Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 129

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 129

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Joseph Adams obtained the latter part of his schooling in an academy at Worcester. After a brief course there he returned home, and thereafter assisted his father on the homestead until the latter's death. Since then he has managed the estate. Besides general farming on an extensive scale, he carries on a wood and lumber business. He has added to and im- proved the original estate until it is now re- garded as one of the best cultivated and

equipped farms in this section. The appear- ance of thrift and prosperity visible in every part of his estate presents convincing evidence of its owner's rare capacity and enterprise, and marks him as a man " diligent in all things." Personally, he enjoys the reputation of being a straightforward, honest, and clear-minded citizen, who keeps abreast of the times, and whose judgment may be depended upon in all the ordinary affairs of life.

Mr. Adams has never been, in any sense of the word, a politician, although well read and well informed in regard to public affairs. He was a Selectman of Grafton in 1870 and 1871, and he also served on various town committees. In politics he is a Republican. On March 28, 1866, he married Sarah A. Newton, who was born July 6, 1843, a daughter of John M. and Adaline (Holden) Newton. Mr. and Mrs. Adams had three sons: Joseph H., born March 3, 1870, who died August 13, 1870; Charles Abijah, born November 24, 1875; and Horace H., born January 28, 1879. Charles and Horace reside with their father. Mrs. Adams died on April 12, 1885.

OHN G. WARNER, a well - known farmer and dairyman of Boylston Cen- tre, was born in Harvard, Mass., Sep- tember 17, 1834, son of John and Sal- lie (Gould) Warner. He belongs to the family founded in this country by John Warner, who was one of the early settlers of Harvard in 1687. From this ancestor de- scended a line of Johns, all born in Harvard, the last of whom was the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Elias Warner, son of this John, and a farmer of Harvard, after enlisting in the American army in 1781 at the age of sixteen, fought in the Revolution until its close, and subsequently, according to the records of Massachusetts kept at the State House in Boston, was awarded eighteen three- year-old cattle, twenty-five hundred paper dol- lars, and seven silver dollars in compensation for his services. His wife, Abigail, who died at the age of seventy-three, was descended from one Priest, who settled in Harvard at the same time that the first John Warner did.

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Elias and Abigail were the parents of three children.

John Warner, the father of John G., also a native of Harvard, was engaged in farming with his father until he came of age. He then went to Boston to live. Later he re- turned to Harvard, and spent the rest of his life in that town occupied in farming. His death occurred on April 17, 1875, at the age of eighty-six. He was married on November 10, 1818, to Sallie Gould, who was born at Tinmouth, Vt., daughter of Josiah Gould. She died in 1874, aged seventy-five years. Of their family of ten children, five are living : Sarah, who married Frank Simonds, and re- sides in Malden, Mass. ; Alanson, who now lives in Los Angeles, Cal. ; John Gould War- ner, of Boylston Centre, Mass. ; Daniel Web- ster Warner, of Hudson, Mass; and Eliza Ma- hala, who married Robert V. Brooks, and now resides in Milford, Mass. Four sons served in the Union army during the Civil War. Both parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal church.

John G. Warner attended school one or two terms a year until he was twenty years old. He resided at home with his parents until eleven years of age, then went to work on a farm in Lancaster, and subsequently was em- ployed for a time in a shoe shop at Marlboro. Later he joined the Northern army, enlisting in Company D of the Twenty-first Massachu- setts Regiment of Volunteers, and took part in the battle of Roanoke Island on February 8, 1862; that of Newbern on March 14, 1862; the Wilderness on May 6, 1864; and Spottsyl- vania on May 10, 1864. At Spottsylvania he received the wound in the foot for which he is now receiving a pension. He also served for about eighteen months as nurse and orderly in the United States General Hospital. After three years he was honorably discharged, and he came North, taking up his residence in Worcester. In 1868 he settled on the farm where he now resides. He controls a milk business, running a delivery wagon daily to Worcester, missing but one trip in twenty-one years.

Mr. Warner was first married in 1857 to Eliza A. Hastings, a native of Boylston and

a daughter of James Hastings. She was the mother of one son, John M., who married Car- rie H. Eames, and is now the father of four children - John B., Myrtle L., Clifton C., and Marjorie H. Mrs. Eliza A. Warner died after a short married life; and Mr. Warner married for his second wife Martha J. Webber, of Beverly, a daughter of William E. Webber. She has borne him four children - Eliza P., Otis E., Lydia P., and William H. Eliza, who married Willis A. Fuller, is the mother of four children - Willis F. and Winifred E., twins; Loring G. ; and Merton W. Otis E. died in 1873 at the age of four years. Mr. Warner is a Republican in his political views. He takes a keen interest in town affairs, is a trustee of the cemetery, undertaker, and United States mail carrier. He is a member of the grange, and was its first lecturer. He is also a member of the Worcester East Agri- cultural Association and of Post 28, G. A. R., at West Boylston. Mr. Warner, two of his daughters, and one son are members of the Congregational church in Boylston.

HARLES EDWIN BROOKS, for many years an honored citizen of Worcester and for eleven years treas- urer, librarian, and custodian of the Worcester Horticultural Society, was the second of eight children born to Nathaniel and Mary (Chadwick) Brooks, and was ushered into existence in Worcester on August 15, 1824.

Charles Edwin Brooks was always regarded as the first of the children, as his older brother died in infancy. Passing his childhood and youth on his father's farm of more than one hundred acres, he attended the public schools and the Worcester County Manual Training School, the latter being the beginning of the now famous Worcester Academy. Here his school life ended. Some of his early years were spent in the office of the Spy. After- ward he followed the grocery business for some years as a partner in the firm of Brooks & Stearns at 8 Front Street. In 1864, favored by Captain Horace James of the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry, he went to Newbern,

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N.C., where he was employed in the commis- sary department. On returning to this city he went into partnership with his brother-in-law, David H. Fanning, in the Worcester Skirt Company ; but in 1879 he began the work which most prominently connected him with Worcester life and recollection.

In the fall of that year he was made a sort of general supervisor, sharing with Mr. E. W. Lincoln the general responsibility for the well- being of the Horticultural Society. In this capacity he was ever present and ever vigilant. Everything was in place, and he knew just where everything was to be found. Nothing was ever shirked. If possible, responsibilities were anticipated. Seemingly here were many years of usefulness for Mr. Brooks; but illness came, and after a few days of pain he died on December 22, 1890.

Mr. Brooks was married on December 2, 1851, to Elizabeth Capron Fanning, of Jew- ett City, Conn., a sister of Mr. David H. Fanning. The Brooks home is at 54 Queen Street. To them were born three children - Ella, Arthur A., and Walter F. The eldest, Ella, died at the age of four years; Arthur A., who was graduated from the Worcester High School as valedictorian of the class of 1875, and in 1879 from Harvard College, taught for a time in Scranton, Pa., and subsequently for a year in the Worcester High School. After- ward he took a course in the Harvard Divinity School, and in 1886 became pastor of the First Unitarian Society in Greenfield. The younger son, Walter F., was also graduated at the Worcester High School, and soon after he en- tered the banking house of William H. Morse, where he was employed for a number of years. He was also secretary of the Security Associ- ates.

Mr. Charles E. Brooks was a man of fine physique, tall and erect. October 22, 1875, he became a member of the Worcester Agricultural Society, and in 1886 was made a life member of the Society of the Sons and Daughters of New Hampshire. The first meet- ing of the Horticultural Society after his death was distinguished by the adoption of resolutions of respect of a most appropriate character drawn up by Mr. James Draper, The Brooks family

has. been Congregational for generations. At least three of Mr. Brooks's ancestors in direct line were Deacons, and in Worcester they were members of the Old South Church. Mr. Charles E. Brooks was one of the fifty-two members who left Plymouth Church to form the new Piedmont, and of this body he was clerk from the beginning to the date of his death. His life was an excellent example of faithfulness, honesty, and devotion.

ON. SAMUEL CYRUS HART- WELL, M.D., who was a prominent physician of Southbridge for many years, was born in this town, March 28, 1820. He comes of good English stock, being a descendant in the fifth generation of William Hartwell, who was an early settler of Concord, Mass. His grandfather, Samuel Hartwell, a farmer by occupation, spent a large part of his life on the old homestead in Rochdale, Mass. Samuel Hartwell, son of the preceding Samuel, born in Oxford, Mass., August 30, 1793, died in Southbridge about August 27, 1874. He began the study of medicine with his brother, Dr. Cyrus Hart- well, of New Jersey, and was graduated from the New York College of Physicians and Sur- geons in 1816. Afterward, settling in South- bridge, he built up an extensive practice, becoming one of the most prominent and re- spected men of the town and receiving many trusts, both civil and military. He married Lydia Ammidown, a daughter of Calvin Am- midown and a sister of Ebenezer D. Ammi- down.

Samuel Cyrus Hartwell received his early education in the public schools of Southbridge and at the Dudley and Monson Academies. Afterward he studied medicine under his father's instruction and in a medical college in Philadelphia. After graduating from this institution with the degree of Doctor of Medi- cine in 1839, he returned to Southbridge and began his medical career in association with his father, whose long experience and high standing in the profession were of great assist. ance to him. Some time later he went to New York, where he was associated with an

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eminent specialist, Dr. Green, for about one year. He then returned home, and thereafter remained permanently in Southbridge. Con- tinuing the practice of his father, he built up an extensive and lucrative patronage, and came to be recognized by the profession as a most skilful and painstaking physician.

For many years Dr. Hartwell served the town as Moderator at the annual and special town meetings, displaying much tact as a fair and impartial official. He was elected to the Massachusetts Senate in 1881, and he also served his fellow-townsmen in various local offices. He was an able speaker. An ad- dress, considered by many to have been "the effort of his life," made at the time of the inauguration of the public library, was influ- ential in allaying the opposition to the project. In 1861 he went out with the Thirty-eighth Massachusetts Regiment as surgeon. Ere- long he was promoted to the same position in the Army of the Potomac, in which capacity he served from April 9 to May 17, 1862. He was then made medical director of Gen- eral Emery's division. On March 2, 1864, he was forced to resign from the service on account of failing health. For many years he was an active member of the Baptist church. He also belonged to the Quinnebaug Lodge, F. & A. M. In politics he was an adherent of the Republican party.

On March 18, 1844, Dr. Hartwell was mar. ried to Ellen Maria Plimpton, who was born in Southbridge, August 21, 1822, daughter of Moses and Edna (Taylor) Plimpton. The Plimpton family easily traces its genealogy for twenty generations back of John Plimpton, its immigrant ancestor, who came to this country about the year 1620. Mrs. Hart- well's grandfather, Gershom Plimpton, a son of Lieutenant Gershom Plimpton, born Febru- ary 18, 1768, died April 20, 1823. He mar- ried Keziah, daughter of Daniel and Jemima (Shaw) Fiske. Moses Plimpton, Esq., born October 17, 1793, died September 19, 1854. He was a manufacturer in Southbridge and for more than twoscore years one of the town's most prominent and influential residents. Also for some time he was Inspector of Cus- toms at the port of Boston. Possessing much

literary ability, he wrote a history of South- bridge, and also delivered a lecture before the Southbridge Lyceum that was spoken of in the highest terms of commendation. He assisted the cause of education through his connection with the management of the schools and ly- ceum. Of the six children of Dr. and Mrs. Hartwell, two are now living, namely: Isa- bella Tiffany, born in 1852, who graduated from the Southbridge High School, married Frederick W. Fisk, and now resides at St. Paul, Minn. ; and Ellen Plimpton, born in 1855, also a graduate of the Southbridge High School, who is now living at home with her widowed mother. Dr. Hartwell died August I, 1885.

G EORGE H. PERRY, of Shrewsbury, is the owner and proprietor of Spring Brook Farm, a valuable estate that seems very appropriately named, as the fields formerly contained many springs of pure water that now, as brooks, are no longer visible, owing to an extensive system of under drain- ing. He was born August 30, 1836, in Marl- boro, Middlesex County, Mass., a son of Cap- tain Jesse and Laura (Brigham) Perry. His paternal grandfather was Obadiah Perry, a prominent farmer of Sudbury, who died about thirty years ago.

Captain Jesse Perry was a tiller of the soil, and was especially noted as a superior dairy- man and butter-maker. He derived his title of Captain from the militia, in which he com- manded a local company; and he was also active in town affairs, serving as Selectman, Overseer of the Poor, and in other offices. He was a member of the Congregational church, toward the support of which he liberally con- tributed. By his wife, Laura Brigham Perry, who was one of a family of thirteen children, he had seven children, namely: Mary Eliza- beth, wife of John S. Stevens, of Marlboro; Lucy A., who married S. I. Howe, of Shrews- bury, and is now deceased; Caroline, wife of Stephen Reed, of this town; Ellen A., now Mrs. Everett Walker, also of Shrewsbury ; Laura B., who became the wife of S. I. Howe after the death of her sister Lucy ; Franklin J.,

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who enlisted in Company H, Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, in April, 1863, and was killed at the battle of Cold Harbor in the following June, the first engage- ment in which he participated; and George H., the subject of this sketch.

George H. Perry obtained a practical educa- tion in the district schools of Shrewsbury, and afterward worked for a while in the shoe shops of that place. Preferring, however, the free and independent life of a farmer, he bought the farm on which his father had lived for about twenty years, having greatly improved it, and, emulating the latter's perseverance and indus- try, has since made it one of the most pro- ductive farms and comfortable homesteads in this locality. Among his improvements are a commodious house and a new stock barn. He makes a specialty of dairying and fruit-grow- ing, selling his milk at the door to wholesale dealers, who retail it in Worcester. In 1896 he shipped on contract six hundred barrels of apples. In politics he is a sound Republican, loyal to the interests of his party, and has served as Overseer of the Poor and Assessor. He belongs to Shrewsbury Grange, P. of H., and attends the Congregational church.

Mr. Perry married in 1864 Miss Anna Pierce, of Northboro, who died in February, 1892. Their three children died at an early age. In 1896 Mr. Perry married for his sec- ond wife Miss Laurilla Moore, daughter of Newell and Eliza Moore, of Holden, Mass.

APTAIN EMERSON STONE, whose title was won by meritorious service in the Civil War, is well known throughout Worcester County, hav- ing been a County Commissioner since 1888. For the last thirty years and more he has been a resident of Spencer. Born May 11, 1840, in Montgomery, Ala., by both parents he comes of New England ancestry and old Eng- lish stock. More than one of his progenitors fought in the Revolution. His father, David Stone, was a native of Massachusetts; and his mother, Mrs. Mary A. Pierce Stone, was born and bred in New York State. The latter having died when he was but three months

old, he was cared for during his childhood in Otsego County, New York, at the home of his maternal grandparents, Charles and Sally Pierce, who were both natives of Waltham, Mass.

Having acquired his early education in the public schools, young Stone came to Massa- chusetts in 1855, and spent the next few years, first employed on a farm in Spencer and then in the neighboring town of Leices- ter, where he enjoyed the advantage of one term at the academy. Later he was employed for a little over a year in the card cloth- ing factories of J. & J. Mardock and Biscoe & Denny. On the 19th of April, 1861, re- sponding to President Lincoln's call for troops, he went to Worcester, and joined the Third Battalion of Rifles, commanded by Major Devens, afterward General Charles Devens, being the first man to enlist from the town of Leicester. During this three months' term of service he was engaged in garrison duty at Fort McHenry, near Balti- more, and at Annapolis. When his time had expired he came home, and a few weeks later he re-enlisted for three years in the Twenty- fifth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers. A small part of this term was spent in help- ing to recruit Company K, under Captain J. W. Denny, of which he was made Sergeant. After nearly three years of active service in the Ninth Corps, under General Burnside, and in the Eighteenth, under General Butler, he successfully passed an examination for promo- tion, was commissioned Captain, and assigned to the One Hundred and Twenty-third United States Colored Troops. While still attached to the Twenty-fifth and awaiting orders, he shouldered his rifle, and went into the engage- ment at Drewry's Bluff, sometimes called the "battle of the fog," where he was severely wounded and taken prisoner. To the circum- stance that his captor had once been in the hands of the Twenty-fifth and had been kindly treated, Captain Stone says he owes his life. The nature of his wound necessitated the am- putation of his left forearm, which operation was performed by a rebel surgeon. After being held for three months in Libby Prison, he was paroled, and came home to Spencer,

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having been first duly and honorably dis- charged in Camp Parole at Annapolis, Md. Among the battles and skirmishes in which he had taken part before the engagement at Drewry's Bluff may be mentioned those of Roanoke Island, Newbern, White Hall, Kins- ton, and Goldsboro - all in North Carolina; and Bermuda Landing and Arrowfield Church in Virginia.

After a brief period of rest in Spencer, Captain Stone found employment as can- vasser in the cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia for the sale of a view of the battlefield of Gettysburg. In 1867 he was appointed Assistant Assessor of Internal Rev- enue for this district, comprising Spencer and adjoining towns. This position he held till 1873, when the system then in vogue was abolished. Appointed by President Grant in 1868, he was Postmaster of Spencer for

twenty years. He also served for some time as Town Clerk, besides holding minor local offices. First elected County Commissioner in 1888, he is now serving his fourth consec- utive term in that office. In 1898, at the beginning of his present term, he was chosen chairman of the commission. He has taken much interest in the new court-house at Worcester, now in the course of erection at the cost of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In 1889 he was chosen Highway Commissioner of Spencer. While in this office he originated the demand for macada- mized town roads, which were finally ob- tained. He was also the prime mover in securing the excellent water supply system of Spencer, being the first to suggest the pur- chase of Shaw Pond from Leicester. The movement that resulted in the organization of F. A. Stearns Post, No. 37, G. A. R., of which he is a charter member and was the first Commander, was started by him. A Mason of Spencer Lodge, he has served as its chap- lain, and he is a member of the Congrega- tional church. In politics he is a stanch Re- publican.

On September 29th, 1861, Captain Stone married Charlotte C. Boyden, a daughter of the late Samuel and Harriet B. (West) Boyden. He now has six sons - Arthur L., Charles

E., Ferdinand F., Albert B., Edward R., and Luther H. The eldest, Arthur L. Stone, a graduate of the Worcester Polytechnic Insti- tute, is manager of a branch office, located at Missoula, Mont., of the Anaconda Standard, the leading newspaper of the great North- west. He was recently elected to the legis- lature of that State. Charles E. Stone, a graduate of Yale, is a professor at Phillips Academy in Andover. Ferdinand F. Stone is engaged in the orange industry in Florida. Albert B. is employed in the office of the Webb Granite Construction Company, of Worcester. Edward R., who was the manager of his father's insurance business, and was Captain of the Spencer Camp, Sons of Vet- erans, is now Sergeant in the Twelfth Regi- ment, Company K, United States Regulars.

ON. ELISHA MURDOCK, founder of the woodenware industry, was born in Winchendon, August 27, 1802, son of Ephraim and Zebiah (Bixby) Murdock. His father was born in Winchendon, January 26, 1772, and was a de- scendant in the fourth generation of Robert Murdock, of Roxbury, Mass.

James Murdock, father of Ephraim, was born in Newton, Mass., March 15, 1738, married Deborah Williams October 9, 1765, settled in Winchendon in 1766, and died here October 26, 1813. His wife was a descendant of Rob- ert Williams, of Roxbury, the common ances- tor of a number of distinguished Americans. She died August 15, 1809. James and Debo- rah Murdock were the parents of seven chil- dren, of whom Ephraim was the fourth-born.

Ephraim Murdock was a lifelong resident of Winchendon, and died February 21, 1853. On February 4, 1798, he married Zebiah Bixby. She died July 20, 1824; and March 30, 1826, he married Mrs. Abigail W. Wood- bury, daughter of Captain Jacob Wales. By the first marriage there were seven children, Elisha being the third; and by the second there were three children.

Elisha Murdock pursued his primary studies in the common schools, later attending the academies in Leicester, Mass., and Salem,

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N. H. He taught school for some time during his early years; but being forcibly impressed by the immense lumber resources, in which he saw the foundation of an important industry, he established in 1834 a pail and tub manufac- tory at Waterville, one mile from Winchen- don village. This was the beginning of an industry which has grown into large propor- tions, much capital and labor being now em- ployed in its prosecution. Mr. Murdock was the first to make pails and tubs by machinery, and was actively engaged in the woodenware business until 1862, when he was succeeded by his son-in-law, the late William W. Whitney.

In 1832 Mr. Murdock married Roanah Morse, who was born in Winchendon, Septem- ber 4, 1808, daughter of Isaac and Miriam (Spofford) Morse, an account of whom will be found in a sketch of Elisha M. Whitney, which appears upon another page of this work. Mrs. Murdock became the mother of three children, namely : Ellen R., born February 16, 1834, now the wife of William W. Godding, M. D., and mother of three children - Mary P., Row- ena, and Alvah; and Sophia M., born March 30, 1837, widow of William W. Whitney, hav- ing one son, Elisha M .; and George, born May 7, 1842, who died September 15, 1849.

The Hon. Elisha Murdock died March 12, 1870. It was universally acknowledged that no citizen was ever accorded more respect and esteem. For many years he was an important factor in the educational affairs of the town, serving as a member of the School Committee from 1829 to 1863. He was Representative to the legislature in 1838, 1840, 1848, and 1851, was State Senator in 1852, and re- elected in 1853.

LISHA M. WHITNEY, the present head of the firm of E. Murdock & Co., one of the oldest established indus- trial enterprises in Winchendon, was born in this town June 22, 1861, son of William W. and Sophia Morse (Murdock) Whitney. He is a representative of the well-known families of Whitney, Morse, and Murdock, whose rec- ords extend far back into the Colonial period, their ancestors having been prominently iden-

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 129

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