USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > Harvard College class of ninety-seven : fiftieth anniversary report, 1897 > Part 41
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
The son of Amos Clifford and Susan Clark (Ide) Morse, he was born August 13, 1853, at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and at- tended St. Johnsbury Academy. He never married.
+ FRANKLYN STANLEY MORSE
F RANKLYN STANLEY MORSE died May 30, 1936, at New York City. The son of Leander Stanley and Cordelia Victoria (Tupper) Morse, he was born June 16, 1875, at Bridgetown, Nova Scotia, attended Digby Academy, and received a B.A. from Acadia Uni- versity in 1896. He was with our Class only during our senior year, taking an A.B. in 1897. He spent the following year in the Gradu- ate School, where he received a Master's degree. After a short time as principal of the Westport, Massachusetts, High School, he continued his studies at New York University and in 1899 went to the Collegiate School of New York City as head of the history department. He taught there until 1934, when he retired. Among his pupils were Charles Evans Hughes, Jr., Henry Morgenthau, Jr., and Nathan Straus.
Morse's interests were widespread over the educational field. He was treasurer of the Schoolmasters' Association of New York, a reader of history with the College Entrance Examination Board, a member of the Committee of Examiners in History and of a special commission appointed by the Board to revise the college entrance requirements in history. He was also in charge of the
456
HARVARD CLASS OF 1897
history department at the summer session of Phillips Exeter Academy, chairman of the education committee, and a founder of the Cum Laude Society. On June 19, 1901, at Leominster, Massachusetts, he married Martha Baker Stacy, who survived him.
ERNEST MEABRY MOSES
A s I look back on my life since college," writes Moses, "it seems a very short time. I fear an account of my life will be rather uninteresting reading to others. Of course, as it has been my life, it has been interesting to me, but it has been singularly uneventful with no unusual experiences.
"I have been in engineering, structural and designing, ever since graduation. I was first with the J. R. Worcester Company for six years, then with the Boston Elevated Railway Company for a few years, with the Boston Bridge Works for twenty years, and at present I am with the Stone & Webster Engineering Cor- poration.
"In 1904 I spent six months travelling in England and on the Continent. I always thought that I should visit Europe again, but the opportunity never came. I have made some interesting short trips in this country. From the time I was married in 1911 until 1932, we lived in Cambridge, about three blocks from the Har- vard Yard, and spent our summers in Duxbury, Massachusetts. In 1932 my wife and I decided to make our summer home our perma- nent abode. Duxbury has unusual charm and is an interesting place to live at all seasons.
"Many of our Cambridge friends have come to live all the year in Duxbury and our son has bought a home here also. We take great pleasure in his two little boys, and find a new sphere of use- fulness in 'minding' the children occasionally. Our house is al- most two hundred years old and from our porch we look across Duxbury Bay to Clark's Island, where the Pilgrims spent Sunday before landing on Plymouth Rock. It is a pleasant spot in which to spend one's last years, be they many or few."
Moses, the son of Thomas Freeman Moses, Bowdoin College
457
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY REPORT
'57, and Hannah Appleton Cranch, was born September 24, 1876, at Urbana, Ohio. He attended Urbana University before coming to Harvard, and received his S.B. cum laude after three years' work in the Lawrence Scientific School. He married Florence Talbot Pierce, March 4, 1911, at Cambridge. Their adopted son, Robert Howe Pierce, was born May 17, 1912. There are two grandchildren, both boys.
During World War I, Moses was engaged in working on the construction of the Victory Plant at Squantum, Massachusetts. In World War II, his work with Stone & Webster was connected with the atomic bomb. His brother, Edmund Quincy Moses, received his S.B. degree with the Harvard Class of 1902.
Moses is a life member of the Harvard Engineering Society and a member of the Swedenborgian Church.
* PHILIP WILFRID TRAVIS MOXOM
PHILIP WILFRID TRAVIS MOXOM came to Harvard after three years at Brown University. In 1897, after one year in college, he entered the Medical School, where he took an M.D. degree in 1901. His subsequent practice was largely in Brooklyn, where he was for several years on the staff of the Kingston Avenue Hospital. He was also pediatrician to the Children's Clinic of the Pol- hemus Memorial Clinic. During the 1916 epidemic of anterior poliomyelitis he was one of five Brooklyn physicians who fought the disease heroically and with success. His work tired him so greatly that he sought recuperation in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he died on September 6, 1917.
Moxom was born in Bellevue, Michigan, on November 21, 1874, the son of Philip Stafford and Isabel (Elliott) Moxom, and prepared for college at the Boston Latin School. On March 3, 1903, at Philadelphia, he married Ella Mann Sangée Russell. Their daughter, Marianna, was born December 20, 1903, and died January 9, 1906.
458
HARVARD CLASS OF 1897
* ERNEST DENMAN MULFORD
EF RNEST DENMAN MULFORD was born October 16, 1875, at Mal- den, Massachusetts, the son of Aaron Denman and Clara Elizabeth (Morandi) Mulford. He came to Harvard from St. Paul's School and took his A.B. degree with the Class. After studying at the New York Law School, he received an LL.B. in 1899 and was admitted to the Bar in 1900. He did not practise, but devoted his business career to real estate. He settled in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he was active in local affairs. He held the presidency of the Real Estate Board and of the City Council, serving in the latter capacity as acting mayor when necessary. He was zoning commissioner and director of the Chamber of Commerce. At his death on February 9, 1927, in Elizabeth, the mayor spoke with highest praise of his service as a conscientious official whose aim was always to advance the interests of his city.
+ DANIEL FENTON MURPHY
D ANIEL FENTON MURPHY was born at Thompsonville, Connecti- cut, on September 27, 1872, and died at New York City on May 23, 1937. The son of James and Eliza (Fenton) Murphy, he entered Harvard from Hartford High School. After graduation he studied for two years at Harvard Law School and then joined the staff of Daly, Hoyt & Mason, New York, and was admitted to the Bar. In 1906 he was appointed assistant district attorney by William Travers Jerome, district attorney of New York County. One of his important cases was prosecuted before Mayor William J. Gaynor, who was so favorably impressed that in July, 1910, he appointed Murphy a city magistrate.
On June 14, 1916, he married Mrs. Mary Sheldon Fuller, who survived him. In 1917 he became an associate justice of the Court of Special Sessions of the City of New York, on which he served until his retirement in September, 1936. The Court adopted a resolution after his death, which concludes, "He was endowed with a keen and penetrating mind, combined with a wealth of
459
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY REPORT
experience, a passion for justice, the ability to distinguish the true from the false, and the never-failing quality of mercy so essential to the redemption of the erring without sacrifice of the interests of the State."
* JOSEPH LOUIS NACE
J TOSEPH LOUIS NACE came to Harvard after receiving an A.B. from Carthage College in 1895. He spent a year in the college as a special student and during 1896-97 was in the Graduate School. He received an A.B. in 1897. He then studied law in the office of Green & Humphrey in Springfield, Illinois. He died in that city on March 3, 1899. He was born on June 30, 1875, at Carthage, Illinois, the son of Joseph and Henrietta Elizabeth (Koachig) Nace. During his all too short life he showed scholastic ability of a high order as well as a wide capacity for friendship.
WILLIAM GIBBS NASH
N ASH, the son of Alfred Turner and Delia Rebecca (Gibbs) Nash, was born September 29, 1874, at Wareham, Massa- chusetts. He prepared at the Somerville High School in Somer- ville, Massachusetts. He was graduated with our Class after four years' work. In 1903 he received his M.D. degree at Columbia University. He married Florence Claxton, May 1, 1907, in Pater- son, New Jersey. Their sons are: William Claxton, born Septem- ber 24, 1913; and George Alfred, born September 24, 1913.
Nash has reported that there is nothing of great import to add to the Twenty-fifth Report. He is still living in Newark, New Jersey, and is active in his special work.
JOHN FREDERICK NEAL
I KNOW, without any mental reservations," reports Neal, "from my own experiences, especially those which I have learned have been of value, from the active practice of law, from service which can be given others through the church and fraternal or-
460
HARVARD CLASS OF 1897
ders, through frequent contacts with folks who were doing much more than I, and through serving our government, that, be one's accomplishments great or small, the result is a thankfulness. This is so even if one knows one has not made a home run or a touchdown in one's efforts towards a clean-cut 'durable satisfac- tion,' and even though one may not have measured up fully, as some of our classmates have, to the 'well done, good and faithful servant' of the Scriptures, nor acquired greatness as measured by every-day standards. If one can keep at it successfully, even though one meets with discouragement as most of us do, one's life will not have been wasted."
Neal, the son of George William Neal, '65, and Delia Anna Henderson, was born September 21, 1874, at Dover, New Hamp- shire. He prepared at the Malden, Massachusetts, High School. After receiving his A.B. magna cum laude with our Class, he en- tered the Law School, where he obtained an LL.B. in 1900. While an undergraduate, he was a member of St. Paul's Society, of which he was vice-president in our senior year. He was also a member while in the Law School, and served as a proctor at Hapgood Hall and as an examination proctor during his three years there.
He was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in September, 1900, and was later admitted to practice in the Bar of the United States Federal Courts and to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States at Washington. He practised actively in various courts until his recent with- drawal from business. He writes that he sat frequently as auditor and master in various courts and had good luck in his decisions. He served in the City Council of Malden, Massachusetts, and was a member of the Committee on Constitution and By-Laws and various sub-committees. He was active in the local Y.M.C.A. and in Masonic affairs, being master of Mt. Vernon Lodge, A.F. & A.M., for two years.
He married Ida Beatrice Kendall, July 26, 1905, at Royalton, Vermont.
He was a vestryman, teacher, and later superintendent of St. Paul's Church School, and junior and later senior warden. He served as treasurer of the Archdeaconry of Lowell and deputy
461
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY REPORT
from the diocese of Massachusetts to the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church. For several years he served on the Diocesan Council and on the Executive Committee of the Malden Y.M.C.A.
"I am in no way an author," he writes, "but during World War I, William Edmund Dowty, '97, who was then rector of St. Paul's, and I collaborated in publishing a monthly sheet known as St. Paul's Service Bulletin, which started in the form of letters to Malden boys in the service and grew rapidly into an eight-page printed monthly of several hundred copies, including inspiring letters from our rector. The good folks of St. Paul's contributed generously to the expenses in connection therewith, and the boys in service, not to be outdone, wrote many letters to friends in the parish, who, in turn, wrote them, to the mutual happiness and benefit of all."
Neal was for several years a member of the Kernwood Club of Malden and Boston City Club.
* JOHN EMMETT NEHIN
J' OHN EMMETT NEHIN was born at Buffalo, New York, on July 4,
1874, the son of Jeremiah and Mary Ann Nehin. He prepared for college at the Buffalo High School and was in the Lawrence Scientific School as a special student during 1893-94. He died September 25, 1899.
HUMPHREY TURNER NICHOLS
L ET each classmate tell his own story fully and frankly,'" quotes Nichols. "'Do not reflect that you have nothing to say that is important. I beg you to look back and set forth your own valua- tion of life, and if you can do this in an entertaining fashion, so much the better. Don't hesitate to express freely your religious opinions or convictions.'
"Roger, upon your own head be it!
"Rather than call this the 'Story of My Life,' far better that I turn to my classics, if only to retain my standing in our 'Society
462
HARVARD CLASS OF 1897
of Educated Men,' and, borrowing from that distinguished church- man, John Henry Cardinal Newman, entitle it: Apologia pro Vita Sua.
"As I 'reflect' (indocti discant et ament meminisse periti, as we used to say) upon my first quarter-century following graduation - moiling and broiling in the market place when I might have been at home doing crossword and picture puzzles, or at least knitting and tatting - my eyes fill with tears. Alas! Those wasted years!
"When all is said and done, of what moment the triumphs of high endeavor and accomplishment in the business world, if the atom bomb is to destroy the lot of us?
"'In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat bread,' so sayeth the Old Testament. Yet: 'Who would grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death puzzles the will. Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.' So, Shakespeare. How much braver, then, he who dares take the bit between the teeth (provided that it doesn't taste too metally, and that his lowers' can stand it), and crash through the barriers of conven- tion to stand apart and let the 'little folk of little soul rise up to buy and sell again.'
'Why was the supreme philosophy of old 'Mother Goose' so hastily discarded once we had attained our young manhood? 'Tom, Tom, the piper's son, stole a pig and away he run.' There was adventure for you! And romance! And sound business sagacity! Not to speak of the four freedoms: freedom from want, freedom from fear, and presumably, of religion and of speech. And again: 'Jack be nimble. Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick.' The sanest of advice! No dwelling in a 'brazen pris- on' for him! (vide A Summer Night by Matthew Arnold.) Mens sana in corpore sano. No feeble old age with arthritis, arterio- sclerosis, and dyspeptic-neurasthenia staring him in the face! O rare Mother Goose! And the nearest that they could come to it in those days was: 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.' Work? 'Take it away!' Avant! Such cruel encroachment upon one's indolence and innocent play! No! No! None such, for my young 'Hump' - H.T.N., 2d! He shall steal out of the back door
463
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY REPORT
to meet his old gaffer Gran'daddy, and I shall totter and stumble along with him to the old fishing hole and . . . Why what's that? Bless my stars if it ain't 'mom'! No - of course not! Why we was just a-goin' out behind the barn to cut up them thar logs! Seems like it might be gettin' a mite chilly, come mornin'!
"But to get back to my 'story' and pick it up from where we left it in our Fortieth Report in case you're interested, though why I can't imagine.
"Since 'retiring from business,' most of my leisure time has been happily spent at York Harbor, Maine. Following the death of my wife in 1943, however, I moved to this little old hotel, the Rock- ingham, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Its proximity to York makes it possible for me to 'run over' and spend most of my sum- mer days there, keeping alive many old friendships and renewing lifelong associations. And my comfortable winter quarters here in the hotel are ideal for all my present needs. It is a lovely old seaport town, 'Strawberry Banke' as Portsmouth was first called, or 'Rivermouth,' as some of you may recall, from your boyhood reading of that ever-charming story written by the late Thomas Bailey Aldrich, The Story of a Bad Boy. Crumbling old wharves and warehouses along the waterfront and fine old family man- sions, for the most part rather dilapidated, and gray with age or pastel tinted in faded color, or plain white, and with old green shutters, adorn the narrow, winding old streets, recalling its days of great maritime prosperity and social splendor when the old Piscataqua River and harbor were alive with shipping, and the town's inhabitants, in crinolined silk gowns and poke bonnets, or cocked hats, powdered wigs, mulberry coats and breeches, white 'stocks' and stockings, and silver-buckled shoes, flounced or tapped their respective ways to their shops or counting houses.
"Great fortunes were amassed and 'high society' was given rich and constant entertainment in those days 'under the Crown,' and in the post-Revolutionary days to follow, well on into the early eighteen hundreds. (Kenneth Roberts presents an excellent picture of Portsmouth in that era in his Northwest Passage). A few of the fine old buildings, more particularly those of faded pink brick, their façades adorned with white Ionic pilasters,
464
HARVARD CLASS OF 1897
deeply recessed windows and doorways, and daintily carved wooden cornices (to say nothing of their exquisite interiors ), were designed by the celebrated architect, Charles Bulfinch. Most of the others, though somewhat in decay, still stand in all of their original four-square dignity and beauty, 'always character- ized by a certain aristocratic quality, a spare Federalist beauty, never beyond the bounds of good taste,' to quote a current essay- ist, referring to certain old buildings in Boston and Washington.
"In one's declining years, after one has tired of the bustle and confusion of the larger cities, where too many empty chairs, alas! now greet one as one enters some once-familiar and beloved old city club, it is a privilege to dwell amidst such peace, and tran- quility and beauty. A motto for this rare old haven might well be: 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'
"Certain official duties and the compiling and editing of his- torical data, in connection with a local historical society, afford me great enjoyment and a delightful occupation, and are a source of ever-increasing interest. Libraries abound, distances are short, and shops plentiful. Save for a couple of operations a year or so ago, my health continues excellent, and a daily stroll through these lovely old streets and down along the waterfront affords me all needed exercise.
"Truly: 'The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.'
"Classmates, shall I make reservations for you?"
Nichols, the son of Frederic Spelman and Elizabeth Louisa (Humphrey) Nichols, was born December 4, 1875, at Boston. He prepared at Hopkinson's School in Boston. He was in college six years and received his A.B. in 1900 as of 1897. As an under- graduate he was a member of the Institute of 1770, Hasty Pud- ding Club, Signet Society, O.K. Club (of which he was presi- dent ), English Club, and Memorial Society. He managed the '97 Freshman Football Team and the '97 Freshman Crew. He was '97 freshman director of the Harvard Lawn Tennis Association, and was winner of the two-hundred-and-twenty-yard low hurdles in the '97 Freshman Meet of the Harvard Athletic Association.
465
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY REPORT
He played with the '97 Freshman Baseball Team and was a mem- ber of the Freshman Glee Club "until probation intervened." He played with the Intercollegiate Cricket Team versus the Cana- dians in our senior year, and was a member of the '97 Class Base- ball Team in our senior year. He was also president of the Lam- poon, as were many of his Harvard relatives. He has two Harvard brothers: the late Frederick Nichols, '83; and Arthur Boylston Nichols, '91.
He married Edith Seabury (Allen) Prentiss, August 1, 1901. She died October 16, 1943, at Seabury (York Harbor), Maine. They had two children: Frederick Humphrey (married Emily Logan), born April 27, 1902; and Edith Seabury, born April 12, 1903 (deceased). Frederick received his A.B. with the Class of '24. There are two grandchildren, Emily Croysdale Nichols and Hum- phrey Turner Nichols, 2d.
In the first World War, Nichols was commissioned a first lieu- tenant in the Adjutant General's Department in August, 1917, and was later detailed to Headquarters of the 77th Division at Camp Upton, New York, as statistical officer. He was appointed assistant to the division adjutant in January, 1918, and assigned to the Military Intelligence Division, General Staff. He was pro- moted captain and detailed for liaison duty with the French High Commission and Departments of War, State and Navy. He was appointed chief of the Liaison Section, Military Intelligence Division, and later assistant to the chief of the Positive Branch, Military Intelligence Division. He later became acting assistant to the director of the Military Intelligence Division, and was re- lieved from active duty in July, 1919.
In World War II, he worked with the Aircraft Warning Serv- ice in York Harbor and served as fire warden in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and as a deputy sheriff of York County, Maine.
After leaving college Nichols was reporter on the New York Commercial Advertiser, director of publicity for Tate Electrolytic Textile Processes, Incorporated, in New York, was engaged in the cranberry business in Boston, and did special work for the Boston Herald.
He is a former member of the Puritan and Tennis & Racquet
466
HARVARD CLASS OF 1897
Clubs of Boston; Union, Players (of which he was secretary and a director ), Harvard, Turf & Field, and Amateur Comedy Clubs of New York; and Metropolitan Club of Washington, D. C .; May- flower Descendants, Colonial Wars, Sons of the American Revo- lution, Boston; and York Harbor Reading Room ( of which he was secretary and a governor). He is at present permanent foreman of the Volunteer Veteran Firemen's Association of York Harbor, Maine, and historian and a director of Historic Landmarks, In- corporated, of York, Maine. He is a member of the Portsmouth Historical Society, Thomas Bailey Aldrich Memorial, Warner House Association, all of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the Bostonian Society. He is a member of the Unitarian Church.
* JOHN NOBLE
OHN NOBLE was born on December 25, 1875, at Roxbury, Massa- J chusetts, the son of John and Katherine Williams (Sheldon) Noble. With his death on October 30, 1943, at Cambridge, the Class of 1897 lost one of its most loyal members. His staunch New England forebears left him an inheritance of their best qualities. He was descended from the early Noble settlers of Portsmouth and Great Falls, New Hampshire, and on his mother's side from the Sheldon and Williams families of Deerfield, Massachusetts. His father was graduated from Harvard with the Class of 1850 and received an LL.B. in 1858. In 1902 Dartmouth conferred an LL.D. upon him. He served on the Harvard Board of Overseers from 1898 to 1909. As clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for Suffolk County, he was fondly called "the eighth member of the Court" by lawyers and judges who were familiar with the unique contribution which he made to the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth. John's uncle, George Washington Copp Noble, was the founder of Noble's School, and it was there that John prepared for Harvard. He re- ceived his A.B. magna cum laude in 1897, and LL.B. at the Harvard Law School in 1900.
He began his legal career in Boston in the office of John D. Long and Alfred Hemenway. A year later he became a partner
467
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY REPORT
of Augustus P. Loring and Harold J. Coolidge, in the firm of Lor- ing, Coolidge & Noble, and continued as a member of the latter firm until its merger in 1936 with the firm of Gaston, Snow, Sal- tonstall & Hunt. Throughout his career he was particularly active as a trial lawyer. In addition to his other professional activities he published a treatise on the Massachusetts law of charity trusts, and had almost finished a third and enlarged edition of this work at the time of his death.
On June 4, 1903, he married Susan Loring Jackson, at Cam- bridge. Their children are: Eleanor Gray (Mrs. William N. Bourne), born December 17, 1904; Jane Loring (Mrs. Francis Fiske), born September 4, 1906; John, Jr. (married Barbara E. Warner), born May 19, 1908; and Charles Loring Jackson ( mar- ried Susan Means), born September 20, 1913. Mrs. Noble, their four children, and nine grandchildren, survived him. John was absorbed in his family almost to the exclusion of outside interests, but found time to take an active part in the First Corps Cadets in Boston, and later at Plattsburg and Fort Terry during the World War in 1914. Shortly before the Armistice he volunteered and was accepted by the Coast Artillery. His principal hobby was his stamp collection. Begun by him when he was a little boy, it ranks today as one of the most complete collections of British Colonial and American commemorative issues in existence. His farm in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, provided an outlet for his love of the outdoors. An occasional West Indies cruise furnished the relaxa- tion so essential to a strenuous professional life.
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.