Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 17

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 17

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On May 21, 1846, Mr. Moore married Naomi Slade, who was born in Paxton, Mass. Her father, Samuel Slade, a lifelong and highly respected resident of Paxton, died there in August, 1865, aged seventy-one years. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Anthony, born in Swansea, Mass., died at her daughter's home in December, 1880, aged eighty-five years, and was buried in Paxton. They had three children, as follows: Sybil, who died at the age of sixteen years; Mercy, the widow of the late William Gray, and re- siding in Oread Place, Worcester, a bright and active woman of eighty-two years; and Naomi, now Mrs. Moore. The grandparents of Mrs. Moore, Henry and Naomi (Chase) Slade, were well-known members of the farming commu- nity of Paxton, where they died severally in 1826 and 1827. They belonged to the Society of Friends, and at their death were laid to rest in the Friends' burial-ground in Leicester, Mass.

Mr. and Mrs. H. Moore had four children, namely : Sarah, now the widow of Lauriston Towne, who died in Enfield, Mass., in Octo- ber, 1889, aged forty-three years; Fanny C., who is the wife of Homer Stearns, of Holden, Mass., and has four children - Lillian, Ever- ett, Dwight, Edna; Edward H., now conduct- ing the home farm, who married Sybil Morse, and has two children - Harry Moore and Clara Josephine; and Myra A., who is the wife of John Allison, of Worcester, and has three children - William Harrison, Marion, Mildred. Mr. Moore died at his home on Moore's Hill, March 30, 1893.

A® MORY S. HAYNES, Town Clerk of Bolton and a Civil War veteran, was born in this town, August 18, 1840, son of Samuel B. and Rebecca (Hosmer) Haynes. His grandfather, Samuel Haynes, who was a native of Sudbury, Mass.,

moved from that town to Bolton in 1798, and settled upon a farm located on the Clinton road, two miles from the village. He died at the age of fifty years. His wife, Rebecca Brown Haynes, a native of Framingham, reared two children. The grandparents were Congregationalists in religion.

Samuel B. Haynes was born in Bolton, April 21, 1813. Succeeding to the owner- ship of the homestead, he followed, besides farming, the business of a comb manufacturer during his active years. His death occurred in 1897, when he was eighty-four years old. He was actively concerned in local affairs for a number of years, serving as a Selectman and upon the Board of Assessors, and always man- ifesting a deep interest in the general welfare of the community. His wife, Rebecca, was born in Acton, daughter of Nathan Hosmer, a prosperous farmer of that town. She became the mother of two children, namely: Jane D., who married Levi Wheeler; and Amory S., the subject of this sketch. The mother lived to be seventy-nine years old. Both parents attended the Congregational church. Some of Mr. Haynes's maternal ancestors displayed patriotism as Americans in the war for inde- pendence, Abner Hosmer, his maternal great- uncle, losing his life in the Concord fight, at which his great-grandfather Brown, of Fram- ingham, was present.

Amory S. Haynes passed his boyhood and youth in attending school and assisting his father upon the farm. He resided at home until September 16, 1862, when he enlisted as a private in Company I, Fifth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, for nine months' service, and was discharged as Corporal after having participated in several battles. July 19, 1864, he re-enlisted in the same company and regiment, with which he performed garri- son duty in the forts about the Capitol for one hundred days, being discharged as Sergeant. Upon his return he settled upon his present farm of sixty acres in the village of Bolton, and has since followed general farming with success. He has served upon the Republi- can Town Committee for twenty-five years, was Assessor three years, has acted as a Jus- tice of the Peace twenty-one years, and has

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attended to the duties of Town Clerk since 1885, in all of which offices he has labored faithfully for the best interests of the com- munity.

In 1864 Mr. Haynes was joined in marriage with Mary Wallace, who was born in Mary- land, only daughter of John S. Wallace. He has four children; namely, Elizabeth R., Samuel B., Susan R., and Mary W. Samuel B. is engaged in the envelope business; Susan R. is a book-keeper at the Medfield Asylum; and Mary W. is a stenographer and typewriter in Boston. All of them received a high- school education. Mr. Haynes belongs to the Patrons of Husbandry, is a member of the Ex- ecutive Committee of the Farmers' Club, and was for a number of years Adjutant of Post Warren, No. 172, G. A. R. He attends the Unitarian church.

EWIS HAYDEN, proprietor of a flour- ishing fire insurance agency in Mil- ford, was born

in Saxonville, Mass., March

I5, 1849, son of Luther and Elizabeth R. (Rand) Hayden. His father, who was born in Groton, Mass., in 1812, was a boot-treer, but relinquished that occupation to become a watchman in a straw factory. He is now living in retirement in Milford, where he has resided since 1852. He married Elizabeth R. Rand, a native of Maine; and Lewis, the subject of this sketch, is the only child of their union.

Lewis Hayden began his education in Mil- ford, later attending school in Hopedale; and his studies were completed with a business course at French's Commercial College, Bos- ton. At the age of sixteen he began work in the straw factory of B. H. Spaulding, with whom he remained about two years. For the succeeding three years he was employed at Colburn, Fuller & Co.'s shoe factory. In 1872 he found employment in the fire insur- ance and real estate office of the late George G. Parker, with whom he remained for a period of twenty years. On the death of Mr. Parker, which occurred in April, 1892, he suc- ceeded to the business, which he has since conducted alone. He is the local representa-

tive of some of the most reliable companies, and most of the fire policies now in force in this locality have been written by him. He also acts as trustee, agent, and administrator of estates.

Mr. Hayden has served as Town Clerk five years, Town Treasurer two years, Assessor three years, declining a renomination, and was a member of the Board of Selectmen for the year 1897. He is a Master Mason, and belongs to Montgomery Lodge, F. & A. M.

OHN T. COMBS, a prominent agri- culturist of Warren, was born May I, 1836. His birthplace, the farm he now occupies and which was practically the lifelong home of his father, the late Levi Combs, has been in possession of the Combs family for several generations. The original owner was Dougal Combs, the first of the name to settle in this section of the county. John Combs, Sr., son of Dougal, was here en- gaged in tilling the soil during his active period.

John Combs, Jr., the paternal grandfather of John T., having succeeded to the farm, added many improvements to the property. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and for his services during that war drew a pension in his declining years. Levi Combs, the next proprietor of the ancestral acres, spent his period of possession successfully en- gaged in their cultivation. His death oc- curred August 23, 1848. Much interested in the welfare of the town, he was one of its Se- lectmen for a time. He married Cynthia Burroughs, of Warren. Their children were : George H. and John T. George, who was a prominent school teacher in New York City for more than twenty years, died at his brother's home on December 13, 1879.

John T. Combs acquired a practical com- mon-school education. Since early manhood he has had charge of the homestead. Under his management the land, covering one hun- dred and fifty acres, yields bountiful crops. He carries on the various branches of general agriculture, including dairying to some extent. The place is in an excellent condition, bearing

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manifest evidence of the skill and industry of its proprietor. A stanch Republican in poli- tics and a man of much public spirit, he has served as Assessor and as a member of the town School Committee for several years. He is a Mason, having joined the Quaboag Lodge, F. & A. M., of Warren, some years ago.

On October 13, 1858, Mr. Combs married Miss Mary A., daughter of Charles and Mary (Sibley) Cummings, of Grafton, Mass. Mr. Cummings and his wife were respectively na- tives of Douglas and Sutton, Mass. Mrs. Cummings was a grand-daughter of Gideon Sibley, one of the soldiers of the Revolution- ary War. Of the children she and her hus- band reared, two are living, namely : Mary A., now Mrs. Combs; and Frank Cummings, of Southbridge, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Combs have one child, Charles L. Combs, who lives with his parents.

OUIS LEMAÎTRE AUGER, M.D., a skilful physician and surgeon of Worcester, was born in Louiseville, Canada, April 23, 1859. His great-grandfather emigrated from France. His grandfather, Désiré Lemaître Auger, who was the first merchant in Louiseville, and who acquired wealth and influence in that locality, left three sons, one of whom succeeded him in business. Charles Lemaître Auger, M.D., another son of Désiré and the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Louise- ville in 1831. He took his medical degree at the Victoria University, and is still prac- tising his profession in his native town.

Louis Lemaître Auger attended Nicolet College, and pursued the study of medicine at Victoria University, from which he was grad- uated one year previous to that of his major- ity. Entering upon the practice of his pro- fession at Great Falls, N.H., in 1880, he resided there for nine years, being for three years of that period the town physician. In 1889 he went abroad for further study, visit- ing London, Berlin, and Paris. While in the last-named city he was for some time the first assistant to Dr. Doleris. Upon his return to

America in 1892 he conducted a private hos- pital in Montreal for a short time. In March, 1893, he came to Worcester, where he has since been located. He has acquired a large practice among the American as well as the French-Canadian population as the result of his professional ability. His specialties are gynæcology and diseases of the throat, nose, and ear, in which he is unusually suc- cessful.

In. 1884, at Joliette, Canada, Dr. Auger was united in marriage with Albina, only daugh - ter of Adolph Magnan, a man of political prominence in that section. Mrs. Auger was educated in a convent in her native town.

The Doctor is a member of the Obstetrical and Gynæcological Society of Paris, of the Medical and Surgical Society of Montreal, of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Worcester Medical Society, and other similar organizations. In 1888 he was first vice- president of a convention of French-Canadians held at Nashua, N.H., the largest assembly of the kind ever called together in the United States. He had previously been appointed a delegate to go to Washington for the purpose of inviting President Cleveland to attend. At a similar gathering held in Manchester, N.H., in 1889, he was the unanimous choice for president. His office and pharmacy are located at the corner of Park and Orange Streets, and he employs a registered pharma- cist to dispense medicine.

B ENJAMIN P. AIKEN, of West Brookfield, a well-known provision dealer and agriculturist, son of Ben- jamin Aiken, was born February 24, 1826, in Prescott, Hampshire County. The father, having spent his youth in Hardwick, Vt., the town of his birth, after attaining his majority, located on a farm in Prescott, Mass., where he was employed in cultivating the soil until his death, in 1837. His wife, Lucinda Paul, born in Massachusetts, was a daughter of a Revolutionary soldier.

Benjamin P. Aiken was but eleven years old when his father died. He subsequently continued his studies at the district school for

LOUIS L. AUGER.

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a short time, after which he attended the academy in New Salem for a few terms. As soon as he was old enough he was obliged to assume the management of the homestead, on which his widowed mother had continued her residence. Although he conducted the farm very well, he desired to enter business. In

1856 he removed to West Brookfield, where he at once established himself as a dealer in meat of all kinds. A few years later he formed a partnership with F. H. Barnes in the firm of Barnes & Aiken, which for twenty years or more carried on an extensive and lucrative business in Brookfield. Since re- turning to West Brookfield he has been en- gaged in the retail meat trade, dealt largely in cattle, and been actively occupied in farm- ing. In politics Mr. Aiken is closely identi- fied with the Democratic party. He is a member of the West Brookfield Farmers' Club. A man of sterling integrity and sound judgment in public matters, he has filled im- portant official positions. He was chairman of the local Board of Selectmen for several years, Town Assessor for a number of terms, and for twelve years he was a member of the School Committee. He is also a member of the Congregational society. On November 20, 1855, he was married to Frances S. Owen, who was born and bred in Belchertown, Mass. His only child, Fannie O., is the wife of Charles H. Allen, of this town, and the mother of two children - Benjamin P. Allen and Ralph O. Allen.

SCAR L. MATHEWSON, a meat and provision dealer of Millbury, son of Sterry Mathewson, was born May 13, 1837, at Burrillville, R.I. The father, a well-known contractor and builder in Rhode Island, erected many residences and business houses in the vicinity of Woon- socket, where he spent much of his time prior to his death. The latter event occurred in middle life. He married Eliza Steere, who survives him, and is now a bright and active woman, although the frosts of eighty or more winters have whitened her hairs. She has had five children, four of whom reached ma-

turity. Of the latter, Oscar L. and Edgar A., of Rhode Island, are living.

After receiving an education designed to fit him for office work, Oscar L. Mathewson was employed as a book-keeper until his health, injured by the close confinement of his occu- pation, forced him to seek a less objectionable employment. Soon after the breaking out of the Civil War he came to Millbury to accept a position as book-keeper in the mill of Jason Emerson. He subsequently enlisted in the Second Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, and was detailed as book-keeper for General Janney. While in Newbern, N.C., he was given a fur- lough; and while at home he was detailed as clerk at the hospital in Readville, Norfolk County. Since the war he has resided on a small farm near the village of Millbury, and has carried on a successful business as a meat dealer.

On July 24, 1859, Mr. Mathewson married H. Sophia Newton, who was born in Mill- bury, daughter of Elmer M. and Salome B. (Forbush) Newton, both of whom were natives of Westboro, Mass. Mr. Newton, a son of Barnabas Newton, of Westboro, was a man of intellectual attainments and for several years a teacher and book-keeper at Round Hill, Northampton, Mass. He subsequently set- tled in Millbury, where he died of quick con- sumption when but thirty-six years old. His wife, who was born in 1804, having survived him many years, died in 1877, on the home- stead now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Mathew- son, and on which she settled soon after the death of her husband. Of her two children, a son died in early life of consumption. The farm was formerly owned by M. H. Severy, Mrs. Mathewson's uncle by marriage, who was one of the first to erect a house in this part of the town. He was a farmer and also a meat dealer. Mrs. Mathewson was educated in the Millbury Academy, the high school at Worcester, and at a select school for young ladies in the old Salisbury mansion. Of the two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Mathew- son, one daughter, Flora E., a young girl of rare beauty of character, died at the age of seventeen years, after a sickness of two months. The other daughter, Lottie Belle,

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is the wife of George B. Brigham, of West- boro, Mass., and has three children, two sons and a daughter.

ANIEL D. COLE, a prosperous dairyman of Barre and a Civil War veteran, was born in this town, August 12, 1840, son of Daniel and

Louisa (Robinson) Cole. His paternal grandparents were Phineas and Elizabeth Cole. Phineas was an early settler in the western part of Barre, where he followed agri- culture and teaming for the rest of his active period. He reared a family of three sons and four daughters.

Daniel Cole, son of Phineas, was born in Randolph, Vt., April 24, 1807. He owned a good farm in the immediate vicinity of his son's present residence, and he cultivated it successfully during his active years. He died April 11, 1881. In politics he was a Demo- crat. A Congregationalist in religion, he contributed liberally toward the support of the church. Louisa, his wife, whom he mar- ried April 17, 1834, was born September 17, 1805. She had five children, namely : Cyrus P., born March 31, 1835, who died July 13, 1886; Maria A., born November 27, 1837, who died July 31, 1864; Daniel D., the sub- ject of this sketch; Henry W., born June 21, 1843, who is now a resident of California; and Louisa A. Cole, born May 21, 1845, who died August 8, 1877. The mother died in October, 1892.

Having acquired his elementary education in the district school, Daniel D. Cole com- pleted his studies at the Barre High School. He enlisted in September, 1861, for service in the Civil War, joining Company E, First Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Cavalry. Afterward he served in South Carolina and in Virginia with the Army of the Potomac, where he shared some severe fighting. In September, 1864, at the expiration of his term of enlistment, he was honorably dis- charged. He spent the succeeding year at home, caring for his health, which was con- siderably impaired by the hardships of army life. Then he learned the wheelwright's

trade, and followed it for a year. He has since been engaged in farming. In 1868 he bought a part of his present place, containing ninety-six acres. To this he has added the greater portion of his father's farm, and now owns some two hundred and fifty acres of de- sirable land. Making a specialty of dairy farming, which he conducts on a large scale, keeping an average of forty head of Holstein grade cows, he is one of the best known dairy- men in this part of the State.

On April 15, 1867, Mr. Cole was joined in marriage with Hattie N. Sampson. Born in North Brookfield, Mass., January 15, 1844, she is a daughter of Joel and Rachel (Ayers) Sampson, who were natives, respectively, of West and North Brookfield. Mr. Sampson, who was an energetic farmer, died in North Brookfield, July 14, 1858, aged forty-eight ; and his wife died August 7, 1891, aged eighty-five years. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Cole are: Edward D., born January 23, 1868, who married Florence Harwood, and is engaged in farming in Barre; Ella T., born June 14, 1874, who is the wife of Everett White, of Worcester, Mass. Hattie Isabella, born May 5, 1883 ; and Bertha R., born No- vember 12, 1885. In politics Mr. Cole is a Republican. He is a comrade of Samuel Woods Post, G. A. R., of Barre, and he at- tends the Congregational church, of which Mrs. Cole is a member.

ELVIN HARVEY WALKER, a prominent shoe manufacturer of Westboro and one of its foremost business men, was born in Barre, Mass., January 23, 1842, a son of Silas Walker, Jr. His great-grandfather, Hezekiah Walker, born at Malden, Mass., in 1750, when quite young removed to Holden, Worces- ter County, and subsequently became a pros- perous farmer of that town. With his wife, he was a prime mover in establishing a Bap- tist church there, the first one in the county. Two of his brothers were soldiers in the Rev- olutionary War. His son, Silas Walker, Sr., was born in Holden, and later resided in West Boylston and Westboro, dying in the

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latter place in December, 1872. He was a Deacon in the Baptist church in the several towns in which he successively resided.

Silas Walker, Jr., was born in West Boyls- ton, Mass. After reaching maturity he re- moved to a farm at Barre, where he was en- gaged in tilling the soil for a number of years. In the spring of 1843 he came with his family to Westboro, where he resided for twenty-two years, removing in 1865 to Worcester. After living in Worcester four years, he removed in 1869 to Grand Rapids, Kent County, Mich., where he remained for the rest of his life, his death occurring in November, 1894. He mar- ried Louisa Everett, of Princeton, and by her had eight children, as follows: Theresa Jean- ette, who was born at West Boylston, Mass., January 29, 1837, and died July 15, 1838; Irving Everett, born at West Boylston, May II, 1839, who died a prisoner of war at Flor- ence, S.C., in December, 1864; Melvin Har- vey, born at Barre, Mass., January 23, 1842, subject of this sketch; Erastus Everett, who was born at Westboro, January 28, 1845, and is now residing at Fitchburg, Mass .; Silas Herbert, who was born at Westboro, November 30, 1848, and died in California in Septem- ber, 1890; Emma Louisa, who was born at Westboro, May 11, 1852, and is now Mrs. O. A. Rowland, of Hesperia, Mich. ; Emmons Augustus, who was born at Westboro, May II, 1852, and died in infancy; and Myron Hamilton, born in Westboro, January 17, 1855, who is now living in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Melvin H. Walker was naturally studious in his younger days, and might have taken advantage of the excellent educational oppor- tunities afforded him if it had not been for the breaking out of the Civil War. On April 15, 1861, immediately after the firing upon Fort Sumter, he enlisted for three years in what afterward became Company K, Thir- teenth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and was at once ordered to Maryland. He was at Harper's Ferry; and, besides many sharp skirmishes, he participated in the battles of Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, Spottsyl- vania, North Anna, Petersburg, and Gettys- burg. In the last-mentioned battle, which

was one of the bloodiest of the war, and which at the same time marked the turn of events in favor of the North, he received a bullet wound, and, being captured by the enemy, was held a prisoner three days. He was then fortunate enough to regain his liberty, and after recovery, four months later, rejoined his regiment, which he found greatly reduced in numbers. At the expiration of his term of enlistment he was mustered out of service as Sergeant before Petersburg, and returned to his home in Westboro in August, 1864.

During the succeeding four years he was engaged in the manufacture of shoes in com- pany with George B. Brigham, and was after- ward in the same business at Grand Rapids, Mich., until May, 1873. Returning then to Westboro, he became superintendent of George B. Brigham's factory, which position he held for five years. After the new firm of Brigham, Gould & Co., was formed, he remained superintendent until 1880, when he was admitted to membership in the firm, which in 1883 became known as Gould & Walker. This is its present style, notwithstanding that Mr. Gould died some years ago, and Mr. Walker has since taken into partnership Mr. M. V. Dunning, of Boston. This enterpris- ing firm is one of the most prosperous in town, and, with an average force of two hun- dred and fifty hands, is carrying on an exten- sive business.

Mr. Walker has long been a strong temper- ance man, and for many years was active in the Prohibition party. He has since returned to the Republican ranks, though still retain- ing his temperance principles. He has served efficiently as a member of the School Board six years; has been resident trustee of the Lyman School since 1884, serving as presi- dent of the board for eight years; and he is also vice-president and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Westboro Savings Bank. He belongs to the Royal Arcanum and to the Westboro Post, G. A. R., of which he is Past Commander. He is also active in religious circles, having been Deacon of the Baptist church in Grand Rapids, Mich., and having since 1883 filled the same official position in the Baptist church of this town. He has

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likewise served as superintendent of the Sunday-school. He has travelled extensively, both in this country and abroad, having made numerous trips throughout the South and West, accompanied by his wife, with whom he made a tour through the British Isles some time ago, and more recently through Southern Europe and the Holy Land.

Mr. Walker married May 1, 1866, Miss Anamelia Moses, of Westboro, and they have six children, namely : Irving E., a travelling salesman for the firm of Gould & Walker; Gertrude A., wife of Louis H. Bradley, of Hartford, Conn .; Florence L., a student at Wellesley College; Raymond W., who is preparing for college in Providence, R.I .; Mary E., in the Dana Hall preparatory school at Wellesley; and Melvin H., Jr., a pupil in the Westboro schools.

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 17

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