Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 16

Author:
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Boston, Graves & Steinbarger
Number of Pages: 924

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In 1849 he was made a Free Mason in Mount Tabor Lodge, of which he is still a member. He belongs to Mystic Chapter, R. A. M., of which he is a charter member. He is also a charter member of Gethsemane Commandery, K. T., and of Medford Council, R. and S. M., and a member of the Massachusetts Consistory, Scottish rite. He is a Past Master of Mount Hermon Lodge, Medford, and of Satuit Lodge of Scituate, and is Past High Priest of Mystic Chapter of Medford. He belongs likewise to the Dorchester Yacht Club.

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On July 24, 1851, Mr. Merritt was united in marriage with Miss Mary Elizabeth Fred- erick, a daughter of William and Mary Swett (Derby) Frederick. Her father was a promi- nent merchant of Belfast, Me. Mr. and Mrs. Merritt have three children, namely : William Frederick, an attorney of Boston, a separate sketch of whom may be found below; Nehe- miab Thomas, Jr., also an attorney, in partner- ship with his brother William Frederick and clerk of the Dorchester municipal court; and Mary Anna, wife of William W. McNaught, of Boston.

WILLIAM FREDERICK MERRITT, of the firm of Merritt & Merritt, attorneys of Boston, was born in Belfast, Me., January 10, 1853, the elder son of Nehemiah Thomas Merritt, sub- ject of the preceding sketch. He received his general education in the public schools of Bos- ton and Medford, Mass., and at the University of Vermont. After completing his course in the last-named institution, he came to Boston and began the study of his profession in the office of the llon. H. G. Hutchins. He was admitted to. the bar July 6, 1874, and subse- quently remained associated with his preceptor until the latter's death in 1887. In ISSI he formed a partnership with his brother Nehe- miah Thomas, Jr., under the firm name of Merritt & Merritt, and they have since built up a large practice. He was elected a mem- her of the Boston School Committee in i898 for a term of three years, and now, in 1900, is chairman of the Committee on New Build- ings. Politically, he is a Democrat.

N. THOMAS MERRITT, Jr., of the firm of Merritt & Merritt, attorneys, was born August 21, 1859, the younger son of Nehemiah Thomas Merritt, a sketch of whom appears on a preceding page of this volume. He was educated in the schools of Boston and Medford, heing graduated at the Boston Latin School in 1877. He studied his profession with his brother William Frederick, and was admitted to the bar in 18SI, after which he formed a partnership with his brother, as elsewhere recorded. In IS85 he was appointed by Gov- ernor Robinson as clerk of the municipal

court of the Dorchester district. He was re- appointed in 1890 by Governor Brackett, again in 1895 by Governor Greenhalge, and is still serving. He is a member of various Dorches- ter clubs and other select social organizations.

EV. CHARLES ALVA CRANE, pastor of the Saratoga Street Meth- odist Episcopal Church, East Boston, was born in Quincy, Ill., November 16, 1853, a son of James Lyon and Elizabeth (Mayo) Crane.

James Lyon Crane was born at Mount Eaton, Wayne County, Ohio, August 30, 1823. He was educated at the Paris (1]1.) Seminary, and became a Methodist preacher, serving for thirty-three years in the Illinois Conference. Ile was Chaplain of the regi- ment of which Ulysses S. Grant was Colonel ; and, after Grant's accession to the Presidency of the United States, he received the appoint- ment of Postmaster of Springfield, Ill., which position he held for eight years, or during Grant's two administrations. He spent his last days at Shelbyville, Ill., where he died July 29, 1879. His wife, Elizabeth, who was a native of Paris, Ill., and a daughter of Jona- than Mayo, of that place, bore him nine chil- dren, of whom six are now living, namely : Dr. William W. Crane, of Sinclair, Ill. ; Charles Alva, the subject of this sketch; Jon- athan M. and James P., both residents of Chi- cago, Ill. ; the Rev. Frank Crane, D. D., also of that city; and Caroline, wife of Frank HI. Tilton, M. D., of East Boston, Mass. The mother, Mrs. Elizabeth M. Crane, died on September 29, 1899.

Charles Alva Crane was educated at the North-western University, Evanston, Ill., and ordained as a minister of the Methodist Epis- copal church. He was a Deacon of the Illinois Conference in IS81, and became an Elder in 1883. His first appointment as pastor was on the Whitehall circuit, Illinois, where he re- mained for one year. This was followed by a two years' pastorate at Alexandria, Ill., after which he served for three years at Whitehall. Ile was then assigned to Bridgetown, 111., where he remained for two years; and he sub-

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sequently filled an acceptable pastorate of two years at Hillsboro, Ill. From Hillsboro he went to Clinton, Ill., where he remained for one year. This was followed by a five years' pastorate at Danville, Ill., from which city he went to Colorado Springs, where he was pastor of the First Methodist church for three years. In 1897 he settled in East Boston as pastor of the Saratoga Street Methodist Episcopal Church, which position he has since filled very acceptably to the members of the congrega- tion. Earnestly devoted to the cause of relig- ion and the upbuilding of the Master's king. dom, and possessing an ample share of pulpit eloquence, he has been a power for good in his present as in his former pastorates ; and, as he has not long passed the meridian of life, it may well be hoped that he has many years of active and useful service before him. He belongs to several fraternal and secret socie- ties, including the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, and the Modern Woodmen of America.

Mr. Crane was married in 1886 to Sallie Hitt, daughter of Captain H. W. Hitt, of Jacksonville, Ill. Mr. and Mrs. Crane have two children - Charlotte B. and Henry Hitt.

APTAIN OBED RUSSELL BUNKER, of Nantucket, a veteran mariner, is one of the last of the old whaling skippers who gathered wealth and fame for Nantucket in the early and middle part of the present century. Son of Owen and Phebe (Gardner) Bunker, he was born on the island, January 17, 1815.

As shown by the following list of ancestral names preceding his own, each with a super- scribed numeral showing its generation, he is seventh in lineal descent from George Bunker, first, of Topsfield, Mass., who married Jane Godfrey -- George,' William, ? George, 3 John, + George,5 Owen,6 Obed Russell.7 George Bunker, first, was drowned in May, 1658; and his widow afterward became the second wife of Richard Swain, and came with him and her children, including a son William, to Nan- tucket. Here William Bunker married Mary Macy, daughter of Thomas Macy. The second

George, son of William, married Deborah Coffin; and their son John, great-grandfather of Captain O. R. Bunker, married and lived in Nantucket. John Bunker's son George com- manded vessels in both the whaling and mer- chant services. He lived to the advanced age of eighty-seven years; and his wife, whose maiden name was Phebe Barnard, attained the age of ninety-three.

Owen, son of George and P'hebe (Barnard) Bunker, began a sailor's life at the age of six- teen years, and was on board of the first vessel from Nantucket to round Cape Horn. This was in 1791; and the vessel, touching at Callao, hoisted there the stars and stripes, the first time they had been displayed at that port. After many years in the merchant service as sailor and as commander, sailing from New York, Owen Bunker died in Sutton, Mass., at the age of eighty-nine and was buried in Nan- tucket. His wife, Phebe Gardner, who was a native of Nantucket and a daughter of Stephen and Christina (Swain) Gardner, lived to be ninety-one years old.

Obed R. Bunker was one of eight children reared by his parents. He began to follow the sea at the age of thirteen, his first voyages being made in the coasting trade between Nan- tucket and New York. Subsequently he en- tered the whaling service, and at the age of twenty-seven was made commander of the ship "Constitution," engaged in that service. In this vessel, in 1842, he made the first success- ful exit from the harbor with the aid of camels, a camel in this sense being a water- tight contrivance for floating ships over the bar. He sailed in the "Constitution" for twenty years, during nine of which he was master. Later he commanded the "Reindeer," of Boston; and in this ship in 1853 he made a voyage to California. Subsequently he made another voyage in the same vessel from Boston to San Francisco, thence to the Chincha Islands, where they loaded with guano, and thence to Valencia, Spain, where they un- loaded. From Valencia they returned to New York in ballast. From New York they sailed with a cargo for San Francisco, and then, un- loading, proceeded to Manila, where they loaded with hemp and sugar, and returned to

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Boston. Captain Bunker then resumed whal- ing, which occupation he followed till 1863. In that year he retired from the sea, and has since resided in Nantucket. Though eighty- five years old and nearly blind, he is still hale and hearty, and can spin many a yarn of events in his former adventurous career, interesting alike to young and old.

Ile married in 1847 Emily A. Morton, who was born in Nantucket, a daughter of Martin T. and Mary (Carey) Morton, and who died in 1888. Captain and Mrs. Bunker had two children, both of whom, however, died in infancy.

ENRY HARRISON SAVAGE was born at North Bridgton, Me., Sep- tember 12, 1839, son of Abram Mantor and Mary Haywood (Cole- man) Savage. His paternal grandfather was Jacob Savage, of North Anson, Me.

Abram M. Savage was born at North Anson, Me., in 1797. He was a music teacher in the State of Maine for half a century. His latter years were spent at the home of his son Henry H., in Greenwood, Mass., where he died at the age of eighty. His wife, Mary, was a daughter of Captain John Haywood, who was born at Acton, Mass., in 1740, and who was Lieutenant of the Aeton company of which Captain Isaac Davis was commander. In Eaton's "Memorial Volume of Ancient Read- ing" appears the following : -

"At daybreak on the memorable day, April 19, 1775, the startling news reached Acton that the British regulars were on their way to Concord. Captain Davis was directed to arouse his men and rendezvous the troops at the old North Bridge at Concord. On their arrival they saw the British on the other side of the river with intent to guard the bridge and prevent the provincials from entering the town. The British discharged a volley, and Captain Davis fell dead. Lieutenant Haywood promptly took command of the company, and, waving on high his sword, led his excited men against the foe. Haywood was the first man of all that column to spring upon the bridge. The British took precipitate flight, and Ilay-

wood and his men pressed them in flank and rear, driving them on toward Boston. So dar- ing was his act in springing foremost upon the bridge, it is said that British officers confessed that it awed them into admiration of his bra- very, and saved his life. Again with uplifted sword Lieutenant Haywood led his Acton men up the slopes of Bunker Hill; and later he is found with sword in hand at White Plains, at Trenton, at Monmouth, at other notable bat- tles of the war. On August 1, 1781, six years after the battle of Concord Bridge, Licu- tenant Haywood received a commission as Captain, signed in the bold handwriting of John Hancock, Governor of Massachusetts. "

Henry H. Savage, the direct subject of this sketch, after attending the district school at North Bridgton, Me., was engaged in tilling the soil till 1861. He then went to South Waterford, Me., where he was employed in a grocery store for some three years. In 1865, two years after his marriage, he came to Mas- sachusetts, and settling in Cambridge re- mained there for one year. He then removed to Greenwood in the town of Wakefield, where he still resides. Upon taking up his abode in Greenwood, Mr. Savage saw at once the oppor - tunities for its development, of which he pre- pared to take advantage. It was largely through his influence that the property known as Greenwood Park was put upon the market. This enterprise in the last few years has added about two hundred houses to the village, be- sides giving an impetus to the erection of buildings in other parts of the village and town. Mr. Savage is also engaged in develop- ing unproductive lands outside the town limits, and is largely interested in other real estate enterprises. In Boston he carries on the business of a merchandise broker. He has been president since their organization of the Boston Land Improvement Company, which has a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and of the New England Land Improvement Company, capitalized at two hundred thousand dollars. These two companies are operating in eight different States, opening and improving large tracts of land, and erecting buildings thereon. Mr. Savage is an able business man, con- stantly engaged in looking after one or another

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of his many business ventures, but still find- ing time to take an active interest in all that tends to advance the moral or material welfare of his adopted village and town, and giving liberally of his time and money to every worthy local enterprise or movement for the public good. He has served the town two years on the Board of Assessors, and has been for two years chairman on the Board of Select- men. He has been a member of the Standing Committee of the First Congregational Church of Greenwood from the time of its formation in 1873, and for the last sixteen years has served as chairman. He belongs to Golden Rule Lodge, F. & A. M., at Wakefield; Reading Chapter, R. A. M. ; and Hugh de Payens Commandery, K. T., of Melrose; and has passed through the degrees of Scottish Rite, being a thirty-second degree Mason.

Mr. Savage was married April 30, 1863, to Abbie Francis Young, daughter of Moses and Sarah Parker (Stone) Young, of South Water- ford, Me. Their children are: Henry Walter, born in Waterford, Me., August 4, 1864; Eugene Wilfred, born in Cambridge, March 17, 1866; and Cora Francis, born in Green- wood. The first-named, Henry W., married on April 10, ISS9, Jennie M. Lee, daughter of William H. and Etta M. Lee, of Green- wood, Mass. Eugene' \V. married October II, 1893, Miss Mae Perkins, of Wakefield, Mass. Cora Francis on October 3, 1894, be- came the wife of C. Ernest Sanford, of Fall River, Mass. She has one son, Clayton Girard Sanford.

OHN CARR, president of the First Na- tional Bank of Boston and also of the Eliot Five Cents Savings Bank of Rox- bury (Boston), was born in Antrim, N.H., August 19, 1828, the eldest child of Jonathan and Annis . (Dinsmoor) Carr. His grandfather, John Carr, second, was one of the early settlers of Antrim, N. H., and the family records or traditions represent him as having been one of the three sons of John and Isabella (Walker) Carr, of Londonderry, N. H., his brothers being James and David. A James Carr, brother of John of London-

derry, was killed by the Indians in what is now the town of Bow, N. H., in 1748. John Carr, second, familiarly known as "Uncle." settled in Antrim, N. H., about 1780, taking up a farm and devoting himself to agriculture. He married Susan Shackford, of Newbury- port, Mass., who died in 1786, at the early age of twenty-seven years, leaving three chil- dren. He subsequently married for his second wife Chloe Hixon, of Sharon. Mass .. who died in 1856, having borne him seven children ; namely, Samuel, Isabella. Naomi. Jonathan, Margaret, Tristram, and Lev: Shackford. John Carr, second, died in 1822. at the age of sixty-three years. He was a prosperous farmer and a man highly respected.

Jonathan Carr, who was his father's seventh child and the fourth by the second wife, was born in Antrim, N. H., in the year 1800. In course of time he inherited the home farm. which he carried on as his father had done be- fore him. He was prominent in local affairs. and served as Selectman and in other towa offices. Though in his earlier years a Demo- crat, he voted for General Fremont. "The Pathfinder," in the campaign of 1856. He married Annis Dinsmoor. who was born in October, 1800, a daughter of Samuel and Mary (Park) Dinsmoor, of Antrim.

Her father was born in Windham, N. H., August 10, 1757, and was a son of John. a native of Ireland, born February 22, 1721. This John Dinsmoor married Martha. daugh- ter of Justice James McKeen, of Londonderry. He was a farmer by occupation, and was one of the leading men of the town, serving as Town Clerk, Moderator at town meetings. Selectman, delegate to the Provincial Con- gress at Exeter in 1775, and as a Justice of the Peace. He was an Elder in the Presby- terian church. He was a son of Robert Dins- moor, born in 1692, who died at Windham. October 14, 1754. This Robert came to America in 1730 with his wife, Margaret Orr. and four children. He was a son of John Dinsmoor, first, a native of Scotland, who settled in County Antrin, Ireland, and subse- quently came to America, landing at a fort on the islands called "The Georges," off the coast of Maine. This early progenitor of the

JOHN CARR.

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Dinsmoor family began the erection of a house on the coast, and was engaged in shin- gling it when he was taken captive by the Indians. He contrived, however, by making himself useful, to gain the favor of the chief of the tribe, and finally escaped, and, after enduring many hardships and privations, and nearly perishing from hunger, found his way back to the fort. Thence he took passage to Boston, and from Boston proceeded to visit a party of Scotch-Irish who had settled in that part of Rockingham County, New Hampshire, now called Derry. There he found some of his old friends and neighbors from London- derry, Ireland; and, as an inducement to him to settle there, the proprietor of the settle- ment gave him sixty acres of land, and sent to Ireland for his wife and children, the latter two in number, Robert and Elizabeth. He died in 1741.

Samuel Dinsmoor, son of. John and Martha (McKeen) Dinsmoor and maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Windham, August 10, 1757. He served three years in the American army during the Revolutionary War. He erected saw and grist mills on the site now known as Loverin Mills, and was a member of the commission to build the first church in the town of An- trim. He was one of the Selectmen of the town in the year 1788 and 1789, and was Moderator at town meeting in 1799, the year marked by the death of Washington. IIe died October 31, 1822, at the age of sixty-five years. His second wife, Mary Park, of Windham, whom he married June 6, 1793, survived him twenty-six years, dying August 16, 1848. He was a cousin of the Hon. Sam- uel Dinsmoor, who was Governor of New Hampshire from June, 1831, to June, 1834, and whose son Samuel was Governor from June, 1849, to June, 1852. The family of which he was a worthy representative is one of the foremost among the distinguished fam- ilies of New Hampshire.

Mrs. Annis Dinsmoor Carr died in 1844, and Jonathan Carr married in 1846 Jane M. Gregg. He died in 1858, leaving one son, John, the subject of this sketch. His younger son, Samuel D., died in 1853, at the

age of twenty-one; and three daughters, Mary A., Adeline, and Caroline -died in young maidenhood.

John Carr, third, whose name begins this sketch, was brought up on his father's farm, where he remained till reaching the age of seventeen years; and his education was ob- tained in the schools of his native town of Antrim. He then came to Boston, and for two years was employed as clerk in the gro- cery store of A. G. Wyman. Subsequently he worked for a while in Faneuil Hall Market, and still later in the Watchman and Reflector office. In 1851 he entered the Blackstone Bank as messenger, and soon afterward was advanced to the position of teller. He remained there till 1856, when he resigned and went to Cedar Rapids, Ia., where he was engaged in the banking busi- ness till 1857. Then returning to Boston, he became teller of the Safety Fund Bank, which was subsequently merged into the First Na- tional Bank, of which he was elected cashier in 1864. This position he held till 1881, in which year he was made president of the bank. As already stated, he is also president of the Eliot Five Cents Savings Bank in Roxbury.

Mr. Carr was married on September 4, 1862, to Miss Augusta Lydia Eaton, of Bos- ton, a daughter of Ezra and Martha ( Learn- ard) Eaton, natives of Reading, Mass. ller father is said to have been of the sixth genera- tion in descent from Jonas Eaton Mr. and Mrs. Carr are the parents of two children : Walter Dinsmoor, deceased (second child) ; and Albert Eaton, who is a member of the firmi of David Randall & Co., oil commission merchants, and married Annic Ella Fisher, of Boston, daughter of Henry S. and Lydia M. (Boynton) Fisher. They have two children : Gladys Fisher, born July 27, 1891 ; and Walter Dinsmoor, born September 8, 1894.

Mr. John Carr is a Deacon of the Dudley Street Baptist Church. Politically, he is a Republican, although his first Presidential vote was cast for his neighbor, Franklin Pierce. He is prominent in Masonic circles, being treasurer of the Grand Lodge of Massa- chusetts, and also belongs to Washington

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Lodge, F. & A. M., of which he is a Past Master; Mount Vernon Chapter, R. A. M. ; Roxbury Council, R. S. M .; and Joseph Warren Commandery of K. T., of which he is a Past Commander.

ILLIAM SPAFARD BIRGE, M. D., a well-known physician and promi- nent citizen of Provincetown, Barn- stable County, was born at Cooperstown, N. Y., June 19, 1857, son of Delos Luther and Amy A. (Spafard) Birge. His great-grandfather Birge, who was a native of Litchfield County, Connecticut, and of English ancestry, was an early settler of Otsego County, New York.

James Birge, the grandfather of Dr. Birge, was born, it is thought, in Otsego County. He followed the occupation of farming until 1849, when, infected by the then prevalent gold fever, he, with a party of others, went to California via the Isthmus of Panama, pur- chasing on the Pacific side thereof a brig, in which they made the latter part of their jour- ney to San Francisco. He died in that city, then a village of tents, about two years later. His wife survived him many years, passing away in the town of Westford, Otsego County, N. Y., at the age of eighty-five. When sev- enty-five years old she met with an accident that necessitated the amputation of one of her legs; but she, nevertheless, passed the last ten years of her life in comfort. She reared six children - Harvey, Urelius, Johnson, Delos L., Ada, and Flora.

Delos Luther Birge was born in the town of Westford, Otsego County, N. Y., in August, 1827. For a number of years he was engaged in the clothing business in Cooperstown, in the same county (the home of Fenimore Cooper, the novelist), as proprietor of the Iron-clad Clothing House. He is still a resident of Cooperstown, though now retired from active business life. His wife, mother of Dr. Birge, was in maidenhood Amy A. Spafard. She was born in the town of Pittsfield, Otsego County, N. Y., her parents being Ransom and Jerusha (IIall) Spafard, both natives of that county.

William S. Birge was educated in the public

schools of Cooperstown and at the University of New York, which he attended for two years. At the age of nineteen he began the study of medicine at the University of Syracuse, at- tending one course of lectures. The next year he spent in the Long Island Hospital, and then entered the medical department of the Uni- versity of New York, where three years later, in 1881, he was graduated. After practising for a few months in Cooperstown, he came to the Cape, and, locating himself at Truro, re- mained there for two years. In 1884 he came to Provincetown, and has since been engaged in the active practice of his profession here. A close student, he has spent a part of several winters at the Polyclinic Hospital of New York, the. Post-graduate Hospital of New York, the New York Eye and Ear Hospi- tal, and the hospital at Philadelphia, Pa., studying diseases of the car, nose, and throat, with a view of becoming a specialist in that department of medicine. In that direction he is already well advanced. He is president of the Barnstable branch of the Massachusetts Medical Society and a member of the Massa- chusetts Medico Legal Society, and he holds the position of Health Officer of the port of Provincetown, also Acting Assistant Sur- geon United States Marine Hospital Service. His secret society affiliations are with King Hiram Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Joseph Warren Chapter, R. A. M., and Mayflower Council, R. A. ; and for many years he has been physician to St. Peter's Portuguese Society of Province- town.

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Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 16

Author: Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Boston, Graves & Steinbarger Number of Pages: 924

Author:
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Boston, Graves & Steinbarger
Number of Pages: 924