Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 105

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 824

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I > Part 105

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(VIH) John Erving Bradley, only son of Henry Osgood and Sarah L. (Stockbridge) Bradley, was born February 26, 1860. He received academical instruction in the high school of Worcester, and studied for one year in Amherst College. At the early age of eighteen years he entered upon an independent career, taking employment with the old Jerome Marble Company of Worcester, manufac- turer of paints, oils, and mill supplies. He remained with the firm for four years, acquiring a familiar knowledge of all developments of the business in- cluding all the manufacturing processes, and was about to enter upon a traveling engagement in the interests of the establishment when (in March, 1882) he entered the employ of Osgood Bradley & Sons. After the death of the uncle in 1896, he became general manager of Osgood Bradley & Sons' business, and was so occupied for five years, and until the death of his father, when he became full owner. Under his management the high reputation of the house has been fully maintained, and the scope of its business considerably enlarged, while its worth to the community is manifested by the employ- ment it affords to a company of nearly three hun- dred operatives, the majority being men of family. His deep interest in industrial affairs is evidenced by his connection with various important bodies,- the National Association of Manufacturers; the Master Car Builders' Association of America; the American Railroad Appliance Association ; the New England Steam Railroad Club; the New England Street Car Railroad Club, in which he is a member of the executive board; and the Worcester Metal Trade Association. He is also a member of the Worcester Club, and of its membership committee ; the Tatnuck Country Golf and ' Tennis Club; the Tatassit Canoe Club, of which he is commodore ; and the Up-Town Club, of which he is president. He served for three years in the Worcester Light, In- fantry, and is a member of its Veteran Associa- tion, and of the membership committee of that body. His political affiliations are with the Republican party. He has been frequently solicited to enter upon active political life, and to become a candidate for various offices, but his deep interest in business concerns and in the commercial and social bodies to which he is attached would not permit him to accept proffers which were at once sincere and importunate.

Mr. Bradley married, October, 1887, Emma L. D. Dingley, daughter of Hon. John B. and Maria M. ( Kinney) Dingley, both of whom are deceased. Her father was a prominent business man of Gard- iner, Maine, and was the first mayor of the city, occupying the position for several terms through various re-elections. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bradley-Helen, June, 1888; and Katherine, April, 1895.

BENJAMIN ALLEN BARBER has been one of the leaders in musical affairs in Worcester for fully twenty-five years. He was born December 23, 1855, in Worcester, and has spent his whole life there. He is a son of Benjamin and Ann Maria (Collins) Barber. His father was born in the little town of Wardsboro, Vermont, in 1804, died in Wor- cester in 1867. His mother was of the Collins family of Southboro, Massachusetts, where she was born July 6, 1816. She was a daughter of Daniel and Polly ( Chamberlin) Collins. She died at Wor- cester in 1904. Benjamin Barber was a stone cutter by trade. After he came to Worcester, about 1830, he followed his trade and soon began to take con- tracts, having at first David Woodward as his part- ner. He built many substantial buildings in Wor- cester. He was the contractor for the mason work

of the old city hall. He married Ann Maria Col- lins, of Southboro, November 20, 1838. Their chil- dren were: Rhoda Maria, born September 5, 1840; Warren, died young; Emery Perry, born August 29. 1846, resides in Boston, retired, unmarried ; Linda Frances, born August 12, 1851, married Albert E. Peiree, and resides at Evanston, Ilinois; they have a son and daughter; Benjamin Allen, born December 23, 1855.

Benjamin Allen Barber, son of Benjamin and Ann Maria (Collins) Barber, married Georgie Lee, daughter of Benjamin Franklin Lee, of Worcester, April 17, 1883. They have one child, Edith Louise, born October 14, 1884. Mrs. Barber's mother was Louise Bramhall Hammond, daughter of John and Adeline Hammond, of Worcester, and Mr. Barber has, charge of the extensive estate of the late John Hammond, who was one of the leading men of the city in his day and owner of much real estate. His handsome old mansion on Highland street is the one now occupied by Colonel William A. Gile.

Benjamin Allen Barber obtained his early edu- cation in the Worcester schools and passed the ex- aminations for entrance to the high school, which at that time was in the small building on Walnut street opposite the present classical high school. He went to work first for F. A. Clapp, who was a dealer in men's furnishing goods, the predecessor of E. B. Clapp, his brother. The store was then where the R. J. Healey shoe store now is. After two years and a half experience as clerk and salesman he entered the employ of Jerome Marble & Co., then and now the largest dealers in paints, oils, chemicals and drugs in this section. The present name of the firm is J. Russel Marble & Co. Mr. Barber has been with the firm since 1872, a period of thirty-three years, and has occupied close confidential relations with the owners as the cashier.

Mr. Barber has taken a high place in the Masonic fraternity. He took eighteen of the degrees in Wor- cester and the remainder, including the thirty-second, in Boston. He belongs to Quinsigamond Lodge, Eureka Chapter, the Worcester County Commandery, Hiram Council. He is interested in athletics, being a member of the Boston Athletic Association and of the Worcester Golf Club. He has always taken an interest in amateur theatricals, and has helped many amateur performances in a city where amateurs have developed unusual talent. He is best known, how- ever, as a singer. He has sung bass in most of the Protestant churches having quartettes in Worcester. He has been one or more seasons in the quartette- at Old South Congregational Church, the First Bap- tist Church, Piedmont Congregational Church, Cen- tral Congregational Church, First Unitarian Church and at the Church of the Unity. He is the only sur- viving member of the original Schumann Quartette, and he still sings first bass in the present Schumann Quartette. It has been Mr. Barber's custom to enter- tain during the week of the Worcester Festival the visiting artists. At the festival of 1904. for in- stance, over a hundred and fifty lovers of music gathered at his invitation at his house to meet some of the Festival soloists. Mr. Barber is personally a charming man. He is popular in the social circles of the city and has one of the largest lists of acquaintances and friends. Mr. Barber has a beauti- ful home at 31 Germain street, Worcester.

CHARLES ALBERT ALLEN. The name of Allen occupies a conspicuous place in the history of Worcester county, Massachusetts. It is found not only in the industrial but in the professional life of the people who have stood for all that is noblest and best. Persons in the United States bearing

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this surname find many lines to follow in reaching the progenitor, for there are now at least twenty persons of the name of Allen who came to these American shores prior to 1640. But to James, who settled in Dedham and removed to Medfield, a con- siderable number can trace their ancestry, among them Charles Albert Allen, who was born in Wor- cester, son of Albert S. Allen.

He attended the schools of his native town, pass- ing up through the various grades, after which he took a full course in the Worcester Academy, ac- quiring the profession of a civil engineer. For several years he found employment at his profession in Worcester and vicinity, a considerable portion of the time being engaged in making important surveys for the W. & N. R. R. During this period he de- signed and constructed the railroad viaduct at Wor- cester, also constructed the State Lunatic Hospital at the lake, the railroad bridges on South- bridge street, and other important works. In the year 1877 he was elected by the city council to succeed Percy Daniels as civil engineer for the city of Worcester, and was annually re-elected until the year 1893. During the fifteen years that he was at the head of the engineering department of the city there were, aside from the natural and rapid growth of the city, various special instances when the department was seriously taxed with responsibility, namely: the construction of the new dam for the storage of the water, known as the Tatnuck brook supply, and the disposal of the sewage of the city, both of which was handled with professional skill and sound judgment. Mr. Allen has given much time to the study of sewage disposal for cities and towns, and has personally investigated various sys- tems both in this country and in Europe. When Worcester was compelled by an act of the legislature to purify her sewage before turning it into the Blackstone river, Mr. Allen, after careful investiga- tion, recommended a system which was finally put in use to the acceptance of all interested parties. Since Mr. Allen's retirement from the city govern- ment he has been. engaged in expert work, as consulting engineer, special engineer, or commis- sioner in various parts of New England and in the south and middle west. Within the past ten years fully one hundred different cases have come under his attention and service, many of them of unusual importance and public interest, such as the abolition of grade crossings, he having been appointed by the superior court on forty-three grade crossing commis- sions, questions of supplying cities and towns with pure water, disposal of sewage, water power develop- ment, and attendance before the courts or commis- sions to give evidence as an expert engineer. He was appointed by Governor Greenhalge a member of the Metropolitan water board, but was obliged to decline serving on account of other engagements consuming his time. Mr. Allen belongs to the Amer- ican Society of Civil Engineers, the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, the Worcester County Society of Civil Engineers. the New England Water Works As- sociation, the Massachusetts Highway Association, Commonwealth Club, of which he is president, the Tatnuck Country Club, the Quinsigamond Boat Club. and the Boston Club of Boston. He is also a mem- ber of Quinsigamond Lodge, A. F. and A. M. In politics he is a Republican.

As has been stated. Mr. Allen traces his descent back through the following ancestral lines to:

(I) James Allen, who came to America and settled in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1637, married Annie Guild, the sixteenth day of the first month in 1638. He was a proprietor there in 1642, and five years later took the oath of a freeman. He

removed with the first thirteen settlers to establish the town of Medfield, and drew his house lot on South street. and was living there in 1660, and may have died there, September 27, 1676. His wife died March 29, 1672-73. Their children were: John, born December 4, 1639; Mary and Martha, twins, born 1641 : Mary married Joseph Clark, Martha married William Sabin; Sarah, born 1644, married Domingo White; James, born 1646, married Lydia Adams ; Nathaine, born 1648, married (first) Mary Sabin (second) Mary Frizzell; Joseph, born 1652, married Hannah Sabin, of Seaconk.

(II) Joseph Allen married Hannah Sabin, in 1673, and took his house lot in the north part of Medfield, since known as the "Allen peace." He was a cooper by trade, and at the time of the sack- ing of Medfield by the Indians, during Philip's war, all the houses were burned except Joseph Allen's. He died January 14, 1703-04. She died 1730. Their children were: Joseph, born December 19, 1676, mar- ried Miriam Wight; Hannah, born June 23: 1679, married Benoni Twichell in 1705; Daniel, born April 21, 16SI, settled in Pomfret, Connecticut ; David, born 1683, settled in Ashford, Connecticut : Noah, born April 21, 1685; Eleazer, born August 25, 1688, married Mary Battle in 1712; Jeremiah, born August 5, 1690; Hezekiah, born November 3, 1692, mar- ried Mary Draper; Abigail, born October 24, 1694, married Ebenezer Battle; Nehemiah, born April 22, 1699, married Mary Parker; Thankful; Mary.

(III) Joseph Allen, born December 19, 1676, married Miriam Wight, of Medfield, November 4, 1701. She was a daughter of Ephraim Wight, of that town, and was born August 22, 1675; she was a granddaughter of Thomas Wight, who came from the Isle of Wight and was in Watertown, Massa- chusetts, 1636. Joseph Allen died May 25, 1727, in Medfield. His children were: Joseph. born Au- gust 16, 1702; Miriam, born May 27, 1704, died March 3. 1727-28; Moses, born September 20, 1708; Lydia, born 1714; Aaron, born March II, 1715, married Hannah

(IV) Aaron Allen, born March II, 1715, married (first) Hannah -, who died August 17, 1778. He married (second), January 4, 1779, Deborah, widow of Colonel Daniel Plimpton. She died February 20, 1787. He married (third) widow Catharine Smith, August 9, 1787. He died May 3, 1794, in Sturbridge. This Mr. Allen with his brothers, Joseph and Moses, about the year 1736 removed to Sturbridge, Massa- chusetts. Joseph and Moses were chosen town of- ficers the year following the incorporation of that town, 1738. The children of Aaron were: Aaron, born August 22, 1739, married Abigail Allen, dangh- ter of Nehemiah ; Simeon, born June 26, 1741, mar- ried Sarah Puffer ; Elizabeth, born March 29, 1743, married John Allen : Thankful, born June 29, 1745, died May 3, 1759: Prudence, born December 1, 1747, married March Stacy: Reuben, born November 12, 1740, died November 5, 1754; Ithmar, born October 9, 1751, married Dolly Pincheon : Joel, born October 26, 1755, died August 27, 1754; Caleb, born June 25, 1755, married Rhoda Allen; Amosa, born September 27, 1757, died October 26, 1759; Elisha, born No- vember 20, 1759, married Cylinda -; Hannah, born September 29, 1762, died October 27, 1762.

At least four of the above named sons served in the war of the revolution. Aaron marched to re- enforce General Gates at the north ward, enlisted September 26, 1777. discharged October 18, was in Lieutenant Benjamin Freeman's company, Colonel Jonathan Holeman's regiment. He also enlisted July 30, 1780, in Captain Abel Mason's company, Colonel Jacob Davis's regiment, serving twelve days in Rhode Island. Ithmar also served in Lieutenant Benjamin

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Freeman's company on the same expedition to re- enforce General Gates. Caleb evidently served in several campaigns, was sergeant in Captain Joseph Sibley's company, Colonel Glenforth Key's regi- ment, enlisted July 8, 1777, discharged January 3, 1778. He was a revolutionary war pensioner, Au- gust 15, 1833. He died August 22, 1839.

(V) Elisha Allen, born November 20, 1759, mar- ried Cylinda -. He evidently enlisted December 10, 1776, and served in Captain Abel Mason's com- pany, Colonel Jonathan Holeman's regiment, dis- charged January 20, 1777 ; he was stationed at Provi- dence, Rhode Island. He very likely served at other periods during the revolutionary war. He was a farmer and resided at Sturbridge, having received by will from his father, Aaron Allen, "all his Per sonal and Real Estate not before given or shall hereafter be given in this will, he paying all my just debts and personal charges, the Legacies in this will and erecting a proper monument over my grave." In order to correct errors in former pub- lished accounts of this Allen family we quote further from this will, which may be found in Worcester county probate records, volume twenty-six, page ninety-eight, filed May 21, 1794, allowed October 28, 1794:

"I give to my beloved son Aaron Allen, Jr., Simeon, Ithmar, & Caleb, each the sum of fourteen pounds to be paid in silver money or Indian corn at three shillings per bushel. I give my beloved daughter the wife of John Allen the sum of four pounds. To my beloved daughter Prudence, the wife of Mark Stacy, four pounds. My son Elisha to be executor."

The will appears to have been signed January 3, 1794, although perhaps drawn August 24, 1791 ; the will does not give the name of his wife. But Elisha, in settling the estate, took a receipt from Catharine Allen (his mother-in-law) for the amount agreed upon for her legacy, July 5, 1794. Elisha died January 30, 1818. His children were: Oren, born April 10, 1786, died January 31, 1814; Walter, born March 22, 1788, married Harriet Holbrook ; Thankful, born July 22, 1790; Cylinda, born April 6, 1792, died October 5, 1826; Calesta, born No- vember 10, 1795, married Pardon Thompson ; Alvan, born November 13, 1798, married Lucy Salisbury ; Martha, born December 20, 1800, married Alfred Hitchcock; Elisha Dwight, born March 27, 1804, married Orril Merrick.

(VI) Alvan Allen married Lucy Salisbury, daughter of Benjamin and Catharine Salisbury, who died in Brimfield, Massachusetts. He died in 1841, Catharine in 1850. For some years Mr. Allen re- sided in his native town, Sturbridge, Massachusetts, but in the year 1836 removed to Worcester, and with Ginery Twichell, Simeon Burt, and Frederick Bil- lings became interested in establishing various stage lines for the transportation of passengers and the United States mail. He visited Washington at in- tervals, securing government contracts for carrying the mail, and while the N. & W. R. R. was in process of construction he held a contract for carry- ing passengers from the end of the road to the wharf where they took steamboat for the city of New York. In 1845 he engaged in the grocery busi- ness, and three years later opened a store for the sale of pianofortes, securing about the year 1848 the sole agency in Worcester for the sale of Chickering piano, and this agency he retained until his death. In 1849, 1850 and 1858 he represented ward four in the city council. In 1853 he was assistant assessor and also city marshal. Five years later he was chosen to serve on the school committee. He was a member of the Massachusetts state militia and held

the office of major. On November 29, 1859, while passing from Front to Mechanic street over the lo- cation of the N. & W. R. R. tracks, he was accident- ally struck by a passing train and killed. Their chil- dren were: Albert S., born October 2, 1827, married Eliza A. Cole: Benjamine D., born February 16, 1831, married Eliza F. White.

(VII) Albert S. Allen married Eliza A. Cole, daughter of James and Eliza (Prouty) Cole. Eliza- beth Prouty was the daughter of Joel and Elizabeth or "Betsey" (Gates) Prouty, of Boston, Massachu- setts. Elizabeth Gates was the daughter of Sylvanus Gates, of Rutland and Spencer, and Elizabeth Graham, his wife, whose mother was Jane Thomp- son, granddaughter of Lord Craig. Joel Prouty was son of Asa and Lydia (Livermore) Prouty, of Leicester, and grandson of David Prouty, senior, of that town. Mr. Allen was a teacher of music as early as 1847; he opened rooms in Pains New Block, Main street, Worcester, where he gave in- struction on the pianoforte, and from that time until his death he continued as organist in various churches, and teacher of music, with the exception of the time spent in the service of his country dur- ing the civil war as a member of Company A, Fifty- seventh Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. He served through the Wilderness campaign, and was there on duty at Camp Distribution at Balti- more, Maryland, until the close of the war. He died in Worcester, April 25, 1895. Eliza Ann Cole, wife of Albert S. Allen, died February 2, 1885. Their children were: Charles Albert, born January 27, 1852; Mary Salisbury, born November 23, 1853; Frank L., born August 8, 1862.

(VIII) Charles Albert Allen, whose name heads this sketch, married Grace T. Chase, daughter of Joseph Chase, for many years a woolen manufac- turer in Blackstone, Lowell, and Worcester, Massa- chusetts. Their children were: Robert Chase, born March 8, 1878, graduate from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Charles Albert, Jr., died May 2., 1884: Chester Salisbury, born No- vember 25, 1881, was educated in the public schools, Worcester Academy, and Brown University ; Mary Harville, born March 10, 1886, graduated from the' high school, and is now in St. Margaret's School for Girls, Waterbury, Connecticut; Grace Walker, born February 26, 1889, now a student in the high school; Robert Chase and Chester Salisbury are civil engineers. Robert Chase Allen married Florence Akens Taylor, April 14, 1903, and they are the par- ents of two children : Donald Taylor, born February 29, 1904, and Charles Albert, second, born August 14, 1905.

REV. FREDERIC W. BAILEY. Benoni Bailey (I), the pioneer ancestor of the Rev. Frederic W. Bailey, was an early settler of Danbury, Connecti- cut, at a place called "Wild Cat" in the present town of Bethel. The destruction of the early town records by the British during the revolution has pre- vented any fuller knowledge of him except that in his family bible, now possessed by Mr. Joseph T. Bailey, of Philadelphia, his age is mentioned as ninety-six at his death in 1793. In the absence of any definite information, indications have pointed to the Bailey family of Massachuestts as the proba- ble original.

He married Lydia, daughter of Solomon Ferry, of Danbury, descendant of Charles Ferry, of Spring- field, Massachusetts. Their children were: Samuel, Rebecca and Sarah, who married Ebenezer Munson.

"(II) Samuel Bailey, eldest son of Benoni, born 1728, died 1808. He inherited the old farm in Danbury and lived there throughout his life. Was

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appointed lieutenant of the Ninth Company Train Band in the Sixteenth Regiment of Connecticut by Act of Assembly, May, 1776, and served in the revolutionary war. He married Lydia Beebe, a great-granddaughter of Captain James Beebe, of Danbury, and Sarah Benedict, daughter of Thomas, of Norwalk. The children of Samuel and Lydia Bailey were: Ebenezer (see forward), Lydia, born May 8, 1769, married Edmund Beebe; Samuel, mar- ricd Huldah Hoyt; Benjamin, born December 9, 1756, married Hannah Dibble; Lemuel, born Novem- ber 2, 1779, married Abbey Gregory.

(III) Ebenezer Bailey, son of Samuel (2), was born in Danbury, 1760, and died March 31, 1801. He married, December 7, 1778, at Danbury, Ann, daughter of Samuel Starr, of Danbury, fourth in descent from Dr. Comfort Starr, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The children of Ebenezer and Ann Bailey were : I. Clara (Beebe), born May 27, 1779. 2. Lucy (Benedict) (Comstock), April 2, 1782. 3. Zoe (Hitchcock), July 13, 1784. 4. Lydia, June II, 1788. 5. Noah Starr, (see forward.) 6 Ebenezer Gould, February 7, 1795. 7. Samuel P., December 24, 1797.

(IV) Noah Starr Bailey, fifth child of Ebenezer Bailey (3), was born in Danbury, July 16, 1790, and died in Norwalk, October 26, 1853. Brought up to the trade of a tailor, he later developed into a candy manufacturer and dealer at Norfolk, a busi- ness which was continued both there and at St. Louis, Missouri, by his son Samuel.

Noah Starr Bailey married Angeline, daughter of Clausen Holley, or Hawley, and wife Sarah Dib- ble, of Danbury. She was born June 17, 1790. The children of Noah Starr and Angeline Bailey were : Mary Louisa, born June 9, 1815; William Egbert, (see forward) ; Samuel Henry, born March 16, 1820; Sarah Ann (Terry), born March 20, 1823; and Frederick Starr, of Springfield, born May 24, 1825.

(V) William Egbert Bailey, second child of Noah Starr Bailey, was born at Norwalk, Connecti- cut, October 31. 1817, and died in Brooklyn, New York, 1893. He early entered upon a mercantile career in New York city, being for some years with the clothing house of Taylor, Ryno & Company, with a branch office at New Orleans. After his marriage he became a resident of Brooklyn, East- ern District, where most of his life was passed. William E. Bailey, married, December 25, 1839, in New York, Jane, a daughter of John Sharpe or Scherp, and Marcy Higbie, daughter of Aaron and granddaughter of Samuel and Jean Higbie, of Jamaica, Long Island. Jane Sharpe, born in Brook- lyn, New York, March 19, 1814, was a granddaughter of Jacob Hendrick Sharpe, of New York, and Francina Schaats, a descendant of Rev. Gideon Skaats, first pastor of the Dutch church at Albany, New York, and great-granddaughter of Jacob Sharpe or Scherp, the Palatine of Germantown, New York, and his wife Anna Maria Bomper, daughter of Lodewick Bomper, of New York.

The children of William E. and Jane (Sharpe) Bailey were: Peter Sharpe, of Springfield, Massa- chusetts, born May 31, 1841, captain of Company D, Twenty-seventh Infantry, Massachusetts, in civil · war, William Starr, born February 14, 1845, mem- ber of Ninth New York Volunteers, killed in bat- tle of Fredericksburg, December 21, 1862; John Henry, born February 14. 1819; Sarah Louise, born June 1, 1851; Emma Jane, born February 3, 1855; Frederic William, born January 31, 1858; Mary Angeline, born December 25, 1859, died October 19, 1895

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Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 105

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 824

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 824