USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Plymouth County, Massachusetts > Part 13
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Mr. Whipple has long been identified with the Republican party, and has filled almost every office within the gift of the city. He was Selectman and Road Surveyor under the old town government, and was one of the orig- inal signers of the petition for a city charter in 1881. He served on the School Board for eleven years. Elected Mayor of the city in 1886 he served through 1887, and re-elected in 1894 he served through 1895. During his
JOHN J. WHIPPLE.
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administration the grade crossing, with which the city had been afflicted, was abolished. He has been associated with many of the enter- prises marking Brockton's progress, including the introduction of pipe water and sewerage. His political honors have not been limited by local boundaries. For three years he served as personal aid on Governor Robinson's staff ; and he was two years Secretary of the Repub- lican State Central Committee under H. C. Lodge and A. W. Beard. In 1885 he was in the State legislature, where he presided as House Chairman on Water Supply, was clerk of the Committee on Insurance, and reported on fifty-four bills, the largest number ever put through at one session. He was appointed by Governor Ames one of the State Commis- sioners of Pharmacy for five years, and subse- quently declined a reappointment tendered him by Governor Russell.
Mr. Whipple was married in June, 1867, to a daughter of Franklin Otis Howard, of Brock- ton. Her great-grandfather, Barnarbas How- ard. fought in the Revolutionary War. He kept the first hotel in North Bridgewater, as the town was then called, and was well known in the vicinity. Franklin Otis Howard was a boot and shoe manufacturer of some promi- nence in Brockton, and at one time owned what was alleged to be the handsomest resi- dence in the city. His other daughter is the wife of Dr. George E. Freeman, of Brockton. Mr. and Mrs. Whipple have three children - Mary Helen, Edith Bell, and Howard Frank- lin. Mr. Whipple is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He was rep- resentative to the Sovereign Grand Lodge at Toronto, Canada, in 1879, the only time the order ever held a session outside of the United States. As a Knight of Pythias he holds the highest office in the State, that of Past Grand Chancellor and Supreme Representative.
Under his charge, in the twenty-fifth year of the lodge's history, the increase of member- ship was greater, and more lodges were insti- tuted, than in any previous year. Mr. Whipple was one of the founders of the New England Order of Protection, and he was two years at the head of the Grand Lodge of the State, and three years at the head of the Supreme Lodge. During these five years the membership was increased by ten thousand. In the mean time he established a lodge in Brockton, of which three hundred and fifty of the leading citizens are now members. Interested also in relig- ious work, he attends the Unity Church (Uni- tarian) of Brockton, and was, for a number of years, until obliged to resign by the pressure of business, Chairman of the Standing Com- mittee, and a member of the Building Com- mittee.
ILLIAM RAPP, manufacturer, of Brockton, was born in 1833 in Cheadle, Staffordshire, England. His grandfather, also named William, was a political agitator of either France or Ger-
many. Obliged to flee his country, the grandfather went to England, where he was a coal merchant, and owned several vessels, which he kept plying in his business to dif- ferent ports. He died at the age of ninety years. His wife was an Englishwoman, whose children by him were: Matthew, David, William, and Amelia, all now de- ceased. Matthew Rapp, who was a shoe man- ufacturer of Cheadle, England, died while yet a young man. His wife, who was a native of Staffordshire, after surviving him a long time, died in 1894, at the age of eighty-four years.
Matthew's second son was William Rapp, the subject of this sketch. In his youth William learned the trade of weaver. Being
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industrious, capable, and trustworthy, he, in course of time, was put in charge of a room. In 1862 he commenced manufacturing hub gorings in Leicester, Leicestershire. He was the first man in England to do that work in the power loom. On May 12, 1866, he was presented with a fine gold watch by his employees, some of whom are yet in his employ. He carried on manufacturing in Leicester until 1881, shortly after which he came to America. Within four days after landing he was offered the foremanship of T. Martins Brothers' Goring Factory at Chel- sea, Mass. Accepting this, he remained with them about eighteen months, and then resigned his position, although he was offered a partnership to induce him to stay. His purpose in leaving this employment was to form the partnership for the establishment of a hub goring manufactory at Brockton, after- ward known as the firm of Herbert, Rapp & Co. After buying their machinery in Eng- land, they planned and built their factory in May, 1883. Of the situation of the factory, experts said that it was the best for its pur- pose in the State. The company purchased in 1891 the Martins Brothers' factory at Chel- sea, one at Camden, N. J., and one at Rock- land, Mass., all of which they have conducted up to the present time.
In 1895 Mr. Rapp became interested in the Glendale Elastic Fabric Company at East- hampton, Mass., of which he is now a Di- rector. Such was his energy and ability in management that, when he had been superin- tendent there only nine months, the first divi- dend in thirty years was declared. He is now President of the Pawtucket (R.I.) Bleach & Dye Company, of the Monarch Rubber Com- pany at Campello, of the City Ice Company at Brockton, and of the New England Shoe & Leather Company, whose office is on Lin-
coln Street, Boston. In accordance with the system that he enforces, each factory furnishes an inventory cvery Saturday evening. Sit- ting at his desk, he writes his instructions to the heads of the various departments in his several factories; yet all the detail work is under his immediate supervision. He came here with a thorough knowledge of his busi- ness, and superseded a good many older gor- ing men.
Mr. Rapp married Martha Walker, of Der- byshire, England, and has had six children, of whom one son, Walter, is now living. Walter resides in Brockton, but is a business man of Boston. The eldest daughter married Robert Cook, the partner of B. E. Jones, and died in 1890, leaving three children. Mr. Rapp is a member of the Porter Congrega- tional Church of Brockton. He is one of the Trustees of the Brockton Hospital and a mem- ber of the Committee of the Wales Home for Old Ladies at Brockton. He is a strong ad- vocate of the temperance movement. He has served in both the City Council and the Board of Alderman. He was elected to the latter body by an overwhelming majority. From time to time he has received gratifying tokens of the esteem and good will of his associates and subordinates. When leaving England, his fellow-townsmen united in presenting him with a written testimonial, signed by the mayor and other prominent men of Leicester, of their deep affection and regret at his deter- mination to go, accompanied by a gift of one hundred pounds. Another testimonial, very elegantly executed in old English text, at the same time expressed the sorrow of his em- ployees. On the occasion of his leaving Chelsea, a hearty expression of regret was given him by the employees of the Elastic Gusset Company, accompanied by a handsome French marble clock. On August 31, 1891,
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when he returned from a trip to England, his employees at Brockton presented him with a fine silver water pitcher and lemonade cooler.
ILLIAM P. NASON, a well-known and successful business man of Rockland, Mass., was born at Wakefield, N. H., September 23, 1840, son of Nahum and Hannah (Watson) Nason. Both his parents were natives of the town of Wake- field, and his father owned a fine farm in that place. Nahum Nason died at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife also died in Wakefield, aged sixty-six years. They were the parents of six children, of whom three, including the subject of this sketch, are now living.
William P. Nason, who was the youngest child of his parents. was born on his father's farm in Wakefield. He attended the district schools of the town in his boyhood, but is mainly self-educated, having gained his pres- ent knowledge of the world and its affairs through experience, and by exercising his. faculty of observation rather than from what little schooling he received. In the long va- cations, and out of school hours, from the time he was old enough to handle a rake or hoe, or to milk a cow, he made himself useful on the farm until fifteen years old, when he left home to seek his own fortunes in the world. Going to Boston, Mass., he found employment in a livery stable, remaining there for about a year, and from Boston he went to South Weymouth, where he worked with a livery man named Rogers, with whom he stayed for three years.
At the expiration of this period, having acquired a good knowledge of the business, he left his employer, and came to the town of East Abington, now Rockland, where he set
up for himself in a small way. In a com- paratively short time he had established his business on a solid footing, and he has since gradually enlarged it up to its present satisfac- tory proportions. Besides his livery business he carries on a large and successful trade in horses. Mr. Nason's commodious and well- managed stables, which are conveniently situ- ated on Vernon Street, are marvels of cleanli- ness, being superior in this respect to the best of the large city stables. They are equipped with all the latest improvements, and contain, besides a large number of horses, vehicles of every description, including buggies, phae- tons, surreys, coaches, busses, hacks, traps, dog-carts, and a large and handsome English tally-ho.
Mr. Nason and Miss Mary E. Bicknell, of Abington, were married in September, 1861, and they are the parents of two children : John, who is at present the foreman in his father's stables; and Fannie, wife of Fred O. Baker, a clothing merchant of Rockland. Mr. Nason belongs to the order of the Knights of Pythias. Since the Civil War he has been a Republican in his political affiliations.
ENJAMIN OWEN STRONG, a prominent merchant of Plymouth, was born February 25, 1832, in Granville, Hampden County, son of Ely and Betsy (Baldwin) Strong. Ebenezer Strong, the grandfather, a prominent farmer who owned a large tract of land in Granville, was a member of the Presbyterian church. He had three sons and two daughters, of whom Ely, was the third born.
Ely Strong was a native of Granville, and lived there all his life. His trade was that of a carpenter and builder. About 1835 he re- moved to Cabot, Mass., where he was engaged
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for some years in furniture dealing and under- taking. His wife, Betsy, who was a daughter of Benjamin Baldwin, of Syracuse, N. Y., bore him nine children, of whom Benjamin O. Strong was the youngest. She died nine months after the birth of her last child. Some time after, Ely married her sister, then the widow, Sally Frary. She died in 1846. After an interval of two years Ely contracted a third marriage with Caroline O. Sheldon, who bore him three children. His death occurred in 1876, at the age of eighty-two years. He was a member of the Universa- list church, which he served in the capacity of Deacon. Benjamin Owen Strong was edu- cated in the common schools of Cabot. He left home at the age of eleven for a farm at Ashleyville, where he remained for four years, attending school during the winter months, and working for his board and clothes in the summer. He next worked for a year on Mr. Day's farm near Holyoke, and then, for the following year in a brick- yard. In the fall of 1851 he went to Boston, from which, two months later, he came to Plymouth. Here he was clerk in N. M. Perry's hotel, the Mansion House, until May, 1852, when he entered the general store of Jameson & Co., as general clerk. After Mr. Jameson's death in 1854, Mr. Strong was given entire charge of the store. In 1861 he bought out the dry goods and millinery depart- ments, and has carried them on at the same place under his own name. He has enlarged the premises so as to make room for his con- stantly increasing trade.
Mr. Strong was first married to Betsy J. Chute, of Newburyport, Mass., now deceased. On February 17, 1891, he entered a second marriage, contracted with Elizabeth H. Snow, of Orleans, Mass. He has two children -- Charles Alexander and Martha Jane. In Feb-
ruary, 1884, he took his son into partnership with him, and the firm name is now B. O. Strong & Son. They carry a full line of silks, dress goods, cloaks, sacques, wraps, carpets, paper hangings, curtains, and small wares. Mr. Strong is a good Republican, but he has always kept out of political circles. He is a faithful member of the Unitarian church of his adopted town of Plymouth.
ON. CHARLES W. TILTON, a well- known citizen of Brockton, was born April 6, 1836, in China, Kennebec County, Me., son of Zadoc and Tiley (Snell) Tilton. His grandfathers were natives of Massachusetts. Gibbs Tilton, his father's father, who was born in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., moved to Albion, Me., where in early manhood he was a farmer, and subsequently became a carpenter and contractor. He died at the age of ninety-six. His wife, whose maiden name was Huldah Chase, a daughter of the first white settlers in Unity, Me., had eight children. Of these six attained matur- ity ; namely, Stephen, Zadoc, Hezekiah, Bethiah, Jane, and Hannah. Hezekiah is a Methodist minister and a Presiding Elder in the West; Stephen is now ninety-four years old; and Jane and Bethiah lived about eighty and ninety years respectively. Both parents were members of the Society of Friends. The mother lived to be ninety-six years old. Her mother had reached the remarkable age of one hundred and six years.
Zadoc Tilton, the father of Charles W., was a native of Albion, Me. He learned the car- penter's trade with his father, and subse- quently became a contractor in Troy, Me. He married Tiley, a daughter of Zebedee and Hannah Snell, of China, Me .. By their union there were nine children, eight of whom grew
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to maturity. These were: John Warren, Lavinia S .. Eunice A., Charles W., Hubert P .. George E., Bryon P., Horace A., and Abby P. George died in the service of his country during the Civil War; Lavinia died in this city when a young woman; and Hu- bert has also passed away. The father was a member of the Society of Friends in his early life, but later became a Methodist exhorter. He lived to be sixty-five, while his wife, who died at the old homestead in Troy, was but fifty years old.
Charles W. Tilton removed with his parents to Jackson, Me., when he was but three years old. Four years after he accompanied them to Troy, where he worked on the farm. At the age of eighteen, having acquired a com- mon-school education, he came to Brockton, to work for J. B. Ames in the express busi- ness. A year later he obtained employment in a shoe factory, and was afterward connected with shoemaking for over forty years, serving as foreman in different finishing-rooms for thirty-five years. In 1862, responding to the call for men to aid in suppressing the Rebell- ion, he enlisted for nine months in Company K, Forty-third Massachusetts Volunteer In- fantry, and afterward fought in the battles of Kingston, N.C., Whitehall, and Goldsboro. During a part of the time he was in the Forty- third Pioneer Corps, in which department he rendered efficient service. In July, 1863, he was honorably discharged. In politics Mr. Tilton affiliates with the Republican party. In 1882 he was Inspector of Elections, and for the five years following served in the City Council. In 1886 he was a member of the Board of Aldermen from Ward I. The next year he was appointed to the Board of Registra- tion, on which he served for three terms of three years each. In 1896 he was sent to the legislature, where he was placed on the Com-
mittee of Counties, and on Special Committee to redistrict the State.
On January 20, 1858, he was united in mar- riage with Lydiaette, daughter of Eliphalet and Lydia Thayer, of this city. By this union there are four children - George L., Rufus E., Edward E., and C. Herman. George L. is foreman in the finishing-room of Thompson & Brothers' shoe factory; Rufus E. and Ed- ward E. constitute the Brockton Welting Company; C. Herman is a foreman in the finishing-room of the Bion F. Reynold's shoe factory. Mr. Tilton is fraternally connected with the Fletcher Webster Post, No. 13, Grand Army of the Republic, in which he has officiated as Chaplain for two years. He is likewise well known in religious circles, hav- ing served the First Congregational Church, of which he is a member, on the Building Committee, and on the Parish Committee nearly three years.
ON. LEWIS PRATT LORING, one of Hull's former legislative represen- tatives, was born here, July 10, 1822, son of Samuel and Lucy (Pratt) Lor- ing. He is a lineal descendant of Thomas and Jane (Newton) Loring, who came to Amer- ica with their two children in 1634, locating temporarily in Dorchester, Mass. These an- cestors subsequently moved to Hingham, where Thomas drew a lot on Town Street. The latter was made a freeman in 1635 or 1636, after which he came with his family to Hull, where his last days were spent. He officiated as Deacon in Hingham for eleven years. By his marriage to Jane Newton, there were six children, namely: Thomas, born in 1629; John, born in 1630; Isaac, born in 1639; Isaac (second) and his twin brother, Josiah, born in 1642; and Benjamin, born in 1644.
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The father died in April, 1661, and the mother in June, 1672.
Benjamin Loring, who was a farmer and a lifelong resident of Hull, on December 8, 1670, married Mary Hawk, daughter of Mat- thew and Margaret Hawk. He was made a freeman in 1673, and also officiated as Deacon for many years. His son Samuel, born in 1680, who was also a farmer and spent his life in Hull, was married April 19, 1716, to Jane, daughter of John and Mary Colyer. Samuel's son, Samuel (second), the next in line, was born February 3, 1720. He also passed his entire life in his native town, married Jane Gould, and died in 1813, the ninety-third year of his age. His son, Samuel (third), the grandfather of Lewis Pratt Loring, was born on November 9, 1753. He married Huldah Gould, a native of this town, and a daughter of John and Hannah (Brewster) Gould. Her mother was a lineal descendant of Elder Will- iam Brewster, the spiritual adviser of the Pil- grims, who was born in England in 1560, and died in Plymouth in 1644. His son Love married Sarah, daughter of Mr. Colyer, May 16, 1634. William, son of Love and Sarah (Colyer) Brewster, married Lydia Partridge, January 2, 1672. Their son William, born May 4, 1683, married Hopestill Wadsworth. Huldah, the next in line, married John Gould, Jr., the maternal great-grandfather. He was a descendant of Lieutenant Robert Gould, a native of England, who came to America in 1660, when he was eighteen years old. He had an uncle in Hull whom he joined, and whose property he subsequently inherited, thereafter becoming a prominent man in town affairs. The line of descent is as follows: Robert Gould's son Joseph had a son John, whose son, John, Jr., had a daughter Huldah, who married Samuel Loring, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch.
Samuel Loring, Jr., the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Hull, October 21, 1784. He received his education in the com- mon school. At the age of fifteen he lost his right hand. About four years later he went to Boston, where he served as clerk until the War of 1812. Then he returned to Hull, and engaged in farming. He officiated as Town Clerk for many years, besides filling other local offices. He died November 9, 1868, at the age of eighty-four. His wife, Lucy, a daughter of Laban and Lucy Pratt, was a de- scendant of Matthew Pratt, one of the first settlers of Weymouth, and a Revolutionary soldier. She died in 1871, in the eighty-fifth year of her age, having reared eight of her nine children; namely, Lucy, Abner, Samuel H., Nancy, Lewis P., Sarah J., Rachel, and Ansel P.
Lewis P. Loring acquired his education in the public school. In his early manhood he went to Boston to learn the trade of copper- smith and plumber, remaining there until 1850. He then returned to his native town, where he has since continued to reside. Formerly a Whig in politics, he has been a stanch supporter of the Republican party since its organization. Besides serving creditably in various town offices, he represented Hull in the legislature of 1890-91. A man of much public spirit, he has always been actively in- terested in the welfare of his native town.
MIL LAGERGREN, of Brockton, the well-known elocutionist and teacher of languages, was born here, September 3, 1858, a son of John C. and Wilhelmina (Hedelius) Lagergren. His parents are of Swedish birth, and both of good family. The mother, now seventy-five years old, who is now residing in Sweden, is a daughter of Eric
EMIL LAGERGREN.
ے
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Hedelius, an eminent lawyer of that country, who was on the Queen's Bench, and a sister of a well-known banker of Sweden. The Hedelius estates have been in the family three hundred years. Her children were a son and daughter. The daughter, who is married, lives in Brockton.
Emil Lagergren graduated from the Brock- ton High School. the academy at East Green- wich, R. I., and the Boston School of Oratory. . He studied the German and Swedish languages in Europe, and afterward taught those tongues to English pupils. For a year he had charge of the English department in Ansgari College at Knoxville, Ill., a Swedish-American insti- tution. While there he accepted the proffer of the Assistant Postmastership at Campello. He was subsequently in the Brockton post- office for some time. Then he was engaged as elocution teacher at the " Old Den, " Ridgeway Lane. For the past ten years he has given lessons in English and Swedish in different places, having classes in Worcester, Cam- bridge. Boston, and Chicago; and for the past six years he has had charge of the Swed- ish department in the evening schools of Brockton. His Boston address is the Tremont Temple. where he hires a room. As an elo- cutionist, he has made a special study of noted actors and actresses ; and he studied Shakspere with Professor R. R. Raymond, who was con- sidered the best Shaksperian reader in Amer- ica. Add to this exceptional training a natu- ral talent for his art, and it is needless to say that as a public reader he is very popular, and has many engagements. His dialect readings are good, while his Shaksperian renditions are very fine. Mr. Lagergren's boyish ambi- tion was to be an actor, but his parents disap- proved of the stage. He occasionally, how- ever, takes part in dramatic productions. When the dramatization of "Ben-Hur " was
given in Brockton, he admirably sustained the leading part. He also derives some income from acting as a broker in real estate, mort- gages, and investments.
Mr. Lagergren was married March 13, 1896, to Miss Nora Condon, daughter of Captain R. B. Condon, of Brockton.
He is a Mason in good standing, and has been Chaplain of Paul Revere Lodge, of Brockton. He is also a member of the United Order of Pilgrim Fathers.
OSEPH HEWETT, for thirty years a resident of Brockton, where he will long be remembered for his nobility of character and his hearty interest in educa- tional and religious work, was born in Dux- bury, Mass., August 6, 1804, and died in Brockton, May 13, 1894. His parents were Joseph and Abigail (Harlow) Hewett, both of whom traced their ancestry to the seventeenth century. This branch of the family, which began with Thomas "Huet," who was born in 1609 and died in 1670, was continued by Solomon, son of Thomas, born in 1670, who died in 1715; by Joseph (first), born in 1702, who died in 1749; by Joseph (second), the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, born in 1739, who died in 1769; Joseph (third), the father, born November 13, 1764, married in March, 1796, Abigail Harlow, who was born November 26, 1770. He was a sea cap- tain until between 1800 and 1804, when he purchased a farm in Marshfield, and settled down to the life of an agriculturist. He was very influential in local affairs, and served in many of the town offices. He died in No- vember, 1833. Gideon Harlow, the father of Abigail, was born in 1744, and died in 18II, aged sixty-seven. Eleazer, the father of Gideon, was born in 1720, and died in 1812,
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aged ninety-two. His father, Eleazer, Sr., was a son of William Harlow.
When his parents moved to Marshfield, Joseph Hewett was a mere child. After at- tending the district school for the customary period, he took up the study of languages under the tuition of the Rev. Martin Paris. When about twenty years old he commenced teaching in the school of his own district, having some of his former schoolmates among his pupils. He followed this occupation until 1844, a period of about twenty years, and then devoted his time exclusively to the duties of the various political and religious positions he held, and to the management of his farm. On this property, which contained about one hundred acres, he raised considerable stock, giving employment to a number of men. He was a leader in politics, and counted among his intimate friends Daniel Webster, who used to frequently visit at his house. He was not of those who sought office, but, owing to the high esteem in which he was held by the community, was often importuned to ac- cept office, and served several years as As- sessor, a number of years as Selectman, also as Overseer of the Poor. He was particularly interested in educational matters, and was a member of the School Committee of Marsh- field. In 1864 he came to Brockton, where he purchased a place of sixteen acres, but did not engage in active business. He was for many years a member of the Congregational church and a Deacon, both in Marshfield and Brockton. Though of a modest and retiring disposition, his counsel was frequently sought in legal and other matters. He was very benevolent, and his assistance was bestowed with so little ostentation that few besides those he aided ever knew of his numerous kindly deeds.
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