USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Franklin County, Massachusetts .. > Part 45
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Joseph C. Perry, having received his educa- tion at the Shelburne Falls Academy, com- menced the study of dentistry with Dr. Stebbins. He began the practice of his pro- fession at his present location in 1877, and has met with gratifying success. Dr. Perry supports the Prohibition party in politics, and was a Presidential elector in 1892. He is a member of the village Board of Trade, and is connected with the School Board as Truant Officer. He is a Past Master of Mountain Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Past Grand of Ale- thian Lodge, I. O. O. F., Past Chief Patri- arch and Past Captain of the canton. Both
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he and his wife are members of the Lodge of Rebecca.
On June 15, 1881, Dr. Perry was united in marriage to Miriam H. Packard, daughter of Luther and Mary A. (Warner) Packard. Luther Packard was born in Cummington, Hampshire County, Mass., September 29, 1819. He was educated at the Cummington Academy, and at the age of twenty years be- came a clerk in a dry-goods store in Albany, N. Y. Four years later, in company with F. Bates, he entered mercantile business in Cum- mington; but after a partnership of five years he purchased his associate's interest, and conducted the business alone until 1852. He then came to Shelburne Falls, and opened a dry-goods store on the Buckland side, later securing possession of his old store at Cum- mington, which he conducted as a branch for two years; and at the expiration of that time he sold the Cummington store to his clerk. He conducted business in Buckland until 1860, when he sold out, and in the following year opened a dry-goods store on Bridge Street, in Shelburne Falls, where he carried on business successfully until his practical retirement in 1889. On October 4, 1844, Mr. Packard married Mary A. Warner, daugh- ter of Joseph and Olive (Holbrook) Warner. Mrs. Packard died in 1877, aged fifty-four years, leaving two children, namely: Mary L., wife of J. C. Temple, a marble and granite dealer of Rutland, Vt .; and Miriam H. (Mrs. Perry). Mr. Packard was a Trustee of the Shelburne Falls Savings Bank, and is now a Trustee of Arms Academy. He is a Republican in politics, and has held several of the town offices in Shelburne, where he now resides. He is a member of the Congregational church.
Dr. and Mrs. Perry have three children: Luther P., born June 24, 1882; Joseph E., born December 30, 1884; and Randolph W.,
born October 9, 1892. Dr. Perry and his family reside at the old Packard homestead on Main Street. Both he and his wife are mem- bers of the Congregational church.
ENISON CHASE, President of the Chase Turbine Manufacturing Com- pany, which was incorporated in Orange, Mass., in 1873, with a capital of thirty-seven thousand dollars, stands among the foremost of the influential business men who have contributed so much to the financial prosperity of this section of Franklin County. With characteristic energy and enterprise, he has assisted in developing and increasing the manufacturing interests of the stock company, which he has served in an official capacity for many years, and has, in the mean time, won a wide reputation as a man of ability, integrity, and sterling worth. He is a native of Con- cord, Vt., born April 13, 1830, at the home of his parents, John D. and Sally (Spaulding) Chase. Moses Chase, father of John D., was born, it is thought, in Newburyport, Mass., as his early years were spent in that quaint old seaboard town. He married Eunice Moore; and they removed to Concord, a small town in the north-western part of Vermont, where he bought a farm, which he carried on with eminent success, and on which he resided until his death, at the remarkable age of ninety-six years. His wife had passed away many years before, in 1835. Of a large fam- ily of children born to them seven grew to mature life; namely, Rebecca, Phœbe, Bet- sey, Lucinda, Susan, Joseph, and John D.
The last-named, who was the father of Denison, was born, in Concord, Vt., where he was reared to agricultural pursuits, and also learned the trade of a millwright. He con- tinued both of these industries in his native
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State until nearing middle life, owning farms and building mills in various places, meeting with good success in his undertakings. In 1864 he disposed of his property in Vermont, and, coming to Orange. followed for some time the trade of millwright. When sixty- two years of age, he went to Michigan to complete a large contract, going thence to Vermont for a similar purpose, and there had the misfortune to meet with an accident which proved fatal. He was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and ability, a Whig in politics, and while a resident of the Green Mountain State filled many important town offices, but when living in Orange was so engrossed by his business cares that he was obliged to refuse all official positions. To him and his wife, who rounded out the full period of threescore and ten years, three chil- dren were born, namely: Denison, the subject of this brief sketch; Jefferson, who married Miss A. M. Adams, and is now a resident of Portland, Me. ; and Permelia, the widow of the late H. Underwood, and a resident of St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Denison Chase remained an inmate of the parental household until attaining his major- ity, when he began the battle of life on his own account. He had not been away from home very long before he was recalled, that he might assist his father, who needed his help, and with whom he remained for several years. In 1862 Mr. Chase again left home, going to New York, where he worked for two years in the employ of the Fairbanks Scale Company. The following two years he worked for the Putnam Machine Company in Fitchburg, Mass., coming from there to Orange in 1865 as an employee of his father and brother, who were engaged in business here as millwrights and manufacturers. In 1866 Mr. Chase be- came a stockholder in a stock company formed
for the manufacture of all kinds of machinery for mills. Seven years later this was incorpo- rated as the "Chase Turbine Manufacturing Company," with the following officers: Deni- son Chase, President ; Melbourne E. Griffin, Secretary; and Levi Kilbourn, Treasurer. This company owns one of the largest plants of the kind in this vicinity, and carries on a large and lucrative business.
The union of Mr. Chase and Miss Clemen- tina P. Gregory was solemnized in 1855. Mrs. Chase was born in 1832 in Concord, Vt., being a daughter of Josiah and Delia (Hib- bard) Gregory, both natives of Connecticut, but afterward residents of Lyndon, Vt., where they were numbered among the most respected and prosperous members of the farming com- munity, remaining there throughout their declining years. They had a family of six children: Lydia, Esther, Amelia, Elizabeth, Clementine, and George. But one child came to bless the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Chase - Clara, who was born in Concord, Vt., in 1860, and is now the wife of Albert H. Davis, a machinist of Orange, and the mother of one son, Walter C. Davis.
In addition to his other work, Mr. Chase has at times been engaged in carpentering, having built some houses in his native town, and since coming to this place has built two, one of which he rents. The other, which has many fine improvements, and is pleasantly located on South Main Street, he and his wife occupy, and here greet their friends with gen- uine New England hospitality. He is held in highest respect by his neighbors and fel- low-citizens in Orange as a man of sound judgment, intelligence, and liberality in all things pertaining to the welfare of the town. His influence is widely felt, and more espe- cially among the leaders of the Universalist church, in which he is an active worker.
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LBERT. M. GLEASON, Treasurer of the Greenfield Savings Bank, was born at Ncw Braintrec, Worcester County, Mass., in 1855. His father, Josiah P. Gleason, who is now residing at Jamaica Plain, in the city of Boston, Mass., was born at New Braintree in 1822, and was the son of Josiah Gleason, whose birth occurred at Westboro, Middlesex County, Mass., in 1782. The grandfather was twice married. His second wife was Mary Hitchcock, of Am- herst, Mass., who became the mother of nine children - two sons and seven daughters - all of whom are now deceased with the exception of Josiah P. They were members of the Con- gregational church and active in religious affairs.
Both the Gleason and Hitchcock familics have been prominent in Massachusetts for a period extending back through several genera- tions anterior to the Declaration of Indepen- dence. For a more extended account of their genealogical history the reader is referred to the history of the Hitchcock family and that of Worcester County, published in 1890. In 1849 Mr. Josiah P. Gleason married Mary Newton, daughter of Royal Makepeace, of West Brookfield. She died in 1855; and he was again married in 1859 to Ellen A., daughter of Captain Hollis Tidd, of New Braintree. He camc into possession of the large and valuable farm that had been owned by his father, Josiah Gleason, in New Brain- trec; and this he occupied till 1894, about a year ago, when he sold the property and re- tired from active life.
Albert M. Gleason attended school in his native town until 1870; and, after two ycars at Monson Academy (then under the well- known teacher, Charles Hammond), he entered the Agawam National Bank in Springfield, where he remained five years as
book-keeper. In 1876 he came to Greenfield in the employ of the Franklin County Na- tional Bank and the Greenfield Savings Bank, with which he continued until the separation of those institutions in 1881. Since that time he has held the responsible position of Treasurer of the Greenfield Savings Bank. Mr. Gleason has never been active in politics, though he was Town Treasurer in 1887 and 1888. In 1883 he was married to Elizabeth Patterson, daughter of Judge David Aiken, of Greenfield.
ARWIN M. CLARK, a retired farmer of Sunderland, was born in this town, September 24, 1824, son of Solomon and Susan (Smith) Clark. The family descends from William Clark, an early settler of Dorchester, Mass., born, it is said, in England about the year 1609. He is spoken of in the Rev. Solomon Clark's inter- esting memorial volume of Northampton as having been a passenger in the "Mary and John," which sailed for Massachusetts from Plymouth, England, in March, 1630. After spending some years in Dorchester, he re- moved in 1659 with his wife and family to Northampton, where he became active in pub- lic affairs. He was a Selectman seventeen years, a Representative fourteen years, and served as a Lieutenant in King Philip's War.
He died July 19, 1690; and the descent continues through his son John, who was born in Dorchester in 1651, and died in Northamp- ton in 1704. Ebenezer Clark, son of John, was born in October, 1682, and died February 17, 1781. Jedediah Clark, born March 25, 1726, married Sarah Russell, and died August 9, 1800. Sylvanus Clark, son of Jedediah, was born in Sunderland in 1760, being one of the early inhabitants. He passed the major
HART A, RICE.
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part of his life upon the farm now owned by his grandsons, the present residence having been erected by him. He became a prosper- ous farmer, and died February 28, 1846. He enrolled himself in the ranks of the Conti- nental army at the age of sixteen, and served throughout the Revolutionary struggle. He was the father of four children, three of whom attained their majority; and Solomon, father of Darwin, was the second-born.
Solomon Clark was reared to farm work; and on reaching manhood he purchased a small piece of land in Sunderland, where he resided during the remainder of his life, attaining the age of seventy-six years. He was a well-known man, an Assessor for two years, and an attendant of the Congregational church. His wife was a daughter of Jona- than Smith, of Leverett. Of their eleven children five are still living, namely: Darwin M .; Sarah, widow of William S. Gould; Reuel B .; Ellen, widow of E. H. Knight ; and Henry, who resides at the old homestead. Mrs. Solomon Clark lived to the age of ninety-four years and six months, and at the time of her decease was the oldest member of the Congregational church.
Darwin M. Clark received his education in the district schools, and remained with his parents until after his marriage. In 1851 he purchased a tract of land, upon which he erected a house, and brought the farm to a high state of cultivation. He resided there until 1890, when he removed to his present home, and has since lived retired from active labor, enjoying the ease and tranquillity which he has well earned, having passed through a long period of useful activity. He was formerly a Whig in politics, and followed the majority into the ranks of the Republican party at its formation, but for the last twelve years has voted with the Prohibitionists. He
has been a Selectman for seven years, and has served as Overseer of the Poor, Assessor, and Highway Surveyor.
On December 17, 1857, Mr. Clark was united in marriage with Mary E. Hoyt, a na- tive of Genesee County, New York, where she resided until reaching the age of four- teen years. She was a daughter of Jonathan Hoyt, a shoemaker by trade, who also fol- lowed agriculture, and in his latter years moved to Haydenville, the former home of his wife. Mr. and Mrs. Clark are members of the Congregational church. They have five children, as follows: Milford H., who married Emma F. Gay, and has four children - Clifford J., Raymond C., Addie May, and Milford H., Jr .; Flora F., wife of Christian F. Wichmann, a sailor and second officer in the merchant marine service, now living in Texas, having five children - Ralph D., Christina L., Neil, Hazel M., and Freda; Lewis L., a dentist at Kalamazoo, Mich., who wedded Nellie E. Stebbins; Ralph H., a dentist of Lansing, Mich., who married Sarah F. Gunn, and has one child - Hoyt D .; and Grace, who married for her first hus- band Winifred C. Hobart, by whom she had three children - Harold C., Flora F., and Winifred L. After the death of Mr. Hobart, she married Wirt Goodwin, a grocer of Sun- derland, and has been called upon to mourn the loss of two children by this union.
- ART A. RICE, whose portrait is pre- sented in connection with this brief but interesting sketch of his per- sonal and family history, has the distinction of being a descendant of the first white man that settled in this part of Franklin County, is a substantial and progressive agriculturist of Charlemont, and stands at the forefront
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among its leading business men. He was born on the farm and in the house that he now occupies, May 21, 1830, his homestead being the first one redeemed from the wilderness in this locality. His great-grandfather, Moses Rice, was born October 27, 1694, at Sudbury, Mass., where he lived until middle life. He married Sarah King; and in 1742, accom- panied by their children, they came to West- ern Massachusetts, which was then mainly a ? vast forest, in which wild animals and the dusky savage roved at will. After prospect- ing in this part of the county, he located on the site of the village of Charlemont, build- ing a fort on the flats and a log cabin on the knoll where the house of the subject of this sketch now stands. He soon cleared enough land to raise some grain, but had to be very cautious as he worked; for the Indians, who were not pleased with the advance of these white-faced strangers, were very treacherous and hostile. While planting, the earlier pio- neers had to keep their guns close at hand, but Mr. Rice unfortunately laid his down one day ; and an Indian, stealing silently up, seized the gun, and shot him. This occurred June II, 1755, and to his widow and the seven children - Samuel, Abigail, Aaron, Dinah, Sylvanus, Tanner, and Artemas - all grown to matu- rity, was left the care of the homestead.
Artemas Rice, grandfather of Hart A., was born October 22, 1734, in Sudbury, Mass .; and, being the youngest child of his parents, he remained at home to care for his widowed mother, and finally came into possession of the home farm, which contained one hundred and twenty-five acres. He labored with un- tiring industry to place the land in a tillable condition, and became one of the most promi- nent and well-to-do farmers of the vicinity. He erected a frame house and barn, built a saw-mill, in which he carried on a very exten-
sive business, furnishing lumber to all the new settlers for building purposes. He pos- sessed great physical endurance, and lived to a good old age. He was a Whig in politics and a member of the Congregational church. His wife, whose maiden name was Asenath Adams, spent a long life on this sphere, and bore him seven children, as follows: James, Hart and Wealthy (both deceased), Elizabeth, Marinda, Louisa, and Roswell (deceased).
Roswell Rice was a lifelong resident on the farm on which he was born, succeeding to its ownership and making many fine improve- ments on the property. He repaired and remodelled the buildings, bought more land, at one time owning three hundred and twenty- five acres; and in addition to mixed husban- dry he carried on a profitable lumber business. He was warmly interested in the welfare of his native town, and assisted its advancement by every means within his power. In politics he was very active, holding the town offices, and for several years was Representative to the State legislature. He was twice married, his first wife, formerly Sarah Hathaway, hav- ing died in young womanhood. After her death he married Amy Avery. His five chil- dren - Harriet, Harvey, Caroline, Charles, and Hart A .- were the fruits of his first union.
Hart A. Rice attended school and assisted on the farm during his years of boyhood and youth, and at the age of twenty years learned the blacksmith's trade, at which he worked for seventeen years, running a shop of his own. In 1865 Mr. Rice turned his attention to the pursuit to which he was reared, buying the S. Gale farm of two hundred acres, which he carried on for three years, meeting with excellent success. Selling that property, he returned to the pioneer home of his paternal ancestors; and, having bought out the interest.
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of the other heirs, he has continued the improvements, being very enterprising and progressive, as well as practical, in his labors, enlarging the residence and barns, and build- ing two new dwelling-houses on the place for the use of his sons. He has rebuilt the mills, putting in improved machinery for saw- ing and planing shingles, has erected a grist-mill. in which he does a great deal of grinding, and has built a cider-mill, where he has made as many as forty thousand bushels of apples into cider in a year, and in connec- tion with which he has a distillery. His real estate consists of three hundred and twenty-five acres of land, mostly under culti- vation ; and in addition to tilling the land he is greatly interested in raising fine stock, having a valuable dairy of twenty-five cows, sixty head of sheep, besides some good work horses. Mr. Rice is a man of great business ability, and has won deserved success by his thorough mastery of his calling and his hon- est and upright dealings. He is a warm ad- herent of the Republican party, but has been too much engrossed by his private affairs to accept office.
In 1850 Mr. Rice was united in marriage with Fanny S. Vincent, a daughter of Oren Vincent, a prosperous farmer of Charlemont. Their pleasant wedded life has been bright- ened by the birth of eight children, of whom we record the following: Frank E., a farmer, residing in Greenfield, married Delia Duffy, and they have five children - Ella, Belle, Lawrence. Floyd, and Henry; Ellen M., the wife of Clarence Cobb, a farmer of Greenfield, has one child - Rose; Fred M., who died at the age of thirty-seven years, married Fanny Tucker (now deceased), who bore him two children - James and Minnie; Albert, a blacksmith, living at Keene, N.H., married Lizzie Brown, and they are the parents of two
children - Guy and Bessie; Arthur, a farmer and lumberman in Charlemont, married Mary Duffy, and they have two children - Clarence and Hart; Emma, an energetic and capable woman, is the leading dressmaker of North- ampton; John, who is engaged in farming and milling at Charlemont, married Mary Dicks, and of the three children born to them Fanny and Ema M. are living, but May died when quite young; and William, engaged in busi- ness with his father, married Ellen Miller, and they have two sons - Walter and John.
G EORGE R. RUFFLE, a member of the Orange Knitting Company, whose factory is located at Farley, is a sagacious and successful business man and an esteemed citizen. Industrious and enter- prising from his youth, he has gradually climbed the ladder of prosperity, having through his own merits reached his present advantageous position in the industrial world. He was born in Stoddard, Cheshire County, N.H., August 25, 1859, being a son of George Ruffle. His grandfather, Samuel Ruffle, lived in England until after marriage. Emi- grating then to America, he settled in Keene, N.H., where he spent the remainder of his days, working somewhat at his trade as a glass-blower and carrying on farming pur- suits, living until sixty years of age.
George Ruffle, the fourth son of Samuel and one of a family of ten children, was born and bred in Keene. He was reared on the home farm, and from his father learned the glass-blower's trade, at which he worked for a while in the place of his nativity, going from there to Stoddard, thence to South Lyndeboro, and finally to Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where he followed his occupation until his decease, in November, 1894, in the sixty-
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fourth year of his age. While residing in Stoddard, he married Lucinda Loveland, a daughter of Roswell Loveland and a grand- daughter of Samuel Loveland, who came of distinguished English ancestry, a genealogy of the family now being published by J. B. Loveland, of Fremont, Ohio, showing that an early ancestor was, many generations ago, Lord Mayor of London. Roswell Loveland was a farmer in Hancock, N.H., in his earlier days, but removed to Stoddard, which was the birthplace of his daughter Lucinda, finally going from there to the West, where he de- parted this life, having reared a family of eight children. Of the union of Mr. George and Lucinda Ruffle eight children were born, six of whom grew to mature years, and four are still living, namely: Flora, who married George Holt, of Bennington, N.H .; George R .; Harry, who has charge of the machinery in a silk factory at Poughkeepsie, N. Y .; and Eva May, the wife of Isaac Ham, of Pough- keepsie, where the mother still resides.
George R. Ruffle received his education in the district schools of his native town, and was reared to habits of industry and economy, becoming an assistant in his father's shop at an early age. Before attaining his majority he went to work in a glass factory at South Lyndeboro, N.H., where he remained until his removal to Poughkeepsie. After a short stay in that place he came to Massachusetts, locating in Shirley Village, where he learned the business of paper-making, continuing in the work eight years. Coming then to Frank- lin County, Mr. Ruffle took charge of two machines in Mr. Farley's factory at Farley, continuing thus employed for a year, and obtaining an insight into the business. In March, 1894, he purchased an interest in the Orange Knitting Company, with D. E. Far- ley, of whom a sketch appears elsewhere in
this volume, and is now carrying on a thriving business, the factory turning out from forty to fifty dozens of mittens per day, being one of the leading factories of the kind in this part of the State.
Mr. Ruffle was united in marriage in 1880 with Miss Hattie E. Hastings, a native of Rindge, N. H., and the daughter of John and Louisa Hastings. Her father was a brave soldier of the late Rebellion, and lost his life while fighting for his country, leaving his widow with four young daughters, Hattie being the youngest. The others were Ella, who married Herbert Lawrence; Annie, the wife of Angustus B. Cram; and Mary Alice, who married Edward Ellis, of Taunton. Some time after the death of her first husband Mrs. Louisa Hastings became the wife of George M. Cram, by whom she had two chil- dren, only one of whom - Oscar E .-- is now living. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Ruffle has been blessed by the birth of two children - Gertrude H. and Harry E. Although tak- ing no conspicuous part in politics, Mr. Ruffle early allied himself to the Republican party, of which he is an active though quiet suppor- ter. Socially, he is an influential member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen of Orange, and of the Sons of Veterans of South Lyndeboro, N.H.
J OHN H. SANDERSON, of Greenfield, President of Franklin County Bank and agent of the Warner Manufactur- ing Company, established here more than twenty years ago, was born in Bernardston, Mass., an adjoining town, in 1841. He is of patriotic stock, his great-grandfather, Jona- than Sanderson, having been one of the brave minute-men, recruited from the ranks of the New England farmers, who stood firmly be-
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