Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 54

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 54

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(VI) Elias Russell, son of William Russell (5), was born in Bethel, Maine, March 28, 1800. Ile learned the shoemaker's trade and divided his time between that and farming. lle settled in Sanborn- ton, New Hampshire, when a young man, and mar- ried, September 29, 1825, Comfort Rundlett, a resi- dent of Sanbornton, though they were married at Northfield, New Hampshire. He died January 31, 1868. Their children, all born at Sanbornton, were : 1. John Simons, born March' 30, 1826. 2. William Rundlett, born August 7, 1827. 3. Meliitable Ann, born December 31, 1828. 4. Cynthia Eliza, born July 22, 1832. 5. Elias Harlow, (see forward).

(VII) Elias Harlow Russell, son of Elias Rus- sell (6), was born in Sanbornton, New Hampshire, November 27, 1836. His early education was re- ceived in the district schools of his native town. Like every New Hampshire boy he had more farm work than school in his boyhood. He attended the Woodman Sanbornton Academy and the Literary and Biblical Institution at New Hampton, New Hampshire. In 1853, while he was still a student at the last named institution, he began to teach school, but continued his study and preparation for his pro- fession and went to the New England Normal In- stitute at Lancaster, Massachusetts, of which Pro- fessor William Russell was the principal. This was an admirable school in its day and the principal was an exceptionally gifted teacher and scholar. it is now extinct. In 1856 Mr. Russell taught school again. At that time he determined to study medi- cine and he began to study under the direction of Professor Albert Smith, M. D., who was a member of the faculty of Dartmouth College. Before com- pleting his course in the Medical school, however, he desired to follow his original purpose to teach, and in 1859 he went back to teaching. He was in- structor for three years in the teachers' institutes of Grafton and Coos counties, New Hampshire. Then he taught in a number of academies and pri- vate schools. His subject was chiefly elocution. Among other institutions he taught in the Highland Military Academy, worcester; at Eaton's Business College, the predecessor of Hinmann's, in the Board of Trade building; Professor Bushee's Private school in the Walker building; a boarding school in the old Salisbury mansion, Lincoln square. For two years and a half he taught in Nichols Academy, Dudley, Massachusetts. During the same years, 1861-62-63, he gave three courses of lectures on elo- cution in the Divinity school of Harvard Uni- versity. In 1864 he accepted the position of prin- cipal of the Leroy Academy at Leroy, New York, a non-sectarian school of high character and repu-

tation, and he held this position for ten years. In 1894 he was unanimously invited by the State Board of Education to become principal of the Worcester Normal school, then about to be established. He accepted, and from that time to the present has been identified with the institution.

The Worcester Normal school was established by a Resolve of the general court which went into effect June, 1871. The State Board of Education was authorized and required to establish a State Normal school in Worcester, and the trustees of the

Worcester Lunatic Hospital, a state institution, were authorized and required to convey for the purpose a tract of land, of not more than five acres, for a site, to be designated by the governor and his coun- cil. The site chosen is ideal. From the hill on which the Normal school was built the city and surrounding country, with its green hills and or- chards, the smoking factory chimneys in the fore- ground, the picturesque buildings of the city around and about them, spread out like a great panorama below. The tract of land was a part of what had been called Hospital Grove. The stone for the build- ing was quarried on and near the land where the structure was built. The building is massive and dignified. The architecture is well suited to the purposes of the building. The interior arrange- ments, designed by Mr. Russell for the purposes he had in view, have been found admirably suited to the needs of the institution. Another building has been added to the school, for the purpose of a gym- nasium. It is a valuable adjunct to the institution. The Normal school was opened September 15, 1874, and for thirty-one years Mr. Russell has been the principal. He laid out the general plan in the first place; he has developed the school year by year till its reputation now is second to none among the normal schools of the country.

He has always cut loose from stereotyped meth- ods, not so much for the sake of novelty as to de- velop in the students the special talents or abilities of the individual. The graduates of this school begin their teaching with the idea of reaching each of their pupils in different ways, in dealing with each individual according to his needs, and the graduates of the Worcester Normal school have proved the value of Mr. Russell's methods during the past thirty years.

An apprentice system, developed by the prin- cipal along original lines, has been one of the most popular and attractive features of the school. The little folks like to go there to school. The parents are eager to send their children there for instruc- tion and the students at the school find the train- ing for school work, with real pupils there and in the Worcester schools, extremely valuable. This apprentice system accounts in large measure for the high standing of the graduates of this institution compared with those of other schools, where actual experience and practice in the art of teaching is not given.

To quote from the school announcement: "The design of the Normal school is strictly professional ; that is to prepare in the best possible manner the pupils for the work of organizing, governing and teaching the public schools of the Commonwealth. It is made a special aim to seize every opportunity to give the pupils the benefit of whatever tends to fit them for the work of teaching. The spirit of this endeavor pervades the whole school. The knowledge demanded is in great part knowledge of the material to be operated on, and of the conditions and limita- tions under which the work must be carried on. The government of the school is not a government of rules, not even of laws.' The school is not with- out law, but the pupils are led by suggestion, en- couragement and admonition to become a law unto themselves."

Of course, the primary purpose of the Worcester Normal school is filled when it educates teachers for the public schools. About half of the teachers in the Worcester city schools are trained in this school, and many of the graduates find employment in the county. There is a very harmonious arrange- ment between the school and the city school author- ities. The pupils in the Normal school are given

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the opportunity to serve in the schools of the city. under the direction of the Normal school teachers and the teachers in charge. It is an open question whether the city needs the school more than the school needs the city to maintain its present efficiency.

Mr. Russell was a pioneer in the child-study movement and must be reckoned among the fore- most investigators of the subject. He was one of the earliest to study the child after modern scien- tific methods, and his was the first Normal school systematically engaged in child-study, which has been taken up everywhere in America and Europe in the past twenty years. The school work under his direction began in 1884. For twenty years he has been investigating, reading, studying, writing papers and making addresses on this subject ot Child-Study. He has remained at his post at the Normal school, notwithstanding offers of more In1- crative positions in other cities. He could have been president of the Massachusetts Agricultural Col- lege at Amherst. He was offered the principalship of the State Normal school at Providence, Rhode Island, and of the Swain Free school, of New Bed- ford. He was offered an attractive place in the facul- ty of Washington University at St. Louis. He was on two different occasions offered a vacancy on the board of school supervisors in Boston. And when Clark University established its collegiate depart- ment he was offered the presidency, and unanimously elected before he had made his decision. This great compliment on the part of an institutiton lo- cated in the very city in which his life's work has been largely accomplished was a source of great satisfaction, and he very reluctantly decided finally to adhere to his determination to stay at the Normal school. He resigned the post of college pres- ident to continue his labors in the Normal school. This incident reveals one of the most noticeable characteristics of the man. He believes in drilling in one hole; in persisting in a good course once begun. It shows, too, how little financial consid- erations have influenced him in continuing to serve Worcester and the Commonwealth as the principal of the Normal school. Everyone of these posi- tions, it is learned, carried with them larger sal- aries than that of the principalship of this school, some of them very much larger. In thirty years Mr. Russell seems not to have lost a particle of the enthusiasm and abounding magnetism with which he influences his pupils. He seems to have car- ried into effect the notion of President Eliot, that with the proper training, care and development a man's intellectual and mental powers should im- prove year after year, regardless of age, unless health fails. There is a suggestion of youth and cheerfulness in Mr. Russell's words and manner very encouraging and stimulating to all who meet him.

He has written a number of papers, printed in the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, among them a sketch of a very intimate friend, the late Senator George F. Hoar. He has written ex- tensively on educational topics, and twice has read papers before the National Educational Associa- tion, in Chicago in 1893, and in St. Louis in 1904. He has several papers published in the proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, of which he is a member, and for a number of years member of the council. Few literary honors in America are more highly appreciated than honors in the Ameri- can Antiquarian Society. Mr. Russell has deliv- ered lectures at the Summer schools of Clarke Uni- versity, and for two years he was a lecturer in the Harvard University Summer school.

He has been a member of the St. Wulstan So- ciety, since its organization by the leading schol- ars and most gifted men of the city. He is at pres- ent its vice-president. He is a member of the Colonial Society, of Massachusetts; of the Friday Evening Club, of Boston; of the Worcester Art Museum corporation; of the State Teachers' Asso- ciation; of the New Hampshire Forestry Associa- tion; of the Appalachian Mountain Club; he was formerly a member of the famous old Worcester Fire Society. He is a trustee of Leicester Academy. He was formerly a member and president of the board of directors of the Free Public Library, of Worcester. He has been elected honorary member of the Phi Beta Kappa in Massachusetts, notwith- standing the fact that he holds no college degree.

He married, November 11, 1862, Harriet Thurs- ton Lee, daughter of George W. and Laura (San- ford) Lee, a native of Lancaster, Massachusetts, where they were married. She died October 22, 1900. Their children were : I. Lee, born at Le- roy, New York, January 8, 1865, graduate of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, member of the faculty of the State Normal school ; married Alice L. B. Woodworth, July 4, 1894, and had : Ralph, born January 14, 1900; Helen, born October 28, 1901 : Walter, born April 1, 1905. 2. Olive, born at Leroy, New York, March 23, 1867, kindergartner, graduate of the State Normal school. 3. Philip, born July 24, 1869; died September 16, 1895, at Worcester, 1111- married. 4. Ernest, born at Leroy, New York, Sep- tember 28, 1871, clerk in the Worcester County In- stitution of Savings; married July 9, 1897. Ella G. Price, daughter of William B. and Rebecca E. Price. Their children are: Robert Price, born July 16. 1898: Elizabeth, born May 9, 1903; Sidney Lee, born in Worcester, February I, 1905.

DR. WESLEY DAVIS was born in Waitsfield, Vermont (now called Northfield), September 5. 1841, the son of Horace Atkins and Harriet (Bradley) Davis. His grandfather was Jolin B. Davis. His ancestral line runs as follows :

(I) Thomas Davis, of Amesbury. married De- borah Martin, December 15, 1709. Their children were: I. Abigail, born October 6, 1710. 2. Thomas, born February 28, 1711-12. 3. Mary, born January 17, 1713-14. 4. Sarah, born January 20, 1715. 5. Amos, born November 28, 1718. 6. Meribah, born January 21, 1719. 7. Moses, born January 16, 1721 ; married Mary Whittier. 8. Timothy, born March I, 1723.

(II) Amos Davis, son of Thomas (1), born November 28. 1718, at Amesbury, Massachusetts. He was in Newton, New Hampshire, 1758; in Upson, New Hampshire, 1765; in Danville, New Hampshire, 1767; in Bradford, Vermont. between 1768 and 1784, and died at Warner, New Hampshire, 1803, leaving a widow. His son John, of Warner, New Hampshire, was his administrator. Amos Davis married (first) Alice Carrier and had: 1. Allis, born April 9. 1748. 2. Abigail, born March 22, 1750: married (second) Hannah Blank and had: I. Amos, born Octo- ber 26, 1752. 2. Benjamin, born October 24, 1754. 3. Hannah, born November 8, 1756. 4. John, born August 12, 1758.

(III) Benjamin Davis, son of Amos (2), born October 24. 1754. at Newton, New Hampshire. He was in Bradford, Vermont, from 1768 to 1793: served in the revolutionary war as private under Captain Frye Braley and Colonel Peter Olcott, one month and four days from September 23, 1777, receiving three pound sterling for service in two hundred and seventy miles travel, and must have been present at the surrender of Burgoyne. In 1781 he served for

PUBLIC LIER.RY

nn & Fyfe Clinton Mass

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a short period on scouts under Captain Joseph Huber and Major John Barton. In 1786 he was elected petit juror and in 1788 was a grand juror. In 1790 he was second constable and collector, and in 1792 lister. In 1793 he was petit juror, trustee of schools and lister. April 4, 1793, he sold his homestead in Bradford to his brother-in-law, Stephen Jenkins, and moved with his family to Duxbury, Vermont. In 1794 he was elected town representative, being the first one ever elected by the town of Duxbury. In 1795 and in 1805 he also served as town representative. He died October 13, 1830, in Duxbury, and his grave- stone inscription reads, "Captain Benjamin Davis," the title doubtless coming from his militia service. He married Betsey Jenkins and they had : I. Abigail, born May 28, 1774. 2. Amos, born December 17, 1775. 3. Betsey, born April 18, 1778. 4. Hannah, born April 14, 1783. 5. Pally, born May 18, 1735. 6. Elijah, born November 6; 1787. 7. John Barron, born Octo- her 2, 1790. 8. Lydia Styles, born August 29, 1792. 9. Andrew ( date not known). The mother, Betsey (Jenkins) Davis, died April 28, 1814, aged sixty years.

(IV) John Barron Davis, son of Benjamin Davis (3), born October 2, 1790; married (first) Nancy Atkins, daughter of (6), Jolin (5), John (4), Josiah (3), Josialı (2), William (I). Their children were : Azro; Charles: Chandler ; Mary ; Ellen ; Horace. The mother died March 6, 1834, and Mr. Davis mar- ried (second) Lucius Cobb, and had : Nancy ; Laura ; John.

(V) Horace Atkins Davis, son of John (4), born June 20, 1819. in Duxbury. Massachusetts ; married Harriet Newell Braley (6), Silas (5), John (4), Roger (3), Roger (2), Roger (I). Children were: I. Wesley, born at Northfield, Vermont, September 15, 1841. 2. George Washington, born at same place, March 26, 1847. 3. Lydia Ann, born at Duxbury, Vermont, June 11, 1849.

(VI) Dr. Wesley Davis, son of Horace Davis (5), born September 15, 1841, was educated in the acad- emy of his native town and at the University of Vermont. He graduated from the Pittsfield Medical school in 1866, and began the practice of his chosen profession at Westport, New York. In 1869 he came to Worcester, where he practiced his profes- sion. lle was for twenty-one years visiting phy- sician of the city hospital. He was the owner of the five story Adams apartment house-a family hotel at number I High street, Worcester, where he had his office.

November 1, 1866, he married Cynthia H. Adams, daughter of Daniel Adams, of Parton, Vermont, for whom Adams Ferry was named. Three sons were born to them: George A., September 16, 1868. Nellie Harriatt, June 14, 1872, died September 14, 1872. Edwin H., November 2, 1874. Daniel A. W., April 5, 1882.

FYFE FAMILY. The family to which William E. Fyfe, deceased, of Clinton, Massachusetts, be- longed, was from William Fyfe, the first American ancestor. who emigrated from Fifeshire, Scotland, and early in 1700 settled upon a tract of land in Bolton, Massachusetts. This William (I) had a son named William (II), who married and had among his children a son named William (III). The line runs thus :

(I) William Fyfe, the Scotch immigrant, came to Bolton about 1700.

(II) William Fyfe, son of William (I).

(III) William Fyfe, son of William (2).

(IV) William Fyfe, son of William (3), born August 10. 1837.

( Il) William Fyfe, grandfather of the late Will-

iam E. Fyfe, of Clinton, succeeded to the farm which had been cleared and improved by his father, and devoted the years of his life to agriculture. He was one of the best farmers of Bolton and took a leading part in public matters in his town. He died at the age of seventy-six years.

(Il]) William Fyfe, father of the late William E. Fyfe, of Clinton, was reared on the old home- stead farm. When a young man he engaged in teaming and transporting produce to the Boston market. He later returned to the old farm and married, but eventually settled on another farm in the same neighborhood, and there spent the re- mainder of his days. His wife's maiden name was Sally Carruth; she was born in Spencer, Massa- chusetts. He was her second husband. By her union with Mr. Fyfe, she had three children, of whom William E. was one. The father, William Fyfe, died at the age of sixty-four years. She died at the age of sixty-three. They attended the Unitarian and Baptist churches, - respectively.

(IV) William E. Fyfe, son of William and Sally (Carruth) Fyfe, was born in Bolton, Massachu- setts, August 10, 1837, on the old Fyfe homestead. He received his education at the common schools of his native place, but only remained in school until thirteen years of age, when his services were needed on his father's farm. He there found em- ployment as a mill operator and in a shoe shop. When seventeen years of age, he went to Cambridge, where for two years he drove a bread-cart and later a wagon for the Kennedy Cracker Co. for four years. He clerked for a short time in a grocery, and then opened a grocery store of his own, conducting the saine for two years and mnet with good success. He finally disposed of his business and purchased a bakery, which he conducted in connection with the grocery business. This he followed eight years, when he sold out and removed to Clinton, Massachusetts, where he engaged in the real estate business and erected a handsome residence, known as the "Fyfe- shire" on the Bolton Hills. After three years he sold this property and bought a sixty-two acre farm, and for five years devoted his time and energy to the raising of garden produce. He then sub-divided his place, reserving a large share for himself and sold many lots, upon which to-day may be seen many dwellings. His real estate business proved one of success and he was financially rewarded.

For two years he carried on the bakery business at Clinton, and was for twelve years interested in a large comb factory, being the director and pur- chasing agent. For eight years he was engaged as a partner with B. L. Nowell & Co., of Montreal, in the horn-glue stock and Canada ash business. Not many years since he formed a partnership with E. L. Plummer for the purpose of carrying on the butter business. This firm later was consolidated with that of C. M. Fay, and in April, 1895, moved to the new and spacious quarters in a business house erected for them by Mr. Fyfe. This firm was known as Fyfe, Fay and Plummer, who carried on an ex- tensive retail and wholesale grocery and produce business. Mr. Fyfe was also a director in the Clin- ton Wall Trunk Co. Politically Mr. Fyfe was a Republican. He served as road commissioner for five. years. Both he and his wife were members of the Baptist church.

In 1861 Mr. Fyfe married Josephine Carruth, born in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, June 25, 1839, daughter of C. Edward Carruth, a grocer of that city. By this marriage one daughter was born, Dora J., who married Edward L. Plummer, her father's business associate. They have three children-Helen L., Josephine Fyfe, and George Fyfe Plummer.

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Mr. Fyfe was an extensive traveler, both in this country and in Europe and Canada. The beautiful residence he erected was built in the most thorough manner and contains every modern improvement. In his estate was a thirty-two acre tract of land, being part of the old Fyfe homestead. This land has been greatly improved and it should be recorded as a part of the original tract granted by the king. It is now a beautiful park and has a small lake. He. in his lifetime, provided that it should go to a charitable institution, and be forever known as the "Fyfeshire." in honor of its ancestral history, com- ing as it did, direct from the king. In the midst of life, surrounded by all that tended to give him pleasure, in the enjoyment of the handsome fortune he had accumulated by industry, when all bid fair for many more years, both he and his estimable daughter were killed by a railway train, upon a crossing in Lancaster, June 23, 1899. The funeral was among the largest attended of any in the coun- try, showing in what esteem they were held.

CHARLES B. GATES. The Worcester family of descendants of the emigrant Stephen Gates has been traced elsewhere in this work in detail. The line of descent of Charles B. Gates, of Worcester, is as follows:

(I) Stephen Gates, descendant in England from Thomas Gates of Higheaster and Thurseubie, Essex county, 1327, through William, Peter, Geoffrey, Geof- frey, Sir Geoffrey, William, Sir Geoffrey. William and Thomas Gates. He was the son of Thomas Gates of Norwich, Norfolk county, England, and came to Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1638, removed to Lancaster, then to Cambridge, Massachusetts. He died at Cambridge in 1662. His children were : Eliza- beth, Mary, Stephen, Thomas, Simon, Isaac, and Rebecca.

(II) Simon Gates, son of Stephen Gates, was born 1645, died April 21, 1693, at Brockton, Massachu- setts. He married Margaret - and they resided at Cambridge, Lancaster and Brookline, Massachu- setts. Their children were: Abigail, Simon, Simon 2d. George, Amos, Jonathan, Samuel, Margaret.

(III) Simon Gates, son of Simon Gates (2), born January 5. 1675-6; died March IO, 1735; mar- ried May 29, 1710, Sarah Wood, and settled in Marl- boro. Their children were: Simon, Sarah, Susannah. Stephen, Solomon, Samuel, Silas. John.

(IV) Solomon Gates, son of Simon Gates (3), born May 14, 1721 ; died March 2. 1761, at Worcester. Massachusetts : married Mary Clark and lived at Worcester. Their children were: Sarah, Samuel, Mary, Paul, Silas and James.

(V) Samuel Gates, son of Solomon Gates (4), born at Worcester, Massachusetts, January 1, 1750-1, died December 19, 1831; married Lucy Chadwick. Ife was a soldier in the revolution. His children were: I. Joel, born March 7, 1782. 2. Polly, born October 12, 1783. 3. Joshua, born June 19. 1787. 4. Willard, born October 15, 1793. 5. Henry Brazer, born August 1. 1797. 6. Nahum. born June 10. 1801. All the foregoing were born at Worcester, Massachusetts.

(VI) Joel Gates, son of Samuel Gates (5), born at Worcester, Massachusetts, March 7, 1782; died in Worcester 1856: married Joanna Stearns, May 17. 1805, at Worcester. They settled on the old Gates farm at Bloomingdale, now in large part oc- cupied by the state hospital for the insane. The old house is owned by A. Frank Gates. Later in life he resided on Prospect street. He married (second) Wood. All his children were by the first wife.

The children were. according to Worcester records : I. Leonard, born January 3, 1805. 2. John,

born March 1, 1807. 3. Charles Emory, born April 13, 1806. 4. Harriet Porter, born April 17, 1810. 5. Lucy Chadwick, born June 22. 1813. 6. Samuel, born December 19, 1817. 7. Mary Walker, born October 27, 1818.

(VII) John Gates, son of Joel Gates (6), born in Worcester, March 1, 1806; died at Worcester December 12, 1877. He was raised on the old Gates homestead at Bloomingdale, and educated in the Worcester schools. He learned the carpenter's trade and worked at it in Worcester for a number of years. About 1831 he began business as an undertaker with an office and shop on School street, adding the lumber business in a small way in 1835, and continued to deal in lumber until his death. He sold the undertaking business to his partner, WV. G. Maynard, about 1845, and bought the place on Union street where the lumber yard of John Gates and of John Gates Sons has since been located. Be- fore starting for himself he had been in partner- ship for a time with Henry Golding in the manu- facture of woolen machinery. Golding subsequently sold his business to R. B. Wetherbee. Mr. Gates carried on an extensive lumber business with marked success. He was one of the substantial business men of the old school in Worcester.

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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 54

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