USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Biographical review; this volume contains biographical sketches of the leading citizens of Hampshire County, Massachusetts > Part 12
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Albert Nichols received a good education in the public schools, and at the age of sixteen years began to assist his father on the home- stead. On reaching his majority, he hired out his services among the neighboring farmers. Having saved up a little money he went westward in 1834, locating in Geauga County, Ohio. Here he spent three years working in the fields during seed-time and harvest, and teaching school in a pioneer log house in the winter season. In 1837 Mr. Nichols, being entirely satisfied with his share of experience in frontier life, returned to Chesterfield, and, after attending the academy one term, bought a farm, which he labored hard to clear and improve. Twenty years later he disposed of that and bought a small
BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
tract of land in the village, which he tilled successfully for another score of years. He bought the farm where he now resides in 1863-65. This property has also prospered, it being now well under cultivation and sub- stantially improved.
On April 12, 1838, Mr. Nichols was united in marriage with Clarinda B. Johnson, a daughter of William and Sylvia Johnson, re- spectively natives of Williamsburg and Mans- field, Mass. Mr. Johnson spent his entire life in Williamsburg. Mrs. Johnson survived him, and passed her declining years at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Nichols. The latter became the parents of three children : Warner B., William J., and John H. The eldest son, Warner, was a clerk in the employment of the government when the late rebellion broke out, and enlisted from Washington in a regiment of cavalry. At the close of hostilities he re- turned to Washington, obtained a position as clerk in a land office, and remained a resident of that city until his death, June 14, 1875. William J. likewise served in the late Civil War, and at the battle of the Wilderness re- ceived a gunshot wound, from the effects of which he died at the hospital in Washington, May 30, 1864. John H., now a resident of Brooklyn, was educated in the navy. He has been twice married. His first wife, whose maiden name was Emma Robbins, died in Hartford, Conn. ; and he subsequently married his present wife, Mrs. Sallie Muse, of Virginia.
While so laudably attending to his own in- terests Mr. Nichols has not been unmindful of the interests of his native town and county. He has served both with ability and fidelity in several official capacities. For a quarter of a century he was Town Clerk, was Selectman and Assessor for many years, has been an ear- nest worker in behalf of the schools all his
life, and was a member of the School Board from 1838 until 1875. Hle was also a Justice of the Peace for a long period of time, his term of office having expired August 24, 1895. Three different terms Mr. Nichols represented his district in the State legislature, serving twice in the lower house and one term in the Senate. In politics the subject was at one time identified with the Know Nothing party. He afterward became a Republican, but of late years he votes the Prohibition ticket.
ORACE CLARK, one of the town fathers of Greenwich, Mass., a vil- lage resident actively engaged in general farming and cattle dealing, was born in Wells, Me., January 29, 1820, son of Moses and Abigail (Hobbs) Clark, both na- tives of Wells. Mr. Clark's great-grand- father, Jonathan Clark, who was born in the north of Ireland, was one of the first settlers of Wells, a sturdy pioneer who died on the land which he cleared. His son Nathan, who also was a farmer, was a well-read man for his day, and held a leading position among the citizens of Wells, both on account of his in- telligence and his success in business matters. In politics a Whig, he was elected to all the important offices of the town, serving as Town Clerk for many years and as Selectman for a number of terms. He attended the Baptist church, though not a member, and lived an exemplary life. He died in his native town when seventy-nine years of age.
Moses Clark, son of Nathan and the father of Horace Clark, was born in 1798. He fol- lowed the profession of teaching from early manhood up to the time of his death, spending the greater part of his life in his native town. He lived but forty-six years, being killed in a steamboat explosion on the Ohio River in
HORACE CLARK.
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IS44. His wife, who was born in 1797, died in 1857. In politics Moses Clark was a Democrat. He and his wife attended the Baptist church. They had a family of seven children, all of whom reached maturity, but four are now dead; namely, James, Sylvia, Charles, and Erastus. James was killed by the Indians while on his way home from Cali- fornia. Erastus was Captain of Company C, Twelfth Massachusetts Regiment, and served during the whole of the late war. The living children of Moses Clark are: Horace, above named: Jane, wife of Darius Barry, of Lynn, Mass. ; and Nathan, who resides in Lynn, and is prominent in the Democratic politics of that city.
Horace Clark grew to manhood on the home farm, receiving the rudiments of his education in the schools of his native town. But he was not satisfied with the knowledge thus acquired, and, going to work in a store in Boston at the age of sixteen, saved his earn- ings in order to complete his education. He worked two years; and his father allowed him fifty dollars of the money he saved, taking which he went to Hanover, and there prepared himself for college. He attended the college one year, eking out his tuition fee by doing various things and teaching during the vaca- tions of 1839: but in 1841, owing to ill health, he gave up his studies, and the follow- ing year enlisted in the United States Army, and served in the Mexican War. Mr. Clark was not at the time aware that he was enlist- ing, thinking, when he signed his papers, that he was securing a position as surveyor for the government; but, finding himself entrapped, he made the best of the situation, and served five years with credit. He was promoted to the rank of Corporal, and was at the Carlile Barracks thirteen months, being then assigned to Company C, attached to the Second Regi-
ment of Dragoons. Subsequently he was made First Sergeant of Company C. At the end of his term of enlistment he went to Lynn to learn the morocco dresser's trade, which he followed for some time, acting as foreman in a morocco factory for over three years. He then established a factory of his own, and for twenty-eight years was successfully engaged in the morocco business in Lynn, part of the time associated with his brother under the firm name of H. & N. Clark, part of the time alone. Mr. Clark eventually disposed of his manufacturing interests, and in September, 1878, moved to Greenwich, purchasing the estate on which he now resides. This farm, which covers two hundred acres, is one of the best in the town. He carries on general farming, and makes a specialty of fattening veal for the Boston market, keeping from ten to twelve milch cows to aid in feeding the calves which he buys. The dwelling-house which Mr. Clark occupies is one of the oldest in the town, having been erected in 1766, and is widely known as the old Hines Tavern. It is in a fine state of preservation, and is a monument to the good workmanship of the builders of the last century. On this farm, too, is a grand old elm-tree, supposed to be the oldest tree in the county.
Mr. Clark's first wife, Sarah L. Newcomb, to whom he was united in 1848, died in 1855; and his second wife, Rachel Stimson, whom he married two years later, died in 1858. In 1888 he married his third wife, Naomi E. Dutton, a native of Sackville, N.B. Mr. Clark has two children living. His son Charles K. died at the age of forty-two ; Will- iam H. resides in Lynn; and Lillian B. is the wife of Frank Galloup, also a resident of that city.
In politics Mr. Clark is independent. He has held nearly all the public offices of the
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town of Greenwich, serving as Selectman, Overseer of the Poor, and in other capacities ; and in educational matters he is a moving spirit, his great desire now being to see a high school established in Greenwich. On religious matters he holds liberal views. He is a man who believes in doing everything well, and his farm to-day is one of the best- kept farms in Greenwich. His portrait is given on a neighboring page.
HOMAS FORD, a well-known farmer and market gardener of Hadley, was born in Chewmagna, England, Decem- ber 25, 1840, son of Thomas and Charlotte (Godfrey) Ford. The father of Mr. Ford was a native of Chewmagna, where he followed the trade of a blacksmith and practised as veteri- nary surgeon. He died in his native town in 1847. His wife, who was born in Long Ash- ton, England, became the mother of four sons, as follows : Thomas, the subject of this sketch ; William, who resides in Chewmagna ; Charles, also in England; and James, who died in 1851. She died June 1, 1887.
Thomas Ford resided with his mother, and after the death of his father assisted in her support. He worked as a farm laborer until 1870, when, on April 14 of that year, he, in company with his wife and child, emigrated to America, and settled in Hadley. After work- ing here for twenty months as a farm laborer he moved to North Hadley, where he con- tinued in the same occupation until 1884, and then purchased his present farm. The prop- erty contains fifty acres and is receiving con- stant improvement. Mr. Ford makes a spe- cialty of raising vegetables for the markets of Hadley and Northampton. He is very pros- perous and highly respected, and entitled to the credit of having earned for himself both
the property and reputation he at present enjoys.
Mr. Ford was married June 10, 1867, to Sarah Tovey, of Manchester, England, who was born June 2, 1838, daughter of Moses and Mary (Keating) Tovey. Her father was of English and her mother of Irish ancestry, and both died in England. Mrs. Ford has been the mother of four children, namely: Edgar Joseph, who died September 24, 1883; Charles W., who resides in Springfield; Robert John ; and Alexander Thomas. Mr. Ford is a Re- publican in politics.
DWIN B. _ CLAPP, prosperously engaged in general farming in Westhampton, is a man of push and energy, sparing no effort to make a success of whatever he under- takes. He was born May 17, 1864, in West- hampton, which is also the birthplace of his parents, Reuben Wright and Susan (Burt) Clapp. His father is a prominent agricultu- rist of this locality, and has served in various public offices, having been Selectman and Assessor for many years. Of the family of eight children the following is chronicled : Ellen, now a resident of Holyoke, is the widow of the late Augustus Allyn; Laura, residing in Northampton, is the wife of Fred- erick Dayton, of whom a sketch appears else- where in this volume; George B. died at the age of thirty-two years; Lyman W. is the subject of a sketch on another page; Mattie died when fourteen years old; Edwin B. is the subject of this sketch; Susan M., wife of William H. Lyman, lives in Westhampton ; and Mary died when but two years of age.
Edwin B. Clapp attended the district schools, acquiring a substantial education in his early days. When but eighteen years of age he began the battle of life for himself. .
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Leaving the home farm he secured a position as clerk, and later as book-keeper, in the Hadley Falls National Bank at Holyoke, where he remained three years. After this, deciding to engage in the occupation to which he was reared, Mr. Clapp came back to Westhampton.
On May 10, 1887, he was united in mar- riage with Miss Nellie Kingsley, a daughter of Joseph and Almina (Norton) Kingsley, of Southampton. Of the happy union two chil- dren came to bless the parents, namely : Ray- mond, whose birth occurred in 1889; and Roger, born in 1893. After his marriage Mr. Clapp bought his present farm, which con- tains two hundred acres of land and whereon he has labored with persevering industry since. Its appearance to-day gives ample evidence to the passer-by of his skill and good taste as a practical farmer. The crops common to this section of the State are raised upon the land.
Mr. Clapp is an uncompromising Republi- can, and is a member of the Westhampton par- ish committee. For the past year he has been a Director in the Hampden Co-operative Creamery Association, and is likewise con- nected with the Cemetery Association. In religious matters both Mr. and Mrs. Clapp are members of the Congregational church, and active in the charitable work of that denomination.
EONARD BAKER, a well - known farmer of Pelham and a veteran of the Civil War, was born in Springfield, Mass., May 24, 1824, son of Daniel and Rachel (Reynolds) Baker. Daniel Baker was a native of Tolland, Conn. During his life he conducted farms in Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts, finally settling upon land in the eastern part of Springfield, which is now the Eighth Ward of that city. He was a
Democrat in politics, a Methodist in religion, and died at the advanced age of ninety-six years. His wife, who was born in Troy, N. Y., became the mother of thirteen children, all of whom reached maturity except two, who died in infancy. Three are now living, namely: Lester, a resident of Springfield ; Colonel Baker, of Connecticut ; and Leonard, the subject of this sketch. The mother died at the age of eighty-five.
Leonard Baker was educated in the public schools of Springfield, and at the age of twenty-one commenced to learn the trade of a stone cutter, which he subsequently followed for some years. On January 4, 1864, he en- listed as a private in the Third Regiment, Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, was later transferred to the engineer's department, and was honorably discharged from service Septem- ber 26, 1865. After the close of the war Mr. Baker resided in Ludlow, Mass., for some five years. Then, in 1870, he settled upon a farm in Pelham of ninety-five acres, which he has since successfully cultivated. He is a Repub- lican in politics and a comrade of the Grand Army of the Republic Post of Belchertown.
On July 4, 1850, Mr. Baker was united in marriage to Esther M. Kibbe, who was born in Springfield, Mass., December 30, 1827, daughter of Alvin Kibbe. They had two chil- dren, namely: Alice, who was born June 7, 1853, and resides with her father; and Min- nie, who married Elbridge Packard, and re- sides in Enfield. Mrs. Baker died December 30, 1892, aged sixty-five.
LBRIDGE KINGSLEY, the "artist en- graver," who has been pronounced by good authority to be as strong a per- sonality in American art as was Jean François Millet in that of France, was born in Car-
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thage, Ohio, September 17, 1842. He is a son of Moses W. and Rachel W. (Curtis) Kings- ley, both natives of Hatfield, Hampshire County, Mass., in which town the former cul- tivated a farm. He spent his life, with the exception of a few months passed in Ohio, in Hatfield, dying there in 1893. Mr. and Mrs. Kingsley reared six children, of whom El- bridge was the oldest.
Elbridge Kingsley was reared on a farm. He gathered the elements of his education in a wooden school-house on a hill, guarded by a patriarchal elm, while his out-of-school hours were pretty well taken up with farm work. One of his duties was the task of driving the cows to "Jericho," a wild tract of land used as a common pasture, some two miles from the village. At first he drove only the cows from the home farm. Later he drove those of two of the neighbors, for which he received two shillings a week. And as the barefoot boy trudged along behind the indolent, slow- moving animals, his quick eye noted the beau- ties of Nature's panorama, and learned many a secret destined to be of use to him in after life. In the garret of his home was a goodly store of old papers and books, which contained many a tale of Indian warfare that made its impress on his boyish imagination. The re- sult was that Indian chiefs and squaws, trap- pers and cowboys, done on brown store paper, decorated the walls of his bedroom. One war- rior of gigantic frame and gorgeous trappings attracted his father's attention ; and his friend, the village blacksmith, was invited in to pronounce upon the drawings. With bated breath and throbbing heart young Kingsley watched the muscular art critic, who was very near-sighted and poked his grimy fingers over the picture to assist his vision. "Pretty good, considerin' !" was the judgment rendered ; and on the strength of that Elbridge was sent to
join the class of a travelling teacher who hap- pened to be in town, giving lessons in Grecian and Oriental painting. The lessons ended in a few weeks, as the teacher, in pursuance of his itinerary, then left town. When fourteen years of age he was sent to Hopkins Academy in Hadley; and for two years he alternated between Hatfield and Hadley, attending school in winter and working on the farm in summer. In his sixteenth year he entered the office of the Hampshire Gazette to learn the printing trade, remaining until twenty-one years of age. In the mean time his drawing was not neg- lected; and sketching went on as steadily as the opportunities came, in an out-of-the-way corner of the building. In 1863, having at- tained his majority, and equipped with a new suit of clothes as well as with a fair knowledge of the printer's trade, he started for New York City. In the city he had many adventures such as usually befall a country boy on his first visit. He finally obtained a position as compositor on the Tribune. At the same time he began to attend the evening course of draw- ing and painting at Cooper Institute. After changing his place of employment several times he finally gave up type-setting and de- voted his attention to wood engraving. Most of his work at this time was upon mechanical illustrations; but he was occasionally enabled to do a block for Harper's, through the firm that employed him. While in New York he was for some time city correspondent for the Hampshire Gazette. In 1871 he returned to Northampton and engaged in the printing and engraving business with Messrs. Snow & Har- ris. There he became acquainted with J. Wells Champney and C. A. Burleigh. He now began to work in oil colors out of doors, and one winter he walked daily to Amherst, in order to sketch from the casts in the college gallery. In 1874 the firm with which he was -
DEXTER TOWER.
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connected dissolved, and he went back to New York. In that year he cut a block for Scrib- ner's Magasine (now the Century), which so pleased the art department that his connection with that publication has continued to this dav. This was in reality the beginning of Mr. Kingsley's career as an engraver. He returned to Hadley every summer to do open- air sketching; and believing that an artist, in order to faithfully portray Nature, must see her in all her varied aspects, he had a car built which is a diminutive studio and dwelling- house on wheels. In 1882, while out in this car in the woods near Hatfield, Mr. Kingsley performed a feat in wood engraving that had never been attempted before. This was cut- ting a block directly from nature. The engrav- ing subsequently appeared as a full-page cut in the Century, together with a description of his method of working by the artist. Since that time he has regularly contributed original en- gravings of this sort to the Century and to St. Nicholas, most of them being made from or suggested by scenery in Hampshire County. It will be readily seen that this departure raised wood engraving from the position of a handmaid of the graphic arts to that of a crea- tive and primary art, which Mr. Kingsley claims it is. In 1885 he illustrated Whittier's "Poems of Nature."
Years ago Elbridge Kingsley was ranked by Hammerton, perhaps the ablest of English art critics, in his "Graphic Arts," as one of the best wood engravers in the world. Since then he has made a decided advance, and the power and delicacy shown in his landscape work have never been excelled. He received the highest award for wood engravings from the Paris Exposition of 1889; and in 1893 he had thirteen small engravings marked as medal winners at the Chicago Exposition. In the same year he was awarded a gold medal at the
Midwinter Fair held in San Francisco. In a lecture on wood engraving written by him he gives his ideal of what an artist should be, as follows: "Rising on the heights of knowledge but enlarges the horizon, and true art for the individual begins where his training leaves off." As a colorist Mr. Kingsley displays in his paintings a daring and originality that is unique, while nevertheless true to nature; and a recent writer places him before George Inness in the handling of color.
While in New York Mr. Kingsley was united in marriage with Miss Emma Brown, a native of New York City, of English descent. She died eight months after mar- riage. Three years subsequently he was again married, his bride being Elizabeth E. Cook, of Brooklyn, N. Y. She passed away in March, 1891, leaving three children - Emma B., Mary R., and Lepha N. - all of whom are living with their father.
His home is a picturesque two-story house, surrounded by well-kept lawns and hedges, situated in a pleasant part of old Hadley. He is always ready to receive a visitor who is interested in art, and to show his studio and several smaller rooms where he engraves and paints, the "den " downstairs where he reads and writes, and finally the famous car. Dem- ocratic in the extreme, he knows no difference between rich and poor; and his optimism sees a sunbeam in every shadow. His mind is an exhaustless reservoir of poetic beauty ; and his heart is filled with kindliness, generosity, and sympathy. Verily, Elbridge Kingsley is a rare man, and one of whom New England may well be proud.
EXTER TOWER, who is a retired carpenter and builder of Northamp- ton, Mass., was born in the town of Cummington, Hampshire County, Mass., on
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March 12, 1817, son of John M. and Ruth (Reed) Tower, the former of whom was also a native of Cummington, where he was born about 1777.
His grandfather, Stephen Tower, the de- scendant of an Englishman who immigrated to America in Colonial days, came from Plym- outh, Mass., to Cummington, where he was one of the first settlers. John M. Tower's wife, Ruth Reed, was a daughter of a Congre- gational minister. They were married in Cummington in 1808, and as time passed five children were born to them, namely: John M., Jr., born in 1809; Celemna, born in 1812, who became the wife of Hiram Bartlett, and died in 1843, leaving three children; Dexter; Laura, born in 1819, who became the wife of Cephas Thayer, and died in 1890, leaving no children; and Russell, born in 1829, a prosperous farmer of Worthington, Mass. Their mother died in 1830.
Dexter Tower remained with his parents until he was thirteen years of age, and was then bound out to Russell Bartlett for the remainder of his minority to learn the carpen- ter's trade, the terms of apprenticeship being that he should receive one hundred dollars when he reached the age of twenty-one years in addition to his board and clothes in the mean time and three months' schooling. Having attained his majority, he engaged in work as a journeyman carpenter for a year in the town of Chester, from which place he came to Northampton, and bought his present homestead of one hundred acres, with an old house that had for many years been used as a tavern. The consideration was twenty-five hundred dollars, for the larger part of which Mr. Tower was obliged to secure credit. In 1888 he purchased a tract of land in Tona- wanda, N.Y., which he divided into twenty- three lots, and kept until 1895, selling them
then for about six thousand dollars. Since he purchased his farm he has erected thercon two good houses. The large farm-house now owned and occupied by his son he built in 1877, at a cost of about four thousand dollars ; and in 1884 he erected his own residence on two acres taken from the farm, selling at that time the balance to his son. He also has property in Duluth, Minn., and in Wisconsin. In Duluth are four building lots that he pur- chased in 1889 and ten acres of land, which, though not yet divided, is worth about six thousand dollars. He still owns seventy-five acres of land in Windsor, Berkshire County, Mass. Mr. Tower has done but little car- penter work since 1891, and is enjoying a well-merited rest, having acquired a sufficient competence to supply him with comforts and pleasures in his old age. He is well pre- served for a man of his years and the great amount of hard labor he has done.
Mr. Tower's first wife, Irene P. Pierce, of Windsor, Berkshire County, Mass., a daughter of Isaac Pierce, died in August, 1886, at sixty-one years of age, having borne him two sons and two daughters: Clinton T., Climena, Lizzie, and Perley.
Clinton T. Tower, born in 1855, is success- fully engaged in dairy farming. He married for his first wife Miss Ida Bartlett, who died in April, 1888, at twenty-nine years of age, leaving two children: Arthur Clinton, now a youth of fifteen years; and George H., a lad thirteen years old. Clinton Tower was again married on July 31, 1889, to Miss Lucy L. Allen, of Florence, a daughter of Bennett and Cordelia (Warren) Allen, the former of whom was a native of Middletown, Conn., and the latter of Williamsburg, Mass. By this marriage he has two children: Clara A., born June 22, 1890; and Bertrand, born September 22, 1893. He is a member of the Common
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