USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Hampden county, 1636-1936, Volume III > Part 68
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75
Hampden-30
466
INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY RECORDS
ice by having a school named after him- (Keith) Lawlor, of Kansas City, Missouri, "The Kirby Junior High School"; Thomas and they are the parents of a daughter, Theresa Lawlor Kirby. E., D. D. S., a Chicopee dentist; and the Rev. James P. Kirby, pastor of the Catholic Church at Lee, Massachusetts.
Judge Kirby was educated in the paro- chial schools of Chicopee; Manhattan Col- lege, New York City ; and the Harvard Uni- versity Law School, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1897, as a member of the class graduated in that year. Admitted to the bar of Massachusetts in 1897, he began a general practice of his profession in Springfield, and has since con- tinued with an increasing clientele and repu- tation. In 1906, he was elected city auditor of Chicopee, serving until 1914 in this office. Appointed city solicitor, in 1915, he served one term. Judge Kirby was appointed to the District Court of Chicopee in 1914, a post he continues to fill with a skill that has won general approval.
During the World War, Judge Kirby was chairman of the Draft Board and prominent in many of the local and State activities of that period. He is chairman of the board of trustees of the Chicopee Public Library ; vice-president, trustee and attorney for the Chicopee Savings Bank ; attorney and a di- rector of the Chicopee Cooperative Bank. Among his clubs are the Kiwanis of Chico- pee, the Country and City clubs of Spring- field, the Holyoke Country, and the Oxford Country, of which he is also vice-president. Golf is, of course, his chief out-of-doors recreation. Professional associations are kept close by memberships in the Hampden County Bar Society, of which he is vice- president and the Massachusetts State Bar Association. With his family, his religious affiliations are with Holy Name Catholic Church of Chicopee.
Judge Kirby married Alice T. Lawlor, daughter of the late Christopher and Robert
HARRY WALLACE BOWEN-The reputation of Harry Wallace Bowen, of Springfield, as a patent attorney is thor- oughly well established. The background of his career as a specialist along lines sel- dom understood by the average person are far less weil known. He is a native of Adams, born May 31, 1867, son of John Howland and Martha (Sly) Bowen, the for- mer also a native of Adams and a member of an ancient and honorable New England family. Mrs. Bowen was born in North Adams, and died in 1914, three years after the death of her husband.
Harry Wallace Bowen's birthplace was known as Bowen's Corner, one mile from the town of Adams, and was the birthplace also of Susan B. Anthony. Mr. Bowen was reared on a farm and traveled no easy road to formal and professional education. He attended local schools and was graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in 1893, with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. In 1898, he re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Laws, with the graduating class of the National Univer- sity Law School, at Washington, District of Columbia. Mr. Bowen was employed in the United States Patent Office at the Na- tion's Capital, from 1894 to 1905. Post- graduate studies were continued, and in 1903 he received the degrees, Master of Science, and Master of Patent Law, from George Washington University.
Mr. Bowen remained with the United States Patent Office until 1905, when he came to Springfield to become associated with Chapin and Company, patent lawyers. His experience was as extensive as has been the breadth of his professional and academic
467
INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY RECORDS
studies. He was accepted as a partner of Chapin and Company, but since 1915 has practiced independently in patent and trade mark law, upon which he is one of the rec- ognized authorities in New England. He is a member of the Federal bar and of several legal and other organizations.
Mr. Bowen was a charter member of the Springfield Kiwanis Club, and is also a member of the Springfield Chamber of Com- merce. He organized and has retained an active interest in the Connecticut Valley branch of the Polytechnic Institute of Worcester, his first alma mater. History has been both a beloved subject of reading and research. At one time he assisted in making an atlas of Berkshire County, and is a member of the Berkshire Historical Society. By reason of ancestry he is affil- iated with the Sons of the American Rev- olution.
In 1898, Harry Wallace Bowen married Alice Evangeline Shotwell, of Elba, New York.
NELSON BROWN CARTER-As a business and financial leader, Nelson Brown Carter has effectively served his native com- munity of Chicopee and the surrounding district of Hampden County. He is pres- ident of the Chicopee Savings Bank and an outstanding figure in local affairs.
Mr. Carter was born June 1, 1876, in Chicopee, Massachusetts, son of Joseph Ad- dison and Harriet Almira (Hovey) Carter. The father, a native of Woodstock, Ver- mont, came in the early 'fifties of the last century to Chicopee, becoming a clerk in the grocery business with Bullens and Com- pany, pioneers in this field, and later or- ganizing the grocery firm of Carter and Spaulding, which began operations on March 4, 1861. He continued in this same busi- ness for the rest of his life, dying in 1903. He was also active in city affairs, was a
member and a trustee of the Corporation of the Chicopee Savings Bank and a mem- ber of its board of investment and vice- president of the institution. Joseph Addison Carter was also a member and director of the finance committee of the First National Bank, now known as the Cabot Trust Com- pany. He was a member of the water com- mission of Chicopee, which established the present water supply system of the district, and was a member of the Chicopee Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons, the old Universalist Church, and then the Unitarian Church (which he helped to organize). His wife, Harriet Almira (Hovey) Carter, was a native of Brownington, Vermont, which was long the seat of the Hovey family. The first Mrs. Carter died at the age of thirty- six years. Mr. Carter then married (sec- ond) Amy Harvey Jenness. By his first marriage he had the following children: I. Mary Ella, wife of H. Austin Morse. 2. Addison. 3. Belle, widow of the Rev. Judson P. Marvin. 4. Edith Hovey, wife of W. Sumner Babcock, deceased. 5. Helen Ger- trude, who is deceased. 6. Nelson Brown, of further mention. 7. George W. .
In the public and high schools of Chico- pee, Nelson Brown Carter received his for- mal education. For a time he was an em- ployee in his father's firm, Carter and Spaul- ding, with whom he learned the grocery trade. In 1901 he bought Mr. Spaulding's interest in the enterprise, thereafter continu- ing in business in association with his father until he died. In closing out the elder Mr. Carter's estate, Nelson B. Carter kept his own interest, but sold his father's share in the business to H. Austin Morse. This relationship continued until 1906, when Mr. Carter bought his partner's holdings in the firm and proceeded to conduct the enter- prise independently. Remaining in business alone until October, 1914, he then sold his share to C. H. Bigelow. In that year he
468
INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY RECORDS
became assistant to the manager of the Lamb Knitting Machine Company, of Chico- pee Falls, later being made a director and treasurer of the company. That business was liquidated in 1930.
Meanwhile, Mr. Carter had begun his banking activities. In 1903 he had been elected to the board of trustees of the Cor- poration of the Chicopee Savings Bank. He was also elected chairman of the auditing committee and a member of the bank's board of investments, and in 1913, at the retirement of John B. Wood, was elected president of the bank to succeed Mr. Wood. He continues today as president of this solid financial institution, though he adds to this work a variety of interests in his community. When the Cabot Trust Com- pany was formed in 1917, he became a direc- tor of that enterprise and a member of its executive committee. He is now a director of the Chicopee Cooperative Bank.
In social and civic affairs Mr. Carter has also been a leader. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, in which he served as master of Chicopee Lodge at the early age of twenty-three years. He is affil- iated with Unity Chapter of Royal Arch Ma- sons, of which he was High Priest ; Spring- field Council of the Royal and Select Mas- ters ; Springfield Commandery of Knights Templar ; and Melha Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
It is interesting to note that, during the financial depression of recent times, Mr. Carter has rendered invaluable service to his city. In 1932 he was active in develop- ment of a plan for financing the city of Chicopee, whose credit was preserved largely as a result of his efforts. Mr. Carter is also a member of the Kiwanis Club, of which he was formerly president. In spare time he enjoys outdoor life, notably fishing.
Nelson Brown Carter married, on June 18. 1903, Sarah Ingals Gates, of West New-
ton, Massachusetts, daughter of Ira Ingals Gates, originally of Shelburne, New Hamp- shire. To them three children were born: I. Marion Hovey, wife of Richard G. Mosher, of Hartford, Connecticut. 2. Edith Gates. who became the wife of Hugh B. Snow, of Rockland, Maine. 3. Margaret, a teacher in the public school at East Milton, Massachu- setts, where she is now an instructor in the kindergarten grades.
ANDREW FRANCIS SEARS-As chief of the Fire Department of Chicopee, Andrew Francis Sears has effectively and usefully served his native city.
He was born here January 6, 1887, son of Michael and Johanna (Foley) Sears. Michael Sears came to America from Ire- land with his parents when he was only three years old, and in this country trav- eled through the West as a railroad man, settling in Chicopee at the time of his mar- riage. "He died at the age of thirty-nine years, in 1889. His wife, Johanna (Foley) Sears, came from Ireland to America at the age of fifteen years. Following the Civil War, she settled in Springfield, and after three years there took up her home in Chico- pee. She lived until 1924, dying at the age of seventy-nine years. They were the par- ents of the following children : I. Catharine, widow of Michael Sinnott, who is deceased. 2. Thomas, deceased. 3. Michael. deceased. 4. John, deceased. 5. Andrew F., of further mention. 6. Jennie, deceased. Of these chil- dren, only Catharine and Andrew are living.
The father became a citizen of the United States in Storey, Nevada, and the Sears fam- ily have richly contributed to the life of the communities where they have lived in their adopted land. Andrew F. Sears attended St. Patrick's Parochial School, at Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, going to high school at Springfield. He left school at the age of sixteen years, entering the employ of War-
Hissiam Ha Trumbull
469
INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY RECORDS
ren H. Hamilton as secretary and book- keeper. Mr. Hamilton was chief of the Po- lice Department of Chicopee in 1903 and 1904. From 1904 to 1907 Mr. Sears was connected with the Spaulding Manufactur- ing Company, serving in the golf depart- ment. He was then with the Stevens Iron and Tool Company, in Chicopee Falls. until 1910, when the Stevens-Duryea Automobile Company was organized. With them he be- came associated, learning automobile paint- ing and continuing in this work until the firm was dissolved in 1915. He then entered the employ of the Rolls-Royce Automobile Company as a finisher, continuing with them until, in 1934, he was appointed chief of the Chicopee Fire Department.
At the head of the fire-fighting forces of Chicopee, he has become a recognized leader in public and business life. In 1932 he was a candidate for mayor of the city. For two years he served as alderman, representing Ward No. 6, and for two years he was alder- man-at-large. Mr. Sears was formerly pres- ident of the Carriage and Automobile Paint- ers' Association No. 58. For two years he was assistant foreman at the Stevens Com- pany, and for a short time he was also fore- man of the old M. J. Bowler Carriage Com- pany. of Holyoke. He is a past president of the Knights of Columbus Educational Home Association, having served for two terms in that office, and he is also grand knight of the Elder Council of the Knights of Columbus. He is auditor of the Improved Order of Red Men. a member of the Cos- mopolitan Club of Chicopee Falls, Ward No. 6 Tennis Club, and the Tigers' Athletic Club of Chicopee Falls. His church is St. Pat- rick's, of the Roman Catholic faith.
WILLIAM HENRY TRUMBULL-For three-quarters of a century a resident of the Chicopee section of Massachusetts, William Henry Trumbull is one of its best known
and highly respected citizens. His keen interest in civic affairs was long ago rec- ognized and he has been honored with elec- tion to the board of assessors over a period of thirty-five years. Of this board he is the present chairman and his services to the municipality have been constructive and fruitful. He was born on June 14, 1858. at Chicopee Falls.
Mr. Trumbull is the son of Eucher and Catherine (McCluskey) Trumbull, the for- mer a native of Champlain, New York, who came to Chicopee in about 1850, and for the greater part of his life there was associated with Belcher and Taylor, manufacturers of agricultural implements. He died at the age of seventy, in 1894. William Henry Trumbull, the only survivor in this part of Massachusetts, of a family of five, was edu- cated in the grammar and high schools of Chicopee Falls. Early in his career he be- came a clerk in a store and eventually went into business for himself. In 1909 he was elected to the board of assessors, and to the work of this body he has since been devoted. For a number of years he has been chairman of the board. Perhaps no greater proof of his ability, and the sincere endeavor to serve the public to the best of that ability. can be evidenced than the recur- ring choice of Mr. Trumbull to an office of responsibility and trust.
In March, 1891, William Henry Trum- bull married Catherine F. Crehan, a daugh -. ter of Dennis Crehan, of Chicopee Falls. Mr. and Mrs. Trumbull are the parents of six children : 1. Mary E., widow of John T. Lynch, who served in the World War. 2. Catharine A., married Frank Warren of Chicopee Falls. 3. Mrs. Grace A. Prosser of New York City. 4. William B. Trum- bull, civil engineer, a graduate of Rhode Island College, now employed by the Mel- ville Company of New York City. He mar- ried Alice Haggerty, formerly of Chicopee.
470
INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY RECORDS
5. Robert H. Trumbull, resident of New York City. 6. Rose Monica, associated with the Fisk Rubber Company.
N. P. AMES CARTER-In the life and affairs of Chicopee, over a long period N. P. Ames Carter has played many important rôles. His leadership in education has been particularly outstanding. In less conspicu- ous capacities he has been prominently ac- tive in Springfield cultural circles also. His citizenship has ever been marked by a keen devotion to movements and organizations promoting the general welfare of the com- munity. In a time of national peril he aided in rallying the people to the defense meas- ures initiated by the government. Quoting the comment of a contemporary "his career is the exemplification of service."
In neighboring communities Mr. Carter is perhaps best known for travel lectures which he has been giving for the past dec- ade illustrated from his own camera. He has taken a number of cruises; one of them completely around the world.
Mr. Carter is a native of Chicopee Falls, born April 1I, 1864, son of Timothy Walker and Eliza Harriet (Bayley) Carter, and grandson of Elias Carter, noted New Eng- land church architect. He was named in honor of an uncle, Nathan Peabody Ames, known to his intimates as "N. P." so those initials only were bestowed on the name- sake, whose full name is N. P. Ames Carter.
Both Elias and Timothy W. Carter handed down a fine tradition of citizenship, in busi- ness and in public service. Coming to Chico- pee Falls, then a part of Springfield, in 1825 as a lad of sixteen, Timothy W. was part- ner in the one general store at twenty-one, became agent of the Chicopee Manufactur- ing Company, at twenty-five, and held that position for twelve years (1834 to 1846). He was one of the incorporators and later president of the Massachusetts Arms Com-
pany, whose works ran to their limit during the Civil War and incidentally made the car- bines used at Harpers Ferry by John Brown. From the sale of the Massachusetts Arms Company to the Lamb Knitting Machine Manufacturing Company and until his death, T. W. Carter was president of that concern. He worked hard for the erection of a pioneer church at the "Falls," assisted in the found- ing of banks, becoming a director of sev- eral, and helped to bring water into the town. It is of interest that this first aque- duct, a mile long, was made of hollow logs brought to uniform bore by forcing through them a plug of red-hot iron. T. W. Carter was moderator of the first town meeting held in Chicopee after its separation from Springfield in 1848, although he had op- posed the split. Other unsought political honors came to him: he sat in the State Constitutional Convention in 1853 and in the Massachusetts Senate in 1860-61.
N. P. Ames Carter claims that he ad- vanced to the Chicopee High School early in life more perhaps because of the "neces- sity of making room in the lower grades for incoming classes rather than because of any unusual proficiency." It is noteworthy, how- ever, that following his high school career he advanced rapidly with his preparatory studies in Williston Seminary (Williston Academy), which he entered in 1881, and is listed a graduate of the class of 1883. Commencement was a particularly happy time for him: he won two gold medals and two silver medals in athletic contests; was awarded the $50 prize for public speaking. He was captain of his class and under his command the class won first honors in its exhibition of military tactics. Matriculating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy in the class of 1887, he spent three years in this foremost New England scientific school. He has long been one of the three trustees of the Class Fund established by
471
INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY RECORDS
the boys to care for any unfortunate mem- bers of the class and which in four instances has relieved much suffering.
After leaving school he became interested in photography and was an ardent member of Springfield's first Camera Club, did much experimenting, and as he himself expressed it, did semi-professional work to help pay the bills. Some of his first attempts at lec- turing were on this subject, speaking in the Parish House of the old First Church in Springfield and before the Holyoke Scien- tific Society.
In September, 1887, N. P. Ames Carter went to the Deane Steam Pump Company in Holyoke as draughtsman in their design- ing room, remaining for less than a year. In the summer of 1888 he had the first of several European trips-nine weeks in the British Isles. Upon his return from Europe he opened an electrical construction and wiring business. In the summer of 1892 he was again abroad, the main attraction this time being a young lady by the name of Ruby M. Blaisdell, whom he married April 25, 1894. Their only child is a daughter, Ilsa Crane, now Mrs. Eliot L. Wight of Longmeadow. In January, 1893, Mr. Carter had purchased the stock of a branch store of the Edison General Electric Company, and established an office in the Cooley Hotel, Springfield. In October, 1895, B. C. Starr was taken in as a partner, and as trade in- creased larger quarters were sought and the firm name of "The Carter Electric Com- pany" adopted. The first few years of his electrical business had the added interest of being pioneer work. There was no current for electric lighting in Springfield save in a few downtown factories where arc lamps were used and neither stringent rules nor modern material for wiring had been de- vised; cotton wound wires put up with wooden cleats or even iron staples and pro-
tected by wooden cut-outs holding a bit of fusable wire was the method then employed. The installation of bells and the now almost forgotten electric gas lighting were the ma- jor part of his early work which was done largely personally, his office and workshop being his buggy transported daily to the va- rious jobs by a rather spirited horse. Electric gas lighting was a luxury appreciated largely by Maple Street, Crescent Hill, and a few residents of the "McKnight District" of Springfield. Mr. Carter records the rather unique experience for a tradesman of being accepted socially in many of these homes and not infrequently invited to have lun- cheon with the family. He wonders if a pair of fine fitting near silk overalls which he had tailor-made were in any way contribu- tory to this situation. The employing of twenty electricians; the managing of a sup- ply store, and the personal designing of gas and electric lighting fixtures were features of his later business.
It would serve no good end to present a complete chronological account of this busi- ness career, these early interests and enter- prises being mentioned for the light they throw upon the personality of a young man getting established in the fields of commerce and industry. He was in business in Spring- field for some thirty years, and the contacts made during this time of an educational, philanthropic and cultural nature are of more interesting import, and form the foun- dations of the active cultural and community service which he continued following his re- tirement from the electrical business in 1917. One likes to know that Mr. Carter was one of the enthusiasts who organized the Spring- field Camera Club in the 1880's; that in the 1890's he boated, and was a member of the Springfield Canoe Club ; that at one time or another he was president of the Poetry So- ciety, a member of the Springfield Garden
472
INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY RECORDS
Club, the Winthrop Club, the Saturday Night Club, the Allen Bird Club, and a life member of the Springfield Library Associa- tion. In 1923 he was one of the enthusiastic organizers of the Chicopee Kiwanis, and later its president. Incidental to his busi- ness, but reflecting light upon his varied ac- tivities, was his demonstrating before the Springfield Realty Club in 1893 the very new science of radio when to signal the length of the lecture hall without wires was an achievement. He was elected to the club and has been a member for more than forty years.
When Chicopee celebrated the twenty- fifth anniversary of its incorporation as a city, in the summer of 1915, N. P. Ames Carter was co-chairman with City Engineer Frank P. Cobb of the general committee to plan the celebration of the municipality whose first town moderator was his father. When the United States was about to enter the World War two years later, he was named with Eugene J. O'Neil, by Governor McCall, to head the local Committee of One Hundred in promoting industrial prepared- ness and military enlistment in the city. Under the leadership of these two men and the genuine cooperation of the mayor, Chicopee was one of the first cities to per- fect the war-time organization of its vari- ous departments, industrial, military, Red Cross, farming, speaking propaganda and food conservation. Mr. Carter's post as chairman of all these activities was no sine- cure ; his achievements, really great ; his re- ward, to be drafted for further services in later times of peace. In 1921, as a member of the National Safety Council the local committee on "No Accident Week" looked to him to organize their work.
As early as 1905 Mr. Carter was a member and chairman of the Chicopee Library Board. During the twelve years of his service a handsome new library building was con-
structed, and that without the necessity of attaching the name of the famous Scottish- born steel magnate. At this time he was a member of the Western Massachusetts Li- brary Association, and gave a deal of his time to visiting libraries, learning the best methods then used. Mr. Carter was long a member and a vice-president of the Hamp- den County Improvement League, and con- structively active in its affairs. His church affiliations have been with the Congrega- tional Church of Chicopee Falls, which his father helped to found. For a number of years clerk of the society, in 1921 he ar- ranged its new constitution and by-laws ; he was church historian at its one hundredth anniversary, and a frequent moderator of its meetings. His love of nature has taken form in many field and mountain trips, an inti- mate study of bird life and an inherited love of the beautiful garden in which he spends much time at his large and attractive old place at the Falls.
Among all of N. P. Ames Carter's com- munity services, that most outstanding and most deserving of recognition was his work for the school system of Chicopee, which, wrote one editor, under his leadership "has affected hundreds of children who, as pupils in the public schools, have benefited by it and have gone out into all parts of the world with broader ideas, higher ideals and better trained minds with which to take their places in life's battle-line." He was for thirty years a member of the Chicopee School Committee, and for twenty-four of these its chairman. He made history in education-in principles, systems and administration- sponsoring new features that are now ac- cepted practice, fighting for increased sup- port and enlarged or new schools, endeavor- ing always to broaden the scope of local education. All was done without recom- pense other than the realization of authentic service to the city and its children.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.