USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > Centennial memorial of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts > Part 10
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The public confidence reposed in his ability and in- tegrity may be seen by considering the numerous and important civil and ecclesiastical offices that he has hon- orably filled, and the public interests that have been safely committed to his care. He was chosen to the office of Selectman in 1850, the year that Lynn became
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a city, and was a member of the Common Council in 1850 and 1851. In 1854 he was elected Mayor, taking the oath of office April 3. He was director of the Laigh- ton Bank from 1849 to 1854, when, resigning, he was elected a director in the City Bank, and still holds that position in the National City Bank of Lynn. IIc has also been Vice President of the Five Cents Savings Bank from the date of its organization. In all of these impor- tant and responsible positions and relations Mr. R.'s con- duct has been characterized by intelligence, frankness, and spotless integrity. The confidence of the citizens in his fidelity and incorruptible honesty has in no case been disturbed, and has indeed become perfectly established. In early life Mr. R. became identified with the Common St. Methodist E. Church, and has been called to fill all of the offices open to laymen in that church, such as class-leader, steward, trustee, teacher and superintend- ent of the Sunday school. His counsel has been desired in many of the important organizations of Christian and benevolent activity. For twenty years he has been a Trustee of the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham. He now is, and during several years has been, President of the Asbury Camp Meeting Association, has been several times a delegate to the New England Annual Conference, and in 1876 was delegate to the General Conference held in the city of Baltimore.
The confidence of the public in his business integrity is not greater than that had in the sincerity and purity of his Christian character. Though always true to the obligations arising from the relations sustained by him- self to his own denomination, to which he is ardently attached, he has ever given a generous response to de- mands made by outside organizations aiming to promote
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public morals, relieve suffering, suppress crime, ignorance and misery, and has cherished a true brotherly and catholic spirit towards all denominations of Christians. Every interest of education, morals and philanthropy, has found in him a friend.
It is well known that a frank, outspoken expression of opinion characterizes Mr. R., but it is grounded in an honest and true heart, which detests untruthfulness and guile, and cherishes nothing but good will towards all men.
Upon a fair and candid estimate of the virtues and life of Mr. Richardson, we can confidently pronounce the city happy which may be blessed and honored by citi- zens and public servants marked by so much truc moral and Christian integrity, usefulness and fidelity.
Such a life has its lessons.
We see that the true citizen has influence outside of his profession. He finds contact with society at many important points, other than those involved in his busi- ness connections. Indeed he makes the fruit of his skill and industry, by the sound principles and methods of his business, the means of his own culture and the promotion of public welfare.
A shoe manufacturer, as we have seen, can diffuse a salutary influence in many important directions, beyond the limits of mere business life.
Every man, who makes such use of his talents and opportunities, adds greatly to the moral forees that pro- mote the best interests of the city or state, while he whose whole life is in his basiness is of little account to anybody but himself, however prospered in the acquisi- tion of riches. The possibilities of usefulness with pub- lic men are unlimited. But this fact is best realized
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when illustrations of honorable success stand out before the eye. To be able to see, from the beginning, the suc- cessive steps that have led one, still living, to honor, usefulness and public esteem, tends to awaken the no- blest aspirations of others and especially youthful minds.
Wealth, learning and genius often give distinction to communities, but neither of these can claim the highest . place ; for they have sometimes not been wanting in individuals and communities sunken to the lowest depths of moral degradation.
The citizen or public officer who is to contribute, while he is living and when dead, the most important influence to the welfare of the city, must, like the subject of this sketch, incorporate into his character and life the sub- stance of goodness.
We may well hope that the brief but instructive sketches of the citizens whom Lynn has delighted to honor will not only occupy a conspicuous page in the Centennial History, but contribute much good and per- manent influence, by inspiring a just ambition, and in promoting a true manhood in the citizens, and especially in those who may succeed to the same distinction in office.
Of this happy result, the best hope may be indulged in regard to the character of the honored citizen here delineated.
Andrews Brede
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ANDREWS BREED.
MR. BREED was the fifth Mayor of Lynn, filling the office during the year 1855. He was born here Septem- ber 20, 1794, and is still living, a hale old gentleman. When he was five years old, his father removed with his family to Salem, where he took charge of a public house, continuing there till 1811, when he returned hither, and two years later, that is, in 1813, became landlord of Lynn Hotel, which was built in 1803, at the time the Turnpike was completed. It was a famous house for many years, and did a successful business till the opening of the Eastern Railroad, in 1838, when travel was diverted and its fortunes began to wane.
Mayor Breed attended the district school till the age of fourteen, at which time boys of that period were usually put to such employment as was expected to be their life estate. He, however, remained at home till 1816, assisting his father.
At the early age of eighteen years he held a commis- sion as Adjutant of the Fourth Regiment, under Col. Samuel Brimblecom ; and one incident in his military career may be noticed. Late one evening, during the war of 1812, there was an alarm given to the effect that the British troops had arrived in Salem harbor, and an order received that the regiment must be formed and march, forthwith, to that town. Cannon belched forth the warlike summons, " and then," continued Mr. Breed, in relating the occurrence, " I immediately mounted my horse, and in sixty minutes the regiment was formed on
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the Common and under marching orders, Consider Orcutt being Major. We marched through Franklin street, met Col. Brimblecom on the Turnpike, and proceeded on- ward ; but when we reached the top of Farrington's hill two videttes appeared, to notify us that the alarm was false. We then returned to the Common and dis- missed the regiment. Matthew Cox, of Lynnfield, was Lieut. Colonel ; but, the alarm not reaching his district, neither he nor the Lynnfield company joined in the march." By other accounts we learn that this was a very stirring incident. When the march commenced, women followed their husbands and boys their fathers, all in great fear and excitement. And when the counter- march commenced, and the tide of feeling shifted, these followers turned their faces homeward with the most rampant expressions of joy.
During the year 1816, Mr. Breed went to Charles- town, entering the employment of the widely known firm of Skinner and IIurd, dealers in West India goods, as clerk and book-keeper. In that capacity he remained for seven years, much of the time working sixteen hours a day, and then became a member of the firm, con- tinuing a partner for six years.
In 1829 he returned to Lynn and built the house on Boston street, between Marion and Mall, the land ex- tending back to the Turnpike. In April of that year he formed a partnership with his brothers, Henry A. and Daniel N., in the West India goods business, which con- tinned till the first of January, 1836. But his business relations were not confined to one particular branch, for during this period he conducted the Lynn Hotel, and owned it for many years afterward.
Of the Lynn Whaling Company, formed in 1832, he
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ANDREWS BREED.
was one of the largest owners as well as general agent ; and with Francis S. Newhall and Isaiah Breed formed the board of trustees. The company was dissolved in 1848, on the sale of their last ship, the Commodore Preble.
Mr. Breed was an active member of the old Whig party, serving as chief marshal at the grand mass meet- ing held in 1844, when 12,000 persons were estimated to be present, it being the largest gathering which had ever been held in Essex County.
For thirty-four years Mr. Breed was Secretary and Treasurer of the Lynn Mutual Fire Insurance Company ; and for ten years President of the Lynn Institution for Savings. He was also President of the Union Insurance Company, and the first Secretary of the Sagamore Mu- tual Fire Insurance Company, formed in 1852.
Ile served as Chief Engineer of the Fire Department for seven years, and was chosen to serve on the first board of City Assessors.
Indeed, for many years after his return to Lynn, in 1829, he was not only actively engaged in his own per- sonal affairs, but more or less concerned in almost every promising measure of public improvement. He laid out that part of Summer street which extends from the mills, formerly known as Chase's, to Boston street, much of it being through his own land. He also, in connec- tion with his brother Henry, laid out Commercial street. Many of the trees which now adorn our Common were procured from the woods and set out with his own hands.
On the completion of the railroad now known as the Sangus Branch, which was opened as an independent line in 1853, he was appointed Saperintendent, and held the office till that road was purchased by the Eastern. Prob- ably there is no one now living whose active business life
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covers such a long period of our history, as town and city, or whose leading pursuits were more varied. And the facts already stated are quite sufficient to prove that he did his part in promoting the prosperity and growth of his native place.
IIe has more than once been seriously affected, pecu- niarily, by the seasons of business prostration which have periodically occurred during our whole history, but his elasticity of spirit and perseverance have sustained him under circumstances where most others would have yielded to discouragement. Ilis memory of occurrences hereabout, in times when our present business men were infants, is retentive, and his terse narrations are more than ordinarily interesting. In 1855 he built the house on North Common street on the site for more than a con- tury occupied by the venerable Parson Henchman house, and there resided till within a few years, when he removed to Lancaster, in Worcester county, where he now lives.
Mr. Breed, although not a member of any church, has, during his whole life, been a constant adherent of the old Orthodox faith, and during his residence here was an at- tendant on the ministrations at the First Church. That parish has probably never had a truer friend, he having done much to sustain it by pecuniary aid during some of its most trying periods. For forty years he was its Treasurer, and for over twenty-five years Librarian of the Sunday school.
While in Charlestown, on the 29th of August, 1822, Mr. Breed was united in marriage with Miss Susan Davis, of Westford, Mass., and by her had six children, namely : Edward A., #Susan D., *Charles II., *Susan D., again, Frank P., and Anna L. Those designated by a star are not now living.
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EZRA WARREN MUDGE.
MR. Mudge, the sixth Mayor, was born in Lynn, on the fifth of December, 1811, and was a son of Hon. Ezra Mudge, by his second wife, Ruth Chadwell. The house in which he was born stood on the easterly side of Mar- ket street, near the corner of Oxford.
His father was highly respected, and long entrusted by his fellow-townsmen with the management of important public interests. For sixteen years he represented the town in the Legislature, first taking his seat in 1807 ; was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1829, and of the Executive Council in 1828. He was a sup- porter of the administration of President Jackson, and during the General's first term received an appointment in the Boston Custom House. Removing to the city, soon after, he continued to reside there till the time of his death, in 1855, at the age of seventy-five.
The education of the subject of this sketch began in the little school house at the west end of the Common, first under good old Master Blanchard and then under Master Willard. In 1825 and '26 he attended Lynn Academy, then in charge of Ripley P. Adams. From the Academy he went to a book-binding establishment in Fall River, where he remained a year, with a view to learn the trade. But this he gave over, and in 1828 went into the dry goods store of Chase and Huse, in the western part of the town, that being the section in which the principal retail business was then carried on. The
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store had a large trade, for the day of rauroads had hardly dawned, and it was too expensive, in time and money, for the people to go abroad for ordinary pur- chases. In this store, first as clerk and salesman, and then as partner, Mr. Mudge remained till 1849. At that time the Laighton Bank - which in 1865 became the Central National -was established, and he was elected Cashier; and that responsible position he has filled to the present time ; a fact in itself complete evidence of his capacity and integrity, and of the confi- dence reposed in him.
Before the formation of the city government, the ser- vices of Mr. Mudge were claimed in various offices of trust and responsibility. He was a Selectman, a member of the School Committee and Town Treasurer, for a num- ber of years. For the first six years after our incorpora- tion as a city he held the office of Treasurer. With the Public Library he has been connected ever since its found- ation, and is now President of the Board of Trustees.
He was inaugurated as Mayor in 1856, and held the office two years ; his administration being marked throughont by care and a sense of responsibility in every department, most worthy of imitation. He never sanc- tioned the niggardly policy that " tends to poverty," nor the extravagance that runs riot in the name of liberality. His whole record here, indeed the record of his whole public life, has been such that all of us, his fellow- natives, may in it feel unfeigned satisfaction.
Mr. Mudge's habits of study and taste for literature, early formed, have led to the accumulation of a library numbering from 2,000 to 3,000 volumes; and among these silent companions and instructors, when released from business cares, he spends hours of real enjoyment.
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EZRA W. MUDGE.
HIc has long been especially interested in historical studies, and his library shelves are well supplied with volumes in that interesting department- many of them rare and costly. And all who are engaged in investiga- tions among the lore of the past find him a ready and efficient helper, his own researches aud retentive memory often enabling him to supply at once what would other- wise require wearying pursuit.
Mr. Mudge was an earnest supporter of the Union in the late civil war, and his son William R. enlisted in its service in 1862. A severe and somewhat remarkable fortune attended this son, as a soldier. At the battle of Chancellorville, May 3, 1863, he was in the most raging part of the fight, and received a desperate wound, a bullet passing entirely through his head, from left to right, and cutting away and forever destroying all the nerves of sight. He was left for dead on the field, and there remained sixty hours, during twenty-four of which he continued unconscious. He was revived by a copious rain, and with a hundred and fifty wounded comrades was removed from the field on which he had fallen, and received the kindest attention from a detach- ment of North Carolina soldiers. He was brought home to Lynn, helpless, and totally blind, but finally, as if by a miracle, so far regained his general health as to be able to carry on a considerable business in the " shoc finding" way. He shows wonderful energy, industry and business taet, and is much esteemed as a citizen.
In his religious views Mr. Mudge has long ranked as a Universalist ; and few among us have been more faith- ful to convictions ; his pecuniary contributions helping to sustain the worship, and his Christian example silently recommending the faith.
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On the 23d of January, 1837, he was united in mar- riage with Miss Eliza Robinson Bray, of Salem, and the union has remained unsevered. Nine children have been born to them, whose names follow, those not now living being designated by a star: * Ezra Warren, Wil- liam Ropes, *Mary Chadwell, *Hervey Mackey, #Howard Murray, Florence Howard, Arthur Bartlett, Benjamin Cushing, Kate Gertrude.
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Mm F. Johnson
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WILLIAM FREDERIC JOHNSON.
MR. JOHNSON, the seventh Mayor, was born at Na- hant, which was then a part of Lynn, on the 30th of July, 1819. IIc was a son of Caleb and Olive (Hart- well) Johnson ; and the antiquated mansion in which he drew his first breath is still standing, and known as the " Caleb Johnson house." It is the oldest on Nahant, and the same in which his father was born, in 1778, and lived until his death at about the age of ninety.
With the exception of about one year of private in- struction his education was received at the public school of Nahant. Among his teachers were the late Amos Rhodes, of Lynn, so well known and so highly respected for his unobtrusive virtues, and Elijah II. Downing, like- wise well known and much esteemed, and who afterward became a Methodist minister, but later a minister of the Episcopal church.
Early in life Mr. Johnson was employed partly at the trade of shocmaking and partly at farming. In 1847 he travelled in Europe with the late Edward Bromfield Phillips, remaining there about a year. Soon after his return he opened a grocery and provision store in Mar- ket Square, at the west end of Lynn Hotel. From that period he was frequently called to take part in public affairs. In 1852 and '53 he was an Assessor, in 1855 a member of the Board of Aldermen, and in 1856 a Rep- resentative in the General Court.
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It was in 1858 that he was elected to fill the Mayor's chair ; a year especially demanding the exercise of pru- dence and vigilance ; for it was a time during which perhaps the most remarkable agitations in the financial world that have occurred for half a century, took place. And that he had a lively sense of the posture of affairs, and of the grave demands on one in his position, is ap- parent from the opening part of his Inaugural Address. He remarks : " We enter upon our duties in what may be considered peculiar times. Our city, the country, and, I might add, the entire world, have never endured so severe a financial depression as that through which we are now passing ; our people have been severely em- barrassed, while our manufacturers have struggled vio- lently to sustain themselves against financial destruction. In the midst of such a commercial crisis, when the en- tire people are disposed to economize, it is our duty to look particularly at the finances of our city, and make an earnest effort to diminish our expenses." And in ac- cordance with the policy here shadowed forth, we find Mr. Johnson, during his administration, endeavoring to retrench and save wherever it could be done without ab- solutely jeopardizing any material interest.
He became interested in temperance work in early life, and in 1840 was heartily engaged in the Washingtonian movement ; was one of the vice presidents of the first Washingtonian Society in Lynn, and for several years president of the Lynn Total Abstinence Society, and secre- tary of the Essex County Temperance Society. While Mayor he did his utmost to prevent the escape of liquor sellers from the penalties of the law, and several of the " respectable dealers " had occasion to know that social position was with him of no account in view of duty.
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Ile was also strict in his requirements regarding public amusements, being ever watchful against anything of immoral tendency, or that might conduce to the disturb- ance of good order. As a matter of course, such an one would not always remain popular with a certain class ; yet he has retained the good will of the people in gen- eral, to a wonderful extent, and the confidence of all, in his integrity and ability.
In 1860 and '61 Mr. Johnson was again called to serve as Assessor. In 1862 and '63 he was a State Senator. In 1874 he was again a member of the Board of Alder- men. But perhaps the most responsible office, in some respects, he ever held, was that of State Paymaster at Washington, to which he was appointed in 1864, by Governor Andrew, the arduous and sometimes perplexing duties of which he performed to the satisfaction of all interested.
It will be seen by the foregoing that Mr. Johnson has been a good deal in public life, that few among us have been elevated to so many important offices ; and these calls for his services well attest the general satisfaction in his ability and fidelity. Faithfulness and care have characterized his official conduct throughout ; and he has never been charged with giving way to speculative promptings or experimenting with airy suggestions. It would be agreeable, did space allow, to refer somewhat. at large to his connection with some of our charitable organizations - for instance, to his efficient labors in the establishment of the " Home for Aged Women," and to his efforts in maintaining and rendering most widely useful the " City Mission," of which association he is now president - but we must forbear.
A number of years since he became attached to the
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Episcopal church, and has ever remained an active and liberal supporter of the same ; has been one of the chief officers of St. Stephen's parish, and there, as elsewhere, has been always ready to do his part in helping forward every good work.
In 1865 he was chosen Secretary of the Lynn Mutual Fire Insurance Company, an old institution of high standing and much usefulness ; and that office he still holds, by annual election, showing that his usefulness in that position, also, is appreciated.
In May, 1842, he was united in marriage with Miss Abby Stone, granddaughter of the late Rev. Eliab Stone, of Reading. She lived but four years, and in June, 1850, he was married to Miss Lurancy II. Dexter, daughter of Dr. Theodore Dexter, of Boston ; and by this marriage has had five children, but two of whom, Theodore Dexter and Charlotte Gertrude, are now living.
divend David.
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.
EDWARD SWAIN DAVIS.
MR. DAVIS was born in Lynn on the 22d of June, 1808. Ilis parents were Hugh and Elizabeth (Bachelor) Davis, the latter being a descendant from Rev. Stephen Bach- elor, first minister of the Lynn church, settled in 1632.
The subject of this sketch received his education partly in the public schools of Lynn, and partly in the Academy ; which latter he left in 1826. Ile was soon after ap- pointed clerk of Lynn Mechanics Bank, and in that po- sition remained till he became of age. ITis health being now such that a change of residence seemed desirable, he removed to Philadelphia and commenced business as a commission merchant. There he remained till 1833, when Nahant Bank was established ; and being offered a position in that institution, accepted, and returned to his native place. In the bank and in the Union Insur- ance company he continued till 1837, and then resigned.
Soon after leaving the bank he began business as a shoe manufacturer, but relinquished that and returned to the institution on being appointed cashier, and remained till its affairs were finally closed up. He then spent several years of enforced idleness on account of ill health. though occupying a part of the time as a book-keeper. Subsequently he was appointed to a place in the United States Bonded Warehouse, in Boston. In 1861 he en- tered as a clerk in the State Auditor's office ; and from that time to the present has remained in the same de- partment, filling the offices of first and second clerk.
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Mr. Davis was, in early manhood, something of a mil- itary man ; was in 1835 elected Major of the Regi- ment of Light Infantry attached to the First Brigade of Essex county, and remained in commission as Major and Lieutenant Colonel, most of the time in command, till 1843.
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