USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Vol II > Part 22
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
In 1852 Mr. O'Loughlin was joined in marriage with Miss Cath- erine Kirk, of Pittsfield. Their children are: Bryan, born in 1853; Delia, who is no longer living; James, born in 1857; Maria, born in 1861; Margaret, born in 1863; Michael, born in 1865; and Kate, born in 1868. Bryan O'Loughlin is now a painter and paper-hanger in Pitts- field. James O'Loughlin is a traveling salesman. Mrs. O'Loughlin died in 1885. The family attend St. Joseph's (Roman Catholic) church.
CHARLES ALBERT BYRAM.
An excellent preliminary schooling, a college course through which he paid his way by work as tutor and otherwise, and eighteen years' ex- perience as teacher and principal of grammar and high schools, is the splendid equipment of Charles Albert Byram for the office which he has so capably filled since 1904, that of superintendent of the schools of Pittsfield.
He is a native of the Pine Tree state, born in Freeport, May 18. 1863. son of Albert C. and Helen (Brewer) Byram, also natives of Maine, of Scotch-Irish descent. An ante-revolutionary Brewer in direct line with the immediate subject of this sketch was a soldier in the patriot army during the war for Independence, and several Byrams, early settlers of Maine, rendered similar service and were soldiers in the war of 1812.
lohas. a. Бугат
309
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
Charles A. Byram was graduated from Freeport (Maine) high school, and Bowdoin College, class of 1886, and during the following five years taught in Bangor, Maine, being principal of a grammar school for three years, and of the high school for two years of the period. In September, 1891, he came to Pittsfield to assume the principalship of the high school, a position which he continued to occupy until September. 1904, when he was elected to his present office of superintendent of schools. He is a member of the School Superintendents' Association of Massachusetts, and of the "Round Table," an organization including school superintendents of Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire and Frank- lin counties, Massachusetts, for interchange of views and adoption of methods in the furtherance of educational interests. Mr. Byram was one of the original stockholders and is secretary of the board of directors of the Spark Coil Company, a thriving local industry. He is also in- terested in the Musgrove Knitting Company, of Pittsfield. He is a member and present master (1906) of Crescent Lodge, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and executive committeeman of the Park Club, Pitts- field.
He married, December 25. 1892, Alice M., daughter of the late A. T. Coburn, who was a merchant of Patten, Maine. Mr. and Mrs. Byram have a son, Robert Irving Byram, born June 20, 1894.
WILLIAM FLEMMING.
Among those foreign-born citizens who by their industry, ability and uprightness of character are a credit alike to their native land and to the country of their adoption, must be numbered William Flemming of Pittsfield, Berkshire county.
Mr. Flemming was born November 13. 1843, in Ireland, one of
310
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
the seven children of Patrick and Ellen Flemming. The family was in fairly comfortable circumstances, and had a little farm, in the labors of which the sous were early trained to assist their father. When \Vill- iani was ten years old his mother died, and in 1857 he took passage for America. Landing in New York, he went to live in Fishkill village, where he learned the carpenter's trade, which thereafter he steadily fol .. lowed, and by dint of industry and economy was enabled, in the course of time to bring his brothers and sisters to the United States. In 1866 he came to Pittsfield, where he soon obtained work. For more than twenty years he was employed by Mr. S. J. Saunders, a local contractor. He worked as carpenter at the Pontoosuc woolen mill, and afterward was employed for twenty-two years at Glenoris mill, in Dalton, as mill carpenter. In politics he is a staunch Democrat, and in religion a member of the Roman Catholic church.
Mr. Flemming married, in 1872, Margaret Quin, of West Pitts- field, and they took up their abode in a house in Goodrich street which had been prepared by Mr. Flemming the year before, and where they have since always lived. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Flemming: I. P. J., born March 13, 1873, lives with his parents, and is in partnership with his brothers in the electric busi- ness, the firm being known as the Eureka Electric Company. 2. Mat- thew F., born December 13, 1874. is unmarried, and lives with his par- ents. 3. Mary E., born February 11, 1877, married John Foley, a mem- ber of the mounted police force of Washington, District of Columbia. 4. Susan, died when less than a year old. 5. John E., born 1884, and is in business with his brothers.
311
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
OCTAVE GILBERT.
There is no worthier representative of the French population of Berkshire county than Octave Gilbert, of Pittsfield. His ancestors earned a livelihood by working in the vineyards of their native France, but some members of the later generations, becoming possessed with the spirit of adventure, crossed the Atlantic to seek their fortune in the New World.
Gilbert, the father of Octave, was taken to Canada when a boy of ten years. He married Margaret Gacquest and several of their children are now residents of Pittsfield and have numerous descendants: Octave. see forward; Sophie, born 1834. married Louis Robage, of Pittsfield; Mary, born 1836. married John Milmont, of Pittsfield: Joseph, born 1838: Delia, born 1840, both live in this city, the latter being an inmate of the home of Henry Robage.
Octave Gilbert, eldest son of Gilbert and Margaret (Gaequest) Gil- bert, was born December 8, 1832, in Berther, near Montreal, province of Quebec, where he received a district school education and was trained to the labors of a farm. When sixteen years of age he went to Middle- ford with a half-brother, who had been visiting in Canada, and found employment in the carding room of Sumner Church's woolen mill, where he learned the trade to which he afterward devoted himself. At the age of nineteen he went to Stearnsville and entered the service of the firm of D. & H. Stearns, with whom he remained for the long period of twenty-one years. He then became one of the partners in a stock com- pany known as the Stearnsville Woolen Company. The prosperity of the enterprise was blasted by a disastrous fire which destroyed the mill, and after this calamity Mr. Gilbert accepted a position in the carding room of the mill of W. E. Tillotson. During the six years which he
312
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
spent there his services were as highly valued as they had been in all his previous places of employment. In 1902 Mr. Gilbert retired from active work after a business career of more than half a century, during the whole of which he maintained a reputation for capability of an unusual order, joined to strict rectitude of conduct. He has now in his posses- sion letters from his former employers which testify to the high regard in which he was held by them. His time is now chiefly occupied in caring for his property, his residence being one of the finest in West Pittsfield. In politics he is a staunch Republican, and in religion a Roman Catholic.
Mr. Gilbert married, in 1854, Maria Daniels of Middleboro, Ver- mont, and of the eleven children born to them eight reached maturity : Joseph, born 1858, is married, has a family, and lives in Stafford, Con- necticut ; Louise, born 1860, married James Powers, and lives in Pitts- field; Jeremiah, born 1862, is a railway engineer and resides in Pitts- field; Phoebe, born 1864, has returned to the home of her ancestors and lives in Montreal, Canada ; Charles, born 1866, is married and lives in Pittsfield; Lillie, married Charles Goodrich and resides in Stearns- ville: Levi, killed by an accident in Herkimer county, New York, in 1903: Vinnie, born 1875, married Louis Duniet, and lives in North Hadley, Massachusetts.
WILLIAM HENRY LYON.
That Berkshire county is fortunate in the possession of a photog- rapher of exceptional talent is readily demonstrable through reference to these volumes, which contain many artistic portraits, as, for example, those of Hon. Wellington Smith, Dr. O. S. Roberts, Mr. C. C. Chesney, Hon. Parley Russell, and numerous others, the accurately engraved re- productions of photographs taken by Mr. Lyon.
313
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
He is a native of Ulster county, New York, born April 9, 1862, son of Thomas and the late Martha (Harding) Lyon, who located in 1864 in Lee, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where Thomas Lyon has since been engaged in business as a painter and decorator. William H. Lyon completed his initial schooling at the high school, Lee, and then took the course at the Spencerian Business College, Cleveland, Ohio, becom- ing an expert penman, and for some years thereafter was engaged in the teaching of penmanship in Chickering Business College, Pittsfield.
Always interested in photography. Mr. Lyon in 1892 determined upon entering into that business, and in preparation therefor spent two years with local photographers in learning its technicalities. In 1894 he established a studio at North Adams, where he remained until 1903, when he located in his present quarters, Wollison Block, Pittsfield. He has established a reputation for artistic ability second to none in his profession in western Massachusetts. He is a member of Osceola Lodge, No. 125, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has filled the chairs of conductor, and left supporter to the vice noble grand.
He married, July 18, 1895, Charlotte, daughter of Henry W. Ball, for many years in the department of public works. New York city. Mr. and Mrs. Lyon have a daughter, Helen Charlotte, born December 3, 1897.
HUGH QUINN.
One of the representative Irishmen of Berkshire county. both as a business man and a citizen, is Hugh Quinn, of Dalton. He was born in 1837, in Drinkerhan, in the north of Ireland. His youth and early manhood were passed in assisting his father and brothers in the man- agement of the farm, and also in the fishing business, which they car- ried on during the season when farming was impossible. Finding the
314
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
profits of these labors insufficient for a comfortable maintenance, he resolved to come to America, and accordingly set sail in 1869. He had a ticket for New York, but the ship on which he was a passenger landed him in Canada, whence he traveled by rail to the capital of the Empire State. After a day's stay in the great city he went to Hinsdale, Berkshire county, where he knew he should find his only friends on this side of the Atlantic, few in number, but faithful and attached. He immediately secured employment in the factory, where he remained four years, and in 1873 came to Dalton. Here he lived for some years on the factory grounds, and was employed for more than twenty years as fireman in Glennoris mill. During this time, by dint of economy, he was enabled to build the house which has been the home of his family for the last fifteen years, and is pleasantly situated on High street. Mr. Quinn has now practically retired from active work, and in 1903 he and his wife visited Ireland, where they had a very pleasant time among the old scenes and the old friends. He and his family are members of the Roman Catholic church.
Mr. Quinn married Sarah McDevitt, whom he had known in Ire- land, where they were engaged, and who came at his request to join him in America as soon as his circumstances permitted him to marry. Five children were born to them, all living and at home with their par- ents : Charles, born 1870. in Hinsdale ; Mary , born 1872, in the same place : Hugh. Jr., born 1877; Ellen, born 1879; Frank, born 1880. The three last named were born in Dalton.
HENRY NEILL WILSON.
The distinction which was attained by Richardson through his achievements as an architect in the East, was paralleled by the late James K. Wilson in the Middle West, where many enduring monuments stand
I. Arice Wilor.
315
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
as memorials of a genius that fortunately is the hereditament of a son, H. Neill Wilson, a citizen of Pittsfield, to whom Berkshire county owes many of its pronounced architectural triumphs.
The first of this family to come to America was William B. Wilson, a native of Donegal, Ireland, who represented the British Government in certain charge of Irish immigrants in New York and later in Balti- more, and who eventually located in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became a leading dry-goods merchant. Of his children,
James Keys Wilson manifested early interest in music, sculpture and painting, ultimately devoting his attention largely to architectural studies, graduating from the Beaux Artes, Paris, and obtaining early recognition at Cincinnati as a leading member of his profession. Many notably beautiful structures were built by him. He died October 17, 1894. in Denver, Colorado, whither he had gone in search of health. He served three years as captain of a cavalry company in the civil war.
In the maternal line Henry Neill Wilson is descended from James Keys, a native of the north of Ireland, whence he came in 1750. to the American colonies, with his son, James Keys, Jr., and the latter's wife, and settled in Chester county, Pennsylvania. The son of James Keys, Jr., Richard Keys, born in 1756, entered the patriot army in June, 1776, as third lieutenant of the Flying Company, of Lancaster county, a part of the First Pennsylvania Battalion. For his services in the war of the revolution, Lieutenant Keys was granted six thousand acres of land in Virginia. John B. Keys, of Cincinnati, Ohio, great-great-great-grand- son of James Keys, Jr., has in his possession the governmental deed for these first landed possessions of the Keys in America. Lieutenant Richard Keys married Mary Bagley, whose father was a justice of the common pleas court at the commencement of the revolutionary war, and among the duties devolving upon him was the taking of the oaths of
316
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
allegiance of many men to the union of " free and independent states." He was known far and wide as "Squire Bagley," and although advanced in years, and of notably dignified bearing, served as wagon master in the closing years of the struggle for independence.
Henry Neill Wilson, son of James Keys Wilson, was born in Glen- dale (near Cincinnati), Hamilton county, Ohio, May 1, 1855. He was educated in Cincinnati, where in 1873 he entered his father's employ, and under this eminently capable tutorage prepared for the profession which was destined to be his life work. His association for seven years with this firm of architects, Walter & Wilson, which was doing a large share of the most important architectural work in Cincinnati and vicinity, gave him a sufficient equipment of experience to encourage him to enter into that business in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a city that was at that time ( 1879) having a "boom ", period.
In 1885 he located in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where he has gained a reputation based upon that most substantial of foundations- superexcellent and superabundant work. Among the notable buildings designed by and erected under the supervision of Mr. Wilson are : Pil- grim Memorial Church, Intermediate School, Home for Aged Women, Wendell Hotel, and residence of William A. Whittlesey, Pittsfield, Mas- sachusetts ; House of Mercy Hospital, residence of Mrs. H. B. Daniels, State Normal School, Hoosac Savings Bank, Intermediate School, In- termediate School No. 2, Grammar School, Universalist Church, and residence of Hon. A. C. Houghton, North Adams, Massachusetts; the residences of Anson Phelps Stokes, Leonard F. Beckwith, David Wolfe Bishop. Charles Astor Bristed and Henry Hollister Pease, at Lenox. Massachusetts; the Library and Town Hall. Congregational Church, Irving House, High School, at Dalton, Massachusetts; the Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge, Massachusetts; the Ten Eyck Hotel, Albany, New
317
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
York; "Brightwood," the house of Helen Welch Atkins, Bristol, Con- necticut ; Rockwood Pottery, and residence of William C. Proctor, Cin- cinnati, Ohio; and Glendale Lyceum, Glendale, Ohio; the Skiles & Lind- sey Building, and the residences of William M. Tenney and Major Will- iam D. Hale, Minneapolis, Minnesota; the residences of Hon. John K. Garnett, Charles A. Shearson, and Colonel Bierne Gordon, Savannah, Georgia; the Okeetee Club House, Ridgeland, South Carolina; residence of George J. Gould, Furlough Lake, New York. In addition to these there were dwellings in Dayton, Ohio; Portland, Oregon ; New Orleans ; Stockbridge, etc. Mr. Wilson has been a Fellow of the American In- stitute of Architects since February 16, 1887. Ile has one of the most valuable libraries of architectural publications in the United States, num- bering priceless treasures that were collected by his father. Mr. Wilson is the inventor and patentee of a cellular-steel fire-proof flooring, and general manager of a company incorporated to manufacture the same, the plant, now in full operation, being located in Covington, Kentucky. The flooring in question stood the most heroic tests in New York city, under official inspection, and is being widely accepted by builders as an essential in the fire-proofing of large structures.
Mr. Wilson married, April 5. 1883, Olivia Lovell, daughter of the late Oliver S. Lovell, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Washington, D. C., who was a lineal descendant of Edward Downs, of Canton, Massachusetts. one of " the Minute Men " in the patriot army during the revolutionary war, whose son, Jesse Downs, left the farm a lad of seventeen to join his father in the ranks. Clarissa, daughter of Jesse Downs, married Oliver Lovell, of Boston, and they (the grandparents of Mrs. Henry Neill Wilson) located in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1814. On the Lovell side were staunch adherents of King George, the Cape Cod Lovells being pronounced Royalists. Oliver S. Lovell, father of Mrs. H. Neill Wilson,
318
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
was a prominent member of the bar of Hamilton county, Ohio, following his profession in Cincinnati prior to the civil war, and for the subse- quent period, up to within two years of the time of his decease, princi- pally before the court of claims, Washington, D. C., where he died at the Ebbitt House, February 3, 1881. His presence in the capital at this time was due to his recent appointment to the presidency of the Inland and Seaboard Coasting Company. The wife of Oliver S. Lovell, de- ceased, was a daughter of James and Rachel ( Barton) Russell, of the religious denomination of Friends, of Pennsylvania, one of the tenets of whose faith is the discountenancing of the keeping of genealogical rec- ords, hence a dearth of information of this character in this line.
CLARENCE ROBBINS SABIN.
In the financial circles of Berkshire county the name of Clarence Robbins Sabin, of Great Barrington, carries weight and influence. Mr. Sabin comes of old revolutionary stock, the first of his paternal ancestors of whom we have any record having borne arms in the struggle for in- dependence. This was Isaac Sabin (or Sabins), who lived at Norwich, Connecticut, and on May 8, 1775, enlisted as a private in the Conti- mental army, and was honorably discharged December 15, 1775. (See "Connecticut Men in the Revolution," p. 54.) He married Sophia Runnels. and five children were born to them, the eldest being a son, Ziba, mentioned hereinafter. The death of Mr. Sabin occurred in 1782.
Ziba Sabin, eldest child of Isaac and Sophia (Runnels) Sabin, was born in August, 1749, and while still a young man moved from Nor- wich, Connecticut, to Plymouth, New York, where the remainder of his life was passed. He, like his father, served in the Continental army, enlisting as a private July 8, 1777, and receiving his discharge July 26,
319
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
1777. His name appears on the muster and pay roll of Captain Oliver Belding's company. Major Caleb Hyde's regiment. (See " Revolution- ary War Series," vol. xvii, p. 51.) He married Lydia Welch, and they had a family of nine children, among them a son. Origen, who was born December 20. 1771. Mr. Sabin, the father of this family, died in 1825. at Plymouth, New York. Origen Sabin died January 18, 1857. leaving a son Henry, who was born June 21. 1809, and was the father of John Freeman, mentioned hereinafter. Henry Sabin died October 21, 1890.
John Freeman Sabin, son of Henry Sabin, was born August 23. : 1842, and received a common and high school education. He was for some time employed as a bookkeeper by the Owen Paper Company of Housatonic, and from 1875 to 1880 was engaged in the hardware busi- ness at Great Barrington. He stood high in the esteem of his towns- men, and while a resident of Great Barrington was elected to the office
of assessor. Politically he was a Republican. He attended the Con- gregational church. He married Elizabeth Asenath, born December 16. 1842, daughter of John Newton and Elizabeth (Seymour) Robbins, and they were the parents of a son, Clarence Robbins, mentioned herein- after. The death of Mr. Sabin, which occurred October 19. 1881, when he was but thirty-nine years of age, was felt to be a loss alike to his family, his friends and the community in which he lived.
Clarence Robbins Sabin, son of John Freeman and Elizabeth Asenath (Robbins) Sabin, was born October 28. 1867. in Great Bar- rington, and was educated in the common and high schools of his native place. From 1881 to 1883 he was employed as clerk in a grocery store. and from 1884 to 1891 was in the service of a firm dealing in general merchandise, serving for two years of that time as bookkeeper. January 3, 1891, he entered the Great Barrington Savings Bank as bookkeeper and assistant to the treasurer. The ability and faithfulness with which he
320
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
discharged his duties was not long in finding recognition. For seven years he has been clerk of the corporation, and for several years a mem- ber of the board of trustees, and May 6, 1904, was elected treasurer. He is a stockholder in the Mahaine Cemetery Association. Mr. Sabin is a public-spirited citizen, taking an active interest in all enterprises having for their object the welfare of the community. He is one of the cor- porators of the Great Barrington Free Library. His townsmen have testified to their confidence in him by electing him one of the town auditors. He is a stock member of the Housatonic Agricultural So- ciety. In politics he has always adhered to the Republican party. He is a member of the Congregational church, in which he has held the office of treasurer since 1892. Mr. Sabin married, April 12, 1904, at Great Barrington, Mary Ballantine, daughter of John and Sarah (Van Deusen) Hillyer.
WILLIAM B. PARMELE.
For more than a quarter of a century, the gentleman whose name forms the caption for this article has been identified with that great and growing business, the S. B. Dibble Lumber Company, of North Adams. Entering the employ of the founder of the industry named as a boy, Mr. Parmele has abundantly demonstrated his business capacity by becoming its treasurer and general manager, and has obtained gen- eral recognition as a leader among the progressive business men of northern Massachusetts.
He was born September. 12, 1859, at East Bloomfield, New York, son of the late G. N. and Mercy (Speaker) Parmele. Upon the com- pletion of his schooling he came to North Adams to engage in the busi- ness with which he has ever since been identified. He married, in May. 1884, Alice G., daughter of W. H. Bixby, of North Adams.
321
BERKSHIRE COUNTY
S. B. DIBBLE.
Among the great business interests of western Massachusetts, and pre-eminently the leader in its line, the S. B. Dibble Lumber Company, of North Adams, owes its existence and in large measure its substantial initial growth to its founder, S. B. Dibble, who came in 1871 from west- ern New York to accept a position with E. J. Cary, lumber dealer of North Adams. Three years later he purchased a half interest in this business, and in one year more had become its sole proprietor, establish- ing his plant near the old Fitchburg depot. In 1885 the original plant was abandoned, and the present large factory occupied by the concern was erected, this being equipped with the necessary machinery which em- bodies all modern improvements. In 1899 the S. B. Dibble Lumber Com- pany, which had been projected during Mr. Dibble's life, was incor- porated, and shortly afterward, during the same year of incorporation. Mr. Dibble died May 28th. In 1901 the company absorbed the Bartlett Lumber property, and now conducts the most extensive business in that line in northwestern Massachusetts. The plant occupies about six lots. The buildings consist of a mill which is two hundred and fifty feet long. equally proportioned in width, and one story in height : two drying sheds, fifty by one hundred and thirty-five feet, which are heated by steam and used for the purpose of storing kiln-dried lumber ; a two and a half story building, forty by one hundred and thirty-five feet, used for office pur- poses ; open sheds, fifty by one hundred feet: kilns and various other buildings. Fifty hands are constantly employed in the works, which fur- nishes lumber of all kinds and conducts a general mill work, including the making of packing boxes. Particular attention is paid to the mate- rials for inside finish work.
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.