Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 15

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 15

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Mr. Akers is a Republican in politics, and is actively interested in all things calculated to benefit the town and county in which he re- sides. He served as Selectman of Charlton for four years, and he was the chairman of the board for a part of the time. A member of the Methodist Episcopal church, he has served the society in many official positions. On January 1, 1852, he married Melina Parsons, of Alpheus. Of their three children, two are living : Mrs. F. S. Taylor, of Worcester; and Mrs. Harry Grimwade, of Charlton City.

D ANIEL WEBSTER WIGHT, a thriving farmer of Sturbridge and a veteran of the Civil War, son of Winthrop and Louisa (Brown) Wight, was born in this town, February 14, 1836. His grandparents were Alpheus and Miriam (Belknap) Wight, of Sturbridge. Al-

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pheus operated a grist-mill besides carrying on farming. He was the father of fourteen chil- dren.

Winthrop Wight, third son of Alpheus, was born at the homestead, November 7, 1807. After succeeding to the farm in 1851, he cul- tivated it industriously until his death, which occurred on August 4, 1873. Originally a Whig in politics, he later became a Republi- can. His wife, Louisa, who was born in Southbridge, February 18, 1806, had six chil- dren, of whom the only survivor is Daniel W. The others were: Caroline L., born January 28, 1830, who died January 2, 1851; Delia E., born October 2, 1831, who died March 6, 1832; Delia E., second, born August II, , 1833, who married a Mr. Hunt, April 17, 1858, and died December 21, 1860; Mary A., born September 25, 1838, who died July II, 1861; and Levins R., born November 24, 1842, who married Mary A. Allen, November 17, 1869, and died July 24, 1870. The mother died August 10, 1874. Both parents were members of the Congregational church.

Daniel Webster Wight acquired his educa- tion in the district schools of Sturbridge. He resided at home until twenty-two years old, when he entered upon an apprenticeship to the tinner's trade. Afterward he worked at this trade until August, 1862, when he enlisted in Company F, Fifty-first Regiment, Massachu- setts Volunteers, under Captain Baldwin. While serving in the Civil War he partici- pated in the battles of Kingston and White- hall. After receiving his discharge he worked at his trade in Ware and Worcester, Mass. In 1865 he engaged in business for himself in Lowell, Mass. Four years after he went to Amherst, Mass., where he was a member of the hardware firm of Dickinson & Wight for a time. On October 1, 1873, he returned to the homestead in Sturbridge, of which he is now the proprietor. The property contains about eighty acres of excellent land. Various improvements have been made upon it since it came into his hands.

On October 12, 1865, Mr. Wight married Julia D. Allen, a daughter of Charles G. and Mary (Dunton) Allen. He has two sons : Charles Winthrop, born October 24, 1868;

and Alpheus E., born June 10, 1871. Charles W. Wight on May 6, 1896, married Agnes Kerr. He now has one son, Everett Allen Wight, born March 11, 1897. On June 22, 1898, Alpheus married Edna F. Merrill. Mr. Wight, Sr., has served as Assessor, Overseer of the Poor, and in other town offices, and con- tinues to take a lively interest in the general welfare of the town.

EORGE P. KING, one of Barre's well-to-do residents, was born in this town, March 29, 1833, son of Will- iam P. and Caroline L. (Morgan) King. The paternal great-grandfather, William King, born in Danvers, Mass., December 29, 1744, settled in Barre soon after his marriage, and died here, March 17, 1813. In June, 1775, he married Sarah Clark, who was born in Sher- born, Mass., July 16, 1756. Of their six children, Samuel King, the grandfather of George P., was born in Barre, August 25, 1778. He spent the active period of his life upon a farm located about four miles west of the village. Politically, he was a Whig and in religious belief a Universalist. His death occurred March 3, 1836. He married Sophia Clark, who died March 27, 1877, at the ad- vanced age of ninety-three years and seventeen days. William P. King, George P. King's father, was born in Barre, October 24, 1807. In early life he followed the mason's trade. Later he was industriously engaged in agri- culture until his death, which occurred August 28, 1888, in his eighty-first year. In politics he was successively a Whig and a Republican, and he attended the Unitarian church. His wife, Caroline, who was born in Brimfield, Mass., May 8, 1807, became the mother of five children, one of whom died in infancy. The surviving children are: George P., the subject of this sketch; Caroline E., the widow of Baxter C. Swan, late of Philadelphia; Ellen L., the widow of Fred Snow, late of Green- wich, Mass. ; and Cora L., the widow of Will- iam Kellogg, late of Barre. The mother died July 13, 1896.

Having been educated in Barre, George P. King resided at home, assisting on the farm

. . .. ..

WILLIAM H. COOK.

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until he was twenty-one years old. He then came to the village, and there was afterward employed at various kinds of work until 1862. In this year he went to Fitchburg, and was connected with the firm of Swan & Clark, manufacturers of Shaker hoods, until 1870. Next year he went to Philadelphia, where for the succeeding six or seven years he was in the furniture business as a member of the firm of Swan, Clark & Co. After withdrawing from that firm he returned to the homestead in order to care for his parents during their last days. Thereafter he managed the farm with success until 1890, in which year he moved to the village. Since then he has lived here in retirement. He is financially interested in the Barre Water Works and in the First Na- tional Bank, of which he is a director.

On September 2, 1866, Mr. King was united in marriage with Mary Eaton. Born in Phillipston, Mass., July 18, 1835, she is a daughter of Avery and Lydia (Brown) Eaton, natives respectively of Phillipston and Lexing- ton. Mr. Eaton, who was a farmer, died at the age of sixty-two years, and Mrs. Eaton at the age of eighty-eight. In politics Mr. King acts with the Republican party. He attends the Unitarian church.

ON. WILLIAM HENRY COOK, editor of the Milford Journal at Mil- ford, Worcester County, Mass., was born January 7, 1843, in Benning- ton, Vt., a son of James I. C. Cook and Marion E. Cook. He comes of early Colonial stock, being a lineal descendant of Aaron Cook, who in Dorchester, in May, 1635, was made a freeman of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Aaron Cook afterward removed to North- ampton, where he was a pioneer settler. Several generations of his descendants were born and made their home in Hampshire County, and there Coleman Cook, Sr., was a lifelong resident. Coleman Cook, Jr., son of Coleman, Sr., and grandfather of William H., was born in the historic town of Hadley, Mass., January 25, 1785, but moved from there to Vermont when a comparatively young

man, and died in Chester, that State, Septem- ber 3, 1872. His wife, Eunice Green, was born and reared in what is now a part of Springfield, Mass.

James I. C. Cook was born October 13, 1817, in Bellows Falls, Vt., at the "yellow tavern," of which his father was then "ye landlord." He there attended the district school until about thirteen years old, when he entered the printing office, at Bellows Falls, of his brother, B. G. Cook, senior member of the firm of Cook & Taylor, with whom he served an apprenticeship. In 1835 he worked in the office of the Cheshire Republican at Keene, N.H. ; and in August, 1836, he began "sticking type " and "pulling " a hand press in the office of the Daily Whig at Troy, N. Y., receiving eight dollars per week for all-night labor. In 1841 he secured work at his trade in Bennington, Vt., where the following year he became connected with the publish- ing of the State Banner. In 1859 he took his eldest son, William H., into partnership, and continued the publication until 1870, when the Banner plant was sold. He came with his family to Milford in May, 1872, and with his two sons, William H. and George G., purchased the Milford Journal newspaper and job printing plant. Here they have since carried on a thriving business, under the firm name of Cook & Sons. In 1887 they established the Daily Journal.

On October 13, 1841, Mr. J. I. C. Cook was married at Putney, Vt., by the Rev. Amos Foster, to Marion E. Robertson. She was born near Halifax, N.S., of Scotch par- entage, her mother having been born in Edin- burgh, Scotland, and her father in a suburb of that city. The wedding journey of J. I. C. Cook and wife from Putney to Troy, N. Y., was made in a private conveyance across the Green Mountains, and occupied three days. They passed through the town of Strat- ton, where during the campaign of 1840 the Whigs held an immense mass meeting and barbecue, an occasion made memorable by the presence of some of the most noted orators of those days, including among others Daniel Webster. Mrs. Cook died May 8, 1888, leav- ing three children: Ella J., who lives with

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her father; William H .; and George G. The latter was Postmaster of Milford under Presi- dent Harrison, and was reappointed by Presi- dent Mckinley.

Their other child, James Edwin, died in early life. On October 13, 1897, Mr. James I. C. Cook celebrated the eightieth anniver- sary of his birth in an informal manner, re- ceiving the personal congratulations of many of his friends, and from the employees of the Journal establishment a handsome piece of cut glassware and a bunch of eighty pinks. In politics he has been a stanch Republican since the formation of the party, but previous to that time he was a Whig. From April, 1861, until his removal to Milford he was Postmaster at Bennington, Vt., his three com-' missions received during that time being signed by Presidents Lincoln, Johnson, and Grant.

William H. Cook gleaned his early educa- tion in the district school, and when a little fellow of nine years learned the art of typeset- ting in the office of the Vermont State Banner, of which his father was associate proprietor and editor. He was an ambitious boy, brought up to habits of industry and thrift, and, in order to increase his supply of pocket money, used to carry the Banner to the village sub- scribers for the sum of twenty-five cents per week, making his rounds with the papers under his arm in sun, rain, or snow. When sixteen years old he became a partner of his father, and assumed the editorship of the paper, being the youngest editor in the State, if not in all New England. He was present at the organization of the Vermont Press As- sociation, and has since been prominent in the Massachusetts Press Association, of which he was two years president. He was one of the six to organize the Suburban Press Asso- ciation, of which he was the first president, an office that he filled three years, and has been president of the Massachusetts Republican Editorial Association from its inception.

Mr. Cook is an active worker in the Repub- lican ranks, and has taken a deep interest in public matters from his boyhood. While in Vermont he was frequently a delegate to Re- publican conventions, and soon after becom-

ing of age was chairman of the Bennington County Republican Committee. In 1876, four years after coming to Massachusetts, and again in 1877, he was elected a Representa- tive to the Massachusetts legislature. In 1896, 1897, and 1898 he was a member of the Massachusetts Senate, and served on impor- tant committees during the three terms, the second year rendering inestimable service to his professional brethren by his influential labors in behalf of the new newspaper libel law then enacted by the General Court. Fra- ternally, he is a Mason, belonging to Mount Anthony Lodge, No. 13, F. & A. M., of Ben- nington.

On September 20, 1888, Mr. Cook married Mrs. Georgiana Fay, daughter of George Glackmeyer, of New York City.

HARLES H. HARRIMAN, M.D., the oldest resident physician of Whit- insville, and who is well known in the medical fraternity throughout the county, was born in Goffstown, N. H., November 16, 1852, son of Warren and Sarah (Whipple) Harriman. His parents were of old New Hampshire stock. Of his two brothers, Benjamin F. served four years in the war of the Rebellion. The other, Edgar D. Harriman, is now engaged in the shoe business at Exeter, N. H.

After graduating from the academic depart- ment of the Norwich (Vt. ) University, Charles H. Harriman began the study of medicine with Dr. L. B. How, of Manchester, N. H. In 1877 he graduated from the Medical School of Dartmouth College, and for several years following he was engaged in the practice of his profession in Hopkinton, N. H. Coming to Whitinsville in 1882, he settled here, and has since built up an extensive practice. He has won the esteem of all who have been his patients, and his skill is widely recognized by other physicians. He has served for six years on the Northbridge School Board, and in 1891 he represented this district in the legislature, to which he was elected by a very flattering vote. He has been the only Democratic Rep- resentative sent to General Court from this

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district since Northbridge was incorporated. While there he served on the Committee on Public Health.

The Doctor is an esteemed member of sev- eral fraternal organizations, namely: Granite Lodge, F. & A. M .; St. Elmo Chapter, R. A. M. ; Worcester County Commandery, K. T. ; Aleppo Temple of the Mystic Shrine ; the Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Fores- ters, Red Men, Knights of the Golden Eagle, and Decamus Chapter, Order of the Eastern

Star. On October 18, 1877, he married Ser- villa M. Jones, of Goffstown, N. H. She has borne him one son, Willis Warren Harriman. Willis W. Harriman, now a youth of nineteen, who is still a student in the Whitinsville High School, has already exhibited unusual musical ability, and has written a number of musical compositions which promise much for the future.

JDWARD A. BATCHELLER, of North Brookfield, the chairman, the town's Se- lectman, and an energetic and enter- prising business man, was born in this town, March 31, 1849. A son of Alden Batcheller, he comes of pioneer stock. His paternal grandfather, Ora Batcheller, was an early set- tler in this section of Massachusetts.

Alden Batcheller, who has spent his seventy-seven years of life in North Brook- field, is known throughout the community as one of its most valued and influential men. For many years he carried on a thriving trade as a lumber manufacturer and dealer, and in former years he had large interests in the lum- ber regions of Michigan. He has been inti- mately connected with the projects most calcu- lated to benefit the town, and was one of the chief promoters of the North Brookfield steam railway and of the North Brookfield water works. In the capacities of Selectman, Water Commissioner, and legislative Representative he has rendered excellent service. His wife, Harriet R. DeVolve Batcheller, died in June, 1897, leaving three children, namely : Edward A., the subject of this biography; William H., of New York City; and Frank W., of Hartford, Conn.

Edward A. Batcheller completed his early education in the North Brookfield High School. At an early age he began life for himself as a coal dealer, and followed it for three years. During the next two years he was engaged as a meat and provision dealer, and in 1872 or soon after he began dealing in ice. Commencing with fifty patrons or thereabouts, he gradually enlarged his ice business, and now supplies upward of six hundred persons with ice each season. For a number of years he has also carried on a sub- stantial lumber and wood business, meeting with a corresponding success.

In politics Mr. Batcheller is a strong Re- publican, and since 1897 he has been one of the Selectmen of the town. An esteemed Odd Fellow, he belongs to Woodbine Lodge of this town ; and he is an active member of the First Congregational Church. He married Miss Ella M. Partridge, daughter of Silas and Ada- line Partridge, of Leicester, Mass. ; and he now has three children - Alice M., Gertrude N., and Mary E.

ILLIAM H. BAKER, a well-known insurance man of Fitchburg, was born in Lunenburg, this county, March 22, 1849, son of William and Olive R. (Boutwell) Baker and a grandson of Jesse and Sophia (Wetherbee) Baker. His great-grand- father, Reuben Baker, who was a Revolution- ary soldier, received a wound at the battle of Bunker Hill.

Jesse Baker, who was a farmer and had a saw-mill and grist-mill on Baker's Brook, died when his son William was seventeen years old. His wife was a daughter of David Wether- bee. Five generations of Wetherbee descend- ants have lived on the farm in Lunenburg. The first, Paul Wetherbee, who located there in 1745, was a son of Captain Ephraim Wetherbee, who was prominent at the incorpo- ration of the town in 1728. David Wetherbee was a Revolutionary soldier, and served with the army of the Revolution at the siege of Boston. The Wetherbee estate was devoted to general farming until about 1770. In that year the first flour-mill in this county was

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erected there, and it was in operation for more than a hundred years after. Jesse Baker's children were: William, the father of the sub- ject of this sketch; Martha A., the widow of Charles F. Rockwood, who was Registrar of Deeds at Fitchburg; Mary L., who died about thirty years ago, and was the first wife of F. A. Whitney, of Leominster; and Charles, who died before his father.

William Baker took charge of the farm and the mill after his father's death, which oc- curred in 1838. In 1862 he was appointed Assistant Assessor of Internal Revenue under Assessor Amasa Norcross, and he was obliged to devote the most of his time to the duties of his position. In 1872 the office of Assessor was abolished, and he was made Deputy Col- lector of Internal Revenue under B. F. Wallis. When this office was abolished in 1878, he declined the offer of a similar office in Worcester, as it would necessitate his re- moval to that city. In 1879 he purchased the fire insurance agency of Silas Holman, and thereafter devoted his attention to that busi- ness. One of the original trustees of the Worcester North Savings Institution, which was incorporated in 1868, he was a member of the board up to the time of his death, and also served for many years on its Board of Invest- ment. He was one of the oldest directors of the Fitchburg Mutual Fire Insurance Com- pany, and after the death of Lewis H. Brad- ford, in 1887, was the vice-president and treas- urer for a year, when he found the duties too arduous and resigned. He was Selectman and Overseer of the Poor for several years, and served in other public capacities in Lunen- burg. In the State legislature of 1873 he was one of the Representatives from the district in- cluding Fitchburg, Leominster, Lunenburg, and Westminster. On September 10, 1896, while attending a meeting of the directors of the Fitchburg Mutual Fire Insurance Com- pany, he was seized with a fainting fit. Car- ried home, he rallied for a while, but died of heart failure a few days later. Ex-Congress- man Amasa Norcross, the president of the Worcester North Savings Institution and of the Fitchburg Mutual Fire Insurance Com- pany, said of him: " He was a valuable man

for Lunenburg and for this community. He was faithful and trustworthy. My relations with him have been of a very agreeable and confidential character for more than forty years. He was seventy-five years old. On November 11, 1847, he was married to Olive Rebecca, daughter of Sewell Boutwell and sister of ex-Governor George S. Boutwell. The house to which he took his bride, and which was built in 1847, stands near the one in which he was born on the old Wetherbee farm. Mrs. Olive Baker is now seventy-six years old. Her three children are living. These are: William H., the subject of this sketch; Charles F., of the law firm of Nor- cross & Baker; and Edith B., who is a teacher in Cushing Academy at Ashburnham.

William H. Baker studied civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1869. He was engineer on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad for nine years, was six years in Montana, one year in Mexico, and five years in Texas as chief en- gineer of railroad construction. Returning to Fitchburg in 1895, he soon became associ- ated with his father in the fire insurance busi- ness, to which he now gives all his time. He has been a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers since 1882. In politics he is a Republican. He joined the Masons and Odd Fellows in New Mexico, and he is an honorary member of the Webster Historical Society.

THOMAS WEBB, the chairman of the Board of Selectmen of New Brain- tree, was born in Hardwick, September 16, 1838, son of Jonathan and Mary (Page) Webb. The Webbs are descendants of the Winslows, who came over in the " May- flower." John Webb, the grandfather of Mr. Webb and a native of Cape Cod, became an early settler in Hardwick. He followed the trades of carpenter and cabinet-maker, in addi- tion to farming, during the active period of his life, which ended when he was eighty-two years old. Patriotic as well as industrious, he served as a soldier in the War of 1812. The Christian name of his wife was Betsey.

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Jonathan Webb, J. Thomas Webb's father, was born in Hardwick, July 29, 1791. In early life he was a school teacher. Later he was engaged in farming at the homestead, where he resided until 1849. Coming to New Braintree in that year, he spent the rest of his life upon the place which is now owned by his son, and known as Sunnyside Farm. He was a Captain in the State militia. In politics he supported the Republican party, and he was a member of the Congregational church. His wife, born in Hardwick, December 13, 1799, who died at the age of sixty-nine years, be- came the mother of eight children, three of whom are living, namely: John, a broker in New York City; Elisha, a manufacturer in West Brookfield; and J. Thomas, the subject of this sketch.

J. Thomas Webb was educated in the com- mon schools of Hardwick and New Braintree, and reared to farm life. He continued to as- sist his father until he received entire charge of the farm. Since then he has cultivated it industriously. Taking high rank among the dairymen of the locality, he keeps from fifty to sixty head of Holstein cattle, full bloods and grades; and he ships milk annually to the amount of about ten thousand cans. Sunny- side Farm, containing three hundred and twenty-five acres of desirable land, is regarded as one of the best in the town. The build- ings, spacious, substantial, and in excellent repair, are characteristic of a well-to-do Worcester County agriculturist. On April 28, 1873, Mr. Webb was united in marriage with Jennie Bowen. Born in Sturbridge, Mass., February 8, 1852, she is a daughter of Henry and Hannah Bowen. Mr. Bowen, who was a well-known horse dealer, died in Sep- tember, 1897, having survived his wife, who died March 3, 1887. Mr. and Mrs. Webb have had four children, two of whom died in infancy. The living are: Irving T., born June 5, 1881; and Grace J., born June 16, 1889. Politically, Mr. Webb is a Republi- can. He was formerly a member of the Board of Assessors. A Selectman for the past eigh- teen years, he has been the chairman of the board for about eleven years. Both he and Mrs. Webb are prominent in social circles.

The latter, an intellectual woman, possessing many admirable traits, is especially esteemed. Both attend the Universalist church.

ELSON LORING, who owns and occu- pies the old Loring farm in Barre, son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Wads- worth) Loring, was born where he now resides, January 10, 1821. His paternal grandfather, Israel Loring, a native of Massa- chusetts, who was a maltster in Rice village for some years, in 1792 settled upon the farm that is now his grandson's property ; and he built the residence in 1795. Farming was his chief occupation until he was accidentally killed, at the age of sixty-five years. He at- tended the Unitarian church. His wife lived to the advanced age of ninety-six. They were the parents of eight children, none of whom are living.

Nathaniel Loring, born in Barre, April 15, 1785, and a millwright by trade, owned a saw and grist mill in Barre, and manufactured shingles quite extensively. He was also one of the owners of the cotton factories in Peters- ham and Smithville, and for many years figured prominently in the business enterprises of this locality. Succeeding to the homestead farm, he cultivated it until his death, which occurred January 21, 1840, while serving his second term in the legislature. He was a Selectman and an Assessor of the town. In politics he was a Democrat and in religious be- lief a Unitarian. Elizabeth Wadsworth Lor- ing, his wife, whom he married May 12, 1814, was born in Grafton, Mass., March 2, 1790. She became the mother of six children, namely : Joseph F., born May 10, 1815, who resides in Dorchester, Mass. ; Caroline M., born September 11, 1818, who died May 5, 1891; Nelson, the subject of this sketch ; David, born December 19, 1822, who died in January, 1895; Willard, born September II, 1826, who resides in San Diego, Cal. ; and Eliza Ann, born August 15, 1828, who died September 17, 1897. The mother died on June 2, 1872.

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 15

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