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 31
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DEVENS, CHARLES, son of Charles and Mary (Lithgow) Devens, was born in Charlestown April 4, 1820 ; died in Boston January, 1891. He was a State senator at twenty-eight, United States mar- shal at thirty, a major-general during the Civil . War, a justice of the Superior Court, United States attorney-general and justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court at two different periods, an able jurist, and an eloquent and finished orator. His father was a leading citizen of Charlestown, and his mother was a daughter of Col. Arthur Lithgow, of Augusta, Me. His great-grandfather, Richard Devens, was of the "Committee of Safety," and a veteran of the Revolution of considerable local emi- nence. Carefully trained for college, he entered Harvard at the age of fourteen, and was graduated in the class of 1838. Then he pursued his law studies in the law department of the university, and in the Boston office of Hubbard & Watts, and was admitted to practice in 1841. He established himself in Franklin county, first residing in North- field and subsequently in Greenfield, where he remained until 1849; the last two years of his residence in that district representing it in the State senate. At the close of his term he was appointed United States marshal for the district of Massachusetts, which office he held from 1849 to
1853. It was during his service as marshal, in 1851, that the fugitive slave Thomas F. Simms was returned to slavery - a deed which greatly excited many citizens and brought upon him their severest censure. "We do not believe," writes one of his eulogists, "that the United States marshal acted with 'alacrity.' No doubt ' his soul abhorred the deed, and consented not,' even while his official arm performed it." Three or four years after-
CHARLES DEVENS.
wards he strove, through the colored preacher, the Rev. A. I .. Grimes, to obtain freedom for Simms, offering personally to defray the entire expense ; but the effort proved fruitless. And again, when he learned that Lydia Maria Child was endeavoring to raise a fund for the slave's redemption, he made another effort with a similar offer ; but the war came before the negotiations were completed. Subse- quently he aided Simms pecuniarily to establish himself in civil life, and when attorney-general appointed him to a place which he was able to fill in the department of justice. On retiring from the marshalship, Mr. Devens resumed the practice of his profession, making his home in Worcester. When the war broke out he accepted the position of major, commanding an independent battalion of rifles, and remained with it about three months. Then, in July, 1861, he was made colonel of the Fifteenth Regiment, which was recruited in Worces- ter county, and on the 8th of August left with it for
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the seat of war. He served with this command until 1862, and was wounded in the battle of Ball's Bluff. Then he was made a brigadier-general, and commanded a brigade during the Pennsylvania campaign. He was disabled by a wound at Fair Oaks, and participated in the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg. In 1863 he commanded a division in the Eleventh Corps at the battle of Chancellorsville, and was again wounded, this time severely. Recovering, he returned to the field in 1864, was appointed to the command of a division in the eighteenth army corps, and his troops were the first to occupy Richmond upon its fall. For gallantry and good conduct at this capture he was breveted major-general. He remained another year in the service, in command of the district of Charleston, S.C., and in June, 1866, he was mus- tered out of service at his own request. Then he at once resumed the practice of law at Worcester. In April, 1867, he was appointed by Governor Bullock one of the justices of the Superior Court, and in 1873 he was promoted by Governor Wash- burn to the supreme bench. This seat he resigned in 1877 to accept the position of attorney-general of the United States in the cabinet of President Hayes. At the close of his term in 1881 he returned to Massachusetts, and was soon again appointed to the supreme bench, this time by Governor Long, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr. Justice Soule. This position he held at the time of his death. His most notable addresses on public occasions were the oration at the centennial celebration of the battle of Bunker Hill, at the dedication of the soldiers' monuments in Boston and in Worcester, on the deaths of General Meade and General Grant, and at the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Harvard College, on which occasion he presided. General Devens was never married.
DEVINE, WILLIAM HENRY, M.D., son of William Devine, of South Boston, was born there July 22, 1860. He was educated in the public grammar, high, and Latin schools, and graduated from Har- vard M.D. in 1883. He was then house officer at Carney Hospital one year. The same year he was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Ninth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, and the following year was appointed surgeon. He was appointed physician to the Suffolk County House of Correction in 1886. There he served until 1889, when he resigned. Then he became out-patient physician to Carney Hospital, which position he still holds. He is a member of the Massachusetts
Medical Society and the South Boston Medical Club. He has occasionally contributed to the medical journals. Dr. Devine was married June 11, 1889, to Miss Catherine G., daughter of Barry Sullivan, of South Boston.
DEWEY, HENRY SWEETSER, was born in Hanover, N.H., Nov. 9, 1856. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Massachusetts, for he is a direct lineal descendant of Thomas Dewey, from Sandwich, county of Kent, Eng., who settled in Dorchester as early as 1633, and, on the ma- ternal side, of Seth Sweetser, from Tring, Hert- fordshire, Eng., who was a resident of Charles- town in 1637. His father was Maj. Israel Otis Dewey, in early life a merchant in Hanover, where he held many positions of honor, both State and Federal, and afterwards a paymaster in the United States army. His mother was Susan Augusta, daugh- ter of Gen. Henry Sweetser, of Concord, N.H. Mr. Dewey's boyhood and youth were passed prin- cipally in the Southern and Western States, at various places where his father was stationed. He gradu- ated from Dartmouth in 1878, and received the degree of A.M. from the same institution in 1881. In college he was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Society, Soon after his graduation he was appointed paymaster's clerk in the United States army, and while serving in this capacity came to Boston, in August, 1878, where he has since resided. In 1880 he resigned his position as paymaster's clerk, and studied law in the Boston University Law School and in the office of A. A. Ranney. He received the degree of LL.B. from the law school, and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in June, 18St. Since that time he has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession in Boston. He was a member of the First Corps of Cadets from June 1I, 1880, until Feb. 26, 1889, when he was commis- sioned judge-advocate on the staff of the First Brigade Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, with rank of captain, which position he now holds. He has been justice of the peace and notary public since 1882 ; was a member of the Republican ward and city committee of Boston from 1884 to 1888; was a member of the common council of Boston in 1885, 1886, and 1887 ; and was a member of the lower house of the Legislature from the Twenty- first Suffolk District in 1889, 1890, and 1891, serv- ing as chairman of the committee on the judiciary during the last two years. He is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and of the Algonquin, Athletic, Roxbury, and Curtis Clubs of Boston.
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W.EL Dillaway
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DEXTER, WALLACE D., was born in Boston Sept. 15, 1852, and was educated in the public schools of Newton. He was a member of the firm of Dex- ter Bros., dealers in paints, oils, etc., from 1875 to 1889, and owing to the extensive business of the concern he formed a large business acquaintance among the real-estate owners and buyers. In 1890 he withdrew from this connection and entered the real-estate business at No. 14 Kilby street. Resid- ing in Brookline, he has made Brookline property somewhat a specialty, although doing a general busi- ness in other suburbs and in Boston. In a short time he has built up a good clientage and taken a leading position among the real-estate men of the city. He is an active member of the Real Estate Exchange.
DICKINSON, MARQUIS FAYETTE, JR., eldest son of Marquis F. and Hannah (Williams) Dickinson, was born in Amherst, Mass., Jan. 16, 1840. He re-
MARQUIS F. DICKINSON, JR.
Springfield, at the Harvard Law School, 1866-7, and with Hon. George S. Hillard, of Boston. He was assistant United States attorney from 1869 to 1871. He then became a member of the law firm of Hillard, Hyde, & Dickinson, the style subse- quently changing to the well-known firm of Hyde, Dickinson, & Howe. Mr. Dickinson was a member of the Boston common council in 1871 and 1872, holding the office of president of that body during the latter year. He was a trustee of the Boston Public Library in 1871 ; has been a trustee of the Williston Seminary since 1872 ; and one of the over- seers of the charity fund of Amherst College since 1877. He was a lecturer on law as applied to rural affairs in the Massachusetts Agricultural College, 1871-7; author of "Legislation on the Hours of Labor," 1871 ; and of the "Amherst Centennial Address," 1876. Mr. Dickinson is at present (1892) one of the counsel for the West End"Street Railway Company, his especial work being the de- fence of their accident cases in court. Mr. Dickin- son was married at Easthampton Nov. 23, 1864, to Cecilia R., adopted daughter of Samuel and Emily (Graves) Williston. Of his three children only one is living, --- Charles, - Williston and Florence hav- ing deceased. He has an adopted daughter, Jennie Couden Dickinson, daughter of his deceased sister.
DILLAWAY, WILLIAM EDWARD LOVELL, son of Will- iam S. and Ann Maria (Brown) Dillaway, was born in Boston Feb. 17, 1852. He was educated in the Boston grammar schools and the English High School, under Master Thomas Sherwin. He at- tended the Harvard Law School, and took a private course under a tutor at Harvard College. He also studied law with A. A. Ranney and Nathan Morse, and was admitted to the bar on Feb. 17, 1873, his twenty-first birthday. For a few years he was asso- ciated with Messrs. Ranney and Morse, engaging actively in the trial of many large and important causes. Then he formed a copartnership with C. T. Gallagher, under the firm name of Dillaway & Gallagher, which continued until 1877. Since then he has been alone, largely in corporation practice. He is now counsel for several large corporations in Boston and New York, and is a director in many corporations in this State and in the West, where he has large interests. He was the principal coun- sel for the Bay State Gas Company and the West End Street Railway Company in all their legislative matters, and in bringing about the reorganization and consolidation of the various gas-companies and street-railway companies of this city. At pres-
ceived his early education in the common schools of his native town, at Amherst and Monson Acade- mies; and Williston Seminary, Easthampton, from which he graduated in the class of 1858. He entered Amherst College in the same year, graduat- ing therefrom in 1862, having one of the three highest of the commencement appointments. After teaching classics in Williston Seminary for three years, 1862-5, he studied law with Wells & Soule, ent he is withdrawn from general practice, and is
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engaged only in personal and corporation matters. While at the bar his practice was among the largest of the younger men, and was very lucrative. He was selected by Mayor O'Brien to deliver the ora- tion at the celebration of the one hundred and twelfth anniversary of American independence in this city, and his effort on this occasion called forth general commendation. He is an extensive col- lector of books, bronzes, etchings, and prints. Mr. Dillaway was married June 16, 1874, to Miss Ger- trude St. Clair Eaton ; they have no children.
DISBROW, ROBERT, M.D., son of the late Rev. Noah Disbrow, of South Boston, was born in St. John, N.B., Feb. 8, 1842. He was educated in the local schools of the provinces and in the Harvard Medical School, from which he graduated M.D. in 1865. Then he went into the army as acting assistant sur- geon in charge of the One Hundred and Ninth United States colored infantry, where he served seven months. He settled in Boston in November, 1865. He was in that year appointed district physician to the Boston Dispensary, and served four years in the Fort Hill district. Since that time he has been one of the house physicians to the Dispensary. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, a life member of the Scots Charitable Society, and a member of the . British Charitable Society. He is past chief of the order of Scottish Clans. Dr. Disbrow was married in 1884. Two of his brothers also graduated from Harvard M.D .; one is settled in New Brunswick, and the other is now deceased.
DITSON, OLIVER, son of Joseph and Lucy ( Pierce), Ditson, was born in Boston Oct. 20, 1811, nearly opposite the residence of Paul Revere. He died Dec. 21, 1888, in the city of his birth, and was buried from Trinity Church, the Rev. Phillips Brooks officiating. His parents were of Scotch descent, and their ancestors, soon after the landing of the Pilgrims, were driven from Scotland by religious persecution. His father was one of a firm of ship- owners, and the son knew no hardship until its failure. Graduating with a good record from the North End public school, he first found employ- ment in Parker's book and music store. Then he learned the printer's trade, first with Isaac Butts and afterwards with Alfred Mudge. At this time he was the main support of his parents. After a while he returned to Colonel Parker's employ, and later on he took a single counter in the famous " Old Corner Bookstore." Here was formed the firm of Parker & Ditson, when Mr. Ditson was only twenty- one years old. He put his whole force into the
business, and changed it into a music store. In 1840 he purchased Colonel Parker's interest, and under the name of Oliver Ditson, without the aid of capital or influential friends, began his remark- able career as a publisher. In the meantime he had become an organist, a singer, and an accom- plished writer of brilliant notes and letters. In 1840 he was married to Catherine, daughter of Benjamin Delano, a prominent ship-owner. She was a lineal descendant of William Bradford, the second gover- nor of the Plymouth Colony. They had five chil- dren : Mrs. Burr Porter, Charles H., James Edward (deceased), Frank Oliver (deceased), and a daugh- ter who died in infancy. Mr. Ditson's business steadily increased in volume until it reached two million dollars annually. He was a long time the president of the board of music trade, of which he was the founder. He expended large sums in sup- porting such artists as gave promise of special dis- tinction. He was one of those who gave the Peace Jubilee of 1872 support, subscribing twenty-five thousand dollars, and made its success possible. He was a life-long patron of the Handel and Haydn Society, and was never absent from its concerts. He was for twenty-one years president of the Con- tinental National Bank of Boston ; was many years trustee of the Franklin Savings Bank, which he originated and managed; a trustee of the Boston Safe Deposit Company ; one of the founders of the Old Men's Home, Boston; an active supporter of the New England Conservatory of Music ; trustee of the Mechanic Association ; member of the Boston Memorial Association ; and a director of the Bunker Hill Monument Association. In politics he was a Whig, until the formation of the Republican party, after which he acted with that organization. His religious training was with the Baptist denomina- tion, but in later years he allied himself with the Unitarians. In his long career he had established a number of branch houses, and placed many a young man of ability where he could win success. Of the several houses these are notably conspicuous : The Boston branch house of J. C. Haynes & Co .; the Cincinnati house (John Church) ; the New York house (Charles H. Ditson) ; the Philadelphia house (J. E. Ditson) ; and the Chicago house of Lyon & Healy.
DIXON, LEWIS SEAVER, M.D., was born in New York Sept. 26, 1845. He was educated and fitted for college in the Dedham High School, and gradu- ated from Harvard A.B. in 1866, and Harvard A.M. in 1871. After graduation he went to Worcester, where he practised until 1882. Dr. Dixon then
Oliver Dition
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came to Boston, where he has since remained prac- tising his profession. He has been abroad studying in London, Paris, and elsewhere. He was ophthal-' mic surgeon at the Worcester City Hospital and the Washburn Free Dispensary, and is now assistant oph- thalmic surgeon to the Boston City Hospital. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the New England, the American, and the International Ophthalmological Societies. Dr. Dixon was married, May, 1873, to Miss Ellen R., daughter of William Burrage, of Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury district.
DOANE, THOMAS, son of John and Polly (El- dridge) Doane, the former a native of Orleans, Cape Cod, and the latter of Yarmouthport, was born at Orleans, Mass., Sept. 20, 1821. His father was a well-known lawyer, served in the State senate, and filled other public positions. He was the originator of " forest culture " in this country, tak- ing the initiative step by purchasing tracts of land on the cape and planting them in pines. He was also a promoter of the culture of fruit-trees of all kinds on the cape. Thomas Doane, the son, was the eldest of eight children, all of whom lived to adult age ; and four, two sons and two daughters, are still living. His early education was received at an academy established by his father and a few other gentlemen having children to educate. He attended this old school until he was nineteen years of age, and then spent five terms at the English Academy at Andover, Mass. After leaving this school he entered the office of Samuel Fenton, one of the most noted civil engineers of his time in this locality, and a leading citizen of Charles- town. (Mr. Fenton's office was on the same site as that of Mr. Doane's at the present time, in the same room, but in an older building.) After serv- ing a term or apprenticeship of three years here, Mr. Doane became head engineer of a division of the Vermont Central Railroad. That was in 1847. From 1847 until 1849 he was consulting resident en- gineer of the Cheshire Railroad at Walpole, N.H. In December, 1849, he returned to Charlestown and opened an office, where he has since remained, carrying on his profession of civil engineering and surveying. During his residence here Mr. Doane has been connected at one time and another with all the railroads running out of Boston, but particu- larly with the Boston & Maine Railroad. In 1863 he was appointed chief engineer of the Hoosac Tunnel, and located the line of the tunnel, built the dam in the Deerfield River to furnish water-power, and in this work introduced nitro-glycerine and electrical blasting in this country. After having
charge of that work for four years, in 1869 he went to Nebraska, where he built two hundred and forty miles of railroad on the extension of the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy. He was thus em- ployed for four years, having full charge of the con- struction, and even running of trains, until the line was completed. He made the question of grades a special study, and so perfect were those on the ex- tension that one engine on that portion of the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy would haul as many cars to the Missouri River as five engines could haul across Iowa. He also located and named all the towns on the extension. While in Nebraska the question of establishing a college in that State was agitated, and he took an active and leading part in the work of founding the institution. He secured for its site a square mile of ground at Crete, twenty miles west from Lincoln, and as a recogni- tion of his valuable assistance and aid in the work the institution was named Doane College. In 1873 Mr. Doane completed his work in Nebraska and returned to Charlestown, reopening his office. But soon afterwards he was reappointed on the Hoosac Tunnel, and had charge as consulting engineer of the reconstruction of the whole of the Troy & Greenfield Railway and of the tunnel. In 1873, upon the opening of the tunnel, he ran the first locomotive through it. He finished his duties in this direction in 1877, and two years later, 1879, was appointed consulting and acting chief engineer of the Northern Pacific Railroad for one year. During that time he located the Pend d'Oreille Division across the Columbia plains in Washington Territory and parts of the Missouri division in Dakota. Since then he has done a great deal of important work. Mr. Doane is president of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers. He has been a justice of the peace for over thirty years, and for forty years has been a deacon in Winthrop Church. He is a director in the Associate Chari- ties of Boston, and president of the Charlestown branch of the organization; vice-president of the Hunt Asylum for Destitute Children ; is a member of the New England Historic Genealogical So- ciety ; of the Congregational Club ; and of the American College and Educational Society.
DOBSON, JOHN M., supreme president of the Order of ÆEgis, was born in Ipswich, Mass., in 1845. He was fitted with a practical education in the public schools and business colleges, carly engaged in trade, and followed successfully a varied line of business. He moved to Boston in 1863, and thence to Lynn in 1867. President Dobson
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was an early student of the principles of the the Builders' Adjustable Staging Company, the in- fraternal endowment plan, and was one of the vention by which the staging is elevated as the wall originators of the Order of Ægis, the first of . Massachusetts fraternities of this class, and was its first supreme president. As a believer in the principles of fraternity, he is a member of the Odd Fellows, the Order of the World, and several other long-term orders, in addition to that of which he is the head. For several years he has devoted his leisure hours to the gratification of his love for blooded horses. He has been a successful breeder
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JOHN M. DOBSON.
in a moderate way, and he possesses several fine specimens of his own raising. He keeps about him horses of good pedigree.
CHARLES A. DODGE.
is built, men and material being raised without quitting work, and their work being done without stooping. Mr. Dodge has made a specialty of fine dwellings, and over two hundred of the houses on Commonwealth avenue and Newbury street have been built by him. He has also built many of the heavy storage-houses, such as the Williams Building and Atlas stores. The fine club-house of the Pos- tillion Club in Cambridge was built by him.
DODGE, CHARLES H., was born in West Groton, Mass., in 1846. He attended school there until he was eighteen years old, when he was engaged with Standish & Woodbury, masons and builders. Sub- sequently he formed a partnership with J. P. Lover- ing. This firm existed for ten years, and after its dissolution Mr. Dodge continued in business for himself. He has built several large buildings in Boston, among them the Continental Bank Build- ing, the Foster's wharf stores, and the remodelled John Hancock Building. He also built the Water- town Public Library and the Art Museum of Wellesley College. He is a member of the Master Builders' Exchange.
DODGE, CHARLES A., was born in Lowell Nov. 6, 1848, but has been a citizen of Boston for the past twenty-five years. In 1875 he engaged in business as a mason and builder with W. D. Vinal, under the firm name of Vinal & Dodge. In 1884 Mr. Vinal withdrew, and Mr. Dodge succeeded to the busi- ness and has since conducted it alone. He was one of the original incorporators of the Master Builders' Association, and is a member of the National Asso- ciation, also of the Charitable Mechanic Association. He is a director of the Allston Cooperative Bank at Allston, his place of residence, a dealer in masons' materials, one of the leading master-builders and DODGE, J. H., city auditor, was born in South contractors of Boston, and treasurer and director of Boston Sept. 22, 1845. He graduated from the
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