Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 52

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

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Arthur I. Harriman was born in Plymouth, N. H. Brought up on his father's farm, he was engaged in agricultural pursuits during the entire active period of his life, which closed when he had attained the age of seventy- three. He married Mary Gale Clough. Her grandfather died from the effects of a wound

received at the battle of Bunker Hill. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur L. Harriman were the parents of seven children: Abbie E., who married S. C. Baker, of Ashland, N.H .; George Blodgett, the subject of this sketch; Arthur Washington ; Henry P., who died in infancy : Electa A., who married B. R. Cobb, of Bos- ton; Anna R., who was the wife of Edward Warner, of Ashland, N. H. ; and Mary, who died in childhood. The mother of these chil- dren died at age of eighty-three years.

George B. Harriman was educated at the New Hampton Institute, New Hampton, N. H. Coming to Boston in 1857, he studied den- tistry under John Clough, M. D., and began the practice of his profession in 1858 in this city. In 1868 and 1869 he attended lectures at the Boston Dental College, where he was graduated in 1870, with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. In the same year he was elected Professor of Dental Histology and Microscopic Anatomy in that college, of which in the following year he was elected Dean. He is still a member of the board of trustees. Dr. Harriman studied microscopy under Pro- fessor Rufus King Brown, and he has since continued to give special attention to this im- portant branch of dental and medical science. Through its means and by the help of a simple process of dissecting teeth, invented by him- self, he made in 1869 an important discovery. which is briefly described in the following extract from the leading article in the Ameri- can Monthly Microscopical Journal of August, 1895 :-

"In 1869 George B. Harriman, D. D.S., of Boston, discovered a simple, novel mode of dissecting teeth, which was to turn them on a lathe, as iron is turned. Thus he succeeded in demonstrating the nerve axis cylinder in dentine. Though toothache means nerves in dentine, Dr. Harriman's statement was denied. To confirm his discovery, Dr. Harriman ordered Robert B. Tolles in 1870 to make this objec- tive (a one-seventy-fifth microscope objective), giving him carte blanche as to price and time. Mr. Tolles, loath to undertake the order, was over-persuaded, and in three years, June 2, 1873, handed it over to Dr. Harriman. Mr. Tolles told the writer that he would never

DR. GEORGE B. HARRIMAN.

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make another because of the difficulty, and that only persistent pushing and urging brought forth the one-seventy-fifth. Dr. Har- riman avers that the one-seventy-fifth did demonstrate and confirm the presence of axis nerve cylinders in dentine, and thus realized its aim. So far as the writer knows, it sus- tains the claim of Dr. Harriman as the dis- coverer of nerve fibres in dentine in 1869."

The article from which the above is an extract contains much more in regard to the microscope, which created a sensation in scien- tific circles, both in America and Europe, by reason of its high power and the excellent work it did and has since done. It is need- less to say that Dr. Harriman's claim, as above set forth, has been long since conceded by his scientific brethren. Dr. Harriman at various times for several years was called as expert on the blood for the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. In 1879 he ably assisted in reply- ing to the critics of the Rev. Joseph Cook, who had been vigorously attacked for certain statements made by him in a lecture delivered at Tremont Temple, Boston, in March of that year, on "Alcohol and the Human Brain." Together with Dr. Ephraim Cutter he produced material evidence to support Mr. Cook's as- sertions. Dr. Harriman is a member of the firm of John Hood & Co., dealers in dental supplies, Boston. In politics he is a Republi- can, and he was a member of the State Central Committee in the year that James G. Blaine was nominated for the Presidency. He be- longs to Beth Horan Lodge, F. & A. M. ; St. Paul Chapter, R. A. M .; and to Boston Com- mandery, K. T. He is also a member of the Philosophical Society of Great Britain.

Dr. Harriman was first married in 1864, to Miss Mary E. Stanley, a daughter of Samuel S. and Mary (Upham) Stanley, of Boston. He has three children, namely : George Stan- ley, who married Stella Kingman; Edward Fisher, who is engaged in the wholesale dry- goods business as an employee of the firm of Farley, Harvey & Co. ; and Albert IIenry, who is engaged in dental goods business in Boston. Dr. Harriman married for his second wife Mattie Belle Means, daughter of Captain

N. H. and Sarah P. (Young) Means, of Ells- worth, Me.

YLVANUS PAYNE, of Winthrop, Suffolk County, head of the firm of Sylvanus Payne & Son, tanners and curriers, was born in Brewster, Mass., July 29, 1822, son of Barney and Sabra (Ridley) Payne. His paternal grandfather was Sylvanus Payne, a soldier of the Continental army, who in later years received a pension from the United States government. The grandfather resided for the most part at Eas: Brewster, Mass. The Hartford Mercury of September 19, 1805, contains a notice of the arrival of the brigantine "Sally," under com- mand of Captain Barney Payne. This was the father of the subject of this sketch. He served in the War of 1812. Mr. Payne's mother was a daughter of Nathaniel Ridley, of Point Shiz- ley, and a descendant of Thomas Ridley, whose name appears in the early records as that of a citizen of Truro, Mass. Thomas's son, Thomas Ridley, second, died in Truro in 176 ;. He had quite a number of daughters, all cf whom were considered handsome. One ci them, whose portrait was painted for an art gallery, and who married in Boston, was known as the "Boston beauty." The Paynes are said to be descended from a Norman of that name. whose Christian name is not now known, and who spelled his surname "Pagen." He en- tered England at an early date, it is thought with William the Conqueror; and it is said that he owned land in fifteen counties in Eng- land. The first progenitor of the Paynes in America was Stephen Payne, who settled in Kingston, Mass., in 1635. Another of the family, Eleazer, of the fifth generation from Stephen, emigrated to Ohio, and, building a cabin in Lake County, gave his name to the present thriving town of Painesville.

Thomas Payne, the founder of the Cape Cod family of Paynes, married Mary Snow, and in 1653 settled in Eastham, where he resided many years and where he died in 1706. His wife was a daughter of Constance Hopkins, who was a daughter of Stephen Hopkins, one of the "Mayflower " Pilgrims.

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Sylvanus Payne, the direct subject of this sketch, obtained his education in the schools of Brewster. He then learned the trade of tanner and currier from Mr. Winslow, of Brewster. After working at it for a short time as a journeyman, he opened a shop of his own in Provincetown, but subsequently re- moved to Boston, where he engaged in business on Charlestown Street. In 1860 he took up his residence in Winthrop, and two years later built a shop there, into which he moved his business, and conducted it for many years, after which he retired from its active superintend- ence. He is a member of Winthrop Lodge, A. F. & A. M., which he has served as treas- urer, and is trustee and steward of the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Winthrop. For three years he served on the Board of Se- lectmen of the town, and for two years was a member of the School Committee.

Mr. Payne married in 1849 Abby Snow Hor- ton, daughter of Freeman Horton, of Eastham, Mass. She died in 1885, leaving one child, George Franklin. The latter, born in Chelsea in 1851, married Ella Fay, who died in 1897. In 1899 George F. Payne married for his sec- ond wife Miss Kate Pierce, of Winthrop. Mr Sylvanus Payne married for his second wife, in 1888, Ella Phebe Freeman, daughter of Sullivan and Phebe G. (Smith) Freeman, of Orleans, Mass.

ORACE BLAGDEN BUTLER, sec- retary and treasurer of the Enter- prise Co-operative Bank, East Bos- ton, was born in Portsmouth, N. H., November 26, 1833, son .of Benjamin Frank- lin and Mary Jane (Tilton) Butler. He is of the sixth generation in descent from Thomas Butler, traditionally a descendant of the house of Ormond and an early settler in Berwick, Me.

Thomas Butler was born about the year 1674, as an affidavit signed by him in 1733 gives his age as fifty-nine years. The exact date of his arrival in Berwick is unknown. But the certificate of the birth of his son Thomas, contained in the Kittery town rec- ords, shows that he and his wife Elizabeth were living in Berwick as early as 1698; and

that he was a man of means and education is attested by the fact that he was able to teach Latin, and taught the town school without recompense during the year 1716. He was a Selectman for a number of years; was elected Surveyor of Lands annually from 1713 to 1736, being succeeded in the latter office by his sons; and he numbered among his intimate friends and associates such prominent men as Governor Wentworth, Sir William Pepperell, the Hon. John Hill, Captain Ichabod Plaisted, Hum- phrey Chadbourn, and others. His death is supposed to have occurred in 1736; and his wife died December 2, 1728.

Thomas Butler, second, gentleman, was born March 6, 1698, and baptized August 14, 1720. He was a large land-owner, as well as an ex- tensive manufacturer and dealer in lumber, owning the Quamphegan Mills, and inherited the homestead known as Butler's Hill. His name first appears in the Berwick town records as the successful candidate for Constable in 1725. In 1735 he was elected Land Surveyor, an office which he retained for a number of years; and he also held other town offices. His wife's Christian name was Mchitable. He was the father of seven children - Mary, Olive, Thomas, Elizabeth, Samuel, Ichabod, and Moses Butler.

Samuel Butler, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was baptized May 19, [734. Like his father, he was extensively engaged in the lumber business, and was also a noted merchant of Berwick in his day. He held various town offices, including that of Selectman. He was Moderator in 1772, and with others signed a petition to the British Parliament, protesting against the unconstitu- tionality of the revenue tax in North America. His death occurred July 15, 1799. On May 4, 1757, he married Lydia, daughter of Nehe- miah and Mary (Wentworth) Kimball, of Dover, N. H. Their children were: Ichabod, Samuel, Nehemiah, Mehitable, Ephraim, Lydia, Mary, Peletiah, Robert, and Martha Butler.

Robert Butler, Horace B. Butler's grand- father, was born July 11, 1778, and died in January, 1855. Ilis wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Drew, died August 3, 1851. Their

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children were: Lydia Kimball, Benjamin F., Henry T., Hannah, William R., and John Q. A. Butler.

Benjamin Franklin Butler, Mr. Butler's father, was born in Berwick, May 10, 1810. He learned the blacksmith's trade at the United States Navy Yard in Portsmouth, N. H., but did not follow it for any great length of time, as in 1834 he settled in East Boston, where he engaged in the stove busi- ness. At the time of his death, which oc- curred November, 1896, he was the oldest stove dealer in the city. Active in political affairs, he attended as a delegate the Baltimore Convention which nominated William Henry Harrison for the Presidency in 1840; and he left the Whig party to join the Republican movement at its formation. He was one of the organizers and for the rest of his life an active member of the Maverick Congregational Church. He was a resident of East Boston for sixty-two years, and for fifty-six occupied one house. The marriage of Benjamin F. Butler and Mary Jane Tilton, daughter of Josiah and Sarah (Dearborn) Tilton, of Deer- field, N. H., took place January 8, 1833. Their children were: Horace Blagden, the subject of this sketch; George Augustus; Ed- ward Payson; Sarah Tilton; Benjamin Frank- lin, Jr. ; Mary - Jane; and Elizabeth Freeman Butler. Mrs. Butler lived to the age of sev- enty-nine years. Josiah Tilton, her father, was born in 1776, and died in 1860. His wife was born in 1777, and died in 1862.

Horace Blagden Butler was graduated from the Lyman School in 1848, and shortly after- ward inaugurated his business training in a Boston hardware store, at the modest salary of one dollar per week. He subsequently entered his father's stove store, remaining there several years; and from 1862 to 1865 he was a clerk in the Treasury Department at Washington, having charge of the division which attended to the inspection of the accounts of army pay- masters. After his return to East Boston, he purchased the stove store of William N. Soule on Lewis Street, which he carried on until 1877; and, being elected Clerk of the Ferry Department the latter year, he served in that capacity until 1883. The succeeding two

years were spent in New York City, where he held a clerkship in his uncle's establishment ; and from 1885 to 1895 he was again Clerk of the East Boston Ferry Department. In 1892 he with others incorporated the Columbia Trust Company, which was organized three years later, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and of which he was treasurer until 1897. In addition to his connection with the founding of the trust company and subse- quent activity in its affairs, he was one of the foremost organizers of the Enterprise Co- operative Bank, which was organized in April, ISSS, and of which fast growing and vastly important institution he is now secretary and treasurer. He was prominent in the founda- tion of the new Sumner Savings Bank, which began business in 1897. He is a member of several social and fraternal organizations, in- cluding the Ancient Order of United Work- men, the Royal Arcanum, and the Masonic order; and for nine years he was secretary of Temple Lodge, F. & A. M., of East Boston. Mr. Butler is one of the best known men of the Island Ward, and his popularity is fre- quently attested. His religious affiliations are with the Saratoga Street Methodist Church.

In 1856 Mr. Butler married Miss Sarah Hamilton, daughter of Seth and Sarah (Young) Hamilton, of East Boston. Mrs. Butler died April 9, 1899. She was the mother of five children, namely: Luman Hamilton, born September 5, 1857; Bertha Florence, born November 19, 1860, who died in October. 1894; Blanche Evelyn, born May 11, 1873; Hattie Belle, who was born April 28, 1876, and died September, 1883; and Mary Eliza- beth Griffith, born June 15, 1879.

AMES FRANCIS POPE, of Milton, a well-known ice dealer, member of the firm of Pope & Turner, was born on Adams Street, Dorchester, May 28, 1845. son of James and Sarah Louise (Swan) Pope, his mother being a daughter of Reuben Swan, of Dorchester.

He acquired his education in the public schools of his native town. On June 24. 1862, at the age of seventeen, he left school and

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enlisted in Company A, Thirteenth Massachu- setts Volunteer Infantry, joining his regiment at Mitchell's Station, Va. With it he partici- pated in the second battle of Bull Run and the battles of Chantilly, Fredericksburg, Chancellors- ville, Antietam, and Gettysburg, and was taken prisoner at Gettysburg, July 1, 1863. After being confined on Bell Island for nearly nine months he was exchanged, and on reaching the federal lines was sent to St. John's Hospital at Annapolis, where he remained until July of that year. He then joined his regiment at Peters- burg, and continued with it until the expiration of the term of his enlistment, July 24, 1864, when he received an honorable discharge.

In August after his return home Mr. Pope found employment in the Continental National Bank of Boston, which he left in December of the same year to enter the First National Bank of that city as messenger and note teller. He remained there until May, 1874, when he became treasurer of the Dorchester Savings Bank, which position he held until the bank closed in 1878. Two years later he engaged in his present busi- ness as a dealer in ice. After conducting busi- ness alone till 1883, he formed a partnership with Mr. Turner under the style of Pope & Turner, which firm has continued up to the pres- ent time. They have built up a large and grow- ing trade in Dorchester and Milton, and are now numbered among the enterprising and prosper- ous business firms of the town.

Mr. Pope was married December 23, 1869, to Miss Harriet Augusta Gates, daughter of Benjamin and Mary Jane Gates, of Dorchester, and a representative of an old Colonial family of Hubbardston, Mass.

Mrs. Pope's grandfather was Henry Gates, a soldier in the Continental army, who was severely wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill, being pierced through the head by two bullets, but who recovered, and after the war married and became the father of thirteen children.

Mrs. Pope died on March 30, 1882, leaving one child, Sarah Gates, who was born June 30, 1 880.

Mr. Pope is a Town Assessor of Milton, and has also served in other local offices. He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic. Politically, he is a Republican.

HARLES FRANCIS MANSFIELD, a well-known resident of Wakefield and prominently identified with several of its institutions, was born in Cambridge, Mass., August 28, 1848, son of Daniel and Ann E. (Gardner ) Mansfield.

Although not among the earliest settlers in ancient Reading, members of the Mansfield fam- ily resided there at an early date; while at a later period, in South Reading and Wakefield, its representatives have been both numerous and worthy, and there are to-day at least fifty of the name and blood residing in the town. Some of the name have held civil office almost continuously · for the past fifty years, and four served in the Civil War, one dying in the service. They are descended from Robert Mansfield and his wife, Elizabeth, who arrived at Lynn, Mass. (probably from the county of Norfolk, England), in 1640, and settled at what became known as Mansfield's End, the homestead being located at or in the neighborhood of the present corner of Boston and Moulton Streets. Robert Mansfield, who was a farmer, died December 16, 1666, leaving two sons, Andrew and Joseph, the former of whom was the direct ancestor of the subject of this sketch.

Andrew Mansfield, who was born in England and emigrated in 1639, was first Recorder, or Town Clerk of Lynn, and very prominent in town affairs. He resided on the slope of Far- rington's Hill, then known as Andrew Mans- field's Rocky Hill. His death occurred while he was serving as Representative to the General Court, in November, 1683. His first wife was Bethiah - ; his second was Mrs. Mary Neale, daughter of Francis Lawes, of Salem, and widow of John Neale, also of Salem ; and his third wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Will- iam and Elizabeth Walton, of Marblehead, and widow of Lot Conant, of Beverly. Andrew Mansfield was the father of eight children.

Daniel Mansfield, the next in line of descent, was born in Lynn, June 9, 1669. He was a man of property and prominence and a Deacon of the First Church of Lynn. His homestead was on the site of the present Lynn Hospital, and he owned other lands in that neighborhood and also the mill and water privilege at Sangus Centre. His death occurred June 11, 1728.

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The family name of his first wife, Hannah, is not known. His second wife was Mrs. Margaret Burrill, widow of Samuel Burrill, of Lynn. He was the father of five children.

Andrew Mansfield, son of Deacon Daniel, was born in Lynn, April 24, 1692. He settled in that part of Lynn which is now Lynnfield, where he owned large tracts of land extending into Salem (now Peabody). While working in a well, August 28, 1730, he was accidentally killed by a falling stone. He married Sarah, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Farrington) Breed, and had two children, Andrew, Jr., and Daniel. Dan- iel Mansfield, youngest son of Andrew, was born in Lynnfield, November 24, 1717. He was a farmer, owning lands in Lynn, Lynnfield, and Danvers (now Peabody), and was Deacon of the Lynnfield Church. He fought at the battle of Lexington, and was a member of the Lynn Committee of Safety during the Revolutionary War. He died April 2, 1797. In 1738 he married for his first wife his cousin Lydia New- hall, daughter of Captain Elisha and Jane (Breed) Newhall, of Lynnfield ; and, she dying in 1776, he married, second, Mrs. Ruth Newhall, daughter of John and Ruth Bancroft, of Lynnfield, and widow of Joseph Newhall, also of that town. There were ten children of his first union and two of his second.

William Mansfield, son of Deacon Daniel by his first marriage, was born May 20, 1749, in Lynnfield. He was a prosperous farmer of that town, where he died September 28, I Sog. He married May 31, 1770, Betty Townsend, daugh- ter of Deacon Daniel and Lydia (Sawyer) Town- send, of Lynnfield. She bore him eleven chil- dren. William Mansfield, Jr., son of William, was born in Lynnfield, May 4, 1773. He was a farmer in Lynnfield. He died in South Read- ing (now Wakefield), February 21, 1859. His first wife, Eunice, daughter of James and Sarah (Hawkes) Johnson, of Lynnfield, died January 25, 1825 ; and he afterward married Mrs. Nancy Mansfield, daughter of Andrew and Jane (Breed) Mansfield and widow of his cousin, Baruch Mans- field. His family consisted of fourteen children, nine of whom lived to marry and have families.

Daniel Mansfield, son of William, Jr., was born in Lynnfield, May 11, 1819. His education was acquired in the district school, the South

Reading Academy, and the Dracut Academy, which he attended two terms. He designed to enter the legal profession ; and, to secure the means to pursue his studies, he taught school in Malden and Dorchester, and being then offered the position of master of the Washington Gram- mar School, Cambridge, he accepted it March 7, 1842, retaining the position for over forty- four years. He brought and kept the school up to a high standard of excellence, and secured the respect and esteem of pupils and parents and of the community. He was deeply interested in all that concerned his profession, and was at one time president of the Middlesex Teachers' Association and a councillor of the Massachu- setts State Teachers' Association and of the American Institute of Instruction. He resigned his position in July, 1886, on account of failing health, and, removing to Wakefield, resided there till his death, which occurred November 12, 1887. He married May 22, 1845, Ann E. Gardner, only child of Oakman and Ann (Far- well) Gardner, of Boston. She died at Wake- field, March 11, 1888. They had three children : Daniel Gardner, of West Medford ; and Charles Francis and Lizzie A., who reside in Wakefield.

Charles Francis Mansfield acquired his educa- tion in the Cambridge public schools. He was employed in various mercantile establishments in Boston until 1872, when he went to Wake- field and entered the employ of his uncle, Dr. J. D. Mansfield, then proprietor of the " Old Cor- ner Drug Store." He subsequently engaged in the drug business at North Woburn, and still later conducted a store in Millbury, Mass., but returned to Wakefield in 1885, and for the past twelve years has been employed as a stenogra- pher by the well-known Boston firm of Parker, Wilder & Co. Since his return to Wakefield he has actively identified himself with some of its most notable institutions, being president of the Wakefield Historical Society (of which he is a charter member), a trustee of the Public Library, assessor and collector of the First Parish, sec- retary of the Wakefield Mutual Benefit Asso- ciation (a local insurance organization), and a director of the Wakefield Co-operative Bank. Having an inclination toward literature, local history, and genealogy, he has devoted considera- ble time to investigating the history of Reading

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and its old families, as also the genealogy of the Mansfield and allied families ; and his researches have resulted in his being able to trace his own descent from Isaac, Mary, and Remember Aller- ton, Edward Dotey, Richard Warren, John Alden, Priscilla, William, and Alice Mullins, or Molines, passengers on the " Mayflower." In politics he is a Republican.

Mr. Mansfield was married in Millbury, April 29, 18So, to Miss Mary E. Carter, daughter of Rufus and Sarah (Ward) Carter, of that town. Mrs. Carter is a descendant of Rev. Thomas Carter, who was ordained the first minister at Woburn in 1742, and also of the Rev. John Campbell, who was installed pastor at Oxford, Mass., in 1721, after the retirement of the origi- nal Huguenot settlers of that town. Mr. and Mrs. Mansfield have two children : Anna Car- ter, who was born in Millbury, April 2, 1881 ; and Mabelle Gardner Mansfield, who was born in Wakefield, May 3, 1885.

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Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 52

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

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