Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 146

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 146

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About the time the Civil War broke out he began manufacturing boot-top gilding for the use of the cavalry, and employed a large force of men. Subsequent to this he invested largely in real estate; but in June, 1873, consequent to the financial panic, he went to Pueblo, Col., and there made land invest- ments. On his journey out he was obliged to walk many miles, but before long the nar- row-gauge road was built. The place he owned there is now valued at eleven thou- sand dollars, but it was sold at fifteen hun- dred dollars.

Mr. Blunt was always warmly interested in public affairs in Milford, and at the time the question of introducing water into the town was first agitated gave freely of both time and money in helping forward the survey. He was president of the Milford Mutual Insurance Company ; a member of Montgomery Lodge of Masons; of Mount Lebanon Chapter, R. A. M .; and of Milford Commandery, K. T .; and he also belonged to the Franklin Typographical Union.

Mr. Blunt was married on June 19, 1850, to Pamelia Barker Adams, daughter of Jeremiah and Miriam (Sanborn) Adams, and a descend- ant of the celebrated John Cotton. The fol- lowing-named children were the fruit of this

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union : Jane Hodges and Pamelia Adams (twins), Stephen Woodworth, Esther Frances, Mark Angelo, and John Samuel. Of these Jane, who was born on July 19, 1851, is the widow of Albert R. Sadler, and is the mother of a son, Roy, who is now a student in the high school. Pamelia married James B. Leonard. Stephen, who was born in Boston on April 14, 1855, married Nellie McLaugh- lin. Esther Frances, who was born on May 20, 1859, married Isaiah W. Emerson, now a prominent business man of Chelsea, Mass., and a well known Odd Fellow. Mark Angelo, who was born on March 12, 1867, died on April 7 of the same year. John Samuel, who was born on July 12, 1869, and is now de- ceased, was one of the founders of the Suffolk Engineering Company. He graduated from Harvard University, and subsequently took a post-graduate course there.

R ICHARD FAY PARKER,* junior partner of the well-known brokerage firm of Ely & Co., State Street, Boston, and a prominent resident of Westboro, is a native of New York and a son of Henry H. and Catherine (Fay) Parker. He is descended on both sides of his family from men of unusual ability and prominence, and men who have given valuable service to the public. His mother's grandfather, the Hon. Samuel Prescott Phillips Fay, was in former years Judge of Probate for Middlesex County.

His mother's father, Richard S. Fay, who was born in Cambridge on June 15, 1806, and died in Liverpool on July 6, 1865, was a law- yer of eminence, and one of the largest land owners in Essex County. After graduating from the law school he settled for practice in Boston, and in 1832 he married Catherine Saunders, daughter of the Hon. Dudley L. Pickman, of Salem. In 1848 he went with his family to Europe, and after an extended journey on the continent took up his residence at Moor Park, in Shropshire, where he remained several years, carefully studying the most approved English methods of agriculture. Returning to Massachusetts in 1853, he imme- diately began the improvement of a large estate

of five hundred acres he had previously pur- chased in Essex County, and which was known as Lynnmere. He drained the land and planted a large number of trees, many of them with his own hands, importing larches, maples, pines, and firs. This estate is now one of great beauty and of great value, and is a perti- nent reminder of his good taste and judgment. Mr. Fay encouraged agriculture, and gave especial attention to sheep raising. He was a trustee of the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, and he edited the first issue of the society's records. He was also president of the Essex Agricultural So- ciety, and read numerous valuable papers before the members. At the breaking out of the Civil War he organized at his own expense a company known as the Fay Guards, which was attached to the Thirty-eighth Regiment, and did valuable service during the great struggle for the Union.

Henry H. Parker, father of Richard F., was a graduate of Columbia Law School, and a prominent lawyer of New York City.

Mr. Parker graduated at Harvard University in the class of 1880, and for a number of years subsequently was in the cotton business in the South. Returning then to Boston, he became a member of the stock brokerage firm above mentioned, and a few years later bought an estate in Westboro, where he has built an attractive country residence. He is now de- veloping a stock and dairy farm, which he proposes to make one of the finest in the county. Mr. Parker was married in Boston to the daughter of the Rev. Edward Guild.

OBERT C. FISH, M. D.,* of Hope- dale, was born in Lancashire, Eng- land, on January 30, 1869, son of Timothy and Elizabeth Fish. His father came to America about ten years ago, and is now living retired from business in High Street, Pawtucket, R. I.

Dr. Fish received his early education in England, and at the age of sixteen came to America and began accumulating funds for his college course. He landed in New York and from there went to Olneyville, where he re-

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mained two or three years, going thence to New Bedford in 1890. In the fall of 1890 he entered the Baltimore Medical College, and in 1894 was graduated with the degree of Doc- tor of Medicine. In October, 1894, after a post-graduate course in the Johns Hopkins Hospital, he settled at Hopedale, where in the few years that have since passed he has built up a large practice. He is now the only phy- sician either in Milford, Mendon, or even Woonsocket whose practice requires the use of two horses. Aside from the large number of friends he has made through his skilful and sympathetic ministrations to the sick, he has made many warm personal friends and has won a well-defined place in the social life of the town. He is a member of the Thurber Medi- cal Society, and has read numerous papers before that body. He is also a member of the Royal Society of Good Fellows in Milford, and Medical Examiner for that fraternity in this vicinity, as well as Medical Examiner for the Berkshire Life Insurance Company, of Pittsfield.

Dr. Fish married Miss Bertha Record, daughter of Phineas Record, a well-known cit- izen of Fairhaven, Mass. The Doctor has one sister, who resides in Lonsdale, R. I., the wife of Jacob Bell, and mother of five children. His eldest brother, George Fish, is overseer of the weaving department in a cotton-mill. He is married, and has two daughters. An- other brother, Lewis Fish, is a graduate nurse from McLean Hospital and a graduate physi- cian from the Baltimore Medical College.

EORGE BEMIS,* 2D, a well-known resident of Spencer, Mass., was born in this town on July 25, 1818, son of William and Catherine (Eveleth) Bemis. His father was a native and a lifelong resident of Spencer, and his mother was born in Prince-

ton. A sketch of their son, David Bemis, appears on another page of this work, and futher information regarding the Bemis family may be found therein.

George Bemis passed his boyhood days on his father's farm, learning to appreciate the ad- vantages of a natural and untrammelled coun-

try life, and performing the duties that fall to the lot of the farmer lad. After attending the district school near his home, he profited by a short course of study at Leicester Acad- emy. His subsequent experience and contact with life have brought him a large increase of knowledge, and he is in great measure what may be termed a self-educated man. He has devoted his working life to agriculture, and is still engaged in that branch of industry.

Mr. Bemis was united in marriage on Sep- tember 15, 1842, with Emeline Warren, who was born in Leicester on January 9, 1823. She is a daughter of Amasa and Lydia (Por- ter) Warren. Her father was born in Leices- ter, and her mother in Brookfield. Mr. War- ren was a Free Mason, and at his decease his obsequies were conducted according to the Masonic rites. Of his children, three besides Mrs. Bemis are living, namely: Leonard, in East Brookfield; Otis, in Worcester; and Nathan, in East Brookfield. Mr. and Mrs. Bemis have four children, named as follows : Charles W., Henry E., Emily P., and John Q. Charles and Henry reside in Mitchell County, Kansas. Emily lives with her par- ents, and John Q. is in Utah. In politics Mr. Bemis is a Republican.

LDEN H. SEARS,* the well-known ice dealer of Worcester, was born in Sandwich, Mass., September 17, 1823, son of Philander and Bethiah (Sears) Sears. He is a descendant, in the seventh generation, of Richard Sears (formerly spelled Sares), an early settler of Cape Cod. The line is: Richard,' Paul,2 Captain John, 3 Willard, 4 Rueben, 5 Philander, 6 Alden. 7

Richard Sears, the founder of this well- known family, died at Yarmouth in 1676.

Philander Sears, father of Alden H., was born in 1795. He married in 1821 Bethiah, daughter of Elisha and Thankful (Snow) Sears. For some years he resided at Pocasset, in the town of Sandwich. Coming to Worcester in 1834, he was favorably impressed with the country, and decided to return for his family and effects. He started on foot at nine o'clock A. M., and is said to have reached his home in

BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

Pocasset, one hundred and ten miles distant, at midnight the second day. His journey back to Worcester, which was made with a three-horse team, required four days. He soon found work in a wire factory. In 1840 he began farming upon a tract of seventy acres, which, with the assistance of his son Sylvanus, he subsequently increased to one hundred and twenty-five acres, and the rest of his active years were devoted to that occupation. Philander Sears died in 1892. He had seven children, six of whom lived to maturity, namely : Alden H., the sub- ject of this sketch; Sylvanus, who occupies the homestead at the corner of Salisbury and Flagg Streets; Rhoda, who married Justin Forbush, and died in Grafton, aged about forty-six years, leaving two daughters; Charles W., who re- sides on Austin Street, this city; Louisa, who married for her first husband Royal S. Dunton, and is now the widow of Lyman Bellows, re- siding on Millbrook Street; and Philander F. Sears, who resides at the homestead.

Alden H. Sears began his education in the common schools, and completed his studies with a six months' course at the Leicester Academy. For two years after his arrival here he worked in a screw manufactory, and he was subsequently employed in Ichabod Washburn's wire factory much of the time for five years. Leaving home at the age of twenty-one, he was for a while employed as a clerk in James Dil- lingham's grocery store. He next turned his attention to agriculture, and leasing a farm he cultivated it for three years. In 1846 he en- gaged in the ice business. This has since been his chief occupation, and for many years he has been one of the principal dealers in the city. He owns or controls two ponds, having an area of about three hundred acres, from which he cuts an average of seventeen thousand tons annually, the ice being of the purest qual- ity. For some years his son has been asso- ciated with him in business. At the present time the firm of A. H. Sears & Co. use forty heavy draft horses and twenty-four carts, and their plant is equipped with modern machinery and appliances for cutting and storing ice. They are also engaged in the wood business, and carry on a blacksmith shop.

Mr. Sears contracted his first marriage Janu-

ary 15, 1845, with Laura McNeil, of Worces- ter, who died six months afterward. His sec- ond wife, Hannah A. Corbin, of Oxford, Mass., died in 1893. On September 15, 1895, he wedded a widow, Mrs. Sarah J. Stone, of Sutton, Mass., born Ward. He is the father of five sons, all by his second wife, namely : John, who married Mary Davis, and is a mem- ber of the firm of A. H. Sears & Co. ; Walter H., a dentist of this city; Fred A., who mar- ried Cora Smith, resides in Worcester, and has one son, Ralph; and two others who died young.

In politics Mr. Sears is a Republican. He has resided on his present farm of forty acres since 1856. He also owns a summer residence in Provincetown. In his religious belief he is a Methodist, and for many years has been ac- tive in church affairs.

UILFORD P. HEATH,* one of the most progressive and successful agri- culturists of Northboro, Mass., was born in Barre, Vt., September 5, 1842, being the only son of Jacob N. and Cynthia (Pratt) Heath. He is said to be a descendant in the fifth generation of Hannah Dustin, the heroine of the Indian tragedy of 1697. His paternal grandfather, Abel Heath, was an early settler of Corinth, Vt., and one of the organizers of the town. He reared a family of fourteen children, two of whom became Methodist Epis- copal preachers. In 1845 Jacob N. Heath, on account of failing health, removed to Worces- ter, Mass., and a few years later he died there at a comparatively early age.

Guilford P. Heath obtained his education in Worcester, where he lived from the age of three years until a lad of twelve. Coming then to Northboro, he began working as a farm hand, and when of age he leased land and continued in his chosen occupation. Thirty years ago he purchased his present homestead, the old Nathaniel Brigham estate, noted in local history as the site of a fort in Colonial days. By dint of tireless industry, under the direction of careful judgment and good busi- ness foresight, he has developed one of the best tilled and most productive farms in this

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part of the county. He has built a substantial dwelling-house, splendidly equipped his com- modious farm buildings, and carries on farm- ing after the most approved modern style. He keeps a large dairy, and was among the first in this locality to ship milk to the Boston markets. Although his business has been essentially farming, he is engaged to some extent in lumbering.

In 1862 Mr. Heath enlisted as a soldier in the Fifty-first Massachusetts Volunteer Infan- try, and at the expiration of his time he re- enlisted in the old Fifty-seventh Massachu- setts Volunteer Infantry, which, as some one has said, "saw more hardships, did more actual fighting, and lost more men than any other regiment in the Northern army, with possibly two exceptions." It was a part of the Ninth Army Corps; and he participated with his comrades in the battles of Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Richmond, and at Appo- mattox, doing brave service in each place.

Fraternally, he is a member of Siloam Lodge, F. & A. M .; of Houghton Chapter, R. A. M. ; and of Marlboro Commandery, K. T. He is in no sense a politician, but has served nine years as Selectman, ten years as Assessor, six years on the Northboro Water Board, and on various town committees, and, being a clear-headed, straightforward business man, he has made a most valuable town official.

Mr. Heath married Miss Mary Walker, of Northboro, a descendant of the old Brigham family, and they have four children, namely : Alice, who was graduated from the Northboro High School and the Framingham Normal School, and is now teaching in this town; Edith and Annie, both graduates of Wilbra- ham Academy; and Florence, who is a pupil in the Northboro High School.

ILLIAM H. SPAULDING,* super- intendent of the Clinton Gas and Electric Light Plant, was born in St. Johnsbury, Vt., December 28, 1864. He is the son of Colonel Charles F. Spaulding, who commanded a Vermont regiment in the Civil War, and is now superintendent of the Gas and Electric Light Plant in Waltham.

Colonel Spaulding was reared upon a farm in Vermont, and when a young man he entered the employ of the Fairbanks Scale Company in St. Johnsbury, working his way forward to the position of foreman, which he occupied for several years. He was then appointed super- intendent of the Gas and Water Works in Bur- lington, Vt., where he remained ten years, and afterward he had charge of the gas works in Brookline, Mass., for the same length of time. In company with his son Charles he erected a new plant in Brookline, and while residing in that town he served as a Selectman for one year. His wife, whose maiden name was Par- sons, is a native of St. Albans, Vt. They have had ten children, five of whom are living, namely: Murella P., who resides in Terre Haute, Ind. ; Charles S., who is now superin- tendent of the gas works in Wakefield, Mass. ; Carrie L., wife of Fred M. Crosby, an archi- tect residing in Brighton, Mass. ; William H., the subject of this sketch; and Hattie Walton. The mother attends the Congregational church.

The childhood of William H. Spaulding was passed in St. Johnsbury and at Burlington, Vt., where he received his elementary educa- tion. He continued his studies in the schools of Brookline, Mass., and afterward took a busi- ness course at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College in Boston. In his later youth he ac- quired a knowledge of the manufacture of illuminating gas, and at the age of twenty years was appointed superintendent of the works in Keene, N. H. In 1888 he was trans- ferred to the Clinton plant, which he has since managed. In addition to the gas-producing department, which has a capacity for generat- ing one hundred thousand cubic feet in twenty- four hours, he is also superintendent of the electric department, which furnishes power for sixteen hundred and fifty incandescent lamps and ninety arc lights. Since he took charge of the plant its capacity has been enlarged from time to time in order to supply the increasing demands for both gas and electric lights; and the laying of new mains, the stringing of feed wires, besides the necessary changes required by the expansion of the works and the repair of machinery, have all been accomplished under his able direction.

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On July 3, 1890, Mr. Spaulding married Carrie A. Pratt, a native of Clinton. Her father, Captain C. A. Pratt, is a safe manufact- urer in Boston, and a resident of this town. Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding have one daughter, Gladys A.

Politically, Mr. Spaulding is a Republican. He is a member of Trinity Lodge, F. & A. M. ; the American and New England Associations of Gas Engineers; and the Pres- cott Club. He attends public worship at the Unitarian church and Mrs. Spaulding is a member of the church.

ILLIAM H. FAY,* a rising young lawyer of Clinton, was born in Lan- caster, January I, 1873, son of John and Mary (McCormick) Fay. His father was a native of Lancaster and a gardener by occu- pation. John Fay served three years in the war of the Rebellion as a private in Company G, Twenty-sixth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, and upon his discharge he returned to Lancaster and resumed his former occu- pation. He was an expert gardener, a reli- able, upright man, and a useful citizen. He died at the age of fifty-three years. He is sur- vived by his wife and three of their four chil- dren ; namely, Mary A., Maggie B., and Will- iam H., the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Mary M. Fay, who was born in Ireland, still resides in Lancaster.

William H. Fay, after leaving the Lancaster High School, pursued his preliminary law studies in the office of District Attorney Her- bert Parker. Entering the Boston University Law School, by diligent study he took the regular three years' course in two years, and after graduating in 1895 he began practice in Milford, Mass. Some four months later he associated himself with C. G. Bancroft in a partnership which, after the expiration of a year, was ended by limitation. Since that time Mr. Fay has occupied his present suite of offices in Daggett's Block, Clinton, where he is conducting a profitable general law business, and is rapidly making his way to the front in his profession. Mr. Fay is a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and of the

Knights of Columbus. Politically, he acts with the Democratic party. He resides in Lancaster, and is a member of the Roman Catholic church in that town.

HARLES SUMNER THAYER,* farmer and milk dealer, Worcester, was born where he now resides, Jan- uary 30, 1874, being the son of Horace and Dolly G. (Wheelock) Thayer. His father was born in Bellingham, Mass., in 1821, and his mother was a native of Worces- ter. The Thayers are an old Massachusetts family. A more extended account of them will be found in a sketch of Charles D. Thayer, which appears upon another page of the REVIEW.

Horace Thayer was reared in Worcester and was one of the first in this locality to engage in market gardening. He purchased some forty years ago the farm which his son Charles S. now owns, paying twenty-two hundred dol- lars for it in a rough state, and he increased its value to many times that sum. He made a specialty of small fruits, including strawber- ries, many thousand quarts of which he raised annually, realizing excellent financial returns. The only society with which he affiliated was the Patrons of Husbandry. Horace Thayer died November 9, 1883, leaving a good estate. His wife, Dolly, whom he married in 1848, was the mother of eleven children, namely : Josie E., who was born in 1850, and died in 1867; Ida E., born in 1852, who was an in- valid for twenty-seven years, and died March 7, 1894; Horace, a carpenter and contractor of this city; Edie W. born in 1856, died in 1858; Fred W., born in 1859, died in 1878; Etta M., born in 1862, who was for some time a school teacher in California, and died in 1894; Henry W., born in 1864, who resides upon a part of his father's farm; William P., who has one son, and is with William H. Blodgett, of this city; Lydia J., who died in infancy ; Richard A., who died when two months old; and Charles S., the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Dolly G. Thayer died March 16, 1898. The parents attended the Salem Street Church.

Charles Sumner Thayer went through the

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ninth grade in the public schools and com- pleted his studies with a year's course at a business college. With the exception of one year spent in a grocery store, he has been en- gaged in farming ever since leaving school. For nearly two years he has given his personal attention to the milk business. He keeps twenty cows and supplies milk to regular cus- tomers in the city.

On March 23, 1897, Mr. Thayer was united in marriage with Miss Lulu Hewett, of Worces- ter, daughter of Elmer and Georgia (Myers) Hewett.

B ASIL SAMUEL ROY,*manufacturer of the Roy Patent Card Grinding Machinery, Worcester, was born on the shores of Lake Champlain, Au- gust 13, 1837, son of Benjamin and Calista (Orr) Roy. His father was born in Canada, near Derby Line, Vt., August 12, 1813, and his mother was born in Detroit, Mich., in 1816. His grandfather, Anthony Roy, whose birth took place on the same farm as that of Benjamin, died in 1841, at the age of over sixty years, survived by three children - Ben- jamin, Anthony and Lizzette. Anthony, who died in 1896, aged eighty years, reared six children, and two of his sons died in the Civil War. Lizzette, who was born in 1811, married Louis Hammon, had a large family, and died in 1895.

Benjamin Roy, the father is now a retired lumberman, living at Champlain. Calista, his first wife, whom he married in 1834, was a daughter of Louis Orr, who opened the first meat market in Detroit. She became the mother of three children, namely : Margaret, who married Joseph Seamans, resides in Moore, N. Y., and has one son; Flora, who married George Luscier, and died in 1868, leaving one son; and Basil S., the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Calista O. Roy died in 1845. Benjamin Roy married for his second wife a Miss Duvall, who bore him five sons and one daughter. Two of the sons reside in Watertown, Mass. ; one lives in Worcester; one is a resident of Champlain, N. Y., and the other is in Malone, that State. The second

Mrs. Roy and her daughter are no longer liv- ing. : Basil Samuel Roy began his apprentice- ship at the carder's trade in Champlain when fifteen years old. He received twenty-seven dollars the first year, four dollars per month the second, six dollars the third year, and eight per month the fourth year. At the age of nineteen he took charge of a mill in St. Edwards, Canada, at twenty-seven dollars per month and board, and remained there for two years. Going to Lowell, Mass, in 1863, he was for the next five years engaged in carding and sorting wool, and as an overseer. Later, after spending two years in Providence, R. I., he went to Rockville, Conn., where for the succeeding eight years he had charge of a mill which made a specialty of producing fancy cassimeres; and coming to Worcester, in 1878, he established himself in his present business. First locating on Beacon Street, he moved from there to Foster Street, and since August, 1893, he has occupied his present location on Southbridge Street. He manufactures the Roy Patent Improved Machines for grinding every make and style of textile card calender rollers, gig rolls, nappers, cloth shears, and so forth. His factory is four hundred feet long by forty to fifty feet wide, and two stories high ; it has an engine of one hundred and fifty horse power, which furnishes power to other parties in the building. He employs a force of one hundred and fifty men.

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 146

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