Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 2

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

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Frederick Clapp, the third son, born on the old Clapp homestead, was a tanner by trade, and was also engaged in farming and fruit- raising, which latter industry he followed ex- tensively for many years. He was a life member of the Horticultural Society, and served on the Prize Committee. He married Martha M. Blake, daughter of Jonathan Blake,. of Warwick, Mass., May 17, 1840, and they had five children, namely: Julia Elizabeth, born June 21, 1841 ; Frederick William, born October 10, 1843, died in infancy; Frederic Augustus, born October 11, 1845, died No- vember 11, 1874; Edward Blake, born March 11, 1851; Mary Louisa, born February 9, 1854. Mrs. Martha M. Clapp died January 28, 1895, having survived her husband twenty years. They both belonged to the Meeting House Hill Unitarian Church.

Lemuel Clapp, younger brother of Thad- deus and Frederick and the special subject of this biographical sketch, was educated in the

public schools of Dorchester, and after leaving school became associated with his father in the management of the estate. Subsequently he engaged in fruit-growing, and he planted with his own hand the seed from which the "Clapp's Favorite " pear was raised. Ile re- sided during his entire life in the house in which he was born, which was built by Will- iam Clapp in 1806, and stood on a part of the old Clapp estate. In connection with his brothers he laid out a number of streets in Dorchester, among them being Mount Vernon Street and Dorset Street. It was partly through his influence that the straightening cf Boston Street in 1876 was accomplished. He was much interested in local history, and was well informed on the subject. The last sur- vivor of the family of nine children, he died on June 15, ISS3. He was united in mar- riage on June 9, 1840, with Charlotte Tuttle, daughter of Charles and Sarah Ann (Austin ) Tuttle, of Boston, and a descendant of some of the early colonists, the founder of the Tuttle family coming to this country in 1635. Lem- nel and Charlotte T. Clapp had five children. of whom the following is a brief record : -

Rebecca Dexter Clapp, the eldest. born May 9, IS41, died March 6, 1865. William Channing Clapp, born August 31, 1843, is a member of the real estate firm of Holbrook & Co., Boston. He was married June 19. 1867, to Miss Martha A. Kingman, and has three children: Frank Lemuel, born June 2, 1871 ; Sidney Kingman, born January 8, 1873; and Arthur Channing, born May 20. 1879.

Elizabeth Humphreys Clapp, born Novem- ber 16, 1845, died June 28, 1849.

Sarah Austin, born February 18, 1848, mar- ried on June 9, 1873, Mr. Samuel A. Cushing. Jr., a representative of the Hingham family of that name. They have two sons: Austin Andrews - born March 9, 1874, who married Miss Inez Gray, and has one child, Matthew Cushing, born May 16, 1899 -and Robert Parsons, born in June, 1877.

James Humphreys Clapp, the fifth child. born October 18, 1851, was educated in the public schools of Dorchester and graduated at the high school. He has given his time to the care of the estate, of which since his

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father's death he has had charge. He is a member of the Channing Club of Boston, a life member of the Horticultural Society, and a member of the Massachusetts Forestry As- sociation. He also belongs to the Dorchester Historical Society and the Dorchester Im- provement Association. Politically, he is a Republican.

Mrs. Charlotte Tuttle Clapp is still living, and at the age of eighty-one years retains her mental and physical powers to a remarkable degrce.

ON. LEVI SWANTON GOULD, first Mayor of Melrose and chairman of the Board of County Commis- sioners for Middlesex County, was born at Dixmont, Me., March 27, 1834, son of Levi and Elizabeth W. (Whitmore) Gould. His first progenitor in this country was John Gould, a native of England, who arrived in the "Defence" from London in 1635, and was admitted a freeman in the Massachusetts Col- ony in 1638. John Gould took up his resi- dence at Charlestown, and afterward moved to the northern part thereof, which later became the towy of Stoneham. He was a trooper in King Filip's War. He died in 1690. His first wi e, Mary, died in 1642; and his second wife, Joanna, survived him, dying in 1697, after having rounded out a full century of exist- ence.

Daniel Gould, son of John, was born at Stoneham, Mass., about the year 1653. He married Dorcas Belcher; and their son David, born in Stoneham in 1691, married Elizabeth Green, of Malden. He was a member of the church in Stoncham from its formation until his death in 1760.

The next in line of descent was Jacob Gould, who was born October 14, 1726, and died in 1801. He married Elizabeth Holden, of Stoncham. He was a minute-man of the Rev- olution, and served at Lexington and Bunker Hill in Captain Sprague's company.

Jacob's son Thomas, born in Stoncham in 1761, married Hannah Hill. He was a man of property, and resided at the head of Spot Pond. His death occurred in 1835.

Levi, son of Thomas and Hannah Gosti an. father of the subject of this sketch, was b. r. in the year 1800. He was graduated at the Medical School of Maine connected with. Boy- doin College in 1831, and practised his = ..... sion in Dixmont, Wilmington, Lincoln. an : North Malden, now Melrose. A hiss -= t :::: Christian gentleman, he was greatly esteems. by all who knew him. His death tok : lacs on January 6, 1850. He married Elizate. Webb Whitmore, of Brunswick, Me .. ==== 30, 1831. They had six children, name !.

Levi S., whose nativity has been already :- James Creighton, born August 22, 183. ani still living; Edwin Carter, of whom a serata :: sketch appears on another page of this v.lume . Annie Elizabeth, born January 22. 18=3. w.b. died June 5, 1892; Mary Miranda, b .: s Oc- tober 15, 1846, who died July 25, 184 ;; and Charles Whitmore, born June 14, 18:3. wh died August 15, 1849.

The mother, Elizabeth Webb Wiltmore Gould, was a descendant in the seventh rerer- ation of John Whitmore, first, who was a re -.- dent of Wethersfield in 1639, and who wa: killed by Indians in 1640.

Francis Whitmore, son of John, 3in i= 1625, married Isabel, daughter of Richar: Park, of Cambridge, who was supposed to be a son of Henry Park, a merchant of Linin. She was one of six children. Francis Wh ::- more lived at Cambridge, and was one : :: : Selectmen of that town. He was a tro per : King Philip's War.

John Whitmore, son of Francis and Isabel. born at Cambridge in October, 1654, sas ca: of the earliest settlers of Medford. first wife, Rachel, daughter of Francis Eli c and the widow of John Poulter, of Cambridge. he had three children. For his second wife he married Rebecca Cutter.

John Whitmore, Jr., the next in The ci descent, was born August 27, 1683, and die: March 26, 1753. He owned much property is Medford, and his name appears in the church records. He had six children.

His son Francis, born October 4. 1;14. married Mary Hall, January 1, 1737. removed from Medford to Bath. M: . 1740, and was engaged until his death in.

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ping masts for the royal navy. He and his wife, Mary, were the parents of eight children, one of whom was John Whitmore, who was born at Bath, Me., March 25, 1754. He was a pilot on the Kennebec River, and lost his hite while following his occupation. He mar- tied Huldah Crooker, April 12, 1781, and they had twelve children, one of whom was Eliza- beth, the mother of the subject of this sketch.

When Levi Swanton Gould was nine months old!, his father returned with his family to Stoncham, Mass., from which place, after a short residence, they removed to Wilmington, thence to Lincoln, and thence in 1843 to Mel- rose, which at that time was known as North Malden. Levi received his education in the school's of Melrose, including Wait's Acad- emy, then conducted by Professor Wait, the litter and his wife both being noted teachers. After leaving school he learned the shoemaker's trade, at which he worked in Melrose until he was eighteen years of age. Then, after a short time spent in a drug store at Woburn, Mass., he found employment in a wholesale store in Boston, where he worked for several years. In 1857 he went to St. Louis, Mo., being engaged as book-keeper in a large drug store. On the breaking out of the Civil War he returned to Melrose, and shortly afterward received through the Hon. S. P. Chase the offer of a position in the United States Treas- ury, which he accepted. After performing the duties of this office for two years he re- -igned it, and, returning home, engaged in the furniture business in Boston with the F. M. Holmes Furniture Company on Washington Street, later on Tremont Street. With this firm, of which he had become senior partner on the death of Mr. Holmes, he remained until 1887, after which he began to give his atten- tion more to public affairs.

For some time he was connected with the water-works department of Melrose, then, in 1896, he was elected County Commissioner, and has since remained a member of the board, being now, as already stated, its chairman. Hle served on the Board of Selectmen of Mel- rose as early as 1869, and was subsequently re-elected, and served for eight years as chair- man of that board, resigning the position in

1893. In 1868 he was elected to the Legis- lature to represent Melrose, Wakefield, and Stoneham; and, being re-elected in 1869, he served on the Committee on Mercantile Affairs for both years. While acting on that commit- tee he secured a charter for a railroad to con- nect the South Reading branch of the Boston & Maine Railroad with the Saugus Branch of the Eastern Railroad, with the object of estab- lishing direct communication between Salem and Boston via the Eastern Railroad. This road, had it been built, would have greatly benefited the towns of Melrose, Wakefield, and Malden. The Boston & Maine Railroad, however, exerted its power to crush the scheme. The charter disappeared, and one of the incorporators became director of the Boston & Maine Railroad. In 1869 Mr. Gould ob- tained the passage of an act that practically resulted in the construction of the water-works of Melrose, Malden, and Medford. He has also in other ways exerted a direct and benefi- cial influence on county affairs since he be- came County Commissioner. For a period of over thirty years without a break he has served as moderator at the annual town meetings, being first elected in 1865, and serving by election and re-election at one hundred and eight town meetings and one hundred and seven adjourned meetings, making a total of two hundred and fifteen.

Mr. Gould is identified with nearly all the social clubs of Melrose. He is a member of Wyoming Lodge, F. & A. M., in which he was elected Master in 1863 and 1864, and again for two terms twenty years later; mem- ber of Waverley Chapter, R. A. M., of Mel- rose, of which he is Principal Sojourner; and a member of Hugh de Payens Commandery, K. T., of Melrose, of which he is Prelate. He also belongs to Fordell Lodge, No. 115, Knights of Pythias, being a Past Chancellor thereof. He is associated with the Melrose Orthodox Society (Congregational), and also takes a great interest in the Y. M. C. A., which he shows in a practical way by contrib- uting to its support.

Mr. Gould is the author of a work entitled "The Origin and Present Condition of Free- masonry in Melrose, " a copy of which was

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deposited in the corner-stone of the Masonic edifice at Melrose, June 25, 1866. In July and October, 1876, he contributed to Wallace's Monthly two articles well worthy of a place in the literature of the horse, wherein he settled a long-continued controversy concerning the celebrated imported horse, Bellfounder. The information it contained was afterward em- bodied in Mr. H. T. Helme's standard work on American roadsters and trotting horses, issued in 1878, as was also his information concerning the noted stallion, Winthrop Morrill.

Mr. Gould was married February 23, 1860, to Mary Eliza, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Vose) Payne, of Boston. He has two chil- dren : Mary Pearl, born September 5, 1862, now Mrs. Frederic L. Putnam, residing in Melrose; and Annie Elizabeth, born April 30, 1866, who married Joseph Remick, and has one child, Joseph Gould Remick, born Septem- ber 4, 1897.

OSHUA MERRILL, of South Boston, who may well be called the father of the oil industry in the United States, was born at Duxbury, Mass., October 6, 1828, son of the Rev. Abraham Dow and Nancy (Morrison) Merrill. His paternal grandfather was Major Joshua Merrill, of Salem, N. H., who fought against the British in the War of 1812. Major Joshua Merrill and his wife, whose maiden name was Mehit- able Dow, and who was from Plaisted, N. H., were the parents of four children, two daugh- ters and two sons.

Abraham Dow Merrill, their second child, was born in Salem, N. H., March 7, 1796. llis youth was spent on the farm in agricultu- ral labor; but, having a natural taste and talent for music, he occupied his spare mo- ments in the study and practice of that art ; and he taught vocal music for some time in his carly manhood. Converted, through the influ- ence of his wife, to a saving knowledge of the gospel, he turned his attention to religious matters, and in less than a year from that time began to preach. His musical ability proved of great use to him in his sacred calling, and

he was revered and loved as a spiritual father by many of the best citizens throughout New England. In all the manifold relations of husband, father, friend, citizen, and pastor he acquitted himself excellently, and proved himself as worthy an exemplar of the Christian doctrines as he was an able expounder. Sta- tioned at Landaff, N. H., in 1822, his itinerary at different times extended all over New England ; and he continued to preach until his death, which occurred April 29, 1878. He married Febru- ary 14, 1817, Nancy Morrison, a native of Windham, N. H., who was born August 17, 1796, daughter of Robert and Eunice (Dow) Morrison. Her parents had twelve children, of whom she was the seventh in order of birth. The Rev. Abraham and Mrs. Merrill had six children, three of whom are now living, namely : Jacob Sanborn, born September 23, 1814, who married Harriet D. Barnes; Will- iam Bramwell, born August 15, 1827, who married Mary Bradford Dyer, a lineal descend- ant of Governor Bradford; and Joshua, whose name begins this sketch. The others were : Martha M., who married Richardson Allen, and died May 13, 1850; John Milton, born December 15, 1819, who . married Mary B. I'. Hills, and died at the age of sixty-three years; and Abraham Hedding, born July 4, 1834, who married Martha A. B. Forbes, December 21, 1851, and died in March, 1898.

Joshua Merrill completed his education in the high school of Lowell, Mass. At the age of fifteen he left home and school to go to Bos- ton, where he entered the employ of his elder brother, who was engaged in the manufacture of paper-hangings. In 1853 he undertook the sale of the lubricating oil then manufactured by the United States Chemical Manufacturing Company, of Waltham, Mass. ; and in the fol- lowing year he entered into an engagement with the late Samuel Downer, who had ac- quired the proprietary rights of the Chemical Company's business, which included the man- ufacture of the article known as coup oil, a substance derived from the distillation of coal- tar obtained in the manufacture of gas. Mr. Merrill disposed of this article for a number of years, or till 1856, to the proprietors of the New England cotton-mills. He then went to

Bestia Merrill

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Europe to engage in the manufacture of that and other oils, and while there assisted in the erection of a factory for George Miller & Co., of Glasgow, Scotland. After a stay of one year in Europe he returned to America, and began a series of experiments in the manufact- ure of kerosene oil and other products of coal distillation, at the Downer Kerosene Oil Com- pany's works in South Boston, which were continued during the ensuing year with vary- ing success. At length, after lavish expendi- ture, amounting to upwards of one hundred thousand dollars, he and his associates so far succeeded in perfecting the apparatus and man- ufacturing process that good merchantable oils, both illuminating and lubricating, were pro- duced from 1857 to 1868, a period of eleven years. Mr. Merrill, however, still felt the · need of a better lubricating oil than they had up to that time manufactured; and he bent his powerful inventive genius to its production. Many experiments were made, and failed to accomplish the desired result. Still, they were so far of use that they resulted in such an improvement of the company's product that their oils enjoyed the highest reputation and commanded the highest prices of any in the market.

In 1867 Mr. Merrill was led by an accident that happened to one of the distilling vessels to pursue an entirely new and untried plan of manufacture, the operation being arranged to distil the oil at so low a temperature that the partial decomposition which usually takes place in the distillation of oils at a high tem- perature might be avoided. The results of this process were so satisfactory that in 1869 Mr. Merrill took out a patent for the new process of manufacture, and also another patent for the oil produced by it. Patents were early obtained in Europe, also, for "Merrill's Odor- less Lubricating Oil."

Mr. Merrill's next achievement was equally noteworthy. In 1870 he prepared, after long experimenting, in which he was ably assisted by his brother, Rufus S., an oil for illuminat- ing purposes, to which he gave the name of mineral sperm oil. On the death of Mr. Samuel Downer, the founder of the oil works, Mr. Merrill, in company with his brother,

William B., purchased the entire plant from the heirs, and has continued in the ownership up to the present time. He has been very successful; and the results of his life work have been of lasting benefit, not only to the oil industry, but also to the people of the United States and of other countries.

On June 13, 1848, Mr. Merrill was united in marriage with Amelia Grigg, of Boston, 2 daughter of Richard Grigg, Esq., and Eliza- beth Bradley Grigg. Mrs. Merrill was born in Dorchester, Mass., December 25, 1830. Her parents were natives of Manchester, Eng- land. Mr. and Mrs. Merrill have had six children, of whom there are four now living. namely : Isabelle Morrison, born April 10, 1850; Amelia Grigg, born March 7, 1864; Gertrude Bradley, born December 11, 1862; and Joshua, Jr., born June 21, 1871. Isabelle is the widow of George Humphrey Richard .. and is the mother of three children: Herbert Wilder, born August 20, 1869; Isabelle Mor- rison, born October 13, 1876; and Joshua Merrill, born January 12, 1883. Amelia is the wife of Mark Hollingsworth, of Boston. Gertrude is the wife of William Allison Newell, and they have two children : William Ellis, born December 27, 1892; and David Calhoon, born January 16, 1894. Joshua Merrill, Jr., married June 30, 1894, Lillian Parsons, of Savannah, Ga.

ULIA WARD HOWE .- Wise-hearted men and women, not a few, in the half- century now closing, have given ear- nest thought to the solving of social problems, have wrought for love's sake and truth's in various fields of helpful endeavor. Eminent among them may be named the author of the " Battle Hymn of the Republic." She was born in New York City, May 27. IS19, daughter of Samuel and Julia Rush (Cutler) Ward.

It is not unreasonable to suppose that Mrs. lowe's dominant characteristics, as her broad philanthropy, her love of study, aptitude for language, predilection for metaphysics. her fervid patriotism, deep religiousness. and strong sense of justice, are derived, in part at

JULIA WARD HOWE.

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2 1

least, from some of the Colonial worthies, her ancestors, mentioned below.

Samuel Ward, third, father of Mrs. Howe, was son of Lieutenant Colonel Samuel and Phebe (Greene) Ward and grandson of Gov- ernor Samuel Ward, of Rhode Island, Gov- ernor Samuel being the son of Governor Rich- ard, who was a grandson of John Ward, of Gloucester, England, and Newport, R.I., said to have been an officer in Cromwell's army. Richard Ward married Mary, daughter of John and Isabel (Sayles) Tillinghast. ITer father was son of Elder Pardon Tillinghast, who came from England when a young man, and during the greater part of a life of more than ninety years, closing in 1718, was a eiti- zen of influence in the civil and religious affairs of Providence, R.I., where he was a merchant and for many years the unsalaried pastor of the First Baptist Society, to which in 1711 he gave a meeting-house. Mary Tillinghast's mother was a daughter of John and Mary (Williams) Sayles and grand-daugh- ter of Roger Williams. Of this pioneer of religious tolerance in New England, Mrs. Howe is thus shown to be a descendant of the eighth generation.

Samuel Ward, first, son of Richard and Mary, born in Newport in 1725, served three terms as Governor of Rhode Island. He died in Philadelphia in March, 1776, during the session of the Continental Congress, of which he was a valued member - in the words of John Adams, "a steadfast friend to his coun- try upon very pure principles."

He married Anne Ray, daughter of Simon Ray, third, and his wife, Deborah, daughter of Job and Phebe (Sayles) Greene. Phebe and Isabel Sayles, named above, were sisters. Simon Ray, third, was the son of Simon, second, and grandson of Simon, first, of Braintree. Simon Ray, second, was one of the sixteen original proprietors of Block Island. Influential and honored, a "lovely example of Christian virtues," he lived to enter his one hundred and second year. Hle married Mary Thomas, daughter of Nathaniel and grand-daughter of "William Thomas, a Welsh gentleman," who joined the Plymouth Colony about 1630, served three years as

assistant governor, and died at his home at Green Harbor, Marshfield, in 1651. "A well-approved and well.grounded Christian," wrote Secretary Morton, "one that had a sin- cere desire to promote the common good, both of church and State."

Samuel Ward, second, born in Westerly, R. I., in 1756, a college graduate at fifteen, served nearly six years in the Continental army, rising from the rank of Captain to Lieutenant Colonel; was in Arnold's expedi- tion to Canada and taken prisoner at Quebec, later was with Washington at Valley Forge, and after the war was engaged in mercantile business in New York City. He married his cousin Phebe, daughter of Governor William and Catherine (Ray) Greene. Her mother is remembered as a youthful friend and corre- spondent of Franklin.

Mrs. Julia R. Cutler Ward, Mrs. Howe's mother, was a daughter of Benjamin C. Cutler, of Boston and Jamaica Plain, sometime Sheriff of Norfolk County, and his wife, Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Hester (Marion) Mitchell, of Waccamaw plantation and Georgetown, S.C. Mrs. Cutler's mother was a sister of General Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" of the Revolution, and grand- daughter of Benjamin Marion, a Huguenot, who settled at Charleston, S. C., a little over two hundred years ago.

Mrs. Howe's grandfather Cutler was son of John Cutler, third, brass-founder, a well-to-do citizen of Boston in his day, and a prominent Mason, being Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 1792-93. David Cutler, father of John, third, was the youngest son of Johannes Demesmaker, physician and surgeon, who came from Holland, lived for some years at Hingham, Mass., married Mary Cowell, of Boston, and, adopting the English translation of his name, was known as Dr. John Cutler. He served as surgeon in King Philip's War. About 1694 he removed to Boston, where he acquired a large practice, to which his eldest son, Dr. John Cutler, Jr., suc- ceeded. John Cutler, third, in his old age played the organ at Trinity Church, of which his son-in-law, Samuel Parker, afterward Bishop Parker, was rector. His wife, Mary

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Clark, was daughter of Benjamin and Miriam (Kilby) Clark and grand-daughter of Christo- pher Kilby, Sr., of Boston.

Mrs. Howe's father, a successful banker, a man of sterling integrity and of almost Puri- tanic strictness of life, was liberal in his plans and provision for the education of his children. There were three sons - Samuel, Henry, and F. Marion - and three daughters - Julia, Louisa, and Annie. Two sons died unmarried. The eldest, Samuel Ward, fourth, died in 1884, survived by the children of his daughter Margaret (Mrs. J. W. Chanter), whose mother, his first wife, was a daughter of William B. Astor. Louisa Ward married first Thomas Crawford, the sculptor, and after his death married Luther Terry, an artist. Her home was in Rome, Italy. She was the mother of F. Marion Crawford. Annie Ward married Mr. Adolph Maillard, and lived in California.

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Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 2

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

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