Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 117

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 117

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CHARLES B. SAWIN.

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with all modern appliances, including a gaso- line engine for power. Mr. Sawin grinds about a carload of grain per day. He is a very energetic and forceful business man. A cyclone in the latter part of August, 1897, unroofed his mill and blew down a part of the walls, causing a loss amounting to several thousand dollars, as no insurance policy in New England covers cyclone damages. Within twenty-four hours he had the premises covered with workmen. In a week the walls were entirely rebuilt, every bushel of damaged grain disposed of, and no trace of the disaster remained.

Mr. Sawin has been twice married. His first wife, in maidenhood Miss Louisa McMas- ters, had one son and one daughter - Harry W. and Mary L. Jameson. His present wife was formerly Miss F. H. Follensby, of South- boro. Harry W. Sawin, who graduated at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College in Boston, and is now in business with his father, is a clean-cut, active young man and his father's right-hand man. He married Miss Alice G. Ingalls, of Cambridge, and has one daughter, named Olive. Mr. Charles B. Sawin is very active in town affairs. He has been a member of the Board of Selectmen for several years, having served for some time as chairman. He is a charter member of G. Wesley Nichols Post, No. 44, G. A. R., and was the first Master of the Southboro Grange. Among his valued possessions are the curious old deeds signed and sealed by the Indians, from whom his ancestors purchased their land in Natick.

ON. HAMILTON BARCLAY STAPLES, LL.D., sometime Jus- tice of the Superior Court of Worcester, was born in Mendon, Mass., on February 14, 1829, and died in Worcester, August 2, 1891. The following biographical sketch of the late Judge Staples is taken almost verbatim from "One of a Thou- sand."

After his common-school course he prepared for college at Worcester Academy. He en- tered Brown University in 1847, and was grad-

uated therefrom in the class of 1851, taking the Latin salutatory. He studied law in Prov- idence, R.I., in the office of the late Chief Justice Ames, and in Worcester with the late Hon. Peter C. Bacon; was admitted to the bar at Worcester, 1854, and went into practice in Milford, in partnership with the late General A. B. Underwood in 1855; was subsequently in partnership with John C. Scammell, the Hon. Charles A. Dewey, and William F. Slocum. In 1869 he removed to Worcester, and was engaged in practice in this city, in partnership with the Hon. Francis P. Gould- ing, for twelve years, until 1881.

Judge Staples was a member of the Common Council of Worcester and a trustee of the City Hospital in 1874; District Attorney of the Middle District for eight years ; was appointed one of the Justices of the Superior Court, Feb- ruary 16, 1881, and was on the bench of that court during his remaining years.

He was married in Mendon in 1858 to Eliz- abeth A. Godfrey, step-daughter of the Hon. Benjamin Davenport. She died July 1, 1867; and he was married in Northampton, October 8, 1868, to Mary Clinton Dewey, daughter of the late Hon. Charles A. Dewey, Judge of the Supreme Court, and his wife, Caroline H. Clinton, daughter of General James Clinton, of New York. Two children were the fruit of the second marriage, namely: Charles Dewey ' Staples, who died in infancy; and Francis Hamilton Staples, born April 22, 1872.

Judge Staples was a valued member of the American Antiquary Society, and contributed to its proceedings the following papers: "A Day at Mount Vernon in 1797," "The Origin of the Names of the States," "The Province Laws," "The Winthrop Sword," and "The Monument to La Salle at Rouen." He re- ceived the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Brown University in 1884.

ONAS T. PUTNAM, a prosperous dairyman of Spencer, was born in Rut- land, Mass., July 15, 1835, son of Andrew and Nancy (Woodard) Putnam. His first American ancestor, it is said, was one of three brothers who emigrated from Eng-

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land and settled in Salem, Mass. Captain Archelaus Putnam, great-grandfather of Jonas, was born in Sutton in 1744, and moved to Rutland in 1795, where he resided until his death in 1809. He served in the Revolution- ary War. Mr. Putnam's grandfather, Andrew Putnam, was a native of Sutton.

Andrew Putnam, the father, moved in 1843 from Rutland, his native town, to Spencer, and in 1850 he located upon the farm which is now owned by his son Jonas. His death occurred in 1856. Of his children there are four sons and two daughters living. One of the daugh- ters married William Hatch, of Rutland, and the other became the wife of Lorenzo Watson, of Spencer. The sons all reside in Spencer; namely, Jonas T., Andrew E., Austin G., and Archelaus D.

Jonas T. Putnam, who has resided here since his early boyhood, received his education in the district school. When a young man he followed the shoemaker's trade for a time, but at the age of twenty-one, on account of his father's death, he relinquished it in order to take charge of the homestead farm, which he has since carried on. He owns one hundred and eight acres of fertile land, which he de- votes chiefly to dairy purposes, and his energy has been attended with prosperous results. Politically, Mr. Putnam is a Republican. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Association of Spencer, and for a number of years served upon the Executive Committee. He attends and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Putnam married Elizabeth C. Sampson, daughter of the late Francis Sampson, of West Brookfield, and a descendant on the paternal side of one of the early settlers at Plymouth. He has two daughters - Martha A. and Mary W.

DWIN AUGUSTUS THWING, ma- chinist, for twenty years and more one of the firm of the Lathe and Morse Tool Company in Worcester, was born at Men- don, December 22, 1829. He was a son of Charles Augustus and Uranah (Keith) Thwing, and was a representative of the eighth genera-

tion of the family founded by Benjamin Thwing, who settled in Boston as early as 1635. This is the line of ancestry: Benja- min,' John,2 John, 3 John, 4 Benjamin, 5 Benja- min, Jr.,6 and Charles Augustus.7

Benjamin Thwing, Sr., settled at Uxbridge in 1754, and built there in 1776 a substantial dwelling, which has been the home of several generations, and is still in the possession of the family. Charles A. Thwing, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a woollen manu- facturer at Uxbridge, and was afterward in the provision business. He served the town in several offices, and was at one time a member of the State legislature. He died May 10, 1861. His sister Hannah was the wife of George Draper and the mother of General William F. Draper.

Edwin Augustus Thwing, after completing his studies at the Uxbridge and Worcester Academies, was apprenticed to the Whitins of Whitinsville to learn the inachinist's trade. He came to Worcester in 1849, and worked at his trade for A. H. Stocking & Co., makers of firearms. He was soon engaged as an expert machinist by S. C. Coombs & Co., makers of machinists' tools and lathes; and he continued with this firm and its successors until 1871, with the exception of a few years spent with other concerns. His work was highly valued by his employers; and, when the partners re- tired in 1871, Mr. Thwing purchased an inter- est in the new firm, then and previously known as the Lathe and Morse Tool Company. His strong personality and unusual executive abil- ity imparted an impetus to the business, and he so conducted the enterprise as to make it highly profitable to all. After the death of Mr. Thwing's partner a corporation was formed in 1892 under the name of the Draper Machine Tool Company, with General Will- iam F. Draper as president and Edwin A. Thwing as treasurer and general manager. This position Mr. Thwing held until his death, which occurred June 14, 1892. His estate still holds an interest in the business, and his son has succeeded him as treasurer and man- ager of the corporation. Earnest, energetic, and self-reliant, Mr. Thwing worked inces- santly, thus overtaxing his strength and caus-

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ing his somewhat premature death. He was naturally quiet and thoughtful, devoted to his home and his business, and never interesting himself actively in outside affairs. A man of strict integrity, he was a substantial citizen, and his opinions on practical matters were considered of value as being sound and safe. He was a member of the Worcester County Mechanics' Association, and was an attendant of the Universalist church.

He married May 9, 1850, Rhoda A. Law- rence, of Uxbridge, daughter of Thomas C. Lawrence and a descendant of John Lawrence, who settled in Watertown, Mass., in 1635. Mrs. Thwing is the mother of two children - Hattie and Charles Edwin. Hattie, born in 1855, is now Mrs. Charles F. Smith, of Worcester. Charles Edwin Thwing, born in Hopedale in 1865, was educated at the com- mon schools and the high school of Worcester, and afterward learned his father's trade. He took a prominent part in the business of the Tool Company, and upon the death of his father was elected to the position of treasurer and general manager. He is a young man of marked ability.

AVID BRADLEY HARRINGTON, formerly a prominent mason, con- tractor, and builder of Millbury, was born in Westboro, Mass., Feb- ruary 9, 1801, son of Wentworth and Rachel (Hyde) Harrington. The Harrington family came originally from England, and at an early date settled in Lexington, whence they re- moved to Westboro. John Harrington, father of Wentworth, was a minute-man during the Revolutionary War, and was called out several times. When he received the news of the Concord fight he was shingling his barn, but dropped work, and mounting his horse rode to Lexington to participate in the repulse of the British. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Whitney, was a native of Westboro. They were the parents of five sons and one daughter. Wentworth Harrington, father of David B., was born in Westboro in 1777, and died in 1808. His wife, Rachel, who was a descendant of one of the earliest families in

New England, died in 1849. They had five children, of whom two, William and Went- worth, died in childhood. Stephen, who for some years previous to 1849 was a contracting mason and builder in Millbury, removed in the year mentioned to Worcester, where he subse- quently conducted a prosperous business. He died in 1887, aged eighty years, leaving three sons and a daughter, who is now the widow of Benjamin L. Sampson, and resides on Pleasant Street.

David Bradley Harrington after learning the mason's trade engaged in business for himself as a contractor and builder, and erected many of the brick buildings in this town In 1848 he built the house at 64 Main Street now occu- pied by his daughters, which was then the most northerly dwelling in Millbury. For some years also he carried on a grocery busi - ness in Millbury. Mr. Harrington died in 1893, at the age of ninety-two years, his wife having passed away in 1889, at the age of eighty-two. Though at no time a seeker for political or official honors, he was elected and served as Assessor.

In 1831 Mr. Harrington was united in mar- riage with Amy Sophia Newton, who was born in 1807. Three children were born of their union ; namely, Charles Augustus, Lucy Sophia, and Amy Augusta. Charles A. is a lumber dealer at Newtonville. Lucy S. and Amy A., who reside in Millbury, were edu- cated in the common and high schools and at Millbury Academy. They have lived quiet and unassuming lives, and are esteemed by their fellow-townspeople for their sterling womanly qualities of character.

J OHN E. HOLMAN, well known in Worcester and vicinity in the seventies as an architect of unusual talent and . skill, was born in Petersham, this county, November 2, 1848. He was a son of Solomon O. and Alma S. (Smith) Holman, prosperous members of the farming community of that town.

Mr. Holman acquired a practical education in Petersham, where he remained with his parents until 1868. Coming then to Worces-

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ter, he entered the office of E. Boyden, archi- tect, and made such rapid progress in his studies that at the end of six months he began to receive a salary, a notable fact, as according to the agreement first made he was to give his time to Mr. Boyden for a whole year. At the end of two years he left his employer, and in company with a Mr. Cutting established him- self in business. The partnership continued four years; and a number of large public buildings and several churches and residences, including some in Piedmont and Plymouth, attest the diligence and efficiency of Messrs. Holman & Cutting during this period. In July, 1878, Mr. Holman, who had already achieved an excellent reputation, opened an office by himself in Worcester; and from that time until his death, November 8, 1878, a few brief months, he succeeded so well in his work that a brilliant future was predicted for him. Had his life been spared, he would undoubt- edly have occupied a place of prominence among the leading architects of the county, if not of the State.

Mr. Holman was married October 29, 1870, to Abigail F. Bancroft, of Petersham, Mass., a descendant of George Bancroft, the cele- brated historian. Mr. and Mrs. Holman had two children, namely: Ralph H., who was educated in the Worcester High School, and is by profession a civil engineer; and Annie H., who is now a student. Ralph H. Holman is an enthusiastic naturalist, and has one of the finest collections of birds to be found in this locality. He is now serving as a commis- sioner on the State Board of Agriculture.

ERBERT A. COOK, the well-known florist and market-gardener of Shrewsbury, son of W. L. and Emily S. (Hayden) Cook, was born in Marlboro, Mass., in 1847. Ancestors of his were among the early settlers of Marl- boro. Mr. Cook's grandfather and great-grand- father, who were named respectively Libous and Annanias, spent the greater part of their lives engaged in tilling the soil. The father, who was a prominent resident of Marlboro and an influential member of the North Congrega-

tional Church, was largely interested in dairy farming.

Herbert A. Cook attended the common schools of Marlboro, including the high school, and began his working life as a market- gardener. Later he took up floriculture, to which he has since given his chief attention. Twenty-five years ago he came to Shrewsbury and bought the farm upon which he now lives. Since then he has devoted himself especially to the culture of carnations and built up a most prosperous business. In order to satisfy the constantly increasing demand for flowers, he has been obliged to make repeated additions to , his facilities for raising them. Now he has more than twenty thousand feet under glass, of which by far the greater part is devoted to pink culture. He is probably the most exten- sive as well as the most successful grower of carnation pinks in New England. Mr. Cook's success is largely due to his practical knowl- edge of details and to his close attention to business. He has originated several beautiful varieties of pinks, the most successful one, per- haps, being the Nivea, with which he se- cured control of the Boston market for white pinks in the winter of 1897-98. Of this one variety he shipped weekly during that season a number averaging six thousand.

In addition to his floriculture Mr. Cook car- ries on an extensive market-gardening busi- ness, confining himself to such products as will give employment to his force of florists at times when they are not needed in the green- houses. In this way he is able to keep a corps of skilled workmen the year round, instead of having to engage new and inexperienced men each season. Mr. Cook is an active member of Shrewsbury Grange, and his timely papers or addresses before. that organization are listened to with close interest. He is also a member of the Worcester North and the Worcester Horticultural Societies, of the American Carnation and the American Flo- rists' Associations, of the Worcester Market Gardeners' Association, and various other or- ganizations. Frequently he delivers addresses before these bodies, besides contributing to various horticultural publications.

Actively interested in local affairs, Mr.

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GEORGE H. JEFTS.

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Cook has served on the School Board; and he has been a member of the Board of Selectmen for four years and the chairman of that body for two years. He married Emily Fosgate, of Berlin, and two children have been born to him - Maurice and Elsie. The former, who was educated at Amherst College, is now in busi- ness with his father. The latter has just grad- uated from the Worcester Classical High School, and will this season enter Mount Holyoke College.

ENRY LEWIS HOPKINS, who ranked for a number of years among the prominent merchants of the city of Worcester, was born in Jefferson, Lincoln County, Me., March 26, 1858. His parents were Lewis and Jane (Hewitt) Hop- kins. The Hopkins family is one of the old- est in New England, and has many sterling traits of character. Lewis Hopkins had a large general store at Whitinsville station, Mass., and was very successful in business. He and his wife were visiting in Maine when their son Henry L. was born, but their home was in Whitinsville. He is now living in Worcester.

Henry Lewis Hopkins was educated in the common schools of Whitinsville, and went to work early in his father's store. Here he acquired a practical knowledge of the ins and outs of trade, and, being quick, keen, and am- bitious, was soon qualified to manage a business of his own. There was little scope for his ambition in a country town; and in 1882 he entered the employ of a Mr. Raymond, who kept a drug store on Summer Street, Worcester. As soon as he received his diploma from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, he took his savings and opened a store in the Lewis Hopkins Block at the corner of Pleasant and Piedmont Streets. Here he managed a suc- cessful drug business for a number of years. His nervous energy, however, was greater than his strength. He would devote to reading and study hours which should have been given to rest. He also added other lines of merchan- dise to his stock in trade. He took an adjoin- ing store and stocked it with dry goods, and

managed the two stores; but the double strain was too much for him, and at length he sold his drug business. The other store he then enlarged, adding many different lines of fancy goods; and he moved into a large block on Main Street, where rents were high and com- petition fierce. The strain was so great upon him that his health became seriously under- mined, and he removed to a quieter location, establishing his headquarters in the Winslow Block on Pleasant Street. Here. he had a thriving trade up to the time of his death, July 22, 1894. As a business man he was shrewd and capable, ambitious and energetic. So- cially, he was genial and unaffected, and had many friends. He was conscientious and high- principled, and his habits in private life were simple and unostentatious. His early death was, no doubt, caused by overwork and con- tinuous nervous strain.

Mr. Hopkins was married February 7, 1888, to Mrs. Clara E. Knight Call, of Richmond, Me., daughter of Benjamin H. and Sarah Cheney (Decker) Knight and widow of Cap- tain William F. Call. Her first husband, who came of a seafaring family, was master and part owner of the "Oasis," a vessel en- gaged principally in trade with China and the East Indies, and had travelled over a large part of the globe. He died on his ship while en route from New York to China, and was buried at sea some three hundred miles east of Rio Janeiro. Mrs. Hopkins has one daughter, Ella May Call, who is living with her. Mrs. Hopkins is a lady of culture and literary taste, and has seen much of the world. She was in Hong-Kong, China, when General Grant was there, and was present at a recep- tion given by him to the Americans in that city.

EORGE HENRY JEFTS, superin- tendent of the Massachusetts Odd Fellows Home, Worcester, was born in Brookline, N.H., in 1840, son of Joseph Franklin and Adeline (Pendleton) Jefts. He is descended from early settlers of English origin. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Jefts, who was born in Temple, N. H., in

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1788 and died in 1863, married Lucinda Far- well, of Harvard, Mass. They reared three sons and two daughters, of whom the only sur- vivor is Edmund F. Jefts, an octogenarian of Holyoke, Mass., and a pensioner of the Civil War.

Joseph Franklin Jefts, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Mason, N.H., in 1810. He was self-educated and well versed in the ordinary branches of study. He was a farmer and a hotel-keeper in Brook- line for many years, and died there in 1862.

George Henry Jefts shared in common with his playmates the educational facilities offered at the traditional red school-house of his neighborhood. Left motherless at the age of four years, he resided with his paternal grandparents until his majority. In the fall of 1864, in the fourth year of the Rebellion, he enlisted at Pottsville, Pa., in Company F, Ninety-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Vol- unteers, with which he served until the close of the war. He was subsequently engaged in various kinds of employment, displayed special ability in caring for the inmates of the different almshouses of which he had charge successively, one being that at West Boyls- ton, Mass., and another the one at Fitchburg. In April, 1897, he was appointed to his pres- ent position at the Odd Fellows Home in the city of Worcester, which was dedicated in 1892. The building is a substantial one, occupying a pleasant location on high ground near North Pond. It is capable of accom- modating sixty or more people, and affords a comfortable home for aged and infirm men and women belonging to the order.

In 1865 Mr. Jefts married Fanny A. Mixer, of Brookline. She was born in Hillsboro, N.H., daughter of Stephen A. and Sarah (Bennett) Mixer, the former of whom was a carpenter by trade and a well-known public official. Mr. and Mrs. Jefts have had three children : Clara Belle, who died at the age of seven years; Albert L., who is in the employ of the Fitchburg & Leominster Street Rail- way Company; and Daisy Dean Jefts, who possesses rare musical ability, and for the last eight years has been an efficient teacher in the public schools of Fitchburg, Mass.

In politics Mr. Jefts acts with the Republi- can party. He is a Past Noble Grand of Phoenix Lodge, I. O. O. F., New Britain, Conn. He was made a Master Mason thirty- five years ago, and has been secretary of his lodge. He is also a comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic, affiliating with E. V. Sumner Post, No. 19, Fitchburg, Mass.

A stanch patriot and a man shrewdly observ- ant of men and manners, being withal of a philosophic turn of mind, Mr. Jefts expresses himself as most grateful for three things: first, for having been born in the greatest country known, whose flag stands for more than all others combined; second, for living in the greatest era known to mankind; and, third, that it has been his lot to live the life of an average American citizen, escaping the cares, perplexities, and strain of the million- aire and the misery, disgrace, and hardship of the modern tramp. That his service has been true and heartfelt, not perfunctory, may be gathered from the simple statement that he has closed the eyes for the last time to mortal vision of more than one hundred persons, many of them blessing him and his with the whisper of a last breath.

A SA BENNETT, a retired business man of Hubbardston, was born in this town, June 18, 1819, son of David and Hannah (Marean) Bennett. The paternal grandfather, David Bennett, was a native of Shirley, Mass., and a Revolutionary soldier. He settled as a pioneer in Hubbards- ton before the construction of roads in the dis- trict, and cleared a good farm from the wilder- ness. The maiden name of his wife was Martha Smith. William Marean, the mater- nal grandfather, who was also a Revolutionary soldier, came here from Newton, Mass. One of the early merchants of Hubbardston and a large land owner, he died in 1826. His wife, whose maiden name was Sybil Parker, died in 1843.

David Bennett, who was born, reared, and educated in Hubbardston, spent his active years in general farming and lumbering, which he carried on quite extensively, and was also

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engaged in trade. Taking a prominent part in public affairs, he held various town offices. He died September 21, 1867. Hannah, his wife, also a native of this town, had eight chil- dren, four of whom are living, namely : Maria S., born February 12, 1810, who is now Mrs. Waite, of Amherst, Mass. ; Asa, the subject of this sketch; Hannah M., born January 27, 1822, who is now Mrs. Sparks, and resides at Fort Smith, Ark. ; and Louisa, born March 22, 1824, who is now Mrs. Gates, and resides in Minneapolis, Minn. The others were: Sally M., Joseph M., David E., and Martha E. The mother died January 26, 1872.

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 117

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