Miss Calista G. Parcher, of Waterbury, Vt., the ceremony having been performed at the home of the bride.
ILLIAM HENRY BUTTERS,* a prosperous dairy farmer of Methuen, son of George Washington and Fanny (Parker) Butters, was born in Woburn, Middlesex County, February 10, 1834. The Butters family is of English origin. Willard Butters, the grandfather of William H., fol- lowed the occupation of farmer, and died in Woburn about 1828, when he was a little past his prime. He married Sally, daughter of John Colwell, of an old New England family of Scotch origin. She died in 1857, aged eighty-three. She was then living with one of her sons in Methuen, and her remains rest in the old burial-ground here. Willard and Sally Butters reared four sons and a daughter, namely: Willard A., a farmer and ship-car- penter, who died at the age of seventy; George W., the father of the subject of this sketch; Samuel A., a wheelwright, who lived to be over eighty; Sally, the wife of Orrin Reed, who also lived to be over fourscore; and Elbridge Garrison, a wheelwright, who worked in Boston for many years, and died in Methuen at the age of fifty-eight. Mrs. Reed left three daughters and two sons, and El- bridge G. Butters left two daughters.
George Washington Butters, born in Mid- dlesex County, June 20, 1800, spent a part of his early life engaged in boot-making. On
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November 14, 1839, he came to Methuen, pur- chased some twenty acres of land, and erected a good dwelling-house and barns on the other side of the street, opposite his son's present home. His property was afterward sold to the millionaire, Mr. Searles; and his build- ings are walled in by the massive masonry erected by that gentleman. He was in busi- ness as a contractor for some time, and was an active factor in the building up of the city of Lawrence. In Methuen he had a milk route for a number of years; and for six years, with his sons, he managed a steam saw-mill in New Hampshire. Actively interested in pub- lic affairs, he was in the State legislature for three terms. He died May 24, 1883. His wife, whom he married in 1824, was born in Woburn in 1804, daughter of Joseph Parker, of that town. She died May 24, 1880, exactly three years before the death of her husband. Both are buried in the Walnut Grove Ceme- tery. They were members of the Orthodox Congregational church. Their children were: Fanny Maria, who was the wife of John C. Webster, and died without issue, at the age of fifty-eight; Martha, unmarried, who died in the old Butters home in Methuen, at the age of forty-four; George Albert, residing on the farm here; William Henry, the subject of this biography; Charles, residing in Haver- hill, Mass .; and Lucy, who lived but three years, dying in 1842.
William Henry Butters acquired a common- school education with some difficulty, as trouble with his eyes debarred him from study between the ages of eight and eleven years. He learned the shoemaker's trade with his father, and worked at it some thirty years. With his brother, George Albert, he has been successfully engaged in dairy farming for a number of years. They keep twenty-five good cows and two horses. The brothers lived in
a substantial double house, built in 1869. William H. Butters was married January 21, 1865, to Lucinda P. Nichols, of Derry, N.H., daughter of Woodburn and Eliza (Day) Nichols. Mr. Nichols died at the age of fifty-four, leaving a widow and nine children. His widow died at the age of seventy-four. Nine of their grandchildren are living. Of their children, three besides Mrs. Butters sur- vive, namely: Emeline, who is married, and resides in Bradford, Mass .; Woodburn J., a resident of Methuen; and Ellsworth P., re- siding in Groveland, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Butters have one child, George Henry, now twenty-six years old, and engaged in the busi- ness of commercial traveller, who graduated from the Methuen High School at the age of seventeen. He is unmarried, and makes his home with his parents. Mr. William H. Butters is a member of the Republican party.
IDWARD P. POOR,* a well-known citi- zen of Lawrence, Mass., is living re- tired from active pursuits at his pleasant home, 91 Concord Street. He was born in 1830 in Danvers, now Peabody, Mass., which was likewise the birthplace of his father, the Rev. Ebenezer Poor. He is a lin- eal descendant of Daniel Poor, who was born in Wiltshire, England, in 1624, and who in 1638 came to America with an older brother and sister. Daniel Poor lived in Newbury, Essex County, Mass., until 1644, when he became one of the original settlers of Andover, Mass., where he acquired a large landed prop- erty, and at his death left an estate valued at eight hundred pounds. He was prominent in town affairs, and held many important local offices, among others that of Selectman, in which he served eight years.
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Daniel Poor, Jr., son of Daniel, was born in Andover, Mass., in 1656; and his son, Thomas Poor of the third generation, was born in the same place in 1703. Joseph Poor, Sr., son of Thomas, was born in Andover in 1748; and the next in line of descent, Joseph Poor, Jr., was born in Danvers, Mass., in 1771, and died in that town in 1850.
Joseph Poor, Jr., the grandfather of Ed- ward P. Poor, was twice married, and was the father of fifteen children, five of whom were by his first wife, Tamison Sprague, mother of the Rev. Ebenezer Poor. She was born in Salem, Mass., daughter of Ebenezer Sprague, and a descendant of Ralph Sprague, who with his brothers, Richard and William, settled in Charlestown, Mass., in 1629. Lieutenant Sprague, one of the ancestors of Mr. Poor, was a member of the Colonial militia for a number of years, and also represented Charles- ton in the Colonial legislature several terms. Joseph Poor, Jr., and his father were both farmers of good repute; and the former served in the War of ISI2.
The Rev. Ebenezer Poor was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1818, at the age of twenty-two years, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1821. He was ordained pastor of the Second Congregational Church at Beverly, Mass., in October, 1823. After leaving Bev- erly in 1829, he preached at Edgartown, South Hadley, and Berkeley, Mass., and in Perrys- burg, Ohio, and in other places. On February 2, 1825, he married Clarissa Abbot, daughter of Caleb and Deborah (Ames) Abbot. She was born August 25, 1803, and is now living, a bright and active woman of ninety-four years, with her daughter, Mrs. Briggs, in An- dover, Mass. She is a descendant of George Abbot, who emigrated from England to Massa- chusetts about 1640, and in 1644 settled in Andover, Mass., where in 1647 he married
Hannah Chandler. The next two progenitors in direct line were Timothy Abbot and Timo- thy Abbot, Jr. Asa Abbot, son of Timothy, Jr., was the father of Caleb Abbot. Caleb Abbot served in the War of the Revolution - seven years. He marched to Lexington on April 19, 1775; fought at Bunker Hill two months later; was at the engagements at Trenton, Princeton, and Saratoga; and at the battle of New Town, in western New York, was under the command of General Enoch Poor, a kinsman of Joseph Poor, the grand- father of Edward P. The General had three brothers in the Revolutionary army, two of whom were also officers; while their father, Thomas Poor, from whom doubtless they in- herited their patriotism, was a soldier in the French and Indian War, and was present at the taking of Louisburg. Caleb Abbot was with Washington at Valley Forge during the terrible winter of 1777-78, as well as in the engagements enumerated; and the five years prior to his death, which occurred at the advanced age of eighty-five, he drew a pen- sion from the government for his services in the struggle for independence. Three children were born to the Rev. Ebenezer Poor, two of whom grew to maturity, namely : Edward P., the subject of this sketch; and Emily Gray, wife of Caleb Briggs, formerly of Lawrence, but now of Andover. The other child, Joseph, died at the age of six years.
Edward P. Poor received a good common- school education, after which he worked for a time at the machinist's trade. Not finding that occupation congenial, he gave it up, and for some years was employed in the Boston Custom House. Since 1848 he has resided in Lawrence, where he has served as City As- sessor twenty years and as City Treasurer five years. He has also been quite active in pub- lic affairs, and in 1880 and 1881 represented
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the city in the State legislature. He is a decided Republican in politics, and is a Master Mason. He is a member of the Congrega- tional society, and attends the church of that denomination.
In 1854 Mr. Poor married Miss Marietta Allen, of Boston. They have had three chil- dren, one of whom died in infancy, and one, Clarissa Sprague, lived but three short years. The eldest child, a son, Abbot Allen Poor, born June 7, 1855, has charge of the accounts in the Asylum for the Insane at Danvers, Mass.
EORGE BURRILL CURRIER,* General Assessor of Lynn, was born in this city, November 24, 1827, a son of Joseph R. and Elizabeth M. (Clark) Currier. The paternal grandfather came to Lynn in 1797, soon after attaining his major- ity, and, opening a tailor's shop, was here prosperously engaged in business until his demise in 1856, at the age of fourscore years. Highly esteemed for his intelligence, he was sent as a Representative to the State legislat- ure for two terms. Joscph R. Currier and his wife were lifelong residents of this city. In his early life he was a last-maker. From 1860 until his death, which happened in 1885, he carried on a successful grocery trade. He lived eighty years. From early youth until his closing days he watched with pride and pleasure the growth of his birthplace. He served the community in some of the minor public offices, and for a time was Over- seer of the Poor.
George B. Currier received a practical edu- cation in the public schools of Lynn, which he quitted when about fourteen years old. He then learned the shoemaker's trade from his father, with whom he worked until twenty-
three years of age. During the ensuing four- teen years he was employed in the shoe factory of Danicl F. Chase, and from that time until 1873 he worked for different firms of the city. He was then elected City Assessor -a posi- tion which he retained six consecutive years until 1879. In 1881 Mr. Currier was again elected Assessor of Lynn; and at each suc- ceeding election since he has been re-elected to the same office, giving him an honorable record of twenty-two years in the service of the municipality.
Prior to accepting this important position, Mr. Currier had been in the Common Council in 1869 and 1870, in both years serving on the Education Committee; and in 1871 he was elected to the Board of Aldermen. In the latter capacity he was on the Education Committee, and was chairman of the Com- mittee on Fire Department and Claims. He was also connected with the volunteer fire de- partment of Lynn for thirty years, being for twelve years one of the engineers of the de- partment.
On December 25, 1850, Mr. Currier mar- ried Miss Abigail E. Alley, of Lynn. They became the parents of two children - Mar- garet E. and Mary L. Margaret E., now de- ceased, married Benjamin E. Porter. Mr. Currier is a man of broad and liberal ideas, progressive in all of his views. He is a meni- ber of the First Universalist Society.
ANNASEH BROWN, a thrifty and well-to-do agriculturist of Ipswich, was born on the homestead wherc he now lives, August 10, 1823, son of Captain Josiah and Nabby (Baker) Brown. He is of English descent, and represents two of the longest established families of this part of the State.
MANNASEH BROWN.
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Captain Josiah Brown, born on this farm in 1771, died here November 14, 1851. Own- ing about seventy-five acres of the old Brown homestead, adjoining the Gardner A. Brown farm on the south, he devoted his time and en- ergies to clearing and improving the land ; and about sixty-five or seventy years ago he built the present dwelling-house. In politics he was an old-time Whig, and for several years was Captain of a company of State mili- tia. He belonged to the South Church, being one of its most active members. Captain Brown was twice married, both of his wives having been daughters of John Baker, an old resident of Ipswich. His first wife, Lucretia, bore him three children, namely: James, who went to Illinois when a young man, there mar- ried, reared a family, and died at the age of sixty years; Josiah, who died of consumption at the age of thirty-five, unmarried; and Lu- cretia, who was the wife of the late Joel B. Stowe, and who went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where both were engaged in teaching until their demise. The only child of the second marriage was Mannaseh, the subject of this biography. His mother lived to the ripe old age of eighty years.
Mannaseh Brown has been engaged in agri- cultural pursuits from his earliest youth, carrying on general farming with most satis- factory results. Of late years hay has been his chief crop. On March 4, 1846, he married Miss Eunice A., daughter of James and Lucy (Fellows) Brown. James Brown received a part of the original homestead of the Brown family from his paternal grandfather as a building lot ; and, having erected his house, he and his wife lived there, carrying on mixed husbandry during their wedded life. He died at the age of fifty-eight years, and she four years later. The old home farm descended to his daughter Martha, the late wife of Henry
Whipple, and is now owned and occupied by their son, George Albert Whipple.
Mr. and Mrs. Mannaseh Brown are the parents of four children - Lucy Abbie, Sarah A., John B., and Sarah A. (second). Lucy Abbie, living in Hamilton, two miles distant from her early home, and the wife of Emory Lawrence, has one daughter, Nellie Frances, who married Walter Hatch, of Amesbury, and has four children - Walter Lawrence, Marion Frances, Raymond Brown, and Rufus. Sarah A. died in childhood. John B. resides in California. Sarah A. (second), the wife of John Hooper, of Rockport, Mass., has two children - Harry B. and Norman M. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are both active members of the Congregational (the old South) church, which he joined when nineteen years of age, and she at the age of sixteen. Prosperous in his undertakings, Mr. Brown has surrounded himself and family with the comforts of life. He is well worthy of the high respect accorded him by all.
ยท H. YOUNG, M.D.,* one of Ames- bury's successful physicians, was born in Rochester, N. H., September 1, 1854. His forefathers were among the early settlers of Wolfboro, N. H., owning large estates and taking prominent positions in the town. His grandfather moved from Wolfboro to Rochester, where John F. Young, the Doctor, was born. The latter married Miss Waldron, who is a direct descendant of the famous Major Waldron, of Dover, N. H.
After leaving the Rochester schools at the age of fifteen, B. H. Young fitted for college at the West Lebanon Academy, and graduated from Bates College at Lewiston, Me., in the class of 1876. He completed his medical course at the Boston University in 1880, and
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in the fall of the same year opened his office on Market Street, Amesbury. He has since located more centrally on Main Street, and built a substantial residence on Cushing Street, where he now lives. By his marriage with Hattie P. Cheney, of Newburyport, he has one son, James.
The Doctor was formerly a member of the Essex North Association. He is now a mem- ber of the Amesbury Doctors' Club, which, though he makes no pretensions to literary style, has invariably received his papers with interest and respect. He is also a member of the Motolinia Lodge, No. 118, I. O. O. F .; and he is the medical examiner of the Home Circle, Golden Cross fraternity, and the A. O. U. W. Before the division of towns was accomplished, Dr. Young served for three years upon the School Board of Salisbury. He also served for three years upon the Board of Health in the town of Amesbury.
OODBURN JAQUISH NICHOLS,* the master mechanic and superin- tendent of repairs in the cotton-mill at Methuen, was born in Derry, N. H., April 18, 1833, son of Woodburn and Eliza (Day) Nichols. The father, who was a well-known carpenter in Derry, born in Thornton, N. H., in 1799, died in the former town in 1851. He was six feet in height, and weighed one hundred and eighty to two hundred pounds. His wife, Eliza, who was born in 1800, and to whom he was married in 1820, sometimes weighed as much as three hundred and twelve pounds. She died in 1872, having been the mother of ten children, five sons and five daughters. Of their children, Jonathan, the first-born, was the first to die, being then about the age of seventeen; Emmeline, now a widow, resides at Bradford, near Haverhill;
Lucinda is the wife of Henry Butters, of Methuen; and Ellsworth P. resides in Grove- land. Both parents were buried at Derry.
While attaining maturity in his native town, Woodburn Jaquish Nichols obtained his educa- tion in the public schools. Then he learned the carpenter's trade, and subsequently worked as journeyman carpenter in New Hampshire, Lawrence, Groveland, and Haverhill. H first came to Methuen in 1852, and spent the ensuing five years here. In 1865 he came again, and located permanently. He has charge of all the repairing work done at the cotton-mill, and of any wood-work required about the premises. A man of fine physique, he is six feet one and one-half inches in height, correspondingly proportioned, and weighs two hundred pounds.
Mr. Nichols was married in 1886 to Ade- laide J., daughter of John and Julia (Austead) Abbot. Mr. Abbot, who died in 1870, was a man of unusual ability, an editor and a facile writer. He was in middle age at the time of his death, and left, besides his widow, their only child, Adelaide. Mr. and Mrs. Nichols have a foster-daughter, Maria Emery, who is the child of Mr. Nichols's youngest sister, and was left an orphan at an early age. She is a teacher, and is now pursuing a post-graduate course of study in the State Normal School. Mr. Nichols belongs to the Masonic Order ; also to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics he is a Democrat, but votes inde- pendent of party lines.
ON. CHARLES PERKINS THOMP- SON,* whose death at his late home in Gloucester, Mass., on January 19, 1894, was a grievous loss not only to his immediate family and friends, but to the city in which he had lived for so many years, and
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to the Essex County bar, was a son of Fred- erick M. and Susanna (Cheesman) Thompson, of Braintree, Mass. He was born in that town July 30, 1827, and, when but three years old, was a pupil in one of its public schools. A bright, intelligent youth, when but twelve years old he formed opinions and expressed them in regard to public matters. After a two years' course at the Hollis Institute in South Braintree, he was graduated in 1848. While living in the town of his birth, he was recog- nized by his fellow-citizens as a young man of ability, and was elected at different times to offices of trust. He subsequently read law with Hallett & Thomas, of Boston, and on October 16, 1854, was admitted to the bar.
Isaac Wyman, Esq., who was associated with him as a student for two years, writes : "It was in the fifties that the late Judge Charles P. Thompson became a student in the office of Hallett & Thomas, at the corner of Court Street and Court Square, Boston, in the third story of the Tudor Building. Three rooms of the office suite opened into a fourth room on three of its sides. The first room, used for the reception of clients, was for a long time in charge of Judge Thompson, whose native courtesy specially adapted him to the duty of receiving the clients ; and his magnetic amiability made it easy for him to gather the facts of their cases. The business was trans- acted with uniformity, and he naturally be- came a favorite with both clients and wit- nesses. Students were required to make the briefs with case authorities in support of each point, and to give the names of witnesses and state briefly their testimony to the respective parts of the suit. Whilst Judge Thompson was clever at all parts of the work, he excelled in adjusting and applying the principles of the law to the testimony, avoiding unnecessary details of irrelevant matters.
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