Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 51

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 51

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old, served in that capacity for some time, and was at Saratoga when General Burgoyne sur- rendered. The children of Colonel and Abi- gail Stone were: Oliver, deceased, born Au- gust 22, 1815 ; Joseph Jackson, deceased, born December 26, 1816; Prescott Bainbridge, de- ceased, born July 13, 1819; Sarah L., deceased, born February 1, 1822; Lewis C., born April 22, 1823, now a retired machinist in Worcester; Emory, the subject of this sketch ; and William Marshall, born April 19, 1828, now a job printer in Worcester, residing in Grafton, Mass.

Emory Stone attended the district school until twelve years old. Then he began work- ing out as a farm laborer, receiving as a com- pensation four dollars a month. He continued to labor for wages seven years, and received for his services at the end of the last year one hundred and fifty dollars. Taking possession then of the parental homestead, he has since carried on general farming with success. In 1856 he took down the old house and built the present residence; and in 1868 the original barn, then one hundred and three years old, was replaced by the present structure. He belongs to Morning Star Lodge, F. & A. M., and to Worcester Chapter, R. A. M. In pol- itics he is a strong Republican. He has served his fellow-townsmen in the capacity of Assessor for nine years. For the past forty- one years he was Town Clerk, having just re- tired from the office. In 1855 he represented Auburn in the State legislature.

On September 5, 1847, Mr. Stone married Catherine Shurtleff, who was born at Ashford, Conn., September 4, 1827. Mr. and Mrs. Stone have had three children : Herbert E., now living on the home farm; Emma, who died at the age of eight years; and Lila M., now the wife of Josiah H. Whittaker, of Au- burn. Herbert E. Stone, born September 23, 1848, married Eliza M. Bowen, of North- bridge, and has four daughters, namely : Grace E., who is the wife of Prescott A. Parker, of Albany, N. Y., electrician on the Boston & Albany Railroad, and has two children - Harry and Bertha; Blanche M., a teacher ; Bessie, the wife of Harry Merriam, electrician on the Boston & Albany Railroad at Oxford ;

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and Mildred, who is now attending the high school. Another daughter, Bertha Stone, who was a teacher in Auburn No. I District School, was drowned in Webster, July 26, 1894. Both Mr. and Mrs. Stone are mem- bers of the Congregational church.

EUVILL W. FORD, a prominent cit- izen of West Brookfield, Mass., was born September 1, 1838, in Sum- ner, Oxford County, Me., whence five or six years later his parents removed with their family to Hartford, a few miles distant in the same State and county. His father was Arza Ford, a native of Maine, whose parents went there from Plymouth County, Massachusetts; and his mother was Nancy Rand, of Portland, Me., the daughter of an old sea captain who made Portland his home while on land.

From Hartford, while yet a lad, Mr. Ford went to Paris Hill, Me., where he entered the family of the famous Dr. Kittredge, a native of one of the Brookfields in Massachusetts, with whom he lived until fifteen years of age. He then came to Massachusetts, and worked for a Deacon Norton, of South Abington, at the shoe business for several years, or up to the spring of 1860. From South Abington he went to Haverhill, Mass., where he followed the shoe business until April, 1861, when he went to California by the way of the Isthmus of Panama, landing in San Francisco after a trip of twenty-seven days. Mr. Ford's first summer in California was spent in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in a hotel and store. The first winter was spent in the town of Oroville, where he was engaged in the hotel business, and where he remained until the "big flood of 1862." Having seen enough of Sacra- mento Valley life, he returned in the spring of 1862 to a town in the Sierra Nevada Moun- tains called Howland Flat, where he became interested in and owner of a mining claim called the Mountaineer Mining Company. This claim he followed till the fall of 1866, when he sold out the entire property and started for the Eastern States by the Nica- ragua route, going through Virgin Bay, down

the Nicaragua River, past Walker's old forts, out into the Gulf of Mexico, and around Flor- ida to the city of New York.

After spending a short time in visiting friends he went into general trade in Waltham, Mass., continuing in that business there till the fall of 1868, when he sold out the busi- ness and came to the town of West Brookfield, Mass., where he married Ada Powers, a for- mer resident of Livermore Falls, Me. Mr. Ford has made West Brookfield his home ever since. He was employed by the Boston & Albany Company for several years as general carpenter for passenger coaches. After that for several years he was in the corset factory in West Brookfield, then in the wholesale lumber business, with office in the city of Worcester. For some years past Mr. Ford has lived on Milk Street, in one of the best appointed residences in the town. His first wife died in 1893; and in 1896 he married his second wife, formerly Mrs. Newton Cady, of Southbridge, Mass., but more recently of Worcester, Mass.

A Republican in politics, Mr. Ford is al- ways thoroughly alive to the growth and wel- fare of his adopted town. He has been called to serve the town as Selectman. He is a member of Quaboag Lodge, F. & A. M., of Warren, Mass.

YMAN C. FICKETT, superintend- ent of the Spencer public schools and an ex-member of the Massachu- setts legislature, was born in South Portland, Me., son of Amos P. and Eunice L. (Small)

Fickett. His paternal grandfather was a Quaker. Edward Small, his maternal grand- father, born in 1766, who witnessed the burn- ing of Portland by the British in 1775, died in 1856, aged ninety years. Both of his par- ents were natives of Maine. The father was a prosperous farmer. Four of the latter's sons and two of his daughters became teachers.

Having pursued his primary studies in the common schools of his native town, Wyman C. Fickett prepared for college at the Westbrook Seminary, and graduated from Tufts College in the class of 1863 with the degree of Bach-

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elor of Arts. Later he received from his Alma Mater the degree of Master of Arts. Prior to entering college and during the col- lege vacations he taught school for the pur- pose of defraying his tuition expenses. After completing his collegiate course he turned his attention to educational work, which has since constituted his principal occupation. For a year he was the principal of the Clinton (N.Y.) Liberal Institute. He organized the Hudson (Mass.) High School, over which he presided for four years. In East Bridge- water, Mass., he was the principal of the high school for thirteen years, a member of the School Committee for six years, and acting superintendent of the public schools for five years. Since 1891 he has been the superin- tendent in Spencer. Under his able direc- tion the schools of the town have been greatly improved.

Mr. Fickett married Orianna E. Wheeler, of Berlin, Mass., a daughter of the late John Wheeler. Mrs. Fickett is the mother of two children - Mary G. and Edward W. Fickett. Mary G., who graduated at the Bridgewater Normal School and Tufts College, is now an instructor at the State Normal School in Gor- ham, Me. Edward W. Fickett, also a gradu- ate of Tufts, is now general agent for the Morse Publishing Company of New York. In 1886 Mr. Fickett represented Bridgewater and East Bridgewater in the General Court. He attends religious services at the Univer- salist church. A charter member of Satucket Lodge, F. & A. M., of East Bridgewater, he was its secretary for ten years; and he be- longs to Old Colony Commandery, Knights Templar, of Abington, Mass. At one time he was a member of Houghton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of Marlboro. He is also a member of the American Institute of Instruc- tion, the Worcester County Teachers' Asso- ciation, and the Schoolmasters' Club.

L AVID J. BAKER, the proprietor of the Elmwood House in New Worcester, was born in Mount Holly, August 16, 1817, his par- ents being Eleazar and Phebe (Johnson)

Baker. The grandfather, Stephen Baker, a man of a powerful frame, was a dairy farmer on an extensive scale, keeping seventy-five cows. He lost his sight some twenty years before his death, which occurred in 1789. At that time he left three sons - Peter, Stephen, and Eleazar - and one daughter. Peter had a family of eleven daughters and no sons, while Stephen had fourteen sons and no daughters. Peter and Stephen were Quakers, and so was their mother, who lived to be nearly a hundred years old.

Eleazar Baker, born in 1781 at Mount Holly, or Danby, Vt., who was a farmer, died at the age of eighty-six. His wife, Phebe, was a native of Worcester and a sister of Jonas and Micah Johnson. She reared three daughters and one son; namely, David J., Eliza, Sarah, and Deborah. Eliza, who is the widow of Samuel Dean, resides in Oak- dale, Mass. Sarah married Daniel Holden, both of whom are now deceased. Deborah was the wife of the late Benjamin James, of Jamesville, a suburb of Worcester. The mother was about sixty-seven years of age when she died.

David J. Baker received a limited education in the public schools. He came to Worcester in 1828 when eleven years old, and has re- sided in this city most of the time since. When nineteen years of age he began learning the machinist's trade. For some twenty years subsequently he worked as a machinist, a part of the time doing work on contract. Later he was engaged for several years in the manufacture of brushes, looms, cutters, etc. For about ten years he kept a livery, did pub- lic teaming, and ran omnibuses. Since the second day of August, 1869, he has been in the Elmwood House, which is located near his former business. He voted for William Henry Harrison, and marched in the ranks of the Harrison Guards, of which he is now the only surviving member in the city of Worces- ter and one of four in the State. The other three are: Julius Clark, now about eighty- seven years of age, who resides near Boston; Daniel Hathaway, now in Hartford, Conn .; and Samuel Newton, of Boston. Mr. Baker has the picture of a group of sixty-six of these

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guards, taken twenty years ago. He is an honorary member of the Veteran Firemen of Worcester, in the bucket company, of which his father was a member, and an honorary member of the Worcester Continentals. For nine years he was the foreman of Engine Rapid 2, and over thirty years ago he helped to win the prize of a hundred dollars. He has been a Democrat since the second nomina- tion of General Grant.

On June 20, 1839, Mr. Baker was united in marriage with Diana Ray Davoll, who until her death in 1878 was his most trusted adviser, and proved of the greatest assistance to him in his business relations. Since then he has hired a housekeeper to superintend his house, but the loss of Mrs. Baker has been irreparable. She died suddenly when about fifty-one years of age. Mr. Baker lost a son and a daughter in childhood. His son Charles died at twenty-three, Frank died at fourteen, and David at thirty. David, who was the first-born, then a boy of sixteen, saw much of the Civil War as a clerk for William Underwood, a sutler. He left two children. Ellen Baker died at the age of thirty-two. The living children are: Mary A., who re- sides with her father; Diana, who resides in Worcester; and Albert E., who is in Phila- delphia, Pa. The Elmwood House has long been known as a well-kept place, where one can find excellent attendance combined with home comforts and home quiet.

EAN SAMUEL ELLIS, M.D., one of the leading practising physicians of Worcester, was born in Vermont- ville, Franklin County, N.Y., Au- gust 28, 1856, son of Samuel and Emily N. (Towne) Ellis. His grandfather, William Ellis, who was a native and a lifelong resi- dent of Woodstock, Vt., and a blacksmith by trade, married Sarah Stowe, and became the father of eight children, of whom six reached adult life. Of the latter number, Jane Wood and Sarah Serene Porter are deceased. The survivors are: Samuel Ellis, the subject of this biography; Eveline, who is the widow of the late Benjamin Harrison, and resides in

Franklin County, New York; Caroline, the widow of the late Mr. Benjamin, residing in Woodstock, Vt .; and Laurinda, the widow of John Parker, late of Janesville, Wis.

Samuel Ellis, the Doctor's father, who is now an octogenarian residing in Worcester, was born April 4, 1815. He followed the trade of his father. After carrying on busi- ness in several places in Vermont, he came in 1860 to Worcester from Vermontville, where he had been living during the six preceding years. His wife, Emily, who was born in Windsor, Vt., February 5, 1820, and whom he married in that place on February 19, 1839, was a daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Burt) Towne. Her father, who was a farmer, died in 1844, at the age of seventy-four, and her mother in 1848, at the age of seventy- eight. Their children were: Ellen E., Will- iam T., Orinda T., Sarah Z., and Dean S. Ellen is the wife of T. A. Lamson, residing at 24 Florence Street, Worcester. William, who was educated at Wilbraham, Mass., and Evanston, Ill., is now in Chicago, serving as an evangelist under the auspices of the Meth- odist church. Orinda is the wife of Frank J. Morse, of Belchertown, Mass .; and Sarah is Mrs. A. V. Newton, of Worcester.

Having obtained his preliminary education in the public schools of Worcester and at New Salem Academy, Dean S. Ellis pursued his medical studies in Jefferson Medical College, graduating in the class of 1883. Immediately after graduation he began practice in this city, and at once became popular with all classes. He is skilled as a general practitioner, and ranks well among his fellow-physicians. The Doctor is the medical examiner for eight different insurance companies and the physi- cian to ten local societies. In politics he is

a Republican. He is a fellow of the Massa- chusetts Medical Society, the American Med- ical Association, and the Worcester Medical Association. On October 31, 1887, he was married to Isabel Warner, of this city, daugh- ter of Dr. Emerson Warner and his wife, Isa- belle (Andrews) Warner. Dr. Warner, who was for twenty years a member of the School Board and surgeon to the City Hospital and the Memorial Hospital, is a great traveller,

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having been around the world twice, besides making special trips to South America and Alaska. Dr. and Mrs. Ellis are the parents of four children: Ruth Ellis, who is eight years of age; Ralph, aged six; Ethel, aged four; and Myrtle Isabel. The Doctor's resi - dence and office are at 572 and 574 Main Street. A lover of horses, he is frequently seen driving animals of splendid breed and fine mettle.

EORGE W. WELLS, the president and treasurer of the American Opti- cal Company, Southbridge, was born in South Woodstock, Conn., April 15, 1846, son of John Ward and Maria (Cheney) Wells. His paternal grandfather, Henry Wells, who was born in 1757, and his great-grandfather on the Cheney side were both Revolutionary soldiers. John Ward Wells, the father, who was born in Westerly, R.I., in 1794, spent the greater part of his life upon a farm in South Woodstock. Maria, his wife, who was a daughter of Joel Cheney, of Southbridge, became the mother of nine children. Of these, four are living, namely: Hiram, a resi- dent of Southbridge and a director of the American Optical Company; Lewis J., who resides at the homestead in Woodstock; Eliz- abeth P., who lives in Southbridge; and George W., the subject of this sketch and the youngest of the family.

George W. Wells began his education in the public schools and completed his studies at the Woodstock Academy. At the age of seventeen he taught school for a short time at Navesink Highlands, N.J. In the spring of 1864 he began his apprenticeship to the opti- cal business with R. H. Cole & Co., South- bridge. Later he entered the machine shop of the Hamilton Woollen Company, but subse- quently returned to the optical business, which he has since followed uninterruptedly with the exception of a few months spent upon the Pacific coast in 1867. In 1869 the firms of R. H. Cole & Co. and H. C. Ammidown & Co. were consolidated and incorporated as the American Optical Company. Mr. Wells has been connected with the company since then,

working his way upward to his present respon- sible position. The company's establishment is considered the largest of its kind in the world, occupying one hundred and fifty thou- sand feet of floor space. The machinery is driven by both steam and water power, re- spectively capable of developing seven hun- dred and fifty and three hundred horse power ; and an average of eleven hundred hands, prin- cipally skilled workmen, are employed. The output for 1898 amounted to two million, one hundred and sixty thousand pairs of spectacles and eye-glasses, which consumed ninety-one tons of glass. The goods find their way to nearly every part of the world. Large orders are filled at short notice. Under its present energetic and progressive management the high reputation already acquired by the fac- tory is bound to be maintained. Mr. Wells is also president of the Southbridge National Bank, a member of the Board of Investment of the savings-bank, and a director of the Water Supply Company, the Southbridge & Sturbridge Street Railway Company, the Central Mills Company, the Warren Pump Works, and trustee Worcester Insane Hos- pital.

On September 27, 1869, Mr. Wells was united in marriage with Mary E. McGregory, a daughter of Dr. John McGregory, of South- bridge. Mrs. Wells is the mother of four children, namely: Channing M., born in 1870; Albert B., born in 1872; J. Cheney, born in 1874; and Mary E. Wells, born in 1878. Channing M., a graduate of the Mas- sachusetts School of Technology, married, November 9, 1898, Irene B. Kelley, of St. Louis; Albert B. is a graduate of Harvard University, class of 1893; J. Cheney com- pleted his studies at the Worcester Academy ; and all three are connected with the Ameri- can Optical Company. Mary E. Wells com- pleted her education at a young ladies' school in Stamford, Conn. Mr. Wells was the first president of the Southbridge Young Men's Christian Association, a liberal con- tributor to its building fund, and a member of its Building Committee. He occupied the executive chair of the Worcester South Agricultural Society for three terms, and

Gernwalls.

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takes an active interest in all other insti- tutions organized for the benefit of the gen- eral community. A prominent Mason, he is a member of the local bodies, of Worcester Commandery, Knights Templar, and of Mas- sachusetts Consistory. In politics he is a Republican. The family are members and attend the Baptist church.

EXTER A. BRIGHAM, a leading agriculturist of Sutton, Worcester County, Mass., was born in Rush- ford, Winnebago County, Wis., on July 30, 1857, son of Dr. John W. and Betsy A. (Jelleff) Brigham. The first of the family to come to America was one Thomas Brigham, who embarked at London in the " Susan and Ellen " in April, 1635, and whose name ap- pears on the records of Watertown for 1637. He became a citizen of importance, and was Selectman in 1640, 1642, and 1647.

This Puritan emigrant at his death in 1654 left a widow and five children, the second child a son Thomas, who was twice married, and was the father of Captain Nathan Brig- ham, the next in this ancestral line. Captain Nathan Brigham was for seven years Select- man of the town of Marlboro. He married Elizabeth Howe. Their eldest child, Lieuten- ant Nathan Brigham, was one of the Select- men of the town of Southboro for a period of twenty-eight years. Captain William Brig- ham, fourth son of Lieutenant Brigham, made his home in Marlboro, and had charge of the minute-men there during the Revolution. He was the father of Colonel Ephraim Brigham, who was the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and who was chosen at the election of officers of militia forces to the office of Brigadier-general, but declined com- mission on account of his private business, and General Rutter, of Wayland, was chosen in- stead.

The Rev. Elijah Brigham, son of Colonel Ephraim Brigham, was a blacksmith by trade; and it was said of him that " the word of this blacksmith is as good as the oath of a king." He was a local preacher of great usefulness and wide repute in the Methodist denomina-

tion. He was the father of the Methodist churches in Fitchburg and Worcester, having been the leader of the first Methodist class meetings in both cities. While preaching he followed his trade, and among other important things he made was the first fire-engine made in the city of Fitchburg. Later he engaged in carriage building; and in 1856 he was the senior partner of what was called the finest carriage building firm in Boston, his factory being located on Eliot Street, between Tre- mont and Washington Streets.

Dr. John W. Brigham, son of the Rev. Elijah Brigham, was born in Fitchburg, Mass., March II, 1835. He was educated in the public schools of that town, a private high school, and Wilbraham Academy. He practised his profession fifteen years in Wis- consin, and also resided for some time in Iowa and New York. Subsequently he re- tired from the practice of medicine, owing to impaired nervous condition. In 1870 he came to Sutton and purchased the Benjamin Woodbury farm, which five years later he sold to B. A. Whitcomb, then buying from the Penniman heirs the house in which he resided until his death, which occurred Sep- tember II, 1898. He was in partnership with his son, Dexter A., on the farm. He was a Democrat in politics, was frequently chosen by his party as delegate to various con- ventions, and for several years was their can- didate for Representative to the General Court. He was a member of the Masonic lodge in Millbury and of the Society of An- tiquity of the city of Worcester. He married in 1856 Betsy A., daughter of Captain Alonzo S. Jelleff, of Ripon, Wis. Four sons were the result of this union, all of whom, with his widow, survive him. They are: Dexter A., the subject of this sketch; Al- fonso G. and Curtis M. J., of Fisherville ; and Sidney D., of Worcester.

Dexter A. Brigham received his education in the public schools and in the high school at Sutton. After leaving school he at once began work on the farm of his father, having manifested a strong bent toward agricultural pursuits. He soon assumed full management of the farm, which is devoted to general farm-

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ing, but making a special feature of dairying and poultry raising. It is one of the most profitable farms of its kind in the county. Mr. Brigham has taken an active part in local affairs. He has served the town as Select- man, and is now and has been for the past three years chairman of the board. For three years he was an Overseer of the Poor. He is a Deacon of the First Congregational Church at Sutton, and also church treasurer. Fraternally, he is a member of Sutton Grange, No. 109, P. of H.

He married Jennie A. Burnap, daughter of John S. and Minerva (Hall) Burnap. The fol- lowing named children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Brigham : Mary Ethel, May 13, 1884; Alice Minerva, September 8, 1887; Minnie Ann, September 6, 1889; Mabel Lou- ise, May 3, 1891 ; and John Dexter, October 30, 1898. The four oldest children are at- tending the public schools in Sutton.

70 ZRA WASHINGTON MARBLE, a prosperous manufacturer in Marbleville (so named for his father and grand- father), town of Sutton, was born on the farm on which he resides, February 8, 1838, son of Ezra Sibley and Fanny (Gibbs) Marble. Cap- tain John Marble, the grandfather of Ezra W. and an early settler here, was an energetic and industrious farmer and a successful dealer in cattle. He married Nancy Lathe, of Grafton, Mass., who had two sons - Ezra Sibley and John - and five daughters. John died in early manhood.

Ezra S. Marble, born in Grafton in 1815, was a shuttle manufacturer, and also carried on farming. He began with small means, and did not strive for wealth, being content with securing a comfortable living. His marriage with Fanny Gibbs took place in 1834. She was born in Greenwich, Mass., in 1805, being ten years his senior. He died in 1862, aged forty-eight; she in 1870, aged sixty-five. They had twelve children, of whom seven at- tained maturity. Of the latter, two are living to-day: Ezra Washington, the subject of this sketch; and Eleanor J., the wife of Orlando

Mcintyre, residing here. William Henry Marble died here in the prime of life, leaving a widow and one son, Frederick Marble. Julia, who was the wife of Fred T. Lathe, died soon after her marriage. Ann F., who married Clarence M. Ruggles, died at the age of fifty years, leaving no children.

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 51

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