Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 57

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 57

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Mr. Hadwen, of Worcester, has in his pos- session the coat of arms and also the family Bible, published in England prior to 1800, on the title page of which is pasted an obituary notice that reads as follows: "Died in this town [Newport] yesterday afternoon, of an apoplectic fit, that eminently good man, Mr. John Hadwen, in the eighty-second year of his age. His heart was pure and his mind was correct. He never deceived, he never in- spired enmity, he was unsullied by a single vice, and bore a conscience without a single reproach. Of him the founder of the Friends' religion, George Fox, would have said, 'Be-

hold another man in whom also there is no guile.' "

James Hadwen, son of John and Elizabeth and grandfather of Mr. Obadiah B. Hadwen, was born in Newport, R.I., on the thirteenth of the eleventh month, 1758, and died there on the first of the eleventh month, 1813. He was by occupation a merchant and manufact- urer. In 1786 he married Mary Peckham, daughter of Isaac and Ruth Peckham and a native of Newport, born the twenty-fourth of second month, 1762. She died in 1834, at the age of seventy-two, having been the mother of six children; namely, Henry, Eliz- abeth, William, Sarah, Isaac, and Charles. Elizabeth married Charles Holden. William became a prominent oil merchant in Nan- tucket in the firm of Hadwen & Barney. Of him the good story is told that, when a fair was progressing in favor of the Nantucket Athenæum, Mr. Hadwen came late and with- out a ticket. He was told that he could not enter without the necessary ticket, and that they were not selling them then. "Come to think of it," said the merchant, "I don't know but I have a pass "; and he produced a check for a hundred dollars, which he had prepared before leaving his office. It admitted him at once. Sarah Hadwen married Oliver Arnold, a merchant of Troy, N. Y. Isaac, who was a mariner, was engaged in the West India mer- chant service, and rose to the position of first officer. He died in Havana of yellow fever in 1823, when only twenty-eight years of age.

Charles Hadwen was born in Newport on the fourth of the first month, 1797, and en- gaged in mercantile and manufacturing busi- ness in Providence, R. I., previous to coming to Worcester in 1835. Here he settled on the old Wing Kelley place, a farm of a hun- dred and thirty-five acres back of Newton Hill, a part of which is now the summer home of H. B. Witter. He died in Febru- ary, 1881, leaving an estate valued at thirty thousand dollars and, what was far better, a record for unimpeachable integrity in all his dealings. He was three times married. His first wife, Amey Sherman Brownell, whom he married in September, 1823, was born in Portsmouth, R.I. She died on November 15,

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1829, leaving three children - Obadiah B., Dorcas, and Sarah. Dorcas is now the widow of Samuel Lee, of Worcester. She has three children. Sarah married George A. Kim- ball, of Worcester, a manufacturer now re- tired. She has two sons and a daughter. Charles Hadwen named his eldest child, the subject of this sketch, for the husband of his aunt Dorcas, Obadiah Brown, who was promi- nently connected with the planting of the cot- ton spinning industry in this country.

Obadiah B. Hadwen in his youth spent four years as a student at the Friends' School in Providence; four winters in the Clinton Grove Institute at Weare, N.H., under the instruc- tion of Moses A. Cartland, the friend to whom Whittier, the poet, refers in "A Memorial, M. A. C."; and a winter in the Worcester County Manual Labor School. At Kendrick's in Newton he had some expe- rience in the nursery business; and in 1843, before he was twenty years of age, he settled on his present farm, at the corner of May and Lovell Streets. This was a part of the orig- inal Lovell estate, but the buildings and trees on it hàve been placed here since it came into Mr. Hadwen's possession. While his young trees were growing he followed market gar- dening to some extent, and in 1848 he began selling milk. After that for forty years he ran a milk and vegetable wagon.

When he came here more than fifty years ago, May Street was in the country. Now the city stretches out, and bids fair to surround him; but his immediate home and farm are still rural enough for a man who preferred farming to commercial life. Mr. Hadwen was for many years a trustee of the State Agricultural College at Amherst and for a long time chairman of the Executive Commit- tee of the board. Under his direction were erected the drill hall, president's house, and chapel. He was also one of the first mem- bers of the Board of Control of the Experi- ment Station and its first secretary, holding this position for four years. He joined the Worcester County Horticultural Society in 1847-48, and has been trustee, vice-president, and in 1875 president. He also belongs to the Worcester County Agricultural Society,

of which he has been vice-president and trus- tee; the American Pomological Society ; and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in which he was chairman of the Committee on Publication and Discussions. He is also a member of the New England Historic Genea- logical Society and interested in its work.

Mr. Hadwen married on Christmas Day, 1845, Harriet Page, of Westminster, Vt., a daughter of Major Joel Page and a niece of Judge Henry Closson, of Springfield, Vt. Mr. and Mrs., Hadwen have two children now living, namely: Amey, who is the wife of John H. Coes, of New Worcester; and Charles, a wholesale dealer in produce in Chicago. Their other son, William E., for some years a grocer on Chandler Street in this city, died a few months since, on May 31, 1898.

While never a politician, Mr. Hadwen has been successively a Whig, a Free Soiler, and a Republican. Once, without his knowledge or consent, his fellow-citizens made him a member of the Common Council, and he served for two years, 1868 and 1869. His work in relation to the shade trees and public parks of the city has been of far greater value. He has been connected with this department of the city since 1867, and has now the special charge of University Park. The grounds sur- rounding his own home give proof of his taste and skill in harmonizing and arranging trees and shrubbery, and no more delightful and charming retreat could be desired.

YRUS SPAULDING, an active and prominent citizen of Webster, was born in this town, April 17, 1835, a son of Erastus and Lucy (Locke) Spaulding. The father, Erastus Spaulding, was born in Oxford, Mass., in 1806, and died at his late home in Millbury in February, 1897. In early manhood he engaged in busi- ness in Millbury, where he remained until 1834, when he opened a stove and tinware store in Webster. This he managed until he sold out to his son Cyrus, after which he lived retired until his death. He was active in local affairs for many years, and, as a strong

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HENRY T. DUDLEY.

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abolitionist before the Civil War, had many stirring public discussions on the slavery question. A strong Methodist in his relig- ious beliefs, he was prominent in church affairs, and besides serving as local Elder held many other church offices. His wife, Lucy Locke Spaulding, bore him four children, two of whom are living: Cyrus, the subject of this sketch; and Emma J., wife of Captain Amos Bartlett, of Webster.

Cyrus Spaulding, after completing his school life at the Wilbraham Academy, spent a year in his father's store as clerk. Then, taking an interest in the business, he was junior member of the firm of Spaulding & Son for a year, when he sold out his share to his father. Subsequently he purchased the en- tire business, and, having added a fine assort- ment of hardware, has since carried on an ex- tensive and profitable trade. He is a sound Republican in politics, and is a member of Webster Lodge, F. & A. M. He has been prominently identified with the leading inter- ests of the town, and in 1876, 1877, and 1881 was Selectman and in 1874 and 1884 Town Assessor. In 1896 and 1897 he was a Representative to the State legislature, in which he served as one of the Committee on Banking during the first year and on the Committees on Banks, Parishes, and Relig- ious Societies the second year. He was a charter member and one of the directorate of the Worcester Safe Deposit and Trust Com- pany ; has been a trustee of the Webster Five Cent Savings Bank since 1868 and its presi- dent since 1887; and in 1876 was one of the three men that founded the Webster National Bank, of which he has since been one of the directors. He has also worked hard to ad- vance the temperance cause, in which he takes a deep interest, and for fifteen years has been treasurer and secretary of the Sterling Junc- tion Camp-meeting Association. An active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, he is treasurer of the Board of Trustees and of the society, and is now acting superintend- ent of the Sunday-school, having been for a number of years a class leader.

Mr. Spaulding was married April 18, 1855, to Elizabeth M., daughter of Isaac and Relief

(Watkins) Harrington. In 1895 Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding spent three months abroad, visiting among other places Bermuda; Gi- braltar and Granada, in Spain; Algiers, Africa; Cairo, Egypt; Palestine, Constanti- nople, Italy, Greece, France, and England. In 1889 they accompanied a party of Massa- chusetts people to Mexico, and, after visiting several of the Mexican states, returned home by way of California.

APT. HENRY TYLER DUDLEY, of the D. T. Dudley & Son Com- pany and an esteemed resident of Wilkinsonville, town of Sutton, was born near his present home on April 27, 1841, son of David Tyler and Lucy L.

(Wilder) Dudley. His grandparents were Captain David and Phœbe (Chase) Dudley. The former, who commanded a company in the State militia, was a scythe-maker by trade, and had a shop on the bank of Cold Brook. He and his wife had five children, four sons and a daughter, none of whom are living. The wife died suddenly of pneumonia at the age of sixty-seven.

David Tyler Dudley, son of Captain David Dudley, born in September, 1817, was a na- tive of Sutton. He began as a young boy to work in the shuttle factory, in which he re- mained until 1855, when failing health led him to make a change. Then for ten years he had charge of the railroad station, Wilkinson- ville, and dealt in grain. At the expiration of that time he returned to the shuttle busi- ness, and in company with his son, Henry T., and Warren Wilder, the latter of whom be- came interested in the business in 1855, he built the present shop and dam. The firm name, which previously was Wilder & Co., now became D. T. Dudley & Son. Lucy L. Wilder Dudley, a native of Lancaster, Mass., was the mother of six children - Charles F., who died in infancy, Henry Tyler, Augusta, Fred Chase, Sumner Arthur, and Phoebe Jeannette. Augusta, who married William Hale, died leaving a young son. Fred Chase died in middle life, leaving no children. Sumner Arthur is a shuttle manufacturer

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in Taunton. Phoebe Jeannette married Charles H. Norcross, of Wilkinsonville, and had one daughter, who died in infancy.

Having received a common-school educa- tion, Henry Tyler Dudley when twelve years of age began working in his father's shuttle shop. In July, 1861, he enlisted in the Fif- teenth Massachusetts Regiment, of Balls Bluff fame. Within a year he rose to the position of Orderly Sergeant, and in June, 1864, be- came Captain of Company A. Taken prisoner at Ream's Station, he spent seven months in Libby, Salisbury, and Danville Prisons. Be- tween the time of his capture and his release he lost eighty-four pounds, his weight being reduced from one hundred and eighty to ninety-six pounds. He was wounded four times: first, at Antietam, a ball passing through his leg; second at Gettysburg by a shell fragment striking him in the side; third, at the battle of the Wilderness by a spent ball in his right knee; and fourth, at the battle of Deep Bottom by a canister shot grazing his left shin. In politics Mr. Dudley is a Republican. Not aspiring to official honors, when solicited to become a candidate he has declined. He is a member of Grafton Post, No. 24, G. A. R.

On October 7, 1866, Mr. Dudley was mar- ried to Lucina H. Chase, a daughter of Silas and Beulah (Roberts) Chase, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Dudley were the parents of two daughters: Beulah, who died when six years of age; and Lucy Gertrude, a graduate of Lasell Seminary, who lives at home. Mrs. Dudley died in June, 1890, aged forty-nine. He subsequently mar - ried Miss Mira Peck, daughter of Joel Peck, of Millbury, who died in Worcester in 1882. The family reside in the residence which Mr. Dudley built in 1888.

HARLES FREDERICK FLINT was born in Paxton, April 18, 1857,

in the house where he now resides.

The farm owned and occupied by Mr. Flint is a part of the large tract of land that constituted the estate of his remote an- cestor on the maternal side, Abraham Smith,

who came here with his wife about 1740, was one of the original settlers of Paxton, then a part of Leicester, and was the first Represent- ative to General Court from this town. Abraham Smith built a house opposite the site of the present one. A large family sprang up about him, and as his children ad- vanced in life he set off portions of his de- mesne to them. The present house must have been built some time previous to 1787, as Mr. Flint has in his possession a deed dated that year, by which Abraham Smith conveyed this farm with the buildings thereon to his son, Abraham, Jr., Mr. Flint's great-grandfather. The house, a large two-story and a half frame dwelling, containing fifteen rooms, is still in a remarkably good state of preservation. It is situated about a mile in a westerly direc- tion from the centre of the town.

In the year 1806 Frederick Flint, of Oak- ham, married the daughter of Abraham Smith, Jr., purchased the estate, and thus became founder of the Flint family in this locality.

The Hon. Thomas Flint, first American ancestor of Charles F. Flint on the paternal side, was born in 1603. He came to this country from Matlock, Derbyshire, England, and settled in Concord, Mass., in 1638. He brought with him, says a family genealogy, four thousand pounds sterling. He was a man of wealth and talents, and possessed a strong Christian character. He was Deputy of the town four years, and was an assistant eleven, or until his death. Thomas Flint re- ceived a tract of seven hundred and fifty acres of land, extending from Flint's Pond to Beaver Pond and the town bounds, now situated in Lincoln. This tract and one other of like amount were the largest single tracts granted to any individual. The will of Thomas Flint is the first recorded in the Middlesex Probate Records. A copy of it is now in the posses- sion of Charles F. Flint, of Paxton.

Colonel John Flint, of Concord, the next in this ancestral line, married Mary Oakes, daughter of Edward Oakes, of Cambridge, Mass., and sister of the Rev. Urian Oakes, who was inaugurated president of Harvard College in 1680. Colonel John Flint repre- sented his native town in the General Court

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during the years 1678, 1680, 1682, and was Town Clerk for 1680 to 1686. His son Thomas, second, married a Mary Brown, by whom he had nine children.

The family now began to branch out and move away from the old home place; and Thomas, the third, son of Thomas and Mary (Brown) Flint, came to Worcester County and settled at Rutland. He married Eunice How, daughter of Moses How, and nine children were born to them. Their son John married Phoebe Smith, settled in Oakham, and was father of the Frederick Flint, above named, who settled in Paxton.

Frederick Flint lived to the age of seventy- eight, and at his death the old homestead de- scended to his son, Charles S., who was born October 10, 1817. The late Charles Stillman Flint was an uncompromising Republican in politics and a member of the Congregational church. His wife, Mary M. Williams, was born in Hubbardston. but lived the most of her life until her marriage in Barre, Mass. They had two children - Mary J. and Charles F. Mary J. Flint died at the age of six years. Charles S. Flint died February 19, 1884, in the sixty-seventh year of his life; and Paxton lost one of its most highly re- spected citizens. His wife soon followed, the date of her death being June 1, 1887; and the homestead descended to the present Charles F., who still lives, as before men- tioned, on the old home place.

Mr. Flint received a practical education in the common schools of Paxton and in Leices- ter Academy, which he attended for a while. From the days of his youth he assisted in the daily labors incidental to life on a farm, and on leaving the academy took an active part in the management of the homestead property. He has one hundred acres of land, much of which is in cultivation, and is successfully carrying on general farming, each year raising the crops common to this section of New Eng- land, and paying some attention to dairying and stock-raising.

He has filled various local offices with credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his constituents, having been Assessor a number of terms, a portion of the time being chairman

of the board, and also Selectman several years. He is at present a member of the Board of Trustees of the Paxton Library, a position which he has held a long time. In politics he is true to the principles in which he was brought up, and is a strong adherent of the Republican party.

On the ninth day of January, 1889, Mr. Flint married Miss Susie E., daughter of Robert Wakeford, of Woburn, Mass. They have one child, Frederick W., born December 14, 1889. Mr. and Mrs. Flint are both active members of the Congregational church, in the Sunday-school of which he is a superintend- ent. Mrs. Flint received her education in Woburn, is a graduate of the high school of that city. For several years previous to her marriage she taught school in Winchester, Mass., and also in Paxton. She has been a member of the Paxton School Committee for seven years, and is now serving as chairman of the board.

OHN A. R. CURTIS, an agriculturist of Auburn, Mass., was born in Caro- line, Tompkins County, N. Y., on Au- gust 29, 1836, son of William and Ann (Clark) Curtis. His paternal grand- father, Samuel Curtis, Jr., was a great-grand- son of Ephraim Curtis, who was the first white settler of Worcester.

Samuel Curtis, Jr., was born on the farm in Auburn which has been in the family for over two hundred years. By his first marriage he had four daughters and three sons. One of the three sons, Benjamin F. by name, owned and occupied the large farm on Plantation Street, where his son Samuel now resides. Samuel Curtis, Jr., married for his second wife Eunice Taft, of Uxbridge. By this union there were two sons and one daughter, namely: Albert Curtis, of New Worcester, who died in July, 1898, at the age of ninety- one; William, above named; and Eunice, wife of Charles Bancroft, of Brookline, de- ceased.

William Curtis, who was born in Worces- ter on December 31, 1813, and died in 1876, was a carpenter by trade and a contracting

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builder. He spent most of his life in West- ern New York. His marriage to Ann Clark, of Tompkins County, New York, took place in 1833. She died at the age of forty-eight, having been the mother of four children - Benjamin Franklin, John A. R., Harriet Vic- toria, and Eunice Sophia.

Benjamin Franklin resides on the farm in Tompkins County formerly owned by his father. Harriet married Edwin Lewis. She died in Holliston, Mass., in the spring of 1894, leaving two children. Eunice is also deceased.

John A. R. Curtis spent the early years of his life on a farm in Tompkins County; but in 1884 he removed to Auburn, Mass., and took possession of the old Curtis farm. This farm, which comprises one hundred and sixty acres, is largely devoted to the production of milk, from twenty-two to thirty cows being kept. The milk is sold on the farm.

On December 21, 1869, Mr. Curtis was united in marriage to Almira Nixon, of Cort- land, N. Y. The four children by this mar- riage are: Anna Louise, Edith Belle, Albert, and William. Albert died in February, 1898.

IDWARD A. ESTABROOK, a well- known fruit-grower of Grafton, was born in Boylston, Mass., December 21, 1842, son of Austin and Keziah (Gibbs) Estabrook. The father, who was a native of Massachusetts, kept a market in New York City for a number of years. During the Civil War he was a city official. He was killed at the corner of Broadway and Fourteenth Street in February, 1863, while trying to stop a span of runaway horses.

Edward A. Estabrook was educated in the public schools of New York and at the Hudson River Institute. He resided in Claverack, N.Y., for three years, and was subsequently employed in a packing house. During a visit to a relative in Boylston, Mass., he enlisted for service in the Civil War; but, as he was a minor, his father re- fused to let him go. In September, 1862, he was allowed to enlist in Company A,

Fifty-first Regiment, Massachusetts Volun- teers, under Colonel A. B. R. Sprague, of Worcester, and afterward participated in the battles of Kingston and Whitehall and Golds- boro. After returning to Massachusetts he bought a farm in Princeton, where he resided some nine years. Then he purchased the Bucklin Adams place, located in the Mer- riam district of Grafton, where he has since been engaged in dairying, market gardening, and fruit-growing. Of the three hundred acres contained in his farm, ten are devoted to the cultivation of grapes, and four to other small fruits, including strawberries. He keeps from forty to sixty-five cows, sells large quantities of milk, and employs six men.

Mr. Estabrook married Carrie New, a native of New York. They have reared a family of seven children, namely: Sophia, who married William Chamberlain, of South Framingham, Mass., and has six children; Marion, who re- sides in Worcester; Austin, a travelling salesman, residing in that city; Carrie, who married Arthur Smith, of Grafton, and has two children; and William New, Ruth K., and Rosalind Estabrook, who are residing at home. In politics Mr. Estabrook is a Repub- lican, and he served with ability as a Select- man for seven years. He is a comrade of A. B. R. Sprague Post, G. A. R. In relig- ious belief he is a free thinker and an ardent admirer of Tom Paine and Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll.

ALTER F. PARTRIDGE, the general manager of the famous Knowlton Straw Factory at Upton, was born at Franklin, Mass., son of George I. and Harriet (Hancock) Partridge. His early life was spent in Franklin, and he received a commercial training at Comer's Business Col- lege in Boston. Shortly after completing his college course, being then sixteen years old, he entered the Wrentham straw shop. After remaining there for eleven years he returned to Franklin, where he continued for five years in charge of various departments in the fac- tory of Hubbard Snow & Co. At the end of that time, eighteen years ago, he came to

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Upton to take charge of the stock department of the Knowlton factory, and in the following year he was made superintendent of the works. A level-headed business man, ener- getic, courteous, and thorough-going, he has won the esteem of his fellow-citizens and the loyal regard of his employees. His tact and judgment are evidenced by the fact that, throughout the entire time during which he has been in charge of the nine hundred or nine hundred and fifty men here, there has never been any misunderstanding or labor trouble of any kind.

Although he is now serving his second term as Registrar of Voters, Mr. Partridge has no political ambition. A man of integrity and sound judgment, the head of a great manufact- uring institution, and taking a deep interest in the welfare of the town and the advance- ment of the Republican party, he is yet an in- fluential factor in local affairs. He is a member of Excelsior Lodge, F. & A. M., of Franklin, Mass .; of Mount Lebanon Royal Arch Chapter, at Milford; and of Hoccomocco Lodge, I. O. O. F., at Westboro. His wife, Averick E. Standish Partridge, is a lineal descendant in the sixth generation of Cap- tain Myles Standish, the Plymouth Pilgrim. Their only daughter is now the wife of Dr. H. W. Cain, of Melrose, Mass.

REDERICK D. RUGGLES, a promi- nent resident of Hardwick and a de- scendant of one of the oldest families of the town, was born on the farm where he now lives, June 21, 1835, son of Anson and Lucy (Paige) Ruggles. His great-great- grandfather, Timothy Ruggles, who was a minister of the gospel and one of the original proprietors of the town of Hardwick, died in Rochester, October 20, 1711. Edward, son of Timothy, born August 30, 1723, on the site of New Braintree, close to the Hardwick line, was the first of the family to reside on the old home farm, situated on what has since been known as Ruggles Hill. He settled in the town in 1748. After residing on a river farm for some time, he removed to another place, owing to the fact that he was unable to

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 57

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