Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 12

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 12

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).

(VIII) William Ogden Green, son of Martin Green (7), was born in Chicago, Illinois, September 26, 1860. He was educated at the Worcester Poly- technic Institute. He went to work first in an electric light factory at New Britain, Connecticut ; then for the Merrick Thread Company, Holyoke, Massachusetts. From there he went as a manager for a silk mill at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He put it into first class condition and left it highly pros- perous to take charge of the Peshtigo Lumber Com- pany in Wisconsin, for which his father was man- ager years before. Andrew H. Green, as trustee of the estate of the late William B. Ogden, repre- sented the owners, but Mrs. Ogden herself made frequent ,visits to the property and paid Mr. Green high compliments on the reformation he brought about and the improvement effected. By his advice the property was sold and he wound up its compli- cated affairs in a manner so pleasing to the directors that they made him a present of $10,000 at their last meeting as a testimonial of their satisfaction. He is a member of the American Society of Me- chanical Engineers. He is now a member of the firm of Ogden, Sheldon & Company, one of the most important real estate broker firms in Chicago. He married. October 20, 1891, Josephine Poole Giles, at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Their children, all of whom were born in Chicago, are: William Stewart, born November 7, 1893: Andrew Haswell, born May 10, 1896; Lucretia Poole, born June 19, 1899.

(VIII) Samuel Martin Green, son of Martin Green (7), was born at Benton Harbor, Michigan, April 13. 1864. He was graduated at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. His first position was with Frederick E. Reed, the manufacturer of machinery, Worcester, Massachusetts, for whom he designed and draughted various tools. He also designed the interlocking switches on the railroad viaduct in Wor- cester. He next went to Buffalo to work for Noyes & Company, millers. When his brother, William Ogden Green, left the Merrick Thread Company, where he was the engineer in charge of the plant. the management desired him to remain, but took the younger brother in his place on his recommenda- tion. Although young and inexperienced Samuel Green made good. He successfully completed the

big mill, one hundred and twenty-five by five hun- dred feet. He remained with the Merrick Thread Company until the trust was formed, when he was chosen engineer-in-chief for the new management, the American Thread Company. He has charge of all the changes and new construction of the com- pany. At the present time, at Ilion, New York, he is reconstructing and building a two million dollar plant, and the old mills are all receiving modern equipment of machinery and power. He has recently constructed at Waukegan, Illinois, a large factory for the United States Envelope Company. His chief office is at Holyoke, Massachusetts, and his residence is at Springfield, Massachusetts. He is at present rebuilding the cartridge factory at Bridgeport, Con- necticut. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

He married, at Holyoke, June 18, 1890, Ida Mc- Kown, of that city. Their children are: Mildred, born September 27, 1895, in Holyoke; Lydia, born June 2, 1902, in Holyoke.

HENRY F. HARRIS. From the best obtain- able evidence, which includes recorded data, it is certain that the Harris family, as represented in Worcester, Massachusetts, is descended from Thomas Harris, who came with his brother William and Roger Williams in the ship "Lion" from Bristol, England, to Lynn, Massachusetts, as early as 1630. The line of descent is traced as follows:

(I) Thomas Harris married Elizabeth

and they were the parents of Thomas, Mary and Martha. As a friend and follower of Roger Will- iams he was imprisoned and otherwise illtreated in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1658.

(II) Thomas Harris, son of Thomas the emi- grant, married Elnactrau Tew, and they were the parents of eight children.

(III) Thomas Harris, son of Thomas (2), was born in 1665 and died in 1741. He married Phoebe Brown, and they were the parents of eight chil- dren.

(IV) Charles Harris, son of Thomas (3) and Phoebe (Brown) Harris, was born in 1709. He married Mary Hopkins, March 19, 1748, at North Scituate, Rhode Island, and they were the parents of ten children.

(V) Gideon Harris, son of Charles. (4), and Mary (Hopkins) Harris, married Rhoda Smith, widow of his brother Henry, and of this marriage seven children were born.

(VI) Henry Harris, son of Gideon (5) and Rhoda (Smith) Harris, was born August 2, 1787. He married Bernice Randall, and (second) Waty Smith. Of his second marriage were born the fol- lowing children: 1. Alsaide. 2. Linus Monroe. 3. Gideon. 4. Mary Smith. 5. Charles Morris, see forward. 6. Thomas Henry. 7. Otis Braddock. 8. Whipple Burlingame. Gideon and Otis B. passed away prior to 1889; Mary S., widow of Alfred Whiting, died in Worcester in the spring of 1904; Thomas H. resides at Canada Mills, Holden, Massa- chusetts: Whipple B. resides in Three Rivers, Pal- mer, Massachusetts. The father of this family died at the age of thirty years, leaving his family with- out means. His wife was a remarkable type of true New England womanhood, possessing a strong mind and noble character, and gave to her children an excellent rearing.

(VII) Charles Morris Harris, fifth child and third son of Henry (6) and Waty ( Smith) Harris, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, August 3, 1822. Through his mother he was a grandson of Captain Jonathan Smith, of Revolutionary fame, who, tradition says, stood fully six feet in height,

WORCESTER COUNTY

and commanded a company each of whom was of that or greater stature. Mr. Harris was also a de- scendant of that John Smith, of Dorchester, who was banished for his divers dangerous opinions, and who removed from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to Rhode Island at the request of Roger Williams, who wanted him as a miller, and he was ever afterward known as "Smith the miller."

Shortly after his birth, the parents of Charles Morris Harris removed to Scituate, Rhode Island, where he was reared. Until he was thirteen years old he attended the common schools for eight weeks in summer and a like term in winter, and later at- tended two short winter terms, completing his school- ing when he was fifteen years old. From the age of six to fourteen years his time out of school was given to labor in the Richmond cotton mills, twelve to fourteen hours daily, at the pitiful wage of one cent an hour. One dollar and a quarte - a week was the highest wages he received until he was almost of age, when he was paid six dollars and fifty cents a week. During this period he had gone from the Richmond mills to the Sprague mills at Smithfield, Rhode Island, thence to the Blackstone mills at Mendon, Washington, and to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and was thoroughly and practically con- versant with every detail of the cotton milling in- dustry, capable of conducting every process from the handling of the raw material to the final finish- ing of the product.

In the spring of 1842, when he was twenty-two years old, he engaged in thread manufacturing on his own account, in partnership with David S. Wilder. In the autumn of the same year they re- inoved to West Boylston and purchased a small mill at Central Village, where they began the manu- facture of satinet warps. They also leased a mill at Lovellville, in the Town of Holden, which they also operated in connection with that . at Central Village. In 1845 he became associated in a business partnership with his brothers, Linus M. and Gideon. and a brother-in-law. Alfred Whiting, who had bought the Holt mill, at what was then called Holt's Village, but later Harrisville. Under the firm name of L. M. Harris & Co. they engaged in the manu- facture of cotton cloth, and built up a thriving business. The factory was destroyed by fire about 1851, but rebuilding was begun within thirty days after the disaster, and in less than a year the new factory was in successful operation and with in- creased capacity. In 1857 Mr. Harris bought an interest in a cotton mill at Poquonnock, Connecti- cut. His beginning was inauspicious. The first year he lost six thousand dollars, hut he only re- doubled his effort, and with such success that two years later he had made good his loss and was worth twelve thousand dollars more in addition. Early in 1860 he sold his Connecticut interests and bought an interest in a factory at Savage, Howard county, Maryland, where he remained nearly two years. In the fall of 1861 he returned to the factory of L. M. Harris & Co., remaining until 1863. In that year he and his brother. Linus M. Harris, bought one-half of the stock of the West Boylston Manufacturing Company at Oakdale. This was then, as it is to-day, one of the most important manufac- turing institutions in the state. In ISI4 it received from the commonwealth of Massachusetts a special charter under which it was authorized to mant :- facture "cotton and woolen clothes and fine wire." On coming into this corporation Mr. Harris became general manager and treasurer, and he served as such with such conspicuous ability for a period of twenty-six years, ending with his death, April 24, 1889, in Boston.

Mr. Harris married Miss Emily Dean, on Thanksgiving Day, 1848. She was born in Sterling, Massachusetts, November 9, 1823, and at the time of her marriage was residing in West Boylston. She was a direct descendant of Thomas Dudley, second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. To Mr. and Mrs. Harris were born three children: I. Henry Francis, of whom further. 2. Charles Morris, Jr., for several years prior to his father's death superintendent of the West Boylston Manfg. Co. mills; he died November 10, 1892, aged forty-one years, leaving a widow, two sons and three daughters. 3. Emily Armilla, died March II, 1892, aged thirty-five years; she was twice married; by her first "husband, Lyman P.

Goodell, she had one son, Roscoe Harris Goodell, now banker in Chicago and married to Helen Peabody, daughter of Frederick F. Peabody, of Evanston, Illinois; by her second husband, Alonzo R. Wells, she had a son, Ray Dean Wells. Mrs. Harris, the mother of these children, died August 6; 1892.

(VIII) Henry Francis Harris, eldest child of Charles Morris (7) and Emily Dean Harris, was born in Harrisville, West Boylston, Massachusetts, August 19, 1849. He fitted for college in the Green Mountain Institute at South Woodstock, Vermont, in Worcester Academy and Lancaster Academy, at- tending the latter institution two years. In 1867 he entered Tufts College, from which he was grad- uated in 1871 at the head of his class. He then entered the Harvard Law School, and after a six months' course further prosecuted his legal studies for about a year in the office of Hon. Hartley Will- iams, of Worcester. He subsequently entered the Boston University Law School, from which he was graduated in the first class from that institution in 1873. He was for some time following in the office of John A. Loring, of Boston, and was ad- mitted to the bar in that city in December. 1873. January I of the following year he entered upon a professional practice at Worcester. Aside from attending to the demands of a constantly increasing legal practice, he has been prominently interested in the manufacture of cotton goods, succeeding his father in 1889 as treasurer of the West Boylston Manufacturing Company, whose valuable plant, hay- ing been purchased by the Metropolitan Water Com- mission was relocated at Easthampton Massachu- setts. and doubled in size and capacity. He has served as such until the present time. He was also president of the L. M. Harris Manufacturing Com- pany. Mr. Harris is a member of the board of directors of the Worcester Trust Company, the Wor- cester Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and is solic- itor for that corporation. He was a director of the First National Insurance Company: is a mem- ber of the board of trustees of the Worcester City Hospital; and was a member of the school board, serving on various important committees of that body. Mr. Harris is a public-spirited gentleman, and among the various organizations with which he is conspicuously associated is that of Free Masons. He is a man of sound judgment, a safe counsellor in matters public and private, and enjoys the confi- dence and respect of the community where he resides.

May 17, 1883, Mr. Harris married Emma Frances Dearborn, daughter of William F. and Mary J. (Hurd) Dearborn, of Worcester. She is a lady of culture and an accomplished musician. She gradu- ated from the Worcester High School in 1878, and subsequently studied vocal music under Madam Capianna. Possessor of a sweet and cultivated voice, she was for many years a member of the

Francis A Dewey.

WORCESTER COUNTY

choir of the Universalist church, and its director during much of that time.

Mr. and Mrs. Harris have two living children : Rachel, born December 11, 1887; and Dorothy, born March 22, 1890. They lost an infant son by death.

DEWEY FAMILY. From among the various branches of the Dewey family have come-many dis- tinguished celebrities, including the eminent Judge Francis H. Dewey, and the famous Admiral George Dewey, who attained fame at Manila Bay, in the Spanish-American war. The family is of royal de- scent, with coat-of-arms going back many genera- tions in England. In America all trace to the com- mon ancestor,

(1) Thomas Dewey, who came to the Massa- chusetts Bay Colony from Sandwich, Kent, Eng- land, with Rev. John Warham and his little band of one hundred and forty passengers, who formed a church before leaving England, and sailed in the "Mary and John," and became the first settlers at Dorchester, Massachusetts, arriving at Nantucket, May 30, 1630, a month earlier than the Winthrop colony. On June 6, the following Sunday after they arrived, services of gratitude and praise were held under the open sky. After being a pioneer in that section, the church and the above emigrants mostly removed to Windsor, Connecticut. Thomas Dewey married the widow of Joseph Clark and had five children: 1. Thomas, born 1640. 2. Josiah, born 1611 ; he was the Dewey from whom descended Ad- miral George Dewey. 3. Ann, born 1643. 4. Israel, born 1045. 5. Jededialı, born 1647.

(II) Jedediah Dewey, son of Thomas, the emi- grant, born 1047, and died 1721.

(III) James Dewey, fifth son of Jedediah, born 1692, and died 1756.

(IV) Daniel Dewey, son of Stephen, had a son Daniel, who became judge.

(VI) Judge Daniel Dewey, son of Daniel, was born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, and moved to Williamstown. He was a distinguished man of his day, was a lawyer of note, and for many years a judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts, and was also a member of congress.

(VII) Judge Charles Augustus Dewey, son of Judge Daniel Dewey, was born March 13, 1793, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, died in 1866. He became a lawyer, was elected district attorney, and was appointed judge of the supreme court of Massa- chusetts, in which important position he served for the long period of thirty years. He married first, Frances Aurelia, daughter of Hon. Samuel and Martha (Hunt) Henshaw, of Northampton, Massa- chusetts. She died at Williamstown July 20, 1821. He married second, July 28, 1824, Caroline Hannah Clinton, daughter of General James and Mary (Lit- tle) Clinton, of Newburg, New York, and a sister of Gov. De Witt Clinton, of New York. Among the eight children born to Judge Dewey, Sr., were Francis H., Charles A., Mary Clinton, wife of Judge H. B. Staples, of Worcester, and Maria Noble, of Worcester.

(VIII) Francis Henshaw, oldest son of Judge Charles Augustus and Frances A. (Henshaw) Dewey, was born in Williamstown, July 12, 1821. His career in public and professional life was so brilliant that the outline of it must be here preserved as an important part of the family history. His mother died when he was an infant, but he was tenderly cared for by his stepmother. Caroline H. Clinton, who married his father when he was three years old. Francis H. Dewey graduated from Will- iams College in 1840, at the early age of nineteen years, studied law at Yale and Harvard, and was

admitted to the bar at Worcester in 1843. He soon became the partner of Hon. Emory Washburn, who was made justice of the common pleas bench the following year, and from that time the legal business of the office was thrown upon Mr. Dewey, who had a very large practice. For more than twenty years he was recognized as the leader of the bar in Wor- cester county. While not elegant in diction he was possessed of what all termed "common sense," and dealt practically and energetically with whatever matters were entrusted to him. He was very suc- cessful in the conduct of cases before juries. He was appointed to the bench of the supreme court in February, 1869, and resigned in 1881.

Judge Dewey came to Worcester when the in- habitants numbered only eight thousand, and he lived to see this number multiplied ten times over. He was active in all public offices, church matters and charitable enterprises. He seemed born for diplomacy, and was the embodiment of tact and skill, combining with these qualities the abilities of the thoroughly equipped and entirely practical man of affairs. He-was a leading spirit in the organiza- tion of various railroad companies and manufac- turing and financial corporations, and was an of- ficial in and counsel for many of the same. Up to the time of his death he was president of the Nor- wich & Worcester Railroad, president of the Me- chanics' Saving Bank, a director in the Mechanics' National Bank, and a director and one of the heaviest stockholders in the Washburn & Moen Man- ufacturing Company, attending to a great amount of its legal business. He was deeply interested in edu- cational and the higher moral concerns of the com- munity. He was a trustee of his alma mater, Will- iams College, from 1869 to the time of his death, a period of eighteen years. He was also until his death president of the board of trustees of the Wor- cester Public Library, president of the board of trustees of the Old Men's Home, a trustee of the Washburn Memorial Hospital, president of the Rural Cemetery Corporation, president of the Wor- cester County Horticultural Society, and a trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association. He was inclined to business more than office holding, but at the request of friends in his party he served in the two branches of the city government, and two terms in the state senate. He died in the full vigor of his manhood, December 16, 1887, while devoting his strength to the many public interests with which he was connected.

Judge Dewey married, November 2, 1846, Frances Amelia Clarke, only daughter of John and Prudence (Graves) Clarke, of Northampton, Massachusetts. Her father was the founder of Clarke Institution for Deaf Mutes. Judge Dewey married (second ) April 26, 1853. Sarah Barker Tufts, only daughter of Ilon. George A. and Azuba Boyden ( Fales ) Tufts; she was born January 31, 1825, at Dudley, Massachusetts, and is now (April, 1905) living in Worcester. By his first marriage Judge Dewey had a daughter, Fannie, born September 17, 1849, died the following day. His children by his second wife were: I. Fanny Clarke, born February 1, 1854, died July 28, same year. 2. Caroline Clinton, born Decem- ber 18, 1854; died December, 1878; married, 1877, Charles L. Nichols, and .had Caroline Dewey. 3. Francis Henshaw, to be further mentioned. 4. John Clarke, born May 19, 1857, who is a lawyer. He married his second cousin, Sarah B. Dewey, and their children are John Clarke, Jr., and Daniel. 5. George Tufts, born September 12, 1858, who is a lawyer; he married Mary L. Nichols, and their chil- dren are Mary Linwood, George Tufts, Jr., and Charles Nichols. 6. Sarah Frances, born September

WORCESTER COUNTY

15, 1860; died; married Oliver Hurd Everett, and their children were Caroline Dewey and Francis Dewey. 7. Charles Augustus, born and died April, 1863.

(IX) Francis Henshaw Dewey, son of Hon. Francis H. and Sarah B. (Tufts) Dewey, was born March 23, 1856, in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was reared in his native city and there attended the private schools, after which he spent two years at a primary school and four years at St. Mark's School in Southborough, preparatory for college. In 1872 he entered Williams College, graduating therefrom four years later among the six highest of his class. He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, where membership is based on scholarship. In 1879 he received the degree of Master of Arts from his alma mater. After reading law in the office of Messrs. Staples and Goulding, of Worcester, he en- tered Harvard Law School, from which he gradu- ated in 1878 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In February, 1879, he was admitted to the bar, and has since been actively engaged in practice, and his prominence in his profession is attested by his election in 1897 to the vice-presidency of the Wor- cester County Bar Association. In 1880 he became solicitor for the Worcester Mechanics' Savings Bank and the Mechanics' National Bank, and on the death of his honored father, in 1887, he succeeded him as a trustee and director in these institutions, respectively. In April, 1888, he was elected presi- dent of the Mechanics, National Bank, which office he still holds. One of his most important trusts is the presidency of the Worcester Consolidated Street Railway Company, to which he was elected in May, 1898, having been a director since 1893, and under his supervision and management a system of about forty miles of track confined principally to the city of Worcester has been extended to one hundred and sixty miles, and connects eighteen cities and towns, together with frequent service, carrying nearly thirty millions of passengers in a year. For many years he has been a director in the Norwich & Wor- cester Railroad Company, the Worcester Gas Light Company, the Worcester Traction Company, the Worcester Theatre Association, of which he is also treasurer ; he is president and treasurer of the Bay State House, and a director in many business cor- porations. He is a trustee of the Worcester Rail- ways and Investment Company. He has also had charge of the settlement of many large estates in the capacity of trustee and executor, and possesses unusual business qualifications.

Mr. Dewey has ever taken a deep interest in edu- cational and charitable work, and is actively identified with inany the most important institutions in these lines. He a trustee and vice-president of Clark University, and of Clark College, and has long been vice-presi- dent of the Art Museum, and a member of the American Antiquarian Society. He is a di- rector of the Associated Charities, chairman of the Commission of City Hospital Funds, and a trustee of the Memorial Hospital. He is a member of the Board of Trade, of which he was for several years a director: vice-president of the Massachusetts Street Railway Association; and a member of the Worcester Fire Society and many social organiza- tions. For many years he has been prominent in the First Unitarian Parish, and has been superin- tendent of the Sunday school and chairman of the parish committee. He is a stanch Republican in politics.

December 12, 1878, Mr. Dewey married Miss Lizzie Davis, daughter of the late Ilarrison Bliss, and of this union were born two children: Eliza-

beth Bliss Dewey, July 19, 1883; and Francis Hen- shaw Dewey, May 19, 1887.

EDWIN BROWN. John Brown (1), or Browne, the progenitor of Edwin Brown, of Wor- cester, was associated with the Pilgrims at Plymouth. While he was travelling in his youth he became ac- quainted with 'Rev. John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrims, and through him met many of his people in the same way that Governor Winslow and Cap- tain Miles Standish came to join the Pilgrims. He did not come in the "Mayflower," however. It was not until March, 1629, that he reached New Eng- land. He landed at Salem. Two years earlier, how- ever, March 19, 1627, the council for New England approved a patent for trade soil and planting on which a Royal charter was obtained March 4, 1628, to certain patentees and their associates, among whom were John Browne, John Saltonstall, and others who became well known in the colonies. He was elected to Governor John Endicott's council, April 3, 1629, with Francis Higginson, Samuel Skel- ton, Francis Bright, Samuel Browne, Thomas Graves and Samuel Sharp. He went from Salem to Plymouth and later to Taunton with his son, James. In 1643 John Brown and his sons, John and James, were residents of Taunton, but next year they settled at Rehoboth, Massachusetts. There John Browne, Sr., and John Brown, Jr., stayed and were among the first settlers, but James Browne being a Baptist was forced to leave town in 1663 and with others of his sect founded the town of Swansey, Massachusetts. The designation Mr. given him in the records always shows that he was counted among the gentry. His sons and grandsons were leaders in civic, judicial and military affairs. John Brown was appointed one of the townsmen (an office) in Rehoboth, March 16, 1645, and again in 1650-51. He served the town on important com- missions. He was on the prudential committee. He was for seventeen years from 1636 to 1653 one of the governor's assistants or magistrates. In 1638 the following were the governor's assistants: Will- iam Bradford, Edward Winslow, Captain Miles Standish, John Alden, John Jenny and John Browne. He was one of the commissioners of the United Colonies of New England (which foreshadowed the later confederation) from 1644 to 1655. In the gov- ernor's court June 4, 1652, he won a notable suit for damages for defamation against Samuel New- man, the judgment being for one hundred pounds and costs. Mr. Browne waived the judgment, how- ever, and let Newman off on payment of the costs. Mr. Browne was a friend of Massasoit, and the proof of their friendship was shown when the life of his son James was spared by King Philip, son of Massasoit, when he came on a mission from the gov- ernor to the Indians. Colonel Church in his narrative says: "that the Indians would have killed Mr. Browne, who with Mr. Samuel Gorton and two other men hore the letter, but Philip prevented them, saying that his father had charged him to show kindness to Mr. Browne." It is said in his honor that he was the first magistrate to raise his voice against the coercive support of the ministry, taking the stand that all church support should be voluntary and backed his precepts by liberal ex- ample. He was a man of abilities, intellect, piety and patriotism, and was buried with civic and mili- tary honors in 1662. His wife Dorothy died in 1674. His eldest son died the same year as he (1662). His other son, James, was afterwards in the magistracy. His grandson, John Browne, be- came useful and eminent. In 1685 John Browne was one of the first associate justices of the court

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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 12

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