USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Franklin County, Massachusetts .. > Part 43
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On May 16, 1854. Mr. Stratton was united in marriage to Jane Smith Fuller, a daughter of Farnum Fuller, of North Adams; and their pleasant home circle has been brightened by the birth of three children, namely: Jennie R., who married George E. Heath, of Fitch- burg, Mass., and has two children -a son and a daughter; Lottie E., an active and accomplished woman, educated at the Shel- burne Falls Academy. and now Assistant Registrar of Deeds in the office with her father; and Edwin F., an official in the Northanipton Savings Bank.
Mr. Stratton is an active member of the Republican party. He is highly esteemed as a man and a citizen, and is prominent in social organizations, being a Chapter Mason and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his wife hold liberal views on the subject of religion, and are valued members of the Unitarian Society. They have a beautiful home on Highland Avenue, into which they moved during the winter of 1888, Mr. Stratton having erected it the previous year.
AMES HALLIGAN, a prominent resi- dent of Shelburne Falls, Mass., Super- intendent of the Lamson & Goodnow Manufacturing Company's Cutlery Works at this place, was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, September 6, 1839, son of James S. Halligan. His grandfather, Joseph Halligan, who was a lawyer by profession, taught school for some time in England. The wife of Joseph Halligan died in the mother country ; and, after his son came to America, he also crossed the Atlantic. Coming to Franklin County, he opened an evening school in Greenfield. But his life of useful activity soon drew to a close. One evening, while running upstairs after a book, he dropped dead from heart disease, being at that time sixty-four years old. His children were: Mary and James S., twins; Joseph, who died in Greenfield; and Mary, who is at present living in California.
James S. Halligan received his education in England. After his marriage he kept a market and store at Leeds until 1844, when, with his wife and family, he came to America, and shortly went to work in the woollen-mills in Pennsylvania. In 1852 he removed to Shelburne Falls, and in 1875, having acquired a competency, retired from active business. He died in 1884. James S. Halligan voted the Republican ticket. He was Justice of the Peace for many years, and held other offices. He was a highly respected Odd Fel- low as well as Mason, having been made a member of Nelson Lodge, No. 303, Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows, of Bramley, England, in 1828. He joined Alethian Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Shelburne Falls, soon after his arrival in this town, which made him fifty-six years an Odd Fellow. He was also a member of Mountain Lodge, A. F. & A. M. Mr. Halligan owned
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the residence on the corner of Conway and Summer Streets, where he made his home, and also had other property in the town.
He married Mrs. Hannah Neil, whose maiden name was Austin, and who was a daughter of John and Ann Austin, of Leeds, England, her father being of an old English family. Mrs. Halligan died in 1882, aged seventy-five. She was a member of the Bap- tist church. Mr. and Mrs. James S. Halli- gan were the parents of a large family of children, of whom the following were natives of Leeds, England: Thomas, of Greenfield, a son by Mrs. Halligan's first marriage, who died August 11, 1895, leaving a widow, one son - Walter E .- and one daughter - Fan- nie E. Austin Gaines; William, who married Mary Kellett, and lives in Connecticut ; Maria, who married Fred Tanner, and lives in Heath; Joseph, of whom an extended account will be found on another page of this volume; James, the principal subject of the present sketch; Hannah, who married John Rowland, and lives in Shelburne Falls; John A., who married Hattie Allard, and lives in Shelburne Falls. He and also William and Thomas were in the Union army. John A. and Will- iam were enrolled in Company E, Thomas in Company A, Fifty-second Massachusetts Reg- iment. Sarah Halligan, who lives at the home of her parents, and Martha, who died when four years of age, were born in America.
James Halligan, after acquiring a fair edu- cation in the public schools of Massachusetts, began to work with his father in the cutlery business. In 1883 he was appointed superin- tendent of the cutlery works, a position he has now held for twelve years, enjoying the highest esteem of the firm and of the em- ployees. Mr. Halligan served five months in the army in 1864, enlisting for one hundred days in Company K, Sixtieth Massachusetts
Regiment. His brother John A. re-enlisted, and served in the same company. On April 27, 1870, Mr. James Halligan was united in marriage to Flora A., daughter of Ansel W. and Sarah (Barnard) Strong. Ansel W. Strong, who was a native of Chester, Mass., a carpenter and tool-maker by occupation, died at the age of thirty-one. Mrs. Strong now makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Halligan, her only child. Mr. and Mrs. Hal- ligan have one child - a son - Howard A., born June 13, 1874, who was graduated from Arms Academy in 1890, and entered Am- herst College in 1892.
In politics James Halligan is a stanch Re- publican. He is a member of Mountain Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Shelburne Falls, and of the Connecticut Valley Commandery, and Past Master of Blue Lodge; and he be- longs to the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic. His residence is on Me- chanic Street.
AXTER A. ORCUTT, a well-to-do farmer of Buckland, was born in that town, July 6, 1849. His father, Thomas Orcutt, was a native of Buck- land, born September 19, 1807; and his grandfather, Thomas Orcutt, Sr., who for- merly owned a farm in the north-west part of Buckland, moved to Westhampton, Hampshire County, where he died. The maiden name of the wife of Thomas, Sr., was Salley Carpen- ter. Thomas Orcutt, Jr., was reared to agri- cultural pursuits, and adopted farming as his life's occupation. He purchased the farm which his son Baxter now owns, and continued to reside there until his death, which occurred April 17, 1870. He was married three times. His second wife, Minerva Taylor, was a na- tive of Buckland, daughter of Samuel and
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Sarah (Butler) Taylor. She died September 13, 1865. The children by name were as fol- lows : Thomas Ashton. Abigail P., Sarah D., Baxter A., and Celia Minerva.
Baxter A. Orcutt in early youth attended the schools of his native town, and assisted his father upon the farm. He cared for his parents during their declining years, and at their death came into possession of the home- stead, where he has since continued to reside. He has erected a new barn, forty-two by sixty feet, planted a large number of fruit-trees, and made other improvements in the property. Mr. Orcutt is a Republican in politics, and cast his first Presidential vote for General Grant in 1872. He is a member of the Deer- field Valley Agricultural Society and the Buckland Farmers' Club. In 1870 he was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Maria Smith, daughter of Edwin M. and Mary (Freeman) Smith, of Buckland. Of this mar- riage there is one daughter, Marion Belle, who graduated from the Shelburne Falls Academy in 1895. The family are members of the Congregational church.
BEN A. HALL, editor and proprietor of the Greenfield Gazette and Courier, one of the oldest newspapers in the United States, a fact which speaks volumes for its character, enjoys a well-earned reputa- tion as an able and successful journalist of the best type. He is a genuine son of New Eng- land, having been born December 20, 1839, in Taunton, Mass., being a descendant of George Hall, who emigrated from England in 1635, and was one of the original proprietors of the township of Taunton. George Hall was Treasurer of the company that subse- quently established the bloomery in Taunton, near Raynham, "the first permanent success-
ful iron works in this country," the last work therein being the manufacture of ships' anchors. He was a man of prominence in the settlement, and left a large estate, a por- tion of which is still owned and occupied by one of his descendants.
Ebenezer Hall, the editor's paternal grand- father, was a lifelong resident of Taunton and the owner of a large farm, beautifully sit- uated on the banks of the river, in which he was accidentally drowned about middle life. He married Mehitabel Hodges, of Norton, who lived to be an octogenarian, she being, doubtless, a descendant of Elder Henry Hodges, an early settler of Taunton; and they reared a family of eight children, including four sons: Ebenezer; Leonard; Rufus, father of Eben A. ; and Andrew.
Rufus Hall was born in Taunton in 1797, and in addition to agriculture was engaged in manufacturing bricks, spending his entire life of more than fourscore years in the place of his nativity. In 1830 he married Lydia W. Tobey, a daughter of Williams and Zilpha (Hall) Tobey, and of their union the follow- ing children were born: a son who died in infancy; Amelia, wife of Philander Williams, of Taunton; Rufus W., a machinist of Taun- ton; James M., who volunteered as a private from Greenfield in the late Civil War, and was discharged as a non-commissioned officer ; Eben A., of Greenfield; and Lydia, a maiden lady, occupying the ancestral home in Taun- ton, where the mother passed away at the age of seventy-five years. James M. Hall was seriously wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks, in June, 1862, one side being partially para- lyzed; and he died from its effects in 1869. He married, but his wife and only child are both deceased.
Eben A. Hall spent the days of his boy- hood and youth on the home farm, acquiring
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his education in the district school, and at the age of seventeen years, obcying his natural bent, cntcred the printing-office of the Bristol County Republican in Taunton, to learn the art preservative, and remained there until 1862. At that time Mr. Hall enlisted in Company F, Thirty-ninth Regiment Massa- chusetts Volunteer Infantry, and at the close of the war was discharged as Orderly Sergeant of the company. His regiment joined the Fifth Corps of the Potomac Army, and actively participated in all the principal engagements of the campaign. At the battle of Hatteras Run, Mr. Hall, while out skirmishing with others, was taken prisoner, and for a short time was an inmate of Libby Prison, but was fortunately exchanged after three weeks' con- finement in that unsavory place. After his return to private life Mr. Hall resumed his former position in the Republican office, leav- ing it in 1866 to take the position of editor and foreman of the Gazette and Courier. Three years later he bought a third-interest in the establishment, and in 1876 became the sole proprietor of the paper, which under his judicious management has been enlarged and its circulation greatly increased. He is one of the few journalists who are thoroughly acquainted with their business from the press- room to the editor's chair, and by this knowl- edge of his calling is enabled to do justice to the whole work. The Greenfield Gazette and Courier is one of thirteen newspapers in America that have been in existence a full century, only three or four of which had their birth in New England, the oldest of them being the Salem Gazette, which was cstab- lished in 1768. The Gazette and Courier celebrated its one hundredth anniversary in February, 1892, Mr. Hall publishing an illus- trated volume of one hundred and seventy-two pages, giving a centennial record of Franklin
County, more especially of the city of Green- field.
Mr. Hall was united in marriage June 2, 1861, with Miss Bathsheba Tisdale, a daugh- ter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Lincoln) Tis- dale, of Taunton; and their wedded pathway has been brightened by the birth of four chil- dren, namely: Jessie, the wife of F. L. Greene, attorney-at-law and Town Clerk of Greenfield, who has three children; Albert T., who is associated with his father in busi- ness; Nina E., who was educated in Mrs. Piatt's Select School for Young Ladies at Utica, N.Y .; and Agnes, who died in 1887, at the early age of sixteen years. Mr. Hall is a sound Republican and an influential member of his party. He served as a Repre- sentative to the State legislature in 1879, and sat in the Governor's Council in 1873 and 1874. He is a Master Mason, and also be- longs to the Social Club of Greenfield. His financial ability being recognized as one of his strong points, he is serving as a Director of the Franklin County Bank, and is one of the Trustees of the Greenfield Savings Bank.
ATHAN E. HUDSON, a prosperous farmer residing in Wendell, Mass., is a native of Hingham, near Boston, where he was born December 19, 1828, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Eldridge) Hudson, the former a native of Cohasset. Frost Hudson, father of Joseph, was born in Provincetown, Mass., but resided during the greater part of his life in Cohasset, his home being on Jeru- salem Road, where he died at the venerable age of ninety-two years. He followed the occupations of a farmer and seafaring man, being also a teacher of navigation.
Joseph Hudson was one of a large family of children, and, like his father, Frost Hudson,
WALTER E. NICHOLS.
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was a follower of the sea nearly all his life, making his home in Hingham, where he lived during his last years, dying at the age of sixty-three. His wife. Elizabeth Eldridge, was born in Harwich, Barnstable County, Mass., daughter of Nathan Eldridge, who, like her husband's father. was a mariner, and who reared a large family. They were the parents of seven boys, of whom the only sur- vivor is Nathan E., of the present sketch. The mother was a member of the Methodist church. She died in Wendell at the age of seventy-seven.
Nathan E. Hudson lived in Hingham till his nineteenth year, acquiring his education in the district school and academy. In his vigorous early manhood, prompted by the spirit of adventure and the hope of gain, he went with the "Forty-niners" to the gold fields of California in quest of his fortune, remaining there some ten years, and meeting with a fair degree of success. Returning to Hingham. he took up for a short time the occupation of shoemaking, abandoning it and coming to Wendell in 1860, where he pur- chased a farm near his present homestead of seventy-five acres, to which he removed in the following year. He won the hand of Malvina N. French, to whom he was married in Au- gust, 1869. Her father, Preston French, was a farmer in the adjoining town of New Salem, though her birthplace was in Ware, Mass., where Mr. French was at that time engaged at his trade of carpenter, being an excellent workman and a well-known man. He died at New Salem in his sixty-ninth year, and his wife at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Hud- son, at the age of seventy years.
Mrs. Hudson is the only survivor of the four children born to her parents. She and her husband have two children -a son and daughter: Calvin, who assists his father on
the farm; and Cora, who attended school at West Brattleboro, Vt. Politically, Nathan E. Hudson is a supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. He has served his town as Assessor, and has also acted as jury- man. He and his family are attendants of the Methodist church at Lock's Village.
ALTER E. NICHOLS, of the firm of Nichols Brothers, manufacturers of butcher's tools and cutlery at Greenfield, is an important factor of the busi- ness interests of Franklin County, being, with his brother, J. Henry Nichols, joint owner of a large and well-equipped factory, giving employment to twoscore or more men. He is a native-born citizen, the date of his birth being April 28, 1852, but is of English parentage, son of John R. and Ann (Webster) Nichols.
John R. Nichols, who was born, reared, and married in England, came to America in 1846, being then a man of twenty-seven years, leaving his family in Sheffield, Eng- land, where he had been employed in a cut- lery factory from childhood. He located in this county ; and, finding the chances good for making a living at his trade, he sent for his family. He is now living in Greenfield. His wife passed to the better land in Febru- ary, 1890, aged seventy-two years. She bore him seven children, of whom one daughter died at the early age of eighteen months, and a son at the age of five years. . The record of the others is as follows: James W., a stock- raiser in South Dakota, was a Union soldier in the war of the Rebellion, going to the front in the New York Zouave Company, in the brigade of Hooker and Sickles, and being seriously wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks ; he was subsequently transferred to the navy as
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master of arms on the "Philippi," which was sunk in Mobile Bay, he escaping drowning by swimming until he was picked up by a rebel ram. Walter is the subject of this sketch. J. Henry is in partnership with Walter. George R. is a grocer on Thirty-fifth Street, Chicago. Frank T. is a farmer and miller at Stockbridge, Ga.
The subject of this brief narration, having been educated in the common schools of Shel- burne Falls, Leyden, and Bernardston, began when quite young to work at his present em- ployment, being for a time in the factory of the J. Russell Company at Greenfield and the Lamson-Goodnow Company of Shelburne Falls. When seventeen years old, he was employed in his father's factory in Bernards- ton in making pocket knives, and the next year went into E. S. Hulbert's agricultural implement factory, remaining there as a mechanic and superintendent until 1882. He then accepted the offer of a partnership in the establishment, and had the entire charge of the business for seven years. On December 5, 1889, the firm of E. S. Hulbert & Co. was dissolved, Mr. Nichols and his brother, who had formerly travelled for the firm, becoming equal partners, and continuing the business under the present name. In 1892 they re- moved from Bernardston to Greenfield, taking possession of their fine brick, two-story fac- tory, two hundred and fifty fect long by twenty-three feet in width, with a forgc-room thirty feet by thirty-five feet. They have a very large jobbing trade, cqual in volumc to that of the Goodyear Manufacturing Company, and embracing the principal jobbers of New England, the Middle and Western States, going as far south as Baltimore, and rcaching westward to Denver - in fact, to all parts of the United States.
Mr. Nichols was married September 9,
1872, to Emma S. Albce, of Boston, who died November 28, 1884, aged thirty-nine years, leaving two children: Arthur B., now eigh- tecn years of age, employed in the Boston office of the Boston & Maine Railway Com- pany; and Emma F., a miss of eleven sum- mers. On the 17th of June, 1886, Mr. Nichols was united in marriage to Nellie M. Hale, of Bernardston, and this union has also been blessed by the birth of two children: Morton H., six years old; and Walter Her- bert, two years of age. Mr. Nichols and his family occupy a commodious and pleasant residence at 16 Chapman Street, which he purchased on his removal here in 1892, and are held in high consideration as agreeable neighbors, warm friends, and genial compan- ions. He and his wife are esteemed members of the Unitarian church.
In politics Mr. Nichols is a stanch Repub- lican, and for several years was Secretary of the Republican Committee. He has always been identified with the best interests of the town in which he resided, and while in Ber- nardston was a Trustee of Powers Institute, being for some time Secretary of the Board, and also a Trustec of the Cushman Library. The portrait of Mr. Nichols, which appears on an adjoining page, is a welcome accompani- ment to this outline sketch of his useful and honorable career to date.
ORACE GRAVES SANDERSON, a successful agriculturist and market gardener of Sunderland, was born December 16, 1836, on the estate he now owns and occupies, known as the "Meadow View Farm." The name is well chosen, for from the house in uninterrupted view the neighboring farms of Sunderland and Hadley are seen in all their picturesque beauty,
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stretching from Sugarloaf and Toby to the foot of Mounts Holyoke and Tom. William Sanderson, grandfather of Horace G., lived upon the same farm, as did also for some years his great-grandfather, Abraham Sanderson, who served honorably in several campaigns of the Revolution. This homestead, which was number twenty in the original settlement of the town, was first taken by Simon Cooley, and later, in 1800, was conveyed by deed from Elisha Smith to Abraham Sanderson. Thus for ninety-five years, or four generations, the place has been in the Sanderson family.
Apollos Sanderson, son of William, was born in Sunderland. December 11, 1797, and was one of a family of seven sons and one daughter. His brothers went West to settle in the new Territories of Michigan and Wis- consin. The present farm-house was built by him; and here he lived until his death in 1860, at the age of sixty-three. His wife, Roxanna Bartlett. was a daughter of Daniel Bartlett, of Hadley, and one of a family of fourteen children, being a child of her father's second marriage. She was born November 17, 1795, and died July 26, 1869. The fam- ily of Apollos Sanderson consisted of four sons and five daughters. They all lived to maturity, and all except Brainerd had fami- lies, as follows: Dexter, John, Roxanna, Ellen, Brainerd, Elizabeth, Jane, Horace, and Catherine. Their children are settled in sev- eral of the States.
Horace G. Sanderson acquired his education in the public schools of his native town, at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N.H., and at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, which he attended in succession. Upon his father's death he returned to the homestead to conduct the farm for his mother, and later he bought out the rest of the heirs. With the outlying pasture and sugar orchard, the place
contains seventy-five acres, the cultivated land being conveniently located about the dwell- ing. The farm is one of the most fertile of the many excellent ones throughout the Con- necticut valley.
On June 4, 1862, Mr. Sanderson married Harriet A. Abbey, daughter of George Abbey, formerly of Belchertown, and after 1858 a resident of Sunderland, where he died in 1864, at the age of sixty-two years. His wife was Hannah Gay, a native of Acworth, N.H .; and Harriet A. was one of three chil- dren, having a brother George and a sister Laura. Two children were born to Horace G. and Harriet A. Sanderson: George Dwight, who died at the age of five; and Emma Dora, who was educated at Northfield Seminary, and later married Perley L. Horne, at present an instructor at Harvard Univer- sity, from which institution he graduated in the class of 1892. Mr. and Mrs. Horne have one child, Mildred Amy, born May 7, 1894.
In politics Horace G. Sanderson is a Re- publican, having voted for Abraham Lincoln at his first election and for every Republican candidate for President since that time. He has been chairman of the Board of Assessors of his town for a number of years, is a mem- ber of the School Committee, and has served several times as delegate to the State Conven- tion. He and his wife are prominent mem- bers of the Congregational church, in which he has held the office of Deacon for twenty- eight years, and has served on the various committees of church and parish, and as superintendent of the Sunday-school for ten years.
LIVER B. KENDRICK, the well- known Postmaster at Adamsville, Franklin County, Mass., a veteran in the civil service of the United States, was
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born on September 16, 1820, in the neighbor- ing town of Heath, which was the native place of his parents, Oliver and Anna (Gleason) Kendrick. His grandfather, James Kendrick, who was a successful farmer, was one of the early settlers of Heath, and there reared a large family, all of whom are. now deceased.
Oliver Kendrick, the father, was a mason by trade; and his handiwork may be seen to-day in the old Mansion House in Green-' field. He also had a large farm in Heath, covering about three hundred and fifty acres, where he carried on general farming. A good business man, he looked carefully to the chances of the future, thus invariably com- manding success. In politics he was a Demo- crat. He died at the age of fifty-nine, and his wife lived to be eighty-four. Both were members of the Baptist church. They had ten children, all of whom reached maturity; but five are now deceased, namely : James, William, Franklin, Almira, and Ann. The survivors are: Oliver B .; Diana, widow of Seth Amsden, living in Athol; Lyman, in Sherman, Chautauqua County, N.Y .; Lu- cretia, wife of Henry Temple, living at the old homestead of her father in Heath; Sarah Augusta Kendrick, unmarried, living in Athol.
Oliver B. Kendrick received his early edu- cation and grew to manhood in Heath. He began to learn the mason's trade when but fourteen years of age, and at twenty-two took the contract for the old passenger station and the connecting freight and engine houses on the Connecticut River Railroad at Green- field, which are still standing. He has for years been actively engaged in farming, resid- ing at different times in Heath, Elm Grove, Shattuckville, and Colerain. He bought in January, 1866, the estate upon which he now resides. The house is one of the landmarks
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