Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 56

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 56

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George E. Allen acquired a good education. Succeeding to the home farm, he tilled the soil industriously and successfully for some time. Then he sold the property to his son. Since that time he has given his attention to the sale of farm machinery and tools, handling the Yankee Horse Rake, the Cham- pion Road Scraper, the Woods and Granite State Mowers, and other standard machines, and building up an extensive business in this section of the State. Politically, he is a Re- publican, and he has served with ability as a Selectman and in other town offices. On December 15, 1852, he married Hannah H. Parker. Born in Milton, Vt., May 4, 1827, she is a daughter of John and Lettie (Caswell) Parker. Both she and Mr. Allen are con- nected with the local grange, Patrons of Hus- bandry, and are members of the Congrega-

tional church. She has given birth to three children, namely: Charles E., on April 7, 1856; Clark P., July 15, 1858, who is now a resident of California; and Etta E., Septem- ber II, 1864. Charles Edwin Allen, who purchased of his father the home farm, is now carrying on a large dairy business, and is one of the rising young agriculturists of Barre. He married Armanella Hinckley, a represent- ative of an old Barre family, and has three children - Hattie B., Grace L., and Walter C. Allen.

Etta E. Allen is now the wife of John L. Smith, a prosperous farmer of this town, and has three children - George F., Della M., and Florence A. Her husband was born in Barre, August 4, 1859, son of Franklin and Martha (Leland) Smith. James Smith, his great-grandfather, came from Barnstable, Mass., to Barre among the early settlers. The grandfather, John Smith, who followed the cabinet-maker's trade in connection with farming, died in Barre in 1872; and his wife, whose maiden name was Hannah Warner, lived to the advanced age of ninety-six years. Franklin Smith, the father, was born upon the farm he now owns and occupies in 1816. Entering business when he was a young man, he followed it thereafter until he was forty years old. Since that time he has carried on general farming. In politics he is a Repub- lican. He has been the chairman of the Board of Selectmen and Deputy Sheriff. Martha, his wife, who was born in Grafton in 1821, became the mother of two children: Julia M., now the wife of Dr. G. F. A. Spencer, of Ware, Mass. ; and John L. Smith, who is a graduate of the Massachusetts State Agricultural College at Amherst, and now owns the farm of two hundred acres that was formerly the property of his uncle, Warren Smith. Mr. Smith carries on general farm- ing and dairying, deals largely in cattle, of which he keeps an average of forty head, and he raises Wyandotte and Leghorn hens. He has been Cattle Inspector here for the past five years, has served as a Selectman two years, and at this writing is the chairman- elect of the Republican Town Committee. Mr. Smith is a member of Mount Zion Lodge,

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F. & A. M., and has occupied the important chairs in the local grange, Patrons of Hus- bandry.

ILLIAM F. EWELL, a well-known and respected citizen of Shrews- bury, son of Charles and Mary (Morrison) Ewell, of Somersworth, N.H., was born on August 27, 1840, in Allston, Mass. His first ancestor in this country, Henry Ewell, a shoemaker by trade, came on the ship "Hercules" in 1635 from Sandwich, Kent County, England. Henry was a soldier in the Pequod War in 1637, and his home was burned by the Indians in 1676. John Ewell, the eldest son of Henry, moved to Boston, and afterward established that branch of the family from which William Ewell is de- scended in Roxbury, of which Peres Ewell, the grandfather of William, was a resident. Charles Ewell, above named, belonged to the militia, and was considered an excellent marksman.

William F. Ewell received his education in the public schools of Cambridge, graduat- ing from the high school there. In August, 1861, he enlisted for three years in the Thir- teenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, under the command of Colonel Leonard. For a month he was stationed at Fort Independence, Mass. From there he went with the regiment to Hagerstown, Md., where he remained during the winter. He fought in the battle of Slaughter Mountain, and also in the second battle of Bull Run, in which the Thirteenth suffered severely. At Antietam he was wounded in the head, and was subsequently sent to the hospital at Har- risburg, where, when sufficiently recovered, he became ward master. Soon after, as the wounds he had received rendered him unfit for further service in the army, he was hon- orably discharged. Returning then to Cam- bridge, he at once entered the employ of Mason & Hamlin, organ builders, with whom he remained for some time. Later he held a responsible position in the employment of the Monroe Organ Reed Company, of Worces- ter, for twenty-five years, and in the employ-

ment of the Hammond Reed Company for six years.

On July 20, 1864, Mr. Ewell married Annie, daughter of Llewellyn P. and Nancy (Leach) Davis. By this union there has been one child, Nettie W. Ewell, born on May 21, 1865, now residing with her parents. Mr. Ewell has filled the chairs of Worcester Lodge, No. 56, I. O. O. F., of which he is Past Noble Grand, and which he has repre- sented in the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts since 1867. . He has also served in the chairs of Wachusett Encampment, and is a Past Chief Patriarch of that branch of the order. For two years he acted as Commander of Can- ton Worcester No. 3, and at one time he was Brigadier-general, holding the command of the forces of this order in the Eastern States. In the G. A. R. he is a comrade of Colonel Ward Post, No. 10.

ALVIN W. WOODS, the general superintendent of the factory of the E. & A. H. Batcheller Company in North Brookfield and a prominent resident of the town since 1880, is a native of Woodville, Mass. Born August 6, 1846, he is a son of Charles A. and Caroline S. (Carter) Woods, who were both natives of Woodville, and are now deceased. His boy- hood was passed in Woodville, and there he attended school. Although a mere lad when the great war between the North and the South broke out, he was anxious to go into active service, and in September, 1862, enlisted in the Forty-second Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. Although his term was nine months, he was gone a full year, serving with General Banks at New Orleans, and fighting in the battles at Bayou La Fourche and Brazier. At the last named place he was captured by the enemy. His period of prison life, how- ever, was a short one, as he was soon ex- changed. When he returned from the war he settled down in Woodville, and for some years was engaged in bottoming boots there. He was subsequently in the shoe business in Mil- ford and later in Natick, where he was the foreman for four years of the bottoming de-

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CALVIN W. WOODS.

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partment of C. E. Johnson's factory. From Natick he came to the factory of Messrs. Batcheller in North Brookfield, assuming first the position of foreman in the bottoming de- partment. This being one of the largest fac- tories in the country, there was ample oppor- tunity for advancement. Mr. Woods proved himself so faithful and able in the perform- ance of his duties here that the firm promoted him step by step until he reached his present post, that of general superintendent, for which he had shown himself entirely competent in the subordinate capacity of assistant superin- tendent. The firm has the fullest confidence in his executive ability and good judgment.

Mr. Woods does not confine his activities entirely to the factory. For three years he served on the Board of Selectmen, being also the chairman of the board. Still cherishing his war memories, he is a comrade of Ezra Batcheller Post, No. 51, G. A. R. ; a member of Joe Hooker Camp, Sons of Veterans; and the president of the Worcester County Forty- second Regiment Association. He also be- longs to Concordia Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of which he is Past Chancellor. In politics he is an Independent. He was united in mar- riage with Laura Kemp, of Woodville. His only son, Leon D. Woods, married Maud Stevens, of Barton Landing, and has a daugh- ter, Hazel M. Woods.

BOYNTON R EUBEN was for many years one of the substantial men of Westboro. In early life he was a school teacher. Later he advanced the educational interests of the town by his labors on the School Board. From 1853 to 1873 he was engaged in the grocery and provi- sion business, erecting in 1868 a building to accommodate his increasing trade. Subse- quently he built another business block, besides the commodious residence on West Main Street that is now occupied by Mrs. Arethusa H. Boynton, and which was his home during the rest of his life. He was a Representative to the State legislature in 1865 and again in 1874 and 1875. Besides having been a director of the Westboro Na-

tional Bank for many years, he was one of the incorporators of the Westboro Savings Bank, and for some time was its president. Pro- gressive and public-spirited, he took great in- terest in all enterprises tending to promote the welfare of the community, and among other things was especially active in introduc- ing the present water system. He was a member and liberal supporter of the Orthodox church. His marriage with Arethusa H. Buck took place in 1843. He died at his home in 1892, being then seventy-six years old. Three children survive him - Alden L., Emily M., and Henry L. Emily M. is the wife of S. O. Staples, of Framingham.

Alden L. Boynton, born in Westboro, Jan- uary 2, 1844, received a common-school edu- cation. After leaving school he entered his father's employ. Having subsequently suc- ceeded his father, he conducted the business successfully for nearly twenty years. He sold out in 1890, and has since devoted a large part of his time to banking and the care of estates, including that left by his father. For twenty years he was a director of the Westboro National Bank, and for nearly ten years he has served on the Investment Com- mittee of the Westboro Savings Bank, of which he is now the president. In 1883, 1884, and 1885 he served the town as Select- man, and he has been a Commissioner of the Sinking Fund for twelve years and a member of the Town Board of Health since it was established. A conservative man, inclined to think and investigate for himself, he has made a study of men and affairs. Until re- cent years he was identified with the Repub- lican party in politics, but when the silver question became paramount he espoused the cause of free silver at the former ratio of six- teen to one. He is one of the very few bank presidents of New England who have openly declared it their belief that the restoration of silver to its former status in the currency is necessary to the establishment of an "hon- est dollar " and a condition of general pros- perity. On January 3, 1883, he married Miss Myra J. Douglass; a native of Greenbush, Me., who had been a resident of Westboro for some time, She died November 24, 1894.

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IBEON C. FIELD, an extensive coal and lumber dealer of Milford, was born December 25, 1831, in Paris, Me. A son of Zibeon Field, he belongs to one of the families first repre- sented in New England in 1632 by three young men, two brothers and a cousin, that were lineal descendants of Sir John Field, the eminent English astronomer. The cousin settled in Connecticut, and became the founder of the New York branch of the Field family; while the two brothers, who founded the Massachusetts families of that name, set- tled first at Field's Point, near Providence, R.I., where they died. A son of one brother moved to Bridgewater, Mass., at an early day, probably prior to 1660.

Ephraim Field, the paternal grandfather of Zibeon C. Field, who was born and brought up in Bridgewater, Mass., in middle life be- came a pioneer of Paris, Me. He married Sarah Brett, a direct descendant of John Alden, the last survivor of the signers of the compact made on board the "Mayflower" in November, 1620. Zibeon Field, son of Ephraim, was born in Bridgewater, Mass., in 1798. Having accompanied his parents to the wilds of Maine when but a boy, he as- sisted in the pioneer labor of clearing and im- proving a homestead. He subsequently en- gaged in farming as a life occupation, and was one of the influential men of Chesterville, Me., which he served as Selectman and in other offices of minor importance. He died in 1882 at the venerable age of eighty-four years. His wife, Lydia Howe Field, a daughter of Jacob and Betsey (Foster) Howe, bore him seven sons and three daughters, of whom the following are now living: Ansel S., residing in California, having retired from active business; Belinda, of Farmington, Me., the widow of the late Cyrus W. Bailey ; Mason G., an agriculturist residing at Farm- ington, Me .; and Zibeon C., the subject of this biography.

Having been educated in the public schools of Farmington and Chesterville, Me., Zibeon C. Field at the age of seventeen came to Mil- ford, Mass., where he worked for a time in a boot manufactory. His health becoming im-

paired from close confinement indoors, he went in 1852 to California, sailing around Cape Horn in the ship "R. C. Winthrop." For three years he was engaged in mining, and then returned to Milford. Subsequently he embarked in the provision business in Rox- bury, Mass. In 1858 he settled permanently in Milford, and there he and his brother, Perley P. Field, conducted his present busi- ness until 1891. Since that year he has car- ried on the business alone. While residing in Roxbury he was the foreman of the Hook and Ladder Company for two years. In Mil- ford he served for the same length of time on the Board of Engineers, and was the chairman of the Board of Selectmen and a member of the School Committee respectively for three years. In 1864 and 1865 he was a Repre- sentative to the General Court, where he served in the Committees on Horse Railroads, Railways, and Canals. He was also Justice of the Peace for many years, having been ap- pointed by Governor Andrew. During the Civil War he was town agent for recruiting soldiers. In this capacity, through a personal interview with President Lincoln at Washing- ton in 1864, he secured for Milford the credit of one hundred and thirty-seven three-year men - which had not been recorded in its favor at the War Department - thereby saving the loss of many thousands of dollars to the town. Although for several years he has refused to accept any public office, he still re- tains his interest in politics, and he has been chairman of the Milford Republican League. He is an active member of the Universalist church, and for a long time was one of the Standing Committee of the parish. He is now a trustee of the Milford Savings Bank and a director of the Milford National Bank. A Mason in good standing, he belongs to Montgomery Lodge and Mount Lebanon

Chapter.

In 1856 Mr. Field married Lydia A., daughter of Colonel Peter and Hopestill (Prentiss) Corbet, by whom he became the father of four children. These were: Pren- tiss, born in 1858, who died in 1861 ; Frank, born in December, 1861; Charlotte T., who was graduated from the Milford High School,

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and is now the wife of F. A. Shepherd, of Mil- ford; and Grace P., a graduate of the Milford High School, who afterward completed her musical education at Dean Academy, and is now the wife of Aaron H. Mayhew, the teller of the Milford National Bank. Frank, who graduated from the Milford High School, and is now in business with his father, first mar- ried E. Luella Taft, who was a daughter of James and Anna Taft, and died in 1892. A

second marriage on September 2, 1894, united him with S. Etta, daughter of Robert and Sylvia Stewartson, of West Medway. Mrs. Lydia A. Field died March 21, 1872. On June 17, 1874, Mr. Field, Sr., contracted a second marriage with Anna, daughter of Almon and Sarah A. (Darling) Thwing, of Hopedale. Mrs. Anna Field, who was a suc- cessful teacher in the public schools before her marriage, is a woman of culture.

ILLSWORTH EUGENE HOWE, book- keeper and paymaster of the Fisher Manufacturing Company, of Fisher- ville (Grafton), Worcester County, Mass., is a native of Princeton in the same county. He was born July 17, 1861, son of Oscar and Amanda (Adams) Howe. He is a direct descendant in the male line of Abraham How, the founder of this branch of the Howe fam- ily, who married at Watertown, Mass., in 1657, Hannah Ward, daughter of William Ward, and in 1660 was one of the proprietors of Marlboro.

The Howe name and family have been iden- tified with Marlboro from the beginning of the settlement, John Howe, of Sudbury, having been one of the petitioners in 1657 for the grant which constituted Marlboro. John Howe was in Sudbury in 1639. He died at Marlboro in 1687. In 1642 he was Select- man in Sudbury, and in 1655 was appointed by the pastor and Selectmen "to see to the re- straining of youth on the Lord's Day." Ac- cording to tradition he was the first white in- habitant who settled on the new grant. He went to Marlboro in 1657, and built a cabin near the Indian plantation. From the inter- esting account of him in Hudson's History of

Marlboro we extract the following: "By his kindness he gained the confidence and good will of his savage neighbors, who accordingly not only respected his rights, but in many cases made him the umpire in cases of diffi- culties among themselves. In a case where a pumpkin vine sprang up within the premises of one Indian, and the fruit ripened upon the premises of another, the dispute which arose between them as to the ownership of the pumpkin was referred to him; and, inspired with the wisdom of a second Solomon, he called for a knife, and severed the fruit, giv- ing a moiety to each. This struck the parties as the perfection of justice, and fixed the im- partiality of the judge on an immutable basis." He opened the first public house in Marlboro previous to 1670. His property was inventoried at five hundred and eleven pounds. He gave his son Thomas "the horse he troops on. "

That Abraham How, above named, was a nephew of John Howe, of Sudbury and Marl- boro, is a well-grounded conjecture, we are told, in the mind of one of his descendants, an octogenarian of remarkable vigor and of excellent memory, who in his youth heard the family record discussed by his father and grandfather, and who has in his possession papers relating to the family ancestry. Abra- ham How, or Howe, was the father of ten children. He died June 30, 1695, and his widow died November 3, 1717, aged seventy- eight years. Their youngest son, Abraham Howe, Jr., was killed by the Indians at Lan- caster in July, 1704, leaving only one child, a daughter.

Joseph Howe, second son of Abraham, born at Watertown in 1661, married Dorothy Mar- tin. Their second son, Abraham, third, born in 1698, married Rachel Rice, daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Graves) Rice, of Marl- boro. Adonijah Howe, born September 7, 1737, son of Abraham and Rachel, was the fourth in this line of ancestry. He came to Worcester County with his brother Abner, and purchased one hundred acres of land at Princeton, on what was then called the Water- town Farms. Abner bought ninety-four acres. The first named tract is known at the present

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time as the D. J. Reed place, and the second as the IIarlow Skinner place. Adonijah mar- ried in 1764 Lydia Church. One of their sons was Adonijah, Jr., of the fifth genera- tion, grandfather of Oscar, the father of the subject of this sketch. From this record it appears that Ellsworth E. Howe is a repre- sentative of the eighth generation from Abra- ham, the immigrant. Church Howe is a cousin, prominent in public life in the West. He was President of State Senate for a num- ber of sessions, and is now United States Consul to Sicily.

Oscar Howe was born in Princeton, Mass., on July 2, 1830. He studied dentistry with Dr. Levi Foskett, of the town of Winchen - don, and Dr. Seth Miller, of Worcester, and has practised in the town of Princeton for forty-five years. He is still actively engaged

in his profession. He has been a member of the Massachusetts Dental Society since 1865. He made regular visits to Westminster for thirty years, also visited Hubbardston, Rut- land, and Holden. He was chairman of the Republican Town Committee for quite a long period of time, and was a trustee of the Con- gregational parish and organist at the Congre- gational church for sixteen consecutive years. He married in May, 1854, Sarah Amanda Adams, daughter of Nathan and Mary Beaman Adams, and is the father of three children, all sons - Walter Sumner, Ellsworth Eugene, and Fred Clayton. Walter was born in Princeton, May 8, 1856. He was in business for a while in Worcester, and later spent a few years in the West. He died in Prince- ton, February 12, 1890. He never married. Fred Clayton, the youngest son, born in Princeton, March 15, 1866, taught school in Princeton. He worked for a time in the office of the William Knowlton & Sons' straw works, West Upton, and then went West to Lincoln, Neb., as clerk of the State Banking Board. He married Martha Funke, and now lives in Lincoln, Neb., and is manager of the Bradstreet's Agency.

Ellsworth Eugene Howe, born in Prince- ton, Mass., July 17, 1861, was educated in the public schools of the town. He taught school for three years, then took a special

business course, and went to Orange, Mass., in the employ of C. G. Howe & Co., grocers. Afterward he went to Worcester as book- keeper in the employ of Macullar & Son, clothiers, a branch of the firm of Macullar, Parker & Co., Boston, where he remained till coming to Fisherville (Grafton) in June, 1882, sixteen years ago, at the time of the building of the new cotton-mill of the Fisher Manu- facturing Company. He first took charge of the office work, and now holds the position of book-keeper and paymaster. He is vice-presi- dent of the Grafton Co-operative Bank, also a director and member of the Finance Commit- tee. He is a member of the corporation of the Grafton Savings Bank. In politics a Repub- lican, he is now serving as a member of the Board of Selectmen of Grafton and clerk of the board. He is a member of Franklin Lodge of F. & A. M., of Grafton, and of the Royal Ar- canum. At an early age he joined the Con- gregational church at Princeton. He is a life member of the Congregational Home Mission- ary Society and a member of the Congregational Club of Worcester.

Mr. Howe married November 17, 1886, Julia Margaret French, of Orange, Mass., daughter of Lysander and Julia (Hunt) French. Her grandfather, the late Rodney Hunt, was one of the prominent business men of Orange and of Franklin County, the founder of the Rodney Hunt Machine Company, which is now one of the principal industrial plants of that town. Mr. and Mrs. Howe have two children : Ruth Amanda Howe, born Novem- ber 19, 1889; and Paul French Howe, born July 15, 1895.

Mr. Howe is a musician of considerable note. He studied organ and harmony with the late A. S. Allen, of Worcester, and others, and has filled positions of organist and director in churches in Princeton, Orange, Worcester, Grafton, and Millbury, and at the present time is organist and director at the Union Congregational Church in Fisherville, which he was largely instrumental in build- ing. He is chairman of the Standing Com- mittee and prominent in the work of the church. He has conducted various musical organizations; and with his wife, who also is a

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singer of considerable reputation, has assisted in numberless concerts and musical events in different localities. He has been connected with various military bands from boyhood as leader and solo cornet player, and conducted the music at the one hundred and fiftieth an- niversary celebration of the town of Grafton, also at the dedication exercises of the Good- now Memorial Building in his native town of Princeton.

BADIAH BROWN HADWEN, one of the leading agriculturists of Worcester County and probably the best known abroad, being a prominent member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and of several kindred organizations, was born on August 2, 1824, in Providence, R.I. His parents were Charles and Amey Sherman (Brownell) Hadwen. All of his an - cestors, paternal and maternal, as far back as he has any knowledge of them, were Friends ; and he himself is still considered a birthright member of the society.

His great-grandfather Hadwen, whose name was John, was born at Low Wray, in the parish of Hawkshead, Lincolnshire, England, on the eleventh of the eighth month, 1722, and came to Newport, R.I., in 1743 or 1744. John Hadwen and Elizabeth Barney were married at Newport, October 5, 1752. He died in Newport on the fourteenth of the ninth month, 1804, in his eighty-second year. His family in England was one of great re- spectability.

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 56

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