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 62
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Court was created he declined the appointment of member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the judge, but accepted the position of special justice, which he now holds. The necessary sacrifice of a large portion of his lucrative practice would scarcely, in his opinion, be justified by the honor which such a judicial position would bestow. . He has until now, well advanced in life, devoted himself assidu- ously to his professional pursuits, neither seeking nor accepting public office. Judge Spaulding was married in 1861, to Miss Charlotte A., daughter of Alpheus and Mary A. T. Bigelow, of Weston. Mrs. Spaulding died June 24, 1889, leaving no children.
SPEAR, EDMUND DOE, M.D., was born in Boston Oct. 27, 1852. He received his early education in
Boston Society of Medical Observation, the Boston Society for Medical Improvement, and the Ameri- can Otological Society. At various times he has contributed to the medical journals, and through them acquired a prominence in his profession that but few specialists of his years attain. He wrote the article, " Is there a Space Organ? " which was pub- lished in the " Boston Medical and Surgical Jour- nal " in August, 1890. Among other of his writings are " Diseases of the Internal Ear" and " Deaf- mutism and Acoustic Apparatus for the Deaf." He has also invented a number of instruments of value, and his improved aural forceps figured in the transactions of the Otological Society in 1891. In 1888 Dr. Spear went to Europe and spent consid- erable time in Vienna, in the clinics of Professor Politzer and Gruber. After his return his rise in professional life was even more rapid than before, and at the present time he is recognized as one of the most profound and skilful practitioners in the specialty of otology.
SPEAR, WILLIAM EDWARD, son of Archibald G. and Angelica (Branton) Spear, was born in Rock- land, Me., Jan. 2, 1849. He was educated in the public schools and at Bowdoin College, from which
EDMUND D. SPEAR.
the public schools, and, after passing through the Latin School, entered the Harvard Medical School, from which he graduated in 1874. Then he settled in his native city and immediately began general practice. 'This he soon abandoned, however, that he might devote himself wholly to the treatment of dis- eases of the ear, which he had made a special study. He afterwards served for many years as an assistant surgeon to the Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, and in 1888 was appointed aural WILLIAM E. SPEAR. . surgeon in that institution, where he is still on duty ; and in the out-patient department of the City he graduated in 1870. Then he took the regular Hospital he holds a like position. Dr. Spear is a course in the Bangor Theological Seminary, gradu-
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ating in 1873. The next three years he was pastor
SPENCER, WARREN W. C., M.D., son of William and Susan C. (Stevens) Spencer, was born in Rockland, Me., in 1854. His early education was obtained in the schools of Bangor, and after leaving school he spent about twelve years in commercial pursuits in that ci /. He then studied medicine, and graduat- ing from the Maine State Eclectic College, began practice in his native State. Desiring a larger field, he subsequently removed to Massachusetts and practised in a number of leading cities here. His specialty is the treatment of chronic cases of dys- pepsia and catarrh, and he lectures in Tremont Temple and maintains a Boston office, where he is assisted by Drs. J. E. H. Lane and George Carleton Hale. The Warren Sanitarium and Exeter Hotel in Exeter, Fla., one of the most thorough and com- plete sanitariums in the country, was conceived and built by Dr. Spencer. In 1886 he married Miss Emily J. Law, of Providence, R.I.
SPOFFORD, JOHN C., architect, was born in Web- ster, Me., Nov. 25, 1854. His early boyhood was spent on a farm, and he was able to attend the dis- trict school during the winter months only.' As a boy he was ambitious. He thirsted for knowledge beyond that afforded by the district school, and he was allowed to attend the Monmouth Academy, Monmouth, Me. ; afterwards he managed to spend some time at the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, Kent's Hill. When a young man he taught school for several terms, using the proceeds received from this service to defray his own expenses in further study. After leaving the school-room he spent considerable time at the carpenter's and mason's trades, gaining an experience that has since been of great service
to him in his profession. Early evincing a liking of the Congregational church at Dunbarton, N.H. for architecture, in 1879 he decided to adopt it as Retiring from the pulpit, he went abroad and spent a year in European travel ; and upon his return home, having applied himself to the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1878. He has since practised in Boston. From 1882 to 1885 inclusive, he was assistant counsel for the United States in the court of commissioners of Alabama claims, and at the present time (1892) is assistant counsel for the government in the French spoliation claims. In 1888 he was elected a member of the board of overseers of Bowdoin College. Mr. Spear was married in October, 1878, to Mrs. Maria Josephine van de Vinnen ; they have had two children, Max Branton and Louis Renè Spear (both deceased). Mr. Sj ear is a brother-in-law of Senator Frye and ex-Governor Garcelon, of Maine. a profession. During this year he entered the office of H. J. Preston in Boston. Two years later he was engaged as draughtsman by Sturgis & Brigham, and remained with them until 1886, during which time he had charge of the construc- tion of many important public buildings and note- worthy private residences, among which are the Commonwealth Building in Boston ; the residence of H. H. Rogers, of the Standard Oil Co., of New York city ; and the Massachusetts Life Insurance Company Building, a magnificent structure on State street. In March, 1887, he formed a partnership with Willard M. Bacon, under the firm name of Spofford & Bacon. A year later he united with Charles Brigham, one of the foremost architects of New England, formerly of Sturgis & Brigham, forming the present firm of Brigham & Spofford, who are now well known throughout the country as the architects of the additions to the Capitol build- ings of Massachusetts and Maine. Messrs. Brigham & Spofford are also the architects of the new City Hall of Lewiston, Me .; the Hospital for Inebriates and Dipsomaniacs in Foxborough, Mass. ; the Town Hall in Fairhaven, Mass. ; the Presbyte- rian Church in the Roxbury district : the Memorial Hall in Belfast, Me .; the residence of J. Man- chester Haynes in Augusta, said to be one of the finest private residences in the State of Maine ; the railroad stations on the Providence Division of the Old Colony Railroad at Stoughton and Roxbury ; the residences of B. D. Whitcomb in the Roxbury district, and C. H. Souther, in Jamacia Plain, West Roxbury district ; and many other buildings of note. Mr. Spofford has taken much interest in secret societies, being a Mason, an Odd Fellow, and a member of many fraternal organizations, includ- ing that of the Knights and Ladies of Honor. of which order he has been the grand pro- tector of Massachusetts. In ISSS he was elected president of the " Spofford Family Association." At the time he was chosen to this position seven hundred of the members of the Spofford family had gathered from all parts of the country to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the arrival from Yorkshire, England, in this country of John Spofford and Elizabeth Scott, who settled in that part of Rowley, Mass., now called Georgetown. Mr. Spofford is a lineal descendant of John Wentworth, who held, by Queen Anne's appointment, the lieutenant-governorship of the province of New Hampshire from 1717 to 1730. Capt. John Wentworth, great-grandfather of Mr.
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Spofford's grandfather, fought on the " Plains of Abraham " at the Battle of Quebec, and was one of those brave men who helped to carry the gallant Wolfe to the rock beside which he died. Mr. Spofford belongs to a long-lived race. He can look back upon a childhood spent in a home in which were five generations of his own kin. He possesses really extraordinary powers of physical endurance. Whether in the school-room, on the farm, beside the bench, or at the draughting-table, he is capable, when necessary, of doing two days' work in one, and of repeating it whenever called upon to do so. Mr. Spofford married Miss Ella M. Fuller, of Turner, Me., and soon after removed to Everett, Mass., where they have made their perma- nent home. They have one child, Mabel Fuller Spofford, born April 11, 1883.
1875 he has been a trustee of the City Hospital, the first two years a member of the board on the part of the common council ; from 1878 to the incorpo- ration of the hospital in 1880 as one of the trustees- at-large, and since that time a trustee appointed by the mayor. In 1867 he was influential in restoring the Young Men's Christian Union to activity, and has since continued as a member of the board of govern- ment. Since 1879 he has been one of the trustees and a member of the executive committee of the Boston Lying-in Hospital; and since 1883 he has been secretary of the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Soci- ety. He is a member of the Bar Association, the Harvard Law School Association, the Historic Gene- alogical Society, the Bostonian Society, and of the Union, St. Botolph, Tavern, and Unitarian Clubs. Of the Tavern Club he was one of the original mem- bers, and he is now one of the trustees appointed to hold its real estate. Of the Unitarian Club he was for four years treasurer. He is also one of the trustees appointed to hold the buildings on Boylston street owned by the Woman's Educational and Industrial Union, and acts as the treasurer of the trustees. In 1884 he published a treatise entitled " Women under the Laws of Massachusetts : their Rights, Privileges, and Disabilities." Mr. Sprague is unmarried.
SPRAGUE, HENRY HARRISON, son of George and Nancy (Knight) Sprague, was born in Athol, Mass., Aug. 1, 1841. He was educated in the schools of his native town, the Chauncy Hall School, of Boston, and Harvard College, graduating in the class of 1864. After graduation he was, for about a year, a private tutor in Champlain, N.Y. In the fall of 1865 he entered the Harvard Law School, and was at the same time a proctor of the college. A year later he became a law student in the office of Henry SPRAGUE, RUFUS WILLIAM, M.D., son of Rufus W. W. Paine and Robert D. Smith, in Boston, and in February, 1868, was admitted to the Suffolk bar. He has practised here ever since. He was a mem- of the Boston common council in 1874, 1875, and 1876, serving on important committees; of the lower house of the Legislature in ISS1, 1882, and 1883 ; and of the Senate, representing the Fifth Suf- folk District, in 1888, 1889, 1890, and 1891, the last two years president of that body. In both branches he served on important committees, chairman in 1882 of the House committee on bills in the third reading ; and when in the Senate, chairinan of the committee on elections in 1888, he drafted and introduced the important new ballot-bill, the passage of which accomplished ballot reform. In 1884 Mr. Sprague was a member of the executive committee of the Municipal Reform Association, and, as its senior counsel, was instrumental in securing the pas- sage, by the Legislature of 1885, of the important amendments to the city charter of Boston by which the executive authority was vested in the mayor. In 1880 he was prominent in the organization of the Bos- ton Civil Service Reform Association, and for nine years served on its executive committee and after- wards as president ; and he is one of the general RUFUS W. SPRAGUE. committee of the Boston Citizens' Association. Since and Mary ( Ford) Sprague, was born in Charlestown,
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Howard. H. Spur
John Pesquise
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Aug. 29, 1847. His early education was acquired in the public schools there. Then he attended the Harvard Medical School, from which he graduated in 1871, and spent two years abroad studying in the University of Vienna. He began practice in Charlestown, and in 1875 moved to San Francisco, Cal. There he remained until 1880, and then re- turned to Charlestown, where he is at present es- tablished. He has been city physician of Charles- town ; and physician to the almshouse since 1883. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. In 1874 Dr. Sprague married Miss Kate M. Donovan ; they have two children : Rufus W. and James H. D. Sprague.
SPURR, HOWARD W., senior member of New England's largest wholesale grocery house, was born in Sandwich, Mass., .Nov. 11, 1843. After re- ceiving the education afforded by the schools of his native place, he entered a country store, and there began a career which has since placed his name among the leading merchants of the United States. At the age of seventeen he started out to seek his fortune, and came to Boston. The present firm is the outgrowth of the firms of Wadley, Spurr, & Co., organized in 1869, and Spurr, Washburn, & Holmes, organized in 1875. As at present con- stituted, the firm was formed in 1881 under the firm name of Howard W. Spurr & Co., since which time its business has grown to such an extent that its goods are to be found in all parts of this country. Its business is represented by more than twenty departments, each with its respective head, and the system is so thorough as to admit of the results in each department being accurately ascertained. The annual sales now reach into the millions. The firm controls the Howard W. Spurr Coffee Company, the Howard W. Spurr Cigar Company, and the Howard W. Spurr Specialty Company, with factories in Boston and New York. It also holds the sole New England selling agency for a number of the largest manufacturers of cigars, tobaccos, and general food-products in the United States. Mr. Spurr has not only been active in promoting his own business, but has taken active part in matters pertaining to the welfare of Boston. " Merchants' Week," which was inaugurated in Boston and im- itated by cities in the East and West, did much to establish more friendly relations between buyer and seller. In this movement he took a prominent part ; and at a meeting of the principal merchants and business men of Boston, held in Faneuil Hall May 16, 1888, at which spirited addresses were de- jivered by Governor Ames, Lieutenant-Governor
Brackett, Mayor O'Brien, Hon. Henry L. Pierce, and others, Mr. Spurr presided, having been unani- mously elected chairman, in recognition of his activity and interest in this matter. The other members of the firm of Howard W. Spurr & Co. are Henry B. Pierce, Elwyn L. R. Perry, William H. Wilson, Andrew J. Woodward, and Albert D. Holmes, all men of sterling business qualifications. Mr. Pierce was born in Lebanon, Me. Coming to Boston at the age of twenty, he entered the grocery business, and has been associated with the present firm since 1881. As a buyer, salesman, and man- ager he stands among the leaders in the trade. Mr. Perry has developed marked ability as a buyer and salesman, and as manager of the departments in his charge. He was born in Boston, and was formerly connected with Wadley, Spurr, & Co. Mr. Wilson, a native of Lowell, became connected with the firm in 1881, and his special mission has been the management of the bureau of credits, a most important position. He has also made his mark as a manager and buyer. Mr. Woodward has been engaged in the grocery trade for many years, having formerly been connected with the house of Pierce, Dana, & Co .; as a buyer and salesman his reputa- tion is fully established among all who know the history of the trade during the past twenty-five years. Mr. Holmes has charge of the finances and of the counting-room department, and has brought to his position a large and varied experience. He was formerly with Wadley, Spurr, & Co. The firm's extensive warerooms, factories, cold-storage buildings, etc., are the largest in this section.
SQUIRE, JOHN P., son of Peter and Esther Squire, was born in Weathersfield, Windsor county, Vt., May 8, 1819. His father was a farmer. The years of his boyhood were spent at his home, at- tending the public schools and working on the farm. On the first day of May, 1835, he entered the employment of a Mr. Orvis, the village store- keeper at West Windsor, and remained with him two years. In the fall of 1837 he attended the academy at Unity, N.H., of which Rev. A. A. Miner was then principal, and taught school at Cavendish during a part of that and the following winter. On the 19th of March, 1838, he came to Boston, en- tered the employ of Nathan Robbins in Faneuil Hall Market, and continued with him until May 1, 1842, when he formed a copartnership with Francis Russell, and carried on the provision business at No. 25 Faneuil Hall Market, under the style of Russell & Squire, until the year 1847, when the copartner- ship was dissolved. Mr. Squire then continued the
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business alone, at the same place, until 1855, when he formed a new copartnership, with Hiland Lock- wood and Edward D. Kimball, under the name of John P. Squire & Co. The firm name and business have continued until the present time, and the changes in the partners have been as follows : the retirement of Edward D. Kimball in 1866 ; the ad- mission of W. W. Kimball in the same year, and his retirement in 1873 ; the admission of Mr. Squire's ·sons, George W. and Frank O. Squire, in 1873 ; the death of Hiland Lockwood in 1874; the retirement of Geo. W. Squire in 1876 ; and the admission of Fred F. Squire, the youngest son, Jan. 1, 1884, leaving the firm to-day composed of John P., Frank O., and Fred F. Squire. In 1855 Mr. Squire bought a small tract of land in East Cambridge, and built a slaughter-house upon it. Since that time the busi- ness has grown to such an extent that the firm of J. P. Squire & Co. has to-day one of the largest and best-equipped packing-houses in the country, and stands third in the list of hog-packers in the United States. In 1848 Mr. Squire moved to West Cam- bridge, now called Arlington, where he has since lived. When he first came to Boston he joined the Mercantile Library Association, and spent a good deal of his leisure time in reading, of which he was very fond. The position which he holds to-day in commercial circles is due to his untiring industry, undaunted courage, and marked ability. In 1843 he married Miss Kate Green Orvis, daughter of his old employer; eleven children were born of this marriage, nine of whom are now living : George W., Jennie C., Frank O., Minnie E., John A., Kate I., Nannie K., Fred F., and Bessie E. Squire. One son, Charles, died in infancy.
STACEY, BENJAMIN F., son of Daniel and Ruth (Stover) Stacey, was born in Gloucester, Mass., Dec. 26, 1836. He was educated in the local schools, graduating finally from the Gloucester High School. He came to Charlestown in April, 1859, and began business life in a drug-store on the corner of Bunker Hill and Tufts streets. Subsequently he established himself at the junction of Main and Warren streets; and he is now the oldest druggist in the Charlestown district. He is prominent both in business and public life. He is president and secretary of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, president of the State Pharmaceutical Association, president of the Massachusetts Druggists Alliance, trustee of the Boston City Hospital, trustee of the Charlestown Five Cents Savings Bank, and director of the Mutual Protection Insurance Company. He was for two years, 1866 and 1867, in the common
council, and two, 1868 and 1872, in the board of aldermen of the old city of Charlestown ; and after annexation, one year, 1875, in the common council, and three, 1889, 1890, and 1891, in the board of aldermen of Boston. He has also served one term in the lower house of the Legislature, that of 1876. He is president of the Bunker Hill Seventeenth of June Association, treasurer of the Charlestown Free Dispensary and Hospital, and worthy master of Faith Lodge, Free Masons. He has been vestry- man for over twenty-five years of St. John's Epis- copal Church, and is a zealous member of that denomination. In politics he has been a life-long Democrat. On Dec. 6, 1861, Mr. Stacey married Miss Emily Dodge ; they have had six children : Florence A., now the wife of William H. Vialle, of Worcester ; Mary A., wife of Fred Fish, of Orange, Mass .; Dr. Charles F., Frances K., Bertha E., and Winthrop D. Stacey.
STACKPOLE, FREDERICK DABNEY, M.D., son of the late J. W. G. Stackpole, was born in Pomeroy, O., July 19, 1849. His early education was attained in Cincinnati. He was fitted for college, and entering Harvard, graduated A.B. in 1873 and M.D. in 1878. After studying two years abroad he took a further course in the Boston University School of Medicine. Since that time he has been in constant private practice in Boston and Roxbury. He was with the Burroughs Place Dispensary for twelve years, and for a number of years was at the West End Dispen- sary. He has also been connected with the Roxbury Homeopathic Dispensary. He is a member of the Massachusetts and the Boston Homeopathic Medi- cal Societies, and the Hughes Medical Club, of which he is secretary. He removed from Boston to the Roxbury district seven years ago. He has made occasional contributions to the medical journals.
STACKPOLE, J. LEWIS, was born in Boston in 1838. He graduated from Harvard College in 1857, and two years later he received the degree of LL.B. from the Harvard Law School. He had but fairly started in the practice of his profession when he received a commission as captain of the Twenty- fourth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, and en- gaged in the work of defending the Union. In 1862 he was made chief commissary of subsistence of the Army of North Carolina, and served with Major-General Foster in the Goldsborough expedi- tion. A year later he was appointed by this officer judge-advocate of the Eighteenth Corps. In the same year he was commissioned as major and judge-advocate by President Lincoln, and his duties
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were extended so as to include Virginia. Shortly afterward, in addition, he was appointed provost- judge of Norfolk. In 1864 he accompanied the Army of the James to Bermuda Hundred, and was judge-advocate of the same forces before Rich- mond. In May, 1865, he resigned his commis-
J. LEWIS STACKPOLE.
sion, having previously been brevetted lieutenant- colonel. Since leaving the army he has been an active lawyer. From 1870 to 1876 he was first assistant solicitor of the city of Boston, and in 1890 was appointed by President Harrison one of the new board of general appraisers, which position he resigned in order to give his attention to his law business in Boston.
STEARNS, ALBERT BIGELOW, son of Rev. William L. Stearns, was born in Rowe, Mass., Sept. 15, 1843. Six years after his father accepted a call to the Unitarian parish in Pembroke, Mass., and there the family resided until 1856, the son being princi- pally educated in the private institute in the town, maintained by Nathaniel Smith. In December, 1856, Rev. Mr. Stearns' health entirely broke down, when the family purchased a home in Chico- pee, Mass., and joined that of his older brother, Hon. Geo. M. Stearns. Rev. Mr. Stearns died in a few months, and Albert B. continued under the care of his uncle George. The boy immediately entered the high school, in which the now Hon.
George D. Robinson was principal. Three . years and a half of Mr. Robinson's training qualified young Stearns for such fields as comported with his abilities and tastes. For a year he experimented with agriculture, in which he only became robust. At this time the Civil War was in progress, and hav- ing arrived at the age of eighteen, the patriotism of youth and incentive of his friends caused him to enlist in the Forty-sixth Massachusetts Volunteers. While in the field he was selected by his colonel to act as clerk to the adjutant ; but this detail did not deter him from accompanying his regiment upon all its marches and actions as a soldier in the ranks, although his privileges were such as would allow him to forego such hazardous trips. At the expira- tion of his term of enlistment, July 29, 1863, Mr. Stearns entered into contract with the Ames Manu- facturing Company of Chicopee, where he was given special training, and rapid advancement en- sued. In one year's time, however, the work here had proved detrimental to his health, and it was determined that a sea voyage and travel in salubrious climates should be tried. The sum of two hundred and fifty dollars was paid for a passage around Cape Horn on the clipper ship "Dreadnaught," which arrived in San Francisco five months after leaving New York. A year in California and the sea trip proved the wisdom of his advisers, and he returned to Chicopee, his health fully restored. A position was offered him with the Dwight Manufacturing Company, and accepted ; and in less than a year an offer came from New York city, from the cutlery manufacturing firm of Clement, Hawkes, & May- nard. A year of service with this firm brought a flattering offer of a salesman's position from a hard- ware house in Albany. This association, however, proving unsatisfactory, he returned to New York city and became connected with the Lamson- Goodnow Manufacturing Company, cutlery manu- facturers, for whom he travelled until shortly before it gave up its headquarters in New York. In 1872 he was appointed measurer in the Boston Custom House by Collector Russell, expecting to hold the government office only temporarily ; but as time wore on he held on, passing through several grades of duty acceptably to his superior officer. In 1886 the appraiser of the port died, and Mr. Stearns was promoted to this responsible position by President Cleveland, being confirmed by the Senate ahead of other nominations made weeks previous. Such success attended his administration of this office that it drew the particular attention of Secretary of the Treasury Fairchild, to the end that the secretary came to Boston in December, 1888, to confer with
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