Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 114

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

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts > Part 114

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On August 25, 1847, at Waltham, Mass., Mr. Samson married Angenette Tavener, who was born in Newton, Mass., August 7, 1825.

When they celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding, seventy-five or eighty of their friends were present to extend congratu- lations, many substantial gifts were received, original poems were read, and speeches made in honor of the occasion. Mr. and Mrs. Sam- son have three daughters : Mary Georgianna, wife of Charles H. Pratt; Elizabeth A., wife of Stephen Bromley, of Detroit, Mich. ; and Flora A., widow of Leonard Eisentraut, re- siding in Worcester, Mass.

HARLES H. PRATT, chairman of the Ashburnham Board of Selectmen, was born in Westminster, Mass., November 11, 1848. His parents were Russell and Ann (Wheeler) Pratt, and his paternal grandparents were John and Bet- sey (Warren) Pratt, of Gardner, Mass.

John Pratt died just before his son Russell was born, and Mrs. Pratt returned to her father's home, a farm in the north part of Westminster. She was a daughter of Hay- man and. Betsey (Mossman) Wheeler and one of a family of fourteen children, all of whom have passed away. Her father, who was a prominent office-holder and trial justice, came to Westminster from Sudbury, Mass. He died at the age of fifty-four years. Russell Pratt died on the old Wheeler farm in 1868, aged fifty-six. Two years later his widow, Mrs. Ann Pratt, came to Ashburnham to live, and here she died in 1876. They had three chil- dren, sons; namely, John W., Henry R., and Charles H. John W., a resident of Charles- town, Mass., died in 1881, at thirty-nine. Henry R. died at nineteen years of age, in 1864.

The boyhood of Charles H. Pratt was spent on the old Wheeler homestead in Westminster. He attended the common school and assisted in the work of the farm until the age of twenty, when he went to Fitchburg, Mass., and for the next eighteen months was em- ployed in a cabinet shop. After his marriage he came to live on this farm with his wife's father.

Mr. Pratt was married November 11, 1873, to Miss Mary G. Samson, who was born on

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this farm and is a daughter of George G. and Angenette (Tavener) Samson. One son has blessed their union; namely, George Russell Pratt, a music student.

In political views Mr. Pratt is a Republican. He has held the position of chairman of the Board of Selectmen seven or eight years, and has served on the board constantly since 1883, with the exception of the year 1886. Frater- nally, he is a member of Naumkeag Lodge, I. O. O. F., in which he has passed all the chairs: also of the Knights of Pythias, and of the Ashburnham Grange, in which there are one hundred and eighty-six members. His wife and son also belong to the grange. In 1876 Mr. Pratt enlisted in the Rice Guards ; four years later he was made Second Lieuten- ant : and in 1885 he became a Captain, serving until he resigned three years later. This or- ganization was started as the Ashburnham Light Infantry over one hundred years ago; and the name was changed to the Rice Guards in honor of its old Captain, who was Colonel of the Ninth Regiment before the war, went out as Captain of a company in the Twenty- first Massachusetts Regiment, was afterward promoted to be Lieutenant Colonel, and was killed at Chantilly.

AVID BOYDEN, for a number of years partner in the firm of John Kendall & Co., hatters and furriers, Worcester, Mass., was born in Ma- chias, Me., October 10, 1843, and was the son of David, Sr., and Martha (Paine) Boyden. His paternal ancestors for several generations were well-to-do farmers. In 1750 his great- grandfather, John Boyden, took part as an officer in the famous expedition against Louis- burg.

In 1837 David Boyden, Sr., became inter- ested in land speculation in Maine, and settled in that State. In 1853 he removed to Worces- ter, and here he died in 1861. During the earlier part of his active life he worked as a lumberman in Maine. In Worcester he lived for a short time on the Bond farm in Lincoln Street and later in the cottage at the corner of Pleasant and Irving Streets, where All Saints'

Church is now located. His wife was the daughter of Judge Elisha Paine, of Ashfield, Franklin County, Mass. Three of her brothers were clergymen, one the Rev. William G. Paine, for more than forty years pastor of the Congregational church of Holden. Mrs. Boy- den survived until January, 1891, dying at the age of eighty-two at the home of her son David. Her children were: Henry P., for- merly a teacher in the Worcester High School, now an editorial writer on the Cincinnati Com- mercial Gasctte ; Frank W., now station agent at Richmond, Ill. ; and David, Jr.

David Boyden, Jr., had the most of his schooling in Worcester, where he first attended the Thomas Street School. At the opening of the Sycamore Street School he became a pupil there under the instruction of Addison E. Hunt, who prepared him for the high school. He entered the latter in 1858, and for a year was under the instruction of P. W. Calkins, of late for many years pastor of the Eliot Church in Newton. When a little less than sixteen years old he went into the shoe store of E. Estabrook as a clerk; and the next year he entered the employ of Hiram Ayers, who kept a grocery store where the Quinsigamond Clothing Company is now located in Main Street. Here he remained until 1862, when he enlisted as a private in Company E of the Thirty-sixth Massachusetts Regiment, which went to the front under the command of Colonel Henry T. Bowman. It was at this time that Mr. Boyden became acquainted with Major Edward T. Raymond of the Twenty- fifth Massachusetts Regiment, who was later commissioned Lieutenant and transferred to the Thirty-sixth Regiment, which he joined at Antietam Iron Works after the battle. In October, 1862, Mr. Boyden was promoted to be a Corporal in Company E, and was attached to the color guard, a somewhat dangerous and a highly responsible position. He remained with the regiment during the Fredericksburg campaign in December, 1862, and then went West, being detailed in the quartermaster's department under Captain Theron Hall, of Holden, who had charge of that department of the supply camp known as Camp Nelson, near Lexington, Ky. There he remained several

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months, and was confined in the hospital of the camp. This was the only illness, prior to his last, which he ever experienced. He was engaged in the siege of Vicksburg in 1863, and was later at Jackson, Miss. From Jackson Mr. Boyden went as Orderly to General Burn- side's headquarters, thus becoming attached to the Ninth Army Corps. He was with Burn- side more than a year, and in 1864 and 1865 participated in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, Pet- ersburg, Poplar Grove Church, Weldon Rail- road, and Hatcher's Run. On June 8, 1865, he received an honorable discharge, and returned to his home in Worcester. He entered the service of the Rev. Horace James of the Freed- men's Bureau, who had been chaplain of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment during the war. Mr. Boyden was commissioned to go to North Carolina to look after two plan- tations under the charge of the Freedmen's Bureau, but in a short time returned to Worcester.

While in the employ of Hiram Ayers before the war, Mr. Boyden became acquainted with John Kendall, who was then in the hat and fur business on Main Street. In October, 1866, after Mr. Boyden's return from the South, Mr. Kendall offered him a position as clerk, which he accepted and held for twenty-two years, or up to 1888. From that date until the time of his death, which occurred on June 5, 1896, he was a valued and efficient member of the firm.

In 1866 the Burnside Association of the Thirty-sixth Regiment was formed in Worces- ter, and David Boyden was elected secretary and treasurer. He joined George H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. A. R., soon after his return from the war, and from January 1, 1869, to January 1, 1870, was Quartermaster, Elliot Blake the same year being post Commander. In 1870 H. C. Soley became Commander and Mr. Boyden was elected Junior Vice-Com- mander. The following term he was made Senior Vice-Commander, J. E. Dennis filling the office of Commander. This was the last office Mr. Boyden held in the post, although he was permanently identified with it as long as he lived, and always took a deep interest in the organization, He was on the Hall Committee

for fifteen years, and in that time he collected about eighteen thousand dollars. During his connection with the post he figured promi- nently in amateur theatricals given by that organization, and exhibited considerable dra- matic ability. While Major Warriner was national Commander of the Grand Army, in 1888-89, Mr. Boyden was appointed on the staff as Aide-de-camp, with the rank of Colonel. He was also a member of the Union Veterans' Association. In politics Mr. Boy- den was a lifelong Republican. For a time he served as a member of the Common Council, but refused re-election on account of ill health. He was a prominent factor in ward politics, and seldom on the losing side.

In 1872 Mr. Boyden married Estelle Rogers, of Wales, Mass., daughter of George S. and Amanda (Atwood) Rogers, of that town. Mr. Rogers comes of an old New England family. A sketch of his life is given in the issue of the BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW for Hampden County. Mr. Boyden was a regular attendant of the Plymouth Church. His home subsequent to 1890 was at 5 Home Street. He is sur- vived by his wife, Mrs. Estelle R. Boyden, and three children, namely: Edith R .; W. Thane, who is employed in the office of the State Mutual Insurance Company ; and Arthur Raymond.

ALVIN FARNSWORTH, proprietor of a large hack and baggage express business in Worcester, was born in Lunenburg, Mass., November 20, 1831. His parents were Calvin, Sr., and Ploomy (Adams) Farnsworth ; and his paternal grandfather was Jesse Farnsworth, a farmer, who was born in Shirley about the year 1750. The maiden name of his grandmother Farns- worth was Adams. She died at the age of eighty years, and her husband survived her. They had two sons and one daughter.

Calvin Farnsworth, Sr., son of Jesse, was born in Shirley in the year 1800. Settling in Lunenburg when a young man, he engaged in the manufacture of bandboxes, which he sold in Lowell and Boston, transporting his goods to those places by wagon, He was an indus-

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trious and useful citizen. He married in 1822 Maria Adams, a native of Lunenburg and a daughter of Abel Adams. They had eight children, two of whom died young. The sur- vivors are : Calvin, the subject of this sketch ; Stephen, a farmer in Lunenburg: and four daughters. The father died at the age of forty-five; and the mother, who survived him about thirty years, died at seventy-five.

Calvin Farnsworth acquired a common- school education in his native town, complet ing his studies at the age of sixteen. For the succeeding three years he drove a stage-coach from the village to the railway station. After that he went to Fitchburg, and was for a time employed in a restaurant. Entering the ser- vice of the Fitchburg & Worcester Railway as baggage-master and brakeman, he was advanced two years later to the position of passenger conductor, and continued in that capacity for six years. He had charge of the first sleeping- car to run between Boston and New York, and was identified with that branch of the service for a number of years, during which time he witnessed many changes in the way of improve- ments, the night trains becoming as popular as those run by day. His success in running the night trains pleased the company, and as a reward for his faithful service they gave him a day train between Boston and Worcester. In 1881 he obtained from the company the exclu- sive privilege of handling, storing, and de- livering packages in and around the Worces- ter station, the officials believing that such an arrangement would benefit the public. Though his first year's business was comparatively small, the idea at length found favor with the public, and his enterprise, which has devel- oped into large proportions, is now very profit- able. It includes besides his parcel delivery a line of hacks, requiring the use of thirty horses. His success has been obtained solely by giving his business his personal attention.

On April 12, 1854, Mr. Farnsworth was joined in marriage with Martha Ann Hayward, of Fitchburg, daughter of Ebenezer and Ann (Bingham) Hayward. Two sons, born of this union, died in infancy. The living children are: Carrie H. ; Josie M. ; and George B., who is in business with his father,

OBART RAYMOND, a successful general farmer and dairyman resid- ing in Westminster, Mass., son of Solon and Roxy (Allen) Raymond, was born in the east part of the town on the old Major Raymond farm, September 25, 1846. His paternal grandparents were Major Nathan and Mary (Clarke) Raymond.

Jonathan Raymond, father of Major Nathan, was born in Lexington, Mass., in 1734. He married in 1756 Susannah White, and, coming to Westminster, settled on lot No. 56, near the present railroad station. As shown by the Massachusetts records, he enlisted to serve in the Revolutionary War three different times. He was under General Stark in Vermont, prob- ably in the battle of Bennington, and in the campaign against Burgoyne. While he was away, his wife was arrested for failure to pay taxes, and placed in jail, but was bailed out by kind friends. Nathan Raymond in after years often said he was never so hungry in his life as when his father's absence in the army left his mother with but scanty means for their sup- port. John Raymond, a brother of Jonathan, was killed by the British soldiers at Lexington on April 19, 1775. Jonathan Raymond died in 1784. His widow died in 1825, aged ninety-eight years.

Their son, Major Nathan Raymond, born in 1774, is well remembered by the older resi- dents of Westminster. His home was the farm on which his grandson, Alton Battles, now resides. He was a man of fine physique, dis- tinguished for his dignified bearing, and is said to have resembled General Washington. For a number of years he was Major of a regi- ment. He was prominent in town affairs, and frequently served as presiding officer at town meetings. He was hospitable and well-liked. His wife was Mary Clarke, daughter of Eli Clarke, of Hubbardston. He died November 8, 1850, aged seventy-five. She survived him about ten years.

Upon leaving the parental home Solon, the youngest son of Major Nathan Raymond, pur- chased the Fairbanks Moor farm at the foot of Meeting-house Pond. On the farm stood the first frame house built in Westminster, and it is now a part of the present house. He died

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here of cancer, October 19, 1883, aged sixty- seven. As a man and a citizen he was held in high esteem. He cared little for office, and would seldom accept a nomination. He was a Universalist in religious faith and a member of the church. He had two children : Alona, who died in 1860, at seventeen; and Hobart. His widow continues to live at the homestead with her son.

The family removed to this farm in 1856. Hobart was then about nine years old, and the remainder of his boyhood was spent here. He attended the common schools and the old Westminster Academy. Later for a time he was a student in an academy at South New- bury, Ohio. On July 22, 1864, before he reached his eighteenth birthday, he enlisted in the Nineteenth Unattached Company, Massa- chusetts Volunteers, for one hundred days' service in the war for the Union. After his return he worked for a time in the chair shops ; and he subsequently engaged in the coal, flour, and grain business for two years at Winchen- don. His father's illness coming on in 1874, he returned to the farm, and has since resided here. He has given his attention to general farming, dairying, and fruit-raising, in all of which he has had good success. Since he owned the farm he has added to it at different times by purchasing land adjoining.

While in business in Winchendon, Mr. Ray- mond was married on December 18, 1873, to Miss Laura A. Ball, who was formerly a teacher in Westminster, Mass. They have two children, namely : Carl Allen, born Sep- tember 19, 1876; and Cyril Bernard, born Jan- uary 8, 1887. Carl Allen has had some three years' experience as a page at the State House, and for the last two years as clerical assistant to the Clerk of the House of Representatives. He enlisted in Company E, First Regiment, United States Volunteer Engineers, and after serving nearly four months in Porto Rico re- turned with his regiment and received a sixty days' furlough. He is expecting shortly to be mustered out and to resume his duties at the State House.

Mr. Hobart Raymond is a Republican. He has served on the Town Committee, is presi- . dent of the Republican Club, a member of the

Fourth District Congressional Committee, and he has presided at Republican conventions. His record as a town official covers ten years' service as Assessor, the greater part as chair- man of the board, and several years on the Board of Selectmen. He was chairman of the Board of Selectmen when the State Highway Commission was established, and he took a deep interest in having a section of the State road built in this town, meeting the commis- sioners and being active in other ways. Mr. Raymond is now chairman of the Board of Overseers of the Poor. He is a Justice of the Peace, and does much conveyancing, a pro- bate business, and settles many estates. In 1893 he served as a member of the Massachu- setts legislature, and was appointed a member of the Committee on Taxation and of the joint special committee to serve during the recess to revise, codify, and recommend such changes in the taxation laws as special investigation might show to be equitable and for the public good. He met with the committee at various places, visited nearly all sections of the State, and helped write the report that was made to the legislature at its next session. He was called before the commission of 1897 to pre- sent the situation from the farmer's standpoint. He has given taxation a careful study and has favored a more equal system. The past ten years he has been the town undertaker. He is a director in the Westminster National Bank of Gardner. Mr. Raymond is a charter member of Joseph P. Rice Post, No. 69, G. A. R., which he has served as Commander several times; a member of the grange; and a member of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Association, which has charge of the local fair.

AMUEL N. CUTLER, of Warren, a practical New England farmer, was born in this town, March 13, 1846, son of Augustus and Betsey (Hall) Cutler. The father, who was a native of Brookfield, followed the occupation of spin- ner in a mill at Monson, Mass., during his earlier years, but the greater part of his active period was spent upon a farm in Warren, where he died May 18, 1871. In politics he was a

JOSEPH P. EATON.

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Republican. His wife, Betsey, who was a native of Spencer, Mass., became the mother of several children, three of whom are living; namely, Elmina E., Lucien P., and Samuel The mother died in May, 1882.

Samuel N. Cutler was educated in the com- mon and high schools of Warren. Since his youth he has been engaged in agricultural pursuits, and carries on general farming ener- getically and successfully. He also acts as a public auctioneer.

In politics a Republican, he served for three years as a member of the Board of Selectmen, and he has been Overseer of the Poor for a number of terms, being at the present time clerk of the board. He is a Past Master of Quaboag Lodge, F. & A. M .; Past High Priest of King Solomon Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; and was formerly Master of Warren Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, and is now its chaplain. He is secretary of the Warren section of the New England Milk Producers' Union.

Mr. Cutler married Lillie M. Henshaw, daughter of Eli F. Henshaw, of West Brook- field, and he and his wife are the parents of two children - Elias H. and Ruth E. Cutler. He is a member of the Congregational church.

J OSEPH P. EATON, a well-known man of Auburn, son of the late Thomas Eaton, was born in his present resi- dence, November 7, 1839. He is of English origin, and is a direct descendant of Jonas Eaton, an early settler of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, who located on Cow- drey's Hill, in that part of the ancient town of Reading that was known for many years as South Reading, but is now called Wakefield. Jonas became one of the leading men of the community, which he served, according to the records, as Selectman in 1650, 1662, 1670, and 1673. He acquired considerable wealth as a wise and thrifty farmer; and at his death, which occurred February 24, 1674, he left an estate valued at seven hundred and fifty pounds sterling. Of his nine children, sev- eral married, and reared children that after- ward attained prominence in public life.

The line of descent comes through Joshua Eaton (first), Joshua Eaton (second), and Captain Thomas Eaton, the great-grandfather of Joseph P. Captain Eaton was the original owner of the present Eaton homestead in Au- burn. While he never lived here himself, he gave the deed of the place to his son Jonas. This deed, now in the possession of Joseph P., dated September 9, 1773, was given by Jonas Nichols and Peter Boyden in payment of a debt, the amount of which was four hun- dred and twenty-six pounds and fifteen shil- lings. Captain Eaton married Lydia Pierce, of Watertown, who bore him three children - Thomas, Jonas, and Elizabeth. Elizabeth, having never married, was amply provided for by her father's will. In 1785 Jonas Eaton, son of Captain Thomas Eaton, came on horse- back through the almost pathless woods between Reading and Auburn to take posses- sion of the one hundred acres of land now included in the homestead. He was born January 22, 1757, and was therefore then in the prime of manhood. He cleared a portion of the land, and until his death was profitably engaged as a husbandman. Here, too, he reared his family, which included seven chil- dren. Of these, the three eldest, Thomas, William, and Joseph, aged respectively eight years, five, and one year, died of dysentery in 1796, within the short period of two weeks. The other children, born after the death of the first three, were: Elizabeth, Thomas, William, and Sarah. Elizabeth, who became the wife of Captain Nathaniel Stone, died at an advanced age, leaving one daughter. Sarah died at the age of twenty-one years. William and Thomas carried on the home farm in partnership for many years, and also owned considerable property in other parts of the town.

Thomas Eaton, born November 28, 1799, died February 20, 1876. On January 25, 1826, he married Hannah, daughter of Aaron and Hannah (Greenwood) Pierce, of Sutton, now Millbury, Mass. She was one of a fam- ily of eight children, of whom six grew to maturity, and two attained a venerable age. The latter were: Sally, who was the wife of Paul Chase, and died at the age of ninety-four

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years; and Mary, the widow of Calvin Temple, of Reading, Mass., now a bright and active woman of ninety-two years. Thomas and Hannah Eaton reared four children, as follows: Daniel T., born April 10, 1830, who is living in Auburn Centre; Thomas S., born July 2, 1832, who resides on a part of the old homestead; Lydia Adelia, born July 24, 1834, who died August 30, 1865; Joseph P., the subject of this sketch. One child died in infancy. The mother died on October 24, 1858. She was a member of the Congrega- tional church, of which her husband was a Deacon.

Joseph P. Eaton obtained the rudiments of knowledge in the district schools, and subse- quently attended Appleton Academy in New Ipswich, N.H., for four terms. He after- ward assisted in the work of the home farm until September 15, 1861, when he enlisted in Company A, Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. While in camp near home he was detailed as wagoner, and in the following year at Newbern, N.C., was promoted to the post of wagon-master, a posi- tion in which he served three years, for two years of which he was wagon-master of the brigade. By an accident he came near losing his right leg from having it run over by a loaded wagon. In 1864, at the expiration of his term of enlistment, he returned home, and resumed work on the homestead, where he has since spent the larger part of his time. In January, 1894, he leased his farm, and going to Minneapolis, Minn., served as superintend- ent of the Washburn Memorial Orphan Asy- lum for fourteen months, a position which he resigned March 1, 1895, on account of the failing health of his wife.

Fraternally, Mr. Eaton is a member of the George H. Ward Post, No. 10, G. A. R .; and of Regulus Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of Worcester. Politically, he has the courage of his convictions, and votes for men and meas- ures that he deems best. He takes an active part in the management of local affairs as the chairman of the Board of Selectmen. He is a conscientious business man and an attendant of the Universalist church. In September, 1866, Mr. Eaton married Miss Ella F. Hoar,

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 114

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