Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 113

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 113

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(VIII) Colonel Theodore S. Johnson, eldest child of Theodore Wilder (7) and Emily S. (Miller) Johnson, was born at Dana, Massachusetts, July I, 1843. His youth was spent on the old place in his native town. He attended the Dana schools and af- ter graduating from the high school went to Wil- braham Academy. In 1864 he came to Worcester, Massachusetts, to study law. He entered the office of Dewey & Williams, one of the leading law firms of the county. He was admitted to the bar in 1866 and immediately opened an office and began the practice of law at Blackstone, Massachusetts.

1867 he was appointed a trial justice for Black- stone by Governor Bullock. This office under the Massachusetts statutes provides a magistrate for large towns similar in jurisdiction to the district courts. The trial justice has jurisdiction of minor civil causes and criminal cases that are not serious enough to go before the grand jury. Colonel John- son was the local judge for about four years, when he resigned to take the position of clerk of the district court in the city of Worcester. Hon. Hart- ley Williams, of Dewey & Williams, with whom Mr. Johnson had studied law, was the justice and he naturally turned to Mr. Johnson as a man having the necessary experience, executive ability and dig- nity for the office. Mr. Johnson held this office for ten years to the entire satisfaction of the mem- bers of the bar and other authorities with whom he had relations. In the civil and criminal branches of a municipal court, in a city as large and cosmo- politan as Worcester, there is a natural demand for the highest ability on the part of the clerk to keep the machinery of the court in good order. The high reputation of this court during the time that Colonel Johnson was its administrative officer, was a test of his ability, and won him promotion to his present position as clerk of courts of Worcester county. He was elected in November, 1881, and re-elected in 1886-91-96 and 1901. He is serving his twentieth year and through all this period he has given the utmost satisfaction. The details of his office are too many and perhaps too technical to be enumerated here, and it is difficult to explain to others than lawyers what are the elements of Mr. Johnson's success and popularity. However, the public realizes that he is efficient. The machin- ery of the courts at Fitchburg and Worcester al- ways runs smoothly; the records of his office are al- ways up to date; and lawyers go out of their way to show their appreciation of the administration of Colonel Johnson. Perhaps his tact and courtesy have much to do with the success of his depart- ment. He never hesitates to accommodate those having business with his office, even at considera- ble personal sacrifice. At times the duties of his position require him to turn night into day to keep up with the volume of business to be transacted. He has chosen an excellent corps of assistants to whom he gives much of the credit of the efficiency of his office, but, as in all such cases, the credit belongs to the chief, because he had the sagacity

to choose the right persons and the wisdom to keep forces well organized and disciplined.

The county of Worcester has had through all its history a reputation for having in its clerks of court men of high character and pronounced ability. The office of clerk of courts requires exact legal knowledge almost as extensive as that of the bench itself. It requires great personal dignity, modified by a proper sense of the fitness of things and the occasion. It often requires the practical ability to cut the Gordian knot of legal red tape to get results. If there is one thing more than another that Colonel Johnson likes to do it is to have the court get re- sults; to solve the problems brought to it and end litigation rather than to continue it indefinitely. Since the incorporation of the county of Worcester in 1731, there have been but eleven different per- sons holding this office. It has attracted men who have been in congress, and who have held other high offices, because of the liberal reward allowed by the county and because of the importance and honor of the place. Yet it is universally conceded by men familiar with the conditions and competent to judge, that the present clerk is the most competent as well as the most successful. No matter what standard may be applied, Colonel Johnson must be deemed the best clerk of courts that Worcester county has ever had. His success in life must be measured by his work as clerk, for that has been his chief oc -. cupation.

He has always been interested as a citizen in municipal politics, and has at times been very act- ive in the Republican organization. He was cap- tain and advocate general on the staff of the Third Brigade Massachusetts Volunteer Militia from 1874 to 1876, inclusive. He was appointed in 1878 by Governor Talbot as colonel and aide-de-camp 011 his staff, whence the title by which he is generally known. He represented the city of Worcester on the Republican state central committee in 1881-2-3 and 1884. In 1883 he was elected director of the Quinsigamond National Bank and was an active factor in the management of that bank until its liquidation. Is at present a director of the Mer- chants' National Bank. He has been connected with various local corporations as director, and his busi- ness ability and common sense have made him par- ticularly useful in the companies in which he has been an investor. He is also a member of a num- ber of social organizations. He married, in April, 1873, Amanda M. Allen, of Blackstone, Massa- chusetts.

(VIII) Charles Rensselaer Johnson, second son and third child of Theodore Wilder (7) and Emily Sears (Miller) Johnson, was born in Dana, Massa- chusetts, December 28, 1852. He attended school in his native town and in 1865 removed with his parents to Worcester, and was graduated from the Worcester high school in 1871. He entered Harvard University and graduated from there in 1875. He then entered the law office of Rice & Blackmer and studied under their personal supervision, being ad- mitted to the bar in 1878, and has since practiced law in Worcester. His office is in the State Mutual building. For many years he shared offices with the late David Manning. Mr. Johnson has made a special study of divorce, probate and chancery cases. He became interested in the public schools and for twenty years or more has been the most influential figure in the administration of the schools. Much of the high reputation of these schools is due to the wise judgment and unfailing interest that Mr. Johnson has taken as chairman of the board. lle has been a member of the school board since

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1877, with the exception of a period from 1879 to 1892, and has been zealous at all times for the ad- vancement and development of the great public schools system of Worcester. No citizen of this town has shown a more continuons and unselfish interest in this matter, and Mr. Johnson's long experience and familiarity with the schools and school buildings, with the conditions of the past as well as of the present, furnish a fund of in- formation that is invaluable to the city and that could not be bought for money. It is services like those rendered by Mr. Johnson that have made New England what it is-an educational model for the world.

Mr. Johnson was a member of the Republican city committee in 1880-81. He has been a master in chancery since 1882, and is a notary public. He is a member of various fraternal orders and was a member of the supreme council. Royal Arcanum, in 1899. He is a life member of the Worcester So- ciety of Antiquity, and corresponding member of the Western Reserve Historical Society. He is in- terested in local and family history and has written various articles on historical subjects. He is also a member of the state board of charity, having been appointed by Governor Bates in 1904. He repre- sented the seventh ward of Worcester in the leg- islature in 1898-99, was on the committee on probate and insolvency in the house in 1898, and chairman of the committee on constitutional amendments (house chairman) and member of the committee on judiciary in 1899.

Mr. Johnson married, August 8, 1882, Mary Mc- Gann, of Maynard, who died at Worcester, Massa- chusetts, December 6, 1887, leaving one daughter, Florence Emily, born at Maynard. July 19, 1883. He married (second), May 29, 1889, Susie Serry, of Davenport, Iowa, and they have two sons : Charles Ward, born at Worcester, Massachusetts, March 8, 1894; Theodore Howard, born at Wor- cester, Massachusetts, October 24, 1896.

WILLIAM WATSON MCKIBBEN, M. D. The Mckibben family of America is of Scotch-Irish origin. The progenitor came to Pennsylvania dur- ing the great emigration from 1720 to 1750 from the northern province of Ireland, which gave to Penn- sylvania its sturdiest and best stock.

The variations in spelling the name make it some- what difficult to trace. The family settled in the counties of Down and Antrim in the province of Ulster, Ireland, and are to be found nowhere else in the old country. The name is rare in Scotland, as at present spelled. The family was Presby- terian in religion and intermarried with the other Scotch families in Down and Ulster. It is possible that a careful research would connect the Pennsyl- vania progenitor of the McKibbins or Mckibbens with the family of Knockhashum, mentioned in the genealogy of the family of James Orr, of Bally- black, who died in 1627 and whose wife, Janet Mc- Clement. died in 1636. The pedigree also mentions the McKibbins of Haw. Descendants of the Orr family of Scotch-Irish came to New Hampshire and Pennsylvania with the early Scotch-Irish set- tlers.

In Pennsylvania Rev. J. McMillan mentions John Mckibben in his diary under date of 1775, as his host. when he preached at Dunlap's creek, prob- ably in Washington county.

William Mckibben, son probably of the first settler of the name, was great-grandfather of Dr. W. W. Mckibben, of Worcester, and was born probably about 1760 in Pennsylvania.

James Mckibben. Jr., grandfather of Dr. W. W.

Mckibben, of Worcester, was born at Cedar Run in what is now Clinton county. Pennsylvania, about nine iniles southeast of Lockhaven, Pennsylvania, about 1800. He married Catherine Lamb, daughter of Hugh and - ( Allison) McManigal. Her mother was the daughter of Daniel Allison, and was an aunt of United States Senator W. B. Allison. She was born June II. 1807, in Centre county, Penn- sylvania, and died September 5, 1855. He died July 28, 1858. Their children were: Frank Reed, see forward; David A., resides in Leavenworth, Kansas, and is president of the Home-Riverside Coal Min- ing Company of Leavenworth; Joseph ; Lucetta ; and James A.

Frank Reed Mckibben, father of Dr. W. W. Mckibben, was born at Caroline, Seneca county, Ohio, December 2, 1843. He was the fifth child of a family of six children. He received a com- mon school education, but was largely self educated. At the death of his father in 1858 he went to live with Henry Isabel, at Plymouth, Ohio, where he took up the trade of carriage trimmer. He worked with Mr. Isabel also at Mansfield and Shenandoah. Ohio, working at his trade until after the civil war broke out.

He enlisted in November, 1861, in Company A, Major William McLoughlin's Squadron, First Ohio Independent Cavalry, which was soon afterward at- tached to the famous brigade of General W. T. Sherman. The company proceeded from Mansfield to the Big Sandy valley in Eastern Kentucky, serv- ing under Colonel (afterwards President) James A. Garfield in the campaign against Brigadier-Gen- eral Humphrey Marshall, of the Confederate forces. Mr. Mckibben was in the battle of Kernstown, Virginia, March 23, 1862, against Stonewall Jack- son. In the summer of 1863 his squadron was trans- ferred to Burnside's command in the Army of the Potomac, and he was in the battles of Knoxville September 3. 1863; at Cumberland Gap; Morris- town; Strawberry Plains and in many skirmishes and minor engagements. At Smoky Mountain he was wounded in the breast and leg and carried back to the city of Knoxville in an ambulance, and re- mained for many weeks in the hospital. He was later transferred to General Sherman's command at Buz- zard's Roost, in northern Georgia, and was in the fanious March to the Sea. He finally rode back to Nashville where he was mustered out in 1865.

After the war he located for a short time at Plymouth, Ohio, and Leavenworth, Kansas, and finally settled at Fort Smith, Arkansas, in the dry goods business, as clerk for his brother, David A. Mckibben. He had a tobacco store of his own for a time, but eventually bought a farm which he carried on, working in his brother's store in the winter season and on his farm in the summer. In 1870 he was superintendent of the Shaw-Cotton Plan- tation on the Arkansas river for about a year. He removed to Van Buren, Arkansas, where he opened a general store which he carried on for ahout seven years alone, then took into partnership his brother- in-law, Henry Pape, under the firm name of Mc- Kibben & Pape. In 1893 he sold out his interests and the business was continued by the firm of H. F. and C. A. Pape.

He bought a stock ranch of 6,000 acres five miles from Wagoner, Indian Territory, on the reserva- tion of the Creek Indians. In addition to his ranch he carried on a general store there. His store was burned and he lost heavily. After four years he returned to Van Buren and became the General Agent of the Union Central Life Insurance Com- pany of Cincinnati, Ohio. He became interested in real estate in Kansas City and had property there

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valued at $60,000. In 1900 he was appointed United States jailer at Fort Smith in the Federal Jail. He bitilt and owned the Mckibben Opera House at Van Buren and was an extensive land owner there.

He was a Republican in politics and was a dele- gate to the Republican National Convention at Minneapolis in 1892. He was a member of Van Buren Lodge of Free Masons, No. 6, at Van Buren, Arkansas. He was also an Odd Fellow. He was director of the Crawford Company National Bank at Van Buren; also of the Van Buren Canning Company ; the Van Buren Ice Company and the Van Buren Cotton Compress Company. He attended the Methodist church and was a liberal contributor to its charities.

He married at Fort Smith, Arkansas, September 7. 1870, Elizabeth Pape, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 16, 1851, the daughter of Henry Pape, who was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1828, and his wife, Elizabeth Ziegenbein, born in the province of Hanover, Germany, 1827. Her father was a con- tractor and builder before and after coming to America; he and his wife located in Cincinnati, Ohio, about 1848. They were attracted thither, as were many other Germans, by a book which was circulated in Germany telling about the grape in- dustry, which began as follows :

"A little before the middle of the ninteenth cen- tury the culture of the grape was introduced into the neighborhood of Cincinnati and for many years it was thought that Hamilton county was destined to be a great wine country. Nicholas Longworth is principally entitled to the credit for the endeavor to add this attractive product to the list of those successfully harvested in this county. He had for many years given much attention to the cultivation of the grape with the view of making wine. His first efforts were confined to the acclimatization of foreign vines. He tried about forty varieties be- fore the idea occurred to him of testing our in- digenous grapes. He met with such success that he withdrew from the practice of law and commenced experimenting more elaborately upon the production of wine from the native grapes. Two of these va- rieties, the Catawba and the Isabella, seemed to him to possess the best qualities for wine and to be best adapted to the climate and soil. He soon culti- vated large vineyards and built extensive wine vaults where he stored the wine manufactured from his own grapes as well as those purchased from others. As a result Cincinnati became world famous as the center of a wine region, and thousands of vine growers flocked to it, causing the vine-clad hills to become famous the world over. In 1851 Mr. Longworth had one hundred and fifteen acres in grapes, almost exclusively Catawba, and he bottled during the season 75,000 bottles." From about 1859 on, the vine growers began to have trouble with their vines and soon it became apparent that the vine culture was no longer adapted to the locality of Cincinnati and "the vine-clad hills along the hanks of the beautiful river, have long since become a thing of the past."

The children of Frank Reed and Elizabeth ( Pape) Mckibben were: Frank Pape, born November 13, 1871, see forward; William Watson, see forward ; Bertha Lucetta, born January 29, 1887, unmarried, has lived at Newton Centre, Massachusetts, since 1902; Minnie Vera, born December 13, 1888. died at Van Buren January 7, 1893. Frank Reed Mc- Kibben died at Duncan, Indian Territory, May II, I90I.

Frank Pape MeKibben, son of Frank Reed Mc- Kibben, and brother of Dr. William Watson Mc-

Kibben, was born at Fort Smith, Arkansas, Noveni- ber 13, 1871. He received his education in the common schools of Van Buren, Arkansas, whither he moved with his parents when he was an infant. He studied three years at the Arkansas Industrial University of Fayetteville, Arkansas. He then took a year's preparatory course for West Point, but failed on his physical tests. In 1890 he entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating as civil engineer in 1894. He became a teacher of bridge engineering at the institute and is at present associate professor of civil engineering there. He has designed and superintended the building of sev- eral important bridges and has designed some of the structures of the Boston Elevated Railway.

He is the assistant engineer of the Massachusetts Railroad Commissioners, appointed September 30, 1901. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers; of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers; of the American Society for Testing Materials ; of the Society for the Promotion of En- gineering Education. He has been librarian of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers for several years. He is a Republican in politics and is actively in- terested in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association, for which he has lectured and worked on various occasions. He is a member of the Con- gregational church, at Newton Center, where he is at present living.

He married, January 26, 1899, 'Arabelle Almy, at New Bedford. She was a teacher in the New Bedford training school. She is a daughter of Warren W. and Sarah (Gray) Almy. Her father is a farmer of Tiverton Four Corners, Rhode Island. The only child of Frank Pape and Arabella Mc- Kibben is: Elliott Spencer, born March 23, 1902.

William Watson Mckibben, son of Frank Reed Mckibben, was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, Au- gust 22, 1874. When he was two years old his parents moved to Van Buren, an adjacent town, where he attended the common schools after he was six years old and graduated from the high school at the age of thirteen. He entered the Arkansas In- dustrial University, taking a two-year preparatory course and then entered the collegiate department, where he studied civil engineering for a year. Find- ing himself disinclined for this profession he left college and entered the office of the Adams Express Company as billing clerk. In 1891 he came to Boston and entered the Berkeley School ( Chauncey Hall) where in one year he prepared for Harvard University, entering September 26, 1892. He grad- uated with the degree of A. B. in 1896 and entered the Harvard Medical School from which he was grad- nated in 1900 with the degree of M. D. In the sum- mers of 1899 and 1900 he served in the Boston Floating Hospital for children. He was house sur- geon previously in the Free Hospital for Women at Brookline. He came to the Worcester City Hospital as house officer September 5, 1900, and remained fourteen months.

He opened an office and began to practice medi- cine at 662 Main street, Worcester, where he re- mained until July 1, 1903, when he entered the South Department of the Boston City Hospital as assistant resident physician, giving up his Worcester prac- tice for the time being, in order to make a special study of children's diseases. In April. 1904, he went to London and Paris where he studied pediatrics, or children's diseases, after which he traveled in Switzerland and Germany, returning to Worcester September 1, 1904, and resuming his practice at the old stand. In July, 1905, he removed to 738 Main street, where he now resides and has his office.

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Dr. Mckibben is a member of Piedmont Con- gregational Church, and is at present a teacher in the Sunday school. In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of Quinsigamond Lodge of Free Masons, Worcester; of Quinsigamond Tribe of Red Men; of Court Cunningham Foresters of America; of the Delta Upsilon fraternity of Harvard; of the Twen- tieth Century Club; the Congregational Club; the .Economic Club;

the Massachusetts Associated Boards of Health; the Boston Society of Medical Sciences; the Massachusetts Medical Society; and the Worcester Medical Society. He is an honorary member of the Stationary Engineers. He is a mem- ber and physician of the Junior Order of American Mechanics. He received military instruction at the college in Arkansas under Colonel Fletcher, U. S. A.

He married, September II, 1905, Olive Beatrice Flint, daughter of Charles W. and Cora (Flint) Flint, of Worcester.

DANIEL WEBSTER ELLINWOOD. Ralph Ellinwood (I) was the emigrant ancestor of the Ellinwood and Ellenwood families of America. He sailed from England September, 1635, at the age of twenty-eight years, in the ship "Truelove." He settled in Salem, Massachusetts, where he was living in 1637. He was a planter. He removed to the new town of Beverly nearby. According to a deposition made in 1669 he was aged about sixty years. He was admitted to the church March 21, 1647, and his wife was admitted August 13, 1648. He married (second) March 14, 1655, Ellen Lyn. He died 1673-4. His will was dated January 7, 1673, and proved August 3, 1674. He bequeathed to his wife Ellen ("Helen"), and children : Ralph, John, Jo- seph, Benjamin, David, Mary and Elizabeth. The widow signed her name Eleanor, which was prob- ably the correct way of spelling it.

Children of Ralph Ellinwood by the first mar- riage were: I. Josiah, baptized May 26, 1644, and probably others. Children of Ralph and Eleanor (Lyn) Ellinwood were: 2. Stephen, baptized March 16, 1656. 3. Ralph, baptized April 26, 1657. 4. Ralph, born March 18, 1658. John, August 2, 1659. 6. Joseph, May 12, 1662. 7. Mary, April 3, 1664. 8. Elizabeth, born June 27, 1666. 9. Sarah, baptized August 7, 1666. 10. Benjamin, born April 1, 1668. II. David, born July 6, 1670.

(II) John Ellinwood, son of Ralph Ellinwood (I), was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, August 2, 1659: married (first) Elizabeth Rawlinson ; second Sarah Morrill. The widow of John Ellinwood, pre- sumably Sarah, died at Beverly, Massachusetts, 1764, at the age of ninety-eight years.

Children of John and Elizabeth (Rawlinson) Ellinwood were : I. John, baptized February 9, 1606. 2. Joseph ; probably settled at Amherst, New Hampshire, where other members of the family went. 3. Dorothy. 4. Elizabeth. 5. David, born Au- gust 16, 1696. 6. Jonathan (not on records avail- able). Child of John and Sarah (Morrill) Ellin- wood was: Anna, February 6, 1704. Benjamin Ellinwood (2) also lived in Beverly and had seven or more children. Ralph Ellinwood (2) had by his wife Ellen Lyn two or more children at Beverly.

(III) Jonathan Ellinwood, presumed to be son of the preceding, grandson of Ralph Ellinwood (I), was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, about 1690. With a party from Roxbury, and some from Beverly and Essex county, he removed to Woodstock, which was in Connecticut some of the time, and in Massa- chusetts at other times. The Trasks and Wallis families of Beverly were neighhors of Ellinwood in Woodstock, and perhaps relatives. Jonathan Ellin-

wood was a blacksmith by trade, although he owned considerable land and doubtless always conducted a farm. He was a soldier in the Cape Breton ex- pedition when Louisburg was captured June 17, 1745, but died or was killed in the service. In the papers relating to his estate at the Probate office in Wor- cester is a charge by his administrator "To a journey to Worcester to settle with Colonel Willard and Cap- tain Stearns about Cape Breton." That was in 1753, though Ellinwood died in 1745. There was on the same account another charge for "a trip to Beverly, Massachusetts, to discharge two obligations give !! by the deceased to maintain his mother." That s- tablishes beyond question the family to which he be- longed, although it does not name his father. Joannah Ellinwood, his widow, married, about 1746, Zebulon Dodge, who thus became one of the ad- ministrators of Jonathan Ellinwood's estate. He then sold for forty pounds twenty acres in Woodstock to Hezekiah Goff, as directed by an order of the court. John Peake, as mortgagee, joined in the deed.

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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 113

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