Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume IV, Part 128

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 886

USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume IV > Part 128

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(II1) James (3). son of James (2) Ryan, came to New England in 1847 and settled at Hadley, Massachusetts. He married Mary Welch of that place. Children : 1. Alice, mar- ried W. J. Lyons. 2. Mary, married T. J. Ryan. 3. Josephine, married J. G. Smith. 4. James. 5. Matthew, born May 18, 1864, men- tioned below. 6. Thomas W. Four other children died young.

(IV) Matthew J., son of James (3) Ryan, was born May 18, 1864. He received his edu- cation in the public schools of Hatfield, Mass- achusetts, and worked for his father until he became of age. He established himself in business in a grocery store in Hatfield, and

built up a good business. He is also a suc- cessful tobacco planter. He is an active sup- porter of the Democratic party, and at the age of twenty-four was elected selectman of Hat- field : he served on that board for twelve years, with the exception of three years, consecu- tively. He has been elected a member of the sinking fund commission for five terms. Dur- ing his service as selectman he was active in establishing the water system of Hatfield and it was mainly through his efforts that the leg- islature passed the necessary acts to that end. He has served as a member of the sinking fund commissioners since the establishment of the system. Mr. Ryan is counted among the most public spirited and useful citizens of the town and commands the respect and confidence of all classes of his townsmen. His public career has been free of all suspicion of self- seeking or mercenary motives and his thor- ough knowledge of men and affairs have made him an invaluable public servant. He has be- fore him a promising career, if he chooses to follow public service. His personal qualities attract friends and year by year his popularity has increased. He is one of the best known men in the county and one of the most in- fluential. He married, December 30, 1896, Jane Powers, daughter of Nicholas and Mar- garet Powers. Children: Mary, Margaret, Katherine, Alice, Helen.

Examples of enterprise, push SIMPSON and final success are abundant in the lives of citizens of the United States, born of poor but industrious and honest settlers who came from Europe about the middle of the nineteenth century and made a home in America.

(I) Alexander Simpson. a thrifty and in- dustrious currier and morocco dresser in Dub- lin. Ireland, who had thoroughly learned the trade in that city by an apprenticeship of seven years. came to America and located in Wil- mington, Delaware, with his wife Margaret (Cowen) Simpson before 1835. He worked at his trade first in Wilmington, Delaware, then in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Cincin- nati, Ohio, and finally returned to Wilmington, Delaware, where he died. He prospered in his new surroundings and gave his children a good education. These children included : Henry, Alexander and William.

( II) William, third son of Alexander and Margaret (Cowen) Simpson, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1838. He left school on completing the grammar

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course, was apprenticed to a cigar manufac- turer, and served a full term as apprentice, and in this way became an expert cigar maker when he was seventeen years of age. He then engaged in the business of making bricks and he became an expert presser of pressed bricks. In 1856 he went to New York City and engaged in cigar making for one year. and in 1857 removed to Springfield, Massa- chusetts, where he worked as a journeyman cigarmaker, as he did also in Boston, Lowell and Nashua. In 1861 he returned to Spring- field, Massachusetts. A friend had promised to accompany him, the two to enlist at the same time, but illness in the family of his friend prevented the proposed enlistment and the project was not carried out. Disappointed in his plan, but unwilling to break up a long friendship by leaving his friend in a time of trouble and need, he took up the work of cigar making for W. H. Wright, in Springfield, and continued with that establishment 1861- 67. In 1867 he began the manufacture of cigars on his own account ; the business grew rapidly and soon he had one hundred hands employed in the manufacture of cigars; his product became popular and found a ready sale, and he was enabled to retire with a reas- onable fortune in 1895, when forty-seven years of age. He is a member of the Com- mercial Travelers Club, of Springfield, and a member of the Republican party as a voter but not as a political worker or office seeker. He married, June 17, 1868, Jennie S., daugh- ter of Alexander Smith, of Liverpool, Eng- land : Children : 1. Jennie, born in Tariffville, Connecticut. 2. Emma, born in Springfield, Massachusetts. 3. Frances, born in Spring- field, Massachusetts, married David F. Dillon. a lawyer and associate judge in the city court of Palmer, Massachusetts. 4. William Henry, born in Springfield. Massachusetts, engaged in the cigar manufacturing business with his father and as his successor, and died in Spring- field, Massachusetts, December 31, 190I.

THANISCH Andrew Thanisch was born near Bern Castle. Wehlen. Rhenish Prussia, Germany, about 1797. He came from an old and re- spected German family, known for its indus- try and sobriety, as well as good citizenship, and recognized as among the best of the middle class Germans. He was a blacksmith by trade, and a wagon maker, and followed his trade all his life. He was a skilled mechanic, and his work was noted for its reliability and

durability. He died at the age of sixty, re- spected by all who knew him. He married in his native province, - Schantz, who sur- vived him and died at the advanced age of nearly one hundred years. He and his fam- ily were adherents of the German Catholic church at the time. Children: I. Thomas, born 1823. mentioned below. 2. Jacob, died unmarried in the prime of life. 3. Nicholas, a successful blacksmith; resides in Germany and has a large family. 4. Peter, gunsmith by trade ; a prominent man of Lieser, Germany, where he is postmaster, justice of the peace, and holds other important offices ; has a large family. 5. Catherine, married Joseph Waum- ger, a government forester, locally prominent. 6. Christina, married Joseph Fisher and lives in Brazil, South America, where her husband is a successful farmer.

(II) Thomas, son of Andrew Thanisch. was born in Lieser on the Moselle, Germany, in 1823. He learned the trade of blacksmith in his father's shop, and when a young man followed his trade as a journeyman, travel- ing through the German states, acquainting himself with the habits and character of the people and broadening his ideas. He came to the United States before his marriage, remain- ing about two years, then returning to the Fatherland. He combined his business with the occupation of grape growing and farming. and spent a useful and industrious life. He was a man of much physical strength and strong character. He married in his native town Mary Mehn, born about 1833. died in middle life. He died in 1893. Children: 1. Andrew, born December 17, 1850, mentioned below. 2. Joseph, 1852; mechanic when a young man ; came in 1876 to America and set- tled in Chicago, Illinois, where he is a manu- facturer of flouring mill supplies ; married and has one child. 3. Mathias, 1855; served in the German army and later became a black- smith and iron worker ; lives in Wehlen, Ger- many, and has a family. 4. Jacob, born in Germany ; served in the German army in the cavalry and while riding a spirited horse was thrown, the horse falling upon him, causing his death in the prime of life; he left two children. 5. Mary E., married a German gen- tleman who was for many years station master on the railroad ; died leaving a family of six children. 6. Margaret, married Henry Peifer, a successful wine grower living in Leiser : seven children. 7. Anna, died at the age of ten.

(III) Andrew (2), son of Thomas Than-

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isch, was born December 17, 1850, in Lieser on the Moselle, Germany. He was a hardy, strong boy, and from his youth was taught the industrious habit of life which is a char- acteristic of the German. He learned his father's trade of smith and carriage maker, acquiring the rudiments of the trade before he was seventeen years old. In 1867 he came to the United States, landing in New York in November of that year, and settling in Bos- ton worked at his trade there until 1879, when he established himself in business on his own account, doing a general smithing and car- riage making business. In 1896 he built a large three story establishment, eighty by forty feet, at Nos. 124, 126 and 128 Brookside ave- nue, Roxbury, and conducted a factory for the manufacture and repair of carriages. The work which he turns out is of uniformly high quality and durability. He built a fine home at 3305-07 Washington street, which has been his residence for twenty-three years. He is a man of affairs in the community, and is regarded not only as a good mechanic, but as a good citizen also. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of Aleppo Temple, Massachusetts Consistory ; and of the Odd Fellows and Encampment. He is independent in politics and religion. He married in Bos- ton, 1872, Amelia Rheinhardt, born on Tre- mont street, Roxbury, in 1856, daughter of Henry and Henrietta (Kyle) Rheinhardt, of Saxony birth. Her parents came to America and settled in Roxbury, where her father was in business as a freestone cutter until his death at the age of fifty-two. Her mother died some years before her father, leaving four daughters and one son. Mrs. Thanisch died in January, 1897. She was an exemplary wife and mother. Children: 1. Henry F., born March, 1873; engaged in business with his father ; married Mrs. Edith (Lambert) Jor- dan and had a daughter Anna. 2. Frank A., 1875; educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is now a prominent mining engineer in Arizona, being generally known throughout the west as an expert, and recog- nized by the government as one of the most efficient men in the corps of mining engineers, where he has given considerable service ; mar- ried. 3. Otto C., 1877 ; graduated at the Mass- achusetts Institute of Technology as a me- chanical engineer; followed his profession in New York City, and did- much work on the tunnels recently constructed there; married Alice Seaver ; died March 24, 1909. 4. Ru- dolph, 1881 ; graduated from Harvard Univer-

sity and became a mechanical engineer ; mar- ried Marion Hibbard.

WARD

Cyrus Ward lived near Platts- burg, New York. His ancestors settled originally in New Jersey,

and his father moved to Ohio after the revolu- tion and during the early settlement of that state.

(II) Luman F., son of Cyrus Ward, was born at Keesville, New York. He was edu- cated in the public schools, and learned the trade of cabinet making, which he followed for many years. From 1855 to the time of his death he was engaged in farming at Keese- ville. He enlisted in the civil war in the Ninety-eighth Regiment of New York Volun- teers and served two years, and when he was mustered out he was sergeant of his company. He was a faithful member of the Presbyterian church, an upright, honored and useful citizen. He married Lydia D. Chesley. Children: I. Myron A., born April 14, 1844, mentioned below. 2. Oscar, resides at Easthampton, Massachusetts. 3. Albert Lewis, killed on the railroad at Emery. 4. Elizabeth. 5. Lydia, lives on the homestead at Keesville. 6. Carrie.

(III) Myron A., son of Luman F. Ward, was born in Keeseville, New York, April 14, 1844. He was educated there in the public schools, and worked on his father's farm until 1861, when he enlisted in Company D, Six- tieth New York Regiment, and served four years in the civil war. He was wounded in the battle of Lookout Mountain. He was with General Sherman in his "March to the Sea" and was one of the men detailed to forage for his regiment. He was discharged and mus- tered out July 17, 1865. During the next three years he followed farming on the home- stead in his native town. In 1868 he came to Easthampton, Massachusetts, to learn the trade of steam-fitter, and in 1870 came to Turner's Falls, where he worked as a journey- man two years. In 1879 he embarked in busi- ness as partner in a firm of plumbers and steamfitters and met with gratifying success. He bought out the interests of his partner in 1897 and since then has been in business alone. He has a store on Third street, Chicopee. Be- sides his tinsmith, plumbing and steam heating business, he deals in stoves, ranges, furnaces and tinware and is one of the leaders in his line of trade in Turner's Falls. Mr. Ward was one of the water commissioners of the town when plans were made and adopted and a system of municipal water supply introduced.

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He is a member of Post No. 162, Grand Army of the Republic, of which for several years he was commander. He is also a charter mem- ber of Elliottstone Lodge, No. 132, Knights of Pythias, of which he was one of the first delegates to the state convention.

He married, November, 1867, Alice I. Keach, daughter of Oran H. Keach, of Rhode Island. Children : William Wallace and Myron A. Jr.

CLARK Thomas Francis Clark was born in Ballyborough, county Cavan, Ireland. He was a weaver by trade and lived and died in his native town. He married Mary Farley, who was likewise born in Ballyborough, county Cavan, Ireland. They had five children born in that place as follows : I. Patrick, who emigrated to America in 1849, married and had a large family of children. 2. James, who emigrated to Amer- ica and settled in Ware, Massachusetts, in 1868, married and had six children. 3. Thomas Francis (q. v.). 4. Thaddeus. 5. Margaret, who emigrated to Worcester, Mass- achusetts, where she died.

(11) Thomas Francis (2), son of Thomas Francis (I) and Mary (Farley) Clark, was born in Ballyborough, county Cavan, Ireland. in 1829, died in Ware, Massachusetts, July 27, 1903. He was a weaver by trade. He mar- ried Ann Maria Daley, born in Ballyborough, county Cavan, Ireland, August 15, 1828, died in Ware, Massachusetts. Children, born in Ware, Hampshire county, as follows: I. John W., June 24. 1852; married Jane Stafford, was a cloth finisher in the Otis Company Mills, and had eight children, all born in Ware. Massachusetts, as follows: Thomas E., Eliza A., John W. Jr., Fred B., William Henry, Gertrude M., Harold S., Lillian. 2. James E. (q. v.). 3. Thomas Francis, March 31, 1858, lived in Springfield, where he married Mary McDonald and had a son Henry. 4. Mary E., October 8, 1860; married Cornelius Foley. manager of the Swift Beef Company in Ware. 5. Henry M., November 9, 1863; married Mary Jane Collins ; became an insurance man- ager in Springfield; had three children born in that city : Mary, Henry M., Stanley R. 6. Catherine, March 23, 1866, never married.

(III) James Edward, second of son Thomas Francis (2) and Ann Maria (Daley) Clark, was born in Ware, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, March 7, 1855. He attended school in Ware up to his ninth year, when he with his brother, John W. Clark, entered the

employ of the Otis Company Mills in 1864, and he was promoted to office boy, August 20, 1868, and later assistant paymaster, but re- turned to the mill desirous of learning the mechanical part of the mill business. He was an apt pupil and was advanced step by step until he became overseer and finally superin- tendent of the Otis Company. He was a use- ful citizen, and although holding no political position in the government of the town of Ware was interested in its educational develop- ment and in the Ware Public Library, of which he was a trustee. He gave to his children the educational advantages denied him in his youth and made his home his best attended club. His only social and fraternal affiliation outside of his home was the Order of United Workmen, of which he was a member. He held the responsible office of justice of the peace, and in the cases civil or criminal that came before him his judgment was universally sustained by the higher courts. He was, with his family, members of the All Saints' Roman Catholic Church and he brought up his chil- dren to be devout churchmen and church- women. He married, in 1880, Margaret Jane. daughter of Patrick James and Margaret Jane (Holmes) Mulvaney, of Chicopee Falls, Mass- achusetts. (See Mulvaney, 11.) Margaret Jane Mulvaney was born in Ware, Massa- chusetts, January, 1854, and by her marriage with James Edward Clark, the following chil- dren were born in Ware, Massachusetts: I. Margaret Holmes, May 30, 1881, graduate at Ware high school and at Smith College, class No. 43. She died unmarried September II, 1906. 2. James Daley, April 27, 1885, gradu- ated at Ware high school, 1903, and at Har- vard University, A. B., 1907, the first boy from Ware, Massachusetts, to graduate at Harvard. He became associated with the Springfield News Company on leaving college. 3. Walter Leo, June 10, 1889, graduated at the Ware high school in 1907 and at once matriculated at Harvard, class of 1911. 4. Charlotte Brock, January 4, 1891, died January 21, 1902. 5. Grace Doherty, April 23, 1894. a pupil in the public school of Ware.

(The Mulvaney Line).

William Mulvaney was born in Carrick Fergus, county Armagh, near Belfast, Ireland. about 1795. He married Nancy Mulvaney. who was not of near kin, and their children were six in number and all born in the birth- place of their parents as follows : 1. James B .. married Johannah Dowey, and had three chil-

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dren. 2. Mary, married James Ward. 3. Patrick James (q. v.). 4. Doherty, died in by keen observation and practical experience. At the age of twelve years he was bound out to a man who made him work day and night and ill-treated in every possible manner He left this place before he had attained his ma- jority, and shipped aboard a vessel engaged in the West Indian and coastwise trade. The captain, who was aware of the earlier circum- Ireland when seventeen years of age. 5. Fannie, married a Mr. Kane and had children : John, James and William Kane. 6. Hugh, married Mary King, had thirteen children, and died in 1908. William Mulvaney was quite an old man when he emigrated to America and made his home in Ware, Massachusetts, . stances of the young man's life, was a kind- with his son who lived on a farm, and where he died in 1875.

(II) Patrick James, second son and third child of William and Nancy ( Mulvaney ) Mul- vaney, was born in Carrick Fergus, county Armagh, Ireland, in 1822, died in Ware, Mass- achusetts, August 8, 1894. He was married in the home of his birth before he left Ireland for America. The vessel in which they started was shipwrecked as was the one that rescued them and the third ship carried them to the coast of Virginia, where they were driven ashore and wrecked for a third time. They finally reached Chicopee, Massachusetts, having passed six months less a few days on shipboard and waiting for relief. Mr. Mul- vaney was a tailor by trade, but on reaching Ware he found employment in the Otis Com- pany Mills and he remained there until he re- tired some years before his death. His wife was Margaret Jane Holmes, born in Carrick Fergus, county Amagh, Ireland, in 1822, died in Ware, Massachusetts, April 6, 1875. The first four children of Patrick James and Mar- garet Jane (Holmes) Mulvaney were born in Chicopee, Massachusetts, as follows: I. Will- iam C., March II, 1851, remained single and lived in Ware, Massachusetts. 2. Annie R., August, 1852, never married. 3. Margaret Jane, January, 1854, married James Edward Clark (see Clark, II1). 4. Doherty, 1856, never married. 5. Rose, born in Ware, Mass- achusetts, died there. 6. Patrick, born in Ware, March 9, 1860, never married. 7. David, died in Ware, Massachusetts, when twelve years of age.

RANDALL Lewis Randall was born in Rochester, Massachusetts. He was a farmer, and after his death the homestead passed into the hands of his son Lewis. His children : Lewis, Patience, Rhoda and Jeremiah.

(II) Jeremiah, son of Lewis Randall, was born and died in Rochester, Massachusetts. His father died when he was very young, and his chances of obtaining an education were limited. This drawback he overcame in part

hearted man and gave him such assistance as lay in his power. After following a seafaring life for a number of years, Mr. Randall re- turned to Rochester and purchased a tract of land of sixty acres, located on the main road between Rochester and Mattapoisett. He was very successful in the raising of general crops, and bought quantities of woodland which he converted into timber, and for which he found a ready market in Rochester, New Bedford and Fall River. He also sold much pitch pine in New Bedford to be used in the refining of whale oil. Another industry in which he en- gaged was the raising of sheep and cattle, and he had a fine herd of cows. He was a man of large stature, noted for his strength, and served during the War of 1812. He voted the first Republican ticket, and prior to that was a stanch Whig. In religious faith he was a member of the Universalist church. Mr. Ran- dall married, at Rochester, Sally, born in Rochester, died at Mattapoisett, daughter of Reuben and Sally Tinkham, the former a farmer. Children : I. Patience, married Josiah Bowlen, and had: William; Franklin; Sarah, married Charles Randall; Josiah; Jeremiah. 2. Jeremiah, married Eliza Gifford, and had : Louisa. 3. Leonard, married Eunice Pierce, and had: Jeremiah; Annie; Eunice Marie, married Charles Tinkham; George, married Mrs. Belle Bowles. 4. Hezekiah, married Sarah Ames, and had: Lizzie, married Henry Smith : Ella, married Taylor ; Alton, inarried twice, and had: Alton. 5. Elisha Briggs, see forward. 6. George W., married ( first ) Mary Snow, (second) Dorcas : children : Abbie Frank ; Coe ; Hattie ; Grace.

(III) Elisha Briggs, fourth son and fifth child of Jeremiah and Sally (Tinkham) Ran- dall, was born in Rochester, Massachusetts. April 13, 1833. His education was acquired in the district school, and up to the age of fourteen years he assisted in the cultivation of his father's farm. He then shipped before the mast on the whaler "America," going to the African coast, and later made the same voyage in the bark "Sarah." He followed the sea until he was twenty-two years of age, and then

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found employment in the shipyard at Matta- poisett and learned the trade of ship carpenter. After a time he went to Norton, where for six years he was engaged in getting out lum- ber. and shortly after his marriage purchased a farm of seventeen acres at Wrentham, on the road to Pondville. There he engaged in the milk business, buying up the products from the neighboring farms and sending it with his own to William Parks, a contractor in Boston, for a number of years. Mr. Parks subse- quently failed, and Mr. Randall later sold his farm after having lived in Wrentham about twenty-eight years. He then removed with his family to Foxboro, purchasing the old Colonel Hobart place of one hundred and seven acres, located on the main road from Wrentham to Foxboro, and again engaged in the milk business in the same style as he had done in Wrentham. Here he supplied the best trade in Foxboro, and also Mr. Perkins, a con- tractor. About 1903 Mr. Randall disposed of his business and retired from active business life. He is a member of the Universalist church, at which his faithful and devoted wife was also an attendant. She was a most capa- ble and loving woman, of great energy and determination of character, and one whose chief interests centered in her home and fam- ily, of whose comforts she was ever thought- ful. Her early life was spent in Wrentham, in which town she was born, and where she was engaged in straw working up to the time of her marriage. She was an earnest worker in the interests of the church of which she was a member, and her children reaped the benefits of her wise teachings. Mr. Randall married at Wrentham. 1857, Mary Melvina, born De- cember 25, 1833, died March 13, 1909, daugh- ter of Amasa and Christiana ( Brazee) Wilson. Children : 1. George Wilson, died at the age of seven years. 2. Frank Wilson, born February 28, 1859 ; married, May 27, 1893, Annie Ada. born April 20, 1864, daughter of Willard A. and Hannah (Salley) White; child: Frank Elisha. born June 18, 1897. 3. Mary Alice, born March 31. 1871 ; married Willard Nelson White, brother of Annie Ada White. men- tioned above.

Captain Pierre Bonvou- BONVOULOIR loir was a patriot and officer of the revolution forces. He himself was born in Iberville, Prov- ince of Quebec, but came of a French family of position and influence. In his business oc- cupation he was a farmer, first in his native

town of Iberville and afterward at St. Brigide, in the same province. The name of his wife before her marriage was Clémence La Pointe, who also was a descendant of French ances- tors. Captain Bonvouloir had a large family of children, several of whom died in infancy. Those who grew to maturity were: Timothè, Noè, Pierre, Clémence, Clovis and Alfred (twins) and Délina.

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Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume IV, Part 128

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848- Publication date: 1910 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 886

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 886