Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 47

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

USA > Massachusetts > Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901 > Part 47

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

A. NDREW F. SHERMAN, Register of Deeds for Barnstable County, was born in South Dartmouth, Bristol County, Mass., February 22, 1836, son of James and Nancy (Soule) Sherman. He is a representative of an old New England family, the founders of which came to this country from Dedham, England, about the year 1634. From the same source have sprung several men of national reputation, including General Will- iam T. Sherman, the Hon. John Sherman, former Secretary of State, and Senator Hoar, of Massachusetts.

The great-grandparents of the subject of this sketch were Daniel and Lydia Sherman; and his grandparents were Uriel and Susannah Sherman, who resided in Dartmouth. His father, James Sherman, was born in that town, February 20, 1794; and, being eligible to ser- vice at the breaking out of the War of 1812, he participated in that struggle. Learning the carpenter's trade, he followed it as a jour- neyman builder and contractor, both in South

Dartmouth and Brockton (then North Bridge- water) ; but the greater part of his active life was spent in his native town, where he died April 10, 1861. His wife, Nancy, whom he married July 2, 1814, was born in Plymouth, Mass., January 20, 1794, and died June 8, 1882. They were the parents of eight chil- dren, namely : Ledora A., born January II, 1818; Jane C., born April 9, 1820; Uriel F., born January 16, 1822; Thomas C., born April 2, 1824; Daniel F., born December 20, 1825; James S., born April 12, 1828; Andrew P., born September 26, 1831 ; and Andrew F., the Register above named. Mr. Sherman has one sister and two brothers living, namely : Ledora A., who is now Mrs. Ricketson; Thomas C .; and James S. Jane C., who be- came Mrs. Wheldon, died March 20, 1895. Uriel F. died November 2, 1889. Daniel F. was killed in 1862 at Elder Gap, while serv- ing in the Civil War; and Andrew P. died October 31, 1832.

Andrew F. Sherman spent his boyhood in South Dartmouth and North Bridgewater, now Brockton. At the age of fourteen he went from the last-named place to Lynn, Mass., where for the succeeding seven years he was a store clerk for George B. Tolman ; and he sub- sequently held a similar position in Sandwich, Mass. Entering the dry-goods business, he continued in trade until 1886, when he was elected to his present office; and in the follow- ing year he removed from Sandwich to Barn- stable, where he now resides.

Mr. Sherman was joined in marriage January 2, 1859, with Maria E. Freeman, who was born in Sandwich, August 30, 1838, daughter of Charles and Tylia W. (Small) Freeman. Mr. and Mrs. Sherman have two children living : Andrew F., Jr., born November 10, 1859; and Florence L., born November 20, 1875. Both were born in Sandwich.

Politically, Mr. Sherman acts with the Re- -publican party. He is a Master Mason, and belongs to De Witt Clinton Lodge, Sandwich. His long continuance in office amply attests his ability and popularity, and his uniform courtesy to all who have business relations with the registry of deeds has gained for him a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

365

AMERICAN SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES

Mr. and Mrs. Sherman are attendants of the Unitarian church.

APTAIN EDWARD BUNKER COFFIN, an old whaling skipper, now residing on his native island of Nantucket, was born May 26, 1825, son of Edward Clark and Elizabeth (Bunker) Coffin. He is a lineal descendant of Tristram Coffin, who came from England in 1642, and in 1660 was one of the first settlers of Nantucket. His grandfather, Captain Ed- ward Coffin, was lost at sea, the vessel in which he last sailed being never heard from after leaving port.

Edward Clark Coffin, father of the subject of this sketch, followed the sea for many years in the whaling service, and, subsequently retir- ing, died in Nantucket, in his eighty-sixth year. His wife, Elizabeth, was born on the island, and was a daughter of Thomas and Polly Bunker. She died at the age of sixty- eight, having reared four children - Susan, Anna B., Edward B., and Thomas.

Edward B. Coffin began a sailor's life in 1843, making his first trip on the "Peru," Captain Edwin Barnard commander, the vessel being engaged in the sperm whale fishery. Having previously learned the trade of cooper ashore, he followed it on shipboard during that trip, which lasted forty-three months. Applying himself with diligence to acquire a thorough knowledge of seamanship and naviga- tion, he arose through the different grades of service until he was made captain of the bark "Sappho." In August, 1871, he retired from the sea, and has since resided in his island home, where he is widely known and respected. Captain Coffin was married in. 1855, on Sep- tember 6, to Delia Maria Hussey, a native of Nantucket, born January 28, 1832, daughter of Peter and Eliza (Whippey) Hussey. Her paternal grandparents were Christopher and Anna Hussey, and her maternal grandparents Joseph and Mary Whippey. Captain Coffin's only child, Marietta, who was educated at the Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin Lancasterian School, and resided with her parents, died at the age of twenty-five years.

EORGE ALBERT JONES, a resident of Dorchester, is connected with the well-known firm of L. P. Hollander & Co. as credit clerk, a position of responsi- bility, which he has ably and satisfactorily filled for many years. Son of Woodman Jones, he was born in Dorchester, Mass., April 17, 1846. His immediate paternal ancestors lived in Maine, where his great-grandfather, Thomas Jones, cleared and improved a farm in what is now a part of the town of Kennebunk. He married a daughter of Captain Nathan Wood- man, who in his early manhood was engaged in seafaring as commander of a vessel sailing from Beverly, Mass., but who in later life settled in Lyman, Me., where he lived to a ripe old age.

Thatcher Jones, the grandfather of George A., was the youngest of a large family of chil- dren. He was a lifelong resident of Maine, and carried on general farming throughout his years of activity. He married Louisa Ray- mond, daughter of Captain Nathan Raymond, of Beverly, Mass., who made many ocean voy- ages as commander of a vessel. Of their union ten children were born, Woodman being the eldest child. Both grandparents lived beyond the allotted threescore and ten years of man's life, she attaining the age of eighty years, and he seventy-five.

Woodman Jones was born August 10, 1821, in Lyman, Me., and was there reared and edu- cated. At the age of eighteen years he left the parental homestead to come to Dorchester, where he learned the trade of a cabinet-maker with George Haines. After working as a journeyman for a short time, he located in Mattapan, which has been his home for more than half a century. He at first followed his trade, but subsequently opened a grocery store, which he conducted successfully until he was burned out, when he became a contractor and jobber, a business in which he was engaged until his retirement from active pursuits. He was married in 1845 to Caroline E. Bowen, who was born in Dorchester, Mass., a daughter of Isaac Bowen, formerly of Swansea, Mass. She passed to the higher life in 1892, at the age of sixty-six years. Of their union five children were born; namely, George A., Caro-

366

AMERICAN SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES

line L., Ellen M., Harriet Elizabeth, and Charles Woodman.

George A. Jones was educated in the schools of Dorchester, while yet young working during his leisure hours on the home farm and in his father's grocery store. In 1862 he entered the bakery of Thomas Russell, remaining there a year, when he became a clerk in the grocery of Ira Foster. At the end of eight years' ser- vice he purchased his employer's entire busi- ness, which he managed for ten years. In 1881 Mr. Jones accepted the position that he now holds with L. P. Hollander & Co. He is greatly interested in Masonry, and in the years with which he has been identified with the fra- ternity he has done much to promote its inter- ests. He is a member of Union Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of which he was secretary from 1869 to 1873; of St. Stephen's Chapter, R. A. M. ; and of Boston Commandery, K. T. Politically, he is a stanch Republican.

On November 17, 1875, Mr. Jones married Mary K. Bacon, daughter of James and Ann Bacon, of Dorchester, but formerly of Woburn, Mass., where Mrs. Jones was born. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have two children - Alice Sher- man and Arthur Bacon.

EORGE DANIEL EMERY, mahog- any merchant, Chelsea, easily leads the world in his line of business, being the proprietor of the mammoth establishment known as the Emery Mahogany and Cedar Mills, situ- ated on the Chelsea side of the Mystic River, the largest mahogany and cedar lumber manu- facturing plant anywhere in existence and oper- ation. Mr. Emery was born September 10, 1833, at Fall River, Mass. His father, Daniel F. Emery, a native of Jaffrey, N.H., born in 1808, was of the eighth generation in descent from Anthony Emery, who came from England in the "James " in 1635, settled at Dover, N.H., about 1640, and later removed to Kittery, Mc. This is the ancestral line as given in the Emery genealogy : Anthony,' James,2 Zachariah,3 Zach- ariah,+ Deacon Daniel,5 Captain Daniel,6 Lieu- tenant Daniel,7 Daniel F.8

James Emery came in the ship with his father, Anthony. He served as a Deputy to

the General Court, 1693-95. In 1700 he was living in Dedham, Mass., and in 1713 in Ber- wiek, Me. His son Zachariah, who married Elizabeth Goodwin, and lived in Chelmsford, enlisted in 1745, and served in the expedition against Cape Breton.

Deacon Daniel Emery at one period was a resident of Townsend, Mass., but removed thence to Jaffrey, N.H., where he served as Selectman and in other offices. Captain Daniel Emery, born in 1756, married in 1780 Elizabeth Farnsworth, who died in 1783. Their son, Lieutenant Daniel, born in Jaffrey in 1782, married Polly Felt and had nine children - the third, Daniel F., father of the subject of this sketch ; the sixth, Harriet, born in 1819, who married in 1847 the Rev. George Faber Clark, Unitarian minister, recently deceased.

Daniel F. Emery married Catherine B. Brown, daughter of Jeremiah Brown, of Swansea, Mass. In 1840 he removed with his family to Buffalo, N. Y., where he engaged in the grocery busi- ness. In later years he was in the lumber business successively in Indiana and Michigan. He died in Michigan July 12, 1876.

From the age of twelve years to that of six- teen George D. Emery, being needed as a clerk in his father's store, attended school only during the winter terms. He gained his first knowl- edge of the lumber business in 1850, when he was employed as tally boy at the lumber yard of Oliver Bugbee in Buffalo. That he was ambi- tious and energetic and made good use of his time and opportunities is evident from the fact that at the end of a year he was promoted, being given full charge of the yard with its force of from forty to eighty men. In 1853 Mr. Emery went West to take the place of Mr. Bugbee's former purchasing agent in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, and till 1859 was employed in inspecting, purchasing, and shipping hard woods, mostly black walnut, to Eastern cities. In 1859 he built for himself a small saw-mill in Jefferson township, Noble County, Ind. For two years in the sixties of the century he was engaged as buyer and inspector of hard woods for Skillings, Whitney Bros. & Barnes. In 1868, starting anew on his own account, he built a portable mill for sawing black walnut in South- western Illinois, nearly opposite Cape Girardeau

GEORGE D. EMERY.

369

AMERICAN SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES

on the Mississippi ; and in 1869 he built one on Island No. 5, near Cairo. Placing his lumber on flatboats, he ran it down the river to New Orleans, to be carried thence to Northern ports. In the winter of 1871-72 he built a large mill at Indianapolis, which place he made the head- quarters of his lumbering operations for the next ten years, dealing extensively in domestic hard woods, reaching out for a log supply into Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Ne- braska, and sending rafts from Omaha down the Missouri River to East St. Louis, whence they were taken by rail to Indianapolis. As stand- ing walnut timber became scarce in the regions named above, he sought fresh woods along the Yazoo, Red, and Lower Mississippi ; but, failing to find it in paying quantities, he ceased to deal in walnut, and turned his attention to tropical woods, principally Spanish cedar and mahogany. Logging operations in Mexico, Nicaragua, Hon- duras, and Colombia have been conducted by Mr. Emery for the past nineteen years. His son, Herbert C. Emery, went South to the Caribbean shores to attend to that part of the business. Timber concessions are bought by Mr. Emery from different governments. He has built thirty miles of standard gauge railroad and many tramways. Over a thousand men and five hundred oxen and mules are employed in getting out the logs, which are transported to Boston on a steamer built for the purpose, carrying one million, one hundred thousand feet of logs, and making the round trip in from thirty-five to forty-five days.

A visit to the works at Chelsea, covering an area of nine acres, is full of interest. The superintendent of the mill, Mr. J. H. Graham, has been in Mr. Emery's employ since 1872 ; the yard foreman, Mr. A. T. Fuller, since 1879 - indication of faithful and justly appre- ciated service. The product of the mill formerly consisted entirely of plank and boards. It now includes a variety of high-class veneers, as ma- hogany, rosewood, satin-wood, figured walnut and birch, curly ash, bird's-eye maple, also mar- quetry woods, and so forth.

Mr. Emery married in 1859 Sarah Emeline Gowing, of Batavia, N. Y. She was born May 20, 1838, and died at Cambridge, Mass., De- cember 24, 1889. She was the mother of four

children, namely : Herbert Clark, born July 30. 1 860, at Kendallville, Ind., who for the past ten years has been in partnership with his father : Mary Gowing, born August 22, 1865, now de- ceased ; Dan George, born November 22, 18,2. at Indianapolis ; and Sarah Lotta, born there January 18, 1878. Mr. Emery married in 1892 Helen L. Bliss, of Batavia, N. Y., his present wife.

Mr. Emery is a Republican in politics. He is a member of the Congregational church of Allston, Mass., and belongs to the Joseph Warren Lodge, F. & A. M., of Boston. Ener- getic and self-reliant from his youth up, Mr. Emery has met with difficulties, annoyances, and losses in business, especially in his opera- tions within the tropics, but, undiscouraged thereby, has pushed on to success. Perse- verance seems to be his motto. To quote his own remark, " When a man gets knocked down, I never could understand why he shouldn't get up again."

ENERAL DOUGLAS FRAZAR, business man, traveller, author, and lecturer, was born in Duxbury, Mass., August 19, 1836, son of Amherst Alden and Sarah Drew (Bradford) Frazar. His great grandfather was Captain Thomas Frazar, who died in 1787, in his forty-eighth year.

Information relative to the parentage and ancestry of Captain Thomas is not available: but it is known that one John Frazer was liv- ing in Duxbury in 1733, and records of the same year contain the marriage of Danie! Frazer or Frazier. On November 27, 1,60, Captain . Thomas Frazar married Rebecca Alden, who was born January 4, 1730, and died in 1818. She was a daughter of Captain Samuel and Sarah (Sprague) Alden, and grand-daughter of Deacon David and Mary (Southworth) Alden. Deacon David Alden was a son of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden. His wife was a daughter of Constant Southworth, who came to America in 1623, settling in Duxbury. Captain Thomas and Rebecca (Alden) Frazer had two children : Samuel Alden, who was born in 1766 and died in 1838; and Rebecca, born in 1769, who

370

AMERICAN SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES

died in 1840, and left to the Pilgrim Society a legacy of five hundred dollars.

Samuel Alden Frazar was one of the most prominent citizens of Duxbury in his day. In 1791 he married Abigail Drew. They had ten children, namely : Thomas, born in 1793, who died at the age of one year; John, who married Betsey Drew; Abigail, who was the wife of Nathaniel Weston; Merey C., who never married; Samuel A., who married Maria Winsor; George, who married Ann Little; Amherst Alden, who was born in 1804; Re- becca Alden, who was the wife of the Rev. William A. Stearns; Sarah D., who married a Mr. Mansfield; and Thomas, who married Frances Bradford.

Amherst Alden Frazar, General Frazar's father, was a prominent Boston merchant, ex- tensively engaged in the East India trade. His wife, Sarah, was a daughter of Captain Daniel and Sarah (Drew) Bradford, and de- scendant in the seventh generation of Gov- ernor William Bradford, through William, 2 Samuel, 3 the Hon. Gamaliel, + Colonel Gama- liel, s and Captain Daniel.6 William Brad- ford, second, who served as Deputy-Governor of the Plymouth Colony, was a son of the gov- ernor by his second wife, Alice Carpenter Southworth, widow of Edmund Southworth, and mother of Constant Southworth, above mentioned. Samuel, the Hon. Gamaliel, and Colonel Gamaliel Bradford were all of Dux- bury, which was also the birthplace of Captain Daniel, who settled in Keene, N. H.

Douglas Frazar acquired his elementary education in the schools of Duxbury, subse- quently took the regular course at Dixwell's private school, Boston, and later pursued more advanced studies in Paris, France. Although offered an excellent opportunity to enter mer- cantile pursuits immediately after graduating from the Dixwell School, he preferred to follow the sea; and his first experience as a sailor was acquired before the mast on a voyage around the world at a salary of two dollars per month. So rapidly did he advance through the various grades of seamanship that at the age of twenty- one he sailed from India Wharf, Boston, as master of the barque "Maryland," which was fitted out by his father and himself, and de-

spatched to a Chinese port for the purpose of establishing a commission house in China. In 1859 he founded in Shanghai the house of Frazar & Co., which, with Mr. Everett Frazar at its head, soon became one of the larges: American mercantile houses in that part of the world. The house is still prosperous, and 2 most representative American one.

While residing in China, he witnessed the capture of Pekin by the allied forces of Great Britain and France, and was the first American unattached to the legation to enter the fallen capital. Hastening home at the outbreak of the Civil War, he offered himself to Governor Andrew for military service, at the same time signifying his preference for the cavalry; but, as there was then no recruiting in progress in Massachusetts for that branch of the service. he went to New York, provided with autograph letters, to Governor Seymour from Governor Andrew, Charles Sumner, Henry Wilson, and Josiah Quincy. The draft riots, which occurred at that time in New York, he took a conspicuous part in quelling ; and for his ser- vices he was appointed, by Governor Seymour. Major of the Thirteenth New York Cavalry, his Massachusetts letters of recommendation not being required. He was subsequently commissioned Colonel of a South Carolina colored regiment, having as his Lieutenant Colonel the only son of the Hon. Henry Wil- son, and at the close of the war he was brevetted Brigadier-general as a reward for his faithful services in helping to maintain the integrity of the union. At the request of Vice-Presi- dent Wilson, General Frazar was sent on a special mission among the freedmen of Vir- ginia, where he labored earnestly for two years, establishing schools and otherwise as- sisting in preparing the colored men for their new duties as citizens.

Resuming his business associations with his father in 1870, he continued them until the financial panic of 1873 swept away the firm's property ; and subsequently he turned his at- tention to railroad business, municipal affairs. and literary work. Becoming interested in politics he ran for Congress on the Butler ticket in 1884. In Somerville, where he es- tablished his residence in 1872, for sixteen

371

AMERICAN SERIES OF POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES

years he was City Auditor, and for fifteen years clerk of the Common Council. He also held other positions of public trust. For eleven years he acted as Joint Auditor for the Boston & Maine and Eastern Railroads, and for five years held the position of confidential clerk to General Manager Furber.

Besides contributing various articles to Harper's Magasine, the Youth's Companion, and other periodicals of equal rank, he is the author of three widely read volumes; namely, "The Log of the Maryland," "Perseverance Island," and "Practical Boat Sailing." He also wrote several plays, and achieved a wide reputation as a lecturer. His general knowI- edge of the world, and familiarity with the po- litical, social, and industrial conditions of various nations, was the result of much travel and observation in Europe and the Far East, he having crossed the Atlantic forty times, and also journeyed extensively in'the United States and the adjoining republic of Mexico. He was for two years Major of the Boston Tigers, once a famous infantry organization of Boston ; and he was a comrade of Willard C. Kinsley Post, G. A. R. In business, social, military, and literary cireles he commanded the highest estimation ; and his death, which occurred February 20, 1896, terminated a useful and exemplary life, a greater portion of which had been devoted to the welfare of his fellow-men.

In 1871 General Frazar married Miss Mae Durell, daughter of the Rev. George W. and Jane B. (Moulton) Durell, of Somerville. Mrs. Frazar is a native of Calais, Me., but was reared in Somerville, whither she came with her parents in early life. An account of her ancestry will be found in a sketch of her brother, Dr. Thomas M. Durell, which appears upon another page of this work.

Mrs. Frazar was educated in the Somerville public schools. Carefully cultivating a nat- ural taste for literature, she in due time, by the aid of her facile pen, became widely known in the world of letters. Some years ago she established a periodical known as The Home Life, which under her able management ac- quired a circulation of twenty thousand regular subscribers; but in 1887 she relinquished the administration of its affairs, in order to accom-

pany her husband to Mexico. After her return she established, and has ever since been identi- fied, with the well-known Frazar personally conducted European tours, which have attained a wide-spread popularity, many people, espe- cially ladies, being prompt to avail themselves of the service of a guide who has crossed the Atlantic thirty times, and whose knowledge of foreign parts, and the various exigencies of foreign travel, is equal to all demands. In addition to a unique guide-book of foreign travel, Mrs. Frazar has published numerous poems and sketches. She has also contributed to the Boston papers, and delivered lectures in many of the large cities. She was one of the founders of the Heptorean Club of Somer- ville; is at the present time president of the Daughters of Maine, also of Somerville; and is a member of the New England Women's Press Association, in each of which she takes a lively interest. Her contributions to chari- table objects are almost without stint; and she is held in high estimation, not only in the city of her residence, but also in many other cities, where she is known and appreciated.

Mrs. Frazar has two sons: Amherst Durell, born July 31, 1873; and Gerard Frazar, born November 7, 1878.

EORGE LATHROP HAWKES, who died October 24, 1899, in the pleas- ant town of Wakefield, where for some years he had been living retired from the active cares of business, was born January 24, 1822, in Lynnfield, Mass. A son of Joshua Hawkes and grandson of John Hawks, whose birth occurred on the same homestead farm, Mr. Hawkes was a worthy representative of one of the more prominent families that settled in Lynn during the first part of the seventeenth century, being a lineal descendant of Adam Hawks,' who was born in England, and emi- grated to Lynn, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1630. The line was continued through John Hawks,2 born about 1633; Adam Hawks, 3 born in 1664; John Hawks,+ born in 1690; Adam Hawks,s born in 1715; John Hawks," above named, to Joshua Hawkes,7 the father of George L. Hawkes. $

372

AMERICAN SERIES OF POPULAR . BIOGRAPHIES

It may here be remarked that the spelling of the surname with an e. as practised by the later generations of this branch of the family, was introduced by an elder brother of Joshua Hawkes, a sea captain, who, visiting England, learned that it was so spelled in that country, the original home of the emigrant ancestor of two hundred and seventy years ago.

Adam Hawkss was a farmer by occupation ; and he also worked 'many years at the black- smith's trade, his smithy standing on his farm. He married Lydia Wiley, and had a large family of children, among them being John, Benjamin, and his namesake, Adam, Jr. In January, 1773, he bought of Jonathan Brown, of Reading, a mill, house, barn, and other buildings, and twenty-seven acres of land, all in Reading. He died in December, 1773. less than a year after the purchase, and the property descended to his son Adam, Jr., born in 1764.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 47

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

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