Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II, Part 84

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1008

USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 84

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Few men had so large a circle of friends, and it will be as a friend that the community at large will best remember him. There was a large-heartedness about him and a kindli- ness toward his fellow-men that drew all to- ward him. It was natural to turn to him for help or for advice, and no deserving person ever went to Mr. Ray for either without com- ing away satisfied that in him they had a kind friend. The instances of this kindness are in- numerable, and no one but himself and the recipients of his help can tell how wide-reach- ing was his benevolence. Many a young man has been helped in his education ; many a poor family has received aid and comfort; many business men have been started in life by his influence or support. If any man found him-

self overwhelmed with financial troubles, it was Mr. Ray's counsel or loan of money that tided over the crisis. With a life brimful of activities, he found time to listen patiently to every call that came to him, and listened as if your trouble was his trouble. All classes of people found in him a trusted counsellor. He had a remarkable knowledge of men and in- sight into character, and to a marked degree was a lover of his fellow-men.

He died in Franklin, February 24, 1900. The following is from the funeral discourse delivered by Rev. Dr. Hodge :

"Mr. Ray was a successful man. Make your definition of success just as high and just as broad as you please, he yet fulfilled it. Make it include not only the accumulation, through honorable and manly struggle, of this world's goods, but also the building up in full measure of an elevated character, the living of a broad and useful life ; make it involve a just and true concern for the things of the spirit, and yet one can well say he lived a successful life. The man was more than all his possess- ions. Great as has been his success as a busi- ness man, intense as the battle with the world has been, he was not absorbed by it. One does not know how he found time, with the many business cares that pressed upon him, to do so many things, care for so many things, to live so much upon the spiritual side, the do- mestic side, the social side. But we all know that he did do this. For many years a mem- ber of this (the Universalist) church, always present if possible at its services on Sunday, its interests lay very close to his heart. He found time to think about and serve the church ; to interest himself in the cause of edu- cation ; to take a loyal citizen's interest in poli- tics, in whatever moral reform our modern life demands. And this large success in life was his own achievement. He succeeded in life in large ways and with large results, not because of any fortunate accident, not because he began life with any advantage, but by his own native energy and force of character."

Mr. Ray married, February 12, 1854, Emily Rockwood, born June 2, 1823, died February 17, 1902, daughter of Colonel Joseph and Anne Rockwood, of Bellingham. Children : I. Lydia Paine, born July 22, 1855; married, June 25, 1903, Arthur W. Peirce, principal of Dean Academy. 2. Annie Rockwood, born July 29, 1857; married Adelbert Davis Thayer, born October 27, 1849, son of Davis Jr. and Mary Martha (Whiting) Thayer.

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The recent movement on the WHITMAN part of certain of the de- scendants of John Whit- man, of Weymouth, to ascertain the exact loca- tion of the ancient homestead of the immi- grant and erect thereon a suitable and sub- stantial memorial, appears to have awakened a new and commendable interest to perpetuate his name. He was beyond question one of the most worthy and exemplary planters in the colony in his time, and his upright life and high character seem to have left their impress on the lives and characters of his children and children's children even to the present genera- tion. The movement referred to found its inspiration in the published statement of Mr. Chief Justice Whitman, of the supreme court of Maine, in 1832, wherein he said that "John Whitman, one of the early settlers of the town of Weymouth, Massachusetts, is the ancestor, if not all, yet of nearly all, of the name of Whitman, as well as of an equal number at. least bearing other names, in this country." In 1889, Professor Charles H. Farnum, of the chair of archaeology at Yale, repeated the statement of Chief Justice Whitman and made it the opening sentence of his genealogy of the Whitman family. Still later, Frank M. Whit- man, a veteran of the civil war and afterward an officer of the customs service of the federal government, "conceived the idea of locating the site of his ancestor's homestead and of erecting thereon some memorial." But it re- mained for other of John Whitman's descend- ants, of the eighth and ninth generations, to renew the work and carry out the idea. This pleasant duty was assumed by Mr. William Whitman, of Boston and Brookline. At his suggestion a careful research was made by his son, Mr. Malcolm Douglass Whitman, and the result of the research has been printed in a little pamphlet for the information of the thousands of persons who claim descent form an honored and honorable ancestor-John Whitman, of Weymouth.

(I) John Whitman, of Weymouth, was of English birth, and is believed to have come from Holt, Norfolkshire, which appears to have been a seat of the Whitmans for many years anterior. Winthrop and his colonists came from the vicinity of Holt and settled in Weymouth. John Whitman came to Wey- mouth probably about 1635. He was made freeman March 13, 1638-9: was a town officer in 1643 ; was appointed by the governor ensign of the train band in 1645 (probably the first military officer appointed in the town), and

served as such until March 16, 1680. May 14, 1645, he was appointed magistrate, com- missioner to end small causes, and also was deacon of the church, probably from the time of its foundation, and sustained that office until his death, November 13, 1692. May 15. 1664, he was appointed commissioner to visit the Indians, and at various other times filled offices of trust in the town. He owned and lived on a farm adjoining the north side of the highway leading by the north side of the meeting house of the north parish of Wey- mouth, and directly against it, and extending to Weymouth river. His house was near the middle of the farm, and it is said that a part of the building now on the place was erected about 1680; if this date is accurate, the build- ing was occupied by the ancestor. A portion of it was purchased for the purpose of a memorial by Mr. William Whitman, of Brook- line, a direct descendant in the eighth genera- tion of John Whitman, of Weymouth. John Whitman had several grants of land, and by purchase and otherwise evidently became one of the most extensive land owners in the town. It is supposed that he married in England, and that his family did not come to Weymouth until 1641. He had a brother, Zachariah, who settled in Milford, Connecticut, as early as 1639, and by his will devised his- estate at Mil- ford to Rev. Zechariah Whitman, son of his brother, John. Pope's "Pioneers of Massa- chusetts" shows that Zachariah Whitman, age forty, came with his wife, Sarah, age thirty- five, and child, Zachariah, in the "Elizabeth," from Weymouth, England, April 11, 1635. Deacon John Whitman had children : I. Thomas, born about 1629; died 1712. 2. John, died February I. 1713. 3. Zechariah, born 1644. 4. Abiah (or Abijah), born 1646; died January 28. 1727-8: inherited the homestead. 5. Sarah, married Abraham Jones. 6. Mary, born 1634: died July 10, 1716. 7. Elizabeth, died February 2, 1720. 8. Hannah, born Au- gust 24, 1641. 9. Judith.

(II) Rev. Zechariah Whitman, son of John Whitman, of Weymouth, was born in Wey- mouth, in 1644, graduated from Harvard Col- lege in 1668, was ordained September 13, 1670, and became the first minister at Point Alder- ton, Nantasket or Hull, with an annual salary of forty pounds. Marmaduke Matthews had been preaching at Hull, but on account of "sev- eral erroneous expressions" was admonished by the court, "which would not grant the desire of his people to have him return." Mr. Whit- man remained minister at Hull until his death.

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although he had a colleague, Rev. Ezra Car- penter, ordained November 24, 1725. Mr. Whitman died November 5, 1726. He attained a ripe old age in the work of the ministry, and even when full of years his people would not part with him entirely, hence in August previ- ous to his death the town voted to pay his children twenty-five pounds yearly for his maintenance while he lived and did not preach. He was a good and learned man, and it is said that during his active life he wrote most of the wills and legal papers for his people in Hull. A notice of him in the Boston News Letter, December 15, 1726, states that "he was well esteemed for his natural and acquired accomplishments ; but especially for steady piety, diligent zeal and faithfulness in the dis- charge of his pastoral office; the exemplari- ness of his conversation ; and his patience and submission to the will of God under his afflic- tions." On the death of his uncle, Zachariah Whitman, of Milford, Mr. Whitman inherited his estate in that town, besides the remainder of a considerable property in lands at Stow. October 26, 1670, Rev. Zechariah Whitman married Sarah, twin daughter of Dr. John Alcock (Harvard, 1646), of Roxbury; died April 3, 1715 ; children, all born in Hull : I. Zechariah, 1672; died 1752. 2. John, 1674; died February 22, 1684. 3. Joanna, married Hunt ; lived in Boston. 4. Rev. Samuel, born 1677 ; died July 31, 1751 ; graduated Har- vard College, 1696; tutor at Harvard ; preached occasionally, 1697-1701 ; teacher of grammar school, Salem, 1699; minister at Framingham, Connecticut ; ordained, 1706; fellow at Yale, 1726, and for twenty years afterward. 5.

Sarah, married (first) --- Cocks ; (second) Lieutenant Robert Gould ; cared for her father during his declining years, and he deeded her his homestead. 6. Elizabeth, died in Hull, November 19, 1708. 7. John, born 1688. 8. Mary, married Nathaniel Jacobs, of Hull. 9. Eunice, born April 10, 1696; died October 4, 1734.

(III) Deacon John (2), son of Rev. Zecha- riah and Sarah ( Alcock) Whitman, was born in Hull, in 1688, and died in Stow, August 3, 1772. He was a magistrate, deacon of the church, possessed large means, and was a man of much influence in the town. He acquired large tracts of land in Stow by inheritance from his father, and also by purchase, besides which he inherited other lands there from his second wife and her brother. He married (first ) Mary Graves, died November 24, 1716; (sec- ond) Dorcas, widow of Thomas Chitty, daugh-

ter of Captain Jacob Green, of Charlestown. She died October 18, 1718, and he married (third ) Margaret Damon, died October 16, 1758, widow of John Damon, of Charlestown, and daughter of Rev. John Clark. Deacon Whitman had children: 1. Jacob, born No- vember 16, 1716; died May 10, 1802; settled at Bristol, Rhode Island, about 1745; was a blacksmith, especially skilled as a shipsmith ; deputy to general assembly three times ; mem- ber of town council, 1769-73; appointed state sealer of weights and measures, 1778; pos- sessed large means and subscribed liberally to the building fund for the college of Brown University and the president's house. 2. John, born September 21, 1717. 3. Lucy, born Jan- uary I, 1718-19. 4. Thomas, born March 18, 1720; was a physician and died before his father. 5. Zechariah, born November 18. 1722: died January 14, 1793. 6. Jean, born No- vember 25, 1724. 7. Charles, born 1731 ; died December 10, 1807.

(IV) John (3), son of Deacon John (I) Whitman, was born September 21, 1717, and died at Annapolis, Nova Scotia, September 12, 1763. He was a deacon of the church in Stow, and an upright man in all the walks of life. In June, 1761, with forty-five others he went to Nova Scotia in the sloop "Charming Molly," but died before the settlers in that province had received their grants, and his share was afterward distributed among his sons. He married, February 6, 1747, Mary, daughter of Rev. Mr. Foster, of Stafford, Connecticut, and by whom he had eleven children. She survived him and married (second) Samuel Bancroft, by whom she is said to have had several children. Children of John and Mary ( Foster ) Whitman: I. Dorcas, May 5, 1749; married (first) Captain Ebenezer Perry, killed in battle of Bennington, August, 1777; (sec- ond) Samuel McIntire. 2. Daniel, June 6, 1750; died April 3, 1840; settled on part of Whitman grant at Rosette, Nova Scotia ; mar- ried, February 9, 1778, Sarah Kendall, born December 6, 1761, died June 12, 1845. 3. Hannah, August 12, 1751 ; married, October 28, 1772, William Ellery Tufts, of Newburn. 4. Edward, August 6, 1752; died January 15, 1829; settled in second division of township of Annapolis; had farm of three thousand acres, a tannery, and dealt extensively in lands ; married, 1775, Dorothy Gates. 5. John, Sep- tember 25, 1753. 6. Salome, March 25. 1755: died June 5, 1831; married (first) Major Ezekiel Cleveland ; (second) Nathaniel Parker. 7. Elnathan, April 16, 1756: died March I.

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1765. 8. Jacob, October 14, 1757; died Sep- tember, 1837. 9. Isaac, November 3, 1758; died July 20, 1777. 10. Abraham, September IO, 1761 ; died March 14, 1854. II. Mercy, March 26, 1763; died February 13, 1828.

(V) John (4), son of John (3) and Mary ( Foster) Whitman, was born in Stow, Massa- chusetts, September 25, 1753, and died in 1833. He went to Nova Scotia with his father, and after the division of the family grant settled at Round Hill, Annapolis county. He was an enterprising and successful farmer, and was much respected for his integrity of character and moral worth. He married, about 1780, Elizabeth Rice, born in Stow, died in 1856, aged one hundred and two years. Children : I. Elizabeth, died young. 2. John, born 1782; died at Surinam, 1824; mariner. 3. Letitia, born June 26, 1783 ; died March 22, 1873 ; mar- ried, May 9, 1816, William Spurr. 4. Elnathan, born November 18, 1785. 5. Ebenezer, died young. 6. Eli, died young. 7. James, born June 30, 1790; died November 18, 1859. 8. Annie, died young. 9. Maria, born June 19, 1796; died April 5, 1853. 10. Alfred, born 1798; died January 22, 1861 ; was a merchant at Annapolis, and engaged extensively in com- merce ; gave much attention to public affairs ; represented Annapolis county in the provinicial parliament many years, and was a member of the legislative council of the province. II. Dorinda, born September 29, 1800; married Captain John McDormand; died August 15, 1892.

(VI) Elnathan, son of John (4) and Eliza- beth ( Rice) Whitman, was born November 18, 1785, at Round Hill, Annapolis county, Nova Scotia, and died there November 4, 1868. He was a prosperous farmer, and a man of much influence in political affairs in the town and county. He represented Annapolis county in the provincial parliament, 1836-40. He mar- ried (first) in 1812, Eleanor Spurr, who died February 6, 1824, aged thirty-six years ; (sec- ond) in 1827, Charlotte Tupper, died June 8, 1864. Children, five by first wife, and one by second wife, all born in Nova Scotia: I. John, June 3, 1814. 2. William, lost at sea, 1841 ; unmarried. 3. Charles Bailey, born at Rosette, September 25, 1817 : a substantial and practical farmer; magistrate, and commissioner in charge of dikes on Annapolis river ; married, December 9, 1852, Mrs. Jane (Tupper ) Chip- man : died February 8, 1891. 4. Edward, July 30, 1819 ; died November 20, 1820. 5. George, April 3, 1823; a prosperous farmer; always lived on the farm where he was born ; member

of provincial parliament from Annapolis county, 1863-67; and from 1881 for several years member of legislative council of the province. He married, June 3, 1852, Mary Arabella, daughter of Captain Peter Boice. 6. Maria Louisa, May 7, 1831; died May 25, 1884; married, October 19, 1859, Captain Sam- uel Bogart, a wealthy retired ship owner ; lived at Granville Ferry.

(VII) John (5), eldest child of Elnathan and Eleanor (Spurr) Whitman, was born at Round Hill, Nova Scotia, June 3, 1814, and spent his earlier years on the farm where he was born. Later he engaged in mercantile pursuits, retiring from which he made his home in Passaic, New Jersey. He married, June 24, 1841, Rebecca Cutler, born March 4, 1820, died March 7, 1874; children: I. Will- iam, born May 9, 1842. 2. Eben Cutler, De- cember 23, 1843; died in Marietta, Georgia, May 30, 1884; was engaged in business in New York City in company with his brother, Clarence ; lived on Staten Island; married, May 25, 1870, Mary E. Cutler. 3. Eleanor Spurr, August 18, 1845; married, July 28, 1875, Frederick P. Fairbanks, of Halifax, Nova Scotia; now resides in Passaic, New Jersey. 4. Clarence, June 17, 1847 ; a promi- nent New York merchant, residing in that city; resided several years on Staten Island ; married, December 1, 1875, Mary Hoppin, daughter of Marcus Morton, chief justice of supreme court of Massachusetts. 5. John, Jr., April 21, 1849; lived on Staten Island; mar- ried, May 14, 1879, Annie M. Hallett ; died No- vember 16, 1887. 6. Mary Olivia, January 5, 1852; died April 27, 1908. 7. James Spurr, December 22, 1853; graduated from Oxford (England) University ; for several years pro- fessor and incumbent of a pedagogical chair, but on account of impaired health abandoned teaching and devoted himself to literary work in New York and Boston; now in business with his brother Clarence in New York City. 8. Charles, January 24, 1856; died April 27, 1856. 9. Jessie Maria, June 16, 1858 ; married, in Brookline, Massachusetts, June 6, 1883, Robert Lawrence Means, of Boston; (second) Arthur Little, a prominent architect, of Bos- ton. IO. Charles Louis, October 4, 1861; in business in New York City; lived at New Brighton, Staten Island ; married, October 28, 1885, Helen Wheaton Langworthy.

Rebecca Cutler, wife of John Whitman, was born March 4, 1820, daughter of Ebenezer Cutler. Ebenezer Cutler was a son of Eben- ezer Cutler, of Groton, and afterwards of

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Northborough, Massachusetts, who died in 1831. His sympathies were with the mother country in the revolution ; he narrowly escaped imprisonment by the patriots, and accompanied the British troops in 1776 to Halifax, and later was prothonotary of the county of Annapolis. In 1778 his property in America was confis- cated and he was proscribed and banished. He married Miriam, daughter of James Eager, of Westboro, Massachusetts, by whom he had four children, of whom Ebenezer, father of Rebecca, wife of John Whitman, was the only son and eldest child. His second wife was Mary Hicks, of London, England, by whom he had six children.

(VIII) William, eldest son and child of John (5) and Rebecca (Cutler ) Whitman, was born at Round Hill, Annapolis county, Nova Scotia, May 9, 1842, and acquired his early education in the township schools, the public academy at Annapolis, and through private instruction at home. At the early age of eleven years he was thrown upon his own re- sources, and started out to make his own way in life, but even then he had been taught the lessons of industry and self-reliance, qualities which have been conspicuous elements in his later life throughout the more than half cen- tury of his active and remarkably successful business career. It was on May 13, 1854, that young Whitman left home and went to St. John, New Brunswick, to take a position in the office of a wholesale dry goods establishment in that city, and two years later he came to Boston and found employment as entry clerk with the large mercantile house of James M. Beebe, Richardson & Company, successors of the older firm of James M. Beebe, Morgan & Company. He remained with this concern eleven years, until the firm went out of business and in 1867 he became associated with R. M. Bailey & Company as treasurer of the Arling- ton Woolen Mills, of which at that time Mr. Bailey was president, continued two years in that capacity, then resigned and bought an interest in a woolen mill at Ashland, New Hampshire, and for the next six months en- gaged in the manufacture of woolen goods on his own account. At about the end of that time the management of the Arlington Woolen Mills was radically reorganized and Mr. Whit- man was asked to resume the duties of the treasurership which he had resigned.

Except during the brief period referred to, Mr. Whitman has been continuously identified with the management of the Arlington Woolen Mills (changed to Arlington Mills in 1875)

since 1867, as treasurer until 1902, and subse- gently as president of the company; and he has been the principal factor in the develop- ment of that establishment from a small mill with limited capacity and operating capital and inferior equipment into one of the largest and most successful manufacturing enterprises of its kind in New England. During his con- nection with the business management the capital of the company has increased from $150,000 to $8,000,000, and the number of em- ployees from about 300 to 8,500. The mill buildings, all within one yard, contain sixty- two acres of floor space, and are counted among the finest specimens of mill architecture in the world ; and have a capacity for using 1,250,000 pounds of wool each week, which is equivalent to the fleeces of 33,000 sheep daily. While wool is the principal material of manufacture the cotton mills of the company use annually 12,000 bales of cotton.

The recapitulation of these facts seems essential to any account of Mr. Whitman's career in the business world, for the greater part of his business life is measured by this period of development of the Arlington Mills, under his management, and by the correspond- ing period of development in the worsted in- dustry generally in fields which were untouch- ed when he first devoted his energies to the worsted manufacture, During the last ten and more years Mr. Whitman has been largely instrumental in the erection of other mills than those mentioned, and in the operation of each of them he acts in the capacity of managing director. In 1895 and 1902 the Whitman Mills were built, followed in 1903 by the Manomet Mills, both in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The company operating the Manomet Mills (of which Mr. Whitman is president) has a capital of $2,000,000, and its mills are equipped with 124,000 spindles for the exclusive manu- facture of combed cotton yarns. An additional mill for 70,000 of these spindles was erected in 1908. The Nonquitt Spinning Company, of which Mr. Whitman is president, has a capital of $2,400,000, and its mills have 130,000 . spindles for the manufacture of cotton yarns. The aggregate capital of all of the corporations of which Mr. Whitman is president is $14,- 900,000, and the several mills have a total num- ber of more than 11,700 employees. All are model types of the modern American mill. Mr. Whitman is also president of the Nashawena Mills, New Bedford, Massachusetts, organized in 1909, caital, $2.500,000, capacity about 4,000 looms and 130,000 spindles.

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In 1888, while treasurer of the Arlington Mills, Mr. Whitman became a member of the firm of Harding, Colby & Company, commis- sion merchants and selling agents for the mills. Mr. Colby died in 1869, and the successor firm of Harding, Whitman & Company continued the business with Mr. Whitman as managing partner, the firm having offices in the principal cities throughout the country. On July 1, 1909, the firm of William Whitman & Company was formed to succeed the firm of Harding, Whit- man & Company.

Mr. Whitman's energies in the world of business have not been confined to the manage- ment of the various enterprises with which he is immediately connected, for he always has taken an earnest interest in the general busi- ness and industrial development of the re- sources of the country, in its larger aspects, and in questions of public policy in their rela- tion to this development. For many years he has been a member of the National Associa- tion of Wool Manufacturers, and was its presi- dent from 1888 until 1894 and since 1904. During the years in which he was not: presi- dent of the association, he was a member of its executive committee. He also is a member of the National Association of Cotton Manu- facturers and of the American Cotton Manu- facturers Association. In June, 1905, on the reorganization of the directorate of the Equit- able Life Assurance Society, he was chosen a member of the new board of directors as a representative of the policy holders of the society.

He is a firm Republican, although without political ambition, and in the higher councils of his party has exercised a large influence on matters of public importance, especially in re- gard to industrial economics and the trade and tariff of the country; and he is an acknowl- edged authority on the tariff in its relation to cotton and woolen manufactures, and his opin- ion and advice have frequently been. sought in respect to the wisdom and effect of proposed tariff legislation by congress. Wide and ' thorough study as well as large personal ex- perience have given weight to his views, and have enabled him to render valuable service to the textile manufacturing interests in gen- eral. He has written various articles on econ- omic subjects and his published papers have attracted much attention. Among them there may be mentioned that entitled "Free Raw Materials as Related to New England In- dustries," also "Free Coal : Would it Give New England Manufacturers Cheaper Fuel?," also

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II, Part 84

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 1008

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 1008