Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 41

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 41

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His son, Elijah B. Brooks, brought up on the farm, also learned the trade of stone- mason, which he followed for many years. He built the Hovey dam at North Grafton, where the Finleyson & Bousfield thread fac- tory is now located. He was also engaged quite extensively in farming. A man of sound judgment and good business capacity, he was called upon by his fellow-townsmen to serve in all the important town offices, in- cluding those of Selectman, Assessor, and Overseer of the Poor. Of his children, two sons and one daughter are living, namely : Henry E., the subject of this sketch; George B., who is a meat and provision dealer at North Grafton; and Susan, who married Dean W. Macker, and resides in Grafton. Another daughter, Mary L., the wife of A. E. Lowell, died in Grafton, her native town, in Septem- ber, 1896.

Henry E. Brooks attended in his youth the -

Grafton schools, and worked with his father on the home farm. During this time also he acquired at home a knowledge of shoemaking. Upon reaching the age of twenty-one he found employment in the bottoming department of the J. S. Nelson & Co. shoe factory; and the greater part of his working life since, a period of thirty-two years, has been spent in his present position in that department. Since the early age of fourteen he has been con- nected with the Grafton Fire Department, of which his father was formerly foreman, and is at the present time serving as chief engineer. A Democrat politically, he has been a dele- gate to several of the town, county, and State conventions of his party; and he is now a member of the Board of Selectmen, in which office he has served for the past five years. In his public capacity he has supported the introduction of various local improvements, which he has seen brought to successful com- pletion, including the electric railroad, the electric light plant, and the State road. He belongs to Franklin Lodge, F. & A. M .; and to Evening Star Lodge, No. 102, I. O. O. F. Mr. Brooks married Irena J. Humes, daughter of Reuben and Adelia R. Humes, of Mill- bury.

RANCIS HENRY OLIN, M.D., a practising physician of Southbridge, Mass., was born in Falls Village, Litchfield County, Conn., February 23, 1855, son of Francis M. and Caroline (Segar) Olin. His paternal grandfather was a native and life- long resident of the State of Ohio, where he was engaged in farming and stock-raising. Francis M. Olin was born in Ohio in March, 1825. During the Civil War he was em- ployed by the Ames Foundry Company at Salisbury, Conn., in the casting of heavy cannon and ordnance for the Federal govern- ment. He was subsequently for many years manager of the Washburn Car Wheel Company. Now, retired from active work, he resides at Falls Village, Conn., where he is a well- known and respected citizen. By his wife, Caroline, who was born in New Hartford, Conn., in 1830, he had two children: Clar-

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ence, who was born in 1865, and died in 1880; and Francis H., whose name appears at the head of this brief sketch.

Francis H. Olin received his elementary education in private schools at Lime Rock, Conn., and at Great Barrington, Mass. After a further course of study at Sedgwick Institute he entered in 1878 the University of Michi- gan, at which he was graduated three years later with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1882 he began the practice of his profession in Woodstock, Conn., where he remained about seven years. He came to Southbridge in 1889, since which time he has been engaged in general practice here. He keeps himself well informed in regard to the latest discoveries and developments of medical science, and his pleasing manners and sympathetic disposition inspire at once the confidence of his patients and add to his popularity. Dr. Olin is a member of the Connecticut Medical Associa- tion, the Worcester Medical Association, and the Massachusetts Medical Association. He is also the chairman and secretary of the Southbridge Board of Health, of which he has been a member since taking up his residence in the town. He belongs to several fraternal societies, including Putnam Lodge, No. 46, F. & A. M., of Woodstock; Doric Chapter, R. A. M., of Southbridge; Hiram Council, R. & S. M., of Worcester; Worcester Com- mandery, K. T .; Worcester Lodge of Perfec- tion (Scottish Rite) ; and Aleppo Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Boston ; also to Southbridge Lodge, I. O. O. F., and to the Knights of Pythias Lodge in Southbridge. In politics he is independent. He was married January 25, 1888, to Miss Catherine Fay Hartwell, daugh- ter of George H. and Ellen M. (Green) Hart- well.

APTAIN JOHN BARNARD, for- merly a prominent business man and farmer of Worcester, was born Octo- ber 14, 1803, on the old Barnard place, situated in the northern part of the city. He was a son of Lewis Barnard, whose father John was a soldier of the Revolution, who, as an extensive farmer and drover,

amassed a fortune, of which each of his three children and the heirs of the three deceased children received a liberal share. Lewis Bar- nard was a director of one of the Worcester banks. Captain Barnard received from his father eighty acres of the original estate, and, devoting his energies to agricultural pursuits, there made a home for himself and for his family, by whom the farm is still occupied. A man of foresight, energetic and enterpris- ing, he became owner of stock in a slate quarry ; and in 1856 he established himself in business as a roofer, being the first to intro- duce slate roofing in Worcester. He con- tinued in business until his death, which oc- curred September 13, 1873. His title came from his rank in the State militia. He was highly esteemed for his kind disposition, noble-hearted generosity, and other admirable qualities.

On May 18, 1826, he married Sarah R. Bigelow, who survives him. Mrs. Barnard was born in Worcester, December 23, 1800, daughter of Walter and Judith (Trowbridge) Bigelow. Her father was of the fifth genera- tion from John Bigelow, or "Biglo," as the name was first spelled, an early settler of Watertown, Mass., who married in 1642 Mary Warren, daughter of John Warren. The line of descent was as follows: John'; Joshua2; Daniel, 3 who married Elizabeth Whitney; David,4 born in 1730, who married for his first wife Sarah Eaton and for his second wife Deborah Heywood, by whom he had seven children, Walter,5 Mrs. Barnard's father, being the sixth-born. Lydia, the eldest of the seven, married Zachariah Child, and was the mother of David Lee Child, who, with his wife, Lydia Maria Child, the writer, was an active worker in the anti-slavery cause.

A brother of David Bigelow and a great- uncle of Mrs. Barnard was Colonel Timothy Bigelow, the Revolutionary patriot, who was a member of the Provincial Congress in 1774- 75, and was with his regiment in the field from February, 1777, till the close of the war. He was a personal friend of Lafay- ette, and at one time entertained him as his guest. The late Chief Justice George T. Bigelow was a grandson of both David Bige-

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low and Colonel Timothy. Dorothea L. Dix, the philanthropist, was of Bigelow descent through her mother.

Walter Bigelow, above named, born in 1775, and Judith Trowbridge, daughter of William and Sarah Trowbridge, were married on November 18, 1799. They reared five children : Sarah R., who married Captain John Barnard, and is now in her ninety-eighth year; Andrew, a graduate of Harvard Univer- sity, who died at the age of twenty-four; Dolly, who died at nineteen; Walter Bige- low, a citizen of worth, who succeeded to the family homestead, and died in February, 1880, aged sixty-eight years; and Mary, Mrs. George C. Davis, a widow, who is living in New York, and was seventy-nine years old, June 18, 1898.

For seventy-two years Mrs. Sarah Bigelow Barnard has resided at the corner of Barncoat and Millbrook Streets, where she began her married life; and it is doubtful if there is in this city another person who has occupied a home continuously for an equal length of time. Since 1827 she has been a member of the First Unitarian Church of Worcester, with which her father and mother were connected, and of which her grandfather, David Bigelow, long ago was a Deacon. Mrs. Barnard has reared three sons, namely: Andrew Bigelow Barnard, who died in Council Bluffs, Ia., May 9, 1897, aged seventy years; John Fiske Bar- nard, who, when a young man, was a railway surveyor in Canada, was at one time president of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad Company, and is now a prominent railroad official resid- ing in Council Bluffs; and George A. Bar- nard, of this city.

George Augustus Barnard has conducted the roofing business ever since his father's death, and has enlarged it by including other kinds of roofing besides slate. He also carries on the home farm, which he inherited. It is evident that he possesses the requisite amount of energy both as a business man and farmer.

On June 19, 1857, Mr. Barnard was mar- ried in Hudson, N.Y., to Almira Hayden Fuller, daughter of Joseph D. and Susan (Dryden) Fuller, the latter of Holden, Mass. Joseph D. Fuller was a boot and shoe mer-

chant. Mr. and Mrs. George A. Barnard have five children: George Fuller, who re- sides near the old homestead, is married, and has three sons; Sarah Caroline, wife of Fred- erick G. Davis, of Chicago; Walter B., who lives near by, is married, and has one daugh- ter; Josephine, who is married to Sumner A. Brooks, of Cambridge; and Roy Augustus, who is a graduate of the Worcester Poly- technic Institute and an electrical engineer by profession, but at present is connected with his father and brothers in business.

Mrs. Almira H. Barnard is first directress of the Worcester Children's Friend Society, a charitable organization, which has been in existence some fifty years, and is accomplish- ing much good work.

G UY WOODS, who conducts a flourish- ing livery, boarding, and sale stable in Fitchburg, at 23 Academy Street, was born in Ayer, Mass., March 12, 1866, son of Henry A. and Sophronia (Adams) Woods. The father, after conducting a carriage busi- ness for a number of years in Townsend Cen- tre, Mass., his native town, became a mine owner in Colorado. At his death, which oc- curred in Ayer, he was seventy-two years old. He was a member of Caleb Rutter Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and the Unitarian church. His wife, Sophronia, who was a daughter of Stephen Adams, of Ashby, Mass., became the mother of two children - Henry R. and Guy. She died in 1891, aged sixty-four years.

Guy Woods attended schools in Ayer and Ashby. When sixteen years old he began dealing in live stock, carriages, etc. Coming to Fitchburg in 1886, he engaged in the livery business in company with A. G. Davis, under the firm name of Davis & Woods. That part- nership had lasted one year, when he sold out to his associate. Two years later he repur- chased the entire business, and has since car- ried it on alone. Dealing largely in Western horses, he has sold over seven hundred since March, 1897. He is also interested in the real estate business somewhat. His reputation is that of an excellent judge of horses and a reliable business man. In June, 1895, he

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married Mabel B. Green, a daughter of Charles O. and Elizabeth S. Green, of Ashby. He has two children - Charles Adams and Rachel Elizabeth.

Politically, Mr. Woods is an active sup- porter of the Republican party. At present he represents Ward Six in the Common Council, this being his second year. He was formerly a trustee of the Worcester North Agricultural Society, and has been its vice - president for the past two years. Well advanced in Ma- sonry, he has been Worshipful Master of Charles W. Moore Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; a member of Thomas Royal Arch Chapter ; of Hiram Council of Royal and Select Mas- ters, of Worcester; of Jerusalem Command- ery, Knights Templar, of Fitchburg; and of Aleppo Temple of the Mystic Shrine, Bos- ton. He also belongs to Apollo Lodge, No. 205, I. O. O. F. ; to King David En- campment, No. 42; to Canton Hebron, No. II, Patriarchs Militant; to Nashua Tribe, No. 37, Improved Order of Red Men; and to the Athletic and Park Clubs of this city.

J OSEPH NELSON WHITE, of Win- chendon, one of the prominent business men in Worcester County, was born in this town, October 4, 1851, son of Nel- son Davis and Julia Davis (Long) White. His mother was a daughter of Zadoc and Julia (Davis) Long and sister of the Hon. John D. Long, the present Secretary of the Navy.

The White family is of English origin. The subject of this sketch is a descendant in the eighth generation of Thomas White, who was born in England in 1636. This is the line: Thomas,' Thomas,2 John, 3 Thomas, 4 Thomas,5 Joseph,6 Nelson Davis,7 Joseph Nelson.8 Thomas White, first named, when a young man rallied with the Puritan element to the support of Cromwell, and after the res- toration of the Stuarts, immigrated to New England, arriving at Charlestown about 1660. During King Philip's War he served in Cap- tain Syll's company in 1675 and in Captain Cutler's company in 1676. He died in Charlestown, September 30, 1716. His re-

mains were interred in the old Phipps Street burial-ground. On November 17, 1663, he married Mary Frothingham. He was ap- pointed executor of the last will of Ann Frothingham, and inherited the greater por- tion of her property. His wife bore him four children, of whom a son named Thomas was the eldest.

Thomas White 2 was born in Charlestown, October 15, 1664. His entire life was spent in his native place, where he died August 14, 1730. He was a man of considerable wealth, as he left an estate valued at sixteen hundred and twenty-two pounds, thirteen shillings; and sixpence, which was settled by his second son, Lieutenant John White. Thomas White 2 married Sarah Rand, of Charlestown, who became the mother of eight children. She died April 7, 1749, aged eighty-three years.

Lieutenant John White, 3 the next in this line, was born in Charlestown, August 22, 1695. He settled in Framingham, Mass. He was commissioned a Lieutenant under his brother-in-law, Colonel Joseph Buckminster, Jr., and served in the French and Indian War. In 1748 he removed to Leicester, Mass., where he became prominent in public affairs, hold- ing many of the town offices; and he died there, August 26, 1778, leaving a good estate. He married Sybilla Buckminster, daughter of Colonel Joseph Buckminster, of Framingham; and she died October 23, 1794, in her eighty- ninth year. She was the mother of six chil- dren.

Thomas, 4 who was next to the eldest of this family, was born July 17, 1731. He was a blacksmith by trade, but became a thrifty farmer, having five hundred acres of land, and keeping an average of seventy-five head of stock. He was unusually wealthy for an agriculturist of that period; and at his death, which occurred February 25, 1822, at the age of ninety years, he left property to the amount of fifteen thousand dollars. It was through his efforts that the family gene- alogy down to his generation was preserved. The old Bible in which he kept the record is now in the possession of Mr. Joseph N. White. Thomas White 4 married Abigail,

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daughter of Deacon John Muzzy, and she died September 21, 1811, aged seventy-two years. They had a family of thirteen children, of whom Thomas 5 was the eldest.

Thomas White5 was born in Spencer, November 24, 1757, and became a man of very prepossessing personal appearance. He served as a private in the American army throughout the Revolutionary War; and after the close of hostilities he settled in Royal- ston, near the residence of his brother-in-law, Colonel Joseph Esterbrook. He died July 20, 1849. His wife, Hannah Esterbrook, of Holden, Mass., died July 25, 1830, aged sixty-eight years. They were the parents of six children, of whom Joseph was the third- born and the eldest son.

Joseph White, Joseph N. White's grand- father, was born in Royalston, January 24, 1792. He was the pioneer manufacturer of cotton and wire goods in New England, hav- ing built factories for these purposes at West Boylston in 1814; and for many years he was one of the prominent business men in this county. His unusual ability and sound judg- ment brought him into close relationship with the leading business men of Boston and New York, and he was also a leading spirit in local public affairs. He was one of the first trustees of the Worcester Academy, a liberal contributor to the support of Brown Univer- sity, and a Deacon of the Baptist church. He died November 9, 1864. Joseph White mar- ried Matilda Davis, who was born September 24, 1796, and died September 23, 1880. She was the mother of six children, of whom Nel- son D. was the first-born, and two are living; namely, Persis Arminda and Francis Wayland. Persis Arminda is the wife of Josiah Abbott, M.D., of Winchendon, who is one of the old- est living graduates of Yale College, and who served as a surgeon during the Civil War. Francis Wayland White is a graduate of Brown University and now a member of a large commission house in New York City. He married Josephine M. Tracy, and has one son, Francis W. White.

Nelson D. White, father of Joseph N. White, was born in West Boylston, July 24, 1818. After completing his education at the

academies in Westminster and Shelburne Falls he took the superintendency of his father's factories, and immediately displayed the spirit of enterprise which thenceforward characterized his business operations. As early as 1838, when but twenty years old, he began the remodelling and improvement of the plant, with which he was connected until 1843, when he came to Winchendon Springs as agent of the Nelson Corporation, establish- ing the Nelson Mills, which he managed until 1854. In 1857 he purchased the property, including the water-power privilege, upon which he erected a brick factory, adding to its capacity from time to time, until its out- put reached large proportions; and he also built many tenement-houses for his workmen, thus making Winchendon Springs an impor- tant industrial community. He was also in- terested in other enterprises, was the inventor of several labor-saving appliances, and his progressive tendencies were exceedingly bene- ficial to the growth and prosperity of the town with which he so closely identified himself. He was a director of the Boston, Barre & Gardner Railroad Company and of the Win- chendon National Bank, and vice-president of the Winchendon Savings Bank. In 1862 he served with ability as Representative to the legislature; and, though not a member of any religious sect or fraternal order, he was universally esteemed for his many admirable qualities. In politics he was a Whig. Nel- son D. White died March 12, 1889, and his removal was regarded as a severe loss to the business circles of this section.

His wife, Mrs. Julia D. Long White, whom he married December 15, 1847, was born Au- gust 16, 1825, and died October 31, 1882. She was the mother of seven children, all of whom are living, namely: Julia Matilda, born June 15, 1849, who is the wife of James B. Castle, special representative of the Hawaiian government to the United States, and has one son, Harold; Joseph N., the subject of this sketch; Zadoc Long, born December 29, 1854, who married Winifred T. Smith, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and has two children - Julia Long and Kenneth Bird; Percival Way- land, born December 25, 1857, who married

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Edith F. Wheeler, of Boston, and has two children - Percival and Richard; Allan T., born June 27, 1860, who married Kathinka Paulsen, of Norway, and has three children - Eilif, Hilma, and Ragnhild; Charles Davis, born November 12, 1861, who married Edith Noyes, of Andover, Mass., and has two daugh- ters - Mary and Margaret; and Nellie M. White, who was born April 8, 1873.

Joseph Nelson White in his youth went from the Winchendon High School to the Highland Military Academy, Worcester, from which he was graduated in 1867, and afterward took a year's course in chemistry and mechanical engineering at the Massachu- setts Institute of Technology, Boston. He was superintendent in his father's mills for' several years, and got a thorough knowledge of the cotton manufacturing business at that time. In company with his brother Zadoc and the Hon. John D. Long, he was appointed a trustee of his father's estate; and the busi- ness has since been carried on successfully under their direction. In partnership with Zadoc L. White, under the firm name of White Brothers, he is conducting three cotton factories at East Jaffrey, N. H., which have a capacity of producing twenty thousand yards of cloth per day; and these, together with the Winchendon plant, employ a regular force of one thousand hands. He was formerly en- gaged in the cotton business, buying in the South the raw material, which he shipped to New England manufacturers. He was at one time interested in the Parkhill Manufacturing Company of Fitchburg as a stockholder and director, and was a director of the safety fund of a national bank of that city. He is a trus- tee of the Murdock estate, and also is vice- president of the Winchendon Savings Bank. For eleven years he was a member of the An- cient and Honorable Artillery, Boston, and is an engineer of the Winchendon Fire Depart- ment. He is a member of the Board of Edu- cation of Winchendon. In politics he is a Republican.

On September 14, 1875, Mr. White mar- ried Annie Evans, of Cincinnati, Ohio, daughter of Seth and Winifred M. (Brown) Evans, and his children are: Winifred E.,

born July 12, 1876; Nelson D., born October 19, 1878, now a student at Dartmouth Col- lege; Joseph Nelson, Jr., born August 2, 1881, who is attending St. Paul's School, Concord, N.H .; Madeline, born March 26, 1887; and Rachel Burnet White, born June 9, 1892.

Mr. White has travelled extensively; and his tours have included, besides the United States and Europe, the Hawaiian Islands. His residence is known as Marchmont, is con- structed of red sandstone, was completed in 1887, and occupies an elevated position some two miles from the village.

OHN SARGENT MEAD, farmer and dealer in real estate, a prominent citi- zen of Milford, is a native of Chester- field, N.H. He was born on February 13, 1825, son of Bradley and Charlotte Hast- ings Mead. The immigrant ancestor of this branch of the Mead family in New England was Gabriel Mead (1587-1666), and the date of his arrival was not far from 1635. He settled in Dorchester, and was made a freeman on May 2, 1648. He had four daughters and two sons - David and Israel. David Mead, supposed to have been the son of Gabriel, married on September 24, 1675, Hannah Waren, of Watertown, by whom he had six children. One of these, David, Jr., who was born in 1678 and died in 1767, married in 1708 Hannah Smith, and settled in Water- town, Mass. Matthew, son of David, Jr., and great-grandfather of John Sargent Mead, was born on August 9, 1717. He married on Jan- uary 24, 1754, Martha Danforth, of Billerica. She died on August 8, 1792, and he died on the first day of April, 1796. Their home was in Lexington.

Levi Mead, son of Matthew and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Lexington, and resided there on the historic farm of his father until the spring of 1801, when he removed with his family to Chester- field, N.H. On the morning of the memorable 19th of April, 1775, he witnessed the ap- proach of the British soldiers on their destruc- tive and murderous raid, and felt the thrill of

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alarm which agitated the whole countryside. He saw the men enter his own home to ran- sack and plunder; and, worst of all, he was in full view of the flash of the guns before whose deadly shots the patriot yeomen fell. There is on record a deposition made by him and an associate before the Provincial Congress on April 25, 1775, which soberly tells of the horrors he witnessed. Family tradition ac- cords to him the glory of joining the Ameri- cans in their pursuit of the British toward Concord as a powder-horn bearer. It could have been predicted that one so resolute and heroic would have some part in the struggle for national independence. It is recorded that he served in the winter campaign for three months in 1776, and was in Boston and in Dorchester. Again his name appears with that of fourteen other Lexington men in the company of Edward Monroe, of the same town, who on January 1, 1777, was commissioned Captain in Colonel Timothy Bigelow's regi- ment. This was the Fifteenth Regiment of the Massachusetts line, and was then forming in Worcester County. The story of the endur- ance and heroism of the officers and privates of this ever-to-be-honored regiment makes a thrilling passage in the history of the Revolu- tion. For three years, 1770 to 1773, Levi Mead was Sergeant in Captain Monroe's com- pany. He was with Gates in the Northern army and under Washington in the Jerseys and at Valley Forge. After removing to Chesterfield he occupied his farm in the vil- lage, and in time built a tavern, which became locally celebrated. For many years he was Deputy Sheriff of the county in which he lived. His death occurred on April 29, 1828, and he was buried with Masonic exercises. He was married on September 16, 1782, to Betsy Converse, the Rev. Dr. Parker, of Trin- ity Church, officiating. His children num- bered eight.

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 41

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