Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 86

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 86

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In political views Mr. Osgood heartily sym- pathizes with the Republican party. He has

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always taken a warm interest in local affairs, and has served in various town offices. For eight years he was a member of the Board of Assessors and chairman a part of the time. For three years he was Overseer of the Poor, and chairman of the board for a year. From 1858 to 1861 he was in the legislature, serv- ing during 1861 on the Committee on Educa- tion. He has always been closely connected with grange affairs, having been for twenty- four years an active member of that body and much of the time an officer. For two years he was Grange Master. Even declining years have not caused his interest to weaken, and he is still a constant attendant on the grange meetings. Since 1840 he has been a member and constant attendant of the Unitarian church, and during that time has held various church offices, having been on the Parish Committee, treasurer, etc. He attends relig- ious services regularly on Sunday, often walk- ing both ways the two and a half miles that lie between his home and the church.

AVID C. HASTINGS, who with his father, Edward P. Hastings, is engaged in finishing shoes at Ber- lin, Mass., was born in South Berlin on the thirteenth day of April, 1866. His mother's maiden name was Sarah E. May- nard. His paternal grandfather, Henry Hast- ings, was a native of Northboro. He settled on a farm in Berlin in 1847, and died here at the age of sixty-eight.

Edward P. Hastings was one of a family of seven children. He was born before his par- ents removed from Northboro, and passed his early life in that town and in Berlin. During boyhood he worked on the farm, but when he became older he decided to become a shoe- maker. After learning the trade he worked as a journeyman and later as a contractor. For the last fifteen years he has been in busi- ness at his present stand. Mr. Edward P. Hastings is a Republican in politics, and is an ardent supporter of his party. He has been twice married. His first wife was Sarah E. Maynard, a native of Berlin, one of a fam- ily of several children born to Wilson May-

nard. She died at the age of twenty-eight, leaving three children, namely: David C .; Clarence; and Mary, who is now Mrs. Ray- mond Coolidge. His second wife, who was before her marriage Elvira Gardiner, has been the mother of one child, a daughter named Sarah.

David C. Hastings was educated in the public schools and at a private school in Clin- ton. After leaving school he learned the shoemaker's trade, working with his father, .and has been associated with him in business down to the present time. They employ about twenty hands, and their work is princi- pally finishing all kinds of children's shoes for Mr. Herbert Howe, of Marlboro. Mr. David C. Hastings was married in 1890 to Carelyn Bennett, who was born in Berlin, daughter of John F. Bennett, formerly a shoe- maker, now a farmer of this town.

Mr. Hastings follows the traditions of his family in political matters, and uniformly votes the Republican ticket. He is now serv- ing on the Board of Selectmen of this town. Fraternally, he is a member of the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows, of Hudson, and of, Berlin Grange, in which last organization he has held various offices. He attends the Uni- tarian church, of which his wife is a member.

IBERTY FREEMAN, of Mendon, the chairman of the town's Selectmen and Overseers of the Poor, and a well- known milk dealer, was born here on November 8, 1844, son of Alanson S., and Caroline .(Wheelock) Freeman. The grand- father, Alpheus Freeman, who came to Men- don from Northfield, Mass., about the year 1800, was a very able and enterprising man, and was Deputy Sheriff of Mendon for some years. He died in 1824 at the age of forty- two. His wife, whose maiden name was Chloe Staples, was a descendant of one of the town's earliest settlers.

Alanson S. Freeman, who was born in 1809, died in 1875, at the age of sixty-five, of in- juries caused by the fall of a tree upon him while he was at work in the woods. A man of good education, he served for many years

LIBERTY FREEMAN.

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on the School Board and was a member of the Legislature of 1858-59; he declined other public offices. Besides farming, which was his chief occupation, he worked at lumbering in the winter. His wife, Caroline, a daugh- ter of Simeon and a grand-daughter of Calvin Wheelock, was descended from one of the early pioneers of Mendon, who settled on a farm which has been in the families for over two hundred years. Alanson S. and Caroline Freeman had ten children, of whom four are living. Franklin, who was drowned at New- bern, N.C., June 15, 1863, was a soldier in the Fifty-first Regiment Massachusetts In- fantry, and at the time of his death had served six months of the nine for which he had en- listed. He had been appointed Corporal, and had been in a number of skirmishes. Another son, Alanson, is a farmer in Blackstone, Mass. Two daughters reside in Hopedale, namely: Alice, who is the widow of Lucius Lowell; and Flora, the wife of Adin Mes- senger.

Liberty Freeman was educated in the Men- don schools. During his boyhood he was en- gaged in agriculture. When twenty-two years of age he started the milk business which he has successfully continued up to the present time. He buys the milk from Men- don farmers, and distributes it to retail cus- tomers. Having constantly taken an active part in town affairs, he has probably devoted as much time to the public service as any other man in Mendon, proving himself an efficient and faithful guardian of the community's in- terests. For twelve years in succession he filled the triple office of Selectman, Overseer, and Collector. At the end of that time he resigned the last-named office. For the last twenty years he has been a member of the Board of Overseers and since 1881 its chair- man; and for the past seventeen years he has been a Selectman of the town, and is now serving as the chairman of the board. Also, under President Harrison's administration, he was Postmaster of Mendon for four years. He is serving his second term as a Justice of the Peace.

Mr. Freeman is a member of Montgomery Lodge, F. & A. M., of Milford; of Mount

Lebanon Royal Arch Chapter; and of Milford Commandery, K. T. For eight or nine years he has been connected with the Mendon Grange. By his marriage with Harriet E. Wood, of Mendon, he became the father of six children, of whom Franklin, Clair, and Lillian are living. Lillian Freeman is now a student in the Mendon High School of which Clair is a graduate. Franklin, who is a successful young lawyer of Leominster, Mass. was edu- cated in the Mendon schools and at Phillips Exeter Academy. He graduated in 1896, with a magna cum laude, from the Boston Univer- sity Law School, in a class of one hundred and ten, only one graduate receiving a higher degree. He married on December 8, 1897, Mabel, daughter of Hon. George F. Morse of Leominster.

EWIS RICE, a real estate dealer of Westboro, was born August 6, 1828, in Northboro, Mass., a son of Seth and Persis (Bartlett) Rice. Seth Rice was a farmer by occupation and one of the influential members of the community in which he resided. In early manhood he learned the clothier's trade from a Mr. Seaver, and col- ored, sheared and dressed, by hand, home- made cloth, principally the indigo or bright blue woollen cloth. A man of superior in- telligence, well-read and possessing great force of character, he took an important part in the management of local affairs; and besides serv- ing as Selectman at different times he was a Representative to the State legislature in 1847. He died at the age of seventy years, and of his eleven children four survive, as fol- lows: Lewis, the special subject of this sketch ; and three daughters, two of whom live in Berlin, Mass., and one in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Lewis Rice was educated in the public schools of Berlin, Mass., and at Bride's Acad- emy in Berlin. Subsequently learning the shoemaker's trade, he followed it a few years, working in the shoe factories of Berlin and Shrewsbury. In 1853, in company with a brother, he established himself in business as a butcher, and for ten years carried on a thriv-

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ing business in the towns of Westboro, North- boro, and Grafton. Giving that up in 1864, he has since devoted himself to the buying and selling of real estate and building in Hudson, where he has carried on some quite extensive and heavy operations.

Politically, Mr. Rice has been actively identified with the Republican party, and has taken a deep interest in the affairs of West- boro. He is now serving his eleventh consecu- tive year on the Town Board of Assessors. He is also officially connected with the West- boro Savings Bank.

ENRY L. REED, a well-known farmer residing in the town of Boyls- ton, was born here on January 25, 1846, his parents being Sylvanus and Sarah (Greenleaf) Reed. His grand- father, who was Nathan Reed, born in Royals- ton, Mass., was a lifelong farmer of that town. Sylvanus Reed was born in Royalston, and was brought up in that town, receiving his instruction in the common schools. At twenty years of age he went to Bolton, where he worked on a farm for eight years. He then bought a farm in Boylston, where he resided at the time of his death, being then seventy- five years of age. He was a representative man of this town, and was an honored member of the Board of Selectmen and an Overseer of the Poor. His wife, Sarah, who died Novem- ber 30, 1897, at the age of eighty-one, was born in Bolton, the daughter of Moses Green- leaf, an early settler in that town and owner of a large farm. Of the three children born to Sylvanus and Sarah Reed, two are living, namely : Henry L. ; and Sarah J., now Mrs. Silas A. Wilder, of Cambridgeport. Olive M. died March 15, 1893. Both parents were members of the church in Bolton at Hillside and later of the church in Boylston.

Henry L. Reed spent his early years in Boylston, remaining at work on the farm until he was twenty years of age, when he went to Westboro as an assistant at the Reform School. After remaining there four years he purchased in 1870 the farm that has since been his home. It comprises seventy acres,

which are devoted to general farming. Aside from agricultural interests, Mr. Reed has done a large amount of business in buying and sell- ing wood.

Mr. Reed was married in 1870 to Martha A. Hastings, who was born in Boylston, daughter of Henry C. Hastings. Her father was a prominent farmer and wood dealer in this town for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Reed have two children - Loring H. and Martha E. Loring H., who assists his father on the farm, married Elizabeth H. Bray. Martha E. mar- ried Calvin H. Andrews, a teacher in the English High School, Worcester. Mr. Reed ,is an earnest supporter of Republican prin- ciples. He was Road Commissioner for some years, and since 1893 has been a member of the Board of Selectmen and an Overseer of the Poor. He and his family attend the Congre- gational church. His son, Loring H., is an influential member of the grange.

HARLES L. UNDERWOOD,* a suc- cessful general farmer and stock raiser of Brookfield, was born in Holland,

Mass., December 7, 1852, son of Nehemiah and Ann E. (Pease) Underwood. The parents were natives of Monson, Mass., as was also the grandfather, Reuben Under- wood, who is said to have been a Revolution- ary soldier. Nehemiah Underwood spent the greater part of his life in Holland, where he served as a Selectman and Overseer of the Poor. He moved to Brimfield and a short time later to Sturbridge, where he died in 1880. In politics he acted with the Republi- can party. He was a member of the Congre- gational church. Nehemiah and Ann E. Underwood were the parents of several chil- dren, three of whom are living, namely: Jo- seph D., a resident of Sturbridge; Ella M., wife of Samuel Williams, of Southbridge, Mass. ; and Charles L., the subject of this sketch.

Charles L. Underwood was educated in the public schools of Holland and Brimfield. He resided in his native town until fourteen years old, when he accompanied his parents to Brimfield, and two years later removed with

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SAMUEL E. HULL.

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them to Sturbridge. In the fall of 1880 he settled upon his present property of one hun- dred and eighty-five acres of fertile land, situ- ated in the Upper Podunk District of Brook- field; and his farm is under a high state of cultivation. Aside from general farming he raises Guernsey cattle and white Chester hogs, and is one of the most successful stock breeders in town.

In 1878 Mr. Underwood was joined in mar- riage with Alice E. Nichols, of Sturbridge, and she has had six children, namely : Edna M. ; Earl N. ; Ernest C .; Frances E. ; Ralph, who is no longer living; and Clarence Under- wood.

In politics Mr. Underwood is independent. His aid and influence can be depended upon in forwarding all measures calculated to be of benefit to the general community ; and he is a member of Brookfield Grange, Patrons of Hus- bandry.

AMUEL E. HULL, a resident manufacturer of Millbury and the owner of a warehouse in Worcester, was born in the town of Millbury on August 12, 1843. A son of Elias and Miriam (Wheeler) Hull, he comes of English origin. The first of the family here was Will- iam Hull, the grandfather of Samuel E., who, born about the year 1776, was reared in Ux- bridge, and came to Millbury in 1809. A man of good parts, he was in good circum- stances for the time in which he lived. He died here in 1850. His wife, whose maiden name was Martha Wood, was born in Ux- bridge. She survived him some years, and died at the age of eighty-seven. Of their twelve children, six attained maturity - Jabez, William, Elias, Martha, Nancy, and Mary. Three or four of them died within the space of one week. Both parents and children are buried in the Millbury cemetery.

Elias Hull, a native of Uxbridge, born in September, 1806, was a farmer during all his working life, and resided on the farm settled by his father in 1809. This originally com- prised between four and five hundred acres. Afterward its extent was gradually lessened by

successive sales, and in 1872 Samuel E. Hull sold the last one hundred and fifteen acres. Elias Hull was three times married. His second and third wives bore him no children. His first wife, Miriam, born in Northbridge in 1809, who died in 1846, was the mother of three children, namely: Sylvester Graham, who died at the age of seven years; Ellen R., who is the wife of Henry M. Leland, of the firm of Leland & Faulkner, manufacturers of machinery at Detroit, Mich. ; and Samuel E., the subject of this sketch.

Samuel E. Hull resided on the homestead farm, engaged in farm labor, until his majority. His educational advantages were limited, as he attended the high school only during winter. Making the most of the opportunities' that came in his way, however, he has since more than adequately supplied what was lacking in his early training. When twenty-one years of age he hired a saw-mill that had been owned by both his father and grandfather, and for the three or four years succeeding gave his atten- tion to operating it. After this he was in the wood-moulding trade in Worcester for five years in the employ of I. N. Keys; then in Phila- delphia, Pa., for three years, with the Hale & Kilborn Manufacturing Company; and lastly with C. D. Morse & Co. for eleven years. In 1882 he began business for himself by buying out the firm of Briggs & Co. in Millbury, whose business had been established some fifty years before. In 1892 he purchased of D. C. Sumner the wool business at 112 Front Street, Worcester. He employs one travelling agent, and travels himself, chiefly in New England and the State of New York. Other interests make him a director and president of the Mill- bury National Bank and a trustee of the Mill- bury Savings Bank.

On May 8, 1866, Mr. Hull was united in marriage with Jane E. Gay, of Millbury, a daughter of John and Margaret (Gowen) Gay, both of whom are now deceased. Two sisters and a brother of Mrs. Hull are living. The brother is Frank C. Gay, of Millbury. Mr. and Mrs. Hull are the parents of three chil- dren -- Nathan R., Harry C., and Edward F. The first named, who was born in Philadel- phia, is unmarried, and is at present in his

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father's employ. The two younger sons, who are of the same age, are students in Brown University, class of 1898, and both are study- ing mechanical engineering. A Mason of the fourteenth degree, Mr. Hull is a member of the Blue Lodge, the Chapter, Worcester County Commandery, Hiram Council, and the Consistory. He is a Past Master of the Lodge and a Past High Priest of the Chapter, also a member of George A. Custer Post, G. A. R. Politically, he is a Republican. He is serv- ing his seventh term as Selectman of the town. The family has resided on Grove Street since 1883.

EORGE PAINE ROGERS, the pro- prietor of one of the oldest business houses in Worcester, dealing in flour, grain, feed, hay, straw, and so forth, at 139 Front Street, was born in Rutland, Worcester County, May 12, 1834, son of Jeremiah Rogers. The paternal grandfather, Nathan Rogers, born on Cape Cod, removed to Hol- den, Mass., and remained there until 1835. Then he bought a farm of one hundred and fifteen acres in Worcester, where he was after- ward successfully engaged as a husbandman until his death. He was three times married. By his first wife, Phebe Boynton Rogers, there were seven children, namely: Jeremiah, the father of George P .; Nathan, a meat dealer, who died in middle life, leaving two daugh- ters; Abner, who first worked at Bradley's car shops in Worcester, and later became a manufacturer of shovels in Bridgeport, Conn., and died leaving two daughters; William, who was engaged in agricultural. pursuits during the most of his active life; Susan, who was the wife of Stillman Hubbard; Elizabeth, the wife of Abraham Wilson; and Phebe, who married Artemas Howe. His second wife had one son, Thomas M. Rogers, now in Worces- ter; and his third wife had three children, of whom Horace B., of Worcester, is living. Jeremiah Rogers, who was born in Holden, Mass., in 1802, resided in Worcester, and died in 1870 in Boston. In 1832 he married Sarah P. Mead, who was born in Holden in 1804. They had one child, George Paine. She died

in Worcester, December 9, 1897, at the home of her son, with whom she lived as a widow for twenty-seven years. Her parents, William and Phebe (Paine) Mead, were lifelong farmers of Holden, where they reared their three chil- dren - Sarah P., Edwin, and Elmer. Edwin and Elmer are now deceased.

Having received his education at a private academy, at the age of nineteen years George Paine Rogers began teaching school, an occu- pation in which he was engaged during four winter seasons and two fall terms. He also worked on the home farm in seed-time and

harvest, until, coming to Worcester, he began his mercantile career as a clerk for Francis Harrington in the store which he now owns, and which his employer had established more than forty years ago. Ten years later he bought out Mr. Harrington; and, taking pos- session of the store in 1881, he has since car- ried on an extensive trade, which has largely increased within the past few years. He keeps eight men and four teams busily em- ployed, and handles about a carload of goods a day. A man of tact and ability, honest and upright in all of his transactions, he is highly esteemed in the city and the county. An earnest Republican, he is also a stanch advo- cate of temperance. He is an Odd Fellow, belonging to the local lodge, and a member of the Old South Church.

On March 6, 1855, Mr. Rogers married Al- mira W. Knight, of Leicester, Mass., a daughter of Horace Knight, who was succes- sively a boot manufacturer and a lumber dealer. A native of Leicester, born in 1800, Mr. Knight died there in 1855. Besides serving in town offices, he was a director of the bank for a number of years. His first wife, Sarah Partridge Knight, of Paxton, Worcester County, died when Mrs. Rogers was an infant, leaving also an elder daughter and a son, Joseph A. Knight, of Worcester. By a second marriage Mr. Knight became the father of Charles B. Knight, also of Worcester. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers have four children - Charles E., Sarah E., Frank K., and Josephine A. Charles E. is a grocer and provision dealer in this city. Sarah E., a graduate of the State Normal School, after teaching for eight years,

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first in Worcester and then in Beloit, Wis., studied for a year at Cornell University. She is now the wife of E. N. Sanderson, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and has three daughters. Frank K., the youngest son, having graduated from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, taught school in St. Paul, Minn., and was superintendent of manual training in the schools of St. Paul. He is now a superin- tendent in the manual training department of the Normal and Agricultural Institute at Hampton Institute in Virginia. He married Jeannie E. Houghton, of this city, and has three daughters. Josephine A. is the wife of W. F. Little, a book-keeper for Mr. Rogers, and has one daughter, Ruth. Mr. Little has a rich tenor voice, and was formerly director of the choir of the Old South Church and of the South Baptist Church. He is now a member of the Schumann Quartette, which is well known throughout the State.

IMON D. HARDON, the last sur- vivor of the Hardon family in Mill- bury, residing in the house in which he was born, October 13, 1844, is a son of Benjamin L. and Sarah E. (Dudley) Hardon. The father, who was born October 11, 1818, in Mansfield, Mass., spent his youth in Winslow, Me., and North Graf- ton, Mass. The latter place was then known as New England Village. In 1837 he went to Worcester, and entered the employ of H. B. Claflin, afterward of the large mercantile house H. B. Claflin & Co., of New York City. From the position of clerk Mr. Hardon rose to be a partner of Mr. Claflin. Subse- quently, when the latter went to New York, Benjamin succeeded him as the head of the business and firm of Hardon & Hunt. After- ward A. J. Brown, Stephen Sawyer, and Will- iam Cary were received into the firm. Mr. Sawyer is now a member of the firm of Clark, Sawyer & Co., of Worcester. Mr. Cary re- moved to St. Louis, and was for a few years in the employ of Benjamin L. Hardon, father of Simon D. He died a few years ago. Mr. Hardon sold out in 1857 to Jenkins Hamilton & Co., retaining an interest as silent partner.

He then removed to St. Louis, Mo., and with Mr. C. B. Hubbell, firm of C. B. Hubbell & Co., embarked in the dry-goods business in that city. This connection existed until 1865, when Mr. Hardon sold out. In the fall of that year he took as a partner William G. Tuller, with whom, under the style of Har- don, Tuller Company, he carried on business in St. Louis until January, 1868, when the firm was dissolved. He continued the busi- ness under the old name of B. L. Hardon & Co., taking into partnership George M. Fisher, Stephen E. Low, of St. Louis, and Henry Walters, of New York City. Mr. Low withdrew from the firm in 1873. B. L. Hardon died in January, 1875, in his fifty- seventh year. He left to his widow and chil- dren a goodly estate, the fruit of his own labor, for he began life very humbly. His wife, Sarah E., whom he married in 1843, had four children, of whom Simon D. and Louise reached maturity. Louise is the wife of H. K. Southwick, who at one time was in business with Joshua Buffum & Co., of New York City. Of their four children, Walston Brown Southwick, Elizabeth, and Louise Hardon, are living. Mrs. Sarah E. Hardon died February 20, 1892.

Simon D. Hardon received his early educa- tion in the public schools of Millbury and Worcester, after which he took a course at the Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. In 1867 he went to New York City. From that time to 1875 he was a book-keeper in the New York office of B. L. Hardon. He continued to live there until 1875, when he returned to the old homestead here in Mill- bury. The house in which he lives was built about the year 1834 by Simon Dudley, his mother's father.

B ENJAMIN J. BERNSTROM, a leading business man of Worcester, son of Jonas and Britta (Swanson) Bernstrom, was born near Carlstad, in the province of Wernland, Sweden, on Oc- tober 27, 1862. His father is a well-known farmer of Wernland province. After passing through the public schools of Grafva and

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attending a business college in Stockholm, Benjamin began his business life in a sugar refinery of that city. Coming to America in 1886, he located in Worcester, and for nearly two years was in the employ of the Norcross Brothers. About January, 1889, he formed a partnership, and started in his present line of business as undertaker. For the past two years he has been the sole proprietor, manag- ing his affairs most successfully, and gaining and maintaining a name for honesty and fair dealing that any man might envy. His nat- ural adaptation to the business and his quiet and unobtrusive manners make him a general favorite, and secure him many patrons.

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Biographical review containing life sketches of leading citizens of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Part 86

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