Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 60

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

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Samuel D. Hadley was born in Medford in

1816, and died August 21, 1889, in Somer- ville. During his early life he was employed as a tailor, and made clothes for Daniel Web- ster, the eminent statesman. Being possessed, however, of rare musical talent, he devoted the greater part of his life to musical pursuits. being a pioneer teacher of that art; and for more than half a century he was church organ- ist, employed in various churches in East Bos- ton, Somerville, and Charlestown. He married Mary A. Oliver, who was born in Dorchester. Mass., in 1821, a daughter of Captain John Oliver. Of their union two children were born, namely : Samuel Henry, the special sub- ject of this sketch ; and Mary E.

Captain John Oliver was born in England. but when quite young ran away from home to become a sailor. Coming to America, he was captured by the British during the War of IS12, and for some time was confined in Dart- moor Prison, England. Subsequently return- ing to this country, he was for a while stationed at Rainsford Island, in the quarantine depart- ment. Years afterward, having become a pilot. he was the first to bring a Cunarder into Boston Harbor. On account of failing eyesight Cap- tain Oliver gave up piloting in favor of his son, John Oliver, Jr., and, removing to Min- nesota, bought one thousand acres of land near Lakeland, where he spent his remaining days. dying at a ripe old age.

Samuel Henry Hadley attended the Lyman and Chapman Schools in Boston, where he spent the first nine years of his life, and, after coming with his parents to Somerville in 18:4. was a pupil in the Prescott School and in the Somerville High School, receiving his diploma in 1862, being one of the six members of the first graduating class of that institution. Ac- quiring an excellent knowledge of music from his father, he began his career as a music teacher when young, and at fifteen years of age was organist of a church in Medford. Serving eleven years in the Winthrop Church, Charles- town, he won an eminent reputation, and has since served in different churches in Chelsea and Somerville in the same capacity, his entire experience as organist covering a period vi thirty-five years. He is recognized by the musical world as a most skilful conductor ci

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musical functions, having been especially noted for his admirable work at the Peace Jubilee, held in Boston in 1870; and nearly every year since that time he has had charge of the Memo- rial Day music in Somerville. In 1868 Mr. Hadley became teacher of music in the Somer- ville High School, and soon after assumed the direction of music in the grammar schools of this city, a position .in which he is meeting with great success, as is shown by the remark- able progress made in this department of the city schools. He has also taught music in the schools of Everett, Reading, and Weston, and was ten years a music teacher in the schools of Medford and for some years in Watertown. He has a practical knowledge of musical in- struments of various kinds, and has done a good deal in orchestral music.

On October 28, 1869, Mr. Hadley married Martha T., daughter of Ezra D. and Betsey M. (Skeele) Conant, of whom further ancestral history may be found on another page of this volume, in the sketch of the Conant family. Mr. and Mrs. Hadley have two children --- Henry K. and Arthur D. Henry K. Hadley, born in Somerville, completed his musical edu- cation in Europe, and is now a well-known music composer of New York City and a pro- fessor of music at St. Paul's Episcopal School in Garden City, N. Y. Although very young, he has already established a fine reputation as a violinist and leader of an orchestra of sixty pieces at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. To him the Oliver Ditson Company awarded the two hundred and fifty dollars prize for the best musical composition. Arthur D. Hadley, born in Somerville, studied in Europe three years under the immediate supervision of David Popper, professor of music at Buda-Pesth, and gives exceeding promise of winning a high rank among musicians of prominence.

ZRA D. CONANT, whose name is men- tioned on another page of this volume in connection with the sketch of his son-in-law, Samuel H. Hadley, was for many years an esteemed citizen of Somerville. He was a lineal descendant in the eighth genera-

tion of Roger Conant, the founder of the Conant family in New England, the line being Roger, ' Lot,2 John, 3 Benjamin, + Ezra, $ Amos, 6 Samuel,7 Ezra D.$ (See History and Gencal- ogy of the Conant Family in America. )

Roger Conant was baptized at All Saints' Church, East Budleigh, Devonshire, England, April 9, 1592, being the youngest child of Richard and Agnes (Clarke) Conant, "who were esteemed for their exemplary piety." "Rich- ard Conant was one of the leading men of East Budleigh, a church warden, as was his father before him, and was evidently in good circum- stances. His wife was a daughter of one of the prominent merchants of the neighboring parish of Colyton. One of their sons was a student at Oxford; and Roger must have re- ceived a good education for his time, for he was frequently called upon to survey lands, lay out boundaries, and transact public business. He served an apprenticeship of seven years with the Salters Company in London, remain- ing there until his emigration to America in 1623." He probably came over in the "Ann," which arrived at Plymouth, 1623, and on which his brother Christopher was a passenger. In

1624 he settled at Nantasket, now Hull. It is likely that while at Nantasket he made use of the island in Boston Harbor then known as Conant's Island, but which was granted in 1632 to Governor Winthrop, and has since been called Governor's Island. In 1625 Roger Conant took charge of Cape Ann settlement, on what is now the west side of Gloucester Harbor. In 1626 he removed to Naumkeag, now Salem. It has been said that he is fairly entitled to the honor of being considered the first governor of Massachusetts. He was a very influential man in his day, holding many offices of trust. He died November 19, 1679.

Roger Conant and Sarah Horton were mar- ried on November 11, 1618, in the parish of St. Ann's, Blackfriars, London. They had nine children. Lot Conant, their third child, born about 1624, at Nantasket or Cape Ann, was Selectman at Marblehead in 1662. In 1666 his father gave him the homestead in Beverly with thirty-two acres of adjoining land and seventy-two acres of land in other parts of the town. On the same day Lot

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leased to his parents the said homestead, with three acres of land adjoining it, for an annual rent to be paid in Indian corn. About this. time Lot Conant built a dwelling-house for himself and family at Beverly; and there he resided until his death, September 29, 1674. He married Elizabeth Walton, daughter of the Rev. William Walton, who took his degree at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1621, - was settled at Seaton, Devonshire, England, in 1625, and was living at Kingston, Mass., as early as 1635. Mr. Walton settled in Marble- head about 1639, and was pastor of the church until his death in 1668.

John Conant was born in Beverly, Mass., December 15, 1652, and died September 30, 1724. He was a farmer and weaver, and set- tled on a farm of sixty acres in Beverly, given to his father, Lot Conant, by Roger Conant, in 1666. During King Philip's War he served in Captain Samuel Appleton's company. On August 23, 1691, he was admitted to the First Church of Beverly. He married May 7, 1678, Bethiah, daughter of Andrew and Bethiah Mansfield, of Lynn, and had nine children. Andrew Mansfield, it may be mentioned, mar- ried for his second wife Elizabeth, widow of Lot Conant and mother of John.

Benjamin Conant was born in Beverly, Oc- tober 22, 1698, and died September 20, 1767, in Warwick, Mass. He removed to Dudley, Mass., in 1728, and in 1732 was one of the incorporators of the town, of which he was subsequently an enterprising and useful citi- zen, serving as Town Clerk from 1737 until 1763 and as chairman of the Board of Select- men from 1743 to 1756. His first wife, Martha Davidson, died in January, 1746, hav- ing been the mother of ten children. He afterward married Lydia Lamb, by whom he had five children.

Ezra Conant was baptized March 8, 1724, in Beverly. He died December 7, 1804, in War- wick, Mass. He served as Town Clerk of Dudley from 1763 to 1769, when he went to Warwick, where he was Town Clerk nine years and Selectman one year. On January 1, 1745, in Dudley, he married Millicent Newell, who died in 1769. By his wife Millicent he had ten children, Amos being the fourth; and by

his second wife, Anna Fiske, he had two children.

Amos Conant was born January 8, 1753, in Dudley. During the Revolution he served a short time as a Corporal in Captain Ashley's company, under Colonel Bellows. He lived for a while in Barre, Vt., and from that place removed to Claremont, N. H., where his name appears on the tax list in 1783. He afterward settled in Irasburg, Vt., finding his way there by marked trees; and, selecting a tract of wild land containing one hundred and ten acres, he cleared a farm, on which he resided until his death, June 21, 1847. On August 27, 1776, in Winchester, N. H., he married Elizabeth Erskine, who was born in Bridgewater, Mass., May 6, 1755, and died June 14, 1820.

Samuel Conant, son of Amos, the third child in a family of nine, was born March 8, 1781, in Claremont, N.H. He accompanied his parents to Irasburg, Vt., and there carried on general farming and carpentering many years. Late in life he moved to Janesville, Wis., where his death occurred February 17, 1858. On January 7, 1809, in Irasburg, he married Sally Richardson, who was born in Lancaster, N. H., in 1789, and died in Janesville, Wis., February 4, 1874. Of their ten children Ezra D., the father of Mrs. Samuel H. Hadley, of Somerville, was the third.

Ezra D. Conant was born November 3, 1812, in Irasburg, Vt. When a comparatively young man he came to Massachusetts, settling in Somerville when the place was but thinly pop- ulated. For many years he carried on an ex- tensive wholesale grocery business in Boston. He died September 10, 1887. He was a prom- inent and highly respected citizen, and for many years served as an Alderman of the city. He was an active member of the Franklin Street Congregational Church, of which he was treasurer eleven years. He married in Febru- ary, 1841, Betsey M. Skeele, of Danville, Vt., by whom he had three children, namely : Edwin S., born February 25, 1843, in Glover, Vt. ; Martha T., born in Glover, Vt., May 19, 1847, now the wife of Samuel Henry Hadley; and Carrie E., born in Somerville, Mass., who married Rufus H. Stickney, son of Rufus B. Stickney, of the firm of Stickney & Poor.

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OSEPH SAMPSON WATERMAN, for more than fifty years a resident of Rox- bury, where he died February 2, 1893, was born on Staten Island, New York, January 23, 1830, son of Isaac and Lucy (Stur- tevant) Waterman. His father was born in Plymouth, Mass., April 8, 1790. Richard Waterman, doubtless the first of this name in New England, arrived at Salem in 1629 with the Rev. Francis Higginson.

Robert Waterman, of whom the subject of this sketch was a descendant in the seventh generation, was in Salem in 1636 and at Plym- outh in 1638, but later settled permanently in Marshfield, Mass., which town he represented in the General Court from 1644 to 1649. His death occurred December 10, 1652. In 1638 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Bourne, a prominent member of the Plymouth Colony. Mr. Bourne's daughter Martha, it may be mentioned, married John Bradford, a son of Governor Bradford; and another daughter, Mar- garet, married Josiah Winslow, youngest brother of Governor Edward Winslow. From Robert' Waterman, the ancestral line with dates of birth is as follows: John,2 1642; Captain John,3 1685 ; Lieutenant John,+ July 3, 1718; Isaac, first,5 February 23, 1755 ; Isaac, second,6 Febru- ary 13, 1784, father of Joseph Sampson.

John Waterman appears in the records of Halifax, Mass., as one of the early settlers in that town. He also figures as one of the most influential members and first Deacons of the Congregational church, and was a much es- teemed member of society. He died Septem- ber 14, 1718. His marriage took place Decem- ber 7, 1665, with Ann Sturtevant, who was born June 4, 1647, at .Plymouth, daughter of Samuel Sturtevant. Her father, who was in Plymouth as early as 1643, died in 1669; and Ann died September 19, 1720. The Sturte- vants were also among the founders of Halifax, which prior to its incorporation (1734) was known by its Indian name of Monponset.

Captain John Waterman died June 8, 1761. He was married December 29, 1709, to Lydia Cushman, who was born December 13, 1687, daughter of Eleazar and Elizabeth (Coombs) Cushman. Lieutenant John Waterman mar- ried l'eace Sturtevant, and died April 26, 1790,

surviving his wife, whose death occurred on January 17 of the same year. She was born in 1720, daughter of William and Peace (Cush- man) Sturtevant.

Joseph S. Waterman's grandfather, Isaac Waterman, first, who died June 23, 1813, mar- ried on September 21, 1781, Lucy Sampson, who was born March 6, 1761, daughter of Eleazar and Betty Sampson. The refined qual- ities of his wife have been handed down by tradition as well as inscribed in the local records, and show her to have been a woman of unwaver- ing piety and superior excellence of character. Among her natural gifts was an unusually sweet voice, and her accomplishments as a vocalist were of a high order. Her musical talents have, it is thought, been inherited by many of her descendants. In the autumn of 1818 she married for her second husband Lieutenant Daniel Soule, of Plymouth. Her death took place September 4, 1 844.

Isaac Waterman, second, father of Joseph S. Waterman, was in early life a seafaring man. He made voyages to Liverpool and also Medi- terranean ports, where he was detained for some time, owing to the embargo placed by order of the first Napoleon. He afterward be- came a dyer, following that trade in the employ of the Barretts at Malden, and subsequently on Staten Island, whither he went about 1822, and where he resided for some twelve years. In 1834 he returned to Halifax, and on April 30, 1835, settled in Roxbury, where he carried on business as a dyer in company with his brother Melzar, and where his death took place on Thursday afternoon, July 17, 1859. His wife, Lucy, whom he married April 2, 1823, was a daughter of Dependence and Abigail (Smith) Sturtevant, residents at one time of Plymouth, Mass., and later of New York City. Her father was an officer in the Revolutionary army. Her last days were passed in Halifax, where she was tenderly cared for by her loving children. Her long and useful life terminated at noon on Sunday, November 15, 1891, at the venerable age of one hundred and one years. seven months, and seven days. On April 8. 1890, she celebrated her centennial birthday, the arrangements for which were superintended by her son Joseph. There were present, in

GEORGE H. WATERMAN.

FRANK S. WATERMAN.

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addition to the large number of her Halifax relatives and acquaintances, some forty rela- tives and friends from Roxbury, : including the Rev. A. S. Gumbart, the Rev. Drs. A. C. Thompson and B. F. Hamilton, the two last- named gentlemen being former pastors of the Eliot Church, of which she was a member for fifty-six years. Isaac and Lucy Waterman were the parents of three sons: Isaac, third, who was born May 30, 1824; Dependence Sturtevant, who was born April 11, 1826; and Joseph Sampson Waterman, the subject of this sketch.

The following notice is taken substantially from "Old School-boys of Boston " : -

Joseph Sampson Waterman began his educa- tion at Mrs. Steadman's primary school, located on Centre Street, opposite Highland Avenue, . in the rear of the house of American Engine Company No. 2, the site of which is still used by the fire department and occupied by Steamer No. 14. He afterward attended the Town House School, the Dudley School on Kenilworth Street, and the Washington School. He served an apprenticeship with Asa Patten, a cabinet- maker and the first manufacturer of refrigera- tors in New England, whose place of business was on Washington Street, in the rear of Juni- per Street. In 1858 he purchased the under- taking establishment of Nathaniel Adams, at the corner of Washington Street and . Guild Row, and remained at that location until 1863, when he removed to a wooden building which then occupied the site upon which he subse- quently built. In 1876 he changed his quar- ters to the Graham Block, 2302 Washington Street, where he remained until taking posses- sion in 1890 of the four-story brick building erected by him especially for his needs at 2 326 and 2328 Washington Street, and devoted ex- clusively to his business. His two sons, George H. and Frank S. Waterman, were admitted to partnership in 1870 and 1879 respectively, and upon the firm's occupation of their new quarters they were presented by their business neighbors with a fine Howard clock. Besides his progres- sive tendencies, Mr. Waterman brought to the undertaking business an individuality peculiarly adapted to its needs ; and, although constantly

moving in sorrowful scenes for a period of thirty-five years, he was prevented from becom- ing hardened to his profession by a kindly nature, which made him sincerely sympathetic. He was actively connected with the business until his death. His largely attended funeral at the Dudley Street Baptist Church, of which he was one of the oldest members, was con- ducted by the pastor, the Rev. A. S. Gumbart, who paid a worthy tribute to his memory.

Mr. Waterman was a zealous promoter and generous contributor toward the support of the Centre Street Baptist Church, originally organ- ized as a mission ; and he lived to witness its development into a useful, self-sustaining relig- ious body. He was a member of the Baptist Social Union ; the New England and Massachu- setts Undertakers' Associations ; Roxbury Mili- tary Historical Society ; the Roxbury Club : Massachusetts Lodge, Knights of Pythias ; Elist Council, Royal Arcanum ; Roxbury Lodge, Knights of Honor; Dudley Council, Home Circle ; and the Masonic Order, in which he had advanced to the commandery. He was also an honorary member of the Roxbury Horse Guards. For many years he served in the old Roxbury fire department, and he was a member of the Roxbury Veteran Firemen's Association.

Mr. Waterman married Miss Sarah Patten Huse, a native of Cambridge and a resident of Roxbury. Her parents were William and Mary B. (Short) Huse, the father born in Sanborn- ton, N.H., son of William and Rachel Huse. Mary B. Short was born in Newburyport. Mass. : and her mother, in maidenhood Elizabeth Gwers. was also a native of that place. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Waterman were : George Huse, who was born June 27, 1855; Frank Sturte- vant, born September 18, 1862; Ella Jane, born June 24, 1858, now the wife of Frank E. Drayton ; and Arthur Joseph, who died in 1869. aged three years and six months.

George H. and Frank S. Waterman, who are now carrying on the undertaking business, were both educated in the Roxbury public schools, and the latter took a business course at Bryant & Stratton's Commercial College. Their ware- rooms are the largest and most extensively stocked of any similar establishment in New

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England, and it is generally conceded that they have inherited in no small measure the many sterling characteristics of their predecessor. George H. Waterman served in Company D, First Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Mi- litia (City Guards), from 1876 to 1879, and subsequently joined the National Lancers. He is an active member of the New England and Massachusetts Undertakers' Associations, serv- ing as president of the latter in I891-92 ; is a thirty-second degree Mason ; a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Honor, the Royal Arcanum, the Improved Order of Red Men, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Boston Athletic Club, the Algon- quin Club, and the Dorchester Club. He was married April 2, ISS4, to Miss Pamelia A. Cutter, who was born in Boston, October 5, 1855, a daughter of Charles Russell and Antoi- nette P. (Parker) Cutter. Mrs. Waterman's father, Charles R. Cutter, was born in Arling- ton, Mass., January 27, 1825, and died in Rox- bury, February 12, 1877. Her mother, born in Brookline, Mass., June 6, 1829, is still living. Mr. and Mrs. George H. Waterman are the parents of four children - Joseph Sampson, sec- ond, Charles Cutter, Alice Antoinette, and George H., Jr.

Frank S. Waterman was clerk and treasurer of Company D, First Regiment, from 1882 to 1889, and retired from the service with the rank of Sergeant. He belongs to the Masonic order, in which he has taken thirty-two degrees, and also to the Odd Fellows, the Royal Arca- nam, the Knights of Pythias, the United Work- men, the New England and Massachusetts Undertakers' Associations, the Roxbury Club, and the Dudley Association. Of the latter he was one of the original and charter members, and was formerly vice-president. This associa- tion has recently been rechartered as the Dud- ley Club. He is also a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston.

On September 10, 18SS, Mr. Waterman mar- ried Miss Hattie Smith Torrey, who was born May 1, 1866, a daughter of Francis Haskell and Hannah (Eaton) Torrey. Her father was born in Deer Isle, Me., February 8, 1820, and died in his native place, March 12, 1890. Her mother, born at Deer Isle, November 16, 1822,

died there March 6, 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Frank S. Waterman have two children : Frank S., Jr., born September 12, ISS9; and Lucy, born August 12, 1891, named for her great- grandmother Waterman, who lived to be nearly one hundred and two years old, and died, as above mentioned, the year Lucy was born.

ILLIAM CURTIS LEFAVOUR, one of the many enterprising shoe manufacturers of Marblehead who have retired with a substantial competency, was born in Marblehead, May 24, 1826, son of John and Jane (Freeto) Lefavour. His grand- father, also named John Lefavour, was the son of a French emigrant, who, in company with a brother, settled in Marblehead prior to the American Revolution. The father followed the shoemaker's trade in connection with farm- ing, and was prominently identified with local public affairs, holding various town offices, in- cluding that of Selectman, and representing his district in the Legislature. In politics he was a Democrat. His wife, Jane Freeto Le- favour, was also a native of Marblehead.

William Curtis Lefavour was reared and educated in his native town. From the age of fifteen to his majority he worked with his father at the shoemaker's trade, and subse- quently engaged in business for himself, pro- ducing hand-made footwear of a superior qual- ity. After the application of machinery to the shoe manufacturing industry he availed him- self of the improved methods, equipping his factory with machines for producing misses' and children's footwear which attained a high reputation for durability and finish; and he continued to carry on an extensive business until the destruction of his plant by the last fire in 1888, when he retired. His sterling integrity and strict adherence to upright busi- ness principles enabled him to accumulate a fortune, and it is the general hope of his fel- low-townsmen that he may continue to enjoy the fruits of his labors for many years to come.

In 1846 Mr. Lefavour married Miss Sarah Ingalls Humphrey, daughter of Edward Humphrey, of Marblehead. Their children

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were as follows: Sarah, widow of William Hathaway; William Edward, now deceased ; Mary Susan; Harriet; and William Edward, second. The survivors are all residents of

Marblehead. Mrs. Lefavour died June 11, 1894. Kind-hearted and benevolent and pos- sessing an unusually lovable disposition, she is missed not only by her family, but the en- tire neighborhood in which she lived sincerely mourned her removal from its midst. Some touching verses to her memory, written by her friend, Mrs. M. A. Stone, of Swampscott, were published in a local newspaper, and are here reproduced. She was in her younger days a member of the Baptist church.

IN MEMORIAM.

MRS. SARAH I. LEFAVOUR.

Like a fair and stately lily, Pure in heart and gentle mien, Was our kind and loving mother. Oh, to see her face again !

And to hear her voice. so sweetly Telling each one what to do, While her hands were ever busy, Mother love so deep and true !

Oft we listen, as we gather Round the festive board at eve, For your coming, angel mother, And our hearts within us grieve.

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Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 60

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

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