USA > Massachusetts > Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901 > Part 15
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Isaac, son of Captain William and father :: Isaac Pratt, Jr., was born March 6, 1776, and died December 3, 1864, at North Middlebor ... He married May 19, 1804, Naomi, daughter of Jeremiah and Agatha (Bryant) Keith. Her father was a descendant in the fourth genera- tion of the Rev. James Keith, the first settic: minister in Bridgewater. Mr. Keith, who was born in Scotland and educated at the Univer- `sity of Aberdeen, came to Boston about the year 1662. A student in divinity and a zes :- ous Christian worker, he was introduced 5: Dr. Increase Mather to the church in We -: Bridgewater. Ile was ordained as its pas: :
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in 1664, and remained in charge until his death in 1719, at the age of seventy-six years. He married Susanna, daughter of Deacon Ed- son, and was the progenitor of a numerous posterity.
.\ farmer and manufacturer, Isaac Pratt, Sr., was a benevolent and kindly man, a public- spirited citizen, and active in promoting the interests of religion and of education. Mrs. Naomi Pratt, a woman of noble, generous char- acter, surviving her husband, died January 28, 1867. They had eight children. Their sec- ond child was Enoch, who gave to the city of Baltimore, Md., where he made his fortune, the Enoch Pratt Free Library, at a cost of more than a million dollars, and who endowed the l'ratt. Free School at North Middleboro. Enoch Pratt died in September, 1896.
Isaac Pratt, Jr., was educated at the Bridge- water Academy. When sixteen years old he entered the counting-room of Messrs. I. and J. P'ratt & Co., nail manufacturers at Wareham, Mass., where he remained until the dissolution of that concern in 1834. He then came to Boston, and obtained employment with Warren Murdock. In 1835 he entered the employ of Benjamin L. Thompson, who had engaged in the iron and nail trade on Long Wharf; and in 1836 he was admitted to partnership, the firm name being Thompson, Oakes & Co. Through the retirement of Mr. Thompson in 1841, the firm was changed to Oakes & Pratt, and thus continued until 1843, when it was dissolved ; and in the latter year Mr. Pratt became agent of the Weymouth Iron Company. His supe- rior knowledge of the business and the excel- lent judgment he displayed in handling his financial resources enabled him gradually to acquire a controlling interest in the Weymouth Company, which, through his energy in mar- keting its products, rapidly attained a leading position in the iron trade; and, being elected to its presidency about the year 1853, he sub- sequently continued at the head of its affairs without interruption until his retirement, which took place in 1885. He was also presi- dent of several other corporations, including the Bridgewater Iron Company and the Ware- ham National Bank of Wareham; and he was president of the Atlantic National Bank, Bos-
ton, from 1869 to 1897, when he resigned on account of impaired health.
Mr. Pratt purchased his desirably located suburban estate at the corner of Brighton and Harvard Avenues, Allston, in 1855, and from that time on was one of the most prominent, progressive, and public-spirited residents of Ward Twenty-five, Boston. During his long period of business activity, he accumulated a substantial fortune; and his open-handed methods and sterling integrity caused him to be held in the highest esteem by his many as- sociates. His property interests were numer- ous, and included extensive real estate held- ings in various parts of the city.
Elected to represent the Newton and Brigh- ton district in the Legislature for the session of 1875, he was assigned to the joint Standing Committee on Claims; and through his care- ful scrutiny into the numerous demands made upon the State Treasury all claims received equitable adjustment, and all claimants were accorded impartial treatment. Politically. Mr. Pratt was originally a Whig, and followed the majority of that element into the ranks cf the Republican party at its formation. In his religious belief he was a Unitarian.
In 1840 Mr. Pratt married Miss Hannah Thompson, daughter of his business partner, Benjamin L. Thompson. They had five chil- dren : Ellen J. O., who is residing in Allston : Isaac L., who died in 1896; David G., who resides in North Middleboro: Edmund T .. also a resident of that town; and Morland L. Pratt, of Allston. On June 9, ISgo, Mr. and Mrs. Pratt at their home in Allston fittingly celebrated their golden wedding; and, besides their five children, nearly five hundred of their kinsfolk and friends participated in the festiv- ities. Mrs. Pratt died February 5, 1896.
Edmund Thompson Pratt was born in Bos- ton, July 5, 1852. He obtained his education in the Brighton public schools and in North Middleboro. His business training began at the age of sixteen years, when he became clerk and book-keeper for the Weymouth Iron Com pany. Later he was advanced to the position of selling agent ; and, succeeding his father as president, he continued in office until the con- cern went out of business. For the past fit-
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teen years his time has been almost exclu- sively devoted to the care of his father's estate. He has been officially connected with several corporations, and for a number of years has held a directorship in the Atlantic Na- tional Bank. In politics he acts with the Re- publican party. He is prominently identified with the Second Unitarian Church, on Copley Square, Boston. . On October 16, 1878, he married Miss Susanna Keith Pratt, of North Middleboro, daughter of Thomas J. and Dor- dania (Keith) Pratt of North Middleboro. They have one son, Edmund Pratt, born Feb- ruary 18, 1883, now a pupil at Chauncy Hall School, Boston.
APTAIN CHAPMAN SEABURY, of Boston, who is now engaged in the real estate business, was born in Orleans (Cape Cod), Mass., August 8, 1830, a son of Isaac and Rebecca (Arey) Seabury. His father was a son of John Sea- bury, also a native of Cape Cod and a promi- nent physician there.
Isaac Seabury when a boy began a seafaring life, and, applying himself sedulously to ob- tain a thorough knowledge of his calling, mas- tered the art of navigation, and at an early age became commander of a vessel. In 1812, dur- ing the war with Great Britain, he was pressed on board a British man-of-war, and taken across the Atlantic. About six months later, obtaining his release at Liverpool, he went from that city to London, where he saw an advertisement in a newspaper calling for the services of a master of a vessel acquainted with the eastern coast of America. As he was thoroughly familiar with the coast from St. John, N. B., to Boston, he saw a favorable op- portunity of reaching his native land without delay or expense and with little danger to him- self, and, answering the advertisement, se- cured the position, the service required being to take a vessel to St. John, N. B. This he did safely, and, after arriving and transacting his business there, loaded with a cargo of dry codfish for Boston. As he was in an English vessel and flying the English flag, he pro- ceeded very cautiously, fearing he might be
captured by an American man-of-war; but off Gloucester he was spoken by a vessel, from which he learned that peace had been declared. Accordingly he steered for Boston, and on his arrival there sold the cargo at an enormous price, it being the first to arrive after the news of the peace. From the amount received he deducted his wages. Then, placing the vessel in the hands of the proper authorities, he wrote the owners, notifying them of his whereabouts, informing them that he was not a British but an American subject, and that the vessel and money received for the cargo, minus his wages, were at their disposal. He subse- quently continued to follow the sea for a num- ber of years, but later purchased a farm in Orleans, where he resided for the rest of his life. He was a member of the Masonic order. His wife, Rebecca, was a daughter of Thomas Arey, of Orleans, a representative of an old Colonial family. They were the parents of two children : Isaac, who was engaged in busi- ness as a merchant in Boston for many years ; and Chapman, the subject of this sketch.
Captain Chapman Seabury was reared on his father's farm, and received his education in the public schools of Orleans. At the age of eighteen years he began making deep-sea voy- ages; and, continuing the study of navigation. at the age of twenty-three he became master of a vessel, the "Rienzi" of Boston. This he sailed until 1861, in which year he suf- fered shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean, losing all of his crew but five, fourteen of the men perishing from starvation. For twenty-eight days they were confined to an open boat on a small allowance of water and provisions, all of which was consumed several days before they touched the coast of Peru. When they landed. not a man could walk a step, and one was in- sensible. After his recovery from the effects of this disaster Captain Seabury took passage on a whaler to Pyta, Peru, whence he went by steamer to Panama, then coming across the Isthmus, and returning by steamer to New York. Having had enough of such advent- ures, he located in Boston and engaged in the jewelry business at 95 Court Street, corner of Hanover. This business he followed subse- quently for twenty-two years, and only retired
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JOHN TURNER.
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from it five years ago because of failing health, which indicated to him the need of a less con- fining occupation. Since then he has been engaged in the real estate business, having an office at 28 School Street. He is a member of Joseph Warren Lodge, F. & A. M., and of the Tremont Temple Church, having been con- nected with the latter for about twenty years. Politically, he is a Republican.
Captain Seabury was married January 1, 1862, to Miss Isabel Morse Alexander, a na- tive of Erving, Mass., and a daughter of For- dyce and Thankful (Peirce) Alexander. Of this union two children have been born - Hat- tie and Minnie Bell. Both are now deceased, the elder, Hattie, dying in infancy, and the younger at the age of twenty years and six months. In 1862 Captain Seabury, without solicitation on his part, received a commission as sailing master in the United States navy, but, owing to ill health, he decided not to go to sea again.
OHN TURNER, senior member of the paving firm of John Turner & Co., Boston, was born in North Salem, Me., January 23, 1827, son of Charles and Eliza (Briggs) Turner. He is a descendant of Humphrey Turner, an Englishman who emigrated in 1628, joining the Plymouth Colony, and about 1633 settled in Scituate.
An carlier representative of the family name in New England was John Turner, who came over in the " Mayflower " in 1620, and whose subsequent history with that of his two sons who accompanied him is briefly recorded, "Died the first winter." A part of the Lebanon cedar chest, said to have been brought over by the ill-fated Pilgrim father, is now in the possession of his namesake, the subject of this sketch, to whom it was pre- sented by Samuel Turner, a descendant of Humphrey in the eighth generation.
Humphrey' Turner was an enterprising and useful citizen. In 1636 he erected a tannery in Scituate. He was married in England, and it is thought that four of his children were born there. Surviving his wife, Lydia Gamer, he died in Scituate in 1673. His
children as named in his will were: John, Joseph, young son John, Daniel, Nathaniel, Thomas; and daughters - Mary Parker (wife of William) and Lydia Doughty (wife of James). All of these except Joseph, we are told, married and had families. John married Mary Brewster, he being the elder of the two thus named, and "young son John," who is second in the line of descent now under con- sideration, married in 1649 Ann James, daughter of William James, a ship-builder, engaged also in the coasting trade and fisher- ies. Japheth3 Turner, eldest child of John2 and Ann, married Hannah Hudson, and re- sided in what was then Duxbury, now Pem- broke, Mass. Their son Joshua, + the next in this ancestral line, born April 9, 1681, mar- ried Mary Perry, and was the father of the third John Turner, born in 1712, who, being of the fifth generation, is here designated John. 5
As "Judge John Turner, a man of strong powers of mind, active, courteous, and correct in business, of unimpeachable integrity," a special paragraph is accorded to John5 Turner in the Turner Genealogy, compiled by Jacob Turner, Esq., published by David Turner, Jr., in 1852: "He was employed in public busi- ness almost constantly during a long and use- ful life, and filled many honorable and re- sponsible offices in his native town of Pembroke and in the county of Plymouth. He was one of the Selectmen, Town Clerk, a Justice of the Peace throughout the State, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and he represented the town many years in the Gen- eral Court. In short, he was one of the most useful, influential, and distinguished men in that vicinity." He lived to the age of eighty- two years, was three times married, and was the father of nine children, all by his first wife, Mary Randall.
His second son, Adam,6 born in 1741, mar- ried. Chloe Bonney on October 18, 1763, and "removed to Maine." His children were: Oliver; Adam, Jr. ; Southworth; Alvin; Mel- zar; Abel: and Betsy, who married Job Bearse.
Oliver,7 son of Adam,6 married Betty Stevens, and was the father of Charles, " named above, of New Salem, Me., and hence grand-
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father of Mr. John Turner, of Boston, whose line has thus been traced.
Charles Turner and his wife, Eliza Briggs, were natives of Maine; and his father, who was a mechanic, spent the latter years of his life in Augusta, that State. His uncle, Gil- man Turner, engineered and supervised as master mechanic the construction of the State arsenal in Augusta, and for over thirty years was superintendent of the Maine State House.
At the age of three years John Turner ac- companied his parents to Sumner, Me., where in his early boyhood he went to school during the summer season, and until he was seven- teen years old attended each winter term. It was his intention to become a teacher, but the death of his mother caused him to change his plans; and, first coming to Boston, he went shortly afterward from this city to Lowell, Mass., where for the succeeding five years he was employed in a woollen-mill operated by the Middlesex Corporation. Re- turning to Boston in 1850, he here served an apprenticeship of four years with Messrs. Gore, Rose & Co., street pavers, and in 1855 was admitted to partnership in the firm. In 1865 he organized the firm of Turner, Kidney & Co., having as associates Messrs. James WV. Kidney, Benjamin F. Reed, Moses H. Libby, and Horatio G. Turner, the last named a resident of Dedham. Mass., and a younger brother of Mr. Turner. Their office, originally located at 31 State Street, was moved to 19 Milk Street, and Mr. Turner was the leading spirit of the concern, which event- ually became known by its present title of John Turner & Co., a dissolution of the for- mer firm having been effected. This firm is now regarded as the leading street paving con- cern in Boston.
Mr. Turner is a director of the Bunker Hill National Bank, a member of the Investment Committee of the Warren Institution for Sav- ings, and a director of the Charlestown Gas and Electric Company. For many years he has resided in Charlestown, and he was a member of the School Board prior to its an- nexation to Boston. He represented Ward Four in the lower branch of the Legislature in 1877 and 1878, and served on the Commit-
tee on Street Railways as its chairman . :: = part of the House. He also served as a me :.:- ber of the Boston Board of Overseers of the Poor for the years 1890, 1891, and 1892. ani was one of the organizers of the Boston Fi- nance Association and its president for :x- years. Mr. Turner has always been a Repas- lican, stanch and true. He is a member .: the Universalist Society, and for many years has been a member of the Standing Commi :- tee and chairman of Committee on the House for Repairs and Alterations. He is active .: interested in charitable and philanthrogis work, being cx-treasurer and at the presen: time president of the Winchester Home :: Aged Women, and is a member of the c ::-
poration and chairman of the Executive Com- mittee of the Hunt Asylum for Destitute Children. In Masonry he has taken forty- two degrees, holding membership in Het :: Price Lodge, F. & A. M., of Charlestown: St. Andrew's R. A. Chapter of Boston: Me .- rose Council, R. & S. Masters, of Matles: and Cœur de Lion Commandery, K. T .. cf Charlestown. He is also a member of Bun- ker Hill Lodge, Bunker Hill Encampmen :: and Canton Patriarchs Militant. I. O. O. F : a member of Bunker Hill, Charlestow -. Lodge, Knights of Honor; a member :: the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic As- sociation and of the Nine Hundred an- Ninety-ninth Artillery Association and the Bunker Hill Monument Association.
On October 7, 1850, Mr. Turner marrie: Mrs. Betsey Knights, of Paris. Me. - children were born to them, namely: Fran- ces Addie, July 5, 1852. who died July 22. 1869; and John Franklin, Aug. 10. 1857 John Franklin Turner became receiving tells: of the Bunker IFill National Bank, and is no v connected with the Warren Institution i : Savings. He married Marietta Houghton. :: Concord, Mass., a daughter of Marcellus ani Catharine (Fogg) Houghton. They have one child, Arthur Franklin, born October 2". ISSo, who is now a student of Harvard C :- lege. After forty-five years of married life Mrs. Betsy Knights Turner died July 1. 1895. mourned by a large number of friends and associates. Mrs. Turner was much inter-
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ested in church work, spending much of her time and her means in furthering benevolent undertakings for the poor and unfortunate, while in her household she was the trusting wife and loving mother. Mr. Turner's only daughter, Frances Addie, was a most beauti- ful character, and under the loving care of her mother had developed the same benevolent and kindly spirit toward the poor. Her sud- den death came as a shock to her many friends, and was a most severe blow to her family.
ENRY HALL, a retired furniture manufacturer of Boston, residing in the Dorchester district, was born in Dorchester, April 9, 1838, a son of Oliver and Eunice (Lyon) Hall. He is seventh in line of descent from Richard Hall, who came to America from England more than two hundred and fifty years ago, his name being on the Dorchester church records under the date 8, I mo., 1644. For a number of years he was one of the Selectmen of Dorches- ter. In the military company he held the rank of Ensign and afterward that of Lieuten- ant. He died June 23, 1691. His youngest son was Joseph, who was baptized in 1674. David, son of Joseph and Silence Hall, born in 1711, married Elizabeth Paul, and was the father of Solomon, born in 1732, who was fourth in this ancestral line, the fifth being his son Solomon, Jr., born in 1768. The younger Solomon Hall married in 1792 Rachel, daugh- · ter of Thomas and Rebecca Glover and widow of Benjamin Holmes. (See Glover Genealogy and the book of Dorchester Births, Marriages, and Deaths. )
The family of Solomon and Rachel Hall consisted of four sons and two daughters : Luther and Elijah, twins, born July 28, 1792; Stephen, born February 1, 1798; Oliver, born February 16, 1800; Mary Nash, born in April, 1794; and Rebecca, born February 29, 1796. Luther and Elijah settled in Machias, Me. ; Mary Nash married Mr. Josiah Myles; and Rebecca married Jonathan Collier, of Dor- chester.
Oliver Hall in his boyhood and youth at-
tended the public schools of Dorchester. After completing his studies he began an ap- prenticeship to the furniture trade; and subse- quently, in 1826, he established himself in business as a furniture manufacturer, in which occupation he continued till 1865, a period of nearly forty years. He then retired, being succeeded by his son, who continued the busi- ness under the style of Oliver Hall & Son. The death of Oliver Hall occurred on October 27, 1890. He took an active interest in local affairs, was Selectman for fifteen years, served as Assessor and also as Town Treasurer, fill- ing these offices from 1840 to 1869, and was also a Representative to the Legislature in 1846 and 1847. He was married in 1826 to Miss Laura Richards. One child born of this union 'is now living - namely, Mrs. Solomon Hall. After the death of his first wife. which occurred November 20, 1832, he married for his second wife Eunice Lyon, a daughter of Samuel B. and Hannah (Melish) Lyon and a native of Dorchester, Mass. She bore him four children, of whom two - Henry and Adlaide -are living. A son named Oliver died at the age of eight years. Mrs. Eunice Hall died December 14, 1843.
Henry Hall was educated in the common and high schools of Dorchester. He then en- tered his father's factory and applied himself to learn the art of furniture manufacture. On attaining his majority, in 1859, he was ad- mitted as a partner in the business, to which he succeeded on his father's retirement in 1865; and he subsequently conducted it till 1892, when it was discontinued. He is a member of Union Lodge, F. & A. M., of which his grandfather, Samuel B. Lyon, was Master. He is also a Royal Arch Mason and a member of Boston Commandery, K. T. He was a member of the Standing Committee ci the First Parish for ten years. He is con- nected with the Massachusetts Charitable As- sociation, having served on the Board of Trus- tees for three years; and he is also a trustee of the Franklin Savings Bank of Boston.
Mr. Hall was married January 10, 1872. to Miss Georgetta Newbury Clark, a daughter of George W. and Mary (Peabody) Clark and a native of Boston. He has four children :
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Henry Lyon, engaged in the leather business, who married Anna G. Brigham; Mary Clark ; Alice Newbury; and Oliver, who is also in the leather business.
EHEMIAH THOMAS MERRITT, for many years a prominent business man of Dorchester, but now retired, was born in Scituate, Mass., July 18, 1824, a son of Nehemiah and Anna (Brown) Merritt. He comes of an old New England family, the first progenitor of which in this country was Henry Merritt, who came from Kent, England, and was one of the early set- tlers of Scituate, Mass. The Colonial records show that Henry Merritt sold land in Scituate in 1628. He died in 1653. John Merritt, "the only son that left posterity here," suc- ceeded to the residence of his father, Henry. John Merritt had three sons - Jonathan, John, and Henry, second. The second Henry was father of Jonathan, who was succeeded in this line by Jonathan, second, who was father of Nehemiah, first, grandfather of Nehemiah Thomas Merritt, of Dorchester.
Nehemiah Merritt, first, of Scituate, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, fighting for American independence. By regular occupa- tion he was a farmer. He married a daughter of Lieutenant Atwood Motte, and had two children, the elder being Nehemiah, second, and the younger, Sophia, who became the wife of Marshall Litchfield. He died at the age of seventy-three years.
Nehemiah Merritt, second, was born in Scit- uate in 1796. He followed the trade of ship- carpenter during his entire active period, and died December 31, 1871, at the age of seventy- five years. His wife, in maidenhood Anna Brown, was a daughter of Benjamin Brown, of Scituate. They had four children, as follows : Anna Brown, now deceased, who was the wife of Stephen N. Stockwell, editor of the Boston Journal ; Nehemiah Thomas, whose name be- gins this sketch; Charles Torrey Merritt, of Boston; and George Washington Merritt, of the firm of Chase, Merritt & Co., of Boston. Mrs. Anna B. Merritt died in January, 1892, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years.
Nehemiah Thomas Merritt was educated in the public schools of Scituate. He came to Boston in 1842, and served an apprenticeship of three years to the ship-joiner's trade, after which he engaged in business for himself in that industry, at first alone and later in con- pany with his brother Charles Torrey, the style of the firm being N. T. & C. T. Merritt. They did an extensive business till 1856. In that year Nathaniel T. Merritt went to Osh- kosh, Wis., where he remained till 1860, and where he was engaged in building a road and bridge besides other public works. He then went to Tennessee and had charge of the con- struction of the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville Railroad till the fall of 1860, when he returned to Boston and resumed his old business as a ship-joiner, having a shop on Commercial Street. He also had charge of building a portion of the Mystic Water Works at Medford, Mass.
About the year 1864 Mr. Merritt engaged in the insurance business, and for some years had the general agency for the New England States of the Knickerbocker Life Insurance Company of New York. In 1871 he was elected vice-president of the Vermont Life Insurance Company of Burlington, Vt. This office he retained, however, only until the fol- lowing year, when he came back to Boston, and, for a time forsaking the insurance busi- ness, established the Canton Journal, which he conducted for about a year. He then resumed the insurance business. He organized and was president of the Union Mutual Benefit Association of Boston, holding that office for fifteen years. In 1883 he was elected Super- intendent of Streets of Boston.
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