Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 9

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

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has been recorded above, fitted for college at Worcester Academy, and was graduated at Amherst in the class of 1860. For some time afterward he engaged in teaching, first in a select school at Belchertown, Mass., and afterward as principal of the high school at Ware, where he remained for one year. He then entered Cambridge Divinity School, at which he was graduated on July 19, 1864. He was ordained as a Unitarian minister, Jan- uary 25, 1865, at Bridgewater, where he was settled for the two subsequent years. In the spring of 1867 he received a call to Brewster, Mass., and was settled there for three years. This was followed by a pastorate of similar length at Walpole, N.H. In the spring of 1873 he became a resident of Milton, Mass., and three years later engaged in the banking business in Boston, his present vocation. While a resident of Walpole, N. H., he served on the School Committee for two years. He is a member of the Unitarian church of Dor- chester, which he is serving in an official ca- pacity. Politically, he has been a Republican since the organization of that party.

Mr. Dexter was married on January 1, 1866, to Miss Cornelia Waitstill Cornell, a native of Boston, born June 9, 1838, and a daughter of Emor K. Cornell, a representa- tive of an old Milton family.

ETER McNAUGHT .- The subject of this sketch, the son of James and Ann Herron McNaught, was born in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scot- land, November 12, 1808, and was one of a family of twelve children. It was in the man- ufacturing town of Paisley that he learned the weaver's trade; and there on September 16, 1830, he married Ann Millar, a native of the place.

In 1841, before the time of steamers, he came alone to America, the passage occupying seven weeks. He located in Danvers, where he followed his occupation of weaving. The next year, 1842, his wife and family of two children joined him. They, too, came in a sailing-vessel, the voyage consuming eight weeks. Shortly afterward they left Danvers

and went to Canton, where they remained about five years, part of which time Mr. McNaught was employed in the carpet factory and the rest in the silk factory of the Messenger Brothers.

In 1848 the family removed to Roxbury, where for some years Mr. McNaught held a position in Tilt's silk factory. Subsequently he became a large dealer in woollen rags and paper stock. That was long before the days of travelling salesmen and telephones, when merchants met face to face to transact business ; and he went all about the surrounding country buying stock. He always maintained that that was the best way to do business. For nearly half a century, up to the time of his death, he was actively engaged in trade. His eldest son, James, became associated with him in business, the style of the firm being Peter McNaught & Son.

He was prominent in local politics, a stanch Republican, and invariably voted the straight ticket, considering it his duty to vote at every election, whether municipal, State, or national. He was greatly interested in public affairs, so much so that on the breaking out of the Civil War he joined the Roxbury Artillery Drill Club, and, although past the military age, was ready, if need be, to go to the front. He was a member of the Eliot Congregational Church and a Free Mason. He belonged, also, to the Warren Lodge, I. O. of O. F. ; to the Massa- soit Encampment; and to the Scots' Charita- ble Society.

Ile settled in Dorchester in 1878, and died at his home in Harvard Street, July 29, 1899. Had he lived until the following September, he and his wife would have been married sixty- nine years. They were probably the oldest married couple in Dorchester. Mrs. McNaught died January 14, 1900, aged ninety-two years and eight months. She was a bright, witty little woman, with a wonderful memory, which she kept to the end of her life. Mr. McNaught was a fine-looking man, of a cheery, unselfish disposition, and possessed of a deeply religions nature, loved by those who knew him best, admired and respected by all with whom he came in contact.

This truly remarkable couple had a family

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of ten children, six of whom were born in Scotland and four in America. Five reached maturity.

Ann, born in Paisley, July 31, 1835, was married June 2, 1850, to James W. Roston, for many years engaged in business as a painter at the South End of Boston.

James, born in Paisley, August 1, 1840, married on June 15, 1.863, Catharine E. Davis, a native of Friendship, Me. Of nine children born to them, seven survive: Edward I. ; William W. ; James R. ; twin daughters, Alice M. and Agnes M. ; Annie II. ; and Sidney N.

John Smith was born in Canton, Mass., March 22, 1843. On August 16, 1861, when eighteen years old, he enlisted in the Eleventh United States Infantry. He was appointed Second Lieutenant, to date from February 19, 1863, was wounded in the battle of. the Wil- derness, May 5, 1864, and received his ap- pointment of First Lieutenant May 29 of the same year. For gallant services in the battle ut the Wilderness he was made Brevet Cap- tuin, and on October 5, 1867, obtained his commission as Captain, with which rank he was retired October 15, 1887, on account of liability incident to the service. April 20, 1870, he married Alice S. C. Hawley, a na- five of Lockport, N. Y., and daughter of Colonel and Mrs. William Hawley. Her father was Colonel in the United States Army. They have two sons - John H. and William C. Their home is in Madison, Wis.

Agnes Jean was born in Canton, March 15, 1$45. She remained at home, and was privi- leged to care for her parents in their old age.

William Wallace was born in Roxbury, April 23, 1.850, and is now associated with his luther James in business. On November 5, 18go, he married Mary A., daughter of Nehe- miah T. and Mary Merritt, well-known Dor- chester people. They have one child, Wal- lice M.

ILLIAM MOORES BATES, a re- tired business man of Boston, resid- ing in the Roxbury district, was born in Nantucket, Mass., February 1, 1822, win of Stephen and Ann (Moores) Bates. His

father was a native of Wareham, Mass., as was his grandfather, Barnabas Bates, who was a son of Captain Barnabas Bates, also of that town.

The first Barnabas Bates was commissioned February 21, 1776, as First Lieutenant in Captain Stephen Wing's company, Colonel Cary's regiment, Massachusetts militia, which was raised to serve in the war of the Revolu- tion for about two months. On March 9, 1781, Barnabas Bates enlisted as a private in Captain Stephen Churchill's company, Colonel Theophilus Cotton's regiment, and was dis- charged at Newport, R. I., March 31 of the same year. Soon after the capture of General Burgoyne's army he was detailed to guard prisoners at Boston, remaining there three months. With five others he was chosen on March 2, 1778, a member of the Committee of Correspondence, - Inspection, and Safety. Barnabas Bates, whether first or second of the name we have not been informed, was one of the Selectmen of Wareham in 1805, and again in 1807-1808.

Barnabas Bates, second, entered the army as Second Lieutenant in Captain Nathaniel Ham- mond's company, with which he served from July 17, 1775, to December 23 of the same year, and was commissioned May 9, 1776, First Lieutenant in the Fifth Company, under Captain John Gibbs, Fourth Plymouth County Regiment. In the following December he again served under Captain Gibbs in the Fourth Plymouth County Regiment, com- manded by Colonel Ebenezer Sprout, and sub- sequently responded to alarms at Falmouth, Dartmouth, and in Rhode Island. His last enlistment was on July 31, 1780, in the Fourth Regiment, under Captain Gibbs and Lienten- ant Colonel White; and he was finally dis- charged on August 9 of that year. He held various public offices in the town of Wareham. Barnabas Bates, second, married Sylvia Crowell, of Falmouth, a representative of the well-known Cape Cod family of that name. They had three children - William, Barnabas, and Stephen. William Bates, who served in the War of 1812, was a lawyer, and for some years held an important office under the federal government, with headquarters in Baltimore, Md. Barnabas Bates, third, died in 1827.

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Stephen Bates, William M. Bates's father, engaged in mercantile business first in Nan- tucket and afterward in New York City, where his death occurred in 1827. His wife, Ann Moores Bates, whom he married in Nan- tucket, was a daughter of Captain William and Lucinda (P'ease) Moores, natives of that island. Her father was master of a vessel at the age of nineteen years; and her grandfather, William Moores, first, who was also a ship-master, commanded the first vessel to sail up the Thames to London flying the American flag after the close of the Revolutionary War. Her mother was a niece of Paul Pease, of Nan- tucket. Mrs. Ann Bates died in 1822, when her son William M. was but two months old.

William M. Bates began his education at the old Coffin School in Nantucket, and com- pleted it under the instruction of William Mitchell. He obtained his business training in a Nantucket store, of which he afterward became joint proprietor under the firm name of Bates, Cook & Co. ; and he continued in busi- ness there until 1862. He then went to Washington, D.C., as agent for a Boston and Baltimore firm, which was at the time supply- ing the government with merchandise, and re- mained in their employ one year. About the year 1863 he took a position in Boston with E. and F. King & Co., and, being subse- quently admitted to partnership, remained with that concern for thirty-six years, or until his retirement from business. While residing in Nantucket he served as a Selectman, was a member of the School Committee, and held other local offices. He is a member of the Sons of the Revolution; and his religious affiliations are with the Church of the Dis- ciples, of which he has been a member for twenty-five years. On May 5, 1846, Mr. Bates was united in marriage with Miss Ann Cotton Gelston, of Nantucket, daughter of Captain Samuel and Sarah (Cartwright) Gels- ton. Their children are: George Cartwright, Gelston Moores, Francis William, Ann Moores, and Sarah King, all of whom were born in Nantucket.

George C. Bates was born July 3, 1847. He married Clara Lidstom ; and they have one child, Bertha L. Gelston Moores Bates mar-

ried Alice Greeley, and has one child, Mary. Ann Moores Bates is the wife of William J. Wilcox, of Boston. They have one child, Mabel Martin. Sarah King Bates is living with her father in Roxbury.

OMMANDER SMITH WOODWARD NICHOLS, a retired naval officer, residing in Dorchester district, Boston, was born on Cooper Street.

Boston, February 3, 1843, son of Smith Woodward and Emeline ( Pope) Nichols. His paternal grandfather, Moses Nichols, who was by occupation a mason and builder, was drafted into the United States service during the War of 1812 as an artificer, and, going to the frontier, was never afterward heard from by his family.

Moses Nichols was a son of David Nichols, of Cohasset, formerly a part of Hingham, Mass. ; and David was of the fifth generation in descent from Thomas Nichols, the immi- grant progenitor of the family, who in 1637 had a grant of land at Hingham, where he settled and has been followed by a somewhat numerous posterity. The Hingham ancestors of Commander Nichols were mostly farmers, and held various town offices, as Selectman and Constable.

Smith Woodward Nichols, Sr., the father of Commander Nichols, was born in Boston, April 16, 1809, and became a prominent builder in that city. About 1855 he took up his residence in Melrose, where he continued to reside until his death, which took place on November 25, 1881, in the seventy-third year of his age. He was a member of St. An- drew's Lodge, F. & A. M. ; and of Waverly R. A. Chapter and Hugh de Payens Com- mandery. He was a charter member of the chapter and commandery. His wife, Eme- line, was born in Kennebunkport, Me., June 12, 1812, and died at Melrose, August 26, 1893. Her father, Domenicus Pope, a native of Wells, Me., was a master mariner. During the War of 1812 he was taken prisoner by the British and carried to Dartmoor Prison in England, where he was held several months. He died at St. Thomas, West Indies, of yellow

SMITH W. NICHOLS, COMMANDER. U.S.V.

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tever. He was a son of Major Isaac Pope, who served seven years in the war of the Rev- olution, and who was a member of the Cin- cinnati of Massachusetts. Through Major Isaac the ancestral line is traced back to Thomas Pope, born in England in 1608, whose name first appeared in the Plymouth Colony records in 1631, "an active man, serving on juries, committees of arbitration," te.

Smith Woodward, Sr., and Emeline P. Nichols had ten children, of whom three still survive, namely: Emmeline Pope, born De- cember 5, 1839; Smith Woodward, born Feb- ruary 3, 1843; and Adelaide A., born Sep- tember 26, 1844.

Smith W. Nichols, the direct subject of this sketch, received his general education in .the old Eliot School of Boston and in the schools of Melrose, being twelve years old at the time the family removed to the latter town. In 1858 he entered the Naval Acad- emy at Annapolis, Md., on the appointment of the Hon. D. W. Gooch of the Seventh Congressional District. After three years at Annapolis, at the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. Nichols with the whole class was called into active service, and he was assigned to duty on board the United States frigate " Wabash " as midshipman on North Atlantic blockade duty. His record in brief is as follows : Smith Woodward Nichols, appointed to Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., 1858-61; at- tached to steam frigate "Wabash," Atlantic blockading squadron, as midshipman, 1861; commissioned as Lieutenant, July 16, 1862; school ship "Macedonian," 1863; gunnery instruction, Boston navy-yard, 1861-62; at- tached to steam sloop "Shenandoah," North Atlantic blockading squadron, 1863-65 ; exec- utive officer of " Shenandoah " at the bombard- ment of Fort Fisher, January, 1865; in charge of a company, naval land assault on Fort Fisher; attached to the "Passaic " from January to July, 1865, South Atlantic block- ading squadron ; commissioned as Lieutenant Commander, July 25, 1866; steam sloop "Shenandoah," Asiatic squadron, 1865-69; special duty, Boston, 1869; "Terror," 1870; Davy-yard, Boston, 1871-72; "Omaha," South

Pacific station, 1872-75; ordnance duty, Bos- ton, 1876; commissioned as Commander, April 26, 1876; Light-house Inspector, 1876-79; re- tired, April, 1882.

Commander Nichols was married June 19, 1869, to Miss Henrietta Alice Estabrooks, daughter of John W. and Martha T. (Brown) Estabrooks, of Dorchester. They had one child, Albert Estabrooks, born December. 1870, who died at the age of three and a half years. Commander Nichols is a member of the Union Club of Boston and of the Loval Legion. At the outbreak of the Spanish War. Commander Nichols was assigned to duty as Light-house Inspector of the first district.

EORGE EUGENE BELKNAP, ' Rear Admiral, United States Navy, now retired after forty-seven years of hon- orable and distinguished service on the active list in war and peace, and residing in Brook- line, Mass., is a native of Newport, N. H. Born January 22, 1832, son of Sawyer and Martha (Aiken) Belknap, he is of old Colonial stock, on the paternal side English Puritan and on the maternal mainly Scotch Presby- terian.

His first American ancestor, Abraham Bel- knap, came from Warwickshire, England, in 1637, settled at Lynn, Mass., and died in 1643. Among Abraham's posterity may be mentioned Dr. Jeremy Belknap, historian (Harvard College, 1762) ; General William G. Belknap, United States Army; and General William Worth Belknap, ex-Secretary of War. From the emigrant to the Admiral the line is as follows: Abraham, Samuel, Ebenezer, Moses, Lieutenant Ezekiel, Moses, Sawyer. George E.

Ebenezer, born 1670, obiit 1765, saw service in the Colonial wars; and his son Moses, born 1704, obiit 1803, was one of the signers of the Association Test in 1776. Lieutenant Ezekiel Belknap, who took part in the battle of Sara- toga and was present at the surrender of Bur- goyne, 1777, was born at Haverhill, Mass., in November, 1735 (Old Style), and died at

. I Extract from BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW of Norfolk County.

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Atkinson, N. H., where he was a farmer, in January, 1837. The family records show other remarkable instances of longevity than those above given: Hannah, wife of Ebenezer Bel- knap, died in 1779, at the age of one hundred and six years and eleven months; her son John lived to reach his one hundred and first year ; and four of her daughters each exceeded the age of one hundred years.

Moses, son of Ezekiel, born 1781, obiit 1818, was Captain of a New Hampshire com- pany of artillery at Fort Constitution in the War of 1812; and Sawyer Belknap, born 1805, obiit 1882, held several town offices at Newport, N. H., was Postmaster under Presidents Pierce and Buchanan, and was Adjutant, Thirty-first Regiment, New Hampshire militia.

The wife of Captain Moses and mother of the late Mr. Sawyer Belknap was Esther, daughter of Stephen Webster. Her father was a Revolutionary soldier, in service at the battle of Saratoga and a witness of Burgoyne's sur- render. He was a descendant of John Webster, an English emigrant, who is said to have set- tled in New Hampshire in 1642.

Admiral Belknap's mother, Martha Aiken Belknap, a native of Bedford, N. If., was the daughter of Andrew and Martha (McAllister) Aiken and grand-daughter of William and Jerusha (Spofford) McAllister. Her paternal grandfather, Captain James Aiken, raised and served with the company of Revolutionary sol- diers that went from the town of Bedford, N. H. The Riddles, Spoffords, and MeAllis- ters of the company were his kinsmen. Mrs. Belknap's grandfather McAllister fought at Bunker Hill. His wife was a descendant of John and Elizabeth (Scott) Spofford, who came from Yorkshire, England, and settled at Row- ley, Mass., in 1638. Several kinsmen in this line served in the Colonial and Revolutionary Wars.

The eldest-born of six sons, George Eugene Belknap acquired his early education in the public schools of his native town; and on Oc- tober 7, 1847, then in his sixteenth year, he received the unsolicited appointment of naval cadet from New Hampshire. After a few weeks' instruction at the Naval Academy he was ordered, December, 1847, to the brig

"Porpoise," on cruise to west coast of Africa, and arrived back at Norfolk, April, 1850. On the frigate "Raritan," fifty guns, Pacific Squadron, 1850-53, he was with the force landed from this ship at Valparaiso, Chili, 1851, for the protection of American citizens during a revolution there. At the Naval Academy, 1853-54, he was graduated as Passed Midshipman, June, 1854, and ordered to the United States Coast Survey steamer "Corwin." Acting master sloop "Falmouth," 1854-55, he was commissioned Lieutenant, September 16, 1855, and ordered to receiving-ship "Ohio," Boston; was on the sloop "Ports- mouth," Asiatic Station, 1856-58, being on patrol duty several weeks at Canton, guarding American consulate from threatened attack of Chinese, October and November, 1856. He commanded a launch, with twelve-pound how- itzer and thirty-five men, at capture and razing to the ground of the Barrier Forts, Canton River, 1856. The four forts mounted, in the aggregate, one hundred and seventy-six guns, one a brass piece, eight-inch calibre, and twenty-three feet in length. Three men were killed and eight wounded of his party during these operations. He visited Japan, Septen- ber, 1857, the "Portsmouth " being the second ship to call there after Perry's treaty. The "Portsmouth " carried to Minister Townsend Harris the first mail he had received in four- teen months.

He served on the "Ohio," IS58, and the St. Louis Home Squadron, 1859-61 ; commanded St. Louis's boats at both re-enforcements of Fort Pickens, April, 1861; piloted General Harvey Brown and Captain M. C. Meigs, United States engineers, into the fort; was executive officer of gunboat "Huron," S. A. B. Squadron, 1861-62; in expedition against Fernandina, St. John's, St. Mary's, St. Augustine, in March, 1862; and captured English steamer "Cumbria, " loaded with arms, clothing, and medicines, off Charleston, May, 1862. Said the captain, when boarded, "This is a bonus of two thousand dollars out of my pocket." Taking the prize to Philadel- phia for adjudication, he was commissioned Lieutenant Commander, July 16, 1862. He was executive officer of the iron-clad frigate

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"New Ironsides," of eighteen guns, fourteen eleven-inch Dahlgren, and two Parrott two hundred pounders on gun-deck, and two fifty pounders Dahlgren rifles on spar-deck. The guns of main battery had crews of thirty- five men, ten of them for the handling of the heavy port shutters. The shutters were seldom closed after the enemy had been quieted by two or three broadsides. After being on spe- cial duty at Newport News, November and December, 1862, he proceeded to Port Royal.

At that port the ship was stripped of masts and yards, and then stationed off Charleston. Twenty-seven engagements ensued with de- fences of that city, comprising the attack of the 7th of April, 1863, and subsequent bom- bardments of Fort Wagner, Forts Sumter and Moultrie, and Batteries Bee, Beauregard, and Johnston. Total number of shells fired from broadside of eight guns during siege was four thousand four hundred- and thirty-nine, with aggregate weight of two hundred and eighty- eight and one-half tons. Most rapid fire in action was at the rate of one and seventy-four hundredths per shot. On one occasion four

hundred and ninety shells were delivered in continuous round, at rate of two and eighty-six hundredths per fire. Smoke often retarded the pointing and firing. At fight of the 7th of April the spar-deck was covered with bags of sand overlaid with raw-hides, and the sloping sides of the four-inch armor were plastered with grease an inch thick, to better resist the enemy's fire. After that day the sand-bags alone were retained for protection against plunging fire, the value of such protection being fully demonstrated. The ten-inch solid shots from forts would scoop off the bags struck, but leave the deck plank practically uninjured. The one-inch iron plate under- neath, however, would be invariably shattered. A rebel torpedo boat of Davis pattern suc- ceeded in exploding a heavy torpedo under starboard bilge amidships on evening of Octo- ber 5, 1863. Happily, the ship received no Serious damage; but Acting Master Howard was mortally shot, as he stood in the gangway hailing the "David." For service in "Iron- sides " Lieutenant Commander Belknap re- ceived commendation from her respective

commanders, Commodores Turner and Rowan, and from Admiral Du Pont. He was next ordered to command gunboat "Seneca," Sep- tember, 1864; transferred to command of mon- itor "Canonicus," off City Point, James River, November, 1864; engaged Howlett's House Battery, December 5 and 6, 1864; subsequently proceeded to Beaufort, N. C., as one of Porter's feet. In both fights at Fort Fisher, Decem- ber, 1864, and January, 1865, engaged the enemy at closest quarters; ship aground at times, received many hits; men knocked down inside of turret by impact of shot ; one officer wounded by grape-shot from fort during as- sault ; flag shot away twice; boats and smoke- stack riddled; guy and davits shot away, and much other damage received. He directed movements and firing of vessel from outside of the turret and pilot-house, commended by Commodore Radford and Admiral Porter. After capture of Fort Fisher ordered to pro- ceed with "Canonicus" to Charleston ; was on advanced picket duty the night the enemy evacuated the city, and fired the last shot at its defences; also received the last shot from the enemy directed at the fleet, an eight-inch rifle-shell from Moultrie, February 4, 1863; accompanied Admiral Dahlgren to the city on the afternoon of the evacuation. That even- ing, by a ruse, in concert with the late Com- modore Barrett, he assisted in the capture of the English steamer "Deer," attempting to enter the port. He commanded the "Canoni- eus," in Admiral Godon's special squadron to Havana, in quest of the rebel iron-clad "Stone- wall," and found her surrendered to the Span- ish authorities; put the "Canonieus" out of commission at Philadelphia, June, 1865; ordered to Naval Academy, July, 1865; de- tached at own request, August, 1865; was executive officer of the "Shenandoah," sail- ing for Asiatic Station via Cape of Good Hope and Indian ports, December, 1865. Promoted to Commander for war service on the way out, he was assigned to command of flag- ship "Hartford " on arrival at Hong-Kong. February, 1867; commanded squadron expedi- tion against Indians, southern coast of For- mosa, June, 1867, many being stricken with sunstroke, one officer shot by enemy; partici-

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Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 9

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

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