USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Vol I > Part 18
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A liberal general education was followed by his study of law initial- ly under the preceptorship of Hon. Keyes Danforth and subsequently with Hon. Daniel N. Dewey, Williamstown, and he was admitted to the bar of Berkshire county, March 18, 1854. His initial practice was in partnership association at Williamstown with Mr. Danforth.
He was appointed register of probate in 1855, and in 1858, after the courts of probate and insolvency were consolidated, he was chosen register of probate and insolvency, which office he resigned in 1881. In 1880, he was appointed district attorney to fill an unexpired term and was chosen for that office for the three succeeding terms, resigning therefrom in 1887, when nominated by the Republican party to the state attorney generalship, to which he was elected in 1887-88-89. Mr. Waterman was president for a number of years of the Pittsfield National Bank and one of its directors for many years, one of the founders of the City Savings Bank, and active in his interest and identification with numerous other important institutions.
He married, at East Boston, Massachusetts, January 7, 1858, Ellen, daughter of Henry H. and Nancy (Comstock) Cooke.
The following is a tribute paid to the memory of the late Andrew J. Waterman by Hon. John F. Noxon, delivered at a meeting of the Berkshire County Bar Association :
" My acquaintance with Mr. Waterman began in 1881, when I com- menced the practice of law in his office. He had but recently been ap- pointed to fill a vacancy in the office of district attorney. During most of the time from that time until his death, we were associated in busi-
Andrew Saleman
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ness and in the trial of cases. The relationship so long continued grew in its intimacy with the progress of time. He early made me his friend. The ties of love and esteem which bound me to him strengthened to the end. When his summons came, I felt that there had gone out of my life something which was never to be filled.
"What I have to say to-day must necessarily be personal in its character. If it shall appear to be over-laudatory, it is perhaps sufficient to say it is the natural expression of one, who long ago learned the wisdom of the injunction 'the friends thou hast and their affections tried, grapple them to thy soul with hoops- of steel.'
" There is no time in the life of a lawyer when assistance in the vexatious questions that arise in the prosecution of his profession meets with such grateful acceptance as during the first few years of his prac- tice. And fortunate, indeed, is one if he finds some lawyer of ripe ex- perience and good judgment to whom he can turn for advice in his extremity with the feeling that help will be given in such a way as to leave the impression that it was a pleasure to give, and more important still so that the recipient shall not feel as he turns away that the mouse has been to the mountain. Such a man in my early practice I found Mr. Waterman to be; and this side of his nature was not exhibited alone to me as my brethren of the bar will bear me witness.
"I think it is safe to say that no lawyer of his county was so much consulted by the younger members of the bar as he, when his duties were such that his assistance was available. He liked young men and he wanted them to succeed. We all know that it was a common occur- rence for him in the trial of cases when he was associated as senior counsel to urge that the junior make the argument in the case to the jury. He knew it would give confidence and would be a benefit to the young practitioner, and he was so good a judge of human nature as to know that it would not prejudice the client's case. He was fortunate in his disposition towards young men. This trait built up around him a friendship from among the younger members of the bar that was always eager to assert itself when occasion presented.
"As a lawyer he won for himself early a position in the bar of Western Massachusetts of the first influence. His advancement was · not in any degree procured or promoted by adventitious circumstances. Possessing in more than ordinary degree a knowledge of human na- ture, endowed with great common sense, a man of sound moral prin- ciples, a willingness and capacity for hard work, these were the pre- eminent· qualities of the man.
" On a legal proposition he never could split hairs. He was not a great orator-he never carried cases in his hat, but possessed a judi- cial mind, and as a trier of cases before either court or jury he achieved
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results. He had a faculty of winning his cases. His understanding of the principles of law was seldom at fault. His method of preparing a case where questions of law were involved was to get at the correct prin- ciple of law underlying it and when he had satisfied himself on that he hammered away, if you will permit the expression, on the reason of the thing. He believed that the law was based on justice; that his client's interests were best subserved by advising him to do what was right.
" His experience for so many years in the office of register of pro- bate where he had been called upon so often to smooth out differences that arise in the settlement of estates probably nurtured this disposition on his part, but it was his heritage, innate. I have known many in- stances where both parties to a controversy have called upon him to adjust their differences. He was a gentleman always-in the trial of cases his attitude towards hostile witnesses was never irritating. He never created sympathy for the other side by rudeness of attack.
" He was as honest a man as I ever knew. He wanted to know the exact facts in a case and he was just as insistent in getting at the exact law that should govern them. I do not believe he ever argued wittingly unsound law, something 1 fear that a good many of us in the stress of a hard case find it pretty hard not to do. This honesty of the man earned for him the well known sobriquet . Honest Jack Waterman,' and this well known quality gave him great influence not only before jurors but before judges as well. He was an open-minded man. He wel- comed light always. He was a man furthermore of strong convictions. He allowed no influence to muffle the voice of duty. He would not sacrifice principle or temporize with the plain indication of duty to secure preferment. He always had the courage of his conviction. Whether as a citizen, a lawyer, a public servant or holding important position in business institutions, he was positive and outspoken.
" His views on public questions were always well known and they were never clothed to fit his audience. Always a strong temperance man, on his first appearance on the platform when a candidate for the office of district attorney he fairly frightened some of his political friends by his strong utterances on that question. Apparently he never counted the cost when facing what he believed to be a duty. He cared nothing for a smooth road. Notable instances of this he furnished when dis- trict attorney in the vigorous prosecution of a manufacturer in this county for maintaining a dam which he believed to be a nuisance, which act was opposed to the interests of every manufacturer in his district. Another instance was seen in his investigation of certain acts of the West End Railway Company of Boston while he was attorney general,
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whereby he brought against himself the whole influence of that power- ful corporation.
" In the eyes of a politician. these various acts were mistakes. They endangered his hold upon office. In the estimation of such a one lie should have been governed in his course by his own interest. It was impossible for Mr. Waterman to be moved by considerations of this character. There was nothing of the politician in him. It was not in him to shape his course by anything but the star of his conscience. The world has few of such men. These are the really true men. and they are the men who influence their fellows. The bar of this county do well to cherish his memory-such men give standing to the whole bar. They are the type of men to be emulated."
FREDERICK ALPHA ROBERTS.
Practicing in partnership association at Pittsfield with Dr. Oscar S. Roberts, whose personal and genealogical memoirs are contained here- in, is his nephew, Dr. Frederick A. Roberts, son of Mr. Edward L. Rob- erts. retired merchant of Brattleboro, Vermont. The younger gentle- man, like the elder, has given abundant demonstration that his choice of a profession was well advised, and he, too, evinces possession of his full share of those most valuable and useful of hereditaments from his sturdy New England ancestors, industry and integrity.
Frederick Alpha Roberts was born at Jacksonville, Verment, June 18, 1863: attended the public schools of his native place, and shortly after attaining his majority established himself in the boot and shoe business at Brattleboro. Vermont. He subsequently engaged in mer- cantile pursuits in New York, and while in the latter city in 1893 con- ceived the idea of adopting the practice of medicine as his life work. To this end he immediately entered upon the study of the standard medical text books in conjunction with his clerical mercantile labors, devoting himself more and more attentively to the former, while his interest in commercial pursuits as steadily abated and finally in 1894 he aban-
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donedi the latter upon his entrance to the medical department of the Uni- versity of New York. After one year's attendance upon the lectures and clinics of this institution, he entered the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, Baltimore, Maryland, from which he was graduated with the class of 1897. In June of that year he established himself in the practice of his profession at Pittsfield, in the office of his uncle heretofore referred to, and it is a sufficient attestation of his general equipment as a prac- titioner that since 1900 he has been in partnership association with Dr. O. S. Roberts, sharing with that distinguished physician a full measure of the responsibilities of a great practice. Dr. F. A. Roberts is a mem- ber of the Massachusetts State Medical Association, and the Berkshire Medical Society. His fraternal connection is with Free Masonry and Odd Fellowship, being a member in the former of Mystic Lodge, F. and A. M., Berkshire Chapter. R. A. M., and Pittsfield Commandery. K. T .; and in the latter a member of Wantastiquet Lodge, Brattleboro. He married, May 2, 1901, Florence A., daughter of Mr. Wallace A. Bard- well, a native of Hampden county, Massachusetts, but more recently of Elmira, New York; now an expert accountant in Pittsfield, Massa- chusetts, where he also has charge of the books of the E. D. Jones Com- pany.
THEODORE GEORGE RAMSDELL.
Theodore G. Ranisdell, deceased, whose successful business career in Housatonic, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, displayed executive ability of a high order, admirable judgment and foresight, traces his ancestry to Abijah Ramsdell, who was born in England in 1695, and upon his arrival in America settled in Lynn, Massachusetts. The line of descent is through his son, Abijah Ramsdell, to
Ramsdell, Captain William, who was born in Lynn, Massachusetts,
y G Ramodell
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April IC, 1766. He followed the sea from early youth until about fifty years of age, when he retired to a farm in Milford, New Hampshire, and remained there until his death in 1842. His education was gained in the various parts of the world which he visited. He was a sailor of unusually wide experience, and a successful captain, commanding an East India merchantman sailing from Salem harbor. He was a charter member of " Milford Lyceum " (educational and literary society ) and one of its most active and efficient workers. He was the father of
Ramsdell, John, born December 30, 1809, in Salem, Massachusetts. He was educated in the common schools of Milford and at a private school in Nashua. For two years he served before the mast, and for three years as third mate and supercargo on merchantmen to South America. Sumatra, the Mediterranean and Holland. He then took up farming and tanning in Milford. New Hampshire, and later acted as station agent at Amherst and Milford four years. In middle life he moved to Tama, lowa, and became one of its pioneer settlers, finishing his days as a farmer. He served in the capacity of supervisor of Tama county, mayor of Tama city, and county superintendent of schools. He was an active member of " Milford Lyceum " while a resident of Mil- ford, and its poetic agent, he having been an excellent writer of prose and poetry. As one of the original abolitionists, he wrote, talked and worked fervently for the cause. The demand of the south that the north should render up fugitive slaves brought from him a poem, which appeared in the public prints of almost every northern paper. He was a Congregationalist, and was one of the " Comers-Out " who withdrew from the church on account of its lukewarmness on the question of slavery.
Mr. Ramsdell married Taska Theresa Moore, who was born Jan- 11ary 7, 1810, in Milford, New Hampshire, a daughter of the Rev.
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Humphrey and Hannah ( Peabody) Moore. Dr. Moore was a graduate of Harvard College, was a noted lecturer and preacher, many of his sermons and learned treatises on theological subjects having been pub- lished. He served one term each in the senate and legislature, taking an active part in anti-slavery movements. He was a son of Humphrey More, of Princeton, Massachusetts ; a grandson of Paul Moore : a great- grandson of John Moore: and a great-great-grandson of John Moore, the emigrant ancestor from England. William Peabody, Jr., the father of Hannah ( Peabody) Moore, was a prominent citizen of Milford, New Hampshire, serving four terms in the legislature. He was one of the original signers of a paper drawn up by citizens of New Hampshire in- weighing against British rule and announcing their intention of joining other colonists in revolution. His father, William Peabody, Sr., was the first settler of Milford, also a signer of the above mentioned paper. The farm which he cleared up was part of an estate which had been in the family for over one hundred years; it was presented to his father, Captain Steven Peabody, by the state of Massachusetts for distinguished services rendered by his father, Lieutenant Francis Peabody, in King Philip's war. Captain Steven Peabody enlisted at the age of fourteen, was an enthusiastic patriot, but was later removed from public office by George III because of sympathy with colonists. He was adjutant- general of Colonel Reid's regiment at Bunker Hill, became major of a regiment sent under Colonel Wyman to reinforce troops in Canada in 1776, was volunteer captain in the alarm at Ticonderoga, aide to Gen- eral Stark in the battle of Bennington, lieutenant-colonel under General Wyman during the defense of Rhode Island. His father, Lieutenant Francis Peabody, who rendered such distinguished services in King Philip's war, was the emigrant ancestor from England. He came over in the ship " Planter " to New England, was one of the first settlers in
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Hampton, and later removed to Topsfield, Massachusetts, where he be- came a large landholder and was prominent for enterprise and wealth. John and Taska T. (Moore) Ramsdeli were the parents of
Ramsdell, Theodore George, born February 8, 1833. He attended the public schools of Milford, New Hampshire, until he was eleven years old, and two years later began his active career by working in a cot- ton mill in Mason village, now Greenville, New Hampshire. He worked successively in the Nashna Manufacturing Company and the old mill in Milford, and at the age of sixteen was appointed overseer of a spin- ning room in the new Souhegan mill, New Hampshire. After remain- ing there three years, he resigned and spent a year at Appleton Academy with his life-long friend and double cousin, George A. Ramsdell, who later became governor of New Hampshire. Subsequently he was em- ployed in the cotton mills of Nashua, Holyoke, Manchester, and Indian Orchard, usually as an overseer, until October 18, 1864, when he was called to Housatonic as superintendent of Monument Mills, and remained there until his death, March 1, 1903. In 1886 he was appointed agent and general manager of the mills, becoming subsequently a director in the company, its vice-president, and a considerable stockholder.
The exceptional success and growth of the cotton industry in Housatonic was due in a great measure to his wise supervision and mas- tery of details. In the life of the village he was a quiet but almostt controlling force, which was known and recognized in every agency which sought improvement. Though not a member, he was a regular attendant of the Congregational church of Housatonic, was a member of the prudential committee, gave largely to its support, endowing it generously at his death. His public bequests, besides gifts to the church and House of Mercy in Pittsfield, included liberal provision for the building and establishment of a free library for the village of Housa- tonic. He was a Republican in his political affiliations.
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In West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, June 12, 1873, Mr. Ramsdell married Mary Brainard Spencer, who was educated in the public schools . of West Stockbridge and New York city, finishing with a two years' course at Hudson River Institute (later Claverack College). Her parents were Thomas Hall and Hannah Brainard (Smith) Spencer. Thomas Spencer was a mechanic, and served as representative and in several minor public offices. Asa Smith, father of Mrs. Thomas Hall Spencer, born November 28, 1781, died May 11, 1858, built the first cotton mill in Connecticut. The children of this union are as follows : George Spencer, born August 7, 1874, in Housatonic, died in infancy. Edith Moore, born April 2, 1876, in Housatonic, was educated in the public schools of Housatonic and Great Barrington, Housatonic . Hall (Great Barrington), Howard Seminary (West Bridgewater, Massachu- setts), and Wellesley College. She became the wife of Charles Gid- dings, a lawyer, who resides in Housatonic. Theodore Ellis, born Sep- tember 18, 1877, was educated at Housatonic public school, Sedgwick Institute (Great Barrington), Amherst College, Lowell Textile School. He is now a cotton manufacturer, and succeeded his father as agent of the Monument Mills. He resides in Housatonic. Thomas Spencer, born May 15, 1881, was educated in the Housatonic public school, Sedg- wick Institute (Great Barrington), Cascadilla School (Ithaca, New York), and Cornell University. He is now a mechanical engineer, and resides at Housatonic. Mary Louise, born February 17, 1883, attended the Housatonic and Great Barrington public schools, the schools of Vienna and Berlin, Dana Hall (Wellesley, Massachusetts).
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RANDALL HOWARD BLANCHARD.
The wisdom of specializing on the practice of a profession that has developed so broadly upon many lines as that of medicine and surgery cannot be gainsaid and is being more resorted to each year. The gentleman whose name introduces this sketch is a practitioner of that type.
Randall Howard Blanchard was born May 3, 1872, in Portland. Maine, son of William F. and the late Harriet (Sturdivant) Blanchard, also natives of Cumberland county. He received his initial schooling in Portland and took his academic course at St. Johnsbury, during which latter period he decided upon the adoption of the medical profession, and took up the study of medicine in conjunction with his general studies under the preceptorship of Dr. J. E. Hartshorn, a leading phy- sician of that locality. In 1893 he entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College (since merged with the medical department of New York Uni- versity), and was graduated with the class of 1896. During the fol- ing year he had the advantage of service in various hospitals of New York city, and then entered upon general practice at Deering, Maine, . where he remained for one year. His preceptor, Dr. Hartshorn, having in the meantime specialized his practice to diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, Dr. Blanchard determined upon following in his footsteps and pursued his subsequent study along these lines under Dr. Harts- horn, adding thereto the prescribed clinical course of the New York Ophthalmic and Aural Institute. He located in Pittsfield in 1902. He is one of the staff of physicians of the House of Mercy, Pittsfield, a member of the Maine Medical Society, Massachusetts Medical Society and American Medical Association. Fraternally, his connection is with Crescent Lodge (Pittsfield), F. and A. M. Dr. Blanchard married,
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June 16, 1899. Caroline, daughter of John S. and Abbie Harris, of Port- land. Maine. They have two children, Norman Harris and Kenneth William Blanchard. They reside at 134 Appleton avenue.
SAMUEL CAMP.
Samuel Camp, of Great Barrington, was a native of Connecticut, born in Winsted, Litchfield county, May 5, 1829, and died in Great Barrington February 24, 1901, son of Samuel Sheldon and Betsy (Mal- lory) Camp. His parents were also natives of Winsted, and moved to Norfolk, Connecticut, the year of his birth, having purchased a farm and established a chair factory in that town.
Samuel Sheldon Camp was the son of Samuel and Mercy (Shel- don) Camp. Samuel, with his brother Moses, in 1796, moved from Norfolk to Winsted, where they bought farms and also carried on the hatter's trade. They continued their residence there until 1824. Their father, Moses Camp, was born in Durham, Connecticut, where he mar- ried Thankful Gaylord, daughter of Lieutenant Samuel Gaylord. He received a deed of land in Norfolk, Connecticut, in 1764, and was a man prominent in the affairs of the town. He was a member of Cap- tain Charles Webb's regiment, which crossed the Delaware at Trenton on the eve of December 25, 1776. Moses was the son of (Captain) Doctor Abraham Camp, who went from Milford, Connecticut, to Dur- ham, where he married Martha Parsons, and moved to Norfolk in 1763. He was the son of John Camp, Jr., who married Phebe Canfield, and moved from Milford to Durham in 1762. John, Jr.'s father, Edward, and his wife, Mehitable (Smith) Camp, were natives of Milford, in which place his father, Edward, the first of the name in this country, located, after remaining a time in New Haven, where he was one of the first settlers. He died in 1659.
Tamllamb
Charm Camp
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Samuel Camp's genealogy contains the names of many of the early settlers who were men of attainments and prominent in the af- fairs of church and state, among them being Richard Lyman, Governor Thomas Welles. Governor John Webster, Robert Treat, John Robbins, Josiah Churchill, Nathaniel Foote, Rev. Thomas Carter, first minister of Coburn, Massachusets, Elder John Strong, Richard Clapp, Thomas Ford, John Stanley, Thomas Bliss, Joseph Parsons, Jasper Crane, Lieut. John Smith, who was slain by the Indians. Other names are Pritchard, Buck, Atwater, Punduson, Grant, Hitchcock, Merrill, Marsh, Olney, Woodford, Ball, Burt, Stebbins and Jackson. Colonel Giles Jackson, brother of his great-grandmother, was chief officer on General Gates' staff, and drew up the articles of capitulation at the surrender of Bur- goyne.
Samuel Camp obtained his preliminary education in Norfolk and Winsted. He studied medicine with Dr. William Welch, of Norfolk, who was also the preceptor of his three brothers, William, Moses and Charles, all graduates of the University of New York. His collegiate training also was for a short time at Woodstock, Vermont. He was graduated from the University of New York March 5, 1851, and imme- diately after graduation established himself in New Marlborough. Four years later he removed to St. Joseph, Michigan. Then returning to Berkshire county in 1859, he settled in Great Barrington, and resided there from that time until his death, engaged in active practice as a physician and surgeon. At the opening of the Civil war he was ap- pointed by Governor Andrews to examine excepts from draft and as recruiting agent and on the 21st of September, 1861, he was made as- sistant surgeon of the Twenty-seventh Regiment, Massachusetts Vol- unteers. In the following May, however, on the 27th, he resigned the latter commission on account of ill health. When his healthi was re-
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stored he renewed his interest in procuring recruits, and October 17, 1863, when the call for three hundred thousand men for three years was made he was again appointed at a special town meeting to enlist men. This agency be held until January, 1865.
In 1872 with Colonel Robert Leonard he established a flock mill in Barrington, manufacturing the flocks by a machine invented by him- self. This mill was burned in 1874 and was not rebuilt.
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