USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Plymouth County, Massachusetts > Part 39
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ILLIS H. CORNISH, M.D., a physi- cian of Carver, Plymouth County, Mass., where he has been engaged in the practice of his profession for nearly thirty years, was born in Halifax, this county, August 24, 1840, being a son of Ellis Cornish, a citizen of that place.
He was reared on a farm, and educated in the common and high schools of his native town. After finishing his general studies he taught school for four years, during the winter terms, in the mean time studying medicine. He was for some time under the tuition of Dr. Robert Proran, of South Boston, Mass., and took the regular course at the Harvard Med- ical School, receiving his degree in March, 1867. After practising in Boston a few months he located in Carver, where he has since conducted a successful practice. Dr. Cornish worked hard to qualify himself for his profession, and he has worked harder still during the years of his professional life in Carver. He is well known throughout the locality, and is highly esteemed, not only by the patients who owe to him their release from bodily ills, but also by those whose relations with him are merely social.
January 1, 1868, Dr. Cornish was united in marriage with Miss Nancy L. Pratt, of Bridge- water. He has had thirteen children; namely, Ellis G., Virgina H., Berenicc E., Anson F., William E., Gertrude F., Nancy A., Solon W., Paul D., Blanche E., Izette A. and Irene A. (twins), and Beulah (deceased). In politics Dr. Cornish favors the Republican side, but has not sought office, his professional work demanding all his time and attention. He is a member of the Baptist church, and, though a scientific man by the nature of his profession, he sees no conflict between science and Christianity, when both are rightly under- stood.
Rites Tomorrow
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WALTER L. REED
RVICES TOMORROW FOR WALTER L. REED
Manufacturer and Prominent Mason Dead in Whitman HITMAN, Nov. 11-Funeral ces for Walter L. Reed, 76, y known in the shoe manufac- g industry and prominently fified with the Masonic frater- for many years, will be held at home on Pleasant street here lesday afternoon.
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Reed died at his home this ing, following an illness of sev- I months. His nearest surviving 1 I ves are a niece, Mrs. Gertrude C I am, and two nephews, Harold ] ith and Carleton Blades, all of ton.
Reed had been identified with
C 1 hoe industry in the Old Colony 't for many years. He was first into the factory of his father, i m L. Reed, a pioneer shoe I acturer, and later was a mem- t the firm of Reed and Closson. 1 " recent years he had been t ited with G. E. Keith & Com- at Campello.
vas a member of the Puritan I of Masons, Whitman, and the t 1 Royal Arch Chapter, and the E try Commandery of Knights am, both of Abington. He had member of Aleppo Lodge, for 43 years.
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IDANGLING WIR KILLS 3 ME
Two in Succession Die ing to Rescue of Fire In Worcester
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victims until expert help arrived that person was pulled away.
The sequence of events lea to the deaths began this after with the decision of George C 23, occupant of the third floor Arwick avenue, a laborer, to s an aerial across Arwick avenu | his new radio.
He summoned his brother-in Cummings, a truck driver, to. him.
As Cummings stood in the s Corsac flung an insulated wire the street. The first time i between the two power lines. the second throw it fell across Then, while Cummings tied a of twine to the aerial, Corsa to the top floor of the house : the street, which is numbere Millbury street.
"O. K .? " called Corsac to mings, who stood in the edge puddle in the street.
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CRUMPLES INTO PUDD "O. K .! " shouted Cur .. mings ply, reaching for the aerial as' } so. Apparently he touched th end of the aerial, from which insulation had been scraped crumpled into the puddle, the stuck to his right hand.
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Charles Polachi, a resident Millbury street, was standing third floor piazza there and Cummings fall.
"Hold it!" he cried to Corsac. been shocked!"
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Corsac ran to a tavern at the end of Arwick avenue, which than 100 feet long, shouting piece of paper as he ran, int
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Corsac immediately started to the street. As he ran, Prifti, of a milk truck, pulled up curb at the completion of his work, and saw what had ha to Cummings. Shouting to year-old son to stay away, I to Cummings and tried to pu way. He was knocked down Corsac reached the street.
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ON. WILLIAM LINCOLN REED, a retired shoe manufacturer of Brock- ton, Mass., is well known in Plym- outh County, and is universally loved and re- spected. He was born in Abington, this county, October 5, 1825, a son of Isaac and Nancy (Lincoln) Reed. The common an- cestor of the Reed family was Brianus, a noted man of Lincolnshire, England, who in II39 was registered as Brianus de Rede. He had three sons: Robert of Rede; William, Bishop of Chichester; and Thomas, of Red- yale. Passing over many noted names, repre- sentatives of different generations of the family in England, we come to William Reade, "supposed to be the son of William Reade and Lucy Henage," born in 1605, who sailed from Gravesend, England, in 1635. He settled in Weymouth, Mass., and was made freeman September 2, 1635. (See "History of the Reed Family," by Jacob W. Reed. Published in 1861.)
From William Reed, of Weymouth, the line is thus
traced : William, Thomas, Thomas, Daniel, Thomas, and Isaac, to Will- iam Lincoln Reed, of Brockton, who is of the seventh generation from his Colonial ancestor. His grandfather, Thomas Reed, who was the possessor of extensive landed estates, was a man of unusual strength of character. He had a large frame, standing over six feet in height, and was endowed with great powers of endurance. Isaac Reed, son of Thomas, was a well-to-do farmer, a worthy and highly re- spected citizen. He died in 1847. His wife, Nancy, who was a daughter of Caleb Lincoln, of Taunton, Mass., whose ancestors were among the early and prominent settlers of Taunton and Hingham, died in 1874.
Their son, William L. Reed, the subject of this sketch, received a common-school educa- tion in his native town. His first work was
on his father's farm; but agricultural labor was not to his taste, and he learned the shoe- maker's trade, which he followed for a num- ber of years. In 1853 he started in business as a shoe manufacturer, in a shop connected with his house, cutting his stock, and sending it out to be made up. Two years later his in- creasing business demanded more commodious quarters, and he moved into rooms over the store of Randall Cook, where he remained five years. In 1860 he built what was then con- sidered a large factory, near the railroad sta- tion at South Abington (now Whitman) ; and in 1866 he formed a copartnership with Joseph Burrage, of Boston, under the firm name of Burrage & Reed. This partnership lasted six years, Mr. Burrage dying in 1862; and Mr. Reed's next associate was David B. Closson, of Boston. Soon after changing the firm name to Reed & Closson, he enlarged his factory, and in 1879, a further addition being required, the factory was lengthened by eighty-two feet. It was then two hundred and thirty-two feet long, thirty-five feet wide, and four storics high. About threc hun- dred hands were employed, and the business amounted annually to over four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In 1883 the factory, with all its costly machinery and a large amount of raw material, was destroyed by fire ; and Mr. Reed did not take the trouble to re- build. Since that time he has not been in active business. He was engaged in manu- facturing for thirty-five years, and in the latter part of that period he had a business of over half a million dollars a year; and he takes pride in the fact that he has always paid dollar for dollar.
Mr. Reed has been twice married. His first wife, to whom he was united June 6, 1847, was Deborah W., daughter of Ziba Chessman, of Weymouth, Mass. She died in
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Whitman in 1884, leaving three children : Walter Lincoln Reed, who lives on the Reed homestead in Whitman; Anna Gertrude, the wife of George E. Keith, of Campello; and Sarah Chessman, who married the Rev. John T. Blades, a former pastor of the South Con- gregational Church of Campello, and after his death became the wife of Rufus B. Keith, of Campello, a sketch of whom may be found on another page. Two other children, an infant daughter, and a boy of six years, named Will- iam Bradford, died before the mother passed away. On June 15, 1887, Mr. Reed was again married, to Mrs. Georgietta A. Richardson Clark, of Brockton, formerly of Medford, Mass. ; and one of his wedding presents was a handsome gold watch, presented by his townsmen in Whitman.
Mr. Reed is a Republican, and has been elected to several important positions of public trust. He was in the State legislature in 1858 and 1859, representing Abington, and in the latter year served on the Joint Com- mittee on Towns. In 1865 he was elected to the State Senate from the Second Plymouth District, and served on the Standing Com- mittee on Leave of Absence, the Joint Com- mittee on Prisons, and the Joint Special Committee on Annexation of Roxbury to Bos- ton. He was returned to the Senate in 1866, and served as Chairman of the Joint Com- mittee on Prisons and the Joint Special Com- mittee on Cost of State Aid; and, re-elected in 1867, he presided as Chairman of the same committees, and was a member of the Com- mittee on the Hoosac Tunnel and the Troy & Greenfield Railroad. He was a member of Governor Claflin's Council, from the Second Councillor District, for 1870 and 1871, was a member of Governor Washburn's Council in 1872, serving on the Committees on Hoosac Tunnel, Troy & Greenfield Railroad, Military
Affairs, and the Boston, Hartford & Erie Railroad.
He is prominent in the Masonic brother- hood, having first joined in 1861 the John Cutter Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Abington, from which he withdrew to join the Puritan Lodge at South Abington (Whitman), of which he is a charter member. He belongs to Pilgrim Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; is a charter member of the Old Colony Command- ery of Knights Templars; and has held the chairs of Select Master, Royal Master, and Super-excellent Master in the Boston Council of Royal and Select Masters. He withdrew from the Boston Council to become a member of the Abington Council. Mr. Reed belongs to the Commercial Club of Brockton, an asso- ciation of prominent business men. He attends public worship at the New Jerusalem church (Swedenborgian) ; and, though not a professing Christian, in his life he has always exemplified the essential rules of Christian conduct, and he has been a liberal contributor to religious projects.
Endowed with a keen sense of honor and actuated by sound ethical principles, he has acquired popularity even among his political opponents ; and his genial and attractive man- ners and active interest in all local improve- ments have won the regard of his townsmen. As an evidence of the esteem in which he is held, it may be stated that after the burning of his factory a citizens' meeting was called at South Abington to express sympathy for his loss. On this occasion ex-Congressman Ben- jamin W. Harris spoke in part, as follows: "I came over from my home to express my deep sympathy for my friend, the Hon. Will- iam L. Reed. I have known Mr. Reed for more than thirty years. He began life as a mechanic at the bottom of the ladder, and by untiring industry, strict economy, and unvary-
AUGUSTUS COLE.
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ing integrity has won his way up to his high position as a successful business man in the community. He is entitled to active and helpful sympathy. My acquaintance with him has been largely in the social and public rela- tion. In public trust, as well as in business relations, he has made an honorable and enduring record. During his long public service I have yet to hear of his lacking any- thing of strict integrity and honorable pur- pose. In his business life he has attained an equally enviable reputation." Mr. Reed has many friends in Whitman, where he resided for sixty years, where his first wife died, and where his son is now living.
UGUSTUS COLE, formerly of the enterprising firm of Cole & Jenkins, grain dealers at Scituate Harbor, is now engaged in farming in Scituate. A son of Captain Augustus and Sallie J. (Turner) Cole, both natives of this town, he was born January I, 1828, on the farm on which he now resides. He is of old New England stock, representing the sixth generation in this country of his father's family, and the seventh of his mother's.
The first of his paternal ancestors in Plym- outh County was James Cole, a native of Kent, England, who settled in Scituate on land now owned by E. Parker Welch. Captain Augus- tus Cole was born in the part of Scituate which now constitutes the town of Norwell, and was a lifelong resident of Scituate. His title was conferred upon him as Commander of a company of militia. He was well known and popular, and took an active part in the councils of the local Democrats. His wife was a daughter of Nathaniel Turner, a de- scendant of Humphrey Turner, one of the pioneer settlers in Scituate. Of their chil-
dren two are living: Augustus, whose name appears at the head of this article; and Esther, wife of H. G. H. Reed.
Augustus Cole, as he grew to manhood, acquired a good education in public and pri- vate schools of Scituate. After finishing his studies he was engaged for a number of years in general farming on the home estate; and then, purchasing a grist-mill at Scituate Harbor, he developed a large and prosperous trade in grinding and selling grain of different kinds, and trading in merchandise between Scituate and New York. Mr. David S. Jenkins was associated with him, the firm name being Cole & Jenkins. For a number of years they conducted a successful business ; then the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Cole was employed for some time as purchas- ing agent on the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railroad. In 1883 he retired from business, and settled on his farm in Scituate.
In November, 1849, he was united in mar- riage with Paulina Brown, daughter of the late William Brown, of Scituate. Six children have blessed their union, four of whom are living; namely, Charles A., Frank H., Ed- ward A., and Henry T. Mr. Cole votes the Democratic ticket. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Satuit Lodge of Scituate.
TIS WHITE, a well-to-do farmer of Duxbury, was born in the house he now occupies, November 12, 1830, son of Briggs and Judith (Ransom) White. Mr. White's great-grandfather, Carpus White, is believed to have been killed in one of the early wars, and his grandfather, Joseph White, was a resident of Duxbury.
Briggs White, father of Otis, was a lifelong resident of this town, and owned the farm which is now the property of his son. For
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some time he followed the trade of a tanner ; but his principal occupation was general farm- ing, and he tilled the soil with prosperity until his death, which took place in 1847. In politics he supported the Whig party, and he attended the Unitarian church. His wife, Judith, survived him for many years, dying in the fall of 1881. Of her children there are three survivors, namely: Otis, the subject of this sketch; Mary, wife of William T. Will- cott, of Duxbury; and Emma, who resides in this town.
Otis White was educated in the common schools of Duxbury, and at an early age en- gaged in agricultural pursuits at the home- stead. He succeeded to the ownership of the property, which consists of two hundred acres of fertile land, and he devotes his attention to general farming. Capable and industrious, he has attained a high degree of prosperity, and is considered by his fellow-townsmen as one of the most wealthy farmers in Dux- bury. Mr. White is unmarried. In politics he acts with the Republican party. He has witnessed with satisfaction the advance and improvement of this historic town, and he possesses in high measure the esteem and good will of his fellow-citizens.
ELEG T. BROOKS, agent for the New York & Boston Despatch Com- pany in Kingston, was born in Dux- bury, Mass., in May, 1830, son of Nathan and Caroline (Tupper) Brooks. Mr. Brooks's father was a native of Scituate, Mass., and a descendant of an early settler of that town. He was a hatter by trade, and in young man- hood settled in Duxbury, but some time later moved to Kingston, where he resided for over fifty years. He served for twenty-eight con- secutive years as Town Clerk, Treasurer, and
Collector, and was a Representative to the legislature for one term. He was a self-made man, who was obliged to make his own way in life from early boyhood, and by his death, which took place in 1882, Kingston lost one of its most able and useful citizens. He was for many years identified with the Unitarian church, and at times officiated as a Deacon. His wife, Caroline Tupper Brooks, was a native of Kingston. She died in 1877.
Peleg T. Brooks accompanied his parents to Kingston when he was three years old, and his education was acquired in the common schools of this town. In early manhood he learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed for a number of years. Subsequently relinquishing that calling, he was for a time employed in a livery stable here. He was later engaged in driving a stage coach from Duxbury to Kings- ton, which he continued to do for twenty years; and during this time he established what was known as Brooks Express, for the purpose of transporting merchandise between Duxbury and Boston, by the way of Kingston. When the South Shore Railroad was extended through Duxbury, he was forced to abandon the stage business, and also the express busi- ness, as far as that town was concerned, but continued to attend to the Kingston branch of his line until he consolidated with the New York & Boston Despatch Company, a few years ago. Besides being the agent of this company in Kingston, he has a financial in- terest in the enterprise.
Mr. Brooks is a Democrat politically, and has long been identified with public affairs in Kingston. For a number of years he served as Registrar of Voters; and he represented the Second Plymouth District in the legisla- ture for the years 1886 and 1887, during which time he was a member of the Committee on Roads and Bridges. He is a member of
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Corner Stone Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Dux- bury; is a charter member of Adams Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Kings- ton ; and is widely and favorably known as an upright, intelligent, and useful citizen.
R. GEORGE L. NEWCOMB is an old and reliable physician of North Scituate, having been in active prac- tice here for over thirty years. Dr. Newcomb obtained his initial practice in surgery in military hospitals at the time of the war, and has the skill and insight peculiar to army sur- geons. He was born in Scituate, March 19, 1832, a son of Captain Levi and Joan (Stud- ley) Newcomb. Levi Newcomb was born in Provincetown, and, like most of the boys of the old Cape town, went to sea when quite young. He sailed as captain for a number of years, and then, retiring, settled in Scituate. In politics he was a Republican. He died in 1879, aged ninety-one. Mrs. Newcomb, who was born in Scituate, was a daughter of Lewis and Lucy (Dunbar) Studley. Lewis Studley was a house carpenter, a well-known citizen of Scituate. His wife was a daughter of Squire Jesse Dunbar, a leading man of Scituate Harbor. Mrs. Newcomb lived to be even older than her husband, attaining the great age of ninety-three. She passed away No- vember 13, 1895.
George L. Newcomb received his early edu- cation in the public schools of Scituate, and after leaving school was employed for a while as clerk in a store in Cohasset. He read medicine for two years before the breaking out of the war with Dr. Clark, a reputable physician of Scituate, and Dr. Thomas Deer- ing, a prominent medical practitioner of Braintree, Mass. In the fall of 1862, under a special call from President Lincoln, he was
enrolled in the United States service for one year, and, assigned to the hospital depart- ment at Washington, was on duty for some time in the Lincoln and Clifburne Hospitals. The experience gained here was of much value in his after life, the quick and diligent prac- tice availing more than years of study of the- ory. After returning from Washington he attended lectures at the Harvard Medical School until qualified in all branches of his profession, and then opened an office at St. Albans, Vt. In 1866 he located in North Scituate, his home since that time. Besides his local visiting list, Dr. Newcomb has many outside patients. He is widely known, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of the public. In politics he favors the Democratic side. He is deeply interested in the welfare of his native place, and always ready to aid its progress.
J OSEPH ADAMS NEWHALL, a retired business man of Hingham, Plymouth County, formerly of the well-known manufacturing firm of Ripley & Newhall, was born in Lynn, Mass., on June 12, 1822. His parents were Allen and Martha (Adams) Newhall, and his paternal grand- father was Allen Newhall, Sr., who was born in Lynn, March 6, 1771, and was a shoemaker by trade.
The family is one of the oldest in Essex County. The two immigrant progenitors were Thomas and Anthony Newhall, brothers, who came, it is supposed, from England. Ac- cording to the genealogical record of the early American Newhalls in the "Essex Institute Historical Collections," volumes XVIII. and XIX., Allen Newhall, Sr., above mentioned, was a son of Hanson Newhall; and from him the line is traced back through Joseph, who is thought to have been the father of Hanson;
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Samuel, father of Joseph; and Thomas, sec- ond, father of Saumel; to Thomas, first, who settled in Lynn about 1630. Thomas, sec- ond, is said to have been the first child of European parentage born in Lynn.
Allen Newhall, son of Allen, Sr., born in Lynn, Mass., on December 7, 1793, learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed dur- ing the greater part of his mature life in Dor- chester, Mass. In politics he was a Whig. He married Martha, daughter of Joseph Adams, of Danvers, Mass. They had six children, only two of whom are living: Joseph Adams, the subject of this biography; and Martha Frances, who married Waterman Thomas Burrell, of Weymouth, Mass., and has two children - Waterman Thomas and Mary Waterman. Allen Newhall died in Dor- chester, at the age of fifty-five; and his wife, who was born April 5, 1796, died in Hing- ham, Mass., in 1878, aged eighty-two years. They were both highly respected members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Joseph A. Newhall, the eldest son and child of his parents, acquired his education in the Dorchester schools; and when quite young he learned the cabinet-maker's trade in Milton, Mass., where he remained four years, working for a short time thereafter in Boston. For the next two years he was located in Dorchester, and the year following in Quincy, Mass. In 1840, after a short sojourn in Dorchester, he came to Hingham, and worked one year at his trade. Then, buying a half-interest in the N. Ripley & Co. firm, he engaged in the man- ufacture of all kinds of first-class furniture, the firm's name becoming Ripley & Newhall. This partnership lasted nearly forty years, Mr. Newhall retiring from business in 1880.
Mr. Newhall was first married to Lucy Ann Lincoln, daughter of Marshall and Lucy (Stoddard) Lincoln. She was born in Hing-
ham, April 16, 1822, and died September 3, 1850, at the age of twenty-eight, leaving one son, Joseph Adams, who died in infancy. On October 28, 1851, Mr. Newhall married his first wife's sister, Elizabeth Waterman Lincoln.
Marshall Lincoln, the father of the two Mrs. Newhalls, was a son of Joseph Lincoln, born in Hingham, December 28, 1753, who married July 1, 1784, Susanna Marsh, a daughter of Ephraim Marsh, of this town, and had a family of seven children, Marshall being the second-born. His grandfather, Joseph Lincoln, Sr., served in the War of 1812, on the armed brig "Hazard," and was taken prisoner at Halifax in 1814, when Canada was invaded. He died April 13, 1816.
Stephen Stoddard, father of Mrs. Lucy Stoddard Lincoln, was born in Hingham, Sep- tember 5, 1756, and died October 6, 1835, aged seventy-nine years. In the war of the Revolution he served as a non-commissioned officer in Colonel Greaton's regiment, in 1775 at Nantasket, and subsequently in New York and Rhode Island. He was present at the surrender of Burgoyne. His first wife, Lucy, died in 1789, aged thirty-four years; and his second wife, Mary, died November 12, 1854, aged eighty-nine years.
In politics Mr. Newhall affiliates with the Republican party. Fraternally, he is identi- fied with Old Colony Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Hingham, officiating as one of the Stew- ards. Personally, he is a man of sterling character, highly respected as merchant, citi- zen, and friend. In religious belief he and his wife are Universalists.
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