USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Plymouth County, Massachusetts > Part 29
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AMUEL McLAUTHLEN, JR., a successful carpenter and contractor of Brockton, was born in Kingston, Plymouth County, November 7, 1822, son of Samuel and Hannah (Weston) McLauthlen. Robert, the founder of the family, who came from Scotland in 1695, and settled in Dux- bury, married Mary Miller. His son Joseph, a native of Duxbury and a farmer, married Jane West, and became the father of seven sons and three daughters. Of these Samuel,
the father of the subject of this sketch, was the sixth child. Born in Pembroke, he subse- quenty moved to Kingston, where he was en- gaged in farming throughout the rest of his life. He married Hannah (Baker) Weston, a widow of Marshfield. Her genealogy has been traced back to 1637, when one of her ancestors, Samuel Baker, married Eleanor Winslow. She had one son, Peter, by her first marriage. There were four children by the second marriage; namely, Hannah Baker, Christiana Holmes, Samuel, and Simeon Weston. Of these Samuel is the only sur- vivor. Both parents are likewise deceased.
After acquiring his education in the public schools of Kingston, Samuel McLauthlen learned the carpenter's trade with Joseph Holmes of that place. For three years he worked in Mr. Holmes's shipyard. Thence he came to North Bridgewater, and had been employed four years by Dunbar & Soule, car- penters and contractors, when they went into the lumber business. He and Cephas Soule then conducted business under the style of Soule & McLauthlen for years. After the partnership was dissolved, Mr. McLauthlen conducted the business alone until 1868, when he began to work in Brockton, where he has since built several engine-houses and private dwellings.
Mr. McLauthlen has been twice married. The first wife, Hannah Beal (Snell) McLauth- len, who was a daughter of Zachariah Snell, of North Bridgewater, bore him four children. These were: Charles Weston, a resident of Boston; George W., who lives in Stoughton ; Frank A., who, within a year has bought out Mr. Chander's store, and is now running it ; and Hattie Emma, now deceased. His present wife was the widow of George H. Gurney. In politics Mr. McLauthlen affiliates with the Republican party. He has served as Engineer
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of the Fire Department for four years. He is identified with Fraternal Lodge, No. 24, Independent Order of Good Templars. In re- ligion he is orthodox, being a member of the First Congregational Church.
OHN E. ASHLEY, a representative farmer of the town of Lakeville, Plym- outh County, was born here, July 30, 1835, son of David Ashley. After receiving a district-school education he turned his atten- tion to agriculture, making his home with his parents until his marriage. About the year 1884 he purchased his present farm, which contains ninety-six acres ; and he is here profit- ably engaged in carrying on general farming and the raising of small fruits.
In 1875 Mr. Ashley was married to Miss M. G. Paull, of Middleboro. Mr. Ashley is a Democrat, politically.
HARLES W. SPARRELL, a well- known resident of Norwell, proprietor of the oldest undertaking establish- ment in this part of Plymouth County, was born in the village of Norwell, December 30, 1835, a son of James N. Sparrell.
Equipped with a public school education, the subject of this sketch at seventeen years of age began life for himself, taking charge of the business which his father had established in 1840, and which consisted of general under- taking and the manufacture of caskets. In 1862 he enlisted in Company F of the Forty- third Massachusetts Regiment, and was mus- tered in at Readville for nine months' service. The first engagement in which he took part was at Young's Cross Roads, and it was fol- lowed in his experience by the battles of Goldsborough and Whitehall. For four
months Mr. Sparrell was confined in the Foster Hospital at New Berne, N.C., on ac- count of disease resulting from the hardships and privations of army life. He received an honorable discharge eleven months from the time of his enlistment. On May 25, 1859, Mr. Sparrell married Miss Susan Ewell, of Marshfield, Mass. They have had six chil- dren ; namely, Albert, Mary, Walter (de- ceased), Ernest, Helen (deceased), and John. Mr. Sparrell is a member of Phoenix Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Hanover; also of D. Willard Robinson Post, No. 112, Grand Army of the Republic, and of Satuit Grange, No. 187, of Norwell.
HARLES C. ROGERS, an expert machinist of Brockton, was born in Dexter, Me., November 26, 1864, son of Thomas and Sarah (Carleton) Rogers. His great-grandfather, Thomas, came to this country from England about one hundred and fifty years ago, and settled in Veazie, Me., where the family were prominent for a long time as lumber dealers, controlling the most of the water power and owning a number of mills. Thomas Rogers, second, the grand- father, was born in England, and came to this country with his -parents, being a child at the time. He owned a saw-mill for a while, and in the latter part of his life worked as a mill- wright. He was over eighty years of age when he died. Thomas Rogers reared two sons, Thomas (third) and Richard. Richard, who was a "'Forty-niner," died in California.
Thomas Rogers, third, the father of Charles C., was born in Veazie, Me. He learned the millwright's trade, and became an expert ma- chinist, equalled by few in his line of work. Travelling extensively he located saw-mills as far west as Upper Stillwater, Minn., and be-
HENRY B. MAGLATHLIN.
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came known through a large section of the country. For a number of years prior to his death he had a foundry and machine shop in Dexter, Me. Mr. Rogers served for some time as Constable and as Deputy Sheriff of Dexter. He was a member of the Universalist church of that town. His wife, who was a daughter of Charles Carleton, of Oldtown, a Revolutionary soldier, had nine children, of whom six are now living.
Charles C. Rogers was the youngest of his parents' children. He received a good educa- tion, attending the Dexter High School and the Houlton (Me.) Academy, which was under the supervision of the faculty of Colby University. At the Houlton Academy he spent four years. In 1881 he entered the employ of Goddard, Shaw & Co., of Brockton, with whom he remained until they went out of business. He worked for F. L. Stone from that time until 1884, when he was ap- pointed Superintendent of the fire alarm and telegraph departments of Brockton, a position which he held until 1887. In that year he re- newed his connection with Mr. Stone for some time, and in 1889 he and Mr. Goddard, form- ing the firm of Goddard & Rogers, purchased Mr. Stone's business. On May 1, 1896, he purchased Mr. Goddard's share, and since that time has conducted the place without an asso- ciate. He is an expert and reliable workman, and has admirably fulfilled a number of impor- tant contracts.
Mr. Rogers was married in 1891 to the eldest daughter of William H. Wade, the junior member of the Brockton firm of O. O. Patten & Co., and now has two children. In politics he favors the Democratic side. A resident of Brockton for fifteen years, Mr. Rogers is closely identified with the industrial life of the place, and may be regarded as a representative citizen.
OHN F. SHAW, a highly respected resident of Carver, was born in the town of Middleboro, Plymouth County, May 2, 1830, son of Elkanah and Nancy (Freeman) Shaw. His parents had five chil- dren ; namely, Nancy, Maria, John F., E. Howard, and Mary F. During his early life John F. Shaw lived on a farmi and for the usual period attended the common school. He came to South Carver when twelve years old. At the age of fourteen he obtained em- ployment in the iron foundry here. A few years later he went to Jersey City, N. J., where he worked at the trade of moulder for about two years. Then he returned to South Carver and went to work in the B. Ellis iron foundry, where he was employed for twenty years. Since that time he has been teaming for the foundry, the teams being his own property. He also engaged in raising cranberries. In 1888 he erected the house in which he resides. Mr. Shaw is a Democrat in politics. He has never sought or held office.
In 1854 Mr. Shaw was married to Miss Drucilla L. Bolles, daughter of Leonard and Eveline Bolles, of Marion, Mass. They had three children, of whom Franklin H. is living. He married Miss Nancy Griffith, and has four children - Bernard E., Gerard F., Gertrude F., and John F.
APTAIN HENRY B. MAGLATH- LIN, of Kingston, Mass., who com- manded a company of Massachu- setts Volunteers in the Civil War, is widely known as a worker in the cause of education and in the interests of labor reform. He was born in Duxbury, Mass., May 16, 1819, son of Bartlett and Maria Weston (Chandler) Maglathlin. His great-grandfather, John Ma- glathlin, son of Robert and Isabella (Samson)
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Maglathlin, was born in Scotland in 1695, came to America in 1712, and settled perma- nently in Duxbury in 1741. John, by descent, was kin to Robert Bruce, who became King Robert I. of Scotland.
While a boy on his father's farm, remote from schools, Henry B. Maglathlin conceived the idea of acquiring a liberal education. To obtain the means of defraying the expenses of a more advanced course of study than that offered by a country district school, he engaged as operative for a year in the cotton factory, working fourteen hours a day ; and at the age of sixteen he began to earn money by teaching school. By the beginnings thus made, and by dint of perseverance in the face of many ob- stacles, he was able to meet the expense of preparing for and going through the college course at Harvard University, where he was graduated in 1843. He remained there three years longer, pursuing various studies, and was graduated at the Divinity School in 1846. He subsequently had charge of a classi- cal institute in the State of Maine, which he gave up after three years on account of failing health.
In 1849 a Boston publisher brought out for him an educational work of which twenty-five editions were sold. The same year he ac- cepted from his publisher a business agency, with the view of regaining his health by trav- elling ; and he spent several years in this occu- pation, visiting different parts of the United States and Canada and forming many acquain- tances. From 1856 to 1862 he was occupied largely with editorial labors, associated with Benjamin Greenleaf, the well-known mathe- matician, in rewriting the National Arithme- tic, and in composing the Elementary Alge- bra, Geometry, and Trigonometry in the Greenleaf series. Later he edited the New Higher Algebra ; and he brought out in 1866,
on his own account, the New Elementary Arithmetic and the New Practical Arithmetic, as a part of the Greenleaf series. From 1870 to 1873 he was engaged with the late Professor Daniel B. Hagar, Principal of the Massachu- setts State Normal School at Salem, in the preparation of mathematical works, which were published in Philadelphia. In the ex- tension of the Greenleaf series he prepared, or his own account, in 1877, the Manual of Intellectual Arithmetic, and in 1881 the First Lessons in Numbers, Brief Course in Arith- metic, and Complete Arithmetic. His arith- metics in the Greenleaf series have maintained a remarkable popularity, being used exten- sively in different parts of this country and also in some of the English provinces. The National Arithmetic has been translated into Spanish, and several other books of the series have been republished outside of the United States. In 1896 he issued revised and im- proved editions of the Brief Course in Arith- metic, and of the Complete Arithmetic. In 1863 he was honored by Tufts College with an appointment to the Mathematical Examina- tion Committee.
In 1861 Mr. Maglathlin was elected Repre- sentative from the towns of Duxbury and Kingston to the Massachusetts legislature ; and after the adjournment in 1862, at a town meeting in Duxbury, he headed the enlistment under a call for volunteers to serve in the War of the Rebellion. A company having been raised, mostly by his efforts, he, although without military experience, was chosen its commander. The company became a part of the Fourth Regiment, Massachusetts Volun- teer Infantry, and was in the Twenty-fifth Army Corps, Department of the Gulf. At the surrender of Port Hudson, which, in the lan- guage of President Lincoln, allowed the Mis- sissippi to "run unvexed to the sea," Captain
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Maglathlin had charge of the parallels at the extreme front. He was in all the expeditions and engagements of his regiment.
Mr. Maglathlin early became interested in educational methods and work. He was elected a member of the School Committee of Waterville, Me., in 1847; of the School Com- mittee of Duxbury for three years in 1857; of the School Committee of Kingston for three years in 1890, and again in 1893. On his retirement from the Board at the close of his last term, the average attendance in the Kingston schools ranked first in the county of Plymouth. When in the Massachusetts legis- lature he served on the Joint Committee on Education. The town of Kingston in 1896 chose Captain Maglathlin a member of the committee for carrying out the will of Fred- erick C. Adams for the establishment of a public library.
He was first publicly identified with labor matters in 1870, when, being urgently so- licited, he consented to lead a forlorn hope as a Labor Reform candidate for Councillor for the First District of Massachusetts. He was handsomely supported by members of different parties, receiving about four thousand five hun- dred votes. The next year he was the nomi- nee of the same party for Secretary of State. He has been a member of the Sovereigns of Industry, Knights of Labor, and other like associations for the improvement of the condi - tion of the industrial classes. He has been for years an earnest advocate of co-operation, distributive and productive. For several years Captain Maglathlin served as President of a co-operative foundry company; and the Co-operative Store at Silver Lake, Kingston, founded June 14, 1875, under his management for more than twenty-five years notably pros- pered, it being the longest American trial of the Rochdale plan. On founding, in 1895,
the Co-operative Union of America, he was elected a member of its Central Board.
He was married in 1854 to Elizabeth, daughter of Dura and Abigail (Cushman) Wadsworth, of Duxbury, and has three chil- dren : Abby, who married George F. Lane, of Kingston; Arthur, who is a resident of Whit- man ; and Alice, who married Edmund Brad- ford, of Kingston. Captain Maglathlin's home until 1886, excepting the years he was in Maine, was on the ancestral place in Dux- bury, which had belonged successively to his great-grandather, his grandfather, and his father. For the past ten years he has resided at Silver Lake, a hamlet in Kingston.
LIAB LATHAM, one of the oldest and most prominent residents of East Bridgewater, was born here Septem- ber 26, 1818, son of Galen and Susan (Keith) Latham, both of whom were also natives of this town. Woodward Latham, the father of Galen, was a son of Charles. The first of the Latham family in America was William, all English emigrant, who settled in Plymouth, Mass., some time in the seventeenth century. Galen Latham spent his life on the farm now owned by Eliab. While giving due attention to his farm, he also discharged the duties of Lieutenant in a company of State militia. His death occurred in 1844. He had four sons and two daughters, of whom Eliab, the youngest, is the only survivor. The cducation of Eliab was obtained in the public schools and at Bridgewater Academy. The active years of his life have been spent in farming at the homestead, which contains about one hun- dred and seventeen acres of good land. In his younger days he carried on a wood and lumber business. He is also interested in the East Bridgewater Savings Bank, of which he
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was an incorporator, and is now a Trustee. On September 8, 1846, Mr. Latham married Susan A. Hobart, who was born in East Bridgewater, a daughter of the late Judge Aaron Hobart. They had four sons, of whom two are living. These are: James W., who resides with his parents; and Aaron H., an attorney-at-law doing business at 5 Tremont Street, Boston. The deceased were George H. and Eliab A. Mrs. Latham passed away in March, 1893. She was a member of the Uni- tarian church, and was very active in social circles.
Up to 1852 Mr. Latham was a Whig. Since that time he has been an independent politician, casting his vote without regard to party lines. Possessed of a laudable amount of public spirit, he has always taken pride in the advancement of the community. The town has had the benefit of his services as Select- man for nearly a score of years.
HARLES T. FIELD, an esteemed citizen of Brockton engaged in the real estate business, having an office in Boston on Washington Street, oppo- site the Globe Building, was born in North Bridgewater, Mass., now Brockton, October 1, 1836, a son of John and Olive (Thompson) Field.
The date of the arrival in this country of John Field, the first American ancestor of the family, is not recorded; but in 1677 he came from Providence, R.l., and took up his abode in West Bridgewater, Mass., where he resided about twenty years, his estate being settled in the interest of his heirs in 1698. He was the father of three sons and four daughters, born as follows: John, in 1671; Elizabeth, in 1673; Richard, in 1677; Lydia, in 1679; Daniel, in 1681 ; Ruth, in 1683; and Hannah.
Richard, the second son, was the next lineal representative of this branch. He married, on January 17, 1704, Susanna Waldo, and died September 14, 1725. A brief record of their eleven children is as follows: Zobiah, born March 28, 1705, died April 3, 1708; Zebu- , lon, born August 23, 1707, married Anna Williams, of Taunton, in 1749; Mary, born October 5, 1709, was married in 1748 to Sam- uel Noyes; Richard was born October 21, 1711 ; Jabez, born September 29, 1713; Ruth, born August 6, 1715, married Israel Packard, Jr., in 1737; Zachariah was born September 13, 1717 ; Zobiah, born March 4, 1719, died November 26, 1722; Susanna was born Au- gust 6, 1721; Mercy, born April 17, 1723, married Archibald Robinson in 1747; Su- sanna, born May 18, 1725, married Nathan Hartwell in 1746.
Jabez Field, who died in 1804, aged ninety- two years, married in 1746 Mary, daughter of Ephraim Fobes. They were the parents of nine children, as follows: Jabez, born March 25, 1747, who died unmarried; Susanna, born November 9, 1748, who married on April 13, 1773, Moses Cary; Richard, born July 22, 1751, who married Rebecca Harris in 1778; William, who was born July 28, 1753, and married Jemima Keith in 1797; Ephraim, born October 19, 1755, who married Ruby Brett, December 14, 1786; Daniel, born Sep- tember 20, 1758; Barzilla, born December 6, 1760; Bethuel, born August 28, 1763, who died unmarried; and Waldo, who removed to the West.
Daniel Field, the great-uncle of Charles T. Field of this sketch, married on July 13, 1786, Hannah Snell, the daughter of Captain Zebedee Snell, and by this union had three children : Martha, born November 19, 1786; Zophar, born January 14, 1789; and Waldo, born March 8, 1791. Zophar Field married
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Bernice Howard, February 6, ISII, and they had eight children, namely: Harriet, born in 1812; Daniel, born in 1814; Louisa, born in 1816; George, born in 1818; Louisa, born in 1820; Hannah, born May 4, 1823, who mar- ried Cyrus Howard, Jr. ; Charles Copeland, born March 18, 1826, who married Lucy Cobb Cross; William Lawrence, who was born Octo- ber 20, 1828, and married Mary Dennison Holmes, of Middleboro. The children of the last-named couple were : William Fobes, born July 21, 1854; Daniel Waldo, born February 18, 1856; Marcia Alice, born November 28, 1857; and Frederick Forrest, born May II, 1861. Zophar Field died September 6, 1863, and his wife January 28, 1833.
Barzilla Field, the grandfather of Charles T., was a Revolutionary patriot. He died in 1839, aged seventy-eight. He was married December 25, 1794, to Patty, daughter of David Packard. Their children were : John, born December 15, 1796; Chloe, born Novem- ber 14, 1799; Mary, born April 24, 1802, who married Zibeon Cole in 1819; Clarissa, born August 20, 1806; and Lucius, born June II, ISII.
John Field, son of Barzilla, was a native of North Bridgewater. He was a stone-cutter by trade, furnishing fine stone for finishing, but his later years were spent in farming. In politics a Democrat, he was nominated as a Representative to the State legislature, but did not receive the election. He, however,
. served acceptably as Selectman.
He was a member of the Swedenborgian church. At the time of his death in 1866 he was seventy years old. Although but sixteen years old at the time of the War of 1812, he was in active service. Olive Thompson, to whom he was married in October, 1817, was a daughter of James Thompson, of Campello. They were the parents of ten children, six boys and four
girls, all of whom lived to maturity. Olive, the eldest, born June 16, 1820, married No- vember 10, 1839, Elisha B. Bumpus; Frank- lin, born April 7, 1822, married October 24, 1850, Alice P. Simmons; Eustace, born May 17, 1824, married November 25, 1847, Maria Snow; Owen, born July 24, 1826, married Hannah P. Tobey; Elizabeth, born April II, 1829, married March 2, 1856, Francis Brett ; Clarissa, born January 5, 1832, married Will- iam W. Allen, of Mansfield; John, born March 19, 1834, married Carrie Rosa Wood- bury, of Rochester, Minn. ; Charles Thomp- son is the special subject of this sketch; Car- oline was born August 27, 1839; and Barzilla was born February 17, 1832. Olive, Frank- lin, Eustace, Owen, and Charles Thompson are now living.
Charles Thompson Field was the eighth child in order of birth. He received a com- mon-school education, and made his home on the farm with his parents until their death.
He afterward went into the business of en- larging pictures, and followed it successfully for a number of years. When he was about nineteen years of age, however, and before his parental home was broken up, he shipped on board a coasting vessel ; and he was later on a fishing vessel that went to the Grand Banks. Since he became older he has visited many countries, among them England, Scotland, and France, in travel for his health. For the past seven years he has engaged in the real estate business, and, as already noted at the begin- ning of this sketch, now has an office in Boston, besides being interested in real estate here in Brockton. Naturally of a retiring and home-loving disposition, he has taken but little interest in ordinary politics or po- litical affairs in a party sense. He is a member of the New Jerusalem, or Sweden- borgian, church.
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Mr. Field married first Laura Washburne, of Raynham, and by this union he had five children, three boys and two girls; namely, Charles W., Albert D., Eustace, Laura J., and Helen M. Mrs. Laura W. Field died in 1887. For a second wife Mr. Ficld married Martha A. Robbins, of Abington, by whom he has one daughter, Mary Robbins.
OSEPH W. BRIGGS is a substantial representative of the practical and pro- gressive agriculturists of Plymouth County, owning and managing a well-ap- pointed farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres in the town of Marion, his native place. He was born on February 14, St. Valentine's Day, 1837, and has now nearly reached his sixtieth birthday.
His father, Captain Elnathan Briggs, fol- lowed the sea for more than twoscore years, being master of a vessel the last fifteen years of the time. In 1862 he retired from active pursuits spending his last days with his son Joseph, at whose home he died in March last, 1896, aged eighty-seven years. His wife, whose maiden name was Rhoda D. Allen, is still living with her son Nathan, being a bright and active woman of eighty-five years. Mrs. Briggs and her husband reared five children, namely: Nathan; Justus; Isaac; Betsey ; and Joseph W., the direct subject of this biograph- ical sketch.
Joseph W. Briggs began life on his own account when a lad of fourtecn years, going then to North Bridgewater, now Brockton, where he was employed for some time in shoe- making. He subsequently sailed on a mer- chant vessel, first as a common seaman, after- ward for some years as mate. In 1861 he started for California, going via Cape Horn, and serving as mate on the bark which carried
him across the waters. After engaging for a short time in mining, he lived in San Fran- cisco until 1869, when he returned to his carly home and settled on his present farm. Mr. Briggs has since given his attention to general farming and teaming, carrying on a successful business in both branches of industry. Polit- ically, he is a sound Republican, and, though not an aspirant for official honors, has served as Road Commissioner. Fraternally, he is a member of the Masonic order, bclonging to Pythagorean Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Marion.
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