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 56
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PROCTOR, THOMAS WILLIAM, son of Thomas and Susan R. (Pool) Proctor, was born in Hollis, N.H., Nov. 20, 1858. He was educated in the common schools of his native town, the Lawrence Academy of Groton, Mass., from which he graduated in the class of 1875, and Dartmouth College, graduating in the class of 1879. Then he came to Boston and attended the Boston University Law School for a year - 1882-3. Admitted to the Suffolk bar in October, 1883, he was law clerk to the district at- torney for Suffolk from July until October, 1884, when he became a member of the law-firm of Hardy, Elder, & Proctor. This was soon after changed to Elder & Proctor, and so continued until December, 1886, when Mr. Proctor was ap- pointed second assistant district attorney for the Suffolk District. In December of the follow- ing year he was appointed first assistant district attorney for the same district, and this position . he held until May, 1891, when he was made as- sistant city solicitor of Boston, the place he now holds.
PURMAN, WILLIAM J., son of Rev. John K. and Sarah ( Harter) Purman, was born in Centre county, Pa., April 11, 1840. He received his early educa- tion in the public schools, and finished his scholastic course at the Aaronsburg Academy, being obliged to abandon his ambition for a collegiate course on
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War. He at once entered the United States army, and served with high commendation under Generals Meigs, Crane, Meade, and Sprague, receiving from the latter when in Florida the compliment of brevet major. He was a member of the constitu- tional convention of Florida, and was a prominent leader during the reconstruction period in that State. He was thrice elected to the State senate, and served as chairman of the committees on judiciary and privileges and elections. While a member of this body he was nominated by the governor and confirmed by the senate as sec- retary of State, was appointed and confirmed chairman of a commission to negotiate with Ala- bama for the sale of West Florida, and was the guest of the State of Alabama for several months. He was judge of the Court of Jackson County, brigadier-general of the State militia, chairman of the Republican State committee, president of a West Florida railroad corporation, and was largely interested in a number of extensive enterprises. He was appointed by President Grant, and con- firmed by the Senate, as assessor of the United States internal revenue for the District of Florida,
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WILLIAM J. PURMAN.
and was elected to the Forty-third, Forty-fourth, and Forty-fifth Congresses. On the same day of his re- Engineers.
account of a lack in the family exchequer. He election to Congress he was also, on the same taught school in his early teens, read law, and was ticket, elected to a seat in the lower house of the admitted to the bar at the breaking out of the Civil' State Legislature. There is probably no parallel case to this in all the history of the States. He was one of the unfortunate victims of the Grant & Ward failure in New York city, in 1884. That year he removed with his family to Boston, " that his chil- dren," as he expressed it,'" might enjoy the extraor- dinary educational advantages of Boston, and grow up into manhood and womanhood amid the grand and sturdy influences of New England." He has for years been an active member of many frater- nities, Masonic, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Knights of Honor, the order of American Work- men, and numerous others. Since his residence in Boston he has made fraternal cooperative insur- ance a subject of study and investigation. On Oct. 19, 1871, Mr. Purman was married to Miss Leadora Finlayson, of Marianna, Fla .; they have six chil- dren : Lola, Fay, Carroll, Stanley, Helen, and " Cootie " Purman.
PUTNAM, J. PICKERING, architect, son of John Pickering and Harriet (Upham) Putnam, was born in Boston April 3, 1847. He was educated in private schools, the Boston Latin, and Harvard College, graduating from the latter in 1868. He finished his studies abroad at L'École des Beaux Arts and the Royal Academy of Architecture in Berlin. He began the practice of his profes- sion in Boston about the year 1871. He is a member of the Boston Society of Architects. In 1885 Mr. Putnam was married to Miss Grace E. Stevens; they have one child, Grace E. Putnam.
QUIMBY, RALPH A., was born in Boston in June, 1855. He was educated in the public schools and the English High School. Upon leaving school he entered the surveyor's depart- ment of the city. After serving here for eight years he was appointed assistant engineer in the sewer department, and in 1889 was promoted to the position of chief engineer of that department. At the beginning of Mayor Hart's term he was appointed superintendent temporarily to fill a vacancy. In May, 1891, under Mayor Matthews, he was appointed executive engineer of the board of survey, which position he now holds. He is connected with the Masons, past master of Mount Tabor Lodge, and with the Royal Arcanum. He is a member of the Boston Society of Civil
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RAND, ARNOLD A., son of Edward Sprague and and Francis (Dutton) Rand, was born in Coventry, Elizabeth (Arnold) Rand, of the eighth genera- , Vt., May 24, 1833. His early education was ob- tion in descent in Massachusetts from Robert and tained in schools in Brownington and St. Johnsbury, Alice Rand who settled in Charlestown in 1635, Vt. He began work on a newspaper in St. Johns- was born in Boston March 25, 1837. He was educated in public and private schools in Boston and Dedham, and by a course of study abroad. He was fitted for college and intended to enter
Harvard in the class of 1858, but he entered the business field instead. His training began in the counting-room of William B. Reynolds & Co., commission merchants, where he passed the successive grades to assistant book-keeper. Then he went abroad and spent two years in study. Upon his return to Boston he went into the bank- ing-house of Blake, Howe, & Co., and remained with them and their successors, Blake Brothers & Co., as cashier, until the outbreak of the Civil War. He was at that time a member of the Fourth Battalion, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. He was commissioned, Oct. 30, 1861, as second lieutenant First Massachusetts Cavalry, was soon promoted to a captaincy, and in the following year was made assistant adjutant-general with the rank of captain, and ordered to duty in the Department of the South. In the fall of 1863 he was recalled by Governor Andrew, assigned as superintendent of recruiting for Suffolk county, and directed to form the Fourth Regiment Massachusetts Cavalry, of which he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. Early in 1864 he was promoted to the colonelcy, and took the regiment to the Army of the James. Thereafter he was in active service until his resigna- tion in 1865. Returning to Boston after the close of the war, he began the study of law in his father's office, and in 1874 was admitted to the Suffolk bar. For several years he devoted himself to real-estate and probate practice. Then in 1885, in connection with the late N. J. Bradlee, he formed the Massa- chusetts Title Insurance Company, becoming its vice-president and office manager, in which posi- tions he has continued to the present time ( 1892). Colonel Rand is an active member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, serving since 1881 as recorder of the Commandery of Massachusetts, and of the Grand Army Post 144, serving for some time on the department staff. In 1884 he was nominated by Mayor Martin as a police commis- sioner, but, owing to a deadlock between the com- mon council and the mayor, was not confirmed. He was married in 1877 to Miss Annie Eliza Brownell, of New Bedford. He resides in Boston.
RAND, GEORGE D., architect, son of Philander
bury, and subsequently was editor of the " Caledo- nian." Meanwhile he studied architecture, and in 1861 began the practice of his profession in Hart- ford, Conn. Then, in 1869, he came to Boston and has since remained here. In 1881 he entered into partnership with Bertrand E. Taylor, under the firm name of Rand & Taylor. On Oct. 14, 1857, he married Miss Martha J. Crossman.
RANNEY, AMBROSE A., son of Waitstill R. and Phoebe (Atwood) Ranney, was born in Townshend, Vt., April 16, 1821 ; his father was the leading physician of the town, and for two years lieutenant-governor of the State. He was fitted for college in the Townshend Academy, and entering Dartmouth was graduated in the class of 1844. Then he studied law with Hon. Andrew Tracy, in Woodstock, Vt., and in December, 1847, was admitted to the Ver- mont bar. Removing immediately to Boston, he was admitted to the Suffolk bar in June, 1848, and has practised here ever since, early occupying a leading position in his profession. In 1855 and 1856 he was city solicitor. He has been a Repub- lican since the organization of that party. He has served in the lower house of the Legislature three terms (1857, 1863, and 1864) and in Congress three terms (the Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth, and Forty-ninth Congresses), taking a promi- nent part in the work of both bodies. During his first two terms at Washington he was a member of the committee on elections; and his third, of the committees on the judiciary and to investigate the Pan Electric scheme. Mr. Ranney was married in Cavendish, Vt., Dec. 4, 1850, to Miss Maria D. Fletcher ; they have one son and three daughters : Fletcher (now a partner in the law firm), Maria F., Helen M., and Alice Ranney (now Mrs. Thomas Allen).
RAWSON, WARREN W., son of Warren Rawson, was born in West Cambridge (now Arlington) Jan. 23, 1847. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, also at the Cotting Academy, and at a commercial college in Boston. At the age of seventeen he began work with his father, who was a leading market-gardener. He studied the science of the business, nature and plants, soil best adapted to them, etc., and was successful in his_undertakings. When twenty-one years old he purchased half of his father's farm, and three years later the remainder.
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He also owns a place on the corner of Medford and Warren streets, Arlington, purchased about ten years ago of W. H. Whittemore. His residence and hot- houses are here established. He has advanced rapidly in the business. He was the first to build hot-houses to any extent in his town, and the first to put in an irrigating plant for outside purposes. He was also the first to use steam in heating green- houses, and the first to use electric light in bringing forward plants. He found that this light hastened the growth of plants about fifteen per cent., partic- ularly in the winter season. His place embraces one hundred acres. He employs sixty-five men and twenty-five horses, uses three thousand cords of manure each year, besides fertilizers, and is the most extensive market-gardener in this part of the country, and is the leading producer of celery. He also has a large seed-store at No. 34 South Market street, Boston. He grows large quantities of seeds to supply the market-gardeners, and has been instru- mental in introducing many new kinds of vege- tables. An energetic, public-spirited man, he occupies many prominent positions. He is presi- dent of the Middlesex Agricultural Society of Concord ; president of the Market Gardeners' Asso- ciation of Boston ; member of the State Board of Agriculture, and one of the executive committee of that board ; member of the board of control of the Massachusetts Experiment Station at Amherst ; president of the Brackett Club, which was instru- mental in electing J. Q. A. Brackett governor in 1889 ; chairman of the Republican town committee ; and a member of the school committee, now serv- ing his third term of three years each. He often officiates as moderator of the town meetings. He is a well-known lecturer on agriculture, is the author of a work entitled " Success in Market Gardening," and also of a work on celery culture. In the spring of 1890 he was appointed by the governor chairman of the Gypsy Moth Commission. On Feb. 20, 1868, Mr. Rawson was married to Helen M. Mair ; their family consisted of two children, only one of whom ( Mabel) survives. His wife died May 4, 1872. He married his present wife, Sarah E. Mair, Sept. 21, 1874; they have had three children, two of whom (Alice and Herbert Rawson) are living.
READE, JOHN, son of Patrick and Mary (O'Neil) Reade, was born in Kilkenny, Ire., Dec. 1, 1825, and came to this country when a lad. He was edu- cated in the public schools and began work as a spinner in a Waterford, Conn., woollen mill. This was in 1846; two years later he went to Milford
and took charge of one of the departments of the woollen mill there; and in that town he re- mained nearly twenty years, engaged part of the time in the boot and shoe business and later in the real-estate, accumulating considerable wealth. In 1868 he removed to Charlestown, where he still resides, engaged principally in the real- estate business. In 1861 he organized at his own expense a company of the Forty-eighth Regi- ment Massachusetts Volunteers, and went with
JOHN READE.
them to the front. He also raised a company for the Fifty-seventh Veterans later during the war. When attached to the Twenty-seventh Regi- ment, July 30, 1864, he was taken prisoner at Petersburg. He was the only commissioned officer left when captured at the mine, all the rest being killed, wounded, or sick. For over seven months he was confined in the rebel prison. At the close of the war he was commissioned captain for bravery and meritorious services. Captain Reade has been a member of the Democratic ward and city committee for several years, president of the local lodge of the Land League, treasurer of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a member of the Charitable Irish So- ciety, of the Montgomery Light Guards, of the G.A.R., and colonel of the Thomas Francis Meagher Post 3, Veteran Union. He was a member of the lower house of the Legislature of 1880, 1881, and 1882.
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REED, JAMES RUSSELL, son of James and Mary J. (Magee) Reed, was born in Boston Jan. 4, 1851. The family of Reeds belong in Burlington, Mass., and his father was formerly a Boston merchant. He was fitted for college in the grammar and Latin schools of Boston, and entered Harvard, from which he graduated in 1871. For three years he taught school, being principal of the Bristol Academy, Taunton, and then entered the Harvard Law School. He read law also in the office of Thomas Livermore one year. He was admitted to the bar in 1876, and has been engaged in general mercan- tile practice ever since at No. 68 Devonshire street. In 1886 and 1887 he was assistant United States attorney under George M. Stearns. Mr. Reed is a Democrat in politics. He has twice been candidate for the State senate, but the district in which he re- sides (Burlington) is largely Republican. He has been counsel for many years of the leading fish and game associations, and is considered an authority on game and fish laws second to none in New Eng- land. He has been chairman of the executive committee of the Young Men's Democratic Club of Massachusetts, and is now a vice-president of the organization. He is a member of the Union Club.
RHODES, STEPHEN HOLBROOK, son of Stephen
public schools and the Bristol Academy at Taunton. He began business life in manufacturing and mer- cantile lines, and subsequently engaged in life insurance. Prior to 1870 he was an alderman, and for two and a half years mayor of the city of Taunton. In 1870-1 he was a member of the State senate, and in 1872 he was appointed deputy insurance commissioner. Two years later Governor Talbot appointed him to the head of the depart- ment, as insurance commissioner. In 1879 he resigned to accept the presidency of the John Han- cock National Life Insurance Company, which position he still occupies. He has resided in Bos- ton since 1873.
RICE, ALEXANDER HAMILTON, son of Thomas and Lydia (Smith) Rice, was born in Newton, Mass., Aug. 30, 1818. His education was attained in the public schools, private academies, and Union College, N.Y., from which he graduated in the class of 1844, the commencement orator. Three years later he received the degree of A.M. from Union, and in 1876 the honorary degree of LL.D. from Harvard. After graduation he began active life in the house of Wilkins, Carter, & Co., paper manufacturers, Boston, and he has continued in the paper trade to the present time, having built up a prosperous and ex- tensive business. He is now senior member of the Rice Kendall Company, succeeding the long-estab- lished and widely known house of Rice, Kendall, & Co. In public affairs he has long been prominent and influential. He was mayor of Boston from 1856 to 1858 ; a member of the national House of Rep- resentatives from 1859 to 1867 ; and governor of the Commonwealth from 1875 to 1879. A finished and graceful speaker, he has admirably represented his State and city on many public occasions. He is a member of the American Archaeological Society, and of the American Historical Association ; a trustee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of the Boston Art Museum, and of the Episcopal Theological School at Cambridge ; a director of the American Loan & Trust Company and of the Mas- sachusetts National Bank, also of the Bunker Hill Monument Association ; president of the National Sailors' Home ; and honorary chancellor of Union University. Mr. Rice has been twice married, and he is the father of four children : two daughters and two sons.
RICH, ISAAC B., son of Isaac B. and Margaret STEPHEN H. RHODES. (Lewis) Rich, was born in North Bucksport, Han- and Betsey (Bird) Rhodes, was born in Franklin, cock county, Me., Feb. 23, 1827. He received his Mass., Nov. 7, 1825. He was educated in the early education in the public schools of his native
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town. In 1846 he entered the employment of Abbie M., Charles J., George P., Maud L., and Ralph E. Rich.
William Pelby, manager of the old historic National Theatre, Boston, and has since been connected with local playhouses, gradually working his way up to the
ISAAC B. RICH.
position of manager and proprietor. His connec- tion with the Howard Athenaeum dates back to the days of the famous old " stock company." For a short time he himself flourished as an actor. For three years he was treasurer of James Myer's and Nixon & Kemp's Equestrian Companies, and has for several years played the most famous stars. In August, 1868, he formed a managerial partnership with Joseph Trowbridge when the Howard Athe- næum stage was given up to variety business. During the following season Joseph Hart became a partner, and later John Stetson took Mr. Hart's place, when Messrs. Rich and Stetson purchased Mr. Trow- bridge's interest and continued their partnership for nearly seven years. On the evening of Nov. 9, 1885, Mr. Rich opened the Hollis Street Theatre, and as the conductor of that fine playhouse has steadily held the position of one of the most popular and prosperous of managers. Aside from the exacting demands upon his time and vitality in his theatrical business, Mr. Rich has for years been the successful proprietor of the well-known "Banner of Light," and has carried on an extensive business in the publication of works relating to Spiritualism. Mr. Rich is married and has six children : Clara E.,
RICHARDS, CALVIN A., was born in Dorchester, Mass., March 4, 1828 ; died in Boston Feb. 15, 1892. His boyhood was passed in and around Boston, and he received his education in the pub- lic schools. He left school at the age of thirteen years and assisted his father, Isaiah D. Richards, in the latter's business. He early exhibited the re- markable executive ability which was so strongly felt throughout all his after life, and his father soon leaned on him for assistance and counsel. He denied himself many of the pleasures of young men to devote his thoughts and attention to his business, and the care and assistance of his mother, who was delicate. On Feb. 17, 1852, he married Ann R. Babcock, daughter of Dexter Babcock, of the wholesale grocery firm of Bab- . cock & Coolidge, who is now living, an honored retired merchant in his ninety-sixth year. Two children were born of this union, a son, who was instantly killed by lightning in 1863, and a daughter, who survives him. He remained in business with his father and three brothers until 1861, when he opened a large establishment on Washington street, and it was during these years, and after the Civil War, that he amassed the bulk of his fortune. He was in the common council in 1858, 1859, 1861, and in 1862 was an alderman. He was a magnetic after-dinner speaker, being always eagerly sought for by dining clubs, and his rare wit was always present. In 1873 he went with his family to Eu- rope, and upon his return in 1874 he was induced to relinquish business cares somewhat and become a prominent director in the Metropolitan Street Railway. There he soon made his- executive power felt, and he was asked to become its presi- dent, which he did, and found his office no easy one. The railroad was on the verge of bankruptcy, and a powerful rival corporation had been allowed to spring into existence. Mr. Richards was obliged to restore the road to its former position, and how well he succeeded is known to all railroad men. When he entered the business he knew nothing of street railways, always having been a merchant. His line became the largest and one of the best-managed street railways in the country, rich and strong, and his methods were copied by other corporations both here and abroad. In 1885 he became the pres- ident of the American Street Railway Association, composed of the executive forces of all the rail- roads in the United States and Canada, and until he retired from railroad life he always greatly en-
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joyed attending the annual conventions of this organization, held each year in the different cities. At these conventions he made himself a power by his foresight and wisdom. He was almost the first man to predict the use of electric power for street-cars, which he did in a notable speech at the convention banquet held in New York in October, 1884, which those who were present will not soon forget. . After the consolidation of all the street-railroads of Boston, and the Metropoli- tan had become absorbed in the West End, Mr. Richards became connected with the latter as general manager under President Whitney ; but after a few weeks in that position he resigned. For a short time afterwards he was connected with the Boston Heating Company ; but he soon retired to private life, and purchased and en- tirely remodelled the large office-building, No. 114 State street, which bears his name. This was the closing act in his business life, as he was stricken with "la grippe " immediately after its completion, January, 1890, and was never well from that time. He recovered sufficiently, however, to pass his summers at the Isles of Shoals, and had journeyed to the South in the spring of 1891, where he had a dangerous and critical attack of " angina pectoris," which was his unfortunate inheritance after the eight weeks' iliness with " la grippe " in 1890. This trying experience occurred on the vestibule train from St. Augustine to New York ; but fortunately a physician was on board who restored him to his former condition, although far from a well man. In the autumn of benefit of the sulphur baths, but there had another attack of angina. By the skill of a physician there he was saved again. The early part of the winter he was able to ride down to his office in the Rich- ards Building, on pleasant mornings. His family, friends, and relatives saw him failing quite fast for about two months before his death. He had been out on Monday morning (Feb. 15, 1892) for a short drive, and had answered a telephone call but a short half-hour before he fell dead. His death was instantaneous, without a moment of suffering. His life needs no eulogy from those who knew him ; a strong, firm, conscientious business man, who carved a complete success, leaving an ample fort- une ; a sympathetic, warm-hearted neighbor, who could never listen to a tale of distress or sorrow without tears in his eyes and ready pecuniary aid ; and tender and loving in his home life. As hus- band and father his relations were inexpressibly beautiful,
RICHARDS, JOSEPH R., architect, was born on Beacon Hill Feb. 18, 1828. After obtaining a good education in the Boston public schools, he began the study of architecture in the office of Gridley J. F. Bryant. In 1851 he entered the pro- fession independently, and has continued in active practice ever since. Evidences of his work are found in Boston and the suburbs, the. most recent notable buildings being the Five Cents Savings Bank Building in Woburn, the Jarvis apartment-house in Cambridge, the Colored Odd Fellows' Hall, the Crawford House, and the Royal Arcanum Building in this city, several blocks of houses on West New- ton street, and residences on the Back Bay, cottages at Bar Harbor, and dwellings in many other places. His son, William P. Richards, who was born in 1855 and graduated from Harvard in the class of 1876, was admitted to partnership in 1880. Mr. Rich- ards is widely known as a skilful, painstaking archi- tect.
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