USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Boston of to-day; a glance at its history and characteristics: with biographical sketches and portraits of many of its professional and business men, 1892 > Part 28
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COLBY, JOHN HENRY, son of John F. and Ruthey (Cloutman ) Colby, was born in Randolph, Mass., June 13, 1862. He was educated in the Boston
1885. He studied law in the Boston University Law School (from which he graduated in 1889), and in his father's office. He was admitted to the Suf- folk bar in 1889, and was associated in practice with his father until the latter's death. He is a trustee of the North End Savings Bank. Mr. Colby was mar- ried Oct. 8, 1891, to Miss Annie Evarts Cornelius.
COLEMAN, E. B., was born in Barnstable, Cape Cod, in 1842. He was educated in the schools of his native place. In early life he made several long sea-voyages, and during the Civil War he served four years in the United States Navy. In 1870 he en- tered the employ of James Edmond & Co., manu- facturers and importers of fire-brick and sewer-pipe in this city. Here he remained until 1877, when he formed a copartnership with George M. Fiske, who had also been in the employ of Edmond & Co., under the firm name of Fiske & Coleman, for the sale of the same material. The business rapidly increased, and the operations of the firm soon em- braced the manufacture of fire-brick and architect- ural terra-cotta. Subsequently, the production of
E. B. COLEMAN.
faience for exterior and interior decorations was added. In 1885 the firm became Fiske, Coleman, & Co., William Homes being then admitted. At their exhibition rooms, No. 164 Devonshire street, are shown a great variety of forms and colors of
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Marcus Gaggen
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brick and terra-cotta. They produce specialties of all kinds of building-material in clay, and have some twenty different colors now in use. In the management of the business of the house, Mr. Coleman gives his attention to finances and corre- spondence. [For examples of the work of Fiske, Coleman, & Co. in modern buildings in Boston and elsewhere, see sketch of George M. Fiske. Also, see sketch of William Homes.]
COLLINS, PATRICK A., son of an Irish farmer, was born near Fermoy, county of Cork, Ire., March 12, 1844. His father dying in 1847, his mother emi-
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PATRICK A. COLLINS.
grated, with her children, to this country and settled in Chelsea, Mass. There he attended the public schools until he was twelve years okl, when he went to work first as a shop boy, and then as office boy in a Boston lawyer's office. At thirteen he was working at various occupations in Ohio ; subse- quently returning to Boston, he worked at the upholstery trade for several years, giving his leisure hours to study ; and at nineteen was foreman of a shop. When, advancing steadily in his trade, he determined to become a lawyer, and in 1868 he entered the Harvard Law School. Graduating there- from, he was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1871, and opening an office in Boston at once began practice. At this time he was already prominent in politics. In 1868 and 1869 he was a member of
the lower house of the Legislature, and in 1870 and 1871 was a State senator. In 1875 he was judge-advocate-general of the Commonwealth. He was a delegate-at-large from Massachusetts to the national Democratic conventions in 1876, 1880, and 1888, and was elected president of the national Democratic convention of 1888, held at St. Louis ; and in the campaign of that year took a leading part. In 1882 he was elected to Congress, and was twice reelected. He was one of the secretaries sof the Fenian congress held in Philadelphia in 1865 ; and he has been an active and influential member of the land and national leagues since their estab- lishment. He was chosen president of the Irish National Land League at the convention held in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1880, and served something more than a year, declining a reelection. He was chair- man of the Massachusetts Democratic State com- mittee from 1884 to 1891, and is recognized as one of the ablest leaders in his party, state and national. He is a brilliant speaker and a witty one. In his profession he holds a foremost place. He has travelled extensively in the West and across to the Pacific coast ; and has made several trips to the Old Country. Mr. Collins was married July 1, 1873, at Boston, to Mary E. Carey ; they have three children : Agnes, Marie, and Paul Collins.
COMER, JOSEPH, was born in England Aug. 22, . 1832. He was educated at the Collegiate Institute in Liverpool. He came to Boston in 1850 and en- tered the house of James M. Beebe, Morgan, & Co., wholesale dry-goods merchants, remaining with them until 1854, when he became a partner in the wholesale clothing-house of B. I .. Merrill & Co. He established the "Blue Store " clothing-house in Adams square and Washington street, and entered the real-estate business in 1860. He has been trus- tee of some of the largest estates in Boston, and now ( 1892) manages several important estates and is the agent of numerous out-of-town owners. His main forte has been the sale and care of city prop- erty ; but he is personally interested in the develop- ment of several suburban localities. He has resided with his wife and family on Beacon Hill for the past twenty-five years, is the owner of considerable real estate in Boston, and a stockhokler in several of the banks of the city.
CONANT, WILLIAM M., M.D., was born in Attle- borough, Jan. 5, 1856. He was educated in the Bridgewater and Adams Academies, fitting for college at the latter institution. He entered Harvard in 1875, graduating A.B. in 1879, and, taking a course
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in the Harvard Medical School, received his degree of M.D. in 1884. He was house officer at the Massa- chusetts General Hospital for eighteen months, and was then assistant in anatomy at the Harvard Medi- cal School. He is now assistant demonstrator in anatomy . in the latter. Dr. Conant is a member of the. Boston Society for Medical Improvement, the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Boston Society for Medical Observation, the Society of the Medical Sciences, and the Association of American Anato- mists. He is a surgeon to the Boston Dispensary, surgeon to out-patients at the Massachusetts General Hospital and at Carney Hospital, and surgeon to St. Elizabeth's Hospital.
CONNERY, WALTER J., was born in Boston Feb. 6, 1852. He was a member of the firm of D. Connery & Co., builders, from March 15, 1881, ship with Walter A. Wentworth, also of that firm, and under the firm name of Connery & Wentworth suc- ceeded to its business. The concern of D. Connery & Co. had been in existence a number of years, suc- ceeding the well-known Boston builders, Messrs. Standish & Woodbury ; D. Connery, the father of Walter J., having been active in the business for
a specialty of mason work, they take large contracts for all other branches in the building line, and assume the responsibility of the work in every detail. They built the Pierce Building in Copley square, and the Telephone Building, corner of Milk and Oliver streets. Other important work of theirs is shown in the Christian Association building, the Ho- mæopathic Hospital, the Cambridge Hospital, Westborough Insane Asylum, Quincy Storage Build- ing, the fine residences of Messrs. E. V. R. and Nathaniel P. Thayer on Commonwealth avenue, and over three hundred other dwellings in the Back Bay district and at the South End. Mr. Connery was one of the originators of the Master Builders' Associ- ation. His home is in Allston.
CONVERSE, ALFRED COLLINS, son of Joshua and Polly (Piper) Converse, was born in Rindge, N.H., until April 1, 1890, when he associated in partner- March 17, 1827. . He is a lineal descendant of Deacon Edward Convers, or Converse, who came to New England in the fleet with Governor Winthrop in 1630; received in 1631 the grant of the first ferry between Charlestown and Boston ; was first of the seven commissioners appointed by the church of Charlestown to effect the settlement of Woburn ; was selectman of the new town from 1644 until his death ; one of the board of commissioners for the trial of minor causes ; and was one of the founders of the church in Woburn, and deacon for many years. His son James, commonly styled Ensign or Lieutenant Converse, was " repeatedly honored by the town with the principal offices which it had to confer ; " James' son, Major James Converse, won distinction in the war with the French and Indians, was ten years a member of the General Court, and three times elected speaker of the House; the major's son John, one of nine children, apparently lived an uneventful life in Woburn; John's son Joshua in early life removed to Dunstable, and ten years later to Merrimac, N.H., then known as Naticook or Litchfield, where he was frequently elected to office ; John's son Zebulon was the one who established the family in Rindge ; and his son Joshua, the seventh of eleven children, was the father of Alfred Collins Converse. In addition to the management of a large farm, he was much em- ployed in other pursuits. In 1845 he purchased the mills and removed to the locality now known as Converseville, where he became extensively engaged WALTER J. CONNERY. in the manufacture of lumber and wooden ware. He represented the town in the Legislature in 1840 and 1841, and was a member of the constitutional convention in 1850. For seventeen years he was a selectman. He lived to see his thirteen children,
over forty years. The present firm of Connery & Wentworth may therefore be said to have been established for over sixty years. Although making
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three daughters and ten sons, all married and well settled in life. Alfred Collins was the tenth child and eighth son of Joshua and Polly Converse. He was educated in the public schools and at the New
ALFRED C. CONVERSE.
business, that he might devote his whole time to the type foundry. Since becoming a mem- ber of the firm he has had charge of the manufact- uring to the present time. In 1883 he formed a partnership with his nephew, Morton E. Converse, of Winchendon, for the manufacture of toys and reed chairs. They have three mills, each one hun- dred feet long and four stories high, and employ about two hundred hands. Mr. Converse was a member of the Chelsea common council in 1877, an alderman in 1889 and 1890, the latter years re- ceiving the popular vote ; and in December, 1891, was elected mayor of Chelsea. He has been a member of the Masonic order for thirty years, now of the Star of Bethlehem Lodge of Chelsea. Mr. Converse has been twice married : first, Nov. 13, 1855, to Julia A. Woods; and second, Nov. 18, 1869, to Hulda H. Mitchell. He has. had four children : Julia Luella, born Feb. 4, 1859 ; Lillia Frances, born May 10, 1865, died Sept. 15, 1866; a son, born and died Oct. 23, 1870; and Alfred Otis Converse, born Dec. 21, 1871.
CONVERSE, ELISHA S., son of Elisha and Betsey (Wheaton) Converse, was born in Needham, Mass., July 28, 1820. He was educated in the public schools. At nineteen he began work in a clothing store in Thompson, Conn., but the next year he changed to the shoe and leather business, in which his advance was steady and sure. Then in 1853 he became manager of the Boston Rubber Shoe Com- pany, and this position he still holds. He is also president of the First National Bank of Malden, and director of the Exchange National Bank of Boston ; president of the Boston Belting Company and of the Rubber Manufacturers' Mutual Insurance Company ; director of the Revere Rubber Com- pany, and trustee of the Boston Five Cents Savings Bank. He is also a trustee of Wellesley College. Early making his residence in Malden and becom- ing one of its foremost citizens, he was elected the first mayor when the town accepted the city charter in ISS1. He was a member of the lower house of the Legislature in 1878 and 1879, and of the senate in 1880 and 1881. He has done much to increase the attractions and promote the prosperity of his town, and has been a generous giver for good works. His latest and most important gift to the town is the handsome library building. Mr. Con- verse was married in Thompson, Conn., Sept. 4, 1843, to Miss Mary D. Edmands ; they have had
Ipswich Academy. He spent his boyhood on the farm and in his father's lumber-mills. When yet a youth he taught school winters in Rindge, Town- send, and Fitchburg. In 1850 he removed to New York, and was employed there in the wholesale flour- store of Cowing & Co., on South street. In one year the firm failed, and he found more congenial employment in the type foundry of Green Brothers, on Fulton street. In -the course of another year they failed. He was next employed in the type foundry of William Hagar & Co., on Gold street. In less than two years they suspended. Hoping to get out of the area of failures, Mr. Converse then (in 1854) removed to Boston, and here found em- ployment as electrotyper and fitter with Phelps & Dalton, then, as now, the leading type-founders in Boston. In 1863 he formed a copartnership with M. G. Crane, under the firm name of Converse & Crane, for the manufacture of fire-alarm machinery, at the corner of Washington and Water streets, still retaining his position with Phelps & Dalton. The following year Mr. Dalton sold his interest in the type foundry to Mr. Converse, and the firm took the name of Phelps, Dalton, & Co. In 1865 Mr. four children : Frank E., Mary Ida, Harry E., and Converse sold his interest in the fire-alarm Frances Eugenie Converse.
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COOK, JOHN HAWKINS, son of Justin and Fannie Miss Julia Shepley, of St. Louis, a sister of his A. (Moore) Cook, was born in Northampton, partner, Mr. Shepley. Mass., July 28, 1841. He was educated in the common schools, and began business as an apothe- cary and country storekeeper. He entered the Union army as private of Company C, .Tenth Massachusetts Infantry, June 21, 1861 ; was pro- moted to second and first lieutenant, Fifty-seventh Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers ; and brevet captain and major "for gallant and meritorious service in the campaign before Petersburg, Va., in 1864." He was dangerously wounded, and was honorably discharged Dec. 27, 1864. Captain Cook has been for nearly twenty-five years in the Customs service, and is now (1892) auditor and disbursing clerk in the Boston Custom House. He served as department inspector, G.A.R., Depart- ment of Massachusetts, in 1887-8; and is present commander (1892) of Edward W. Kinsley Post . 113, G.A.R. On Feb. 1, 1876, he married Miss Mollie Pond. They have no children.
COOKE, FREDERICK ALLSTON, was born in the mountain town of Gorham, Me., Aug. 14, 1857. At an early age he was sent to Bridgton, Me., to attend the excellent schools in that place. He took a preparatory course for college under B. J. Legate. He studied dentistry with Dr. Isaac J. Wetherbee and in the Boston Dental College, graduating from the latter with honors in the class of 1879. He received a prize medal for class essays while in college, and was chosen presi- dent of the graduating class. After leaving college he was associated with Dr. Wetherbee, under the name of Wetherbee & Cooke. He was appointed demonstrator in charge at the Boston Dental Col- lege, and for a time successfully filled this position. Dr. Cooke is a member of the Boston Dental College Alumni Association, and of other societies.
COOLIDGE, CHARLES ALLERTON, architect, son of David and Isabella (Shurtleff) Coolidge, was born in Boston Nov. 30, 1858. He was educated in Hopkinson's school; at Harvard, graduating in the class of 1881 ; and in the Institute of Technology. He began his professional work in the office of the late H. H. Richardson, and in 1886 became a member of the firm of Shepley, Rutan, & Coolidge, which was formed after Mr. Richardson's death, that year, and succeeded to his business. [For a list of some of the noteworthy buildings designed by this firm, see the sketch of George F. Shepley.] He is one of the directors of the American Insti- tute of Architects. On Nov. 30, 1889, he married
COOLIDGE, WILLIAM HENRY, son of William L. and Sarah I. (Washburn ) Coolidge, was born in Natick, Mass., Feb. 23, 1859. He was graduated from Harvard in 1881. After studying two years in the Harvard Law School, he entered the law office of Hyde, Dickinson, & Howe in Boston, and - was admitted to the Suffolk bar in January, 1885. In February following he was appointed assistant counsel of the Boston & Lowell Railroad Corpora- tion, of which his present partner was general counsel. He remained with that railroad and the Boston & Maine Railroad, its lessee, until Jan. 1, 1889, when he resigned to form a partnership with Almon A. Strout, under the firm name of Strout & Coolidge, and he is now in general practice at No. 46 Water street. He is a member of the Boston Bar Association, and of the Puritan, Newton, Uni- versity, and Republican Clubs. In politics he is a Republican. He was married Oct. 3, 1887, to Miss May Humphreys, daughter of George D. and Sarah F. (Young) Humphreys, of St. Louis, Mo. He re- sides in Newton.
COONEY, P. H., district attorney of Middlesex county, was born in Stockbridge, Mass., in 1845. He moved to northern New York, and lived on a farm until he was seventeen years old. He came to Natick in 1864 and was educated in the high school and at Allen's school in West Newton, after which he studied law in the office of Bacon & Sawin, and was admitted to the bar in Suffolk county in 1868. He was appointed assistant dis- trict attorney of Middlesex county in 1880, and was elected district attorney of the same county in 1890. He was a member of the school committee in Natick four years, from 1880 to 1884.
CORCORAN, JOHN W., son of James and Catherine Corcoran, was born June 14, 1853, at Batavia, Mon- roe county, N.Y. His early education was ob- tained in the public schools of Clinton, Mass. He afterwards pursued his studies in Holy Cross Col- lege, Worcester, St. John's University, New York city, and the Boston University Law School. He began the practice of law in Clinton, June, 1875, and later on formed a copartnership with Herbert Parker. He was also a member of the law firm of Corcoran & Walsh. He is now (1892) in practice in Boston, with office in Sears Building, and associated with Mr. Parker. He was a member of the school com- mittee of Clinton for thirteen years, and is now its
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chairman ; town solicitor of Clinton since the cre- ation of the office in 1883, with the exception of a single year ; and president of the Clinton board of
JOHN W. CORCORAN.
trade, 1886-7. He has been a member of the board of water commissioners since its organi- zation in 1881. He was delegate to the national Democratic conventions in 1884 and 1888, and in the latter year acted as chairman of the delegation ; and he has been a member of the Democratic State committee since 1883, and chairman of that body in 1891-2. Mr. Corcoran was candidate for sena- tor in 1880, for district attorney of Worcester county 1883 and 1884, for attorney-general of Massa- chusetts in 1886-7, and for lieutenant-governor in 1888-9-all on the Democratic ticket. He was appointed receiver of the Lancaster National Bank of Clinton Jan. 20, 1886, by the comptroller of the currency of the United States, and still holds that position. He is judge-advocate-general on the staff of Governor Russell. Mr. Corcoran was mar- ried in Boston, April 28, 1881, to Margaret J., daughter of Patrick and Mary McDonald. Of this union are two daughters and one son : Mary Ger- trude, Alice, and John Corcoran.
CORSE, JOHN M., popularly known as General Corse, is a native of the smoky city of Pittsburgh, Pa., where he was born April 27, 1835, his ances- tors coming from an old Huguenot family and set-
tling in Virginia early in the eighteenth century. His early education was received in St. Louis and Burlington, Iowa, and he entered West Point in 1853. He resigned to study, and then began prac- tice in Burlington, Iowa. Here he built up a suc- cessful patronage, at the same time taking much interest in public affairs, and in 1860 was a candi- date for the position of secretary of State for Iowa on the Douglas ticket. At the breaking out of the war in April, 1861, he volunteered and entered the service as captain in the artillery. Then he was transferred as major of the Sixth Iowa Infantry, but later on was assigned to the staff of Gen. John Pope, with the rank of judge-advocate-general, and afterwards inspector-general. After a number of hot engagements, among them Island No. 10 and Shiloh, he was promoted to the position of lieu- tenant-colonel of the Sixth Iowa Infantry and joined Sherman's army in the sieges of Corinth, Memphis, Vicksburg, and the Mississippi campaigns. For gallantry at the assault on Jackson, he received the commission of brigadier-general. He was given command of the Fourth Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, and was in many battles, among them Mis- sion Ridge, where his leg was broken by a shell ; and after recovering from the wound, he became a member of General Sherman's staff, and marched with him from " Atlanta to the sea." General Corse's bravery at Altoona Pass is well known to history, when with a handful of resolute soldiers he withstood one of the most deadly fires from the enemy, refusing to surrender, and holding the im- portant position until reinforcements from General Sherman arrived. For his gallant conduct on this. occasion he was made major-general. He was wounded five times during the war. He was ap- pointed lieutenant-colonel in the regular army after a two years' campaign in the Northwest against the Sioux. General Corse was appointed collector of internal revenue by President Johnson, and two years later he went abroad, passing several years in Europe. He was at one time a constructor of har- bors in Chicago. In 1886 President Cleveland appointed him postmaster of Boston, and his efforts in improving the mail service of the city have become widely known. Changes have constantly been made and are still going on, so that newly appointed postmasters are frequently sent to Boston to learn the methods employed in the department here. General Corse's home is in Boston.
COTTER, JAMES E., son of James and Margaret (Callahan) Cotter, was born in county Cork, Ire-
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land, in 1848. Coming to this country when a boy and making his home in Marlborough, Mass., he ob- tained his education in the public schools of that town and in the State Normal School at Bridgewater. In the summer of 1871 he began the study of law in the office of William B. Gale, in Marlborough, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1874. Then he re- moved to Hyde Park, and he has since practised in Norfolk and Suffolk counties; his Boston office is now in the Sears Building. In Hyde Park Mr. Cotter has held a number of public positions. He has been chairman of the registrars of voters there (1884-5) ; for five years a member of the school committee (1886-91) ; one year (1888) chairman of the board, and town counsel from 1878 to 1889. Since 1886 he has been town counsel for Walpole. In 1874 and again in 1877 he was the Democratic candidate for district attorney for the southeastern district, comprising Norfolk and Plymouth counties,
JAMES E. COTTER.
and in 1888 he was a candidate for presidential elector on the Democratic ticket. He is a member of the Norfolk and Suffolk Bar Associations, of the Charitable Irish Society (of which he was unani- mously elected president in 1892), and of the Massachusetts Order of Foresters. He was married Oct. 29, 1874, to Mary A. Welch ; they have five children : Esther M., Alice E., Mary Alma, Anna, and Sarah F. Cotter.
Coy, S. WILLARD, M.D., son of Edward L. and Clara (Cary) Coy, was born in West Hebron, N.Y., May 28, 1863. He was educated in the village schools at East Greenwich, R.I., and in the Wilbra- ham Academy. Then he came to Boston and attended the Boston University School of Medicine, from which he graduated in 1888. After graduation he began practice in East Boston, where he has since remained. He is a member of the Massa- chusetts Homoeopathic Society. Dr. Coy is also connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
CREECH, SAMUEL W., JR., was born in Boston Nov. 7, 1839. He passed through the Boston public schools, and after reading law was admitted to the bar in 1862. He was a partner of Hon. William J. Hubbard until the latter's death, and has since practised alone. He has a wide and lucrative practice, and the management of large estates. He is president of the proprietors of Mount Hope Cemetery. In politics Mr. Creech is a Republican. He is a member of the New England and Central clubs, and a prominent Mason and Odd Fellow.
CROCKER, GEORGE G., son of Uriel and Sarah Kidder (Haskell) Crocker, was born in Boston Dec. 15, 1843. He was fitted for college in the Boston Latin School, from which he graduated in 1860 as a Franklin medal scholar ; entered Harvard and graduated in the class of 1864 ; and took the course of the Harvard Law School, receiving the degree of I.I .. B. In 1867 he was admitted to the Suffolk bar, and began practice with his brother, Uriel H. Crocker -an association which has con- tinued to the present time ( 1892). Mr. Crocker early entered public life, and has rendered the State good service in a number of important positions. In 1873 and 1874 he was a member of the lower house of the Legislature, serving both terms as chairman of the committee on bills in the third reading, and, during the second term, also as House chairman of the joint committee on the liquor law, and on the committee on rules and orders. In 1880, 1881, 1882, and 1883 he was in the senate, the fourth year its president. While in that body he served as chairman of the committees on rail- roads, the judiciary, and rules and orders. He was also a member of the committees on taxation, the State House, bills in the third reading, and on the revision of the statutes (this a joint special com- mittee). He prepared the rules which the latter committee adopted to govern its sessions. He also prepared a " Digest of the Rulings of the Presiding
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