Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume III, Part 53

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 986


USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 53


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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corner of Liberty and Chestnut streets. After the firm of Day & Jobson had been in business many years it was made a stock company, and E. A. Blodgett was admitted as one of its members. Besides dealing in lumber this firm also did a large business as builders, and was interested in the construction of many of Springfield's blocks and buildings. For thirty- six years preceding his death Mr. Jobson lived with his family in the house at 329 Chestnut street, which was built under his direction. About ten years before his death he retired from active work and busied himself with the control of his property. There was probably not another man in Springfield who was better informed on the lumber and building business than was Mr. Jobson, and his opinion with regard to real estate was often asked on account .of his extensive knowledge of all details concerning city property. In the death of Mr. Jobson, Springfield lost one of its most prominent and respected citizens. He was a very retiring and diffident man, and was inter- ested in absolutely nothing outside his own family and business, with the exception of a few close friends. His acquaintance was large, and because of his many years in busi- ness his name was one of the most prominent in business circles up to the time of his retire- ment, and he had a wide reputation for hon- esty and fair dealing. He read much, and was never happier than when occupied with his books. He attributed his good health and long life to regular habits and out-of-door exercise. He was survived by one sister, Miss Emma Jobson, in England, of whom he was very fond, and to see whom he crossed the ocean many times. His last voyage across the Atlan- tic was made in July, 1898, which was his twenty-second voyage between the two conti- nents.


Edmund Jobson married, in Springfield, Au- gust 19, 1852, Harriet Lavinia Lay, who was born in Agawam, September 15, 1829, daugh- ter of William and Juliette (Hubbard) Lay, She taught school in 1846 at the "old brick school house" in Feeding Hills, where she is still particularly remembered as a good teacher, greatly beloved by her pupils, and always held in the highest esteem. Mrs. Jobson died No- vember 29, 1907, but six weeks before her husband. All of his wedded life he had de- pended on her aid and counsel in all his affairs, both business and personal, and the sudden deprivation of this aid caused the impairment of his general health and made him easily susceptible to an attack of grippe, which re-


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sulted in his death in nine days from its incep- tion. They lived together far beyond the usual period allotted to mankind, and celebrated the fifty-fifth anniversary of their wedding. Chil- dren : Infant, not named ; Harry E., died aged four years; Janet Mabel, died at the age of ten years; and Minnie Isabel, born in Spring- field, October 22, 1868, married, June 2, 1892, Donald Birnie, son of William and Martha ( Perkins) Birnie of Springfield. (See Birnie).


WEST Among the pioneer settlers of New England were a disproportionately large number of Wests, the men of that name seeming to be of an unusually bold and energetic spirit. Edward is mentioned as of Lynn. 1637: Francis of Duxbury, 1643; John of Saybrook, 1635; John of Saco, 1640; Nathaniel of Newport, 1644 ; Robert of Provi- dence, 1641; Thomas of Salem, 1634; and Twyford of Boston, 1635.


(I) Francis West, ancestor of this family, came from Salisbury, England, and settled in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He was in Marsh- field in 1641, but returned to Duxbury, where he was admitted freeman in 1655. He was a carpenter by occupation. He bought land at Millbrook in 1642, also in 1661, and in 1670 received a grant. He died January 2, 1692, leaving a small estate. He married Margery Reeves, February 27, 1639. She died Novem- ber I, 1701. They had four sons: Samuel, Peter. Pelatiah and Richard.


(II) Samuel, eldest son of Francis and Margery (Reeves) West, was born in 1643. and died May 8, 1689, aged forty-six. Sep- tember 26, 1668, he married Triphosa Part- ridge, who died November 1, 1701. She was the daughter of George and Sarah (Tracy) Partridge, first settlers of Duxbury. The chil- dren of this marriage were: Francis, Jeuen, Samuel, Pelatialı, Ebenezer, John and Abigail.


(III) John, sixth son of Samuel and Tri- phosa ( Partridge) West, was born March 6, 1679, and settled in Lebanon, Connecticut. He married Deborah (surname unknown), who. died November 17, 1741.


(IV) Solomon, evidently a son of John and Deborah West, was born in Lebanon, March 15, 1723, and died August 21, 1790, aged forty- eight. He lived for some years in Lebanon, whence lie removed to Tolland. He married Abigail Strong, of West Lebanon, October 10, 1743. Their children were: Solomon, Ruby, Abigail, Lydia, Esther, Chloe, Stephen and Jerusha.


(V) Deacon Stephen, second son of Solo-


mon and Abigail (Strong) West, was born August 19, 1769, and died April 17, 1814. He settled in Hampden (now Wilbraham), Mass- achusetts, and started one of the earliest tan- neries in the vicinity. He became an exten- sive land-owner, and erected the first brick house in the town. He was treasurer of the parish in 1793, and succeeded John Hitchcock as deacon of the Congregational church. He married, in Wilbraham, Bathsheba, daughter of Comfort Chaffee, November 27, 1783. She died at Tolland, Connecticut, April 22, 1851, aged eighty-nine. Their children were: Ste- phen Strong, Bathsheba, Solomon (died young), Solomon (died young), John, Ralph (died young), Solomon Ralph (died young), and a son.


(VI) Stephen Strong, eldest child of Deacon Stephen and Bathsheba (Chaffee) West, was born in Hampden, September 22, 1784, and died March 25, 1844. He was a tanner, like his father, but also made boots, shoes and harness, and dealt in leather as long as he lived. He married Lucinda Humiston, born November 4, 1790, at Litchfield, Connecticut, daughter of Joel Humiston. She died August 4, 1870, aged eighty. They had ten children, nine of whom reached mature years : I. Lucinda Humiston, married David F. Pease, of Mon- son. 2. Strong, succeeded to his father's busi- ness. 3. Solomon, died in Hampden. 4. Anna Humiston, died 1889. aged seventy-four. 5. Stephen Otis, died in Springfield. 6. George Spencer, resided in Rushmore, Minnesota. 7. John, receives extended mention below. 8. Nancy Flynt, married Reuben Whittemore, of Sherwood, Tennessee. 9. Joel, became master railway mechanic at Burlington, Iowa.


(VII) John, sixth son of Stephen S. and Lucinda (Humiston) West, was born at Hampden, September 6, 1828, and died August 30, 1908, aged eiglity years. After attending the common schools at Hampden he went to Springfield, where he studied with Rev. Sand- ford Lawton, who kept a good private school. He entered Samuel Frizzell's store as a clerk at the age of twelve, and remained two years. He was next employed by F. M. Carew & Company, and their successors, Bowdoin & Bond, until 1847. Then he went to Mount Savage, Maryland, in the employ of the Mary- land & New York Iron and Coal Company. After he had served there a year the company suspended, and he returned to his old position, which he retained until 1850. His next move was to Columbus, Georgia, where he worked in a variety store; but unfavorable climatic


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conditions caused his return to Springfield. With Levi J. Holt he now bought out Mr. Bond, of the old firm, and they began business under the title of Holt & West. This firm con- tinued till 1854, when Mr. West sold out; and in 1858 he entered the grocery firm of James IV. Hale & Company, on the corner of Main and Court streets. Mr. Hale died in 1863, and the new firm of Bemis & Company was formed, and continued for two years, Mr. Bemis then retiring. After this time, under West, Stone & Company, the traffic was ex- clusively wholesale, but in 1867 the store was moved to Hampden street. Mr. West was one of the earliest wholesale dealers in the city, and among the first to employ traveling agents. The success of the firm enabled it to build a fine warehouse on Fort street, and a branch store at Holyoke, which they managed ten years. Mr. West also owned at one time the store at the corner of Main and East Court streets, and the building on Market street, afterward occupied by T. M. Walker, was erected by the firm. In 1890, on account of the death of his son, Mr. West retired from the firm, and was no longer active in business, but the firm name was not given up. He was a director in the First National Bank, and the Springfield Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He was a Republican in politics, and was of a quiet retir- ing disposition and never sought office. The only public position he filled was that of mem- ber of the city council from Ward Two, in which he served in 1862. Mr. West traveled extensively in this country, but never went abroad. He was the oldest member of Hamp- den Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons.


Mr. West married, November 12, 1851, Jane, daughter of Colonel John McCray, a promi- nent militia officer, farmer and hotel pro- prietor. They had one child, John McCray, who was born April 6, 1853, and died January 18, 1890. He became one of the leading men of the firm, and was an extensive traveler in both America and Europe. Mr. West was a member of the North Congregational Church, as is Mrs. West, who survives him. In speak- ing of Mr. West after his death, his partner, H. P. Stone, said: "During my thirty years of business and social association with John West, I never heard him speak an unkind or hasty word, or saw him in a fretful mood ; uni- formly kind and courteous to all, whether of low or high degree, he stood for the epitome of a thorough Christian gentleman in the high- est sense of the word."


William Green lived and died in GREEN the parish of Kings Court, County Meath, Ireland. His son, James Green, was born in the same parish, and during the early exodus of Irish to Amer- ica, came to the United States, leaving his family, with the expectation of bringing them later. He was a farmer. It is thought that he died of yellow fever, as he became lost to his family, and when his son came ten years later, he could find no trace of him. He was at New Orleans, Louisiana, when last heard from. He married Mary Pepper, a native of the same parish with himself. Children, all born in Ireland: 1. Mary, died in Ireland. 2. Mathew, died in Newark, New Jersey. 3. Charles, mentioned below.


(II) Charles, son of James Green, was born in County Meath, Ireland, August 30, 1838. He had some schooling in his youth in his native parish. He came to this country in 1854, landing in New York City. During the first summer he worked there for a Mr. Joyce. During the fall he worked in Brook- lyn, and the following spring removed to West- field, Massachusetts, where for the next seven years he was in the employ of Mr. Bliss, as a driver on his milk route. He then learned the contracting business in the employ of H. Phelps, and worked for him and other con- tractors many years. In 1885 Mr. Green en- gaged in the contracting business on his own account, and was very successful. Owing to ill health he retired in 1906, and devoted his attention to the care of his property up to the time of his death, October 23, 1908. He was one of the selfmade men of Westfield, well known, and universally respected by his fellow townsmen. Upright, industrious and energetic, he fought his way in the business world, in spite of want of early advantages. In politics he was a Democrat, and in religion a Roman Catholic. He was a strong and helpful advo- cate of temperance, a charter member of the Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society of his parish, served as its treasurer many years, and assisted liberally in the financial support of that worthy organization; he was the last survivor of its charter members. He lived for many years in a home on Mechanic street. He married, July 5, 1858, Mary Tierney, born in 1830, at Meath Hill, County Meath, Ireland, daughter of Thomas Tierney. Children, born in Westfield: I. James, born May 30, 1862; married Maria O'Brien: children: Charles, born September 3, 1894; Maria. August 18.


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1898; Frances, May 15, 1902. 2. Thomas, born May 31, 1864; a mail carrier in West- field. 3. Mary, born November 20, 1865; graduate from the Westfield high school and State normal school, and taught school for a period of twelve years. She married, July 26, 1899, Dr. James S. Mclaughlin ; see below.


Dr. James S. Mclaughlin was born in Clin- ton, Massachusetts, September 3, 1865. His father, Patrick McLaughlin, son of Patrick, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, came to America when a young man, and was a gar- dener by trade; he died in October, 1904, at the home of his son, Rev. Thomas H. Mc- Laughlin, in Adams, Massachusetts ; he mar- ried Honora Kittridge ; children: Mary Ann, Bridget, Nellie, Rev. Thomas H. McLaughlin, Michael, James, John, Nora, Patrick, and one who died in infancy.


Dr. James S. McLaughlin received his early schooling in his native town, attending Holy Cross College, Worcester; Ottawa College, Canada; the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, New York City, and Dartmouth Medical College, from which he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine. He began to practice medicine in Westfield soon after graduation, and has continued with marked success to the present time, taking a leading position among the physicians of the city. In religion he is a Roman Catholic, and in politics a Democrat. He was elected a member of the board of health of Westfield, serving three years. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society ; the Dartmouth College Alumni Asso- ciation : the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks; the Ancient Order of Hibernians; the Royal Arcanum; the Fraternal Order of Eagles ; and the Foresters of America. Chil- dren of Dr. and Mrs. McLaughlin: James McLaughlin, born June 15, 1902 ; Charles Mc- Laughlin, October 6, 1904.


Powderly is a modified spell- POWDERLY ing of an ancient French surname. The branch of the family in Ireland and America has produced a number of successful and distinguished men, including the late Terence V. Powderly, a prominent organizer and leader of the labor movement in the United States, afterward immigration commissioner of the federal gov- ernment.


(1) Patrick Powderly, the first of the family in Ireland, was born in France, 1780-85, accord- ing to the family, and came to County Meath, Ireland, where he followed his trade as a


weaver for the remainder of his life. He married, in Ireland, Alice Dillon, a native of Scotland, of Irish ancestry. Children : I. James, came to the United States. 2. Luke. 3. Lewis. 4. Thomas, born March 15, 1815, mentioned below. 5. Mark. 6. John. 7. Patrick. 8. Mary.


(II) Thomas, son of Patrick Powderly, was born in the parish of Still Mullen, County Meath, Ireland, March 15, 1815, and died at Randolph, Massachusetts, April 10, 1903. He received a common school education in his native parish. When about fourteen years old he entered upon an apprenticeship of seven years in a flour mill. He worked there two years as a journeyman after coming of age, when his dislike for night work and a desire to better himself caused him to join his brother who had already located in the United States. He landed in New York City on Easter Sun- day morning in 1840. He made the passage in the ship "Susanna Commons" on the maiden voyage of that vessel. He found work first at North Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where for six months he was a farm hand. He then learned the trade of shoemaker and followed it for ten years in that vicinity. In 1850 he bought a farm in Randolph and engaged in market gardening with much success. He was skillful in agriculture, enterprising and very industrious. He was popular among his friends and neighbors and loved society and good- fellowship. He was very fond of out-door sports, especially hunting and fishing, and his was a familiar figure in the woods of the Blue Hills during the hunting season. He was always a faithful communicant of the Catholic church and was a liberal supporter of St. Mary's parish in Randolph. He sang for many years in the choir of this church, and was prominent in other musical organizations. He was a member of the Crispins, a labor organization. He married, December 25, 1845, Mary Ann McMahon, born 1830, died at Ran- dolph, 1869, daughter of Patrick and Mary (Dunn) McMahon, of Randolph. Her father was born in 1804 at West Meath, Ireland, and died in 1880 in Randolph ; children : Cornelius, Mary, James, Edward, Margaret, Alice, Peter, William, Jane, all born in Randolph except the eldest who was born in Boston. Mr. Mc- Mahon with his wife came from Ireland, be- ginning life in Randolph as a laborer, saving money carefully and investing it shrewdly in real estate which increased constantly in value. Mr. McMahon left a substantial estate. HIe was one of the first and most faithful Catholics


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in this section, and having a quarry he got out the stone for the foundation of the new church, first Catholic church here; in a new church built later he had a window placed with his name on it; he was held in the highest esteem by his townsmen. Mrs. Powderly was a devout churchwoman and one of the first teachers in the Sunday school of St. Mary's Church. Chil- dren: I. Charles Thomas, born in Brockton, January 15, 1848, died May, 1890; married Mary Kerrigan; children: i. Mary, was a stenographer with Miss Frances Willard and went with her all over the world; she died in 1906 : ii. James, married Catherine McDonald ; children: Leo, Adeline, Harold, Mildred, died aged one year ; iii. Charles, married Margaret Kennedy : iv. Gertrude, unmarried ; v. Albert, died at two years of age. 2. James Henry, born November II. 1849, died aged twenty- two months. 3. Alice A., born April 9, 1852, lives in Randolph. 4. Mary E., born June 7, 1854, married William M. McGaughey, who was for a number of years an instructor in state prisons in Trenton, New Jersey, and Columbus, South Carolina ; children: i. Alice A., married Walter J. McEnaney and had Jane E. and Mary D. McEnaney ; ii. William F., went around the world in the gunboat "Georgia ;" iii. Moses H., engaged in the navy. 5. Annie D., born June 14, 1856, married J. J. Lynch. 6. Charlotte Augusta, born June I, 1858, died December 9, 1891. 7. Henry F., born March 28, 1860, mentioned below. 8. Edward Allen, born March 7, 1862, married Sarah Allen McGaughey, sister of William M. McGaughey, mentioned above; children : Albert G., Herbert, Cyril. 9. Jane E., born April 25, 1864, lives on the old homestead, unmarried. 10. Frances, born August 15, 1866, married John P. Brady ; children : Mary, John, Francis. II. Margaret, born August, 1868, died aged one month.


(III) Henry F., son of Thomas Powderly, was born March 28, 1860, at Randolph, Mass- achusetts. He was educated in the public schools of his native town. He began work in a shoe factory and became a skillful work- man, following this trade until his health failed in 1908. He is fond of travel and has indulged a desire to visit not only the home of his fore- fathers, but the chief places of interest in Europe and America. He is a Democrat in politics, and a communicant of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. During the past year he has been confined to the house by ill health, but is now planning to resume business.


He makes his home with his sisters on the homestead in Randolph. He is unmarried.


The Sept of the O'Murchudha, MURPHY pronounced O'Murraghoo, at first anglicised O'Murchoe, and finally Murphy, were designated in Celtic history, Hy-Felimy, or descendants of Felim, from their progenitor, a son of the celebrated Enna Kinsellagh, King of Leinster, contem- porary of Saint Patrick, in the fifth century. The territory of the Sept was originally in Wexford. To be a Murphy at home or abroad is to be proverbially associated with old Irish or Milesian extraction, and readers of history will recall that the steward of the Duke of Wellington's estates in Spain was Don Pat- ricio O'Murphy. From Wexford the Clan Moroghoe Sept came to Muskerry, county Cork, during the early part of the thirteenth century, and they possessed all that territory, as O'Hart says, between Cork and Macroom, on the northern side of the river Lee. A very large tract of land near Upton, county Cork, is yet called Bally-Murphy, for as early as 1641, the senior branch of the family settled there, and Irish genealogists agree that there were as many as thirty-seven families of them, and all of them had Gaelic affixes by which they were known. (See O'Hart's Irish Pedi- gree, vol. I, chap. 4, p. 703, No. 6).


It is a family that for many generations supplied the church, bar, and medical profes- sions of their native land with representatives, and undoubtedly would have furnished the army as well, were it not an unwritten law that no self-respecting patriotic son of Ireland should ever lend or give himself to the service of his country's enemy ; a family that traced its honorable pedigree back through all the troublous times of that devoted land to the first landing of the English; that like many another old family sustained confiscation of property and holdings as a price of the ancient creed.


(I) Patrick Denis Murphy, the progenitor of this line of the family, was born in county Cork, Ireland, and married Anna Wall. Chil- dren : I. Ellen. 2. Jane. 3. Denis, died young. 4. Daniel Walter, born October 21, 1833, mentioned below. 5. Denis. 6. Will- iam. 7. Margaret. 8. Mary. 9. Michael. 10. George, chief truant officer of Boston, Massa- chusetts.


(II) Daniel Walter, son of Patrick Denis Murphy, was born in county Cork, Ireland, near the city of Cork, October 21, 1833, and


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was educated as a civil engineer, being appren- ticed at the age of nineteen under Patrick Leahy, of Tivoli, near Cork. Subsequently he engaged in business and built the military road from Ballincollig to the Ovens, in county Cork. He came to America on the ship "Daniel Webster" in 1854, and settled first in Milford, New Hampshire, where he was a road builder and where his wife taught school. Soon, however, he removed to Boston, Massa- chusetts, and engaged in the sand contracting business. He supplied the sand for the build- ing of the Carney Hospital, the Little Wanderers' Home, and other public build- ings in Boston. Later he was foreman in the paving department of the city. For twenty years he had charge of the estate of the Bent heirs, being all the territory to the east of what is to-day P street, South Boston, about five hundred acres. This estate included the old "Battery," built by General Washington as a defense against the British. He was exceed- ingly fond of reading, and accumulated a library of choice books, including many works on mathematics, of which he was especially fond. This library is among the most cher- ished possessions of his son, mentioned below. Daniel W. Murphy was a man of splendid physique, six feet four inches tall, and very straight. He died October 21, 1904. He married, in Cork, Ireland, Marianne Bowen, who was a descendant of the Bowens of Pas- sage, county Cork, Ireland, famous boat build- ers of that time, and who died in 1901. Chil- dren : 1. Patrick Bowen, mentioned below. 2. William Bowen, writer for magazines and contributor to many New York and Boston papers ; was under General Miles in the Gero- nimo uprising and was an observer when this chief was brought in a prisoner, and when he fired a pistol which he had concealed under his blanket, but which did not injure the general ; was orderly sergeant in Battery I, Fourth Regiment of Artillery, under General George WV. Getty, and honorably discharged as a "most excellent soldier" after eight years' ser- vice. He was given charge of the Metropoli- tan police of Boston and visited England to investigate the methods of caring for the parks. He saved three boys from drowning in the Back Bay fens, May 29, 1892, for which he was awarded a medal by the Massa- chusetts Humane Society ; was life member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society ; never married ; he died in 1903. 3. Edward John, born in Ireland, died there, buried in the Botanic Gardens, Cork, in the grave adjoining


that of the famous Father Matthew. 4. Walter Daniel, who while a pupil and before his graduation from the Lincoln School, South Boston, was taken ill and died. 5. Annie Louise, teacher in the public schools; gradu- ate of New England Conservatory of Music, Boston ; teacher of organ and piano ; married John Henry McCarthy of Cambridge ; he died February 9, 1909.


(III) Rev. Patrick Bowen, son of Daniel Walter Murphy, was born in Ireland and came to New England with his parents. In 1867 he graduated from the Lincoln School, South Boston, and a warm affection has existed since that time for all his schoolmates, as is attested by his presence at each yearly gathering. At an early age he became a mem- ber of the Ninth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. under General P. R. Guiney, Colonel B. F. Finan, and was appointed sergeant-major by Colonel B. F. Finan. In 1872 Governor Washburn commis- sioned him second lieutenant in Company F, Ninth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Mili- tia. In 1869, through the influence of the pioneer Irish patriot of South Boston, Mr. Andrew R. Strain, Father Murphy became a member of the Patrick Henry Circle, Fenian Brother- hood, which held on its membership rolls some of the most prominent men of Irish blood in Boston. In 1870, when the second invasion of Canada took place, Sergeant Major Murphy went to the front in the capacity of secretary to Major Maginess. This determined and hopeful party of men left Boston in May, 1870. In the party were General John O'Neill, Colonel W. J. Barry, Major Maginess, John Boyle O'Reilly, Thomas Wentworth Higgin- son (then a reporter), and others. But this invasion failed for lack of men, as had the first for lack of means. The story of their trip is told by Father Murphy in the Pilot of Septem- ber, 1878. He was present when John Boyle O'Reilly, General O'Neill and Major Magin- ess were formally placed under arrest by the federal government, and housed in the old jail at St. Albans, Vermont. In 1873 Mr. Murphy decided to study for the priesthood, and entered Saint Charles College, Maryland, later attending the Nicholet College, Canada, and in 1882 Father Murphy (now a Soggarth Aroon) celebrated his first mass, in St. Vincent Church, South Boston. The services were attended by many relatives and friends, and in his honor a battalion of the Ninth Regiment was present in full uniform and under arms. One of the first duties undertaken by Father




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