USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of leading citizens of Franklin County, Massachusetts .. > Part 60
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BNER N. BASCOM, a prosperous farmer of Greenfield, was born in the adjoining town of Gill, Franklin County, Mass., March 25, 1827, son of Dorus and Esther (Newton) Bascom. Moses Bas- com, the grandfather of Abner, was an hon- est, hard-working, and successful farmer, a native of Massachusetts. He was one of the early settlers of Gill and a Selectman of that town, and also a prominent member of the A. F. & A. M. He married Anna Sheldon, and died at a good old age on the old home- stead. His son, Dorus Bascom, who was born in Gill, likewise became an influential citizen of that place, serving as Selectman and also as Representative. He owned the old Bas- com farm and considerable land in Bernards- ton. He and his wife, Esther Newton, a native of Greenfield, both died on the old farm, he attaining the more advanced age.
:
FRANKLIN PEASE.
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They were Universalists in religion. In politics Dorus Bascom was a Democrat. Of their children who reached maturity there were four sons and two daughters, as follows : Abner Bascom and his sister, Martha (Bas- com) Clark, who reside in Greenfield: Spell- man. Ezekiel, Newton, and Jane, deceased.
Abner N. Bascom obtained his education in the schools of Gill, and started in business for himself when twenty-one years of age. He resided in Gill until 1862, when, moving to Greenfield, he bought his present farm, which he has greatly improved. On Febru- ary 1, 1857, when about thirty years of age, he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza Purple, who was born in Gill, May 8, 1833, daughter of Roswell and Mary (Roberts) Purple, both natives of Gill. Mr. Purple was a farmer, well and favorably known through- out the community, and was also popular as hotel-keeper and auctioneer. He was a Democrat in politics. In religion both he and his wife were Unitarians. They had a large family, seven of whom are living, as follows: Clarissa, now Mrs. Morgan, of South Deerfield; Sophia, Mrs. Hale, of Springfield, Mass .; Mary, Mrs. Merrick, of Amherst, Mass. ; Eliza, Mrs. Bascom; Procter P., liv- ing in Gill: Edwin, of Athol, Mass .; and Henry, of Gill, Mass. Elmira, Henrietta, Hetsel, and John are deceased.
Mr. Bascom has been a hard-working man, and has thriven through his own exertions. He and his estimable wife at their charm- ing home entertain with good old-fashioned hospitality their large circle of friends. They have two sons: John H. Bascom, a well-known shoe dealer of Springfield; Rol- lins S. Bascom, a citizen of Greenfield. Abner N. Bascom is a Democrat in politics, and he and his wife are liberal in religious faith.
FRANKLIN PEASE, a successful and
highly respected farmer of Conway,
Franklin County, Mass., was born in this town, June 27, 1823, son of Asher and Elizabeth (Chaffee) Pease, and grandson of John Pease. The latter was a native and a lifelong resident of Enfield, Conn. Little is known regarding him except that he mar- ried, and reared a family of four children; namely, Beulah, John, Jr., Asher, and Lyman.
Asher l'ease, who was born in Enfield, Conn., September 21, 1781, chose for his life work the independent and healthful voca- tion of an agriculturist, and in early manhood removed to Conway, Mass., where he pur- chased a farm, which he carried on with suc- cess for many years. He and his wife, Eliza- beth (Chaffee) Pease, reared eight children : Eliza, Newton, Maria, Beulah, Harriet, Caro- line, Loren, and Franklin. Both parents spent their last days on the old homestead.
Franklin Pease, who was the youngest son, spent his early years on his father's farm in Conway, receiving a good practical education in the district schools. The winter that he was eighteen years of age he engaged as a school-teacher, and he successfully followed that as a winter vocation for several years. When he reached his majority, his father gave him an interest in the home farm; and he continued to carry it on in partnership with his father until the latter's death. He still resides on this farm, which is large and productive, and has substantial and comforta- ble buildings; and he is successfully engaged in general farming and stock-raising. He also buys and sells a large amount of live stock, and in the spring he generally has about one hundred head of cattle to turn out to pasture. On November 5, 1850, Mr. Pease was united in marriage with Miss Minerva Nims, who
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was born in Ashfield, Mass., June 22, 1824, and was a daughter of Stoddard Nims, of that place. Her death, on June 10, 1894, came as a sad bereavement to her husband, with whom she had shared in the work of life and its joys and sorrows for nearly forty-four years.
Mr. Pease is active in political matters, and has faithfully and acceptably served his town in various offices of trust, having been a Selectman thirteen years, also an Assessor; and in 1863 he was a member of the House of Representatives in the State legislature. Mr. Pease belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, and is a prominent member of the Franklin County Agricultural Society.
A portrait of this substantial and progres- sive citizen will be found on a neighboring page.
REDERICK W. PURRINGTON, an extensive manufacturer of butter boxes and a dealer in all kinds of grain and feed at Griswoldville, in the town of Colerain, was born here on November 8, 1852. He is the son of Luther and Fanny J. (Hunter) Purrington, his father having been born at Stamford, Vt., on June 29, 1823, and his mother at Wendell, Mass., in the same year. Mr. Purrington's grandfather, Dr. Luther Purrington, became one of the early settlers of the town of Colerain, where he was for some time a practising physician; and he continued to reside there until his decease, which occurred at the age of sixty-two years. The Doctor's son and namesake, Luther Pur- rington, adopted agriculture as an occupation, and has resided upon a farm situated about one and one-half miles north of Colerain Cen- tre the greater portion of his life. He has been an industrious and energetic farmer, and is to-day one of the oldest residents of the town. His first wife died in 1854, when her
son Frederick W. was about two years of age; and he married for his second wife Sarah Robbins, who still survives. His other son by the first marriage is Franklin L., a farmer of Colerain; and the children of his second marriage are: George A., a travelling sales- man of Worcester, Mass .; Nellie A., wife of Wheeler Sissons, of Deerfield; and Charles J., also a resident of Colerain.
Frederick was educated in the schools of his native town, and at the age of twenty-one years commenced life's labors as a farm la- borer and a teamster. He carefully saved his earnings, and in 1878 purchased his present property at Griswoldville, where he has since resided. Besides the butter-box industry, which he conducts on an extensive scale, hav- ing produced as many as seventy-five thousand boxes per annum, he also owns and operates a grist-mill, and deals extensively in all kinds of grain and feed, together with agricultural tools and implements of every description, having large warehouses. He erected a very pleasant and convenient residence in 1889, at a cost of three thousand dollars.
On November 14, 1878, he married Miss Ida A. Brown, who was born at Whitingham, Vt., on October 27, 1852, daughter of Amos A. and Mary (Temple) Brown, her father hav- ing been born in that town, October 18, 1817, and her mother at Heath on July 7 of the same year. The former was a successful farmer, and prominently identified with the public affairs of Whitingham, having served twenty years as Deputy Sheriff, and also ably filled other offices. He died January 2, 1869, his wife surviving until May 28, 1893, having been the mother of eight children, four of whom are now living, namely: Corsanda, wife of B. F. Roberts, of Halifax, Vt .; Janette, wife of Emory P. Reed, of Jacksonville, Vt .; Ida A .; and William A., also a resident of
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Jacksonville. The deceased were: Clarissa E .. Amos G., Hannah M., and Florence M. Mr. Purrington's success in his enterprises is the result of his good business ability and untiring energy. He is liberal in his relig- ious views and, politically, a Democrat.
HILO A. TOWER, a sagacious and enterprising agriculturist of Charle- mont, where he resides on his beau- tiful farm of one hundred acres, was born in Savoy, Mass., December 26, 1849, son of Calvin and Laura Blanchard Tower, and grandson of Martin and Fanny (Clark) Tower. His great-grandparents were Thomas and Elizabeth (Fuller) Tower, the former of whom was the son of Shadrach and Ruth (Cobb) Tower. From the genealogy of the family given in the History of Hingham, Mass., we learn that Shadrach was the son of Thomas, who was son of Benjamin, who was son of John Tower, a native of Hingham, England, who came to Massachusetts and settled in Hingham in 1637. John Tower was a son of Robert and Dorothy (Damon) Tower. The family name, it is said, was formerly Tour, from which it was changed to Tore, and then assumed its present form.
Martin Tower was born on April 8, 1790. He was industrious and enterprising, and be- came very prosperous in worldly circum- stances, owning a large farm in Florida, Berk- shire County, Mass. He died at the age of seventy-four years. His wife, Fanny Clark, who died at fifty-seven, was the mother of a good old-fashioned family of sixteen children, most of whom reached years of maturity, namely: Alvin; Calvin; Orrin; Fanny and Phila, twins; Lucy; Harry; William; War- ren F .; Calista; William, second; Hough- ton ; Eli; Sidney ; and Miles and Minor, twins,
After the death of his first wife Martin Tower married again, his second wife being Mary J. Pike; but by her he had no children.
Calvin Tower, second son of Martin, was born in Florida, Berkshire County, Mass., and remained at home until reaching man- hood. He then bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Savoy, and on it erected good buildings, later purchasing an adjoining farm of one hundred and forty acres, and becoming quite well-to-do in course of time. He kept a good dairy, and was a thorough and substan- tial farmer. He died on his farm when past threescore years and seven. His first wife, Laura Blanchard, was the daughter of Josiah C. and Polly (Haskins) Blanchard. Her father was a son of Nathan Blanchard, one of the early settlers of Savoy. Mrs. Laura B. Tower died at the age of fifty-two years, hav- ing been the mother of four children: Free- man C., Mary F., Philo A., and Milo F. Freeman C. Tower has been twice married, and has had six children, two of whom are now living, namely : Adah S. Cain, of Savoy ; and Iva Steele, of Adams. His first wife was Izana Maynard, who died in early womanhood, and his second, Bertha Mease, of Michigan, in which State they now reside. Mary F. Tower married Robert Harris, a farmer of Savoy, and has three children: Fred P., Frank, and Flora. Milo F., twin brother of Philo A., died in infancy. Calvin Tower, after the death of his first wife, married Mary Ann Bridges, who now resides in Savoy.
Philo A. Tower acquired a practical educa- tion in his native town, and remained at home until his marriage. After that event he su- perintended the home farm for five years, and then came to Charlemont, and bought the Stevens farm, a beautiful tract of land on the Greenfield River, containing one hundred acres, as above mentioned. This he has im-
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proved by erecting a house and good barns, and bringing the land into a higher state of cultivation. He has a fine flock of sheep, besides other stock, and carries on a dairy. His farm presents a flourishing appearance, and speaks well for the typical New England energy and thrift, of which he possesses a large share. He also owns one hundred and forty acres of land in Savoy.
Mr. Tower was married March 9, 1875, to Ida A. Maynard, daughter of Urbane and Eliza A. (Haskins) Maynard, of Savoy. Mr. Maynard, who was a prominent farmer, died in 1893, at the age of sixty-nine. His wife is still living. Mrs. Maynard's father was Samuel Haskins, a son of Shadrach Haskins and grandson of the Rev. Nathan Haskins, who was the first settled minister in Savoy, and as such received as a donation from the town the grant of three hundred and eighty acres of land. His descendants at one time formed a large part of the population in the district known as Spruce Corner, Savoy. Mr. and Mrs. Tower are the parents of the fol- lowing children : Mabel A., born August II, 1884; Arca C., born July 14, 1887; and Altie L., October 22, 1894. Their eldest, Gertrude E., was born June 3, 1879, and died October 1, 1883. Mr. Tower is a Republican in politics, and he and his wife are among the most respected citizens of their town.
ROFESSOR H. A. PRATT, a re- tired educator, now residing in Gill, Mass., is a descendant of one of the early English immigrants to New England bearing this surname. The earliest direct ancestor on the incomplete family record is Ephraim Pratt, born at Bridgewater, Mass., January 10, 1732. His early life was spent at Hardwick (now in the limits of Dana).
During his residence there he is represented as holding the office of Deacon in the Baptist church. Afterward, having adopted the relig- ious belief of the Universalists, he became a preacher of that faith. Not far from the year 1776 he removed to Wendell, near Lock's Vilage. From his old account book, now in possession of the family, he seems at first to have kept a country store, but adopted farm- ing as a business later in life. He probably continued to exercise his talent as a religious teacher among the rural population. A memorial tablet bearing the reeord of his death, January 20, 1809, stands in the ceme- tery at Lock's Village.
Lieutenant David Pratt, oldest son of the above, was born in Hardwick, May 15, 1757. Being a young man of marked intellectual ability and business energy, he began the occupation of a merehant in his native town. At first successful, but later having suffered reverses, he abandoned his first field of labor, and removed to Shutesbury, where he tried real estate speculation in a somewhat unde- veloped part of the town, building several houses and selling some farms, but was un- able to recover his original prosperity. Over- whelmed by disappointment, he failed to realize the promise of his early manhood, and sank into eomparative poverty, dying Decem- ber 19, 1826.
Of his nine children, all of whom reached adult age, Ephraim, the father of the subject of this sketch, was the third, born at Hard- wick, Deeember 18, 1784, married May 31, 1815, and died May 30, 1838. His wife, Huldah Pierce, daughter of Nathan Pierce, of Shutesbury, was born February 8, 1796, and died May 13, 1887. Her second husband, Eliphalet Kingman, of Winchester, N.H., with whom she lived some fourteen years, died June II, 1874.
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Of the early life of Deacon Ephraim Pratt there are few records extant. He seems to have come to Shutesbury with his father near the beginning of the present century. That he was brought up to habits of industry and economy seems evident from the fact that in ISII he was able to buy the farm on which he spent his life, advancing the purchase money. Acquiring his education at the public schools at home and the academy at New Salem, he became a teacher in the country schools, and pursued this calling successfully during four- teen successive winters. He also shared in the town offices, and practised the art of land surveying as occasion offered. With these, together with the cultivation of his farm, as his only sources of income, he acquired a com- petence, and left an unencumbered estate to his family.
A devout Christian, and professing the Baptist faith, he was honored with the highest lay offices of his church.
His family included eight children - five sons and three daughters -all of whom reached mature years, and of whom six are now living.
The eldest, Ephraim L., was born August 9, 1817, and died at Boston, February 19, 1867, after a life devoted to the inventive arts, though, like most inventors, he failed to achieve financial success.
The third member of the family, Hannah Hammond, born December 27, 1820, married the Rev. David Brainard Gunn, who has spent most of his life preaching as an evangelist in the West, and, later, as a home missionary in Maine and Massachusetts. They are now re- tired from the active professional work, being able to rest in the assurance of a competence in their declining years.
Lemuel Church, born February 17, 1824, having acquired a good academic education,
and taught successfully in schools of various grades, at length embarked in business at Cleveland, Ohio, and subsequently at Kala- mazoo, Mich. Intelligent and public-spir- ited, he has been a valuable citizen and an influential member of the religious communi- ties with which he has been associated.
Henry Lee was born July 14, 1826. With his older brother Lemuel C. he spent the principal part of his minority at the old homestead in farm labor. Meanwhile, as cir- cumstances permitted, he secured a few terms of academic instruction, and became a popu- lar teacher in the public schools. His early efforts in study and teaching gave promise of superior scholarship and a brilliant career in professional life. But, unwilling to submit to the necessities of a student's life under- taken without ready means of support, he de- cided on business as his chief calling, and abandoned school life. While uniform suc- cess has attended him in the field of his choice, he has achieved honor and influence as an intelligent and high-minded citizen in the civil and religious communities wherein he has resided. Since 1869 his home has been in New York.
Sarah Sophia, born November 28, 1828, married Samuel Sawyer, an intelligent me- chanic and influential citizen, and resides at Miller's Falls, Mass.
Laura was born June 30, 1833, received a good education, and achieved some success in teaching. Her career was cut short by pro- tracted illness till her decease in 1867.
James David, born March 20, 1836, has been industrious and enterprising, but never successful in business. For some years he has resided in South-western Kansas.
Professor Hiram A. Pratt, the second son, was born January 21, 1819. His early years were devoted to labor on the farm, enjoying
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meanwhile annually from eight to ten weeks of instruction at the district schools. With such limited advantages for study and sixteen weeks at a higher institution, he became mas- ter of a public school; and thereafter, for the next fifty-seven years, with the exception of five, he spent at least one term in the work of teaching in the various grades of public schools and academies. Urged by an irrepres- sible love of learning, he desired above all things the advantages of a college education ; and, being dependent on his own resources, he bent every energy toward its accomplishment, laboring in the field in summer, attending the academy in the fall and spring terms, and teaching in the winter. In the summer of 1841, having completed the preparation for college, an unexpected interruption occurred. His eyes (never very strong) now became unable to bear the strain of college work. The next four years accordingly were spent principally in teaching and private study, until 1845, when it seemed practicable to attempt the higher course. Therefore, applying for admission at Amherst College, he entered the Sophomore class of 1848, and was graduated in due course. A return to teaching now seemed to be the shortest way to the liquidation of a few college bills; and, a position having been offered in the Shelburne Falls Academy, it was accepted, rather as a temporary expedient than as a permanent settlement in business. But, nothing occurring to divert him there- from, teaching became his permanent life- work, of which this is the summary : assistant and principal of Shelburne Falls Academy, 1848-51 ; principal of Norwalk Institute, Ohio, 1851-53 ; of Shelburne Falls Academy, 1854- 56; of Connecticut Literary Institution, Suffield, Conn., 1856-61 ; of Hartford High School, Connecticut, 1861-65; in business at Cleveland, Ohio, 1865-68; principal of
Peddie Institute, Hightstown, N.J., 1868-75 ; in business at Kalamazoo, Mich., 1875-77; superintendent of public schools in Faribault, Minn., 1877-81 ; principal of Pratt's School for Boys, Shelburne Falls, 1882-93; thence retired, resident of Gill, Mass.
May 30, 1849, Professor Pratt married Miss Marietta, daughter of Eliphalet Kingman, of Winchester, N.H., born February 16, 1828, educated at Mount Holyoke Seminary, a young lady of superior scholarship and high intellectual and moral endowments and strong religious convictions. She contributed mate- rially to her husband's success in his early professional labors, and was the mother of two sons: Henry Alden, who died at the age of sixteen months; and Frank Kingman, who graduated at Brown University in the class of 1877, and is now practising law in Minneapo- lis, Minn. Her death occurred at Hights- town, N.J., February 1, 1872, at the age of forty-four years.
Professor Pratt married his second wife, Mary Howe Smith, daughter of Squire Howe, of Dryden, Tompkins County, N. Y., August 27, 1873. Having graduated from the Albany Normal School in 1853, she became teacher in the high school at Oswego, where she con- tinued till 1857, when, having married Mr. A. M. Smith, her first husband, she retired from educational work. In 1861, after the death of her husband, she resumed teaching in the Oswego schools, having charge of the geo- graphical studies. At the organization of the Oswego State Normal School she became a member of the faculty of that institution, in which relation she continued until 1870, although active service on this board was interrupted for a time to enable her to aid Professor Arnold Guyot, of Princeton, in the preparation of his geographical series. From the beginning of 1870 until her marriage her
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time was occupied exclusively in the geo- graphical work and in attending teachers' institutes, giving instruction in improved methods of elementary teaching. In prose- cuting this work she visited every State north of the Ohio and Potomac Rivers, and ad- dressed vast gatherings of teachers in them all.
During the course of Pratt's School at Shelburne Falls she had charge of the instruc- tion in French, German, and mathematics, in which she demonstrated the superiority of her improved methods of instruction by a very successful practical experiment. By her first husband she had two children: Annie L., wife of Professor Mearkle, of Hamlin Uni- versity, St. Paul, Minn. ; and Harry A. Smith, a graduate of Amherst College in the class of 1883, and since employed in New York in the work of artistic house decoration.
Professor Pratt, while active in the dis- charge of civil, social, and religious duties in the various relations of life, has given his mind and heart principally to the one work of practical education - that of fitting young gentlemen and ladies for an honorable, suc- cessful, and useful career in life. His system of instruction, suggested by his own experi- ence as a student, has been invariably followed in all the departments of learning in which he has been actively engaged, and with results highly satisfactory both to teacher and learner. The method consists in limiting the student to two principal recitations a day, and extend- ing the length of the lesson and the time of the recitation to the utmost within practicable limits. Carry a few subjects at once, and advance rapidly in the course, instead of add- ing to the number of the lessons and subtract- ing proportionally from their length. By this method Professor Pratt has long wrought in the field of academic education; and with what success thousands of his former pupils,
now filling successfully the several learned professions and all the civil departments of honest labor, can bear ample testimony.
HARLES L. BOYDEN, a practical and progressive young farmer of Con- way, Franklin County, was born in this town, September 27, 1865, son of Francis and Martha (Jones) Boyden.
His paternal grandfather, Josiah Boyden, was also a native of Conway. He remained on the old homestead with his parents until his marriage, at which time he purchased a farm of one hundred and fifty acres about a mile south. He was a successful farmer, and in addition to his agricultural labors he also engaged in stock buying. As there were no railroad facilities for transporting the cattle to market, when he had purchased a number of head it was his custom to drive them to Boston to sell them, he himself making the journey on horseback. He spent the re- mainder of his life on this farm, where he died at seventy-four years of age. He mar- ried Miss Emily S. Stearns, who was also a native of Conway and a daughter of Joel Stearns. She bore him two sons and two daughters, all of whom grew to maturity; namely, Francis, Israel, Nancy, and Emily. The mother also died in the seventy-fourth year of her age. Both parents were members of the Congregational church.
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