USA > Massachusetts > Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901 > Part 37
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road, and held the position up to 1898, when he was appointed to his present office as superin- tendent of transportation of the Boston Ele- vated Railroad, which he has since retained.
Mr. Rugg is well known in railroad and railway circles throughout the country as an efficient and capable manager, and his career from the early days of his novitiate as a con- ductor on the Lynn & Boston road has been progressively upward and onward. He has had patented various devices for the improvement of the service of street railways, many of which - particularly his reversible car-seat known as the "Rugg Car-seat" - have been adopted by nearly all the street railways in the country. While connected with the Highland Street Railway, Mr. Rugg organized the first beneficial society designed exclusively for the conductors and drivers of street railways, which organization has proved of great benefit to the men and their families.
In politics he is a Republican. Of wide acquaintance and popular socially, he belongs also to the Masonic order, being a member of Washington Lodge of Roxbury, Mass.
Mr. Rugg was married April 30, 1866, to Mary A. Young, a daughter of Andrew P. and Mary Ann (Fowle) Young, of Boston. She died March 25, 1897, and Mr. Rugg married for his second wife, October 19, 1898, Mrs. Eu- dora A. Ball, a daughter of Isaac Fowle, of Cambridge, Mass. He has no children. . Mr. and Mrs. Rugg attend the Second Universalist Church of Boston, the Rev. S. H. Roblin, D. D., minister.
AVID FOLGER, president of the Nantucket Institution for Savings, and also of the Wannacomet Water Company, is a native of Nantucket. Born September 3, 1820, son of William and Lucy (Folger) Folger, he is descended through both father and mother from Peter Folger of English birth, one of the early inhabitants of Nantucket, and a man of note in his day, serv- ing as surveyor of land, as Indian interpreter, and clerk of the court, best known to fame as grandfather of Benjamin Franklin. This is
the male line: Peter,' Eleazer,? Eleazer, Jr .. ; Frederick, . Charles, 5 William, David ?.
Charles Folger, the grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, was a lifelong resident of Nantucket, and a man of more than ordinary intelligence and usefulness. He spent much time in public life, filling various offices ot trust, and for a number of years was High Sheriff of the county. His wife, whose maiden name was Lydia Coleman, was a native of Nantucket, and a descendant from Colonial ancestry. They were the parents of a large family.
William Folger, father of David, in early manhood learned the trade of blacksmith, which, however, he followed but a short time, subsequently giving his attention to the whale fishery, and owning an interest in a number of vessels. After being actively and successfully engaged in this business for many years, he died at the age of eighty. His wife, in maidenhood Lucy Folger, was a daughter of Thaddeus and Margaret (Gardner) Folger, and a descendant on the paternal side of Peter Folger, her maternal ancestors also dating back to Colonial times. She died at the age of sixty-nine years, having reared eleven children, four of whom are now living; namely, David, Elizabeth, Seth, and Ann.
David Folger has resided in Nantucket from his birth. When a young man he became as- sociated in business with his father and brother in the whale fishery, and for twenty years he operated an extensive cooperage plant. which he had established in Nantucket. Afterward he gave his attention to farming. and later to the insurance business, in which he has now been engaged for a number of years.
Mr. Folger was married at the age of twenty-four years to Lydia M. Wilber, a native of Nantucket, and a daughter of Briggs and Emeline (Coffin) Wilber. They have one child, a daughter, Lydia Maria.
RNEST A. CLAPP, who during the larger part of his active life has been identified with the building interests of Dorchester, Mass., was born in that city, on
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Clapp Place, July 15, 1846, a son of Alfred Clapp.
Alfred Clapp, also a lifelong resident of Dorchester, was born on the old Clapp home- stead on Pond Street in 1819, and during his lwyhood years there worked in his father's tinyard. He subsequently served an appren- ticesbip at the cabinet-maker's trade, at which he worked for a time as a journeyman, and, with the exception of a few years, followed until his retirement from business, at the good old age of seventy-five years. He passed away April 29, 1896, aged seventy-seven years and twenty days. For fully fifty years he was a member of the old Dorchester fire department, serving faithfully for twenty years of that time a- engineer. He was held in high respect as a man and a citizen, and was a regular attend- ant of the old Meeting-house Hill Church. · Ilis wife, Elinor M., was a daughter of Zach- ariah and Charlotte Cain. Her father, who was a soldier in the War of IS12, was born in Taunton, Mass., while her mother was a native of Wiscasset, Me. Four children were born of their union, namely: Miss Charlotte Eliza Chapman; Ernest A., the subject of this sketch; Eugene, born in 1848, who died in infiney; and Richard Dexter, born in 1853, who is now a machinist in Providence, R. I. The mother died February 13, ISS7, at the age of sixty-six years.
Ernest A. Clapp received a practical educa- tion in the public schools of Dorchester, and during a few years of his earlier life was employed as a clerk in a dry-goods store. Since learning the carpenter's trade, he has followed it continuously, his ability as a skilled and thorough workman having assured his success as a builder. During the Civil War Mr. Clapp served in Company F, Fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He be- longs to the G. A. R., and also belongs to the .A. O. U. W. He is a Republican in his political affiliations, and is a member of the Universalist church.
Mr. Clapp married, October 26, 1871, Miss Eliza Ann Eveleth, who was born in Boston, Mass., a daughter of Daniel and Mary (Ste- Vens) Eveleth. Mrs. Clapp's father was born and reared in New Hampshire, and her mother
in Biddeford, Me. Mr. and Mrs. Clapp have two children - Mary Elinor and Ernest Eve- leth.
APTAIN WILLIAM TIMOTHY SWAIN, of Nantucket, formerly en- gaged in the whale fishery, but now a dealer in lumber and grain, was born in New London, Conn., December 28. 1835, son of Timothy and Patience Maria (Prentice) Swain. He is a grandson of Peter Swain, a sailor in the merchant marine service, who died in early manhood, leaving four chil- dren.
Mrs. Peter Swain, who was in maidenhood a Miss Folger, died at about the same time as her husband. Their children - Peter, Jr., Robert, Timothy, and Sarah - went to live with their aunt, Miss Susan Folger, and ac- companied her to New Bedford, in which place they were reared. Timothy, after attaining to manhood, settled in New London, where he followed the trade of house-painter and resided until his death, which occurred in 1838. After that event, his wife, Patience, who was born in Saybrook, Conn., and who was a daughter of Sylvanus Prentice, removed to Montville, a suburb of Norwich, Conn. She was accompanied thither by her six children. named respectively John, Harriet, Andrew, George, Charles, and William T. The only ones now living, besides the subject of this sketch, are Harriet and Charles.
As the family were in limited circumstances. the children were obliged to earn their own living at an early age. This William T. began to do when ten years old, receiving his board and clothes from a farmer with whom he lived and for whom he worked for two years. He then went to sea on a coasting vessel ; and. after two years' experience of that branch of the marine service, at the age of fourteen he began his career as a whaler in the ship "Phoenix," of New London, Captain Brewster commander. In this vessel he rounded Care Horn and cruised in the Antarctic Ocean. re- turning after an absence of about three years. During the trip he was made boat steerer, an important position, as it involved the delicate
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and difficult duty of harpooning the whale. Young Swain's next trip was to the Indian Ocean, as third mate of the ship "Julius Cæsar," he being then about seventeen years old. The ship was commanded by Captain Daniel Babcock, and cruised in the vicinity of Desolation Island, returning home after an absence of a little more than two years. His next trip was as second mate of the bark "Ripple," Captain Ebenezer Morgan, of Gro- ton (who was also a preacher), being the com- mander. This cruise was in the North and South Atlantic oceans, and lasted eleven months. In 1857 Captain Swain came to Nantucket to take command of the schooner "Eliza Jane," a tender for the ship "Cataba," Captain Mowry. They sailed in the vicinity of Kerguelen Land, or Desolation Island, in quest of sea elephant oil, and during the course `of the voyage visited Hurd's Island, then (1855) recently discovered. After this trip, which lasted about eighteen months, Captain Swain remained ashore for some time. His next voyage was to the African coast in a trad- ing vessel, and occupied two years. He then sailed from New London on the schooner "Emma Jane," a tender to the barque "Roman," their destination being Desolation and Hurd's Islands. This trip occupied five years, during the latter part of which time he was commander of the vessel. In 1874 he came to Nantucket, and engaged in business as a dealer in lumber, which he has continued up to the present time. Since 1894 he bas also handled grain to a considerable extent. He is a member of Union Lodge, F. & A. M .; Island Home Lodge, K. of H. ; and Sherborn Lo:lge, Royal Arcanum.
Captain Swain was married first, in 1860, to Mary Abby Morse, of Nantucket, daughter of Arnold and Maria (Morey) Morse. She died in 1865, having been the mother of two children - Israel and Andrew. For his sec- ond wife Captain Swain married, in 1872, Miss Sarah L. Cornish, a native of Nantucket and a daughter of Bailey and Rachel ( Ilarlow) Cornish. Of this union there are three chil- dren - Florence L., Sarah Lizzie, and Will- iam T., Jr. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal church.
IIARLES AUGUSTUS MERRIAM, a well-known Chelsea real estate dealer, was born in that city, April 29, 1841, son of Otis and Harriet (Lamont) Merriam. His early ancestors in New England bore the name of Marion, the family being founded by John Marion, who, coming to this country from England about 1640, settled in Watertown, Mass.
John Marion married Sarah Eddy, daughter of John Eddy, of Watertown, and before Feb- ruary 22, 1652, removed to Boston, where he was Selectman in 1693. He died in 1705, in his eighty-sixth year. His son, Samuel Mar- ion, who was born in 1655, died in Charles- town in 1726. Samuel's son Isaac, who was born in Charlestown in 1694, married Rebecca Knight ; and their son Ignatius, born in 1724, was married in Woburn in 1746 to Mary Ken- call. About 1790 he settled in Ashburnham, Mass., where he died in April, 1799. Will- iam, son of Ignatius, was born in 1767. He and his brother Joseph changed the name to Merriam. William Merriam was a blacksmith by trade. In 1788 he married Rebecca Met- calf. William S. Merriam, C. A. Merriam's grandfather, was born in 1789. He also was a blacksmith; and in 1841 he removed from Ash- burnham to Chelsea, where he spent the rest of his life. In ISIo he married Martha Law- rence, a daughter of Amos Lawrence, and a descendant in the sixth generation of John Lawrence, who settled at Watertown early in 1636. Amos Lawrence served in the Conti- nental army during the Revolutionary War.
Otis Merriam, eldest son of William S. and Martha, was born in Ashburnham in 1810. He came to Boston about the year 1835, and engaged in business as a manufacturer and wholesale dealer in wall papers, doing a large business, the largest of its kind in New Eng- land in his day. At one time he held the presidency of the l'utnam Gas Light Company of Putnam, Conn. Ile was also prominently identified with the business interests of the city of Chelsea. He was a vice-president and di- rector of the Chelsea Savings Bank. Otis Merriam died in Chelsca. His first wife. Abigail Savels, died in 1839, leaving one child, Otis Merriam, Jr. ; and his second
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wife, Harriet Lamont, of Bath, Me., died leaving two children : Charles A. ; and Emily Francis, who died in 1898.
Charles A. Merriam was educated in the Chelsea public schools. His first employment was as entry clerk for the Boston & Maine Railway, and he was serving in that capacity at the outbreak of the Civil War. Enlisting in the First Regiment, Massachusetts Volun- teers, he was rejected on account of physical disability; but toward the close of the struggle, when the pressing need of recruits caused the examining surgeons to be less rigid in their scrutiny, he again enlisted, and was accepted. After his return from the South he became associated with his father in the real estate business, and was also for some time treasurer of the Putnam Gas Light Company of Putnam, Conn. Succeeding the elder · Merriam in the real estate business, he has ever since been successfully engaged in the handling of realties, and has also invested in other business enterprises, being at the present time a silent partner in the hardware firm of Richardson & Co. He was a member of the Common Council under Mayor Bacon, and of the Board of Aldermen during the administra- tion of Mayor Strahan, serving upon the High- way Committee in both branches of the city government; and for about twenty years he has been a member of the Sinking Fund Com- mission. He belongs to Robert Lash Lodge, F. & A. M. ; Theodore Winthrop Post, Grand Army of the Republic; the Royal Arcanum; Ancient Order of United Workmen, and Knights of Honor; and is General Grand Vice-President of the American Order of Fra- ternal Helpers. Mr. Charles A. Merriam is a member of the First Baptist Church of Chel- sea, and prominent in church work. He is chairman of the Committee on Finances of the church, and member of the Standing Commit- tee of the society.
Mr. Merriam married for his first wife Mary Eliza Gladwin, who died in October, 1895, leaving four daughters: Elvira Gladwin, who married John L. Freeman, and has one daugh- ter, Gladys; Harriet Lamont, who is residing in Boston; Florence Edna, who resides with her sister, Harriet L. ; and Bertha Louisa
Merriam, who is employed in her father's real estate office. Mr. Merriam married for his second wife Mrs. Caro Cascalcene Bacon, a native of Belfast, Me.
AMES FOSTER, a respected resident of the Dorchester district, Boston, now retired from active business life, was born in Dorchester, September 9, 1822. son of James and Rachel (Lambert) Foster. In his veins flows the blood of six generations of New England ancestors.
Edward Foster, the founder of this branch of the family in America, came from England. and settled in Scituate, Mass., in 1633. It is thought that he had practised law in England. In the town records of Scituate he is spoken of as a lawyer. He became quite a prominent man, and was Deputy to the Plymouth Colony Court in 1639, being an associate with An- thony Annable. He married in Scituate. April 8, 1635, Lettice Hanford, and in his will, dated November 24, 1643, a short time before his death, names her as executrix. His children were: Timothy, born in 1640; and Elizabeth, 1644.
Timothy Foster removed to Dorchester in 1662. He was first married October 13, 1663, to Mrs. Ruth Denton, a widow, daughter ci Thomas Tileston, and they reared a family cf children. After the death of his first wife he married in 1680 Mrs. Relief Holland Dowse. He died December 9. 1688.
Captain Edward Foster, second son of Tim- othy and Relief Foster, was born in 1682, and died January 22, 1761. He married in 170: Jemima, daughter of Jonathan Turner, of Scit- uate. She died in 1716, and he married in 1718 Alice Prince.
His second son, Timothy, born April 12. 1709, married Abial Williams, of Roxbury. At the advanced age of sixty-six years he responded to the Lexington alarm. He died in 1810.
His son, Edward, born March 22, 1752. served as a member of the coast guard during the Revolutionary War. He married Polly Blake, of Dorchester, and they were the par- ents of ten children, the sixth of whom was
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James, born in Dorchester in 1790, who was the father of the subject of this sketch.
James Foster followed agriculture during his entire active period, dying at the age of eighty-three years in 1873. A member of the militia, he served in the War of 1812, holding the rank of Orderly Sergeant of his company. He was a member of Dr. Codman's church. He was married in November, 1821, to Rachel Lambert, a daughter of Paul and Patience (Blake) Lambert, of Dorchester. Their chil- dren were as follows: James, the subject of this sketch; Rachel A., who married Edmund Jaques, of Newburyport, Mass. ; Suviah L., who was the wife of the late Robert Elder, of Boston, Mass. ; Mary, who died in December, 1897, and whose husband, George E. Hersey, of Brookline, Mass., died in September, 1894; Elizabeth G., now a resident of California; Sarah M., whose husband, James W. Stearns, formerly of Somerville and later of California, is now deceased; Martha, widow of Dr. Charles E. Blake, of San Francisco, who died in December, 1894; and Samuel, also a resi- dent of that city.
James Foster, the second of the name, was born, as recorded above, September 9, 1822. He received his education in the Dorchester schools, and his youth was occupied in work- ing on his father's farm, where he acquired a good knowledge of agriculture. When twenty years of age, however, he gave up farm work and established a milk business, which he carried on very successfully for a period of forty years, retiring at the end of that time, in 1883, with a competence. He has a pleasant home on Dorchester Avenue, Dorchester. Mr. Foster is a member of the Second Church, and in politics a Republican.
He was married on November 25, 1848, to Miss Mary Ayers. Of this union five children were born, namely: Arthur J., now a resident of San Francisco; Anna M., who died at the age of two years and two months; Mary Ellen, wife of Gideon M. Mansfield, of Dorchester ; Frank A., an architect and civil engineer of Boston, a separate sketch of whom may be found on another page of this volume; and Edward H., who is a resident of Dorchester. The mother of these children, Mrs. Mary Fos-
ter, died; and Mr. Foster married for his sec- ond wife Mrs. Elizabeth E. Kendall, whose maiden name was Farnsworth.
ENJAMIN HAWKES, formerly a successful business man and finan- cier of Marblehead, was a lifelong resident of this town, where his birth took place November 17, 1805. He was a son of William and Elizabeth (Pierce) Hawkes, the father being a native of Saugus, Mass., and the mother of Marblehead. He belonged to a highly reputable family, which can be traced backward in Essex County for more than two hundred and fifty years, Adam Hawkes, its founder, who is said to have come over from England in Winthrop's fleet in 1630, having been one of the early settlers of Lynn in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The original homestead, in what is now Saugus, is still in the possession of his descendants.
William Hawkes, above named, father of the late Benjamin, was a citizen of influence in Marblehead. Being a member of the Board of Selectmen when President Andrew Jackson visited the town in 1833, he served upon the reception committee. He also represented his district in the lower house of the Legislature.
Benjamin Hawkes was reared and educated in Marblehead. When a young man he estab- lished himself in the boot and shoe business; but later he engaged in the fisheries industry, owning at one time four schooners, which made numerous successful fishing trips to the Grand Banks, and from a small beginning he became a prominent local financier. Prior to the Civil War he was an earnest supporter of the anti-slavery movement, and joined the Re- publican party at its formation. In his carlier years he was a member of the Methodist Church. For many years he was actively identified with the business interests of Marblehead, and his death, which occurred December 24, 1887, was the cause of general regret.
In 1870 Benjamin Hawkes married Eliza Ann Traill, daughter of Major John and Sarah (Barker) Traill. Her father was a leading citizen of Marblehead in his day. Mrs.
هد مختصر
BENJAMIN HAWKES.
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Hawkes died May 10, 1891. Mr. Hawkes's residence on Franklin Street, which was erected upon land originally owned by his great-grandfather, is now occupied by his niece, Miss Mary A. Alley, who for thirty- five years was a teacher in the public schools of Marblehead, and hence has had much to do with the education of more than one generation of pupils who have gone forth to take their places among the world's workers.
JUGENE LEROY LOVEJOY, a promi- nent business man of Reading, was born in this town, October 12, 1851, son of Jeremiah G. and Susan R. (Jones) Lovejoy. His father, Jeremiah G. Lovejoy, and his grandfather, Jeremiah, were natives of Gloucester, Mass.
The Lovejoy family of New England has a history extending back more than two hundred and fifty years, the name of its founder, John Lovejoy, standing seventeenth in the list of freeholders of Andover, Mass., twenty-three in number, in the oldest book of the town records now existing. The town of Andover was in- corporated in 1646. John Lovejoy was mar- ried at Ipswich, Mass., January 1, 1651, to Mary Osgood, daughter of Christopher Osgood. His children were: Benjamin, John, Jr., Will- iam, Christopher, Joseph, Nathaniel, Ebene- zer, and several daughters. Ebenezer Love- joy married in 1693 Mary Foster. He died in 1759, in his eighty-sixth year. His brother William was one of the first deacons of the South Church at Andover. One of the series of papers on Historical Andover, published two or three years since in the Andover Towns- man - namely, No. 66, dated September 24, 1897 - is devoted to "Ebenezer Lovejoy's Line." In this paper mention is made of a number of the descendants of different genera- tions of Ebenczer and his wife Mary, among them "Joshua and Joseph, prominent business men of Boston," and "Jeremiah, who died in Reading."
Jeremiah Lovejoy, who was born June 22, 1800, at one time held the office of Sheriff in Gloucester. Removing to Reading with his family fifty years or more ago, he engaged in
farming, and also established the first express line carrying passengers and the United States mail between Reading and North Reading. He died August 31, 1867. His wife was Betsey P. Pratt, of Reading. They had six children - Lewis, Alphonso, Lizzie, Benja- min, Susan, and Jeremiah G. The living are: Susan, who married George Carleton, of North Reading; Benjamin, a resident of Som- erville, Mass. ; and Lewis, who resides in the West.
Jeremiah G. Lovejoy, Eugene L. Lovejoy's father, followed the trade of a shoemaker until his removal to Reading; and he was thenceforward engaged in market-gardening. His death occurred May 22, 1899, at the age of seventy-three years. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Susan R. Jones Lovejoy, and their only child, Eugene L., the subject ci this sketch, with whom she makes her home. Her father was a resident of Kennebunk, Me.
Eugene Leroy Lovejoy was educated in the schools of Reading. Naturally ambitious and desirous of selceting an occupation best suited to his abilities, he formed no definite plan cf action for some time after leaving school, but at the age of seventeen accepted a clerkship in the general store of Bickford & Co. in Hamp- ton, Va., where he remained about four months. After his return to Reading he was associated with Hiram G. Randall for a year, raising poultry and pigs for the market. He next entered the employ of Franklin Fletcher. a general store-keeper ; and, at the end of three months, concluding that mercantile business offered the best opportunities for advancement, he decided to remain with Mr. Fletcher, who hired him for a year. He was rapidly ad- vanced to the position of head clerk, and had full charge of the business during the preprie- tor's absence in the South. Incessant applica- tion to a business which required close con- finement so injured his health that at the end of five years he was advised by his physician to seek a more active employment; and he accordingly engaged in selling goods upon the road, equipping and stocking a team for that purpose. His natural sociability and agree- able manners made his customers his personal friends, thereby enabling him to establish and
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maintain a successful business, which he has ever since conducted, although at the present time he travels only at intervals. He is also engaged in the real estate business, and has other interests of more or less importance. He established and conducted for some time the first hacks in Reading, and has been identi- fied with several other profitable business en- terprises. Starting in life with a firm deter- mination to attain prosperity, his invariable rule has always been to meet his obligations punctually ; and he attributes his success to the fact that all of his business transactions have been carried out strictly on that prin- eiple.
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