Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 100

Author: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Boston, Biographical review publishing company
Number of Pages: 1238

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passed away at the age of seventy-three, and the mother some years later, aged seventy- eight. Strict Baptists in religion, they died triumphant in the Christian faith, and were laid to rest in Barford Cemetery at Barford, which was formerly a part of their farm.

Albert Benjamin Franklin Kinney was brought up on his father's farm, and received his schooling at an academy in the vicinity. An agricultural life being uncongenial to him, he left home at the age of eighteen, pay- ing his father two hundred dollars for his time up to his majority, and went to Lawrence, Mass., where he found employment as clerk in the store of his eldest brother, who conducted a furniture, auction, and commission busi- ness. A year later he became a dry-goods clerk in Portland, Me., and subsequently was made a partner in the firm. He was doing well until the great fire of 1866, which de- stroyed the entire business portion of Port- land, and set him back to the place where he had started - that was, even with the world. In the same year he became a travelling sales- man for the Dellingham Paper Company, of Boston, manufacturers and wholesale dealers in paper, and in the course of the next five years visited many parts of the United States. Then he bought out the wholesale department of the company, and conducted it on his own account. About a year after, finding his health impaired by overwork, he came to Worcester, intending to rest for a year. Within three weeks after his arrival here, however, he went into his present. business, buying out Mr. Davis of the firm Blackmer & Davis, general brokers, the style of the firm then becoming Blackmer & Kinney. A year later he purchased the interest of Mr. Black- mer. Since then he has very prosperously conducted the business alone.

On June 1, 1868, Mr. Kinney was married at Gardner, Me., to Mrs. Angie Jordan Mc- Lellan, daughter of George and Sarah (Tower) Jordan, of Westbrook, Me. He has one child, Edith G., who graduated at Radcliffe College (the Harvard Annex) in the class of 1897. For the last twenty years he has been an active member of Trinity Methodist Epis- copal Church, which he has served for some

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time in the capacity of trustee. He is the president of the Methodist Episcopal City Mission and Church Extension Society, which association is building three churches, having already three missions; is President of the old Sterling Camp-ground Association, the oldest in New England, having been first used for religious purposes fifty years ago; a member of the Conference Committee of the New England Conference; and he was a dele- gate to the last General Conference, which was held in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1896. Per- haps it is not too much to say that no layman in New England has done more active work in the Methodist Episcopal church than Mr. Kinney.

Mr. Kinney is a great lover and promoter of all moral forms of outdoor recreation, be- lieving that healthful sport stops many a doc- tor's bill. An enthusiastic sportsman him- self, he owns a private car in which he and his family have made many trips extending over territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast and from the Gulf of Mexico to Hud- son's Bay. His residence at 7 Westminster Street is the home of refinement and cult- ure. In his private museum, which is one of the finest, if not the finest, in the country, he preserves the hides, heads, and horns of speci- mens killed by him of all the large game in North America. It also contains other tro- phies of the chase, souvenirs of wild and fron- tier life, and a valuable collection of curios connected with the aborigines, made by Mrs. Kinney and her daughter, who have always accompanied Mr. Kinney on his trips. Mrs. Kinney has added to the decorations of the home many paintings from her own brush; and Miss Kinney, much beautifully decorated china, her own handiwork. One painting presents Mr. Kinney, his two guides, their horses, and a large black bear strapped to one of the horses, in an effective and spir- ited group, skilfully treated, and breathing the very atmosphere of frontier life. Mr. Kinney is the president of the National Fox Hunters' Association; the originator of the Worcester Fur Company, a fox-hunting club; a vice-president of the Brunswick Fox Club, which is a fox-hound field trial club; and a

member of the Western Massachusetts Fox Club. He has undoubtedly done more than any other one man in New England to im- prove the American fox - hound of to - day. Thomas Mortindale's well - known book, "Sports Royale," is dedicated to Mr. Kin- ney in these words: "To A. B. F. Kinney, a friend of thirty years' acquaintance and the best all-round sportsman I have ever met; a man equally expert with a rifle, gun, or fly rod, who has killed game of every spe- cies that the American continent affords, from the grizzly bear to the ubiquitous rabbit, from the wild goose and its rival in migratory flight, the mysterious brant, to the solitude- loving woodcock; and who is, besides, what the world affectionately calls a 'royal good fellow'-to him this book is respectfully dedicated." Mr. Kinney has been so suc- cessful in business as to warrant his retire- ment, but he prefers an active business life. He is a Master Mason. In politics he is a Republican.

R. SAMUEL WOODWARD COOKE, a successful dentist of Worcester, was born at Hadley, Mass., September 9, 1825, son of Reuben and Sarah Smith (Woodward) Cooke. His ancestry is traced back, through his grandfather, Timothy, Noah, Westwood, and Aaron, to Aaron Cooke, Sr., who was born in England about the year 1610, and who died at Northampton, Mass., September 5, 1690. This ancestor settled in America in 1630, and was prominent in Dorchester in 1635. He removed to the Connecticut valley, and started a plantation, which afterward became the site of the town of Windsor. He was appointed by the Governor of Connecticut Lieutenant of a company of men, which he led against the Indians; and, upon removing to North- ampton, he was made Captain of a company there. Subsequently he rose to the rank of Major, and also held a civil office in the place. He was one of the founders of the town of Westfield.

Aaron Cooke, Jr., first married in Hadley, Mass., where he was Captain of a company.

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He was a member of the party which was attacked at Hadley church, and was long a leading member of the community, holding both military and civil commissions. He was killed by the Indians at Westfield. Another ancestor, Francis Cooke, was identified with the Plymouth Colony, and was one of the signers of the historic compact made on board the "Mayflower." The Cookes took a promni- nent part in the affairs of the earliest settle- ments; and there were well-known military men among them, both in this country and in old England. Among the distinguished names of a later generation is that of J. P. Cooke, LL.D., the late professor of mineralogy and chemistry at Harvard University. Albert A. Cooke, a brother of Samuel W. and a cousin of Professor Cooke, was the leading dentist of Milford for thirty years, and has served as Representative and Senator in the Massachu- setts legislature. The maternal grandfather of Dr. Samuel Woodward Cooke, was the Captain of a company throughout the War of 1812, and was afterward for many years the Sheriff of Hampden County. Reuben Cooke, the father of the subject of this sketch, born February 6, 1791, died November 27, 1840. He married Miss Sarah Smith Woodward, who, born on March 5, 1794, died July 9, 1890. His occupation was farming, which he followed in Hadley, Mass.

Samuel Woodward Cooke, the sixth child of his parents, lived in Hadley until the death of his father. Then his mother removed with her family to East Windsor, Conn., and the children received their education in the public and private schools of that place. He was prepared for college at Wilbraham Academy, and graduated from the Wesleyan University in 1853. Then he taught in the high school at Oxford for about a year. This position, by the advice of his brothers, who were dentists, he resigned to commence the study of dentis- try in the office of Drs. William Newton and Tourtellotte in Worcester. Here he re- mained for one year, completing his studies under an eminent dentist of Milford, Mass. Afterward for several years he did special work for his brothers in Medway and Hollis- ton, being also employed on fine dental work

for other dentists. He opened his office in Millbury in 1860, and for ten years was the best known dentist there, acquiring a high reputation and receiving patronage from people in Worcester and adjacent towns. In 1870 his Worcester patrons induced him to re- move to that city, where he located, first in the First National Bank Building and after- ward in the Spy Building on Main Street. Here he received a large patronage from his Worcester friends, retaining all his Millbury patients. In 1879 he removed to the building on the corner of Main and Park Streets, where he has since remained. His son is now asso- ciated with him in business.

Dr. Cooke has always ranked high among the members of his profession in Worcester County. His business has been invariably successful, and he still continues in the splendid health which has always been his. During the Civil War he was an active mem- ber of an enlisting committee. He was chairman of the Millbury School Committee for several years. He is a member of the New England Dental Association, and he was formerly connected with the Connecticut Valley Association. By his marriage with Cornelia J. Tracey, of Franklin, Conn., he became the father of three children - Emma J., Charles W., and Henry P. Charles W. died at the age of ten years. Henry P., the youngest, who graduated in the Worcester schools and at Harvard Dental College, is as- sociated with his father, being well known as an expert practitioner. Dr. Cooke has been a man of strong religious tendencies, faithful to his obligations, and devoted to the advance- ment of church interests.

EORGE GARDNER BURBANK,

who was prominent in the drug busi- ness for many years in Worcester, was born in Fitchburg, Mass., December 23, 1823. A son of Leonard and Eunice (Green) Burbank, he belonged to an old family of this vicinity. The old Burbank residence, built by his grandfather, Elijah Burbank, at Quin- sigamond, is still standing. Elijah Burbank

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owned the land on which Quinsigamond vil- lage now stands. The Greens also are an old family, and were Tories in ante-Revolutionary times. This family has given some well- known physicians to this State. Mrs. Eunice Burbank was a sister of Dr. John Green, who founded the Worcester Public Library. Leonard Burbank was a General in the State militia before the Civil War.

George Gardner Burbank acquired his early education in Fitchburg. At the age of six- teen he obtained a position in a dry-goods store of Haverhill, Mass., where he was em- ployed until he attained his majority. In 1845 he began to learn the drug business of his uncle, James Green, of Worcester; and he was clerk for that gentleman for several years. Admitted to partnership about the time of the war, he eventually became the active manager of the store. This store, which was located between Thomas and Central Streets and is now the Bay State Pharmacy, was founded about the year 1826 by the Greens. It was the first drug store in Worcester. At present it is owned by Fisher & Co., the successors of Dr. Brockway, who bought it from the execu- tors of the Burbank estate. For several years it was the leading establishment of the kind in the city. After James Green's death Mr. Burbank bought the business, and conducted it for the rest of his life.

Mr. Burbank was a successful business man, honored in his profession, and one of the leaders in his line of business for an extended period. Of strictly temperate habits and un- questioned probity, he held the esteem and confidence of the community. He was a member of the several pharmaceutical socie- ties of the city and State. An active Repub- lican, he took part in the councils of his party, and served it faithfully, though making no effort to attain office. He was interested in the affairs of Worcester from the date of its incorporation as a city in 1848, and gave his time and energy freely for the good of the place. He was one of the founders and an officer of the Winthrop Club, organized about the year 1850, a strong association of Worces- ter men that became a power in local affairs. In the Unitarian Society of Worcester he was

the clerk for a number of years. He loved his home and family, and was a loyal friend. Gifted with considerable literary talent, in his young manhood he wrote a number of papers for publication. Before the Civil War he joined as a private in the old City Guard, which belonged to the Massachusetts Volun- teer Militia, and subsequently rose to the rank of Lieutenant.

In 1852 Mr. Burbank was married to Lydia Octavia Whiting, of Worcester, a daughter of Charles H. and Plooma Stone (Barnard) Whiting. The Whitings came from Boston, England, early in the eighteenth century, set- tling in Dover, Mass. Mr. Whiting was a native of Lunenburg, and his wife of Harvard, this State. Mr. Burbank died November 28, 1880. The sad event was marked by the Worcester Pharmaceutical Association, with the adoption of the following resolution : " Resolved, That in the death of George G. Burbank we have lost a brother who was worthy of our respect and regard, and one who has been an honor to our profession, a kind and faithful friend and associate." He left one daughter, Caroline A., who resides with her mother in Worcester.

HARLES N. WOODBURY, the treasurer of the Singleton Creamery, is a native of Sutton, where he now resides. He was born on October 9, 1855, son of Charles and Jerusha (Mer- riam) Woodbury. His emigrant ancestor in this country came from Somersetshire, Eng- land, in 1624, and had charge of the settle- ment at Cape Ann. Another ancestor, Ben- jamin Woodbury, was appointed sixth Deacon of the Congregational church in Sutton in the year 1774. Jonathan, son of this Benjamin and great-great-grandfather of Charles N. Woodbury, was a Captain in the Revolution- ary army and a Colonel in the militia after the war. For a time he represented the town in the State legislature. The Hon. Levi Woodbury, who was Judge of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, Governor of New Hampshire, United States Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of the Navy, and Assist-

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ant Justice of the United States Supreme Court, was a cousin of Charles Woodbury.

Charles Woodbury had two other sons and two daughters. One of the latter, Ella J., who was among the first graduates of the Sut- ton High School and now resides with the subject of this sketch, is a highly skilled needlewoman, and every year produces some beautiful work that is unsurpassed in design and execution. She is a member of the Sut- ton Grange. Catherine B. married William M. Warren, of Paxton, Mass. John L. Woodbury enlisted in the Fifty-first Massa- chusetts Regiment, and subsequently died in the hospital at Newbern, N.C. The other brother, George F., died at the age of forty- two in Worcester, where he had been for ten years in successful practice as a physician. He was a graduate of the Harvard Medical School. The Rev. Dr. Lansing, recently of Park Street Church, Boston, said of him in an address at the funeral, "He was not only an able physician, but the genial gentleman and gracious friend."

After receiving his education in the public schools at Sutton and in the high school at Millbury, Charles N. Woodbury began to as- sist his father on the farm where he now lives. This farm has been in the family since 1800, and now contains one hundred and twenty acres, although it comprises only one of the original eight lots. It is devoted chiefly to dairying and fruit culture. The products of the creamery, of which Mr. Woodbury is the treasurer, find a ready market in Worcester, Millbury, and adjoining towns. He is a member and an active worker of the First Congregational Church, and contributes lib- erally toward its support. He has served his native town as Selectman, having been elected to that important office when about thirty years old. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. at Millbury and of Sutton Grange, P. of H., No. 109. Of the last-named organization he was the first Master, serving for two years, and he was subsequently re-elected to the same office. By his marriage with Lizzie C. Stevens, a daughter of Lewis and Sarah Stevens, he became the father of three chil- dren, born as follows: Lilla M., in 1883;

Ethel S., in 1890; and Marion C., in 1895. The two elder children are attending the pub- lic schools, Lilla being now in the high school.

OHN N. ALBEE, a respected resident of Worcester, was born in Waltham, Mass., January 30, 1823. A son of Amos and Judith (Collier) Albee, he comes of English stock. The Albees have re- sided in Mendon, Mass., since the first settle- ment of the place, and a portion of the town has long borne the name of Albee village. Asa Albee, John N. Albee's grandfather, was a native of Mendon. Amos Albee was a na- tive of Medfield, Mass. The Colliers, Mr. Albee's mother's family, have resided in Plymouth County since Colonial days. The last few generations have lived in North Scituate, Mass.

John N. Albee acquired the most of his schooling in Canton. In the same town, at the age of seventeen, he went to work in a woollen-mill, which was one of the largest in Massachusetts at that time. He was subse- quently engaged in woollen-mills in Milford, Uxbridge, Millville, and other places in this county. In 1848 he entered the employ of Alexander Bigelow, a woollen manufacturer of Worcester, and was afterward Mr. Bige- low's partner for six and a half years. The rest of his business life was passed in this place. For many years he had charge of the carding, spinning, and weaving departments of the Hopeville Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Bigelow's son was the head, and which carded and wove woollens for men's wear. A reliable man, he had the confidence of his employer and the respect of the em- ployees. He was an eye-witness of the won- derful progress made by the woollen industry in his generation. In 1888 Mr. Albee retired from active work. He has a pleasant home on Tirrell Street, where much of his time is devoted to beautifying his grounds.

On July 4, 1848, Mr. Albee was married to Miss Eliza Warner, of Blackstone, Mass. They have had one son, George, who lived but eight years. Mr. Albee has been identi-

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fied with the Republican party since its birth, and he has been a member of the Masonic brotherhood for many years. A genial, pleasant-mannered man, he has a great many friends.

UBBARD WILLSON was actively identified with the manufacturing in- terests of Worcester County for more than a quarter of a century as half-owner, the president, and manager of the Cordaville Manufacturing Company. Born September 16, 1819, in Northumberland, Coos County, N.H., he was a son of Colonel Stephen and Jane (McGregor) Willson. Colonel Willson was a well-known hotel man of the Granite State and a large real estate owner. Of great business ability and fore- sight, he was a promoter of various enter- prises of value to the public, including the building of the first road from Lancaster, N. H., to Portland, Me., which extends through the celebrated White Mountain Notch down the Saco Valley, passing the famous Willey House. He was a stanch old-line Whig and a thirty-second degree Mason.

Hubbard Willson began life for himself when a youth of seventeen years by securing work at the woollen and cotton mills in Hook- set, N.H., where he remained several years, employed in various departments of the fac- tories. He was subsequently for some time overseer in woollen-mills in Manchester, N.H., and Lowell, Mass., positions for which his executive ability and tact eminently fitted him. In 1864 he came to Southboro, Worces- ter County, and a short time later he located in Cordaville, where in company with Mr. Merriam, of Framingham, he bought out the Cordaville Manufacturing Company, of the business of which he was thereafter half- owner and president and manager until his death. He was a very active man, of quick perception and ready sympathy, loyal to the in- terests of those with whom he was associated; and his relations with the hundreds of em- ployees of his factories were at all times cord- ial and pleasant. His religious views were liberal. In Lowell he was connected with

the Universalist church; and in Cordaville - the existence of which is wholly due to the Cordaville Manufacturing Company - where was no settled preacher of the liberal denomi- nation, he was always active in securing from week to week the services of some minister, whose pay Mr. Willson was responsible for. In 1883 he moved to Westboro, and on Charles Street purchased the beautiful resi- dence in which he afterward lived, and which is now owned and occupied by his widow. His death occurred January 18, 1895.

On October 16, 1842, Mr. Willson married Miss Lydia, daughter of William Sargent, a prominent manufacturer of Great Falls, N. H. They reared three children, namely: Abbie, the wife of Joseph Merriam, an extensive woollen manufacturer of Middletown, Conn., formerly of Framingham, Mass .; W. S. Will- son, who is in business in Brockton, Mass. ; and Jessie W., the wife of Walter C. Metcalf, who is the president and manager of the Cor- daville Manufacturing Company.

R EV. GEORGE HENRY GOULD, D.D., has been a resident of Worces- ter, Mass., for more than twenty- five years, during which time, when able, he has supplied pulpits in this city and vicinity, and has ever exerted a beneficial in- fluence in the community by his pure Chris- tian life. He was born February 20, 1827, in Oakham, Worcester County. His parents were Rufus and Mary (Henry) Gould, and his paternal grandfather was Thomas Gould, of Charlton, Mass. Mr. Gould was fitted for college at Monson Academy, and was gradu- ated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts at Amherst in 1850, after which he studied the- ology for a year at Andover under Professor Park.

He was graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 1853. His health being im- paired by close application to his books at a time antedating modern college gymnastics and physical culture, he went West to recu- perate, and was there engaged six months in civil engineering. During two winter seasons he lectured before various lyceums, and

HUBBARD WILLSON.

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preached temporarily in a number of the larger Western cities, including Milwaukee, Detroit, Dubuque, and Chicago. While yet a student, Mr. Gould was invited to become a colleague of the Rev. Albert Barnes, of Phil- adelphia; and on his return from the West he received a call from the Bowdoin Street Church, Boston, which waited for him a year before selecting another pastor. His health being but little benefited by his sojourn in the West, Mr. Gould, on coming back to Worces- ter in 1857, went abroad with John B. Gough, the celebrated temperance orator, with whom he spent a year in London, six months in Paris, four months in Edinburgh, two months in Rome, and travelled two summers in Switz- erland.

In 1862 Mr. Gould became pastor of the Olivet Congregational Church of Springfield, Mass .; and during the two years that he was connected with that society he declined urgent calls to Troy, N. Y., Norwich, Conn., and Hartford, Conn. In December, 1864, he was settled over the Old Centre Church in Hart- ford, Conn., with the understanding that on account of ill health he should preach but once each Sunday. He remained there six years, and afterward supplied the Central Church at Providence, R.I., fifteen months and the Walnut Avenue Church in Boston six months, being subsequently connected with different churches in Boston and suburban towns for longer or shorter periods. In 1872, at the formation of the Piedmont Church in Worcester, Mr. Gould became its active pas- tor, a position which he retained five years. While thus engaged he was called to the pas- torate of Amherst College, his Alma Mater, being invited to take the chair of Biblical literature in conjunction with college preach- ing. He also received a call to take charge of the Third Congregational Church in New Haven. In 1878 he began supplying the pul- pit of the Union Church in this city, where he continued his labors two and one-half years. Since then he has supplied pulpits in Worces- ter and vicinity, as his health has allowed; and, though not able to assume the responsi- bilities of a steady pastorate, he is an acknowl- edged force in the religious world. In 1870

he received from Amherst College the degree of Doctor of Divinity.

On October 15, 1862, Mr. Gould married Ellen M., daughter of Jonathan Grout, of Worcester, Mass., and a descendant in the sixth generation from John Grout, of Sudbury, Mass., who was the grandson of an English knight, and undoubtedly, we are told, de- scended from the brilliant Raymond Le Gros. John Grout, of Sudbury, was commissioned Captain in 1676 for his brave service against the Indians. Jonathan Grout, Sr., the grand- father of Mrs. Gould, carried on a successful business as a book-binder in Millbury, Mass., for many years. He possessed literary talents of a high order, and was a leader in religious circles, being a man of fine character, pure in heart and purpose. It was often said that, "if all men were as good as Jonathan Grout, there would be no need of laws." His wife, Sally, was from Lyme, Conn.

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 100

Author: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, pub Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Boston, Biographical review publishing company Number of Pages: 1238

Author: Biographical Review Publishing Company, Boston, pub
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Boston, Biographical review publishing company
Number of Pages: 1238