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 30
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CUTTER, DEXTER JOSIAH, son of .Joseph and Lucy Stone (Richardson) Cutter, was born in Sudbury, Mass., Sept. 21, 1827. His father was a farmer, and the son worked on the farm and attended the public schools in Sudbury until he was fourteen years old. Afterwards he pursued a course of studies in the Wayland Seminary, and also at the Northfield Semi- nary, N.H. He began his business career as a clerk in the Boston market for three years. Re- moving to Waltham at the age of twenty, he engaged with the Boston Manufacturing Company there. After serving a year he was promoted to the position of overseer, which he held for nearly three years, when he was made book-keeper and paymaster of the com- pany. He held this position for twenty-two years, being in the employ of the company twenty-five years. Impaired health compelled him to engage in more active duties outside of an office, and, re- signing his position, he removed to Boston in Jan- uary, 1882, when he purchased of Messrs. Castner, Stickney, & Wellington the coal wharf and busi- ness at Commercial point, Dorchester district, formerly owned and operated by William H. Floyd. Mr. Cutter has since continued in the coal and wood business, increasing the trade over four hundred per cent. in a few years. On June 12, 1851, he married Miss Sarah Bemis Stearns, daughter of Ephraim Stearns, of Waltham. They have had five children, four of whom are now living: Frank Ware, the eldest, Lucy Richardson, Elizabeth Learoyd (de- ceased), Walter Hill, and Ann Eliza Cutter. Frank W. married Miss Mary Gilbert, of Waltham, Lucy R. married William B. Everett, Walter H. married Miss Carrie Carr, and Ann E. married Carlton Blanchard. All reside in the Dorchester district. Mr. Cutter is a Republican. He never held or aspired to public office. He is a member of the Unitarian church, Dorchester district.
CUTTER, LEONARD R., son of Daniel and Sally (Jones) Cutter, was born in . Jaffrey, N.H., July 1, 1825. His education was acquired in the public schools, and the academy of his native town. Until twenty years of age his time not devoted to study - with the exception of three terms of winter school- teaching - was spent on the farm. Then, in 1845, he came to Boston and found employment in a general grocery store. After six years' service here
as clerk he went into business for himself, in which he continued for ten years. Subsequently he engaged in the real-estate business. He was early associated with city business, first as an assessor in 1859. This continued for three years. Ten years later he was elected to the board of aldermen, his service beginning in 1871. Repeatedly reelected, he was a member of the board from that time to 1874 inclusive, serving as chairman one year, and as acting mayor the last month of 1873, the mayor having resigned. Later he was a member of the water board six years (chairman four years) and water commissioner eight years, retiring in 1883. Mr. Cutter was married in Brighton in 1852, to Miss Mercy, daughter of Phineas Taylor; they have two daughters : Agnes E. and Emma A. Cutter.
D ABNEY, LEWIS S., son of Frederick and Roxana (Stackpole) Dabney, both natives of the United States, was born at Fayal, Azores, Dec. 21, 1840. The father was vice-consul of the Azores for a number of years, and died there in 1857. Lewis S. entered Har- vard in 1857 and graduated in 1861. He studied law with Horace Gray and Charles F. Blake, and was admitted to the bar in February, 1863. He was a
LEWIS S. DABNEY.
member of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, serv- ing in the Civil War from November, 1862, to Jan- uary, 1865, being mustered out as captain of cavalry
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in the Second Regiment, having passed through the grades of first and second lieutenant. In 1865 Mr. Dabney began the practice of law in Bos- ton, and has continued to the present time. He was assistant United States attorney in 1866 under R. H. Dana, until the latter's resignation -- about six months. In politics he is Republican, and in religion Unitarian. He is a member of the Somer- set, Athletic, Country, and Beverly Yacht Clubs. Mr. Dabney was married April 22, 1867, to Clara, daughter of the late Chief Justice Bigelow, and has three children, two sons and one daughter.
DABNEY, WILLIAM H., son of William H. and Mary A. D. (Parker) Dabney, was born in Fayal, Azores, April 8, 1855. His education was attained at Teneriffe, Canary Islands, and here in Boston, in on his own account, and since that time has enjoyed a successful and prosperous career. In 1870 he graduated with honors from the Boston Dental Col- lege. He has been conspicuous in many well-known organizations. He was one of the corporators of
the Institute of Technology, from which he gradu- ated in 1875. He began the practice of his profes- sion as a draughtsman in the office of the Manufacturers Mutual Fire Insurance Company, in this city. Here he remained twelve years, mean- while occasionally doing some work on his own account, drawing plans for several mills and other structures. In 1890 he formed a partnership with H. B. Ball, when the architectural firm of Ball & Dabney was established. Mr. Dabney is a member of the Young Men's Democratic Club.
DALE, WILLIAM J., JR., son of Dr. William J. Dale, a distinguished physician of Boston and after- wards surgeon-general of Massachusetts (appointed to that office by Governor Andrew, and continued in it for nearly a score of years after the close of the war), was born in Boston April 15, 1850. When the war ended Surgeon-General Dale moved to the ancestral homestead in North Andover, a farm of several hundred acres, which had been in the pos- session of the Dale family since 1636, and here William J., jr., has for most of the time since lived. He has been a member of the school committee of Andover, serving several terms as chairman ; and a member of the board of selectmen, of which he was also several years chairman. In December, 1886, he was appointed assistant postmaster of Boston, under Postmaster Corse, assuming the duties of that office on the ist of January, 1887. Here he re- mained until the change of administration, and the incoming of Postmaster Hart. At the opening of the present year (1892) he was appointed by Gov- ernor Russell to the board of railroad commission- ers. For a number of years he was president of the Exeter Manufacturing Company of Exeter, N.H., manufacturers of cotton goods; and he has been
one of the directors of the Music Hall Association of Boston. He is a member of the First Corps of Cadets, of which his maternal grandfather, Colonel Joseph H. Adams, was at one time commander. On Nov. 26, 1891, Mr. Dale was married, at Boxford, to Miss Elise M. Ballou, daughter of Murray Ballou, chairman of the Boston Stock Ex- change.
DALY, JAMES MONROE, was born in Salisbury, Vt., Dec. 23, 1829. His boyhood was passed in the towns of Middlebury and Bristol, and at sixteen he came to Boston, where he finished his education. Choosing dentistry as his profession, he began his studies in the office of Dr. John Sabine, at No. 5 Franklin street. At twenty-two he began practice
JAMES M. DALY.
the Dental College, and is at present one of its trustees. His oldest son, James H. Daly, is now a professor in that institution.
DALLINGER, WILLIAM W., treasurer of city of Cambridge, was born in Cambridge in 1840. His father was a native of England, and his mother of Massachusetts. He was educated in the public
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schools. After leaving school he went into the wholesale boot and shoe business as clerk, and re- mained in it until 1878, when he was elected city treasurer of Cambridge, which position he has held ever since. He is a member of the Knights of Honor and Legion of Honor. He is married and has a family.
DAMON, GEORGE LEONARD, son of Leonard and Elizabeth P. (Linfield) Damon, was born in Stough-
GEORGE L. DAMON.
ton, Mass., July 15, 1843. He comes of a sturdy New England ancestry. His father was long a prosperous trader in Stoughton and Boston. He attended the public schools in Stoughton until he was twelve years old, when the family moved to East Boston, and there his early education was com- pleted in the Adams School, from which he gradu- ated at the age of eighteen. Then his school days were ended and work was begun. As he grew older the bent of his mind carried him away from mercantile pursuits and into the field of mechanics, which he chose for his lifework. He apprenticed himself to Harrison Loring, the South Boston ship- builder, to learn that business, and while performing every duty faithfully during the day, he attended school and studied draughting in the evening. At this time his special aim was to qualify himself for a mechanical engineer, and with this end in view he made a careful study of the construction of marine
engines, the building of vessels, and of all kinds of iron-steamship work. Just before he completed his apprenticeship he received a flattering offer from Charles Staples & Son, of Portland, Me., who had ob- tained a contract for several light-draught monitors. This he accepted, and he remained in Portland until the great fire of 1866 destroyed the works of Staples & Son and caused him to look elsewhere for congenial work. He soon settled upon the safe- business, forming a copartnership with James Wil- son, of Boston. The firm bought the tools and plant of the Tremont Safe Company, and with these began the manufacture of safes. At the end of two and a half years he was urged again to enter the employ of Staples & Son, of Portland, and the finan- cial considerations being made satisfactory, he sold out to the American Steam Safe Company, who had also just purchased the safe business of the old firm of Denio & Roberts. Another period of two years was passed in Portland, during which he did a large amount of special designing and added to his repu- tation as a mechanical engineer. In 1870 he was offered a yearly salary of six thousand dollars for three years by the American Safe Company, to take charge of their manufacturing department. This offer he accepted, and his management resulted in a large increase of production. This situation was held until the stoppage of the business, owing to the conduct of Abram Jackson, the president. While here Mr. Damon patented and brought out several locks and other devices for safe-construction, which proved quite remunerative ; and when, in 1874, the entire plant of the American Steam Safe Company was offered for sale he was able to purchase it out- right. His business has steadily increased. He has constructed vaults for nearly all the banks and safe deposit companies of Boston, and probably ninety per cent. of the work of this character in New England. Perhaps the most responsible piece of work which ever passed through his hands was in the '70's, when Secretary Bristow quietly ordered him to remodel the treasury vaults at New York. All of the labor had to be performed outside of business hours, and although none of the valuables were removed, and nearly one hundred million dollars were stored in the vaults, he safely accom- plished the task without a cent of loss and to the great satisfaction of the secretary. The numerous safes and vaults in the great Exchange Building on State street were placed by Mr. Damon, the contract exceeding two hundred thousand dollars. In addi- tion to his immense safe-business Mr. Damon has be- come interested in a branch of the photographic art, and is proprietor of the Harvard Dry Plate Company
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of Cambridgeport. During his residence in South Boston, some years ago, he served one year as a member of the common council. For several years he has been a trustee of the Home Savings Bank, and is now a member of the executive committee. Mr. Damon was married in Lynn Nov. 25, 1868, to Miss Arolyn P., daughter of Nehemiah Leavitt, a substantial farmer and civil engineer of Sherman, Me.
DAMRELL, CHARLES S., son of John S. and Susan E. Damrell, was born in Boston Sept. 1, 1858. He was educated in the public schools, after which he took an advanced course. In 1876 he entered the office of his father in the management of real estate, and in 1878 was appointed to a clerkship in the city department for the inspection of buildings. Beginning at the lowest grade of clerkship, he has succeeded in advancing himself to the position of clerk of the department, which he now holds (1892). Mr. Damrell is a Royal Arch Mason, past noble grand of Odd Fellows, a member of the Order of Red Men, and other social orders ; and of the Ath- letic Club. He is married to a New Bedford lady (granddaughter of Thomas E. Clark), and has two daughters. He resides in Boston.
expert of advanced ideas connected with that important service. He was unanimously elected president of a convention of chief engineers called
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JOHN S. DAMRELL.
DAMRELL, JOHN STANHOPE, son of Samuel and Ann (Stanhope) Damrell, was born in Boston June 29, at Baltimore in 1874 in consequence of the sweep- ing conflagrations that had taken place in the cities of Portland, Chicago, and Boston. He was first president of the Massachusetts State Firemen's Association. He has also served as president of the Firemen's Charitable Association, the Boston Fire- men's Mutual Relief Association, the Boston Vet- eran Firemen's Association, and is to-day actively connected with these and kindred organizations. He is president of the Boston Firemen's Cemetery Association and chairman of the executive commit- tee to erect a monument to firemen. He has also been connected with the State militia, serving as lieutenant of the old Mechanic Rifles of Boston ; is an honorary member of the National Lancers ; and has been a member of the Ancient and Honor- able Artillery. During the war he performed pa- triotic service under Governor Andrew and Mayor Lincoln of Boston, in filling the quota of men allotted to the city. He is a member of the Knights of Honor, Royal Arcanum, Odd Fellows, Good Templars, and is a Mason of the thirty-second de- gree. He has been, since its organization, president of the supreme parliament of the Golden Rule Alli- ance. For the past fifteen years he has been a 1828. He was educated in the public schools of Boston and Cambridge. His first connection in business was with Isaac Melvin, of Cambridge, to whom he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a carpenter. He then came to Boston as a master builder, and in 1856 formed a partnership with James Long, which continued until 1874. During an interregnum of three years he made no con- tracts, by reason of attachments on account of his connection with the explosion of buildings with powder at the great Boston fire in 1872, when he was chief engineer of the fire department. To that position he was elected in 1868, and he held it continuously until 1874, when the fire department was placed under a commission. From boyhood he had taken an interest in fire matters, his father and brother being members of the department. In 1848 he joined " Hero Engine Company, No. 6," and continued through all the grades of membership and official position until 1858, when he was elected assistant engineer. It was from this position that he was raised to that of chief engineer. In the de- partment Captain Damrell performed conspicuous service. He has been conceded to be a master of the science of the extinguishment of fires, and an trustee of the State School for the Feeble-Minded.
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In 1877 he was appointed inspector of buildings, which office he still holds. His church connections have long been with the Methodist Episcopal church, and he has served for twenty-three consecu- tive years as superintendent of a Sunday-school. He has received during his career a large number of interesting and valuable presents from his com- rades, the city authorities, and the general public. Captain Damrell was married April 11, 1850, at Cambridge, to Miss Susan Emily, daughter of John Hill ; they have had five children : Eliza Ann, John E. S., Carrie M., Charles S., and Susan Emily Dam- rell, of whom only the two sons are now living.
DAVIS, SAMUEL ALONZO, M.D., son of Samuel and Olive (Holmes) Davis, was born in Bridgton, Me., in 1837. He was educated in the village schools and Bridgton Academy, Bowdoin College, and the Harvard Medical School. He met the expense of his college training by teaching. He began the practice of his profession in 1862, establishing him- self in Charlestown. In August of the same year he entered the Union army, and served through the war; mustered out in 1866. He was engaged in many of the battles - at Port Hudson, Donaldson- ville, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek, and was at Win-
SAMUEL A. DAVIS.
chester when Sheridan made his famous ride from " twenty miles away." After the war he returned to Charlestown and resumed practice ; and there he
has since remained. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Harvard Med- ical Society, the Royal Arcanum, Masonic order, and Home Circle. He was married in Boston in 1870, to Miss Ella, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Cushman.
DAVIS, THOMAS W., city surveyor of Boston for twenty-six years, son of Joseph and Mary (Wood) Davis, was born in Templeton, Mass. He was edu- cated in the Rensselaer Institute of Troy, N.Y., and the Lawrence Scientific School at Cambridge. He was city surveyor of Boston from 1866 to April, 1892, when he declined longer to serve. From 1863 to 1866 he was assistant city engineer, and previous to 1863 was for several years an assistant in the office of the city engineer. He is a member of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers.
DAY, ALBERT, was born in Wells, Me., Oct. 15, 1821. When a boy he was obliged to give almost his entire time to working on the farm, and could attend the district school only during a part of the winter months. When he was but thirteen years old his father died, and he went out in the world to make his own way. He first found employment with Dr. Jacob Fisher in Wells, and two years later he bound himself as apprentice to learn a trade, in the town of Sanford. Here he worked days and studied nights to obtain the education he craved. When yet a lad he became interested in the tem- perance cause, and worked and spoke in its behalf. In 1850 he settled in Lowell, Mass., and two years later came to Boston. In 1856 he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature, where he in- troduced measures looking to the establishment of an asylum for the care and cure of inebriates, his pet idea from boyhood. In 1857 the Washingto- nian Home was organized, and Albert Day was se- lected as superintendent. Realizing the importance of his position, and desiring to fortify himself for all emergencies, he entered the Harvard Medical School and obtained a medical education. Dr. Day remained as superintendent of the Washing- tonian Home for eleven years, and then was called to the Asylum at Binghamton, N.Y., where he re- mained three years. Returning to Massachusetts he established a private retreat at Greenwood. This was burned out four years later. An imperative call for his return to the conduct of the Washingtonian Home being made, in 1875 he again assumed the duties of superintendent and physician of that in- stitution, which position he still holds. It is now one of the most successful institutions of the kind
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in the country. Dr. Day has been a frequent con- tributor to temperance journals, and he is the author of " Methomania."
DEAN, BENJAMIN, son of Benjamin and Alice Dean, was born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, Eng., Aug. 14, 1824. He was one of a family of ten children, - five boys and five girls, - all of whom lived to pass the meridian of life. When five years of age he came to this country with his parents, who settled in Lowell, Mass. There he received his early education, graduating from the Lowell High School in 1840. He then entered Dartmouth Col- lege, remaining through the freshman year. He began the study of law with Judge Thomas Hopkin- son, of Lowell, and in 1845 was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Lowell with James Dinsmore, where he remained until 1852. He then removed to Boston, and became a partner of Henry H. Fuller. Mr. Fuller dying soon after the partnership, the business fell to Messrs. Dean and Dinsmore, who carried it on several years, after which Mr. Dean assumed it alone. In 1862 and 1863, and again in 1869, Mr. Dean was a member of the State senate. He served on the committee of probate and chancery, was chairman of the joint committee on prisons, and of the joint special committee on the serving of processes on volunteers, was a member of those on the eligibility of members of Congress, and on proceedings for the restraint of the in- sane. In 1869, when Francis A. Dewey was elevated to the judiciary of the Superior Court, Mr. Dean, although a Democrat, was made chairman of the committee on the judiciary. He was also chairman of the joint standing committee on the library, and a member of the special committee on the license law. He was a member of the common council of Boston in 1865, 1866, 1872, and 1873, where he continuously held the chairmanship of committee on ordinances. He served his Congressional dis- trict (the third Massachusetts) in the forty-fifth Congress. His seat was contested, but he was declared elected. Since 1854 Mr. Dean has been a prominent member and officer in the order of Free Masonry. He is deputy for Massachusetts, of the supreme council of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States. Of the grand commandery for Massachusetts and Rhode Island he was grand commander from 1871 to 1873, and from 1880 to 1883 he was grand master of the grand encamp- ment of the Knights Templar of the United States. He has been one of the directors for the public institutions of Boston, a trustee of the South Boston
Savings Bank, a director of the South Boston Rail- road Corporation, president of the South Boston Gas Company, and chairman of the board of park commissioners of Boston. Mr. Dean is an expert yachtsman, and for several years was commodore of the Boston Yacht Club. He married in Lowell, in 1848, Mary A., daughter of J. B. French. Mr. French had been a county commissioner of the city of Lowell, president of the Northern Railroad of New Hampshire, mayor of the city of Lowell, and at the time of his death was president of the Appleton National Bank of that city. The children of this union were six, five of whom are living : Benjamin Wheelock, Walter Loftus, Josiah Stevens, Clitheroe (now Mrs. C. L. James), and Mary (Mrs. Walter Tufts) Dean. Mr. Dean has two brothers living, one of them, Peter Dean, president of the Merchants Exchange Bank of San Francisco, Cal., who has been a president of the Society of Pioneers and a member of the State senate of California. He is a Forty-nine-er.
DEAN, JOSIAH S., son of Benjamin Dean, was born May 11, 1860. His early education was attained in the Boston public schools. He spent one year in the Institute of Technology, read law in his father's office, and attended both the Boston University Law School and the Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1885, and was then associated for a year or more with L. S. Dabney, as attorney for the South Boston Railway Company. He is now (1892) as- sociated with his father at No. 28 State street. In 1890 and 1891 he was elected a member of the common council from Ward 14, on the Demo- cratic ticket. He takes an active interest in athletic sports, is a member of the Boston Athletic Association, the Boston Bicycle, the Puritan, the Canoe, and the Young Men's Democratic Clubs ; and he is one of the editors of the " Bicycling World."
DEARBORN, CHARLES EBENEZER, son of Ebenezer and Hannah (Dyson) Dearborn, was born in Nashua, N.H., Feb. 28, 1820. He was educated in the Nashua Academy, when David Crosby was principal, and at Dartmouth College, from which he graduated in 1842. Coming to Boston he studied dentistry with Dr. Willard W. Codman on Boylston street, and then began the practice of his profes- sion here. He was associated with Dr. Daniel Harwood for ten years, and with Dr. David M. Parker for thirty-five years. Dr. Dearborn was married April 30, 1857, to Miss Caroline M. Law-
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rence ; they have two children : Edward E. and Henry M. Dearborn.
DENNISON, GEORGE, was born in Dorchester Feb. 23, 1853, and still resides in that district. He was educated in the public schools, and started out in life as a clerk in an insurance office, remaining there for four years. He was then in mercantile business for two years, the conveyancer's business fifteen years, and assistant manager in the Boston office of the Equitable Mortgage Co. of Kansas City, Mo., three years. He established business for himself in real estate, mortgages, insurance, and investment securities, Jan. 1, 1890, with office at No. 113 Devonshire street. He has the charge and management of much trust property in Boston, and is also interested in developments in Sioux City, Ia. He is a member of the Boston Chamber of Com- merce, of the Real Estate Exchange and Auction Board, the Boston Board of Fire Underwriters, is secretary and treasurer of the Sioux City Land Co., secretary of the American Security and Trust Co. of Sioux City, Ia., vice-president of the Nickel Plate Mining Co. of Aurora, Mo., a notary public and justice of the peace. He is also a member of the Massachusetts Yacht Club.
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