USA > Massachusetts > Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901 > Part 28
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Tristram Little 3 was a farmer. The house that he erected on the paternal estate is now the residence of William Little, Esq., Town Clerk of Newbury. He married Sarah, daughter of Henry Dole, of Newbury, Mass., October 30, 1707. She was born February 12, 1689. Their children were: Sarah, born August 6, 1708, married James Noyes, May 30, 1729, lived in Atkinson; Henry, born December 31, 1710, married Lydia Little, December 7, 1738, died December, 1786; Samuel, born February 18, 1713, died Sep- tember 29, 1792, married Dorothy Noyes, February 18, 1736, lived in Atkinson; Ap- phia, baptized in 1715, died February 15, 1743; Jane, born June 6, 1718, married Ed- mund Knight, May 25, 1741; Elizabeth, born November 20, 1720, died April 15, 1818, married Humphrey Noyes, November 22, 1743, lived in Atkinson; Nathaniel, born May 24, 1723, died before Louisburg, C. B.,
November 13, 1745; Richard, born June 6, 1725, died February 13, 1806, married Jane Noyes, September 17, 1754; Enoch, born May 21, 1728, died at Boscawen, October 21, 1816; Mary, born February 4, 1731, died young ; John, born July 14, 1735, died Au- gust 25, 1800, married Hannah Noyes, Octo- ber 27, 1767.
Enoch Little + lived near the " Upper Green " at Newbury, Mass., where his first seven chil- dren were born. He removed to Hampstead in April, 1766, and thence to Boscawen in April, 1774. He was a weaver, and also learned to make shoes. Arriving in Boscawen a poor man with a large family, he built there a log house on land now owned by his great grand- son, Sherman Little, to which he moved September 2, 1774. This house had no floor, and the fireplace was evidently made of such stones as he could conveniently obtain. The surrounding region was a dense forest, and neighbors were few, scarcely any residing in the immediate vicinity. At the age of eleven years, while listening to the preaching of Whitefield in Newburyport, he had become a Christian, and years afterward had united with the Old South Church in that place, August 7, 1773, while living in Hampstead. After his removal to Boscawen, until en- feebled by age, he went to Newburyport every year (over sixty miles) to be present at the August communion.
In advanced age he sought retirement for the reading of the Scriptures and prayer. He was first married February 19, 1755, to Sarah Pettengill, of Newbury, Mass., who was born September 6, 1731, and died March 10, 1758. For his second wife he married June 5, 1759, Hannah Hovey, of Newbury, Mass., who was born February 27, 1734, and died March 15, 1801. The children of Sarah were: Friend, born January, 1756, died November, 1836; Mary, born September 19, 1757, died July 25, 1807, married David Burbank, of Boscawen, April 20, 1778. The children of Hannah were: Benjamin, born April 13, 1760, died August 30. 1846; Joseph, born May 30, 1761, died March 26, 1843; Enoch, born January 17, 1763, died March 31, 1848; Hannah, born September 3, 1764, died October 17, 1764;
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Noah, born November 1, 1765, died in Cass County, Michigan, August 14, 1837; Jesse, born July 30, 1767, died August 19, 1840; Phebe, born February 19, 1769, died June 7, 1769; Sarah Ilsley, born April 20, 1770, died December 10, 1836, married Moses Gerrish, of Boscawen; John HI., born March 12, 1772, died August 29, 1773; Ilannah, born April 10, 1775, died November 4, 1811, married Moses Coffin, of Boscawen, December 25, 1792, who was born at Newbury, Mass., Sep- tember 9, 1767, and died at Salisbury, Feb- ruary 3, 1843.
Benjamin Little,s otherwise known as Cap- tain Benjamin Little, lived on the homestead. At the age of seventeen he was a soldier at the battle of Bennington. He was a man of sound judgment, and possessed in a high de- gree the confidence of his fellow-citizens, being chosen Selectman eight years and Repre- sentative four years. He was the fifth man in town to receive a magistrate's commission. He married first Rhoda Bartlett, of Warner, November 25, 1790, who was born April 13, 1 768, and died August 27, 1814. She was niece of Dr. Josiah Bartlett, of Kingston, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and first Governor of New Hampshire under its free Constitution. He married second Persis Herbert, of Concord, March 5, 1816. The children of Rhoda were: Richard, born November 27, 1791, died October 29, 1840. John, born June 30, 1794, died January 17, 1797. Simeon Bartlett, born December 16, 1797, died December 29, 1874. Rhoda, born April 14, 1801, died at Windham, August 15, 1853, married. the Rev. Calvin Cutler, June 3, 1824, who was a beloved pastor of the I'res- byterian church at Windham for many years. Carrol Cutler, president of Western Reserve College, is their son. The Rev. Charles ller- bert, born December, 1804, died January 1, 1836.
Simeon Bartlett Little, Esq.,6 son of Ben- jamin and Rhoda Little and father of the Rev. Dr. Arthur Little, was born in Boscawen, De- cember 16, 1797, as above noted. "Ilis educa- tion was acquired at the common school. In early life he was a news-carrier. The postal facilities were of little account. especially for
newspapers; and he supplied the people of Hopkinton, Boscawen, Salisbury, and Ando- ver with the Concord Gasette, printed by George Hough. Starting from home early in the morning of its publication, he rode to Concord on horseback, filled his saddle-bags with papers, then, riding through Hopkinton, reached home at night, and on the second day made the round of Salisbury and Andover. In cold or stormy weather three days were given to the distribution. Besides carrying papers he executed errands. By this means he acquired his first money.
"In all communities there are men who come into active life without effort of their own, who are recognized as possessing quali- fications for leadership. Simeon B. Little was such a man. He was Selectman ten years, two years a member of the Legislature, and a delegate to the convention for the revision of the Constitution. Between the years 1839 and 1858, inclusive, with but two exceptions, he was elected Moderator at the annual town meeting. He was endowed with a judicial mind, and held through the active years of life a magistrate's commission. He was administrator of between thirty and forty estates, and was concerned in the settlement of nearly as many more. He received nearly twenty appointments as guardian for minors or insane persons, and held a large amount of funds in trust.
" His business as a conveyancer of deeds was very large, nearly one thousand. Men who wished to make their last wills and testaments called upon him for counsel, and he wrote a large number. If parties came with com- plaints desiring litigation, he acted the part of peace-maker. 'My docket,' he said, near the close of life, 'had but one criminal and two civil cases.'
"He was frequently chosen by parties, or was appointed by the courts, as referee. Six times he served as juror. He learned land surveying at an early date, and surveyed many farms. Ile was for about fifteen years presi- dent or director of the Granite Fire Insurance Company and for fifteen years or more di- rector and secretary.
" Mr. Little was one of the leading mem-
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bers of the church and religious society. giv- ing his time, his counsel, and of his means to sustain what he conceived to be for the vital interests of the community. In speaking of the part he had taken in public life he once said, 'I have been elected more times to some responsible office in town by ballots, from 1828 to 1860, than there are years, and I can way, what many cannot, that I never, directly or indirectly, solicited a nomination or vote.'
"Mr. Little's strong common sense, his habits of thought, and study of good models, give him every facility in the use of language. He wrote many articles for the press on a great variety of subjects. His contributions were noted for their strength, clearness, and inci- siveness. He greatly deplored his lack of education. His attendance at the district school closed when he was seventeen. His academical instruction was limited to eight weeks. Mentally and physically he was sturdy and honest. It is not easy to estimate. the influence of such a man, one who stood with all his might for the maintenance of his convictions of truth and justice. He had no sympathy with anything that in any way tended to debase the tone of society.
"Mr. Little was naturally conservative, and his fears that radicalism might overturn the foundations of society led him to resist all innovations. He was a Puritan of the eighteenth century. Such men make mis- takes; but they are errors of the head and not of the heart, and their fellow-men will over- look any error of judgment when they see that it is error, and not fraud or hypocrisy. Men who opposed him politically, who dissented from his view, ever acknowledged his integ- rity, the honesty of his intentions, and his sterling worth.
"During his last years he suffered partial paralysis that incapacitated him for labor ; but, even while the fires of life were dying ont, he manifested a desire to do what he could for the good of his fellow-men." (History of Buscawen and Webster, 1733 to 1878, by (. (. Coffin, Concord, N. 11., 1878.)
Hle married first, September 16, 1824, Harriet Boyd, of Antrim, who was born Sep- ' mber 17, 1798, and died October 3, 1850.
For his second wife he married Phebe Kil- burn, of Boscawen. October 20, 1851. The children of Harriet are: George, born August 23, 1825; Alice. born. December 30, 1829, died October 31, 1835: Narcissa, born De- cember 25. 1831. died February S, 1832; Ev- eline, born December 13, 1832; Sherman, born February 6. 1835: Arthur and Luther, twins, born May 24, 1837. Luther died July 19, 1858.
Arthur Little." the direct subject of this sketch, was born in the house now occupied by Sherman Little. in Webster, N.H. "His early years were passed on the farm, with attendance at the district school during the brief terms of summer and winter. He be- came a student at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, where he ftted for college, graduat- ing from that institution in 1856. He en- tered Dartmouth the same year, and was grad- uated there in 1861. His twin brother Luther fitted for college at the same institution, entering college a year later, but died, as above narrated.
"While in college Arthur Little manifested qualities of character that won the respect of his fellow-students and the high esteem of the officers of the institution. The training of his early years. the sterling integrity, the geniality of his disposition, made him a uni- versal favorite. While in college he decided to prepare for the ministry. Possibly the death of his brother may have given direction to his choice of a profession and intensified his purpose.
"He engaged in academical work in 1861 in Thetford and Black River Academies, Ver- mont, entering Andover Theological Semi- nary the following winter and Princeton, N. J., in 1862. He was ordained as a minister of the gospel, March 16, 1863, in the Congre- gational meeting-house. Webster, and three days later received his commission as chap- lain of the First Vermont Heavy Artillery. The regiment was detached for garrison duty at Washington. He was married to Laura Elizabeth Frost. of Thetford, Vt., August 15, 1863, in the Church of the Epiphany, Wash- ington, D.C. The regiment performed garri- son duty till May. 1864, when it joined the
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Army of the Potomac at Spottsylvania, becom- ing engaged soon after its arrival on the ground. From Spottsylvania to Petersburg, through the Shenandoah Valley campaign, in 1865, to the final scene at Appomattox, where the rebel army surrendered, the chap- lain was with the regiment, performing ardu- ous service as nurse, preacher, minister, and consolator. This service brought him in con- tact with men from every walk in life.
"It was a preparatory school of a high order for his life work. Ile was mustered out July 4, 1865, returning at once to Andover Semi- nary to continue his theological studies. On January 3, 1866, he was installed pastor of the Presbyterian church in Bedford, N.H. On November 2, 1868, he. accepted the pas- torate of the Congregational church in Fond du Lac, Wis., where he remained ten years. His ministry was marked with pre-eminent success, attended by-large additions to the church. December 26, 1877, he accepted a call to the New England Church, Chicago; and on January 30, 1889, he was installed pastor of the Second Church, Dorchester, where he still remains. Dr. Little is a corpo- rate member of the Amercian Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions and president of the Board of Trustees of Bradford Academy. He has preached the annual sermon before the Massachusetts General Association, and also before the American Board. He is an occa- sional contributor to the newspapers, and has published several addresses.
"During the years of his pastorates he has been called upon to occupy responsible and honorable positions, as Moderator of the Wis- consin Congregational and Presbyterian Con- vention, the Illinois State Association, and the National Council of Congregational Churches held in Concord, N. H., in 1883. With a commanding presence, a clear, reso- nant voice, an intimate acquaintance with parliamentary rules, and that keen tact which waits an opportunity in the despatch of busi- ness, he has but few equals as a presiding officer.
"On Sunday, January 21, 1883, he suffered a bereavement in the sudden and unexpected death of Mrs. Little. The following summer
was spent in Europe. lle was present at the meeting of the Congregational Union of Enx- land and Wales, as representative of the Con- gregational church of the United States. H. has delivered many addresses before colleges. universities, and conventions. He is deeply interested in the New West commission. which has in view the education of the people of the Territories, and was elected president . : the Chicago Congregational Club for ISS. .
"He has one child, a daughter, May Bran: Little, born June 19, 1867. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Dartmouth College, 1880. On February 1, 1898, he married Miss Elizabeth A. Wales.
"Occupying one of the most prominent pul- pits of the country, Dr. Little is called upon for much service outside of his pastoral work. which is ever freely rendered, with no expec- tation of reward except that which comes from a consciousness of duty performed. He finds pleasure in expressing his high sense of obli- gation, especially to the long line of ances- try, which has always been on the side ci righteousness. His life work is ever before him, and to its accomplishment he directs every faculty." (Boscawen and Webster, one hundred and fiftieth anniversary, August IC. 1883. Concord, N.H., 1884.)
ILLIAM CARROLL POPE, a well- known real estate dealer of Boston. was born in Dorchester, Mass .. May 8, 1847, son of William and Sarah A. Fos- ter) Pope. His paternal grandfather also was named William. A full account of the an- cestry of the family, which is an old one in New England, may be found in the Pope Genealogy, which has been published.
William Pope, second, father of the subjec: of this sketch, was born in Dorchester. De- cember 27, 1813. Ile was educated in the Dorchester schools, and on completing his studies he engaged in the lumber business with his father. This business had been es- tablished by Frederick and William Pope in the early part of this century (the nineteenth : and he and his brother Alexander succeede : to it, and carried it on together for many
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years. Subsequently he engaged in the im- porting business, which he followed till 1890. Hle took an active part in public affairs, was Selectman for the town of Dorchester for many years, and also a member of the School Board. On the annexation of Dorchester to Boston he was one of the first members of the city council. He also served as Alderman and as a member of the Boston School Board. Be- fore the Civil War he took an active part among the early Abolitionists, being an asso- ciate of the pioneers in that cause. He was one of the Parish Committee of the First Parish of Dorchester. He was married June 8, 1837, to Miss Sarah Ann Foster, a daugh- ter of John and Elizabeth Foster, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume. They were the parents of three children: John Foster Pope, who served through the Civil War (private, Thirteenth Massachusetts In- tantry, July 16, 1861; Second Lieutenant, First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, March 7, 1862; Captain, August 19, 1864; mustered out, July 31, 1865), and is now a resident of Philadelphia; Elizabeth F., the wife of Dr. Conrad Wesselhoeft, of Boston; and William Carroll, whose name begins this sketch. Mrs. Sarah A. Pope died in 1888, at the age of seventy-four years. She was president of the Ladies' Aid Society of the Homoeopathic Hospital for many years, and was interested in' many other charitable societies.
William Carroll Pope received his elemen- tary education in a private school, and was graduated at the Dorchester High School in 1863. He then became a clerk in a wholesale paint and oil house in Boston, where he was employed for some years. At the age of twenty-one he engaged in business for himself as an importer of East Indian goods, and thus continued until 1891, when he entered into his present business, that of a dealer in real es- tate. Ile has been quite successful, and ranks is one of the clear-sighted, enterprising, and substantial business men of the city of Boston. Il· is a member of Union Lodge, F. & .V. M., of which his grandfather was a member, and belongs also to St. Stephen's Chapter, R. A. M. He is an active member of the First l'arish hurch and Sunday-school.
Mr. Pope was married in 1876 to Miss Mabel R. Downer, youngest daughter of the late Samuel and Nancy (De Wolf) Downer, of Dorchester. He has two children: Allen Melville, born November 24, 1879; and Bayard Foster, born October 5, 1887. The elder son, Allen M., was educated in the public schools of Boston, including the Boston Latin School, and passed the examination at Harvard Col- lege, but accepted an appointment to the West Point Military Academy, where he is now a cadet. Bayard F. is a student in the Boston public schools.
ILLIAM HENRY DERBY, market gardener, Revere, was born in Brookline, Mass., February 24, 1839, son of Minot and Dorcas ( Holliday) Derby. His father was a prosperous farmer who moved from Brookline to North Chelsea (now Revere), where he died in 1854. His mother was a daughter of Captain William Holliday, an old-time shipmaster who made deep sea voyages.
Mr. Derby's original American ancestor was Roger Derby, who emigrated from Tops- ham, Devonshire, England, and settled in Ipswich, Mass., in 1671. He removed to Salem in 1681, and died there in 1698. Mr. Derby's grandfather, Sherman Derby, resided in Dublin, N. H., where he was engaged in farming.
William H. Derby began his education at the Shurtleff School in North Chelsea, and completed his studies at French's Commercial College, Boston. Upon his father's death Mr. Derby, at the age of fifteen, jointly with his brother Minot, inherited a farm of thirty acres, which they have since managed very successfully. They have added to its acreage by the purchase of adjoining land, and now have an exceedingly fertile farm, capable of producing cach year two or three crops of garden-truck, for which a ready market is found in Boston. In the fall of 1862 Mr. Derby enlisted in the Forty-fourth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers; and his term of ser- vice was spent almost wholly in North Caro- lina, in long marches, skirmishing, and guard
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duty. He was mustered out with his regi- ment in the summer of 1863. Besides being in several severe skirmishes, Mr. Derby, with his regiment, was besieged for six weeks at Little Washington, where they were nearly surrounded by rebels, and were reduced to one-third rations. They were finally released by the gunboats that fought their way past the rebel batteries just in time to save the regi- ment.
William II. Derby has been twice married. For his first wife he wedded Ellen M. Waitt, daughter of Caleb Waitt, of Chelsea. She died in 1893. For his second wife he mar- ried Mary P. Burnham, of Antrim, N. II. By his first wife Mr. Derby has one son, William H. Derby, Jr., who was born in 1873. He married Nellie Downs, and has one son, Lester W., born in 1897.
Mr. Derby has been actively interested in local public affairs. . He was chairman of the committee that built the first brick school- house in the town, and was also a member of the Building Committee of the new town hall. He attends the Congregational church. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, being a member of Star of Bethlehem Lodge, F. & A. M., Shekinah Chapter and Palestine Commandery, K. T - all of which bodies are in Chelsea .. He is also a member of Sagamore Lodge, Knights of Honor; and of Paul Revere Lodge of the Order of Protection.
IEUTENANT WILLIAM GERRISH, a prominent real estate dealer of Chel- sea, Suffolk County, was born in that town, June 24, 1842, son of George Washington and Sarah Howard (Han- son) Gerrish. His line of New England an- cestors extends back for seven generations, be- ginning with Captain William Gerrish, born August 20, 1617, who came from Bristol, England, and settled in Newbury, Mass., in 1639.
Captain William Gerrish died in Salem, Mass., August 9, 1687. Ilis first wife was Joanna, daughter of Percival Lowell and widow of John Oliver, their marriage occurring April 17, 1644.
Their eldest son was Captain John Gerrish, born in Newbury, Mass., May 15, 1646, who married, August 19, 1667, Elizabeth Wal- dron, daughter of Major Richard Waldron, of Dover, N. H., and died December 19, 1714.
The next progenitor in direct line was Colonel Timothy Gerrish, son of Captain John and Elizabeth, born in Dover, N. H., April 2, 1684. He married November 14, 1706, Sarah, daughter of the IIon. Robert and Sarah (Fryer) Elliot, of Newcastle, N. Il., and settled on Gerrish's Island, at Kittery, Me., where he died November 19, 1755. He was Councillor for Massachusetts and Colonel of the West Yorkshire Regiment. His son John, who was born in Dover, N. II., February 6, 1710, and died in March, 1750, married November 21, 1734, Margery, daughter of Dr. George and Joanna (Pepperrell) Jackson, of Kittery, Me., and a niece of Sir William Pepperrell.
George Gerrish, son of John and Margery, was born in Dover, N. H., April 9, 1737. He married Mary James, of Portsmouth, N. 11., daughter of John and Ann (Lord) James. Iler father served in the Continental army as a pri- vate in Captain Eliphalet Daniels's company, which in 1775 was stationed at Fort Sullivan. George Gerrish settled in Lebanon, Me., in 1776.
His son, Captain George Gerrish, grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Dover, N. H., October 19, 1775. He settled in Lebanon, Me., and married Eliza- beth Thompson Furbush (February 21, 1799), a daughter of Richard and Jane (MeCrillis) Fur- bush, of that town. Ilis title of Captain was derived from his rank in the militia of York County, Maine. He died in Chelsea, Mass., January 26, 1850.
George W. Gerrish, son of Captain George and father of Lieutenant William Gerrish, was born in Lebanon, Me., January 20, 18og. In 1836 he settled in Chelsea, and engaged in the real estate business, becoming one of the larg- est operators in real estate in the State of Massachusetts; and he was for about forty years the largest individual taxpayer in Chelsea. At the time of his death, which took place in Chelsea, April 24, 1876, he had over one hundred and twenty-five build-
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LIEUTENANT WILLIAM GERRISH.
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ings in process of construction. His wife, Sarah Howard Hanson, was a daughter of Is- ruel and Sarah (Howard) Hanson, of Dover, N. II. They had eight children; namely, Israel Hanson, Captain George Albert, Joanna Elizabeth, Hiram Augustus, Joanna Elizabeth (second), William, Sarah Augusta, and Lydia Caroline. Israel, George Albert, and Will- i.im were soldiers of the Civil War.
William Gerrish, the direct subject of this sketch, was educated in the public schools of Chelsea, and fitted for college at the Chauncy Hall School of Boston. On the breaking out of the great Civil War he enlisted for three years in Company H, formed in Chelsea and belonging to the First Massachusetts Regi- ment, but was discharged on account of disa- bility. He spent six months endeavoring to recuperate his health, and then entered Nor- wich University in Vermont, where he spent two years in study. On February 4, 1864, he was commissioned First Lieutenant of the Twentieth United States Colored Infantry, a regiment raised, equipped, and turned over to the United States government by the Union League of New York City, which took part in the capture of Mobile and several other engage- ments, and which was mustered out in the fall of 1865. While with the regiment Lieuten- ant Gerrish served as Acting Assistant Adju- tant-General for the district of Carrollton, La. On being mustered out he went to Chicago, but returned East in 1867, and in the fol- lowing year entered the office of his father. lle has since remained a resident of Chelsea. lle belongs to the order of the Knights of Malta. For ten years he held the office of Assessor in the city of Chelsea. He is an expert with the rifle, having served as a mem- ber of the American team in two international rifle contests. In 18So he made the highest score at long range ever made. So far as known, the Lieutenant has made ten of the largest scores of any man in the world of which there is authentic record.
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