USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Vol II > Part 12
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September 30, 1904, and the funeral service was hield in the Presby- terian church. In the absence of the pastor, Rev. Charles H. Bruce, the Rev. W. V. Ganoe, of the First Methodist Episcopal church, offici- ated.
Mr. Humes was united in marriage December 28, 1893, to Miss Jessica Cole Prindle. Three children were born to them : Margaret Prindle, born December 2, 1894; Hamilton Marshall, born May 8, 1896, died July 9, 1897; Samuel, Jr., born January 29, 1901. Mrs. Humes and the two surviving children reside in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania.
Mrs. Humes was born November 7, 1870, at Williamstown, Massa- chusetts, and began her studies in the common schools of her native town, and pursued advanced courses in Glen Seminary, Williamstown, and Abbott Academy, at Andover, Massachusetts. She is a daughter of Marshall and Caroline Prindle, both of whom are now living. Mar- shall Prindle was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1819, a son of John and Penelope (Johnson) Prindle. John Prindle was a farmer, and was a son of John Prindle, who was a merchant in New Milford, Connecticut, of a leading family of that state. Marshall Prindle was a prominent and prosperous farmer at Williamstown. He married (second) Caroline Lamphier, who was of French ancestry on the paternal side and of English ancestry on the maternal side.
William Pringle (also spelled Prindle in his will), a native of Scot- land, the emigrant ancestor and progenitor of the family in America, settled in New Haven, Connecticut, where he took the oath of fidelity to the New Haven jurisdiction, Theophilus Eaton, governor, on April 4, 1654. He is first mentioned in the New Haven Colonial Records as " the Scotchman which lives at Mr. Allerton's," who was one of the Mayflower Pilgrims. Savage says that William Pringle " was a Pro- prietor in 1685, and so was Joseph, who may have been a son." He
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married, December 7, 1655, Mary Desborough, daughter of Desborough, Mr. Stephen Goodyear, magistrate, officiating. Eleven children were born to them, seven sons and four daughters; of these sons, Ebenezer, Elezar and Samuel settled in Milford, Connecticut. Ebenezer later removed to New Town, Connecticut. Elezar died in middle life, and Samuel betook himself to New Milford and was one of the twelve original settlers of that town. Samuel Prindle was born April 15, 1668, was twice married, and had one of those good old colonial families of nine children-Elizabeth, Samuel, John, Sarah, and Dorothy, Daniel, Abigail, Mary and Obedience. His son John became a merchant in New Milford, but about 1760 a young minister of New Milford, one Whitman Welch, was called to take charge of a new little church just started at Williamstown, Massachusetts. After him flocked a goodly number of the citizens of Milford and New Milford, and he became a great help to them in their selection of lots, and to sign their deeds as witness. Among these we find John Prindle, with two sons-Solomon and John-who, having sold his store in New Milford, came too, along with his fellow townsmen. He purchased the original sixty-acre lot No. 54, on Birch Hill, on what is commonly known as the " Prindle place," and was the grandfather of Marshall Prindle.
The maternal ancestors of Mrs. Humes, the Coles of England, trace their lineage back to the year 1001. There were some twenty- seven coats-of-arms in the family, and the representatives in England filled positions of honor and trust. During the Revolutionary war eight hundred and sixty-five members of the family enlisted their services, thus clearly demonstrating their loyalty and patriotism. The pioneer ancestor of the branch of the family named in this narrative was James Cole, born in Highgate, a suburb of London, England, in 1600. He married in 1625, Mary Lobel, and came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in
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1632. He owned for many years what is still known as Coles Hill, and opened and kept for many years the first hotel of Plymouth, one of if not the first in New England. He and his son James for a long number of years owned the ground upon which rests Plymouth Rock.
Hugh Cole, son of James and Mary (Lobel) Cole, was born in England in 1627. He was one of the proprietors of Swansea, and the river running through Swansea bears his name-Cole's river. He was a soldier in King Philip's war, 1675-77. He was deputy general of the court and representative of Swansea for many years. In 1665 he pur- chased from King Philip a farm which is yet in possession of his de- scendants, having suffered no alienation during this long period of two hundred and thirty-six years. His home, built upon the banks of the river, was the first burned by King Philip; he rebuilt the same, but after his death it was again burned. He married, January 8. 1654, Mary Troxwell, who bore him ten children, six sons and four daughters.
Benjamin Cole, son of Hugh and Mary (Troxwell) Cole, was born in Swansea, Massachusetts, 1678, died in Swansea, September 29. 1748. He was a farmer, and the house built by him in 1701 is still standing and in good condition. He was a deacon in the Baptist church of Swansea for thirty-five years. He married, June 27. 1701, Hannah Eddy, who bore him eight children, five sons and three daughters.
Israel Cole, son of Benjamin and Hannah (Eddy) Cole, was born in Swansea, Massachusetts, March 4. 1709. He married, March 5, 1733. Susannah Wheaton, who bore him six children, five sons and one daughter. At about the same time his son Israel removed to Royal- ton, he with the remainder of the family removed to Shaftsbury. Ver- mont, where he died August 5, 1789.
Israel Cole, son of Israel and Susannah (Wheaton) Cole, was born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. September 26, 1735. He married, Janu-
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ary 17, 1765, Susannah Wood, and they were the parents of nine chil- dren, five sons and four daughters. About the year 1769 the family settled in Royalston, Massachusetts, having gone there with the Wood and Mason families, and afterwards Mr. Cole removed to Cheshire and was a very successful farmer. He served in Captain Parker's company, Colonel Leonard's regiment, at Ticonderoga during the Revolutionary war. He died at his home in Cheshire, July 6, 1830.
Lydia Cole, daughter of Israel and Susannah ( Wood) Cole, was born in Cheshire, Massachusetts, 1766. In 1787 she became the wife of Jason White, born in 1762 in New Ashford, Massachusetts, son of William White. Abigail, their fourth and youngest child, was born August 27, 1809, in New Ashford, Massachusetts. In 1826 she was married, by Elder John Leland, to Benjamin Lamphier.
Caroline Lamphier, youngest child of Benjamin and Abigail (White) Lamphier, was born November 25, 1839. She became the wife of Marshall E. Prindle, above mentioned, December 10, 1862, and their children are: Franklin Everett, of Beloit, Wisconsin ; Jennie A .. of Williamstown, Massachusetts; Jessica Cole, who married Samuel Humes : and Clarence Harvey, who resides with his parents.
CYRUS CLEVELAND HENRY.
Successor to his father's business, which he has conducted with signal success on ever-broadening lines, Cyrus Cleveland Henry, eldest of the sons of the late Harvey Henry, has received general recognition as one of the progressive merchants and substantially valuable citizens of the county seat of Berkshire county.
He was born April 15, 1859, attended the public schools of Pitts- field, and graduated from Eastman's Business College, New York. in
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1878, at the age of eighteen years. The following two years he spent in learning the trade of tinsmith with the firm of which his father was a member, then Henry & Blain, during this period assisting in the office work, and during the subsequent two years was exclusively in office employ or acting as traveling representative of the firm, thus through these varied lines equipping himself in a thoroughigoing way for his eventual entrance into and final conduct of the business.
In 1882 he purchased an interest in the firm of Henry & Blain, which was thereafter known as Henry, Blain & Company, and in 1887, upon the retiracy of his father from the business, purchased with Mr. Blain the retiring partner's interest, and the name of Henry & Blain was resumed. Upon the decease of Mr. Blain in 1902 his interest was purchased by Mr. Henry, the latter thus assuming sole proprietorship. During the several following years, under the wise, aggressive and suc- cessful business methods of Mr. Henry, rapid strides were made in the development of the business, which included a paper stock, iron, metal and second-hand machinery departments, and wholesale paper, wooden- ware and tin and galvanized iron ware departments. In 1905 the wis- dom of dividing these growing responsibilities led Mr. Henry to the formation of a stock company incorporated under the name of C. C. Henry Company, with C. C. Henry, president and treasurer; R. J. Brooks, vice-president. and Thomas N. Clark, secretary and general sales agent, the new company handling the wholesale paper, wooden, tin and galvanized iron ware departments, and Mr. Henry continuing to conduct on his own account the paper stock. scrap iron, metal and second-hand machinery departments. A single feature of Mr. Henry's individual business, viz. : the approximate annual scrap-iron purchases. two thousand tons, will suggest the proportions of this great and grow- ing industry.
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Mr. Henry is Republican in his political affiliation, but has never held office. He is a member of Crescent Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ; Berkshire Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Berkshire Comman- dery, Knights Templar: Berkshire Council. Royal and Select Masters : and Melha Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Springfield.
He married, in April. 1885, Annie, daughter of the late William Ewan, of Jersey City, contractor and builder for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Mr. and Mrs. Henry have three children: A. Mar- garet, Jeannie C., and Cyrus Alexander. One son, William Ewan Henry, died when nine years of age. The family attend the First Congregational church, Pittsfield.
HARVEY HENRY.
The broad realm of biography offers nothing of such fascinating interest as the records tracing the careers of successful men who are indebted to neither heredity nor environment for their advancement --- who are, as it is tritely phrased, self-made. The gentleman whose name introduces this narrative was of that type. Born upon his father's farm in Stoddard, New Hampshire, in 1831. he had the usual experi- ence of the farmer's son, viz. : some winter schooling, and much spring. summer and autumn farm work. He made some money and he saved it, being prepared in early manhood to purchase a horse and wagon, with which he made his first business venture in general bartering throughout contiguous territory, making a specialty of selling tinware.
He was industrious and capable, and in the early '50s was able to establish a general store at Falls Village, Connecticut, where he re- mained until 1858, when, having added largely to his capital, he deter- mined upon engaging in business on a larger scale and in a larger
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place. He located at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where with his brother Lorenzo he established a general peddling business, with a store and storehouses on Fenn street, where the business was conducted by the original proprietors and successors (always including a member of the Henry family), and now owned by Cyrus Cleveland Henry. Mr. Henry died in Pittsfield April 12, 1902, leaving a substantial estate. Originally an old-line Whig, he became a Republican ; he never held or aspired to office. He was one of the original stockholders of the Third National Bank of Pittsfield, and was one of the first persons to take out an insurance policy with the Berkshire Life Insurance Company of Pittsfield. His public spirit was especially evinced in his activity in the formation and subsequent operations for years of the Housatonic Fire Engine Company. For thirty years he was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Pittsfield, and a liberal contributor towards its maintenance.
He married, in Dalton, Massachusetts, Clarissa, daughter of Cyrus Cleveland. Mrs. Henry survives her husband, residing in Pittsfield. Her children are Anna M., wife of W. L. White, pattern manufacturer of North Adams; Cyrus Cleveland Henry, whose personal history is contained herein : Harvey Earl Henry, manager of the box-making de- partment of the D. M. Collins Knitting Company, Pittsfield, and Wel- lington Kirk Henry, cigar and tobacco dealer in North street, Pitts- field.
Mr. and Mrs. White have three children, Halliday, Harvey and Aira. Harvey E. Henry married Della' Pulver of Pittsfield. and has two children. Rodman and Janett; and Wellington Kirk Henry mar- ried Anna. daughter of James H. Butler, of Pittsfield, and has four children, Richard, Ruth, Elizabeth and Clarissa.
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ROBERT TUCKER.
Robert Tucker was born at Lenox, October 1, 1858, son of William N. and Emma Helen (Cotrell) Tucker. William N. Tucker was eldest of the sons of William S. Tucker, who was the oldest of the children of Joseph Tucker, grandfather of Judge Joseph Tucker, of Pittsfield, whose personal and genealogical memoirs are herein contained.
William S. Tucker was one of the especially valued and valuable citizens of Lenox, where he held the office of justice of the peace for many years. He was also assistant for a number of years under Henry W. Taft, county clerk. He creditably represented his town also in the state assembly. His wife, Lydia Louise Newtown, was a native of Middletown, Connecticut, and a cousin of Bishop Worthington, of Ne- braska. William N. Tucker was an agriculturist. He married into the well known Cotrell family of Stockbridge.
Robert Tucker attended Lenox Academy under Mr. H. H. Ballard, preparing for college. Concluding to enter into business, he sought and secured employment with the John G. Myers Company, Albany, New York, remaining therewith for a period of fourteen years. In 1890 he returned to Berkshire county, Massachusetts, to establish at Pittsfield the Berkshire Steam Laundry, under the firm name of Van Etten & Tucker. A disastrous conflagration causing the total destruction of the plant during the following year led to Mr. Tucker's retirement from the business.
He married, February 7. 1883. Ella, daughter of Richard and the late Sarah (Francis) Coleman, of Albany. Mr. Coleman, now retired from business, was for many years a cabinet maker and undertaker of Albany. New York. Since 1895 he has resided in Pittsfield with his daughter. Mrs. Robert Tucker.
William S. Tucker
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Mr. and Mrs. Robert Tucker have five children : Raymond Lenox Tucker, an employe of the Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company; Helen Winne Tucker, Beulah Bigelow Tucker, Worthington Coleman Tucker and Robert Prince Tucker. The family reside at 118 Howard street, and attend the First Congregational church.
WILLIAM ARTHUR GALLUP.
William A. Gallup, treasurer of the Arnold Print Works, was born in North Adams. October 28, 1851, son of William W. and Eugenia O. Gallup. His schooling was obtained in his native place, where he also received preliminary business experience in his father's store. Follow- ing this he was with Briggs & Boland, merchant tailors of North Adams, and in 1869 became one of the clerical staff of Adams National Bank.
In 1870, he entered the office employ of Harvey Arnold & Company, calico printers. The print works of this company were destroyed by fire in 1872, and rebuilt the following year, and through all the vicissi- tudes of the concern Mr. Gallup retained his connection until 1876, when the Arnold Print Works Corporation was organized, and Mr. Gallup, as one of the charter members, was elected clerk and director. The same year he also entered into partnership with Edward Barnard in the clothing business, and the connection was continued until 1881, when he withdrew from the firm to concentrate his attention on the large and growing manufacturing interests with which he was concerned. In 1877 Mr. Gallup purchased his father's interest in the cotton manu- facturing firm of Gallup. Houghton & Smith, operating the Beaver Mill, and in 1878 Messrs. Gallup and Hougton bought out Mr. Smith, and the copartnership then formed continues today. In 1883 Mr. Gallup was made treasurer of the Arnold Print Works, and still holds that
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position. He was also treasurer of the North Pownal and Williams- town manufacturing companies from 1877 to 1882, and was subse- quently one of the directors of these institutions. On October 20, 1902, he was elected president of the Adams National Bank, of which institu- tion he had been a director since January 12, 1892, and vice-president since May 27, 1901. Politically he is a Republican. He is a member of Saint John's Episcopal church, North Adams, and vestryman of the parish for many years. His gift of a large addition to North Adams hospital was a memorial to his wife, who died October 31, 1889.
HARRY DWIGHT SISSON.
Business . integrity and general moral worth are the conspicuous characteristics of the gentleman whose name introduces this narrative, and they have been in evidence alike in efficient public service and suc- cessful private enterprises.
He is a native of Berkshire county, born in Stockbridge, January 9, 1863, son of Henry Dwight Sisson and Emily P. (Spaulding) Sisson, the former a native of New Marlboro, the latter of Sheffield, Berkshire county. Henry Dwight Sisson. who was an officer in the Forty-ninth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war, is a resident of New Marlboro, Massachusetts, where he is in the lumber business with a son, the firm being H. D. and F. E. Sisson. Henry Dwight Sisson is one of the present (1906) board of county commissioners.
His son, Harry Dwight Sisson, attended the public schools and South Berkshire Institute, New Marlboro, and at eighteen years of age found his first employment in Pittsfield, where he was subsequently engaged as bookkeeper for a period each, with Robbins & Kellogg, Renne & Hall, and for several years with the Terry Clock Company.
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He was for two years in the office and one year in field employ of Hamer & Stone, general agents of the Berkshire Life Insurance Company.
In 1889 he formed a partnership with Charles H. Robinson, which. under the firm name of Sisson & Robinson, established and for a dozen years successfully conducted a paper box manufactory. In 1901 this plant was purchased by and merged with the Eaton-Hurlbut Paper Com- pany, Mr. Sisson becoming a stockholder therein, and manager of its box making department, a position which he still holds.
Mr. Sisson's staunch Republicanism antedated the attainment of his majority, and has found vent. throughout his subsequent career in every variety of party service. He was tax collector of Pittsfield in 1892, 1893 and 1894, and of its board of assessors, 1896, 1897. 1898 and 1899. He was mayor of Pittsfield in 1903, and again in 1904. His inaugural addresses were unique in that they dealt exclusively in futures, out- lining the proposed policies of his administrations in undertaking to secure municipal improvements. It is worthy of remark that the de- sired ends were attained. One of the most important improvements in the history of the county seat was accomplished during Mr. Sisson's incumbency of the mayoralty, viz .: the paving of West and North streets, to which end the city's chief executive rendered every possible character of official service. Mr. Sisson is a member of Crescent Lodge. Free and Accepted Masons; Berkshire Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Berkshire Council, Royal and Select Masters; Berkshire Commandery, Knights Templar: Onota Lodge of Perfection; and Melha Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Springfield. He served in 1896 in com- mand of the Massachusetts Division, Sons of Veterans.
He married. February 7, 1886, Elizabeth C., daughter of William M. Wells, of Pittsfield, and had four sons : Walter, Irving. William, and Harry. The family residence is 41 Brenton Terrace.
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HENRY LANSING WILCOX.
Prominent among the lawyers of Berkshire county, and descended from its early settlers on both paternal and maternal lines, is he whose name forms the caption for this article. He was born in New Marlboro, July 16, 1861, son of the late Virgil Lansing and Emilie M. (Sheldon) Wilcox.
The late Virgil Lansing Wilcox was a son of Samuel Barker Wil- cox, a son of Joel Wilcox (died March, 1830, aged eighty-three). Joel Wilcox was one of the first children born in Sandisfield, his father, Samuel Wilcox, having been one of the pioneer settlers of the locality. Emilie M. (Sheldon) Wilcox was born November 12, 1833, daughter of Josiah and Charlotte (Wheeler) Sheldon. the latter a direct descend- ant of the first settler of New Marlboro (1734). The house built and occupied by him remained in the Wheeler family up to 1895, and there still resides in New Marlboro one of his lineal descendants. Of the direct descendants of the early settlers Sheldon, there still live children in the eighth generation, occupying a homestead dwelling of which the original structure forms a part.
Henry Lansing Wilcox received his preliminary schooling at New Marlboro and the high school at Great Barrington, then ( 1879) entering Wheaton ( Illinois) College, where he took a two years' scientific course. In 1881-2 he was in the law department of Ann Arbor University. For two years following he was principal of the Sheffield high school, and in 1884 entered the law offices at Hudson, New York, of Andrews & Edwards, the latter now on the New York supreme bench. Mr. Wilcox was admitted to the bar in 1888, remained in the practice of his pro- fession at Hudson for two years thereafter, then returning to Berk- shire to establish offices at Great Barrington, where he continues to
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reside, and has acquired a valuable practice. He was appointed clerk of the district court of Southern Berkshire in 1905, by Governor Douglass.
An interesting case in Mr. Wilcox's practice was his defense of Sherlock, the "gentleman burglar " of Stockbridge and Lenox, whose short but eventful career in Berkshire county was exploited in the erst- while popular drama by Elizabeth Phipps Train, of " The Social High- wayman." Mr. Wilcox is the inventor of and for some years manu- factured a bicycle rack ( Findecycle, by name), which was in high favor during the palmy days of the wheel, and is still widely used.
Mr. Wilcox married. January 18, 1888, Grace. daughter of Albert W. and Susan ( Whitehead) Curtis, the former a native of Sheffield, son of Ira, who was a son of Colonel Abijah Curtis, a Revolutionary officer. The Curtis family has been a prominent family of Sheffield for a century and a half. The Whiteheads were of English-Welsh stock. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wilcox have two children, Lansing and Everett, and reside on Main street, in Great Barrington.
DR. GEORGE H. BEEBE.
Among Pittsfield's physicians of excellent repute, the gentleman whose name introduces this narrative may be appropriately numbered. He was born in North Egremont, Berkshire county, Massachustts, January 6, 1867, son of the late Dr. Richard Beebe, whose biography is contained with that of Dr. John B. Beebe in this publication.
Dr. George H. Beebe attended the public schools of Great Bar- rington, and with a view to the adoption of the medical profession as his life work began the study of medicine as a youth with his father. He continued his studies at Albany, New York, under Dr. Vanderveer's
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preceptorship, entered Albany Medical College, and was graduated vale- clictoriań of the class of 1894.
From 1894 to 1900 he pursued his profession at Salisbury, Con- necticut. In the latter year he located at Pittsfield, where he has won general recognition as a most capable medical practitioner and skilful surgeon. Dr. Beebe has pronounced literary tastes, and has acquired a library of very choice editions of many valuable works. He is a member of Montgomery Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, Lakeville, Connecticut ; and Hematite Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He is a member also of the Pythian Lodge of Salisbury.
He married, December 17, 1895, Lila, daughter of Leonard Brain- ard, who was for many years in governmental employ at Albany, New York. Dr. and Mrs. Beebe have a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, born January I, 1905.
HARLAN H. BALLARD.
Harlan H. Ballard, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is a descendant of William Ballard, who was born in England in 1603, and died in 1694, and son of Professor Addison Ballard, born in Framingham, and Julia Perkins (Pratt) Ballard, daughter of Captain David Pratt.
Professor Addison Ballard graduated from Williams College, class of 1842, was professor in his alma mater during the following year, then becoming pastor of the Congregational church at Williamstown. He was subsequently professor of logic in the University of the City of New York, and is now ( 1906) a resident of Pittsfield.
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