USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Biographical review, containing life sketches of leading citizens of Essex County, Massachusetts > Part 59
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Garvin Steel Scott graduated in 1884 from Glasgow University. He taught for five years. Beginning in his fourteenth year, he was engaged in teaching for five years. His initial practice was obtained in London. In October, 1891, he came to this country; and in February, 1892, he settled in Lawrence, opening an office at 272 Broadway. He was soon in command of a large general practice. A warm-hearted Scotchman, who cannot say " No" to one in distress, he overworked him- self, responding to calls both by day and night ; and he was obliged to take a rest. Selling his comfortable home on the corner of Broad- way and disposing of his practice, he started for California in October, 1897. There he proposes to rest and recuperate.
Dr. Scott was married in Lancashire, Eng- land, in 1886, to Ellen Maria Sewell, of Lon- don, a daughter of Alfred and Maria Sewell. Mr. Sewell is a business man of London, re- siding at Forest Gate, a suburb of London. His wife died at the age of fifty, leaving two daughters and a son. Mrs. Scott, who is not very strong, accompanied her husband to Cali- fornia. Dr. Scott belongs to the English Order of Odd Fellows; to Black Prince Lodge, Knights of Pythias; and to the order of the Scottish Clans. He is popular both professionally and socially. He is a lover and a skilful player of the game of draughts.
ON. GEORGE HASKELL,* of Ips- wich, has long been prominently identified with the interests of Essex County. He was born in Newbury- port, August 24, 1809, a son of Aaron and Eunice (Dodge) Haskell, and springs from some of the oldest families in the county. Three brothers, Roger, William, and Mark Haskell, with their mother and possibly a sister, came to this country from the south of England, and were in Salem, Mass., in 1636. The mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Haskell, married John Hardy, who died in 1652 or 1653, will- ing to her most of his property, which passed to her sons. Roger Haskell died in 1667. Mark, who was a master mariner, died a year later. William settled in Gloucester, and died there in 1693. His estate was estimated the largest in Gloucester. In 1643 he was married to Mary Tibbetts, and at his death he left nine children. His son Joseph, born June 2, 1646, married Mary Graves, of An- dover, and reared three sons - Joseph, Daniel, and Ebenezer. Nehemiah, a descendant, born March 23, 1727, was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He was born in
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Gloucester, within a mile of the Ipswich boundary line, and passed most of his life in Newburyport. He was Deacon of the First Presbyterian Church on Federal Street in that city. He died when about fifty-five years of age, and his resting-place is marked by a most elaborate gravestone. His old homestead is now owned and occupied by a grand-daughter, Miss Lizzie Kimball. On November 5, 1762, he was married to Elizabeth Fitts, a native of Ipswich and member of one of the early fam- ilies. Their children were: Nehemiah, Jere- miah, Aaron, Moses, Elizabeth, Hannah, and Sally. Jeremiah was the father of Daniel Noyes Haskell (deceased), at one time editor of the Boston Transcript. Miss Lizzie Kim- ball is the daughter of Daniel N. Haskell's sister.
Aaron Haskell, who was born in 1773, was the Hon. George Haskell's father. He was married January 1, 1796, to Eunice, daughter of Barnabas and Elizabeth (Giddings) Dodge. Her parents were natives of Ipswich, descend- ants of early settlers there. Barnabas Dodge was an eminent surveyor, employed by the State in the latter part of the last century to run out the township lines in the District of Maine.
George Haskell at an early age went to the private school of Miss Chase on Milk Street, Newburyport; and he remembers being sent with the other scholars to pick up the apples in her garden after the great September gale of 1815. A few years later he attended the public school at the south end of the Mall. When he was ten years old, his parents re- moved to Ipswich; and there he attended the Feoffees Grammar School (Latin and Greek), then taught by George Choate, afterward emi- nent as a physician in Salem. He studied in this school under different teachers some six years. In January, 1825, he was apprenticed
to Smith & Dyer, of Boston, dealers in fancy morocco and other goods, 2 Milk Street. They manufacture work-boxes, dressing-cases, portfolios, pocket-books, etc., and had a profit- able business, there being no other establish- ment of the kind in this part of the country. Mr. Haskell remained with them two years, living in the family of Mr. Dyer in Purchase Street on Fort Hill. Labor in the shop ended at 8 P.M .; but the establishment was kept open until ten o'clock, and overwork by the hour or piece-work was given to those who desired it. The boy seldom missed an hour of the overtime allowed, carning enough to pay for his clothes and to send occasional re- mittances to his mother, who was then a widow and necded his help. He was not at- tracted by the temptations that usually allure the country boy; but he visited all the churches, and his memory holds some valuable pictures. Lyman Beecher preached in Han- over Street ; Henry Ware's church was on the same street, and Charlotte Cushman, who had not then gone on the stage, sang in the choir; Orville Dewey and Mr. Palfrey preached on Brattle Street; Mr. Ballou, in School Street ; Dr. Wisner, in the Old South; several differ- ent preachers, in the church which stood at the corner of Summer and Bedford Streets; Dr. Channing, in Federal Street; and Bishop Cheverus preached in Franklin Street, in the only Roman Catholic church then in Boston. After leaving the employ of the Boston firm, Mr. Haskell engaged for a year with Mr. Sykes in Providence, R.I., a dealer in fancy goods; and, Mr. Sykes removing to Worces- ter, he went there with him. In the spring of 1828 he entered the employ of Mr. Skerry, of Salem, Mass., also a dealer in fancy goods; and from the fall of that year until June, 1830, he was manufacturing on his own ac- count in Cambridgeport. With a supply of
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the best goods - real morocco, heavily gilt, with steel mountings and satin lining - he went to Cineinnati, hoping to establish their manufacture in that city; but the people of the West were not ready for such superflui- ties, and he left his goods to be sold on the best terms possible. The homeward journey was made by stage and boat, the stage office in Boston being at Earl's tavern in Hanover Street. On his return he resumed his manu- facturing business in Cambridgeport. In 1830 he had an attaek of hay fever, which puz- zled the doctors, to whom it was not so famil- iar as it is now; and he returned to his mother's home in Ipswich to die. With the approach of winter, however, it disappeared; and in the spring of 1831 he commenced man- ufacturing in Ipswich. The panic of 1837 caused the failure of several firms which bought his goods, and he lost most of his earnings. He then determined to change his occupation, and turned his attention to grape culture. An account of some of his methods of procedure was printed in the Country Gentle- man in September, 1863, and a pamphlet pub- lished by himself in 1877. From that time to the present he has been engaged in horti- culture, making experiments and valuable dis- coveries, aecounts of which appeared in the Country Gentleman from time to time for twenty years. In 1839 he was indueed by Asa Andrews, one of the oldest members of the Essex County bar, to enter on the study of law; and in March, 1843, he was admitted to the bar, and opened an office in Ipswich. In the spring of 1861 he was seized with head trouble, and mental work was interdieted; and he never resumed his law practice.
Mr. Haskell began his politieal career as a Whig, and has long been a loyal Republican. In 1837 he was elected Seleetman and As- sessor of Ipswich, and he was re-elected in
1838. Resigning in a few weeks, he was again elected, and held offiee by annual re- elections until 1847, when he refused to serve longer. He has been a trustee and treasurer of the public library for over a quarter of a eentury, and made a speech at the opening in 1869. He was first elected to the legislature in 1838, and was re-elected in 1840. In 1853 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention in which Benjamin F. Butler rep- resented Lowell. In 1854 he was again in the legislature. In 1856 he was on the Board of County Commissioners, eleeted for three years. In 1860 he was a member of the House of Representatives, and again in 1876. As a politician, he was fearless and outspoken, and did not hesitate to eriticise the leaders of publie opinion. Mr. Haskell early developed a talent for literary work, and prose and verse flowed freely from his pen. A number of poems, valuable artieles on politieal subjeets, and contributions to the Country Gentleman are found in a neat book published by him in 1896. In 1882 his eyesight failed, and he has sinee lived in retirement. His last ad- dress to the public was given in 1884, on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Ipswich, when he was made president of the day. He has a beautiful home on Heartbreak Hill. His house was . built in 1882, and is surrounded by vines and fruit-trees.
ENRY PETTINGELL, who died at s home in Georgetown, Essex County, Mass., January 6, 1895, at the venerable age of niney-three years, was a native of the adjacent town of Newbury, and was born in the old Coffin house on the banks of Parker River, December 2, 1801. He was the eldest son of Stephen and Lovey (Adams)
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Pettingell, and through both father and mother came of early Colonial stock of Eng- lish origin.
Richard Pettingell, the emigrant ancestor of the family of this name, was in Wenham, Mass., in 1648, and removed to Newbury in 1652. His wife was Joanna, daughter of Richard Ingersoll, of Salem. They had three sons - Nathaniel, Samuel, and Matthew. Their daughter Mary married Abraham Adams, of Newbury, brother of Elizabeth Adams, who married Edward Phelps, of An- dover.
Henry Pettingell, first, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a wealthy shipping merchant in Newburyport, and at one time owned the land which is now included within the limits of State, Fruit, Federal, and Lime Streets in that city. He married Sally Cheever, who belonged to- a prominent Salem family long engaged in the East India trade. Her brother, Captain Aaron Cheever, served under General Wolfe at the siege of Quebec.
Stephen Pettingell, son of Henry and Sally (Cheever) Pettingell, born in 1773, followed farming in connection with the butchering business. He served as a Sergeant in the Newburyport Artillery Company, which was organized in 1775, and during the War of 1812 was called into service to occupy the fort on Plum Island and defend the town against the British cruisers. Stephen Pettin- gell lived to be seventy-four years old. His wife, Lovey Adams, was a daughter of the Hon. Daniel Adams and a sister of Colonel Daniel Adams. She was born at Newbury, April 12, 1777.
Her father, born at Newbury in 1756, was of the sixth generation in descent from Robert Adams, who came from England to Ipswich, Mass., in 1635, lived for a time at Salem, and settled at Newbury in 1640. Abraham
Adams, born at Salem in 1639, son of Robert and his wife Eleanor, married Mary Pettingell, of Newbury, as above mentioned. Robert, second, the next in this line, son of Abraham and Mary, married Rebecca Knight, and was the father of Abraham, second, who married Abigail Peirce. A third Robert Adams, son of Abraham and Abigail, married Love Jaques. Daniel Adams, the sixth child born of this union, was the father of Lovey Adams. (See Essex Antiquarian, Vol. II., 1898, edited by Sidney Perley.) The Hon. Daniel Adams served in the Revolutionary War in Captain Jacob Gerrish's Company, Colonel Moses Little's Regiment, in which he enlisted April 24, 1775.
Henry Pettingell acquired his education in his native town. When five years of age, he was a pupil in a school taught by Miss Abigail Hasseltine, of Bradford, the term being fin- ished by her sister, Miss Ann Hasseltine, afterward Mrs. Judson. At a later period he attended the Newbury North, or turnpike, School, where among his teachers were: Mas- ter Chase; Mr. Benjamin Cheever, his father's cousin ; and Mr. Joshua Coffin, the historian of Newbury. When the British men-of-war be- sieged the garrison on Plum Island, little Henry, then but ten years old, stood by his father's side, and assisted him to load the guns while returning the enemy's fire. For that meritorious conduct, he was presented by Cap- tain Hunnewell, of the Newburyport Artillery, with a silver dollar bearing the date 1803. This coin is still in the family's possession. While yet a boy, Henry Pettingell entered upon an apprenticeship at the blacksmith's trade in Ipswich with a Mr. Michael Brown, at that time High Sheriff of Essex County, and later worked for Jonas Merriman in Tops- field, Mass. While there, he had access to a good library ; and by devoting his leisure time
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to books, studying night after night by the forge fire, he greatly enhanced his knowledge of the world and its literature. From Tops- field he went to Newburyport, where he worked for a Mr. Eben Jewett for a time; and he then came to Georgetown to enter the employ of a Mr. Asa Bradstreet. In 1824 he purchased his employer's business, and, start- ing out for himself, continued actively engaged for sixty-five years, or until failing sight compelled him to retire. His first shop, which stood near the road, is said to have been the central blacksmith, carriage, and machine shop for a large territory. In it were made from the crude iron by hand all sorts of tools for farm and household uses; also shoes, bolts, nails, and house-building hardware, and so forth. He sometimes em- ployed as many as six journeymen and four or five apprentices. In time outgrowing the old shop, he built a brick one, and fitted it up with modern appliances, including a power- ful steam-engine. In this he turned out such work as bell-yokes for church bells, sets of fire-hooks, goose-necks for fire-engines, and heavy iron furnishings for saw-mills. For many years he was the leading smith and ma- chinist of the county. The bell on the Con- gregational church, which tolled ninety-three times on the occasion of his funeral, was cast by Colonel Paul Revere and son, and was hung in the belfry of the old church in 1815. It was rehung by Mr. Pettingell in 1830, and again hung by him after the building of the new church in 1872-73. His wife's father, it may be mentioned, played an important part in the purchase of the bell.
In 1825 Mr. Pettingell was united in mar- riage with Abigail P. Dole, daughter of Ralph and Martha F. (Palmer) Dole, of Rowley, Mass. Her father was a son of Greenleaf Dole, and a lineal descendant of Richard
Dole, merchant, who came from Bristol, Eng- land, to Newbury in 1639, and in 1647 mar- ried Hannah Rolfe. Greenleaf Dole, we are told, married a daughter of Dr. Moore, of Cambridge, a surgeon of the Revolution, whose wife was a Boylston, a kinswoman of Susanna Boylston, wife of Deacon John Adams and mother of the elder President Adams. Mrs. Greenleaf Dole lived to the age of ninety-one, her last years being passed at the home of her son Ralph. Her Moore ancestors had landed property in Virginia. In her old age it was the delight of her grandchildren to listen to her stories of her early life. She would tell of riding with her father to the soldiers' bar- racks, when his services were needed. When the sentry would call for the countersign, he would say, "Cambridge"; and they would say, "Let him pass, he is Dr. Moore." She would also tell of going to balls and parties in Boston, and of meeting such distinguished persons as John Hancock, Josiah Quincy, and others.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Pettingell were the parents of five children, namely : Martha A., who was born June 22, 1827, and died aged five years, five months; Martha A., second, born December 10, 1833; Lovey Adams, who lived but nineteen hours; Hannah Coleman, born April 17, 1838; and George H., born May 18, 1840. Martha A., second, who mar- ried Charles Holmes, of Ipswich, May 16, 1859, had two children - Henry Francis and Charles Albert, both of whom died in 1864. She died in 1863. Hannah Coleman was graduated from the Putnam Free School, New- buryport, on July 13, 1858. She resides at the homestead. Miss Pettingell is a valued correspondent of the local press. Her mem- ory is well stored with interesting ancestral lore ; and she is the possessor of precious son- venirs - letters from noted friends of her
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mother's family, and heirlooms illustrative of the history of early generations of her kins- folk.
George H. Pettingell acquired a common and high school education, and is now propri- etor of the blacksmith shop formerly carried on by his father. Mrs. Abigail P. Pettingell died December 31, 1873, aged sixty-eight years.
Mr. Pettingell's first Presidential vote was cast for John Quincy Adams, and he lived to vote for Benjamin Harrison. He is remem- bered as having been a "model citizen in every respect. He was always at town meet- ing, and voted and labored for the most pro- gressive measures." Modest and retiring, he never aspired to worldly honor, but aimed only to be good and true and do what was right. His pure life gained him the respect of the community in which he dwelt. His mind was clear and serene to the last. Although afflicted with blindness in his later years, he was never heard to complain. On his last birthday, December 2, 1894, he was the recip- ient of many valuable gifts and other tokens of the affectionate regard of kinsfolk and friends.
JDWARD S. KNIGHT,* a well-known florist of Manchester, and a prominent citizen of the town, was born here on August 13, 1853. His parents were John and Deborah (Carleton) Knight, the father being a native of Manchester, and the mother of Blue Hill, Me. Mr. Knight's first ances- tor in this country was William Knight, who came from England in 1635, and settled in Salem, Mass. One of William's grandsons, John Knight, came to Manchester in 1692, and was the first of the family in this town. Two of John's descendants, John and Joseph
Knight, residents of Manchester, served in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Deborah Carle- ton Knight was a daughter of Eben Carleton and grand-daughter of Moses Carleton, who was an officer in the Revolutionary War, so that the subject of this sketch is descended on both sides from Revolutionary stock.
Edward S. Knight in his boyhood attended the public schools of Manchester, including the high school, and subsequently took a pre- paratory course at the New London (N.H.) Academy. At the age of twenty he entered his father's tannery at Manchester, where he was employed during the succeeding eleven years. He later established himself in his present business, and from a modest begin- ning has developed a prosperous trade. Mr. Knight has served three years as Selectman, Assessor, and Overseer of the Poor, and has also served as a member of the Manchester Board of Health. He has been a candidate for Representative to General Court from this district. Interested in fraternal societies, he is a member of Magnolia Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Manchester, also of North Shore Lodge, A. O. U. W., and has served as presiding officer of both lodges. He also belongs to the Grand Lodge in both these organizations.
Mr. Knight married for his first wife Alice B. Gilman, and four children of this marriage are living; namely, Edward C., Bessie E., Carleton, and Alice G. The present Mrs. Knight was before her marriage Carrie L. Knight.
OHN ASHTON,* an architect and a prominent citizen of Lawrence, was born at Staley Bridge, Lancashire County, England, September 15, 1861, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Doxey) Ashton. His great-grandfather, Randall Ashton, who was a
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silk weaver in early life, lived at Staley Bridge for some time, and dicd in 1854, aged cighty-seven. This ancestor had two sons and three daughters who attained maturity. His son John, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born at Staley Bridge in 1802. For a number of years he was the manager of a cotton-mill. He died in 1867 in Manchester, which is eight miles from Staley Bridge. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Orrill, died at the age of sixty-five. Their son Orrill, who came to this country in a sailing-vessel in 1857, lo- cated first in Rhode Island, and then found employment in a Lawrence mill as a cotton spinner.
Samuel Ashton, father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Staley Bridge, Sep- tember 22, 1827. In 1867 he came to this country to visit his brother Orrill, and after a stay of seven months returned to his native country. Hc came again in 1875, bringing his wife and a part of his family; and from that time to the present he has made his home in Lawrence. His wife, who was born in Nottingham, England, August 8, 1827, and whom he married Junc 17, 1848, died in Law- rence in March, 1896, aged sixty-nine years. Of her children, Adeline is now Mrs. Derbyshire, of this city; and Annie, who came from England to Lawrence in 1871, is the wife of George E. Daniels, of Wollas- ton, Mass. A daughter Mary, with her brother Orrill, came later. The cldest daugh- ter, Eliza Ann, followed. John and Martha came with the father and mother. Several of the grandchildren of Mrs. Elizabeth Ashton passed away before her death, and she left twenty-eight grandchildren.
John Ashton attended the public schools in England and this country. He worked as a carpenter for a year and a half. He was next
employed for two years in a worsted-mill. Then he served his time to the machinist's trade, and worked at it for ton ycars. In the mean time he studied architecture evenings without a teacher. He then took a special course in the Boston Institute of Technology. Subsequently he started in business for him- sclf, in his present office in the Slater Build- ing. Among the public buildings for which he has drawn the plans are the John K. Tar- box Grammar School Building, erected in 1894, and Ward One Engine-house. A num- ber of competitors sent in plans for these buildings, and the best plans were selected by the committee. Other buildings designed by Mr. Ashton are: the Godfrcy Building; the Alma Block for Mr. Oswald; the Knowell Block in Methuen; the residence of Joseph Walworth on Haverhill Street, and the homes of his two sons; Joseph James's residence on Haverhill Street; and the fine residence of Gordon Cannon in Andover. At this writing he is remodelling the Gleason Building.
On October 24, 1883, Mr. Ashton was married to Rebecca Woodworth, of Nova Scotia, a daughter of Lewis Woodworth. He has three children living, Stella, Lewis, and Leslie, aged respectively nine, seven, and five years; and he has lost an infant daughter. In politics he is independent, favoring the Republican side. He is a Knight of Pythias and a member of the United Order of the Golden Cross. He is also a member of the United Congregational Church at Tower Hill.
OHN HOMER, M.D.,* one of the leading physicians of Newburyport, Mass., was born at Bucksport, Me., December 6, 1835, son of John C. and Har- riet (Blaisdell) Homer. He is of English descent.
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William Homer, the Doctor's grandfather, who was a farmer and a lumberman, was born about 1750, and died in 1830, at the age of eighty. His wife was a Miss Colson. He had eleven children. John C., the fourth child, was born in Bucksport, Me., where he obtained a common-school education. He owned a farm three miles out of the village, and here by his farming and fishing accumu- lated a competency and became a man of some local prominence. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and served for some years on the executive committee of the church. His wife Harriet was a daughter of the Rev. William and Dorcas (Colson) Blais- dell, her father being a Baptist clergyman. They had seven children. He died in Sep- tember, 1877.
John Homer fitted for college at the East Maine Conference Seminary in Bucksport, Me. In the year 1856 he served on the fron- tier in a volunteer company under General James H. Lane for the suppression of border ruffianism in Kansas. General Lane crossed by team from Iowa City with five hundred men. After arrival no immediate trouble was anticipated; and several of the men took up sections of land, notably young Homer, who located on one hundred and sixty acres, now the centre of the city of Hamilton, and helped lay out the town. They then built earth forti- fications, and were ready for the enemy. At Osawatomie two hundred and fifty ruffians with artillery were ordered to attack John Brown, who had erected a log fort for the pro- tection of himself and his friends. His com- mand consisted of twenty-seven men; and, armed with Sharp's rifles, they entered the fort, and succeeded in keeping at a distance the far superior forces of the foe until their artillery was planted in position and the forti- fications were demolished, causing Brown's
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