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 60
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SHAW, LEVI WOODBURY, CAPT., was born in New Durham, N.H., May 9, 1831. He comes of the stanch old New England stock. His earliest training was in a little country school in his native place, which only afforded about three months' schooling in the year ; the interim was filled by work on the farm and in assisting his father, a builder. Later he spent three terms at the Wolf borough Academy, on the shore of Lake Winnepesaukee. The winter follow- ing his graduation he taught two district schools with great success. In July, 1850, he left the old homestead and came to Boston, to follow his trade of a carpenter. He became early noted for origi- nality and advanced ideas in mechanical construc- tion. In 1865 he established himself in business as senior partner of the firm of Shaw & Morrison, carpenters and builders, whose name soon became
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also a member of the Boston fire department, opened. In June, 1862, he enlisted, commissioned first lieutenant of Company G, Thirty-second Regi- ment Massachusetts Volunteers. He was promoted to captain and major in the same regiment, and which he joined in 1852 under Chief William Barnicoat. He rose in rank through the several grades, and in 1871 was elected by the city council an assistant engineer under Chief John S. brevetted lieutenant-colonel. He was in every Damrell. . He was one of Chief Damrell's most battle of the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac to the surrender at Appomattox. He was wounded in the second battle of Hatcher's Run, Feb. 5, 1865, while in command of the brigade skirmish-line, taken prisoner, and put in Libby trusted lieutenants in the great fire of 1872, and he served in this position up to the time the de- partment was placed in the hands of the fire commissioners. The latter offered him the posi- tion of district chief engineer, which he declined. In January, 1878, at the solicitation of his former chief, Captain Shaw accepted the position of assistant inspector of buildings, an office for which his experience, both as builder and fireman, had eminently qualified him. In 1886 he was promoted to the charge of the' sub-department, known as the " egress department," which position he still holds. It is one of the greatest importance and responsibility, its duties being the inspection of apartment-houses, hotels, theatres, manufactories, and other buildings in the city where people are congregated, and the ordering of additional means of egress, either by stairways or fire-escapes, where- ever necessary for the protection of life. To enforce the laws for the protection of life over so great an area, and to combat the persistent evasion of them, requires a man of personal and moral power combined with military firmness. Such a man is Captain Shaw, whose honorable administration of this office is written on count- less walls in the city, in iron guarantees of safety and the assured protection of uncounted lives. Captain Shaw is also prominent as an Odd Fellow and Knight of Honor, and he was one of the found- EDWARD O. SHEPARD. ers of the New England Order of Protection, and of several other orders. Captain Shaw was married in Boston, on the 12th of March, 1853, to Miss Margarette T. Keating; they have had three daughters : the eldest is Miss Mary Shaw, the talented actress, whose hosts of admirers are from Canada to New Orleans; the next is Helen A. Shaw, the popular writer of prose and poetry in leading journals ; and the third is Mrs. Margarette Evelyn Ingersoll, also a contributor to the journals and magazines of the day. .
Prison, where he remained until his release on parole on the 22d of that month. At the close of the war Mr. Shepard at once began the study of law in Boston, in the office of Jewell, Gaston, & Field. Admitted to the bar, April 18, 1867, he continued in their office, and in 1871 was admitted to the firm. Upon Mr. Gaston's election to the governorship and temporary retirement from prac- tice (1875), the firm name was changed to Jewell, Field, & Shepard, and upon the appointment of Mr. Field to the Supreme bench in 1881, Jewell & Shepard. Since the death of Mr. Jewell, in Decem- ber, 18SI, Mr. Shepard has practised alone. The firm had been the counsel of the old Metropolitan Street Railway Company from 1865 to 1881, and Mr. Shepard continued as its counsel from 1881 until it was absorbed by the West End Railway Com- pany. Then he was counsel for the latter corpora-
SHEPARD, EDWARD O., son of Rev. John W. and Eliza (Burns). Shepard, was born in Hampton, N.H., Nov. 25, 1835. He was fitted for college in the Nashua, N.H., High School, and went through Amherst, graduating in the class of 1860. He then became principal of the Concord, Mass., · High School, and was teaching when the Civil War tion, in the department of claims and accidents,
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until 1890. He is now in the general practice of of St. John's Lodge, Free Masons, in 18SI and the law. Mr. Shepard was a member of the Boston common council in 1872, 1873, and 1874, presi- dent of that body the last two years of his service. In 1877 he was appointed judge-advocate-general upon the staff of Governor Ames, with the rank of brigadier-general, and appointed to the same posi- tion upon the staff of Governor Brackett. On June 18, 1874, he married Miss Mary C. Lunt, daughter of Hon. Micajah Lunt, of Newburyport ; they have four children : Mary Lunt, Edward Olcott, Ralph Lunt, and Allan Richards Shepard.
SHEPARD, HARVEY NEWTON, son of William and Eliza Shepard, was born in Boston July 8, 1850. He was educated in the Eliot School, this city, the Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, and Harvard Col- lege, graduating from the latter in the class of 1871. Then he studied in the Harfard Law School, gradu- ating in the following year. He began practice in Boston in the law-firm of Hillard, Hyde, & Dickin- son, and three years after, in 1875, opened an office of his own. From 1883 to 1887 he was assistant attorney-general of the Commonwealth. In 1881 he was admitted to practice at the bar of the United States Supreme Court. He was a member of the Republican city committee of Boston in 1874 and 1875, of the Republican State central committee in 1875, 1876, and 1877, and president of the Young Men's Republican State committee in 1879 and 1880. During part of this period he was a member of the Boston com- mon council (1878, 1880, and 1881), its president in 1880; and he was a member of the lower house of the Legislature in 1881 and 1882. He has been an earnest member of the Tariff Reform League since its organization in 1885, and was in 1892 the chairman of its executive committee. Upon the tariff and other issues he became an Independent, and has since been identified with the progressive Democrats. He has made many valuable contributions to the literature of the tariff- reform movement, and has been an able and force- ful speaker upon the stump. In 1878 and 1879 he was a trustee of the Boston Public Library, and on its examining committee in. 1888 and 1889. He delivered the Fourth of July oration before the Boston city government in 1884, and that before the faculty and graduates of the Wesleyan Academy in 1887. He has been vice-president of the Boston Loan and Mortgage Company, Kansas City, Mo .; director of the Revere Street Railway Company ; and president of the Arlington Brick and Tile Company, of Florida. He was worshipful master
1882 ; high priest of St. John's Chapter, 1882 and 1883 ; thrice illustrious master of East Boston Coun- cil, 1887 and 1888; district deputy grand master of the First Masonic district, 1883, 1884, and 1885 ; and commissioner of trials of the Grand Lodge, 1885-9. He was president of the Excelsior Associates, 1867-71 ; president of the Eliot School Association, 1881 and 1882, and has since been its treasurer ; and president of the New England Club, 1886-9: Mr. Shepard was married on Nov. 23, 1873, in Everett, to Miss Fannie May Woodman ; their children are : Grace Florence, Marion, Alice Mabel, and Edith May Shepard.
SHEPARD, JOHN, son of John and Lucy (Hunt) Shepard, was born in Canton, Mass., March 26, 1834. He received his early education in the pub- lic schools of Pawtucket, R.I., and at an evening school in Boston. In 1845 he worked for J. W. Snow, Boston, in the drug business, and in 1847 for J .. A. Jones in the dry-goods trade. In 1853, at nineteen years of age, he went into business for himself, under the firm name of John Shepard & Co., and in 1861 he bought out Bell, Thing, & Co., Tremont row, continuing that business until 1865, under the name of Farley & Shepard. Since that
JOHN SHEPARD.
time he has been the senior partner of the firm of Shepard, Norwell, & Co., dry-goods merchants on
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Winter street. Mr. Shepard is a member of the Merchants' Association ; a director of the Lincoln Bank, the Lamson Store Service Company, and the Connecticut River Paper Company ; and presi- dent of the Burnstein Electric Company. He is an ardent and well-known lover of fast trotting-horses, he himself having owned some of the most valuable equine stock in the country. In raising and driv- ing the finest horses he continues to find relaxation from the exacting demands of the immense busi- ness he has brought to such a high standard of honorable prosperity. Mr. Shepard was married in Boston Jan. 1, 1856, to Miss Susan A., daughter of Perkins H. and Charlotte (White) Bagley ; their two children are John, jr., and Jessie Watson Shepard. He resides in the winter on Beacon street, and has a summer residence called " Edge- water " at Phillips beach, in Swampscott.
SHEPHERD, JAMES, D.M.D., son of the late James Shepherd, dentist, of Boston, was born in this city Aug. 2, 1862. He was educated in the public grammar and Boston Latin schools, and graduated from the Harvard Dental School in 1885. He es- tablished himself in Boston, where he has since practised his profession. He is a member of the Massachusetts Dental Society, and of the Harvard Odontological Society. He contributed the annual address, on "Science of Correspondences," before the Odontological Society on Feb. 22, 1890. Dr. Shepherd is unmarried.
SHEPLEY, GEORGE F., of the architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan, & Coolidge, and son of John R. Shepley, was born in St. Louis Nov. 7, 1860. He was educated at the Washington University in that city. He came to Boston and graduated from the architectural department of the Institute of Tech- nology, class of 1882, and then associated himself as draughtsman with the late H. H. Richardson. On the death of Mr. Richardson in 1886, the firm of Shepley, Rutan, & Coolidge was established in Brookline, the firm succeeding to the large business established by him. In 1887 they removed to Exchange street in this city, and have lately occupied an elegant suite of offices in the new Ames Build- ing. Among the many fine buildings this firm has constructed are the Leland Stanford University Building, of Colorado ; Board of Trade Building, Montreal; the Wells-Fargo Express Company Buildings, in San Francisco; the Bell Telephone Building, in St. Louis ; Masonic Temple, in Pitts- burg ; Ames Building, new Chamber of Commerce, and Commercial Buildings, Boston ; the Boston &
Albany station, at Springfield ; the Union station, at Hartford, Conn .; and suburban stations of the Boston & Albany and New York Central Railroads. They will soon begin the work of completing Trinity Church, Boston, in accordance with Mr. Richardson's original plans. Mr. Shepley was married in 1887, to Miss Julia Hayden Richard- son, daughter of the late H. H. Richardson, and resides in Brookline.
SHUMAN, A., one of the best-known of Boston's great merchants, was born in Prussia May 31, 1839, and came to this country with his parents when but a child. The family settled in Newburg, N.Y., where young Shuman worked on a farm, when not at school, until he was thirteen years of age, when he went into a clothing-store in that town. When but sixteen years of age he started in the world to shape out a fortune, and went to Providence, R.I. Not satisfied with the scope afforded him in that city, he soon came to Roxbury, and his coming was as fortunate for that place as for him. This was as long ago as 1859. He at once began business in a store on the corner of Vernon and Washington streets. This store had a frontage of twenty feet and was sixty feet deep. Before long the business had increased so greatly that it became necessary to enlarge the premises by adding a brick building, and then the frontage was some sixty feet long. This made the store almost if not the largest in Roxbury at the time, and it was universally admired. The "Roxbury Gazette," in a series of articles under the title of " Men of Roxbury whose Lives are a Shining Example to their Fellows," thus speaks of Mr. Shuman : " Few public occa- sions of importance take place without the presence of A. Shuman, one of Roxbury's most estimable citizens, and a man of business whose name carries weight throughout the United States and Europe. He is essentially a self-made man, and his mammoth business to-day is a monument to his sterling ability and integrity. Whether it be in public life, in circles of society, or in his store, Mr. Shuman will always be found with a smile on his face and a kind word for all who have dealings with him. Possessed of a handsome face, with flowing side- whiskers, and always well dressed, Mr. Shuman is indeed a distinguished-looking man, and, added to this, his genial bearing makes him much sought after in all social as well as commercial circles. With the pluck which has throughout distinguished him, a few years after settling here he opened a store, which has since developed to mammoth proportions, on Washington street, Boston, but he
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allowed them to pay back in small instalments ; and the appreciation of his many kindnesses has been manifested by his employés again and again in beautiful and appropriate testimonials. In financial ability he possesses those characteristics which have gained for him among his business confrères the reputation of being exceedingly "level-headed." As he has conducted his own business with care, prudence, and integrity, so has he conducted all' offices of a public character which have been thrust upon him from time to time. In the spring of 1892 he was made chairman of the board of trustees of the City Hospital. Mr. Shuman was married Nov. 3, 1861, to Miss Hetty Lang ; they have had three sons and four daughters. The daughters are : Emma, married to August Wilde, of Wilde, Haskell, & Co., New York ; Bessie, married to Alexander Steinert, of M. Steinert & Sons, piano- forte makers ; Theresa and Lillian Shuman. The sons are Edwin and Sidney, who are in the firm of A. Shuman & Co., and George Shuman.
has never left Roxbury. On the contrary, he is proud of his residence there, and delights to think that he has done much to improve it and make it the creditable place it is to-day. His residence on Vernon street is itself a credit to the locality, and it is within. a very few months that he spent a large sum of money in improving it still further. The business premises in Boston are most colossal, and yet, large as they are, the firm is compelled to hire other buildings in the vicinity for the convenience of the help. Mr. Shuman is first vice-president of the Boston Merchants' Association, for several years he has been a leading member of the board of directors of the Manufacturers National Bank, and for nearly seven years he has been an active member of the board of trustees of the City Hospital, a position which has called for a large portion of his time from week to week, and yet he has so filled the office that there is no one in the in- stitution whom he does not know, and the duties each ought to perform." In public affairs, as applied to essentials by which charities and insti- tutions are benefited, Mr. Shuman is especially SIMMONS, JOHN F., was born in Hanover, Mass., June 26, 1851. He received his preliminary educa- tion in Hanover, preparing for college at Phillips (Exeter) Academy ; and graduated from Harvard conspicuous, and is frequently noted in the press for kindly deeds coupled with gifts that are be- stowed with admirable tact and discretion. The Boston City Hospital and the Dillaway School in in 1873, as class orator. He studied law in the law Roxbury possess handsome American flags pre- sented by Mr. Shuman, who, though of foreign birth, is intensely American, and a thorough be- liever in the benefits of his adopted country ; and many institutions are remembered by him from time to time in a practical and unostentatious manner. The immense establishment at the corner ' of Washington and Summer streets, denominated the "Shuman Corner," which is the result of his indomitable business energy, is an 'ornament to Boston's principal business thoroughfare in all its effective points of solidity and harmonious propor- tion, and exhibits an achievement of no ordinary merit in the progress of mercantile improvement. The combined space of eight floors occupies an area of over two acres, and comprises a mammoth empo- rium that has no peer in New England, wherein are concentrated all the different items composing entire outfits for gentlemen, boys, and children. With his employés no head of a firm could be more popu- lar than Mr. Shuman. He frequently puts himself to much inconvenience for their special benefit. He has arranged a system of purchasing houses for them, and no employer in Boston has bought as JOHN F. SIMMONS. many homes for his help as he. He has saved many from having their mortgages foreclosed, has department of Harvard, and was also proctor in the loaned them money, charging no interest, and has university until February, 1875, when he was ad-
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mitted to the bar. He then formed a partnership with the late Judge J. E. Keith, in Abington, Mass., and continued this association for nearly nine years, when it was dissolved and he became a partner of Harvey H. Pratt. This firm is now in practice. In February, 1890, Mr. Simmons opened a Boston of- fice, although he makes his summer home in Han- over. He is president of the South Scituate Savings Bank and director of the Abington National Bank, having been its receiver after its failure a few years since. He succeeded in reorganizing the bank under the old charter, after it had left his hands as receiver. This has been accomplished in no other. case since the national banking system was estab- lished. Mr. Simmons' father, Hon. Perez Simmons, was a leading lawyer in Plymouth county for thirty years, a prominent citizen of the State, and one of the leaders of the Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island. He was a member of the lower house of the Massa- chusetts Legislature and of the senate ; and also of the constitutional convention. While in the senate he was a prominent member of the committee on the revision of the statutes, of whose work the General Statutes of 1860 was the result. He died on the 15th of May, 1885.
SIMPSON, FRANK ERNEST, son of Michael H. and
FRANK E. SIMPSON.
Elizabeth T. ( Kilham) Simpson, was born in Boston in February, 1859. He was educated in Boston
private schools and at Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1879. The year after his gradua- tion he became connected with the Roxbury Carpet Company. For several years he was its treasurer, and in 1885 he was elected its president. Mr. Simpson is unmarried.
SLEEPER, S. S., son of Rev. Walter and Nancy (Plaisted) Sleeper, was born in Bristol, N.H., .
S. S. SLEEPER.
March 18, 1815. He first started in business in Bristol, a member of the firm of Bartlett & Sleeper. In 1843 he became a member of the Boston firm of E. Raymond & Co., wholesale grocers, which was established in Faneuil Hall until 1858. That year the house was removed to Milk street and the firm name changed to Sleeper, Dickinson, & Co. In 1861 Mr. Dickinson retired, and the firm be- came S. S. Sleeper & Co. The present quarters at No. 12 South Market street were then occupied. Mr. Sleeper is one of the most prominent men in his trade, and his house is one of the oldest in Boston. He was a member of the lower house of the Legislature in 1876 and 1877, and again in 1886 and 1887, and a member of the Cambridge board of aldermen from 1880 to 1886.
SLOCUM, WILLIAM F., son of Oliver E. and Mary (Mills) Slocum, was born in Tolland, Mass., Jan. 31, 1822. He acquired an academic education,
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and in later years an honorary degree of A.M., be- stowed by Amherst College. He began the study of law in 1843 with Billings Palmer, then of Shef- field, Mass., and was admitted to the bar in Berk- shire county in the fall of 1846. He began prac- tice in Grafton; Worcester county, in December of that year. He practised alone, successfully, until 1866, when he entered into partnership with the late Judge Hamilton B. Staples, and opened an of- fice in Boston. In 1871 his son Winfield S. Slocum became his partner, under the name of W. F. & W. S. Slocum. The firm has acquired a large general practice. Mr. Slocum is Republican in politics ; represented Grafton in the lower house of the Legis- lature, serving on the committee on probate and chancery and other committees; and has been active in municipal affairs where he has resided. He now lives in Newtonville, Mass. He is a Congre- gationalist in religion, a Mason, and a member of the Boston and the Newton Congregational Clubs. He is also a member of the Boston Bar Association and of the Massachusetts Club. Mr. Slocum was married April 21, 1847, to Margaret, daughter of Edward L. Tinker; they have had four children : Winfield S., Edward T., now member of the Berk- shire bar and register of probate for that county, Rev. William F., president of Colorado College, and
WILLIAM F. SLOCUM.
Henry O. Slocum (deceased). His wife died on Jan. 25, 1888.
SLOCUM, WINFIELD S., son of William F. and Margaret (Tinker) Slocum, was born in Grafton, Mass., May 1, 1841. He graduated from Amherst College in the class of 1869, and then studied law at Boston, in the office of.Slocum & Staples, com- posed of his father and the late Judge Hamilton B. Staples. He was admitted to the bar in 1871 and became a partner with his father in general practice, under the firm name of W. F. & W. S. Slocum. He was a member of the first school board of the city of Newton, where he resides (in Newtonville), and has been city solicitor of that city for eleven years. He represented his district in the lower house of the Legislature in 1888 and 1889, serving as House chairman of the committee on cities the last year, and on the committee on cities both years. He is Republican in politics. He belongs to the Central Congregational Church at Newton- ville. He is a member of the Boston Congrega- tional Club, the Boston Bar Association, the Boston Athletic Association, and the Newton Club, and is a Mason. Mr. Slocum was married in 1873, to Miss Annie A., daughter of Charles T. Pulsifer, of New- ton ; they have two sons and one daughter : Agnes E., Charles P., and Winfield S. Slocum, jr.
SMITH, ALBERT C., son of Matthew D. and Louisa A. (Pottle) Smith, was born in Boston March 14, 1845. He was educated in the Boston public schools. His first business connection was with the wholesale drug-firm of Smith, Doolittle, & Smith, which began in July, 1872. On the first of April, 1890, the firm was reorganized under the style of Smith, Benedict, & Seigemund. Mr. Smith is a member of the Boston Drug Association and an ex-president of the organization, and is president of the Suffolk Dispensary. He is a promi- nent member of the Masonic fraternity, having held many positions of honor, being a thirty-third degree member of the Scottish Rite, past grand high priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Massachusetts, past commander of William Parkman Commandery of Knights Templar. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Red Men, and the Boston Lodge of Elks, past exalted ruler of the latter. He is a life member of the Mercantile Library Associa- tion, and belongs to the Young Men's Christian Association. He is prominent in local affairs, and represents his ward in the common council of 1892.
SMITH, CHARLES WHIPPLE, son of Percy and Martha W. Smith, was born in Boston July 1, 1845. His early life was passed in Waltham, and he graduated from the high school in that town in 1863. He
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then returned to Boston, entering the employ of John Sanderson, provision broker. After two years
CHARLES W. SMITH.
he formed a partnership with Alden E. Viles, an old friend and schoolmate. This firm conducted a large and profitable business for fourteen years, dur- ing which time they acquired a large real-estate interest, both by purchase and lease. Disposing of their brokerage business, they have since devoted their time to real-estate and corporation business. Mr. Smith is director in several corporations. He was one of the originators of the Newton Street Rail- road Company, having charge of its finances during the construction of the road, and is now the treas- urer of the corporation. He has always been a prominent Republican, and has held a number of important offices. He served on the board of assessors for five years ; and, although living at the time in a strong Democratic district, he was, through his personal popularity, twice elected to the lower house of the Legislature, where he served on im- portant committees. In 1886 he was elected to the board of aldermen from the Fifth District (Back Bay), and was reelected the three successive years by nearly the unanimous vote of that district without regard to party lines. Mr. Smith is a Mason, belonging to the De Molay Commandery of Knights Templar. He was married Dec. 10, 1872, to Miss Hattie E. Farnsworth, of Harvard, Mass.
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