Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 56

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

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tall hall clock which his grandfather, John Kenrick, a seafaring man, bought in England more than a century ago.

A Republican in politics, Mr. Kenrick has taken an active part in public affairs. He cast his first Presidential vote for James A. Garfield in 18So. In 1891, after having for some time stood high in the local councils of his party, he was elected to the Legislature to represent the towns of Brewster, Chatham, Harwich, and Orleans. In 1892 he was elected to the State Senate as a Representative of the Cape dis- trict, including Barnstable, Dukes, and Nan- tucket Counties; and in the fall of 1893 he was re-elected. While a member of the House he served on the Game and Fishery Committee. In the Senate in the session of 1893 he was chairman of the Committee on Public Reserva- tions and a member of the Committees on Pub- lic Service and Federal Relations, and in the session of 1894 he was chairman of the Com- mittee on Towns and a member of the Commit- tees on Street Railways and Roads and Bridges. As chairman of the Committee on Public Res- ervations in 1893, he secured the passage of the "Province Lands" Bill, amending the statutes, confirming the title of occupants of the "Province Lands " at Provincetown to their holdings, and creating a State marine park, on the ocean side of Provincetown, out of the un- settled portion of the "Province Lands." In the Senate of 1894 he worked successfully for the passage of the State Normal School Bill, which gave a normal school to Cape Cod at Hyannis, in the town of Barnstable.

A prominent Free Mason, he is a member of Pilgrim Lodge, F. & A. M .; Sylvester Baxter Chapter, R. A. M .; and De Molay Commandery, K. T., of Boston; also of Aleppo Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member and trustee of Fraternal Lodge, No. 132, I. O. O. F. ; Orleans Lodge, No. 1556, K. of H., in which he has filled various offices. He is Postmaster at South Orleans, and a Se- lectman, Assessor, and Overseer of the Poor of Orleans; also a trustee of the Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank of Harwich, Mass. Mr. Kenrick was appointed by Governor Wolcott a Justice of the Peace in 1898 and a Notary Public in 1899.

G ALEN ADALPHA PARKER, a rep- resentative of one of the early families to settle in Reading, of which he is still a resident, is carrying on a substantial business in Boston, being at the head of the well-known firm of Parker & Page, lumber dealers. Born in Reading, May 10, 1847, son of Dana and Elizabeth W. (Steele) Parker, he is a descendant of Deacon Thomas Parker, who came to this country from England in 1635, and was made a freeman at Lynn in 1637, and in 1639. receiv- ing a grant of forty acres of land at Lynn Village, the name in 1644 being changed to Reading, settled permanently in that part of the old town that is now Wakefield. The line is : Deacon Thomas,' born in 1605; Sergeant John,2 born in 1640; John,3 1668 ; John,4 1701 : Jonas,5 1728; Amos,6 1766; Dana,7 ISO; : Galen A.,8 1847.

Mr. Parker's paternal grandfather, Amos Par- ker, a lifelong resident of Reading, was a car- penter and farmer. His death, at the age of seventy years, was caused by his falling from a load of hay. His wife's maiden name was Betsey Taylor. Their children were: Ames. Dana, Betsey, Philomela, Harriet, and Lorenzo.

Dana Parker, second son of Amos, was born in Reading in November, 1805, and died February 9, 1892. He was engaged first as a wheelwright, afterward in agricultural pursuits for the larger part of his active life. He mar- ried Elizabeth Woolson Steele, daughter of John and Betsey (Crosby) Steele, of Rindge. N.H. She was born July 26, 1813, and died April 27, 1882, leaving two children, namely : Milton Dana, born January 5, 1844, who resides on the old home farm in Reading ; and Galen Adalpha, the special subject of this sketch.

Galen A. Parker was educated in the public schools of Reading, including the high school. and began active life as errand boy and elerk in the employ of Richardson, Howard & Co., of Boston, with whom he remained four years. He then worked at home a year, and after that for nine years he was clerk and book-keeper in the furniture establishment of Kelham, Fitz & Co., in Boston. Resigning his position, he em- barked in the lumber business as a member of the firm of J. Buffum & Co., with offices at & and 32 Canal Street. Three years later the

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firm dissolved partnership, and Mr. Parker be- came senior partner of the present firm of P'ar- ker & Page, locating first at 24 Canal Street, but subsequently removing to 32 Lancaster Street, Boston, where the firm is doing a very large business, handling Southern and Western hard woods for cabinet and finishing purposes. Mr. Parker is one of the trustces of the Ceme- tery Association and the president of the board. He is a member of the Congregational church, and for several years has been clerk of the parish.

On November 7, 1867, Mr. Parker was mar- ried to Edna Stone Barrus, daughter of Hiram and Augusta (Stone) Barrus and a native of Goshen, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Parker have four children, namely : Lizzie Augusta, born January 18, 1870, who was educated in the Reading schools, Miss Johnson's school, Boston, and the Berlitz School of Languages, and has taught music, but is now at home ; Winthrop Dana, born October 28, 1871, educated at the Phillips Andover Academy and the Massachu- setts Institute of Technology, and now em- ployed as an architect in the office of Wheel- wright & Haven, Boston, making his home, however, in Reading; Marion Edna, born October 28, 1873, who served four years as assistant cashier in the First National Bank of Reading, and is now the wife of Leon Girard Bent ; and Jennie Barrus, born October 27, 1879, now in Wellesley College, a member of the class of 1902.

Mrs. Parker comes of long lines of Colonial ancestry, clearly traced back to immigrants who were prominent in the early settlement of New England. Her father, Hiram Barrus, was born in Goshen, Mass., July 5, 1822, and died in Reading, March 21, 1883. In 1861, receiving an appointment to the Boston custom-house, he removed with his family to Boston, and in 1863 took up his permanent residence in Read- ing. He served in minor positions in the cus- tom-house, under J. Z. Goodrich, until 1864, when he was made assistant cashier, an office that he held under six different collectors, with the same cashier, E. L. Frothingham, Jr. He wrote the History of Goshen, his native town. On April 24, 1845, he married Augusta, daugh- ter of Colonel Luther Stone. She died May 8,

1894, having been the mother of six children, namely : Edna Stone, now Mrs. Parker ; Freder- ick P. and George Winthrop, who both died in infancy ; Mary Almeda, born February 19, 1852, who died August 21, 1867 ; George Hale, born July 11, 1854, who married Sadie L. Dewey, and now resides in Brookline, Mass. ; and Jennie R., born July 10, 1856, now the wife of Arthur W. Temple, of Reading.

Hiram Barrus was descended in a direct line from John Barrows,' born in Yarmouth, England, in 1609, who came to Massachusetts with his wife, Anne, in 1637, and was granted two tracts of land in Salem. In 1665 the name of John Barrows appears in the Plymouth records. He had four sons - Robert, Joshua, Ebenezer, and Benajah. Robert 2 Barrows, married November 28, 1666, Ruth, daughter of George Bonum. They had four children: John, who died in Plympton in 1720; George, the next in line of descent ; Samuel, who died in Middleborough in 1755 ; and Mehitabel, who married Adam Wright. By his first wife, Lydia Dunham, Robert 2 Barrows had five children, namely : Robert, who died in Mansfield, Conn., in 1779; Thankful, who married Isaac King ; Elisha, who died in Rochester, Mass., in 1767 ; Thomas, who died in Mansfield, Mass. ; and Lydia, born in 1699, who married Thomas Branch.

George 3 Barrows, born in 1670, was an ex- tensive landholder. For his success in trading with the Indians, he received the title of Captain. He reared a large family. His son Samuel,4 born in 1700, married Susannah Tobey, of Sandwich, Mass., and removed to Killingly. Conn., where they reared their eight children, George $ Barrows, born in 1733, married and re- moved to Tolland, Conn., where he and all of his children but two - namely, Lazarns and a daughter - died of malignant fever in 1777.

Lazarus 6 Barrus (as he spelled the name) was born in 1763. After his marriage with Ruth, daughter of Joseph Cressey, he removed from Tolland, Conn., to Rowe, Mass., and there brought up their nine children, namely : Julia Ann, who married Elijah Warren ; Susannah, who married Bani Parker; Patience, who married successively Elisha Phillips, Jonathan Lilley, and a Mr. Clark ; George, whose first wife was Rhoda Keyes and his second Rhoda

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T. Graves; Levi,7 the next in line of descent ; Freelove, born in 1798 ; Perus, who married Huldah Rogers; Ruth, who married Elijah Howes ; and Anna, who married Madison Knowl- ton.

Levi Barrus, born in Charlemont, Mass., re- moved in IS12 to Windsor, Mass., thence to Goshen, and later to Cape Street, Ashfield. He married Almeda Stearns, and after her death he married Elvira Allis. The children, all by his first wife, were: Hiram, Mrs. Parker's father ; Lorin, born May 31, 1825, who married Lucinda Naramore; Laura Ann, who was born July 26, 1827, and married Jacob Lovell ; Theron Levi, born September 1, 1829, who married first Czarina Robinson and second Susan Miller ; Alvan Stone, born October 14, 1831, who married Emeline P. Wakefield, of Reading ; Charles, born May 25, 1834, who married Clarissa Hill; and Louisa Jane, who was born July 20, 1838, and died September 4, IS 50.

Almeda Stearns, who married Levi Barrus, Mrs. Parker's grandfather, was of the sixth generation in descent from Isaac Stearns, who came from England in 1630 in the same ship with Governor Winthrop, and settled in Water- town, but in 1680 sold his lands there, and, re- moving to Lynn, took up his residence near Reading. His son Shubael? served as a soldier in the Narragansett expedition. Ebenezer,3 son of Shubael Stearns married Martha Burnap, of Reading, and removed to Sutton, Mass. Their son David married Hannah Burnell ; and he and his three sons - David, Jr., Lemuel, and John - served in the Revolutionary War. Cyrus Stearns, born March 26, 1765, son of David, married Sarah Weeks and was the father of Almeda, Mrs. Barrus.

Sarah Weeks, born May 15, 1766, was a direct descendant of George and Jane Weeks through their son Amiel 2 and his wife, Elizabeth ; Supply 3 Weeks, who married Susanna Barnes ; Thomas 4 Weeks, who married Hannah Holland ; and Captain Thomass Weeks, who married Mercy Hinckley. Captain Thomas Weeks, father of Sarah, responded promptly to the Lexington alarm call, April 19, 1775, going as Lieutenant of his company. Later in that year he was in Camp Roxbury. He left a journal, in

which was recorded the events of the campaign. His wife, Mercy Hinckley, was a daughter of Job and Sarah (Tufts) Hinckley and great- grand daughter of Thomas Hinckley the last Governor of the Plymouth Colony before its union with the Bay Colony.

Mrs. Parker's maternal grandfather, Colone: Luther Stone, was a lineal descendant ci Deacon Simon Stone, born in England in 158 ;. who came to this country in 1635, bringing with him his wife, Joan, daughter of William Clark. and their four children. His son Simon,? bom in 1631, married Mary Whipple. Simor .: served in the Indian wars, and was shot in nine places by the redskins. Simon + Stone, a Deacon in the church, removed to Harvard. Amos ? Stone married Edna, daughter of Ambrose Hale. Major Ambrose6 Stone, who married Katherine Partridge, of Brookfield, and was the father of Colonel Luther Stone, served in the Revolutionary War, being at one time under Benedict Arnold. He was under General Ward in Boston, took an active part in the battle of Saratoga, was present at the surrender of Bur- goyne, and spent the winter at Valley Forge with Washington. He owned and operated the first broom-handle factory in Goshen, Mass .. where he also established a fulling-mill, and during the War, of 1812 supplied the army with clothing.

HARLES NEWELL WINSHIP, sen- ior member of the firm of Winship. Boit & Co., of Wakefield, is promi- nently identified with the manufact- uring interests of this part of the county as one of the proprietors of the Harvard Knitting Mills. A son of the late Francis Winship, he was born November 4, 1863, in that part of Needham, Mass., now known as Wellesley Hills. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Winship, who died in Brookline, Mass., April 30, 1852, was of the fifth generation in descent from Edward Winship, who settled at Cambridge, Mass., in 1635, the line being, Edward,' Samuel,2 John,3 James,' Joseph.5

Joseph Winship was a son of James and Lydia (Phillips) Winship, and was born in 1770. in Menotomy (now Arlington), Mass. His

CHARLES N. WINSHIP.

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father, James Winship, we are told, served in the Revolutionary War. It is said that his wife, at one time, on the approach of the British, fled with her children to a log hut in the woods, and, hanging up quilts and other things to con- ceal the dim light by which she worked, spent the night in running bullets.

James Winship had seven sons and six daughters, one of them being Mrs. Lydia Hall, who owned a place near Tufts College, and who lived to be very aged. Mrs. Hall had six daughters. One of them was Mrs. Lydia Cot- ton, mother of Frank Cotton (now deceased), who lived in Cambridgeport and drove a con- fectionery wagon, and of Norman Cotton, also a resident of Cambridgeport. Another daugh- ter was Mrs. Bethia Osborne, of Cambridgeport, who had several children.

Joseph Winship married Susan Jackson, who was born April 4, 1780, daughter of Thaddeus Jackson, of Brookline, and died February 3. 1867. The following is a brief record of their children : Joseph, Jr., born August 13, 1801, died April 15, 1858, and his wife, Susan Greg- ory, died in May, 1848 ; Lydia, born June 10, 1803, died April 14, 1890 ; Francis, above men- tioned, born November 4, 1805, died August 4, 1885 ; John, born July 1, 1808, died April 10, 1871, and his wife, Alma Walker, died August 15, 1878 ; Charles, who was born December II, 1811, and died February 29, 1888, married Eliza Moulton, who died in May, 1883 ; Thad- deus, born July 13, 1814, married Mary Cole, and died December 5, 1887 ; Daniel, born Feb- ruary 13, 1816, married Mary Gove, and died December 28, 1888; Susan, born December 6, 1818, in Weston, married Willard Mann, who died in December, 1884. All the children except Susan were born in Brookline.

Among the grandchildren of Joseph Winship may be named: Charles N. Winship, son of Charles and Eliza, born February 5, 1843, in Needham ; Susan J., born in 1834, daughter of John and Alma Winship, now wife of Edwin Jones, detective, of Providence, R.I., and her brothers John and Charles Winship, of Chicago, and Frank Winship, of Providence, a jeweller ; George Winship, a stable-keeper in Providence, son of Thaddeus and Mary, and his sister Emma, who lives with her mother.

Thaddeus Jackson, father of Susan, a great- grandfather of the subject of this sketch, had two sons and six daughters. The daughters were : Mrs. Catherine Woodward, Mrs. Phebe Woodward, Mrs. Nancy Webster, Mrs. Esther Townsend - who all lived in or near Brookline - Mrs. Susan Winship, and Mrs. Lydia Farwell. Mrs. Farwell with her husband and children removed from Fitchburg, Mass., in an ox wagon to New York State, where they lived in a log hut in the woods, and, it is said, never saw a woman for eleven years. At one time, having lost her needle, she went twelve miles to borrow one. After her father's death she came back to the old home to get her share of the property. and made quite a visit.

Francis Winship, born in Brookline in 1805. was a butcher during the earlier years of his active career ; but later in life he settled in Needham, where he was engaged in farming until his death, in 1885. His wife, Catherine Fitzgerald, was born in Ireland, and lived there until sixteen years old. Coming then to Massa- chusetts, she spent a few months in Lexington, whence she removed to Newton Lower Falls. where she remained until her marriage. She bore her husband two children, Francis and Charles Newell. Francis Winship, Jr., born in Needham, Mass., November 11, 1861, is now engaged in the hotel business at New Bedford, Mass.

Charles N. Winship obtained a practical edu- cation in the public schools of Wellesley Hills. At the age of fourteen years he went to Newton Lower Falls to accept a position in the knitting department of the Dudley Hosiery Mills, where as a general workman, or utility boy, he became familiar with the rudiments of the business which he has since followed. In the course of eighteen months he was given charge of a knit- ting machine, which he operated two years. He was subsequently employed in a similar capacity in the Lawrence Mills, in Lowell, Mass., after which he had the supervision for three years of the knitting department of the Allston Mills at Cottage Farms, Mass. Going then to Providence, R.I., he remained there a year and a half, in charge of the knitting department of the Vester Mills. Returning to the Allston Mills, which had changed hands, Mr. Winship

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with Miss Elizabeth Boit assumed the manage- ment of the plant. Eight months later Mr. Winship and Miss Boit, feeling assured of their ability to jointly conduct a business with the details of which both were familiar, and realiz- ing the greater financial profits that would accrue to each, organized in Cambridgeport the com- pany known as the Harvard Knitting Mills. In 1889 this enterprising firm removed to Wake- field, establishing their factory on the third floor of Wakefield Block. A large number of knit- ting machines were added to the equipment, and a larger force of hands were employed. Busi- ness rapidly increased. The goods which they placed upon the market proved of such superior quality that they readily sold to the leading dealers in knitted underwear in the various large cities and towns, being widely distributed to the retail dealers by Messrs. William Iselin & Co., of New York. The productions of the Harvard Knitting Mills consist of goods made from either cotton, silk, or wool, or of a fine mixture of either silk and cotton, or silk and wool, none finer of either kind being offered to the trade. In a few years such a demand had arisen for their goods that the company was forced to erect a building with increased capacity ; and the present plant, standing near the Wakefield station of the Boston & Maine Railway, was made ready for occupancy in 1897. The hand- some brick building, one hundred and eighty- two feet by sixty-seven feet, contains three floors and a basement, and has a three-story wing forty feet by thirty feet. The factory is fully equipped with the most approved modern machinery, including one hundred and fifty-five knitting machines, one hundred and twenty sewing machines, eight looping machines, and twenty winders. A force of over three hundred hands are kept in constant employment, the daily output of the factory being five hundred and fifty dozen articles, an immense increase since the opening of the business.

Mr. Winship was married February 1, 1887, to Mary Ellen, daughter of Michael and Mar- garet (Maloney) Burke, of Needham, Mass. They have three children living, namely : Charles Francis, born June 4, 1888 ; Edward Newell, born February 16, 1892 ; and Walter Boit, born June 27, 1896. Mr. Winship has

readily identified himself with the leading interests of the town since coming here, being now president of the Wakefield Board of Trade and a trustee of the Beebe Town Library. He is a member of Wakefield Lodge, Knights of Columbus, and he attends St. Joseph's Catholic Church, to which he and his family belong.

LIZABETH EATON BOIT, one of the founders and owners of the Harvard Knitting Mill, Wakefield, was born in Newton, Mass., July 9, 1849. Her parents were James Henry and Amanda Church ( Berry) Boit, who were married May 7, 1846, her mother being a daughter of Isaac and Phoebe (Emerson) Berry, of Bridgton, Me. Her pa- ternal grandfather, John Boit, a native of Bos- ton, turned his attention to farming, and resided in Groton, Mass. He married Rebecca Wes- son, and had a family of eleven children.

Miss Boit's father was born in Groton, Au- gust 13, 1824. He learned the trade of an engineer, but later engaged in the paper manu- facturing business at Newton Lower Falls for many years. For twenty years he served as janitor of the Hamilton School building at the Lower Falls, and he was for a long period sexton of St. Mary's (Episcopal) Church. He died January 16, 1899. Mr. and Mrs. James Henry Boit celebrated the golden anniversary of their wedding in 1896. They reared six daughters : Julia Amanda, born April 12, 1847, who died March 15, 1861 ; Elizabeth Eaton, the subject of this sketch ; Clara Rebecca, born February 3, 1851 ; Harriet Maria, born August 11, 1853 ; Helen Augusta, born November 29, 1859; and Susan Henrietta, born January 31, 1864, who died May 4, 1886. Clara R. married on Octo- ber 20, 1870, G. W. Morse, of Newtonville, Mass. ; Harriet M. married March 1, 18SI, A. C. Wiswall, of Wellesley, Mass. ; and Helen A. married on June 26, 1882, Dr. F. W. Free- man, of Newton Lower Falls.

Elizabeth Eaton Boit pursued her elementary studies in the Newton public schools ; and after her graduation from the grammar school she took a two years' course at Lasell Seminary, Auburndale. When eighteen years old she accepted the position of time-keeper in the

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ELIZABETH E. BOIT.

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sewing or finishing department of the Dudley Hosiery Knitting Mill, Newton, of which H. B. Scudder was at that time agent. The able and whole-souled manner in which she performed her duties soon caused her promotion to the post of assistant forewoman, from which she was shortly afterward advanced to the position of forewoman ; and in five years' time she was given full charge of the finishing department. When Mr. Scudder established the Allston Mills at Allston, Mass., for the manufacture of hosiery and children's scarlet-wool goods, she accepted the superintendency of the new enterprise, which she retained for five years, or until the property was sold.

Being desirous of connecting herself with a business in which she could have a personal financial interest, she formed a partnership with Charles N. Winship, formerly of the Dudley Mill and afterward foreman of the knitting de- partment in the Allston Mill. In 1888 the firm of Winship, Boit & Co. established the Harvard Knitting Mill at Cambridge, Mass., from which city they moved to Wakefield in the following year, and resumed operations in the Wakefield Block, occupying one floor. They inaugurated their enterprise with a small capital but with a thorough knowledge of the business, Miss Boit assuming charge of the finances as well as the general superintendency of the finishing depart- ment, while Mr. Winship attended to the knit- ting and other branches of the work. The laud- able aim of placing goods upon the market which should be a credit to themselves, serving also to elevate the standard of the American textile fabric industry, resulted in securing such a wide popularity and increasing demand for the Harvard Brand of underwear as to make necessary the enlargement of their facilities from time to time until they were at length compelled to erect a building for their exclusive use.

The present Harvard Knitting Mill, which stands upon an acre of ground in the immediate vicinity of the Wakefield station of the Boston & Maine Railway, was completed in 1897, and is fully equipped with modern machinery and appliances for producing the highest quality of knit goods. The building, which is of brick and is one hundred and eighty-two feet long by

sixty-seven feet wide, with a three-story wing, forty by thirty feet, contains three floors and a basement. The basement is used for storage purposes. The folding, packing, and shipping are all done on the first floor, which also con- tains the business offices. The second floor is devoted to the finishing department, while the knitting room is located on the third floor. There are in use one hundred and fifty-five knitting machines, one hundred and twenty sewing machines, eight looping machines, and twenty winders, operated by a force of over three hundred hands, and producing five hun- dred and fifty dozen articles daily. The prod- uets, which consist of cotton, cotton and silk, woollen, and woollen and silk knit goods. are distributed to the retail trade by Messrs. Will- iam Iselin & Co., of New York City.

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Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 56

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

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