Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 128

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 128

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Malcom G. Clark grew to man's estate on his father's farm. After passing through the public schools of his district he pursued a course of study at academies in Worcester, Mass., and Suffield, Conn. After attaining his majority he began his business career as a farmer and lumber manufacturer and dealer. Soon after he gave up the lumber business to engage in the manufacture of woollen goods, in connection with his brother, J. D. Clark, hav- ing his mills in the village of Greenville. He is now a director of the J. D. Clark Company, and as such has been largely instrumental in placing this corporation among the. leading woollen manufacturing firms of the vicinity. He also devotes a portion of his time to the real estate business.

Mr. Clark married Miss Inez F., daughter of Franklin Sibley, late of Sutton, Mass. They have one child, Ernest Clark. In poli- tics Mr. Clark is a stanch Republican. He is now serving on the School Committee of

Leicester. He is also an active member of the Baptist church in Greenville, and con- tributes liberally to its maintenance.

ILLIAM M. WARREN, a leading agriculturist of Paxton and a vet- eran of the Civil War, was born here, September 17, 1832. A son of John and Lucretia (Mirick) Warren, he is de- scended from John Warren, who came from England in 1630 and settled near Watertown, Mass. A treasured heirloom of the family, brought by this ancestor from England, is a cane which he bequeathed to his son, John, and which was thereafter handed down to each succeeding John. The paternal great-grand- father of William M., also named John, re- sided for a time in Marlboro. From that town he removed to Paxton, being the first of the name here. His son William, grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was then about a year old. The father of William M., John Warren, born in Paxton, was a lifelong resident of the town. He died here on March 9, 1872. His wife, Lucretia, who was a na- tive of Holden, Mass., died August 21, 1862.

William M. Warren, who is of the eighth generation, was reared on a farm, and during his boyhood attended the public schools in the town. He has since improved his education by reading and by careful observation of the facts of life that have come within the scope of his experience. While a young man he was engaged in boot-making for a time. On September 8, 1862, he enlisted for nine months in Company B, Fifty-first Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and after- ward served for more than ten months in the Civil War. In active service for seven months in North Carolina, he took part in the battles of Kinston, White Hall, and Golds- boro. His regiment was then transferred to the Army of the Potomac, July 12, 1863, and Mr. Warren was assigned to picket duty at Maryland Heights. After he was discharged on July 27, 1863, he returned to Paxton, and settled on a farm, where he has since followed agriculture.

Mr. Warren has been twice married. His

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first wife, in maidenhood Mary H. Bowen, was a native of Dorchester, Mass. She was the mother of three children, all of whom are deceased. By his second marriage, which was contracted with Susan C. Woodbury, of Sut- ton, there was one son, John L. Warren (the seventh John, of the ninth generation), who died March 28, 1886. A comrade of George C. Marshall Post, No. 136, G. A. R., of Rut- land, he is now its Senior Vice-Commander. He visited the national encampments of the organization held in Boston, Washington, Pittsburg, and Buffalo, and the battlefields of Antietam and Gettysburg. He has served the town in the office of Overseer of the Poor; is now Highway Surveyor, in which capacity he has served at intervals since 1859; has also rendered public service in the capacity of juryman; and has been the president of the Paxton Farmers' Club. In politics he is a Republican, and he has voted at every elec- tion since he came of age.

HARLES COLLINS McCLOUD, late of Worcester, secretary and busi- ness manager of McCloud, Crane & Minter Screw Company, was born in Boston, February 28, 1831, son of Harvey and Lydia (Shurtleff) McCloud. On the pa- ternal side he was of Scottish descent. His great-grandfather, who belonged to the Mac- Leod clan of Scotland, immigrated to Canada, but later settled in Barre, Vt. ; and his grand- father, Charles McCloud, was born there about 1770. His grandmother McCloud was born in Sherbrooke, P.Q., in 1779. His father, Harvey McCloud, who died at his home in Worcester in 1889, aged eighty- seven, was born in Barre, Vt., in 1802. After marrying Lydia Shurtleff he settled in Boston, and a few years later he removed to Noddle's Island, now East Boston, where he carried on market gardening.

Charles C. McCloud acquired a good pub- lic-school education, attending both the Bos- ton grammar and Latin schools. Having a natural genius for mechanics, he served an ap- prenticeship at Tufts Engine Works in East Boston, and became an expert machinist and

tool-maker. He later entered the Boston Screw Company, remaining with them until 1870. In that year Mr. McCloud removed with his wife and two daughters to Worces- ter. Here he acted as foreman for Mr. J. H. Grey, whom he and Henry G. Crane bought out two years later, forming the firm of Mc- Cloud & Crane for the purpose of manufactur- ing machine screws.

January 1, 1884, Mr. Henry Minter was admitted a member of the firm, and the name was changed to McCloud, Crane & Minter. It was continued as such until November 3, 1892, when it was merged into a corporation under the name of McCloud, Crane & Minter Company. Mr. McCloud acted as secretary and business manager of the company from the time of its organization until his death, No- vember 27, 1897. Owing to his energy and business ability the business was made what it was.

In 1867 Mr. McCloud was joined in mar- riage in East Boston with Elizabeth Leger Davis, who was born in Liverpool, England, in 1848, daughter of William and Annie (Gill) Davis. He left three children, namely: Annie Isabel and May Elizabeth, who were born in East Boston; and Charles Lyman, who was born in Worcester. All perfected their education by attending schools in Europe, being accompanied abroad by their mother. Annie Isabel married Albert W. A. Horstmeir, a native of Baltimore, Md., now a resident of Boston, a portrait painter. May Elizabeth married Harry Stuart Fonda, of San Francisco, Cal., a professor at the Hop- kins Institute of Art. Charles Lyman, who attended school in Paris four years, is now studying mechanical engineering in Worces- ter, with the view of succeeding to his father's interests in the screw company, and is also attending a business college. He has adopted the original Scotch spelling of his name.

The late Mr. McCloud was an able financier as well as an expert mechanic, and accumu- lated a fortune. He was actively interested in the general welfare of this city and its po- litical affairs, but never cared to hold office. He travelled quite extensively, and was thus

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enabled to increase his knowledge of the fine arts, in which he was deeply interested. He was exceedingly domestic in his habits, and the only organization he belonged to was the American Association of Screw Manufact- urers, whose resolutions adopted at the time of his death declare that he will be greatly missed by that body.

ILLIAM J. BOWES, manager of the Lawrence Felting Company's factory in Millville, town of Black- stone, Mass., was born in Dublin, Ireland, November 20, 1842.

At the age of fourteen he emigrated to the United States, landing at New York in 1856; and, proceeding to Boston in the fall of that year, he finally located in Lawrence, Mass. His education was acquired in the public schools of that city.

When through school he started in life as an operative in the Pacific Cotton Mills. He was in the employ of that corporation two years, going from there to the finishing depart- ment of the Washington Mills; and later he became a finisher at the factory of the Methuen Woollen Company, where he remained seven years. He next entered the employ of the Lawrence Felting Company, being superin- tendent of the factory, was advanced to the position of agent, and eventually acquired an interest in the concern. Some five years after he became a member of the company, the Mill- ville plant was built; and, moving to this village in 1877, he was agent of the enterprise until 1893, when the Lawrence Felting Com- pany was sold to the United States Rubber Company, and he became its manager, which position he holds at the present time. The products of this company consist of felting of all kinds, the raw material for which is shipped from Boston, New York, and Philadel- phia; and the entire output is consumed by rubber companies for lining rubber boots.

In 1868 Mr. Bowes was united in marriage in Auburn, N. Y., with Elizabeth J. Kavanagh, daughter of Michael Kavanagh. Mrs. Bowes is the mother of six children; namely, Robert J. (who married Fanny P. Lanphere, October

27, 1897), Annie F., Mary C., Michael I., William Joseph, Jr., and Francis A. Bowes.

Mr. Bowes was a director of the Woonsocket Rubber Company for fourteen years, served as Selectman and Treasurer of the town of Black- stone one year, was chairman of the commit- tee appointed to superintend the building of the new almshouse, and also of the committee on fire protection. In politics he is indepen- dent. He attends the St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church, and some time since pre- sented the parish with a fine church bell in memory of the parents of William J. and Elizabeth J. Bowes.

RANK D. PERRY, a well-known resi- dent of Quinsigamond, dealer in coal and wood, and general superintendent of the American Car Sprinkler Company, was born on July 25, 1856, in the house where he now resides, at 963 Millbury Street. His father, Dexter H. Perry, who was born a few rods away in Greenwood Street on June 14, 1814, was a prosperous farmer. In early life Dexter H. and his brother, Josiah G., oper- ated a grist-mill on the spot where their father, Nathan Perry, had been many years engaged in the milling business. About the year 1855 they discontinued this, and in 1862 they dissolved the copartnership of the farm- ing interest, and divided the farming prop- erty. Politically, Dexter H. Perry was a Re- publican, and, though he never sought office, he occupied a seat at one time in the Common Council. On December 17, 1839, he was married "by the Rev. R. A. Miller, in the house where his son Frank now resides, to Elizabeth A. Baker, who was a native of Phillipston, Mass., born September 21, 1815. She was the daughter of James Baker and sister of Charles and William J. Baker, prominent lumber dealers of this city, the former now deceased, and the latter residing in Oxford Street. Mrs. Perry was for many years a member of the Old South Church. Her husband died on March 16, 1872, and she died on April 19, 1877. Their children were: George Herbert, Elmina Augusta, Lenora E., Frances Caroline, Mary Lydia,

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Frank D., and Edward C. George H., who was born on May 2, 1841, and Elmina A., born on April 21, 1843, both died of brain disease, the former on January 27, 1842, the latter on November 1, 1855. Lenora, who was born on January 16, 1845, married Sam- uel W. Lackey, of Uxbridge, now of Stanton, Neb. She has two children living of the three that have been born to her. Frances and Mary, who were born respectively on Feb- ruary 17, 1847, and January 30, 1849, were drowned in the mill pond back of the house on December 30, 1852, while their father lay ill of typhoid fever. Edward C. Perry, who was born on June 29, 1859, and resides at 15 Shepherd Street in this city, is the local superintendent of the American Car Sprinkler Company.

On account of the death of his father Frank D. Perry left the high school at the age of fif- teen, before completing his course of study, and for the following five years he worked on the farm. In 1876 he started an omnibus line to the city, and began to do general teaming. This proved to be a most success- ful undertaking, and so much work came to him that during the ten years in which he was engaged in the business he frequently had twenty horses in use at once. In 1882 he opened a coal and wood yard, beginning in a small way, and gradually increasing to his present dimensions. Mr. Perry has also done a successful business as a contractor in stone work and for street making. For three years he was associated with Mr. Pike in the firm of Perry & Pike, and during that time he built streets in the Salisbury extension. In the course of the work he cut down some ten feet the hill where the Art Gallery now stands, and another hill near the electric light sta- tion, the two being a work of two years, in- volving much expense. He was subsequently associated with Henry W. Carter, of Mill- bury, under the name Perry & Carter, in grad- ing the roadbed for the Millbury electric road and putting in the foundations of the power station, engine beds, car station, and other contracting work.

About 1887 Mr. Perry began the street sprinkling business, having then only two

carts. Later, having bought the business of Mr. Bancroft, he had fifteen carts; and, for a number of years before the present street watering company was formed, he did about all the sprinkling in the city. In 1895 was organized the American Car Sprinkler Com- pany of Worcester, for the purpose of operat- ing the invention of John R. Gathright, of Louisville, Ky., with Mr. Perry as a stock- holder, a director, clerk of the corporation, and general superintendent. He is also pres- ident of another company of the same kind in Hartford, Conn., in each of which he is one of the heaviest stockholders.

Mr. Perry is a Royal Arch Mason and an Odd Fellow. For five years he was treasurer of the Odd Fellows Lodge, and then declined to serve longer. Politically, he is a Repub- lican. He was married in 1878, on his twenty-second birthday, to Elizabeth A. Car- penter, of Putnam, Conn., daughter of Joseph W. and Elizabeth (Fisher) Carpenter. Of this union three children have been born. Elizabeth, the daughter, died when only four days old. Earl Dexter, who was born on the first day of May, 1881, is now a student in the high school. Frank Godfrey, the younger son, was born on January 28, 1890. Mr. Perry's house has been enlarged in recent years, and is provided with electric appliances and other modern improvements.

ASON B. STONE, a thrifty farmer of Auburn, Mass., was born September 25, 1826, at the homestead where he now lives, near Stone's Crossing. A son of John Stone and grandson of Nathaniel Stone, he comes of excellent English ancestry, being a lineal descendant of Simon Stone, who emigrated from England in 1635 and settled at Watertown. Simon Stone was likewise the progenitor of the branch of the Stone family from which Emery Stone, of whom a brief biography appears elsewhere in this book, is descended.

John Stone, father of Jason B., of Auburn, was born on an adjoining farm, March 24, 1798. In early manhood he purchased a homestead consisting of eighty acres of land, partly

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cleared, and a small house, which forms a por- tion of his son Jason's present dwelling. Here he spent his long life engaged in agricultural pursuits, and here he died September 30, 1877, aged seventy-nine years, six months, and six days. In politics he affiliated with the Whigs until the formation of the Republican party, when he became one of its firmest adherents. He took an active part in local affairs, and served faithfully in some of the town offices. In 1825 he married Pamelia Stone, a direct descendant of Gregory Stone, brother of the said Simon. Of their eight children, six grew to maturity, as follows: Jason B. ; Luther, who died in Worcester, Mass., July 1, 1896, aged sixty-nine years, leaving one son and one daughter; Elvira, widow of Horace Stone, re- siding in Auburn; John Elbridge, of Sterling, Mass. ; Henry B. and Susan C., both of Worcester, Mass.

Jason B. Stone, after receiving instruction in the elementary branches of learning in the common schools of Auburn, attended the acad- emies of Leicester and Worcester. Born and brought up on a farm, he became a farmer from choice, and settled at the parental homestead. He has devoted himself to all branches of agri- culture, but has paid especial attention to dairying, and with gratifying results. Begin- ning in a small way with but five cows, he has gradually enlarged his operations, and now keeps from fifteen to twenty-five cows of a good grade, and employs four or more horses in his work. He has made essential improve- ments, including additions to the original barns, one of which is now forty by forty feet, and the other sixty-five by thirty-eight feet. He has sold a portion of the homestead farm, and has no seventy-five acres of it left. Be- sides this he is the owner of several pieces of outlying land, including valuable wood lots left him by his grandfather, the whole aggre- gating about two hundred acres. He is a Republican in politics, and has served ably in all the town offices from Constable to Se- lectman, and as Highway Surveyor did much toward improving the roads in this vicinity. He is an active member of the Congregational church, also a charter member of Auburn Grange, No. 60, P. of H.

On January 15, 1862, Mr. Stone married Deborah G. Bennett, who was born December 5, 1829, in Bridgton, Me. They have two sons - Walter J. and Luther N. Walter J., born January 14, 1863, resides at 76 Maywood Street, Worcester. He married Winnifred E. Johnson, of Oxford, Mass., and has two sons: Ralph J., born March 12, 1892; and Earl W., born July 30, 1893. Luther N. was born De- cember 1, 1865. He and his wife, Sarah Hil- ton, of Auburn, have one daughter - Ruth E., born September 19, 1896. They live at the home farm.

HARLES DAVIS THAYER, living at 8 Ripley Street, Worcester, Mass., is a large landholder in this city, a prominent agriculturist and horti- culturist, and one of the best known and most reliable florists in New England, having suc- cessfully conducted a large florist's business for thirty years. He was born in this city, July 7, 1850, a son of Davis Thayer and grandson of Benjamin Thayer.

Benjamin Thayer was born in Mendon, Mass., in 1780, and was there employed in general farming until his removal to Worces- ter, where he bought a large farm, and con- tinued in his pleasant occupation until his decease in 1850. His first wife, Rachel Wales, bore him eleven children, of whom all excepting Stephen, who died young, mar- ried and reared families. He subsequently married for his second wife Nancy Paine.

Davis Thayer was born in Mendon, October 13, 1817. He died at his home, 221 Pleas- ant Street, Worcester, April 13, 1895, and was buried on the fiftieth anniversary of his wedding day. When five years old he came with his parents to Worcester, where they had bought the old Andrews farm, near the summit, in the northern part of the town. For several years of his early manhood Davis Thayer was private gardener for Colonel Isaac Davis, Mayor of Worcester. He subse- quently purchased ten acres of land on the west side of Malden Street, and was success- fully engaged in market gardening for a quar- ter of a century. In 1869 he sold out and

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settled on Pleasant Street, but continued his agricultural pursuits for pleasure on the old homestead estate during his years of activity. On April 15, 1845, he married Sarah A. Grout, one of the three children of Jonathan and Sally (DeWolf) Grout, the former of whom was a native of Worcester and the latter of Lyme, Conn. Three children were born of their union, one of whom, Idella Grout, died May 2, 1870, aged seven and one-half years. The others are: Charles D., the subject of this sketch; and Anna E., who resides with her mother at the Pleasant Street home.

Charles D. Thayer received his education in Worcester, and on July 9, 1869, was grad- uated from the Highland Military Academy, where for two years he had been an officer in the corps. He drilled later in the militia, and for twenty years was an honorary member of the Worcester Light Infantry. After his graduation he worked a few months for his mother's brother, Jonathan Grout, a promi- nent book-seller or stationer of this city, and at the age of nineteen embarked in his present business. With no capital and but limited experience, he borrowed one thousand dollars at seven and three-tenths per cent. interest, and at once hired and commenced work in the greenhouse which his uncle Jonathan had pre- viously built for his son, the lamented Willie Grout, First Lieutenant of Company D, Fif- teenth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, whose death at the age of eighteen years, on October 21, 1861, at Ball's Bluff, made him the hero of the pathetic poem, "The Vacant Chair," written by the Hon. Henry S. Wash- burn, November 16, 1861. Mr. Thayer for a short time employed his father, an experi- enced horticulturist, to assist him, and has since developed a business next to the larg- est of the kind in this part of the State, having now twelve greenhouses, with twenty- five thousand feet of glass. He raises flowers and plants of all descriptions, having many rare and beautiful kinds, and makes a spe- cialty of dealing in cut flowers and designs, and floral and plant decorations. He has bought considerable real estate, having now eleven city lots besides the one on which was erected his present fine residence fifteen

years ago; and is part owner of the Greendale estate, which formerly belonged to his father and grandfather, and the "Liberty farm " of seventy acres in the western part of the city, known as the Abby Kelley Foster property, which he purchased July 28, 1894. This he has converted into a dairy farm, on which he keeps six horses and thirty-five cows of the thoroughbred Holsteins and Jerseys. He sells the milk to city customers, having a large route in Worcester. He also owns a farm at the corner of Heard and Clover Streets, in the southerly part of the city. Mr. Thayer has long been a member of the Worcester County Agricultural and Horticult- ural Societies; of the Worcester Grange, Pa- trons of Husbandry - the largest grange in New England - of which he is chaplain; is Commander of Cavalry Commandery, H. and I. Order, Knights of Malta; and First Lieu- tenant, Company A, of the Worcester Conti- nentals. For two years he has been captain and drill master of his commandery. In poli- tics he uniformly supports the principles of the Republican party.

On December 9, 1874, Mr. Thayer married Nellie Wyman, who was born in Newbury- port, Mass., but reared and educated in Worcester. Her father, Alfred Wyman, re- moved with his family to Worcester many years ago, and was here engaged in a thriving business as a flour merchant. He was a noted abolitionist in his younger. days, and after- ward a strong Republican. He died at his home on Lincoln Street in June, 1895, aged seventy-eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Thayer have had seven children, of whom two died young, Willie, the second-born, when seven years old, and Leon in infancy. The five living are: Alfred D., who is connected in business with his father; Joseph F .; Mary W .; Charles D., Jr .; and Sarah G.

OSEPH ADAMS, a prosperous farmer of Grafton, son of Moses H. and Sally (Prentice) Adams, was born in this town, January 19, 1832. He is a rep- resentative of the seventh generation of the family founded by William Adams, who was

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an early inhabitant of Cambridge, Mass., and removed thence about 1642 to Ipswich. The line of descent is: William 1; Nathaniel, 2 born about 1641; Samuel, 3 born in Ipswich, 1682; Andrew, + born in 1715; Nathaniel, 5 born Jan- uary 1, 1756; Moses H.,6 born February 2, 1795. (See " Some Descendants of William Adams, of Ipswich," by W. S. Appleton, pub- lished in 1881.)

Andrew Adams, 4 who settled in Grafton at an early day, married October 15, 1741, Eliza- beth Hunt, of Concord, Mass. She died Au- gust 9, 1770; and he married in 1771 Mrs. Sarah Torrey, of Mendon. He had seven chil- dren, all by his first wife. Nathaniel, son of Andrew, born January 1, 1756, was a Deacon in the church at Grafton for upward of twenty years, and a man highly respected by all who knew him. He married Mary Harrington, who bore him nine children. His death. oc- curred January 24, 1829.

Moses H. Adams, son of Nathaniel, was born February 2, 1795. He conducted a farm of some two hundred acres in Grafton, and was looked upon as one of the best and most flour- ishing farmers in the town. He was active in local affairs, and served as Selectman in his younger days. His wife, Sally, who was born in 1796, died in 1878. She bore him eight children, as follows: Susan, who died in 1853; Sarah, who died in 1832, at the age of eight years; Moses, who passed away at the age of twenty-two; Charles, who resides in Elko, Nev. ; Nathaniel, who died in 1853 at Graf- ton ; Joseph, the subject of this sketch; Abijah, born May 18, 1834, who was a resident for some time of Walnut Creek, Cal., and died in San Diego, Cal., in 1894; and Horace, born February 8, 1837, who was killed by Indians at Honey Lake, Cal., in 1859.

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 128

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