USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Vol II > Part 25
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Mr. Weller married, March 25, 1865. Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of the late Royal A. and Charlotte ( Butler ) Hulbert. Mr. and Mrs. Weller have had four children, of whom a daughter, Mabel, died when fifteen years of age. The surviving children are George, Roy and Harry, all of whom reside on the homestead farm, George and Roy assisting in its cultivation, and Harry farming an adjoining tract of land of his own.
ALBERT TOLMAN.
Of those " who have stamped their character upon the pillars of the age " was he whose name introduces this narrative, for his life work was in the cause of education and the service of the church.
He was born in February, 1824, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, son of Captain Stephen Tolman, who won his title in the war of 1812. Albert Tolman was graduated from Amherst College, class of 1845,
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and was a tutor at his alma mater during the year following. The next two years he spent at Andover Theological Seminary, following which he taught at Montague, Massachusetts. He then located in Berkshire county, accepting a position in the faculty of Maplewood Institute, Pitts- field, a connection which was maintained until his establishment in 1855, at Lanesboro, of a boys' and girls' boarding school which was known as Taconic Institute. This he continued to successfully conduct for a period of thirteen years. Among his pupils were a number who attained prominence, viz .: Senator Crane, of Massachusetts; Judge Day, of Ohio, who was in President Mckinley's cabinet; Hon. W. B. Plunkett, of Adams, Massachusetts, and others.
From 1868 to 1878 Mr. Tolman served with characteristic ef- ficiency as principal of the high school, Pittsfield, retiring from this po- sition because of impaired health. His service as deacon of the Con- gregational church. Lanesboro, and South Congregational church, Pitts- field, covered a period of over twenty years, and he was also superin- tendent of the Sunday school of both congregations. He died at Pitts- field. in August, 1891.
His first wife, to whom he was married in 1853, was Jane A., daughter of Justice Tower, a prominent citizen of Lanesboro. She died in September, 1871, and in August, 1872, Mr. Tolman married Mrs. Dr. Wilson, of Pittsfield, who died in March, 1905. Mr. Tolman had five sons: Carlton T. Tolman, a journalist and life insurance man, who died in Pittsfield in August. 1894; Albert H. Tolman, professor of English literature. Chicago University: William Tolman, whose per- sonal history follows this narrative; George Tolman, a lawyer of Pitts- field; and Edward Tolman, with the Berkshire Life Insurance Com- pany, Pittsfield.
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W o Tolman
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HON. WILLIAM TOLMAN.
Third of the sons of that Christian gentleman and educator of local distinction, Albert Tolman, deceased, William Tolman has also won recognition for valuable public service and as a business man of ca- pacity and integrity.
He was born in Lanesboro. June 2, 1858. His preliminary school- ing was followed by six years' clerkship ( 1872 to 1878) in the Agri- cultural National Bank, Pittsfield. He was graduated from Williston Seminary, Easthampton, in 1880, and Williams College, class of 1884. Immediately thereafter he accepted a position as special agent for the Berkshire Life Insurance Company, Pittsfield, in which capacity he was employed until 1904, when he was appointed to his present office of gen- eral agent for the same company at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Mr. Tol- man was a member of the Massachusetts house of representatives in 1894, 1895, 1896 and 1899: and of the Massachusetts state senate in 1900 and 1901. He was prominent as a speaker while in the legislature.
He married, December 26, 1900, Jeannie M., daughter of Francis M. Pease, of Lee, Massachusetts.
HENRY PHILIP HORTON CAMERON.
Of the younger members of the Berkshire bar who have won the esteem of their colleagues and the confidence of the community generally, the gentleman whose name introduces this narrative may be appropri- ately numbered.
He was born in Philmont, Columbia county, New York, July 13. 1876, son of Robert Van Leuvan and Sarah Anna ( Horton) Cameron, natives of New York, and descendants respectively of Scotch and Eng- lish colonial settlers. The founder of this branch of the Cameron fam-
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ily in America was David Cameron, who came from Scotland and set- tled in Columbia county, New York, in 1750. He was a soldier in the patriot army, and was killed on the battlefield of Monmouth. He was great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. John M. Cam- eron. grandson of David Cameron, married Betsey Halstead, daughter of Samuel and Maria (Snyder) Halstead, the latter being a daughter of Henry Snyder, a Revolutionary soldier in the patriot army.
On the maternal side there are eight Revolutionary ancestors, as fol- lows: great-grandfather Cornelius C. S. Miller, private; great-great- grandfather Henry Van Valkenburgh, private; great-great-grand- fathers Michael Horton, George Philip and Cornelius S. Miller, cap- tains; great-great-great-grandfather Jacob Esselstyne (or as then spelled, Ysselsteen), private; great-great-great-grandfather, Cornelius Hogeboom, captain; and great-great-great-great-grandfather Johannes Hogeboom, private.
Michael Horton came from England between 1735 and 1740. He was a personal friend of General Van Rensselaer, and by him was pro- moted to captain. At the battle of Saratoga, for bravery and meritorious conduct, he was given the sword of a British officer. George Philip was ยท a commissary of subsistence as well as captain. Captain Cornelius S. Miller (then spelled Muller) was grandson of Cornelius Stephense Muldor (as the name was in Holland), who came to this country in 1650.
Henry P. H. Cameron attended the schools of Philmont, New York, entering Claverack College, class of '95. He read law with Mil- ton B. Warner, and was admitted to the bar at Pittsfield, in special term, September 3, 1901 ; licensed to practice before the Department of the Interior, April II. 1904: admitted to the United States circuit and district courts, September 12, 1904. He began practice in Pittsfield, en-
William Augustus Morey.
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tering into copartnership with Chester Averill; subsequently in Dalton. where he also assisted deputy-sheriff Edgar H. Pierce, in tax collecting and fire insurance underwriting ; and from there returned to Pittsfield, locating in Bank Row. While a resident of Dalton, Mr. Cameron was a member of its Business Men's Association and the Grange. He was also a member of Bartlett Camp, Sons of Veterans, his father having served in the Civil war as sergeant in Company C, One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry.
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MOREY.
William AAugustus Morey, who died December 11, 1898, was throughout a lifetime of usefulness and honor covering over eighty years identified with the town of his birth. Williamstown, Massachu- setts, where Miss A. E. Morey, the last surviving member of the family. now resides.
Mr. Morey was born in Williamstown, October 19, 1817, a son of Joshua and Esther (Corey) Morey. His grandparents came from Rhode Island. Educated in the Williamstown schools, Mr. Morey de- voted his active career to farming and business pursuits, and is remem- bered as a man of honor and integrity in all his relations with his fellow men, and by reason of his industry and excellent management holding a substantial place in his community. At various times his fellow citizens chose him to fill the offices of selectman, assessor and justice of the peace.
His wife, whose maiden name was Cordelia Torrey, born May 9, 1818, was also born in Williamstown, and was the youngest child of David Torrey and Esther Woodcock, the latter a native of Williams- town and of Connecticut parents. David Torrey was the second son of 23
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William Torrey, of English lineage. David Torrey was born May 19, 1774; married January 7, 1799, to Esther Woodcock. The remaining children of William Torrey were Jason, David, Samuel, Mary and Jo- siah. David Torrey spent his life on the old homestead, where he died in 1853. He had ten children.
Mir. and Mrs. William A. Morey had five children, but the only one living is Miss A. E. Morey, of Williamstown. Her brother George was a student at Williams College, and her brother Frederick A. was a soldier in the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Regiment, New York Volunteers, and was badly wounded in the battle of the Wilderness in the civil war. Mrs. William A. Morey passed away February 27, 1892. She and her husband were members of the Methodist church.
WILLIAM HERBERT PRITCHARD.
One of the well known figures in Berkshire county's financial cir- cles is William H. Pritchard, cashier of the North Adams National Bank, of North Adams, Massachusetts, with which institution he has been connected for nearly a quarter of a century. He is of Berkshire county nativity, born in Adams, June 19, 1859, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Pritchard, the former a native of England, the latter of Adams, Massachusetts.
William H. Pritchard received his education in the public schools of Pittsfield, and in that city also found his initial employment with the Pittsfield National Bank. He was subsequently for a time of the clerical force of the National Bank of North America, Boston, whence he returned in 1882 to Berkshire county to accept a position in the North Adams National Bank, North Adams, with which institution his services have since been continuous. He was elected to its cashier-
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ship, of which he is the incumbent, June 25, 1898. He is recognized as a financier of thie safely conservative type and as such has been en- trusted with numerous responsibilities. He is a member of the board of trustees of North Adams Savings Bank, the North Adams Trust Company, and trustee of several large estates. He is a consistent and useful member of the Methodist church of North Adams, and a mem- ber of its board of trustees, and has been valuably connected with the North Adams branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, of the board of trustees of which he is also a member. His fraternal connection is Masonic, and his political affiliation is Republican.
He married, in 1882, S. Lena Sharer, by whom he has two chil- dren: Herbert E., and Margaret R. Pritchard.
WILLIAM GREENOUGH HARDING.
Although alien to Berkshire county, the gentleman whose name forms the caption for this narrative has had such protracted and close connection with its vital interests as to be generally accepted as a son of the soil.
He was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, August 5. 1834, son of the late Rev. Sewall and Eliza ( Wheeler) Harding, natives of Med- way, and descendants of English colonial settlers. Sewall Harding began his collegiate career as a Brown University student, and was graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York. He was ordained to the Congregational ministry in 1818, at Waltham, Massa- chusetts, where he spent the succeeding cighteen years as pastor of the church. He married in East Medway in 1820. From 1836 to 1848 he ministered to the Congregational church of East Medway, resigning the charge on account of throat trouble, and repaired to Bos-
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ton, Massachusetts. While in that city he was a leading factor in the organization of the first publishing house of the Congregational church, acting as secretary of its committee of founders, the institution thus established having grown to extensive proportions, and now known as the Congregational Board of Publication.
William Greenough Harding prepared for college at Phillips Andover Academy, and was graduated from Williams College, class of 1857. For a year thereafter he taught in a boys' school in Auburn- dale, and in July of 1858 became associated with the firm of Page & Robbins, Boston, importers of and dealers in glass, and subsequent to the date last named manufacturers of glass in Lanesboro, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, whither Mr. Harding was immediately sent to assume managerial charge of the company's plant. This business, under the firm above named, and its successors, Page & Harding, and the Berkshire Glass Company, occupied Mr. Harding's time up to 1899, the date of the closing of the plant. An exhaustive treatise on glass making in the Berkshires, prepared by Mr. Harding, and printed by the Berkshire Historical and Scientific Society, is one of the especially prized possessions in the archives of the society named. For forty-six years Mr. Harding was postmaster at Berkshire, Berkshire county, an incumbency covering one of the longest periods of like service in the United States. He also served for fourteen years as justice of the peace. He is a lifelong member of the Congregational church, and of the board of deacons of the First church. Pittsfield, since 1899.
Mr. Harding married, June 27, 1861, Nancy Pepoon Campbell, daughter of the late George Campbell, who was a son of David Camp- bell, a pioneer woolen manufacturer of Berkshire county, one of the founders of the Pontoosuc Woolen Manufacturing Company. Three living children born of this marriage are: The Misses Harriet and
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Isabel Harding, and George C. Harding, architect, of Pittsfield. Two children who died in childhood were Hope Campbell and Malcolm Campbell Harding.
WILLIAM THOMSON.
Among the properties of the estate of the late William Thomson, who died in New York city, in 1872, was a summer home at Lenox, " The Perch," so-called by its former owner, Frances Anne Kemble. This renowned histrionic genius possessed among many admirable qual- ities an ardent love for the beautiful in nature, and expressed the wish that she might be buried in the cemetery at Lenox " that she might awake on Judgment Day with the glorious view before her."
She conveyed the property in question. May 15. 1862, to her chil- dren, Francis Butler and Sarah (Butler) Wister, wife of Owen J. Wis- ter, who sold it November 12. 1867, to Mr. Thomson. It is now owned by Mrs. Ellen L. Thomson, widow of William Thomson.
Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. William Thomson, John W. Thomson resides in Pittsfield, where he married Agnes, daughter of George Brown: William A. Thomson is engaged in business in New York city; and Ernest Thomson resides with his mother at the New American, Pittsfield.
HARVEY JOHN GOODROW.
The Goodrow family of Dalton is of Canadian ancestry, and the grandparents of H. J. Goodrow were John and Rose (Bouterie) Goodrow, who resided in St. John, province of Quebec. Their son David, H. J. Goodrow's father, was born in St. John, December 31. 1850. He was reared upon a farm and remained in Canada until four-
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teen years old, when he came to Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where he has ever since resided. Since coming to this locality he has re- sided in various places, including Hinsdale, Pittsfield and Dalton, fol- lowing agriculture until he was forty years of age, and for thirteen years was fireman and engineer at the Crane Paper Mills, Dalton. Some two years since he entered the service of the Stanley Electrical Company, of Pittsfield, and is still in the employ of that concern. He was married in Lanesboro, this county, June 7, 1868, to Hulda Wat- son, daughter of Harvey and Esther Watson. Mr. and Mrs. David Goodrow have had a family of four children: Harvey John, the prin- cipal subject of this sketch; Sarah, who did not live to maturity ; Ed- ward, who died in early manhood; and Melvin, who married Lilly Gruzzelle, and has two children-Willard and Marion. In politics David Goodrow is a Republican. The family attend the Baptist church.
Harvey John Goodrow was born July 7. 1869. Coming to Dalton during his boyhood he attended the public schools, and assisted his father in carrying on the farm. After the conclusion of his studies he learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed as apprentice and journeyman some sixteen years. In 1904 he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, establishing himself in the grocery business at Dal- ton, and he is already well advanced on the road to prosperity as a mer- chant, having a large and constantly increasing business.
On January 8, 1899, Mr. Goodrow was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Kenney, daughter of Martin and Bridget Kenney, of Dalton. Mr. and Mrs. Goodrow have no children.
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RDE Forest Jucken
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RALPH DE FOREST TUCKER.
Just over the border from Berkshire, in the county of Hampden, lies the historic village of Monson, and there it was, so runs the local tradition, that the best beloved of American poets noted the Titan form that inspired the lines that have been voiced in youthful staccatos from the rostrums of all rural schools since they were penned :
" Under a spreading chestnut tree The village blacksmith stands; The smith a mighty man was he, With large and sinewy hands."
Whether Mr. Longfellow indeed gave to the world the strong and wholesome stanzas of "The Village Blacksmith" after one of his frequent visits to western Massachusetts matters little. Certain it is that he was no stranger to Monson, and equally certain is it that there for more than a century were to be found all the adjuncts for the picture which he presents, and the profound philosophy therefrom evolved. Five successive generations of Tuckers supplied the village forge of Monson with its sturdy smithy. First of these came Ezra Tucker, from England, early in the eighteenth century. His son Joel tem- porarily abandoned the anvil to strike for liberty, and that patriot's revolutionary regimentals and flintlock musket are among the most cherished of the family heirlooms. His eldest son, Joel also, and blacksmith as well, was succeeded in turn by a son, Joel Moulton Tucker, and the last named inducted the immediate subject of these memoirs into the mysteries of the family vocation. The old English family of Tuckers from which this American branch is descended traces lineally to Lazarus Tuck, the tenth century Norman financier, in whose phil- osophy originated the axiom that "poor money drives good money out of circulation," which had its natural outcome in the formulation
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of that recognized authority, "Graham's Financial Law." Of the Monson Tuckers, the late Joel Moulton Tucker, who died in July, 1896, married Helen Mar Deming, a direct descendant of the first white child born in Pittsfield. (See Deming genealogy.) Mrs. Helen M. (Deming) Tucker continues to reside in the old homestead at Monson.
Ralph De Forest Tucker, son of Joel Moulton and Helen Mar (Deming) Tucker, born in Monson, January 21, 1870, received his preliminary schooling in Hampden county, where he divided his time as a youth about equally between his books and the anvil and forge. He applied himself to the latter with such vigor that he became an adept at the trade when but sixteen, the while never swerving, how- ever, from devotion to his studies in his determination to eventually secure a better education than could be obtained in the local academy. In 1891 he entered Yale College, laboring to pay his way through that institution, and was graduated therefrom with the degree of Bachelor of Arts with its class of 1895. His post-graduate course of law, econ- omics, history and social science was taken up with the especial end in view of adding to his equipment in the adoption of the law as his profession, and to this purpose he still adheres, and to this end are his studies still being directed, but a lengthy and lucrative period of activity in an entirely untried field of labor was destined to supervene. In the summer following his graduation Professor Tucker visited Pittsfield, and while there incidentally assisted a young friend in pre- paring to enter his own alma mater. Others sought similar service, and the exellence of his tutorship, demonstrated as it was from the outset by the success of his pupils in speedily gaining entrance to the classes to which they aspired, has kept the pressure constant to remain yet a little longer in the profession thus made for and thrust upon
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him. That the maintenance within wise bounds of a camaraderic be- tween teacher and taught is conducive to the knowledge imparting powers of the former and the receptiveness of the latter is recognized by all educators. This desirable relation is at once established by Professor Tucker through his interest in the physical development as well as the mental culture of his pupils. All young men admire and have a secret if not confessed aspiration for physical prowess. As a natural outcome of the strenuousness of his life throughout his youth and his Yale associations, Professor Tucker has devoted attention to all health-promoting exercises, and is an adept in rowing, sparring, fencing and horsemanship. The zest with which he enters into these muscle-making activities and encourages participation and willingly in- structs therein every pupil during the hours devoted to recreation, is at once an explanation of his personal magnetism as a teacher and his charm as a man. To the inspiration of his enthusiasm along these lines more than one boy of impaired and unpromising physique re- joices today in the possession of a stalwart manhood as well as a well- equipped mind,-mens sana in corpore sano. Professor Tucker's work as tutor has been congenial and has been well requited, not only pecuniarily, but also in the satisfaction which has naturally obtained through the graduation of numbers of his pupils from leading colleges and scientific schools of the United States. During all of these years Professor Tucker has resided in Pittsfield, where as a professional man his position has been unique, and he is widely and favorably known in Berkshire county.
His fraternal connection is with Mystic Lodge. F. and A. M .; Berkshire Chapter, R. A. M .; Berkshire Council. R. and S. M .; and Berkshire Commandery. K. T. He is also a Pythian Knight, and an
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Elk. His occasional absences from the home of his adoption are neces- sitated by his agricultural interests in his native county, where he owns the homestead farm.
AMBROSE T. STEWART.
Ambrose T. Stewart, of Dalton, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, is one of those descendants of Scotch stock, which by perseverance and close application to the principles of honesty and industry make them substantial, worthy citizens of whatever locality they settle in. The Stewart family of which this is a branch came from Scotland and set- tled in the northern part of New York state. in Dormonsville, Greene county, about the year 1810.
Jacob Stewart came to this country with his parents, and both he and his father engaged in carpentering, which they conducted success- fully for the entire period of their active careers in and around the town of Coxsackie, New York. In 1847 he married Margaret Roberts, a direct descendant of an old Holland family, and of this union four chil- dren were born. Amos, born 1849, married Ella Wands, and resided in Syracuse, New York: James, born 1852, married Elsie Temple, and they live in Collamer, Onondaga county, New York, and they are the parents of two children ; and Ambrose.
Ambrose Stewart was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, June 29. 1854. He attended the public school of Pittsfield. and this preliminary education was supplemented by a course in a business college. He then learned the carpenter trade, at which he worked for a number of years, after which he accepted a position as clerk in a grocery store and con- tintied serving in that capacity for thirteen years. He then went to Calais, Maine, where for seven years he followed his trade, that of car-
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penter, and at the expiration of this period of time. his father having died in the meantime, and his mother having taken up her residence in Dalton, he located in that town, in 1893, and secured employment at his trade with a contractor of that town. Shortly afterward he estab- lished a business on his own account, and, having gained a reputation for conscientious and faithful workmanship, received a good substantial patronage, and is now one of the leading contractors of Dalton, having the supervision of the repairing, altering and construction of the work of the Crane family of that town. Mr. Stewart takes no active part in town politics outside of voting the Republican ticket.
In 1875 Mr. Stewart married Mary E. Gilson, daughter of John V. and Martha (Gettis) Gilson, of Williamsburg, Massachusetts. They are the parents of one daughter, Eva M .. born March 30, 1877, who became the wife of George Ryder, of Dalton, Massachusetts, where they and their family reside. Mr. Stewart and his wife are regular attend- ants at the Congregational church of Dalton, Massachusetts.
PERRY J. AYRES.
The family of which the late Perry J. Ayres, of Pittsfield, was for many years a worthy representative. founded the town of Shutesbury, Massachusetts, the earliest settler being the father of Jesse Ayres, a prosperous farmer of Franklin county.
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