Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 131

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

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died March 18, 1765. Matthew, son of the Rev. Thomas Parker, was born in Dracut, and moved to Litchfield, N. H. Nathan Parker, Carmi M. Parker's grandfather, who was a na- tive of Litchfield, N. H., born January I, 1767, managed a farm, a hotel, and a general store in Merrimac. He died August 31, 1849. His son, Elkanah Phillips, was one of a family of ten children. He was born in Merrimac, June 6, 1807, and there carried on a farm, a general store, and an extensive lumber busi- ness for a number of years. A prominent Republican, he held all the offices within the gift of the town. He died April 5, 1873. His wife died at the age of thirty-seven. They had four children.

Carmi M. Parker in his youth attended the high school and the Merrimac Normal Institute at Reed's Ferry. After leaving school, until 1866, he was in a country store, having taken his father's stock. In 1866, as head of the firm of Parker & Co., he began to manufacture furniture, and in 1880 he moved his business to Fitchburg. He did his own designing, and his designs were among the most popular in New England. For six years also he was on the road, selling his own goods; and he was very successful. When, in 1890, he retired from the furniture business, his withdrawal was deeply regretted by many large dealers in New England. In 1884 he became interested in the manufacture of screws, and began it in a small way in Boston. Gradually enlarging the scope of his business, he invented machinery which it was impossible to get otherwise, and soon was in control of a flourishing enterprise. In 1890 he removed the business to Fitchburg, where it has since been carried on under the name of the Boston Screw Company. Mr. Parker is a trustee and a member of the Invest- ment Committee of the Fitchburg Savings Bank, also a director of the Fitchburg Na- tional Bank. He joined the Merchants' Asso- ciation in June, 1886, and was its president in 1891, 1892, and 1893. He has also served on various committees of this body. He is a director of the Fitchburg Board of Trade.

Mr. Parker was married in 1863 to Annie E., daughter of Isaac McGaw, a prominent lawyer, who represented Windham, N. H., in the State

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legislature. Mr. and Mrs. Parker have three sons : George L., a graduate of Brown Uni- versity, now teaching music in Fitchburg ; Harry C., who assists his father in the factory ; and Maurice W., a graduate of the Fitchburg High School, who intends to pursue a more extended course of study. Mr. Parker was Town Treasurer of Merrimac, and represented that town in the New Hampshire legislature in 1878 and 1879, serving on the Committee on Education in 1878, and in 1879 presiding as chairman of the Committee on Incorporations, and also serving on the Committee on State Reform Schools. He was a member of the Fitchburg City Council in 1884 and 1885, and refused other offices on account of ill health. Mr. Parker has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the McGaw Normal Institute at Reed's Ferry some twenty years. He was a member of the grange and several temperance organizations in New Hampshire. Since its organization he has been a member of the Park Club, of Fitchburg. He was for ten years connected with the Amoskeag Veterans of Man- chester, N. H. In religious belief he is a Congregationalist.

RS. SARAH MARSH DODGE, of Sutton, formerly Sarah Ange- line Marsh, is a native of this town. She was born on Septem- ber 26, 1846, daughter of Stephen and Lucy (Rich) Marsh.

Stephen Marsh, her father, was a man of large influence in the community. He held many public offices during his active life, and at the time of his death possessed probably the largest property owned in the town of Sut- ton. He was of the fifth generation of his family in Sutton. Benjamin Marsh, who spent here the winter of 1716-17, was one of the first three settlers, and his daughter Abi- gail was the first white child born in the town. Benjamin was a grandson of John Marsh, who came to New England in 1634, settled at Salem, and married Susanna, daughter of the Rev. Samuel Skelton. According to the "Genealogy of John Marsh, of Salem, and his Descendants," published in 1888 by Colonel

Lucius B. Marsh, the ancestral line of Mrs. Dodge was John, ' Zachary, 2 Eben, 3 Benjamin4 (nephew of Benjamin, the pioneer), Stephen, 5 Stephen,6 Stephen. 7 The second Stephen Marsh, grandfather of Mrs. Dodge, married Tamar, daughter of Gideon Sibley, who marched as a minute-man from Sutton to Con- cord on the alarm of April 19, 1775, and later served in Colonel Ebenezer Learned's regiment in the Revolution.

Sarah Angeline Marsh was married to George Willard Dodge, of Sutton, April 30, 1874. He was born November 16, 1846, son of Nathaniel and Adeline (Dudley) Dodge. He was educated in the public schools of Sut- ton and at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. The farm now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Dodge was originally the property of Captain March Chace, and later was owned by Nathaniel Dodge, above named, who was the son of Josiah and Huldah Dodge and seventh in lineal descent from Richard Dodge, an early settler of Beverly.

Nathaniel Dodge, above named, was born June 9, 1802, and obtained a very good educa- tion for those times. In 1829 he married Adaline, daughter of Jonathan and Lydia Dud- ley, a popular young lady of Sutton, born May 4, 1805. When he first came to this place a house was standing here, surrounded by locust trees. If now in existence, it would be about one hundred and sixty years old. Being a very industrious young man, Nathaniel Dodge at once began making improvements, building a new dwelling-house, a barn, and an ice- house. He also bought more land, until he was the owner of one hundred and sixty acres. He was noted for keeping some of the finest Devon stock in the county. For these cattle he took many prizes at Worcester, Saratoga Springs, and other places. He was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church, and for many years was leader of the church choir.

The Dodge farm is situated on the main road between Worcester and Providence. It is said to be one of the finest in this vicinity. The city of Worcester can be easily reached from this homestead, as the Worcester and Blackstone Valley electric cars pass the door, and the New York, New Haven & Hartford

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Railroad is but a few rods distant. A few years ago a number of acres of land from the farm, including a brook, were sold to the State for the purpose of breeding trout. This ex- periment has proved a success. In the present year (1898) one million one hundred thou- sand fish have been raised. The children of George W. and Mrs. Dodge are: George Har- rison, who was born January 24, 1875, and is now in the lumber business; Alice Marsh, who was born April 24, 1881 ; and Frank Earle, who was born February 5, 1895. Alice is a student at the well-known boarding-school of Miss Kimball in Worcester. She is a com- municant of St. John's Episcopal Church at Wilkinsonville, and the other members of the family are attendants of that church. Mrs. Dodge is a Daughter of the American Revolu- tion.

ERRY HUTCHINSON, died on Jan- uary 22, 1882, at his home on West Street in the city of Worcester, where for thirty years he had conducted a large and successful business as a house painter. He was born March 21, 1820. He was a son of Luther Hutchinson, of Milford, N. H, and he traced his lineage directly back five hundred years to Bernard Hutchinson, who was born in 1282 in Cowlam, Yorkshire, England, and lived and died in that country.

Richard Hutchinson, the immigrant ances- tor, a descendant of Bernard, was born in England in 1602 or near that date, came to America about 1635, and was among the early settlers at Salem Village, now Danvers, Mass. The line has thus been continued until the present day: Richard1; Joseph 2; Benjamin 3; Benjamin 4; Nathan 5; Lieuten- ant Benjamin6; Luther7; Gerry, & the subject of this sketch; Charles A.9-the children of Charles A. being of the tenth generation of this notable family in New England.

Luther Hutchinson, son of Lieutenant Ben- jamin, was born in Milford, N.H., in 1783, and during his active years was a prosperous farmer. By his first wife, Sarah Moore, who was born in the same town, a daughter of Joshua Moore, he had four children; namely,

Cassandana, Evelyn Milton, Elbridge, and Gerry.

Gerry Hutchinson was born March 21, 1820, in Milford, N.H. During his boyhood and youth he worked on the stony farm sum- mers, and attended the district school winters. On becoming of age he left the parental roof, and, coming to Massachusetts, learned the painter's trade in Waltham, where he subse- quently formed a partnership with his brother Evelyn, with whom he continued in business until April, 1852. Realizing then the su- perior advantages offered in the rapidly grow- ing city of Worcester, he left Waltham, and took up his abode here. The success which awaited him in his new location proved the wisdom of his change, as in the busy years that followed he built up one of the largest and most profitable paying industries in Worcester County. He painted buildings of all kinds, employing at times as many as twenty or thirty skilled workmen, and was noted all over the county for fulfilling his contracts to the letter. Genial, courteous, and obliging, honest and honorable in all of his transac- tions, he was recognized as one of the solid and substantial business men of Worcester. He was an admirer and a good judge of fine horses. He was active in the Masonic frater- nity. A stanch Republican in politics, as a citizen he endeavored at all times to perform his duty, and during one term was a member of the Common Council.

Mr. Hutchinson and Elizabeth R., daughter of John and Lydia Robbins, of Wilton, Me., were married on January 22, 1848. They be- came the parents of three children, namely : Ella Rosabelle, who was born in Waltham in 1851, and died in 1857; Elbridge Gerry, born in Worcester in 1857, died in infancy; and Charles Augustus, who was born July 23, 1860, in this city. Charles Augustus Hutch- inson was graduated from the Worcester High School and from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he took the scholarship prize of one hundred dollars. He was chemist at the State Agricultural Station for a time, and then he went to Elizabeth, N. J., where for a few years he was connected with a large fertil- izing manufactory. He and his wife, for-

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merly Miss Isabel Metcalf, and their three children - Mary Elizabeth, Sidney Gerry, and Charles Clarence - now reside in Worcester.

AMUEL R. BARTON, of Oxford, was born in this town, May 31, 1839, son of Stephen and Betsey (Rich) Barton. He is a descend- ant in the sixth generation of Samuel Barton, who settled in Framingham, Mass., in 1699, and who, moving thence to Oxford about the year 1716, here founded a family which is one of the most highly reputed in the town. Ed- mund Barton, son of Samuel, was the father of Stephen, first, who was a physician and at one time kept the tavern.

Stephen Barton, second, son of the first Stephen, enlisted in the regular army, and served three years in the Indian war under General Wayne, otherwise known as "Mad Anthony." On his return to Oxford he was chosen Captain of a militia company. In

1804 he married Sarah, daughter of Captain David Stone, who served in the Revolutionary War under General Learned, and was present at Burgoyne's surrender. Stephen and Sarah Stone Barton had five children, the second being Stephen, third, born March 29, 1806, and the youngest, Clara, born December 25, 1821, known and honored the wide world over as Clara Barton, the official head of the Red Cross Society in the United States.

Stephen Barton, third, the father above named, was a man of energy and business abil- ity. In 1855 he purchased a tract of timbered land on the Chowan River in North Carolina, containing some two thousand acres; and set- tling upon his new possession, which he called Bartonville, he proceeded to clear and mprove the property. He married Betsey Rich, a daughter of Jacob Rich, of Charlton.

Samuel R. Barton received his education in the public schools and at Valentine's Board- ing-school. At the outbreak of the Rebellion he was with his father in North Carolina; and, being drafted into the Confederate service, he with three others determined to oppose rather than assist secession. With that end

in view they started North, instead of report- ing for duty in the rebel army, as ordered, and, reaching Richmond, found some difficulty in proceeding further; but by the aid of Yankee wit they at length gained the Union lines. Enlisting in the regular army, young Barton received the appointment of hospital steward, and for a time prior to his enlist- ment assisted his aunt, Miss Clara Barton, in caring for the sick and wounded. He was later attached to the staff of Surgeon-general Hammond, and served until the close of the war. After leaving the army he was em- ployed in Jersey City for a year, but subse- quently resumed his residence at Oxford. He then established a fire insurance agency at Webster, Mass., and, later taking the posi- tion of secretary of the Manufacturers' In- surance Company, with headquarters in Worcester, discharged the duties thereof for twenty-three years, or until his retirement. He has served with ability as Selectman several terms, is on the Board of Registra- tion, and for the past three years has been chairman of the Cemetery Commission.

Mr. Barton married Amelia L. Parks, daughter of L. C. Parks, of Worcester. He has three sons, namely: Herbert P., born De- cember 25, 1866; Loren C., born August 28, 1870; and Clarence W., born May 16, 1875. Mrs. Amelia P. Barton died August 21, 1877.

Herbert P. Barton acquired his early educa- tion at the Oxford High School, Hinman's Business College, and the Worcester Acad- emy. After graduating from the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1890, he began practice in New York City, where he served on the Board of Health. He is now located in Ontario, Cal. He married Frances J. Vasseur, of Philadelphia, and they have a son, Chandler Parker Barton, born September 22, 1894.

Loren C. Barton, who was educated at the Oxford High School and the Dudley Acad- emy, is now residing in Spokane, Wash. He married Jessie Woodbury, daughter of J. L. Woodbury, of Oxford. They have a daughter, Roberta Amelia Barton, born No- vember 16, 1893. Clarence W. Barton, who is a graduate of the Worcester Polytechnic In-

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stitute, is now editor and proprietor of a weekly newspaper in Ontario, Cal., and sani- tary engineer for the Board of Health.

Mr. Barton is an advanced Mason, being a member of Oxford Lodge; Doric Chapter, R. A. M., of Southbridge; the Council and Commandery, K. T., at Worcester; and Aleppo Temple of the Mystic Shrine, Boston. He is also a comrade of Charles Devins Post, No. 27, G. A. R.

EORGE M. GERRY,* a well-known machinist of Athol, was born in Northbridge, Mass., August 9, 1837, son of George and Sophia (Smith) Gerry. Ac- cording to the best information obtainable, he is descended from Thomas Gerry, one of the early settlers of Stoneham, Mass., who came to America as boatswain on a war vessel. some time in the seventeenth century, and who after a number of years entered the military service and was killed in battle. He is said to have been a man of great courage and strength.

A later Thomas Gerry, a descendant of the one above mentioned and the great-great-grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Stoneham in 1732, and built the first house erected in the town of Royalston. He was twice married, his first wife being Jane Wilder and the second Priscilla Jewett. The fourth child of the second marriage was David Jewett Gerry, who was born in Sterling on February 23, 1770, and died in Sudbury, where he had resided some twenty years, in 1849. He kept the old Pratt Tavern for about five years, and subsequently engaged in roof building and bridge building. At one time also, it is said, he kept a hotel in Fitzwilliam, N. H., and afterward one in Leominster, Mass. With his son, Charles, he built the first bridge over the Nashua River at Dunstable, now Nashua. His wife was Lucy Thompson, of Sterling. She bore him three children; namely, Charles, Thomas, and Eliza, of whom Thomas was the grandfather of George M. Gerry of this sketch.

George Gerry, son of Thomas and father of George M., moved his family from North- bridge to Millbury, from which town he re- moved to North Oxford, where he resided three

years. He then came to Athol, where he was employed as overseer in a mill for some time; and in 1853 he established the machine shop that is now carried on by his son. He was one of the founders of the Methodist society in Athol, and the first meeting was held in his house. His wife, Sophia, was a daughter of Anson Smith.

George M. Gerry, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the schools of Millbury, North Oxford, and Athol. He served an apprentice- ship at the machinist's trade in his father's shop, and, succeeding to its ownership, is still carrying on a thriving business.

Mr. Gerry married Phœbe H. Swan, a native of Phillipston, Mass., and a daughter of Sum- ner Swan. She is a descendant of Dr. Thomas Swan, a Scotchman, who was educated in Eng- land. His mother was a Stuart, and he was also related to the McDonald family. Emi- grating to New England, Dr. Swan settled in Roxbury, Mass. His house was set on fire in 168 1 by a negro servant, Maria, who was con- demned to be burned at the stake; and it is said that the sentence was executed in Boston on September 22 of the same year. Mr. Gerry is the father of three sons, namely: Reno M., born in 1862, and Frederick G., born in 1876, both of whom are in business with their father ; and Harry A. Gerry, who was born in 1885.

ENERAL WILLIAM SEVER LIN- COLN, author of "Life with the

Thirty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry in the War of the Rebellion," the regiment of which he was commander, was born in Worcester, November 22, 1811, and died in this city November 8, 1889. He was presi- dent of the Thirty-fourth Massachusetts Regi- mental Association, and had been president of the Worcester County Agricultural Society, a member of the Board of Aldermen, and City Marshal, also president of the Worcester Light Infantry Veteran Association. He was the second son of Governor Levi and Penelope Winslow (Sever) Lincoln, a grandson of the Hon. Levi Lincoln, Sr., and a lineal descend- ant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman, who settled at Hingham, Mass., about 1637.

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His grandfather Lincoln, a graduate of Har- vard in 1772, owned an estate which com- prised a large part of the site of the present city of Worcester. He was Judge of Probate of Worcester County, was a member of the legislature in 1796-97, was elected Congress- man in 1800, was United States Attorney General 1801-1805, Councillor in 1806, Lieu- tenant Governor of Massachusetts in 1807, and Acting Governor 1808-II. He was appointed Justice of the United States Supreme Court, but declined the office. He married Martha Waldo, by whom he had six children : Levi, Enoch, John, William, Rebecca, and Martha. Enoch, at the time of his death in 1829, was Governor of Maine.

Levi Lincoln, Jr., was born on Lincoln Street, Worcester, in 1782. He was grad- uated at Harvard College in 1802. He served several years in the State legislature, and was Speaker of the House in 1822; was Lieuten- ant Governor of Massachusetts in 1823; As- sistant Justice of the Supreme Court in 1824; Governor of Massachusetts, elected by the vote of both parties, from 1825 to 1834; member of Congress, 1835-41 ; Collector of the Boston Port, 1842 and 1843; State Senator 1843-45 ; and when Worcester became a city in 1848 he was elected and served as its first Mayor. The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by Harvard and Williams Colleges. He died May 29, 1868, at his home on Elm Street, where he owned a large farm, a por- tion of the estate upon which his father set- tled. His wife, Penelope Winslow Sever, was a native of Kingston, Mass. They had seven children that came to adult years ; namely, Levi, William S., Daniel Waldo, George Lincoln, Penelope, Ann Warren, and Edward Winslow.

Levi, third, the eldest of these, born in 1809, served in the United States navy. He died in middle life, at the family home, un- married. Daniel Waldo, who served as Mayor of Worcester and was for some years president of the Boston & Albany Railroad, was acci- dentally killed on the cars in 1880. George was educated at West Point, was a Captain in General Scott's army in Mexico, and was killed at Buena Vista. He left a widow and

one daughter. Penelope, now Mrs. Canfield, resides in Worcester. Ann Warren Lincoln died about 1848. (A sketch of Edward Winslow Lincoln, with record of maternal ancestry, may be seen elsewhere in this volume. )

William Sever Lincoln was a graduate of Bowdoin College, class of 1833, and, like his brothers, Daniel and Edward, was educated as a lawyer in accordance with the wish of their father, but like them never confined himself to law practice. He opened an office at Millbury in 1834, but in 1837 he went with his wife to St. Louis, and a little later settled in Alton, Ill. The journey from Worcester occupied two weeks. They went by way of Washing- ton, his father being then in Congress. They were from Tuesday morning to Friday night, travelling day and night, in stages between Frederick City, Md., and Pittsburg, Pa., where they took a boat. At Alton General Lincoln resumed the practice of law and be- came City Attorney. Returning to Worcester ten years later, he settled on the Mill farm in Quinsigamond village, which his great-grand- father, Judge John Chandler, had owned. About 1858 he sold that place and bought Willow Farm, the present residence of Mrs. Lincoln.

From boyhood the military attracted him, and as soon as old enough he joined the Worcester Light Infantry, of which his sons became members, and which is said to have had one or more of the Lincoln family en- rolled ever since its organization. In 1862 he went to the front as Lieutenant Colonel of the Thirty-fourth Massachusetts, of which he afterward became Colonel. At New Market, Va., he was wounded and taken prisoner. He escaped, and after three weeks of suffering and wandering over the mountains, often without food, travelling by night and hiding during the day, he finally reached the Union lines, nearly worn out by fatigue and exposure. A very interesting account of his imprisonment is contained, as an appendix, in his book above mentioned. He was brevetted Briga- dier-general in 1865.

On October 22, 1835, General Lincoln mar- ried Elizabeth Trumbull, who was born in

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Worcester, August 31, 1816. Mrs. Lincoln is of a notable family. From a genealogy of the ancestry and descendants of George Au- gustus and Louisa (Clap) Trumbull we learn that her father, George Augustus, was of the sixth generation in descent from John Trum- bull, who came over about 1637, and later settled at Rowley, Mass. This is the line: John'; Joseph,2 who settled in Connecticut ; John3; Joseph+; Josephs; and George A.6 Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut, friend and confidential adviser of Washington, called by him "brother Jonathan," was a nephew of John3 here named; and the Governor's son John was the famous historical painter, a number of whose pictures are in the rotunda of the capitol at Washington. Another John Trumbull, also a kinsman, grandson of John, 3 was the author of the celebrated satirical poem "McFingal," published at Hartford, Conn., in 1782.

George Augustus Trumbull was born in Petersham, Mass., whence at eight years of age, in 1798, he came to Worcester with his parents, Joseph and Elizabeth (Paine) Trum- bull. His mother was a sister of Dr. William Paine and an own cousin of General Lincoln's paternal grandmother. Mr. Trumbull and his wife Louisa had twelve children, five sons and seven daughters, all of whom grew to adult years with the exception of a son who died at six years of age. Three sons and five daugh-

ters married. Three daughters are living to-day, namely : Elizabeth, now Mrs. Lincoln ; Isabella Frink, wife of George F. Hartshorn, residing in Taunton, Mass. ; and Susan Trum- bull, whose home is at 40 Pleasant Street, Worcester. Charles Trumbull, one of the sons, served in the Civil War.

General and Mrs. Lincoln had four chil- dren, namely : William, born in Alton, Sep- tember 15, 1839; Levi, born April 27, 1844; George Trumbull, born February 5, 1847; Winslow Sever, born October 31, 1848. William Lincoln enlisted in response to the first call of President Lincoln in the Sixth Massachusetts as private in Company C for nine months, leaving the Harvard Law School to go to the front. His health was broken down by army life, and he died in 1869, aged

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 131

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