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 33
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in the insurance business, giving his chief attention to fire insurance. Among other companies which he at that time represented was the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. With this com- pany, in the course of a few years, he became in- timately associated. In 1868 he was made general superintendent of its agencies; in 1882 he was
MARTIN V. B. EDGERLY.
chosen a director in the company ; in 1884, second vice-president ; in 1885, vice-president ; and in 1886, president, which position he at present holds. He remained in Pittsfield-until 1863, when he re- turned to Manchester for a wider field. There he made his headquarters until 1883. In that year he moved to Massachusetts ; and since his election to the presidency of the Massachusetts Mutual Life he has resided in Springfield. While a resident of New Hampshire he served in Manchester as direc- tor of the City National Bank, the New Hampshire Fire Insurance Company, the Suncook Valley and the Worcester & Nashua Railroad Companies, and as trustee of the Merrimac River Savings Bank. He has also served as delegate from that State to national Democratic conventions (of 1872, 1876, and 1880) ; as a member of the national Democratic committee ; as centennial commissioner ; and as chief of staff to Governor Weston. In 1882 he was the candidate of his party for governor of New Hampshire, and was defeated by a very small majority.
ELDER, CHARLES R., son of Charles Leonard and Roxana (Cummings) Elder, was born in Sabattus, Me., Oct. 21, 1850. He was educated in Hebron Academy, Hebron, Me., and studied law with the Hon. Alvah Black, of Paris, Me., afterwards enter- ing the Boston University Law School, from which he graduated in 1876. While studying law he taught school in Maine for five years, part of the time as principal of the Paris Hill Academy, at Paris. He was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Boston in 1876. He is a member of the Kenwood Club of Malden. His first wife was Mary G. Flint, to whom he was married June 15, 1881, and his second, Maria F. Wood, married Feb. 28, 1888. His children are Flint C. and Gordon W .; and Mildred T. and Margarith E. Elder.
ELDER, SAMUEL J., son of James and Deborah Dunbar (Keen) Elder, was born in Hope, R.I., Jan. 4, 1850. He was educated in the Lawrence,
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SAMUEL J. ELDER.
Mass., public chools and at Yale College. He studied law with George W. Morse and John H. Hardy, and after his admittance to the bar he began practice in Boston. He is now associated with William C. Wait, under the firm name of Elder & Wait. He is counsel for the International Copy- right League, and treasurer of the Shipman Engine Company. Mr. Elder belongs to a number of clubs ;
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is secretary of the Curtis Club, and a member of of the Dedham Institution for Savings, a director the elections committee of the new University Club; in the Dedham Fire Insurance Company, and in and is president of the Yale Alumni Association. the Dedham Electric Light Company ; a member He is a State commissioner on portraits of gov- ernors. He was married May 10, 1876, to Miss Lilla Thomas; they have two children : Margaret Munroe and Fanny Adele Elder.
ELLIOT, GEORGE B., was born in Keene, N.H., Feb. 15, 1855, of a family of six children. After attending the public schools there he was under discipline as cadet in Eagleswood Military Academy, New Jersey. Thence he was sent to Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass., to prepare for Har- vard College, but was diverted from that end, and passed the last three years of his student life in the Institute of Technology of the class of 1874, taking also at that time a year's course in the Massachu- setts Normal Art School. Then until 1879, except- ing a trip to the Azores, he passed most of the time at his home in Keene. In the latter year he en- tered the real-estate business in Boston, in the office of Alexander S. Porter. After about three years' clerkship he opened an office for himself in the Rogers Building, Washington street. His specialty is brokerage in real estate and mortgages in Boston and vicinity, and he has charge of some trusts and seashore property. Mr. Elliot is a member of the Real Estate Exchange and of the Boston Athletic Association. He is married, and resides on Pond street, Jamaica Plain, West Rox- bury district.
ELY, FREDERICK DAVID, was born in Wrentham, Mass., Sept. 24, 1838. He prepared for college in Day's Academy, that town, and entered Brown University, graduating in the class of 1859. He afterwards read law in the office of the Hon. Waklo Colburn, of Dedham. He was admitted to the bar in 1862, opening an office in Dedham, and later in Boston, where he practised up to 1888, when he was appointed associate justice of the municipal court of this city. Judge Ely has been prominent in politics, and has taken an active place in the affairs of the Republican party. He was elected to the lower house of the Legislature in 1873, and to the Senate in 1878 and 1879, serving on important committees. In 1884 he was elected to Congress, in which he served as a member of the committees on elections and on private land claims. He is a prominent Mason, has been master of the Constellation Lodge of Dedham, and grand marshal and deputy grand master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts. He is a trustee
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FREDERICK D. ELY.
of the vestry of the St. Paul Episcopal Church, Dedham, and a member of the Dedham school board. For seventeen years he was a trial justice.
EMERSON, WILLIAM RALPH, architect, was born in Alton, Ill., in 1833, but came to Boston at an early age to reside with his uncle, George B. Emerson. He was educated in the Boston public schools, and studied architecture under Jonathan Preston, the designer of the Boston Theatre, and at one time a candidate for the mayoralty in this city. He began practice in 1855, entering into partnership with Mr. Preston. His work has comprised many school- houses, theatres, and club-buildings in different sec- tions of the country, numbers of country houses, and several elegant private dwellings on Common- wealth avenue and other fashionable streets of Bos- ton. He was one of the promoters and incorpora- tors of the Boston Architectural Club, and has long been closely identified with art matters. When he began his career, architecture was not looked upon as a distinct profession. It was his idea to arrange shingles on roofs and sides of country houses in fanciful designs, producing unique exterior effects ; and the introduction of stained glass in pri- vate houses was also an original suggestion of his.
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One of the best comments on his ability was an article recently published in "Scribner's Magazine," in which he is credited with having advanced the cause of beautiful architecture more than any other American architect.
EMERY, WILLIAM HENRY, son of Isaac and Faith Savage (Bigelow) Emery, was born in Biddeford, Me., March 22, 1822. On his father's side he is descended from Anthony Emery, who came to the country in 1635 in the bark " James," of London, and on his mother's side from Ann Hutchinson. He attended Thornton Academy, Saco, Me., and at eighteen years of age engaged with his father in the coal business at the foot of Poplar street, Boston. He remained here about five years, when he was appointed foreign entry clerk in the United States custom house, under Marcus Morton, collector of the port. Sixteen years were spent in the custom house. Eight years of this time he was also interested with his father in the coal business, then at the corner of Fed- eral street and Mt. Washington avenue, from which they removed in 1860 to No. 288 Federal street. In 1857 the firm name became W. H. & S. L. Emery, and has so continued since. The senior Emery was aid to Governor Paris, of Maine, and member of the committee to receive General La- fayette in 1824, upon the latter's memorable visit to America. He was Democratic in politics, and a member of Governor Boutwell's council. He was one of the founders of the Boylston Bank, director in John Hancock Life Insurance Company, and di- rector of the Boston & Worcester Railroad for twenty years. W. H. Emery is trustee of the Franklin Savings Bank, and holds other positions of trust. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity. He was first married to Miss Sarah, daughter of Thomas Haviland. She died in 1855. There were two children by this marriage : Helen Bigelow and Mary Haviland. In 1856 he married Miss Eliza, daughter of Nathaniel Holmes Bishop, of Medford, a de- scendant of Dr. John Bishop of that town, an emi- nent physician of his day. Of this second marriage there are a daughter, Eliza Kate, and two sons, W. Bishop and Heber Bishop Emery. Mr. Emery now resides in Newton, upon property once owned by Francis Skinner on Waverly avenue.
EMMONS, FREEMAN, son of Dimon and Mary Ann (Currier) Emmons, was born in Lyman, Me., March 1, 1848. He was educated in the public schools of his native town and in the high school of Alfred, Me. He taught school for a couple of years in Lyman (1864 and 1865), worked as clerk in
mercantile concerns in Danvers, Salem, and Wake- field, Mass., and then studied law with the Hon. D. W. Gouch in the latter's Boston office. Admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1880, he at once began the practice of his profession in this city. He is now proprietor and manager of the largest government claim agency in New England, at No. 4 State street, and is also associated with William B. Orcutt in gen- eral law practice at No. 53 State street. Since his admission to the bar he has transacted business for nearly ten thousand different people. In 1882 and 1883 Mr. Emmons was clerk and treasurer of the Troy and Greenfield Railroad Company. He is a director of the Colchis Mining Company, owning mining and reduction works in New Mexico. He has been connected with and held office in the order of Good Templars, Knights of Honor, and New England Order of Protection. Mr. Emmons
FREEMAN EMMONS.
was married on Sept. 6, 1870, to Miss Maria Richardson : they have no children.
ENDICOTT, WILLIAM CROWNINSHIELD, son of Wil- liam Putnam and Mary (Crowninshield ) Endicott, of Salem, Mass., was born in that city Nov. 19, 1826. His father was a graduate of Harvard. class of 1822, and a descendant from John Endicott, the first governor of Massachusetts. His maternal grandfather, Jacob Crowninshield, was a merchant of Salem, and a member of Congress from 1802 to
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1809. He was appointed and confirmed secretary of the navy in Jefferson's cabinet in 1806, but de- clined, preferring to remain in Congress. He died suddenly in Washington in 1808. William C. Endi- cott received his early education in the Latin School in Salem. He entered Harvard University in 1843, and was graduated with the class of 1847. Soon after graduating, he studied law in the office of Nathaniel J. Lord, then the leading member of the Essex bar, and in the Harvard Law School. He was called to the bar in 1850, and began practice in Salem in 1851. He was elected a member of the Salem common council in 1852 and afterwards its president. In 1853 he entered into copartnership with J. W. Perry, under the firm name of Perry & Endicott. In 1857 he became city solicitor, which office he held until 1864. In the State elections of 1871, 2, and 3 he was candidate for attorney-general and in 1870 for Congress, on the Democratic ticket. In 1873 he was appointed, by Governor William B. Washburn, to the bench of the supreme court of Massachusetts. He remained on the bench for ten years, when he resigned. He was president of the Essex bar from 1878 to 1883, and of the Salem Bank from 1857 to 1873. In 1863 he was elected president of the Peabody Academy of Science in Salem, and still holds that office. In 1884 he was Democratic candidate for governor of the State. In 1885 he became secretary of war in the cabinet of President Cleveland. He was married Decem- ber 13, 1859, to Ellen, daughter of George l'ea- body, of Salem. His family consists of two children : William C., jr., and Mary C. Endicott, who was married on the 15th of November, 1888, to Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, of Birmingham, Eng.
ENGLISH, JAMES S., son of James L. and Mary Elizabeth (Steele) English, the former a native of Boston, and the latter of Goffstown, N.H., was born in Boston March 6, 1844. His father was a Har- vard graduate, and a well-known Boston lawyer in his day. James S. was also educated at Harvard, graduating in 1867. He studied law with his father and was admitted to the bar in September, 1870. Father and son practised in partnership until the death of the former in 1883. Since that time Mr. English has been alone at No. 68 Cornhill, where his father began in 1859. His practice is confined to trusts and probate business. He is a Democrat in politics, as was his father.
ERNST, GEORGE A. O., son of Andrew H. and Sarah (Otis) Ernst, was born in Cincinnati, (., Nov. 8, 1850. His father was born in Germany,
and his mother was a native of Boston, daughter of George Alexander Otis. He was educated in Cin- cinnati public schools, the Mount Pleasant Mili- tary Academy, Sing Sing, N.Y., the Eliot High School in Jamaica Plain, Boston private schools, and Harvard College, graduating from the latter in the
GEORGE A. O. ERNST.
class of 1871. He studied law in the office of Ropes & Gray for two years, then in the Harvard Law School, and later in the office of J. B. Rich- ardson. He was admitted to the bar in February, 1875, and has since practised in Boston. In June, 18So, he was sent to the Republican National Con- vention at Chicago as one of a committee repre- senting the Massachusetts Young Republicans, to secure a civil-service reform plank in the party platform. In iSS3 and 1884 he was a member of the lower house of the State Legislature, serving on important committees, and taking an influential part in legislation. Mr. Ernst has also devoted some time to literature. He has translated two novels, "The Widow Lerouge " (published by James R. Osgood & Co.) and "The Clique of Gold:" and has adapted three plays from the French, - " A Christ- mas Supper," " The Double Wedding," and " Our Friends," -all produced at the Boston Museum. On Dec. 11, 1879, he was married in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Miss Jeanie C. Bynner, of Brooklyn ; they have two children : Roger and Sarah Otis Ernst.
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Krmy V6. Sayar.
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EVANS, ALONZO H., was born in Allenstown, N.H., farmer, and he owned and managed, for many years in February, 1820. He attended the public schools, and worked on the farm until he was fifteen years old, when he went to Lowell, and there was em- ployed for a year and a half as a bobbin-boy in one of the factories. Then he came to. Boston, and obtained a place in a grocery and provision store. After continuing at this work about five years, at- tending a private school during his leisure hours, he began business for himself. In 1854 he, with others, started the movement for the establishment of the Five Cents Savings Bank, to encourage in children and others thrift and economy, and from the Legislature a charter was early obtained. The bank was organized in April that year, with Paul Adams as president, Mr. Evans as treasurer, and Curtis C. Nichols as secretary of the corporation. In 1874, upon the retirement of Mr. Adams, Mr. Evans was elected president, which position he has held ever since. Mr. Evans was a moving spirit in the incorporation of Everett as a town, and twice represented it in the lower house of the Legislature.
in connection with his farm, a stall in the Quincy Market in Boston. Henry H. passed his youth on the farm and in the common schools of the village. When about sixteen years old he was apprenticed to learn the shoemaker's trade, and five years after began, in company with his brother John, the manu- facture of boots and shoes. About the year 1846 he opened a retail grocery and provision store in Quincy, which he conducted for seven years, dur- ing the last three years of that time carrying on also a bakery and the business of a real-estate and mer- chandise auctioneer. Next he became a retail grocer in Boston, at the corner of South and Beach streets, under the firm name of Faxon, Wood, & Co. Two years later, with his brothers, he moved into Commercial street, changing the firm name to Faxon Bros. & Co., and the business from retail to wholesale. Retiring from the partnership in 1861 he went to New Orleans, where he made large pur- chases of molasses, shipping the stuff to his former partners in Boston. Returning the following year He was also a member of the Senate of 1890, serv- . he engaged in speculating in merchandise, estab- ing on the committees on banking (chairman) and on taxation. Early in 1892 he was elected by the Legislature to the executive council, to fill a va- cancy caused by the death of Councilman Loring. He was for seventeen years a member of the Re- publican town committee of Everett, and has served on the Republican State committee. lishing himself first in Chatham street and then on India wharf. Here he operated largely in chiccory, kerosene oil, raisins, spices, and other staples. At one time anticipating the rise in the price of liquors, on account of the laying of a government tax, he purchased several hundred barrels of whiskey and rum, and held them for the expected advance. The result proved the accuracy of his judgment. . Subse- quently he dealt in real estate on a large scale, and P ALL, CHARLES G., was born in Malden, June 22, 1845. He fitted for college at Phillips ( Exeter) Academy, and graduated from Harvard in the class of 1868. Then, taking a course in the Harvard Law School, he graduated therefrom in 1871. In 1869 he was admitted to the bar, and has been in active practice since 1871, with offices now at No. 209 Washington street. In politics he is a. Republican. He has written several poetical works of note, and is also the author of a legal work entitled " Em- ployer's Liability for Personal Injuries." He is the father of the board of arbitration and also of the Employers' Liability Bill. He is a member of the Algonquin and the Athletic clubs. it was in these operations that he made the bulk of his fortune. He has become the largest real-estate owner in Quincy, where he has over one hundred tenants. In Boston and Chelsea also he has nearly the same number. In 1864, and again in 1871, Mr. Faxon represented Quincy in the Legislature ; and in 1884 he ran for lieutenant-governor on the Pro- hibitory State ticket. For many years he had devoted himself to the temperance cause, and used his wealth in its aid. He has taken a leading hand in politics, seeking the advancement of temperance issues. He was a police officer in Quincy from 1881 to 1886 inclusive, and was again appointed in 1889, for the purpose of enabling him the more suc- cessfully to check the liquor traffic. Faxon Hall, a permanent memorial to his name, was erected in 1876 for the Reform Club of Quincy, and of its cost, eleven thousand dollars, he paid more than four-fifths. Mr. Faxon was married Nov. 18, 1852, to Mary B., daughter of Israel W. and Priscilla L. (Burbank) Munroe ; she died Sept. 6, 1885, leaving one son, Henry Munroe Faxon, born May 22, 1864.
FAXON, HENRY H., son of Job and Judith B. (Hardwick) Faxon, was born in Quincy, Mass., Sept. 28, 1823. He is a descendant in the eight generation of Thomas Faxon, who came to America from England with his wife, daughter, and two sons previous to 1647, and settled in that part of Brain- tree now Quincy. Job Faxon was an extensive
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FEE, THOMAS, deputy sheriff of Suffolk county, made the tour of foreign insane hospitals, spending son of Thomas and Mary (Baxter) Fee, was born in Hingham, Mass., Aug. 13, 1850. His father was a mason and contractor, and lived in Hingham for forty years- from 1848 until his death in ISSS. The son was educated in the Hingham public schools, and came to Boston in 1866, where he learned the machinist's trade. He followed this trade a few years, and then, in 1875, entered the sheriff's office as clerk. Two years later he was appointed a constable by Mayor Prince, and served in this capacity until he was commissioned deputy sheriff in January, 1884. In politics he is a Demo- crat, and has been a member of the Democratic ward and city committees for ten years, serving on the finance committee, and as secretary for two years. In religion he is Roman Catholic, and he is a member of the Young Men's Catholic Associa- tion of Boston. He now resides in Ward 21. Mr. Fee was married to Elizabeth N. Harris, of Boston ; they have one daughter living : Alice B. Fee.
FENDERSON, LORY BACON, was born in Biddeford, Me., March 31, 1855, but early came to this city, which has since been his home. He graduated from the English High School, and began the study of dentistry, in 1872, under Dr. Isaac J. Wetherbee. He then entered the Boston Dental College, from which institution he received his degree in 1876. He immediately began practice and has had a most successful career. He was a demonstrator at the Dental College for a term of three years. He is a member of the Massachusetts Dental Society, and of the Boston Dental Alumni Association. During his college life he made a special study of elocu- tion, displaying marked ability in this department, and is now frequently engaged to deliver public recitations.
FISHER, THEODORE WILLIS, M.D., was born in Westborough, Mass., May 29, 1837. His ancestors on both sides were of English origin, and came to New England soon after its settlement. His father was Hon. M. M. Fisher, of Medway, Mass. His mother, Eleanor Metcalf, was the daughter of Hon. Luther Metcalf. His early years were spent in Med- way, and he fitted for college at Williston Seminary, and Phillips (Andover) Academy. He graduated in medicine at Harvard in 1861; served as resident physician at Deer Island a year, and then was com- missioned surgeon of the Forty-fourth regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. In 1863 he was appointed assistant physician to the Boston Luna- tic Hospital, resigning in 1869. In 1867 he
five months abroad. For ten years he was exam- ining physician to the board of directors for public institutions. In practice he made a specialty of insanity, writing much on the subject. He was for several years on the staff of the " Boston Medi- cal and Surgical Journal." He often appeared in court as an expert, and was called to Washington in the Guiteau case. In 1881 he was appointed superintendent of the Boston Lunatic Hospital, a position he now holds. He has been a persistent advocate of the plan of having the city care for all her insane in hospitals near home, and has lived to see the policy of the city reversed in this matter. He has long given clinical instruction in mental dis- eases to Harvard students, and is at present lecturer on mental diseases in the Medical School. In 1890 he attended the International Medical Con- gress at Berlin, and visited many of the newer in- sane hospitals in England and Germany. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Association of American Superintendents, the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Harvard Medi cal School Association, the New England Psychical Society, and the Boston Medical Psychical Society. His first wife was Maria C., daughter of Dr. Artemas Brown, of Medway, to whom he was married in 1858. In 1873 he was married to Ella G., daugh- ter of J. W. Richardson, of Boston, and has five children : Willis R., Edward M., Gertrude, Florence," and Margery Fisher.
FISKE, GEORGE M., was born in Medfield, Mass., in 1842. He received his education in the public schools of that town. He served in the Forty-second Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, during the Civil War, and for several years after was engaged in farm- ing in Medfield. In 1871 he entered the employ of James Edmond & Co., manufacturers and im- porters of fire-brick, sewer-pipes, etc., whose fac- tory and wharf, leased from the Boston Fire Brick Company, was at No. 3944 Federal street. He re- mained with Edmond & Co. until 1877, when he formed a copartnership with E. B. Coleman, under the firm name of Fiske & Coleman, and opened an office at No. 72 Water street, for the sale of fire- brick, sewer pipe, etc. The firm were the first to introduce into New England, on a large scale, the Akron salt glazed sewer-pipe, manufactured at Akron, Ohio. They also imported largely fire-brick and sewer-pipe. In 1880 James Edmond, the sole sur- viving member of James Edmond & Co., concluded to discontinue business, and a proposition was made by the Boston Fire Brick Company to Fiske & Cole-
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man that they merge their business under a corpo- ration, Fiske & Coleman to have the management. This was done, under the title of the Boston Fire Brick Works, Fiske & Coleman, managers. The business was thus continued until 1885, when Wil- liam Homes was admitted to partnership, and the firm became Fiske, Coleman, & Co. In 1881 the Boston Terra Cotta Company was formed for the manufacture of architectural terra-cotta, and while a separate corporation, it was placed under the management of Fiske, Coleman, & Co., the manu- facture being carried on at their Federal-street works. This business soon outgrew its quarters, and in 1886 the fire-brick plant of Newton, Morton, & Co., on K street, South Boston, was purchased, and the manufacture of fire-brick and gas-retorts was moved there, the Federal-street works being reserved solely for the manufacture of terra-cotta. Among the many prominent buildings furnished with bricks and terra-cotta from these works are the Youth's Companion building, the Shoe and Leather Exchange, the Columbia Theatre, the Exeter Cham- bers, in this city ; the Brockton Court House ; the
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