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 69
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CHARLES A. WELCH.
He was born on the site of the post-office, in the old Stackpole residence.
WELCH, WILLIAM J., was born in Boston March 27, 1851. He was educated in the Eliot Grammar and the St. Mary's Parochial Schools. After leaving school he entered the employ of Daniel Howard, jr., newspaper and periodical dealer in the old Merchants Exchange Building, State street. He was elected to the common council in 1880, 1881, and 1882, serving on several important committees, notably those on finance, police, and assessors de- partment. In 1883 he was elected alderman, nomi- nated by the Democratic and Citizens' committees. He was renominated for 1884, but was defeated, as was the whole of the Democratic aldermanic ticket that year. In 1884 he was elected a member of the board of overseers of the poor, and served five years. At the December election of 1884 the aldermanic district-system went into operation, and Mr. Welch was then elected from the third district for 1885. In 1888 he was appointed superintend- ent of the water-works ( Mystic Division), and in the same year was transferred to the position of super- intendent of the meter department. In 1889 this department was abolished, and Mr. Welch was made assistant superintendent of the water-works, .
pointed superintendent, the position which he now holds.
WELD, A. SPAULDING, son of the late John Gard- ner Weld, was born in St. Louis, Mo., Nov. 7, 1849. Coming with his parents to Boston the following year, he was educated in the public schools of Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury. When a lad of sixteen he went into the dry-goods com- mission business, where he remained until 1877, when he became the New England agent for the Canada Southern Fast Freight Line, which position he held for seven years, until the consolidation of that line with the Blue Line. Then, in 1885, he entered his present business, the real-estate, with office at No. 27 School street and No. 703 Centre street, Jamaica Plain. Mr. Weld's father, the late
John Gardner Weld, and his uncles, the late William F., Stephen M., Francis M., and Dr. C. M. Weld, were all residents and extensive property ·owners in Jamaica Plain. He is interested in Jamaica Plain property, and also carries on a large general real-estate and insurance business. He is treasurer of the Eastern Point Association. In 1883-4 he was a member of the Boston common council from Ward 23.
WELLINGTON, AUSTIN C., son of Jonas Clark and Harriet E. (Bosworth) Wellington, was born in Lexington, Mass., July 17, 1840; died in Cam- bridge Sept. 23, 1888. He was the head of the Austin C. Wellington Coal Company of Boston, and one of the most popular members of the Massachu- setts militia. He began his business career in 1856 as book-keeper in the flour store of S. G. Bowdiear & Co., Boston, and continued with this firm until his enlistment, in 1862, in the Thirty- eighth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. ' He served through the war, returning at its close' as adjutant of his regiment. Then he engaged in the coal business, and subsequently established the Austin C. Wellington Coal Company of Boston, of which he was general manager. He was also chairman of the Boston Coal Exchange, and president of the Charles River Towing Company. In 1875-6 he was a member of the lower house of the Legislature, serving on the committee on military affairs. Colonel Wellington's interest in the volun - teer militia of the State was constant. In 1870 he was captain of the Boston Light Infantry ; in 1873 he was elected major of the First Battalion of In- fantry, consisting of his own and three other com- panies ; and later he was commissioned colonel of
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the First Regiment of Massachusetts Militia, which became famous for the high standard to which he brought it. His military instinct was a family in- heritance ; his great-grandfather, Captain Timothy Wellington, was a member of Captain Parker's company at the battle of Lexington, and his grand- father's brother, also a member of Captain Parker's company, was the first prisoner of the Revolution ; he was captured by the king's troops early on that eventful morning, but he got away and later rejoined his company. Colonel Wellington was a director and afterwards president of the Mercantile Library Association, and was a member of the Art Club and the Cecilia Society of Boston, and of the Shakespeare Club of Cambridge. He was first married in Cambridge, June 30, 1869, to Miss Caroline L., daughter of George Fisher, of Cambridge. She died in 1879 ; and on Nov. 29, 1887, he married her sister, Miss Sarah C. Fisher.
WELLS, SAMUEL, was born in Hallowell, Me., Sept. 9, 1836. His father was Samuel Wells, judge of the Supreme Court of the State of Maine from 1848 to 1852, and governor of that State in 1855. His mother was Louisa Ann Appleton, daughter of Dr. Moses Appleton, of Waterville, Me. He was gradu- ated from Harvard College in 1857, and among his classmates are many of the leading lawyers of the Suffolk bar. He was admitted to practice in Bos- ton Dec. 18, 1858, and was for ten years a partner with his father. In 1871 he formed a partnership with Edward Bangs under the firm name of Bangs & Wells, which relation still continues. Of late years Mr. Wells' time has been given more to the manage- ment of trusts and to office work than to litigation ; and among his more important business connections are the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany, of which he is a director and the counsel, and the State Street Exchange, of which he is president. He is also one of the trustees of the Boston Real Estate Trust, and a director in several business corporations. He is a member of many scientific, social, and charitable organizations, and has taken much interest in the Boston Young Men's Christian Union, of which he is one of the trustees. He is at present grand master of the Grand Lodge of Masons of Massachusetts. On June 11, 1863, Mr. Wells married Catherine Boot, daughter of the late Ezra Stiles Gannett, D.D .; they have three children : Gannett, Samuel, jr., and Louisa Appleton Wells.
WENTWORTH, WALTER .A., was born in Brighton, now the Brighton district, May 20, 1846. He was a member of the firm of D. Connery & Co., buikl-
ers, from March 15, 1881, until April 1, 1890, when he associated in partnership with Walter J. Connery, also of D. Connery & Co., and, under the firm name of Connery & Wentworth, succeeded to the business of D. Connery & Co., which itself had succeeded the long-established building firm of Standish & Wood- bury. While making a specialty of mason work, Connery & Wentworth contract for all other branches of the building trade and assume the responsibility of the entire work in every detail. Their work is
WALTER A. WENTWORTH.
seen in the new Telephone Building, the Pierce Building on Copley square, the Young Men's Chris- tian Association Building, the Homeopathic Hos- pital at the South End, the Cambridge Hospital, the Westborough Insane Asylum, the Quincy Storage Building, and many of the finest mansions in the Back Bay district. Mr. Wentworth was one of the originators of the Master Builders' Association, and he is also a member of the Charitable Mechanic Association. He resides in Allston.
WESSELHOEFT, WILLIAM PALMER, M.D., son of William Wesselhoeft, of Boston, was born in Boston Oct. 8, 1835. He attended Boston schools until he had reached the age of fifteen, when he went to Leipzig, and there graduated. He then returned to Boston and entered the Harvard Medical School, from which he graduated in 1857, receiving the degree of M.D. Since that time he has practised
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homeopathy in Boston with marked success. He the capacities of boy, seaman, third and second is a member of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society, the American Institute of Homce- opathy, the International Hahnemannian Association, of which he has been president, and of the Boston Hahnemannian Association. He has contributed various articles to the medical journals and the societies. Dr. Wesselhoeft was married Jan. 31, 1860, to Miss Sarah F. Allen, daughter of Hon. Elisha H. Allen, of Honolulu.
WEST, GEORGE WEBB, M.D., was born in Salem, Mass., May 17, 1850. His education was obtained in the Salem schools and at Harvard College, from which he graduated A.B. in 1872. Then he spent two years abroad in travel and study. Returning in 1875, he entered the Harvard Medical School, and graduated therefrom in 1879 with his degree of M.D., after serving a year as surgeon interne in the Massachusetts General Hospital. Then he went abroad again and continued the study of his pro- fession in Vienna, Paris, and London. Upon his return to Boston in 1882, he was immediately ap- pointed on the staff of the Massachusetts General Hospital, and this position he held until 1888, when he was obliged to resign on account of ill-health. In 1884 he was appointed demonstrator in minor surgeons' apparatus at the Harvard Medical School, which place he also held until 1888. He is a mem- ber of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Boston Society for Medical Observation, and the Boston Society for Medical Improvement. Dr. West was married Nov. 6, 1885, to Miss Rose, daughter of Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, of Chestnut Hill.
WEST, WILLIAM HENRY, was born in Milton, Mass., Jan. 27, 1830. He was educated in the public schools and at the Bridgewater Normal School. After leaving school he entered mercantile life in Boston, and is now a successful merchant. He was a member of the common council from 1871 to 1874, and' in 1892 a member of the State senate, serving his second term. He has been on several important committees.
WESTON, ALDEN B., superintendent of the registry division of the Boston post-office, was born in Dux- bury, Mass., in the year 1844. He was educated in private schools in Pembroke and Northfield, and also took an academic course in the Highland Military Academy in Worcester ; but at an early age he left school and went to sea in the merchant ser- vice, in which he remained for five years, serving in
officer. When the war broke out he entered the Union army as a private in the Second Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered out at the close of the war in 1865. He then took a sea voyage, and after his return, owing to ill-health, was obliged to renounce the idea of following the sea as a profession. He served for a year and a half on the State constabulary, having been appointed by Governor Andrew, and, was then appointed by Sergeant-at-Arms Hon. John Mor- rissey as messenger to the House of Representa- tives. In 1871 he entered the Boston post-office as a clerk in the mailing division, where he re- mained one year, being then transferred to the registry division ; in 1880 he was promoted to the position of assistant superintendent of that division, and again promoted, in 1884, to be superintendent, which position he now holds. His father, Hon. Gersham B. Weston, was a native of Duxbury, a member of the Legislature for sixteen years, serving twelve in the House and four in the Senate, a member of the constitutional convention of 1853, and a member of Governor Boutwell's council. He was a strong Republican in politics and an earnest advocate of temperance, and died in the year 1869, when seventy years of age.
WESTON-SMITH, R. D., was born in Newton, Mass., May 8, 1864. He was graduated from Harvard in the class of 1886. He studied law at the Harvard Law School, and with his father, Robert D. Smith. Since his admission to the bar, in January, 1888, he has practised his profession in Boston. He was as- sistant counsel for the New York & New England Railroad from Feb. 1, 1890, to July 1, 1891. On Oct. 4, 1888, he married Miss Austiss, daughter of Charles Folsom Walcott. He is now living in Cambridge.
WETHERBEE, ISAAC JOSIAH, D.D.S., was born in South Reading, Vt., March 9, 1817. In his early life he gave marked evidence of a high order of genius for mechanical pursuits. At the age of fifteen he made a verge to a bull's-eye watch, for which he received one dollar and fifty cents. He had only two common files with which to form the verge, which was made from a darning-needle. He was very successful in altering over old flint- locks into percussion-locks, for which he received a fair compensation ; also in making pistols. Later on he made a cylinder escapement for a Lepine watch without the . aid of a watchmaker's lathe, for which he received four dollars as compensation.
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The above feats show a marvellous intuition for one elected to the chair of dental science and opera- so young, and a large intelligence in the methods of tive dentistry, which he held for fifteen years. Ultimately, a change in the by-laws of the college making the holding of the dual positions incom- patible, he resigned his chair. Dr. Wetherbee has held the presidency of the Boston Dental College for twenty years, and still fills that office. He was president for one year of the American Dental Convention, also president of the Merrimac Dental Society for one year, and treasurer of the American Dental Association for two years. He is at present first vice-president of the Washingtonian Home, an incorporated institution at No. 41 Waltham street, Boston. He was the first permanent dentist to break away from the practice of a rigid exclusive- ness which held sway in Boston among dental practitioners, and thereby opened the way for the organization of the Massachusetts Dental So- ciety, of which he is now an honorary member. He has been exceedingly loyal to the dental pro- fession. He was the first in Boston to require his students to remain with him for three years, and to promise to attend subsequently a dental college and graduate therefrom. His loyalty to a large clientage is proverbial.
ISAAC J. WETHERBEE.
execution. Arriving at manhood, having obtained a fair education, he studied for the ministry under his father, who was an able and successful clergy- man in the Free Baptist denomination. On June 2, 1841, at North Hampton, N.H., he was set apart by ordination to the gospel ministry, and subse- quently held pastorates at Kittery, Me., and Charles- town, Mass., where he resided in 1845. For several years prior to 1846, he had done.more or less den- tistry for friends in a private way. Therefore when, by reason of ill-health, he found it necessary to re- linquish his former profession, he was well trained to enter upon his present profession. He pursued his studies as best he could with the limited text- books then extant, and in 1850 graduated from the Baltimore Dental College, the first, and the then only, dental college in the world, since which time he has held first rank among the leading dentists of the country. In 1865 the Boston Dental Insti- tute was organized, and Dr. Wetherbee was elected president. It held its meetings monthly, and lec- tures were delivered on dental science and allied subjects, until it was superseded by a charter for the Boston Dental College, granted June 3, 1868. In July following the college was fully organized by the choice of Dr. Wetherbee as its president, and B. B. Perry as its secretary. Dr. Wetherbee was also
WETHERBEE, ROSWELL, M.D., son of Daniel and Clarissa (Jones) Wetherbee, was born in Acton, Mass., Aug. 30, 1857. He was educated in the public schools of Acton, the high school in Fram- ingham, and the Harvard Medical School, from which he graduated in 1881. He has since prac- tised in Cambridge, where he served for a long pe- riod as city physician. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the Cambridge Medical Improvement Association, and the Har- vard Medical School Association. He was married June 3, 1885, in the Charlestown district, to Miss Annie, daughter of Francis Raymond.
WETHERELL, GEORGE H., architect, son of John I .. and Mary ( Bradlee) Wetherell, was born in Boston June 2, 1854. After a training in Boston schools and the Institute of Technology, he went abroad, where he studied two years in Paris in the École des Beaux Arts. Returning to Boston, he began the practice of his profession, and was for some years at the head of the office of the late Nathaniel J. Bradlee. In 1885 he formed a part- nership with Walter T. Winslow, under the firm name of Winslow & Wetherell, with offices at No. 3 Hamilton place, and this connection has since continued. His work is shown in many business structures in Boston, and a number in Kansas City,
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fire-proof and substantial in construction, with con- venient and comfortable interiors. Among the designs of the firm are the Hemenway Building on Tremont street and Pemberton square, the Globe, Marlborough, and Pray Buildings on Washington street, the Children's Hospital buildings on the Back Bay, and other notable structures. Mr. Wetherell was married in 1883, to Miss Cumings, of Boston.
WHALL, WILLIAM B. F., son of William J. and Anne (Dolan) Whall, both born in county Kil- kenny, Ireland, was born in Salem street, Boston, almost under the shadow of old Christ Church, March 10, 1856. He received his early education in private schools, and began his collegiate course in Boston College, completing it in the College of the Holy Cross of Worcester, from which he received his A.B. in 1874, and A.M. in 1876. At both of these colleges he won the university prizes for elocution and English essay-writing. After graduating from Holy Cross he became assistant professor in ancient languages and mathematics at Loyola College, Baltimore, which position he held for two years. . While thus engaged in teaching he began the study of law in the University of Mary- land, and in May, 1876, graduated with the degree
the State of Maryland) he was admitted to the Baltimore bar, being then only twenty years of age. He immediately removed to Boston, and, entering the post-graduate class of the Boston University Law School, spent a year more attending lectures and reviewing his previous studies, in June, 1877, receiving an additional degree in law. In Novem- ber, that year, he was admitted to the Massachu- setts bar, and in February, 1878, began the practice of his profession here. About that time the posi- tion of assistant lecturer in the Boston University Law School was offered him by the dean, Judge Bennett, but he declined it for business reasons. In 1881, in conjunction with Edward A. McLaugh- lin (the present clerk of the lower house of the Legislature), he prepared the copy of the " Public Statutes " for the press; he also prepared the copy for enactment. In 1886-7 he was a member of the Boston common council; and from 1887 to 1890 he was commissioner of insolvency for the county of Suffolk, declining a reappointment. He has been first vice-president of the Young Men's Catholic National Union of America, and has also occupied the same position in the Alumni Associ- ation of Holy Cross College. He was one of the founders of the Clover Club, drafted its constitution, and was its secretary for the first two years of its existence. In politics he has always been a Demo- crat. Mr. Whall was married on June 18, 1888, at Brooklyn, N.Y., to Miss Helena Angela Le Blanc, of Brooklyn. Since 1888 he has resided in East Boston.
WHEELER, MORRIS PLUMER, M.D., son of Philip C. Wheeler, of Wakefield, Mass., was born in Man- chester, N.H., Nov. 7, 1842. He was educated in the public schools of Wakefield, and graduated from the Harvard Medical School M.D. in 1874. He then associated himself with Dr. O. S. Sanders, at the same time attending lectures in the Boston Uni- versity School of Medicine. In 1875 he established himself at No. 19 Allston street, Boston, and the following year moved to the Dorchester district, where he has since remained. He was physician to the Homeopathic Dispensary for five years. He is a member of the Massachusetts and the Boston Homeopathic Medical Societies, and was for five years secretary of the latter. Dr. Wheeler was mar- ried May 16, 1863, to Miss Rosina B., daughter of William Crane, late of Wakefield, Mass.
WILLIAM B. F. WHALL.
WHEELWRIGHT, JOHN T., son of George W. Wheel- of LI .. B. In July of the same year, upon motion of wright, was born in Roxbury Feb. 26, 1856. He Hon. John P. Roe (since then, attorney-general of prepared for college in the Roxbury Latin School,
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and graduated from Harvard in 1876 and the Harvard Law School in 1878. He further studied law with Messrs. Brooks, Ball, & Storey, and was ad- mitted to the Suffolk bar in 1879. He has since practised in Boston, his office now being at No. 39 Court street. He is Democratic in politics, and has been prominent among the younger leaders of his party in the State. He was in 1891 and 1892 assistant quartermaster-general on the staff of Gov- ernor Russell. He resides in Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury district.
WHIDDEN, RENTON, is a son of Thomas J. Whidden, one of the most prominent builders of his time in New England, who began business in Boston in 1845. In 1880 Renton Whidden was admitted to partnership with his father, and when the latter re- tired, in 1888, he and his brother Stephen succeeded to the business, under the style of Whidden & Co., at No. 101 Milk street. The firm is one of the heaviest contracting and building concerns in the city, erecting buildings of every description, com- plete in every detail.
WHIDDEN, STEPHEN, is a son of Thomas J. Whid- den, who began business as a builder in 1845, and became widely known in New England. Upon the retirement of the elder Whidden, in 1888, he and his brother Renton succeeded to the business, and it has since continued under the firm name of Whidden & Co., at 101 Milk street.
WHIPPLE, JOHN JAY, son of Ferdinand and Han- nah (Sweet) Whipple, was born in Worcester, . Mass., Dec. 31, 1847. He was educated in the public schools of that city. When a young man, in 1866, he entered the business of drugs and groceries, under the firm name of J. J. Whipple & Co., which has continued to the present time. In 1885 he was a member of the lower house of the Legislature, in which he served as chairman of the committee on water-supply and as clerk of that on insurance ; in 1884 and 1885 he was the secretary of the Re- publican State central committee ; and the same years, and also in 1886, he was on the staff of Gov- . ernor Robinson, with the rank of colonel. He was chairman of the first board of wage arbitration that ever existed in New England. In Brockton he was a selectman in 1878, when it was still a town ; a member of the school board for nine years : a water commissioner for four years ; and mayor of the city in 1886 and 1887. He is president of the Brock- ton Savings Bank, a director in the Brockton Na- tional Bank, and one of the proprietors of the
Brockton City Theatre. He is a prominent mem- ber of the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders. Colo- nel Whipple was married on June 22, 1869, in Brockton, to Miss Helen (). Howard ; they have three children : Mary Helen, Edith Bell, and How- ard F. Whipple.
WHITCOMB, CHARLES W., son of Benjamin D. and Mary M. (McIntire) Whitcomb, was born in Bos-
CHARLES W. WHITCOMB.
ton July 31, 1855. He attended the Boston public schools, entered Bowdoin College in 1872, and two years later joined the junior class of Dartmouth, graduating therefrom in the class of 1876. While at Dartmouth he received several prizes in athletic contests, and wrote the class ode for Commence- ment day. After leaving college he attended the law lectures in the University of Göttingen, and travelled abroad until the summer of 1878 .. Re- turning to Boston, he entered the Boston University Law School and was graduated in 1880. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar just previous to gradu- ation, and began practice in Boston in the office of J. H. Benton, jr., with which he had become con- nected while at the law school. Subsequently he opened an office of his own. In 1886, upon the creation of the office of fire marshal, a State office judicial in character, and instituted for the purpose of holding inquests as to causes of fires and the prosecution of incendiaries, he was appointed to the
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position by Governor Robinson, and was reappointed and therapeutics. Dr. White is also visiting physi- in 1889 by Governor Ames. In 1883 and 1884 Mr. cian to the Suffolk Dispensary, which position he Whitcomb was a member of the common council. Declining a third nomination, in 1885 he was the Republican candidate for the governor's council. In 1883, 1884, and 1885 he was secretary of the Republican city committee. He was married June 26, 1884, in Boston, to Miss Marie M. Woodsum ; they have three children : Benjamin H., Charles Wilbur, jr., and Dorothy Whitcomb.
WHITCOMB, RUSSELL, was born in Malden, Mass., May 6, 1865. His parents moved to Boston when he was a child, and here he was fitted for college in Chauncy Hall School and under a private tutor. He studied law for two years in the office of At- torney-General Russell, of New York; and then, in 1885, entered the real-estate business in Boston with Edward F. Thayer, who had been established in the Equitable Building since 1877. On the death of Mr. Thayer Mr. Whitcomb succeeded to the business, and soon developed it to even larger proportions. The firm of Whitcomb, Weed, & Co. was formed, and the original offices of Mr. Thayer were occupied until the Ist of April, 1891. Then their increased business necessitated removal to the suite of five offices at No. 38, on the same floor of the Equitable Building. These pleasant rooms ex- tend along the entire Federal street side of the building, and have two large windows on Milk street. The firm's specialty is the sale and leasing of down- town real estate in the wholesale and retail districts. They have control of a large number of buildings, making the leases and collecting the rents. They also do an extensive business in Brookline real estate. Mr. Weed, the second partner, is a native of Malone, N.Y., a graduate of Dartmouth (class of 1872) and of the Albany Law School ; he practised in Malone and subsequently was admitted to the Massachusetts as well as the New York courts. Lawrence Whitcomb, the junior member, was edu- cated in the Roxbury Latin School, and before entering the firm had for ten years been identified with the shoe and leather trade.
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