Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 57

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 57

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October 3. 1867. William H. Inman married Mary E. Cheney, a granddaughter of Charles Davis, who was for many years connected with the Washburn & Moen firm of Worcester. Two children were born of this marriage: Albert Henry and Edith Lorainc.

Albert H. Inman, son of William H. Inman, married, January I. 1891, Effie B. Moore, a daugh- ter of Charles F. Moore, of Worcester, and to them have been born two children, Chester M., and Mar- jorie. Mr. Inman is a member of the Masonic fraternity, affiliated with Quinsigamond Lodge and Worcester Royal Arch Chapter.

THE GODDARD FAMILY has had for several generations some very distinguished representatives in Worcester and Worcester county. It is one of the finest old families of English lineage. The emigrant ancestor was William Goddard. Some of his de- scendants, especially those who are ancestors of the Worcester families, are here given.

(1) William Goddard was born ahont 1630 in London, England. He was a grocer. In 1650 he married Elizabeth Miles. They had six children be- fore coming to America, three of whom died when infants, and they had six more in Watertown, Massa- chusetts, where they settled in 1666. He came over the year before and prepared a home for his family. Of the American born children, three died in in- fancy and three sons survived as happened with the six born in England. The second son born in Water- town was Benjamin.

(II) Benjamin Goddard, son of William Goddard (1), was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1668. 'He married Martha ' Palfrey, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, about 1700, and died in Cambridge, October 2.1. 1730. Their children were: Nathaniel. born in Charlestown about 1702. died in Weston, 1780; Beniamin. born in Charlestown. 1705, died in Grafton, Massachusetts. 1759: John, born in Charles- town. 1709. died in Cambridge. May 12, 1751 ; Thomas, born in Charlestown, died in Cambridge. 1768; Martha, born in Charlestown, died in Cam- bridge. 1770.

(III) Benjamin Goddard, son of Benjamin God-

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dard (2), born 1705, married Mary Kidder, of Graf- ton, in that town about 1730. Their children were: Nathaniel, born in Grafton, Massachusetts, about 1732; Josiah, about 1735; Benjamin, November 15. 1737, died in Grafton, March II, 1806; James, April 24. 1740, died in Athol, February 22, 1809; Samuel, December 27. 1742, died in Royalston, Massachusetts, August 16, 1806: Elizabeth, died in Petersham, Massachusetts, 1820; Hannah, settled in Worcester, New York ; Mary, married Thomas Gregg. of Sutton. (IV) Samuel Goddard, son of Benjamin (3) and Mary Goddard, was born December 27, 1742, married Elizabeth King, of Sutton, in that town (Rev. D. Ball), and second Catherine Parker Parks, nee Gerry, a widow, of Petershamn, June 28, 1790. He had twenty-three children, including four sons that his second wife had by her first marriage. Some of his children were: Henry, born in Sutton, February 25, 1770, died in Royalston, February, 1848; Samuel, born in Sutton, July 6, 1772, died in Nor- wich, Vermont, November 14, 1844; Elizabeth, born in Sutton, February 2, 1774, died in Montpelier, Vermont, October 4. 1834; Salmon, born January 26, 1776, died young; Ashahel, born in Sutton, Sep- tember 25, 1777, died in Belfast, Maine, November II, 1806; Salmon, born in Royalston, Massachusetts, January 6, 1783; James, born in Royalston, July 5, 1784, died in Royalston, February 9, 1841 ; a son, born in Royalston, March 15, 1786, died the same day and was buried with his mother; Benjamin, born in Royalston, May 5, 1791, died in Worcester, September I, 1867: Catherine, born in Royalston, March 5, 1793, died March 6, 1793: Tamar, born in Royalston, February 5, 1795, died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, May, 1888; Nathaniel, born in Royalston, February 7. 1797, died in Millbury, Massachusetts, after 1890; a son, born in Royalston, April 8, 1799, died 1799: Catherine, born in Royalston, November 4, 1800, died 1800; Danford, born in Royalston, No- vember 8. 1801, died 1804: Danford, born in Royals- ton, March 7. 1804, died in Valparaiso, South Amer- ica, February 2, 1859. Two infants by the first wife died unnamed.

(V) Benjamin Goddard, son of Samuel (4) and Catherine Goddard, was born May 5, 1791, married Sarah (Stockwell) Sibley, widow of Dorrance Sib- ley, of Sutton, at Millbury, February 7, 1822. He died in Worcester, September 1, 1867. Their chil- dren were: Henry, born in Worcester. October 4, 1823, died in Worcester, January 12, 1904: Harriet, born in Worcester, October 11, 1825, died in Dowagiac, Michigan, December 3, 1869; Catherine Parker, born in Worcester, November 2, 1827, died in Worcester, August 18, 1843; Dorrance Sibley, born in Worcester, October JI, 1829; Delano Alexander, born in Worcester, August 27, 1831, was editor of the Worcester Spy and the Boston Advertiser, died in Boston, January II, 1882.

(VI) Henry Goddard, eldest son of Benjamin (5) and Sarah (Stockwell) Goddard, was born in Worcester, October 4, 1823. During his entire busi- ness life he was intimately identified with the progress of the manufacture of wire. With the exception of a single attempt in Walpole, all the carliest efforts at wire drawing in this country were made in Wor- cester and two or three neighboring towns. Prior to 1831 the hardware dealers of Worcester county imported all their wire from England and Germany, and it is stated on good authority that shortly be- fore that the entire output of wire in England did not exceed one four horse load weekly. In 1843 or 1844 he entered the mill of the Washburn & Moen Company where his father was manager. later was employed as a wire drawer, and continued in that

company's service uninterruptedly for more than ' fifty years. Upon the death of his father he became manager of the South Worcester mill. Shortly after this building was destroyed by fire, and he was transferred to the larger mill of the company on Grove street, returning the following year to take charge of the new mill at the old location. In 1869 this mill was closed and Mr. Goddard went again to the Grove street works, where he remained as foreman of the wire drawing and nail department until poor health and the arrival of his seventy-fifth birthday induced him to give up active work. He finally severed his connection with the company in December, 1898. After that date he was not actively engaged in any business.

His withdrawal from this service was marked with many tokens of the esteem and affection of those who for so many years had been associated with him or served inder himn. The directors of the corporation testified upon their records to his faithful and intelligent leadership, his unvarying de- votion to the company's interest and the great respect inspired in all who knew him by his uprightness of character and kindly disposition. No other person had been so long and so prominently identified with the business which, during his connection with it, had grown from what was almost a mere handicraft to a leading place among the great industries.

Mr. Goddard married, April 7, 1849, Eugenia D. C. Ball, a native of Holden but living with her par- ents in Worcester at the time of their marriage. Of this union two children survive him, Julius God- dard and Mrs. Willietta Goddard Ball, both of whom now reside in Massachusetts.

His naturally retiring disposition and his fidelity to the interests of his employers hindered to some extent his active participation in the burdens of pub- lic office. He was always deeply interested, how- ever, in public matters, jealous of the reputation of his city, keenly alive to its best interests, and for a long time influential in its affairs. He served as a member of the common council in 1860-62-73-74, and as alderman in 1865-68-69.

There was perhaps no place in Massachusetts where the Morgan or anti-Masonic excitement was greater, or attracted a larger percentage of the lead- ing business, and professional men, than Worcester county, where it actively interferred with the affairs of both church and state. Mr. Goddard's father, being naturally a man of positive conviction and great earnestness, and sustaining an important rela- tion to one of the leading industries having adopted a position hostile to the Fraternity, was prominent and outspoken in his opposition, and after a bitter contest, was elected to the general court upon the anti-Masonic issue. It is, however, worthy of note that his son Henry never sympathized with his father's attitude, and was among the earliest to ally himself with the Fraternity in the Masonic revival, which followed this great excitement. This act seemed to completely upset his father's antagonism to the Order. From the moment that he knew of his son's connection with it he never uttered another word against Freemasonry. Others who had been hostile to the Fraternity were heard to say that if all its members were like Henry Goddard there was much to be said for it and nothing against it.

He received the first three degrees in Morning Star Lodge, in 1847: the orders of Knighthood in Worcester County Commandery in 1855 and was its eminent commander in 1866-67-68. On September 7. 1871, the Commandery elected him to honorary membership. In 1863 he received the Scottish Rite in Boston Consistory, was subsequently a deputy

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master of Worcester Lodge of Perfection, and was the first senior warden of Lawrence Chapter of Rose Croix, which was instituted June 17, 1870.

When the Masonic bodies in Worcester first oc- cupied their present halls in 1866, Mr. Goddard was one of those most actively interested in securing them, and was a generous contributor in preparing them to suitably accommodate the Fraternity. He was made a member of the board of directors of Masonic Apartments at its organization, and up to the time of his death was active in the management of that body and its successor, the present trustees of the Masonic Fraternity.

Few men in Worcester had a larger personal acquaintance and none more highly respected. Modest and unassuming, he never sought prefer- ment, but when it came he faitlifully performed the duties it imposed. In his relations with his fellow- men, he exemplified the principles of charity and brotherly love, and by his many amiable qualities made himself beloved by men of every station. His deep sympathy with any one who was in trouble was continually manifested by his kindly acts. To such he gave freely and gladly, never grudgingly. He was thoroughly devoted to his business, pro- verbially honest, and his great simplicity and purity of character were recognized and prized by all who knew him. Departing, he has left the record of an upright and honorable citizen, a kind and genial man, a true and sympathizing friend. Mr. Goddard died at his home in Worcester, January 12, 1904.

(VI) Dorrance Sibley Goddard, son of Benja- min (5) and Sarah S. Goddard, was born October II, 1829, married Mary Howe Williams, of Hubbards- ton, in that town, March 25, 1855. Their children were: Gertrude, born in Worcester March 20, 1856, married Henry Brannon, see sketch elsewhere in this work. Alice, born in Worcester, August 28, 1857, married John Sackville West, of Tiverton, Rhode Island, June 19, 1890, no children. Emma, born in Holyoke, November 25, 1859, see sketch of C. S. Hall. Dwight, born in Worcester, December 27, 27, 1861. Harry Williams, born in Holyoke, Septem- ber 14, 1863. Winthrop, born in Worcester, July 16, 1866, died April 10, 1868. Mary, born in Wor- cester, October 3, 1869, married Archibald N. God- dard, in Worcester, August 1, 1900. Their children, born in Worcester, are: Eloise Olive, born Janu- ary 28, 1902; Miriam, April 19, 1903; Emmons, Au- gust 10, 1904.

Dorrance Sibley Goddard was educated in the Worcester public schools and at Worcester Acad- emy. After completing his studies he went back to the home and for three years lived the strenuous life of a New England farmer. Then he decided that he preferred manufacturing and he apprenticed him- self in the Washburn & Moen wire mills at South Worcester where he learned the trade of wire drawer. He learned the business of wire making thoroughly and rose step by step to the superintendence of the mill, a position that he filled for many years. Dor- rance S. Goddard followed in his father's footsteps in entering the wire business. It is fair to count Benjamin Goddard as one of the founders of the great wire business now owned by the American Steel and Wire Company operated in Worcester. The Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company" started in 1831 in Northville in a small wooden building: The owners were Benjamin Goddard and Ichabod Washburn. The building was occupied in part by C. Read & Co., manufacturers of wooden screws, and it was in connection with the making of screws that the first wire making machinery was developed. Wire was drawn by hand when Washburn & Goddard began operations, most of the

wire being imported from England. The business grew rapidly, but in 1835 Mr. Goddard withdrew and Mr. Washburn established the first wire mill on the Grove street location. It was natural then for his son Dorrance to enter the business that had developed during his youth by consolidation and growthi to the point where it became the largest wire manufactory in the world. Mr. Goddard has the distinction probably of having seen more of the - progress and development of this the greatest of Worcester industries than any other living man, possibly more than any other one man. He has the satisfaction too of seeing his son. Harry W. Goddard, president of a great wire making institu- tion, The Spencer Wire Company, making the third generation of the family prominent in the manu- facturer of wire and wire goods. After the firm of Washburn & Goddard was dissolved, Benjamin Goddard at first manufactured wool machinery in the Northville mill where the wire works were started. After he gave up this business, however, the mill passed into the hands of Mr. Washburn. lis former partner, and Mr. Goddard again en- tered the business of wire making there under con- tract for Mr. Washburn. In 1840 Benjamin God- dard took charge of the wire mill established by Mr. Washburn at South Worcester on the site later occu- pied 'by the Worcester Wire Company and its suc- cessor, The American Steel and Wire Company. Ben- jamin continued in charge of this mill until his son succeeded him. He died in 1867. His son, Henry Goddard, worked here and became the head of an important department for The Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Co. Delano A. Goddard, another son, making three of them in all, worked under his father in the South Worcester mill. Delano was a man of culture and great intellectual powers. He went on the editorial staff of The Spy and later to Boston, where he made a brilliant record as editor of The Advertiser. The South Worcester mill was a one-story structure about thirty by fifty feet. Coarse wire was drawn there and then taken to the Grove street mill to be finished. The old mill at Northville was burned February 13, 1845, and the mill at South Worcester was also burned July 7, 1867, but rebuilt immediately. In February, 1868, the various companies were consolidated under the name of Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Co. with a capital of one million dollars. In the ca- pacity of superintendent of the Quinsigamond works of this great company Dorrance S. Goddard spent his life until he retired some years ago.

. For a time Mr. Goddard was in the wire busi- ness at Holyoke, Massachusetts. In 1862 he formed a partnership with William E. Rice, of Worcester, and started a mill at Holyoke. This firm continued in the business of wire making until 1866, when a favorable proposition to sell to the Washburn & Moen Company was accepted and both Mr. Rice and Mr. Goddard became identified with the Quin- sigamond works of the Washburn & Moen Manu- facturing Company, Mr. Rice being president and Mr. Goddard superintendent of the wire depart- ment. The mill and real estate at Holyoke were sold to the Whiting Paper Company.

Mr. Goddard loves travel and has taken ad- vantage of his opportunities to see much of his own country. Soon after the discovery of gold in California he made his first trip across the con- tinent. That was in 1851 when the journey was slow, difficult and dangerous. He has been an in- terested observer of the development of the rail- "road system that now makes travel to California an attraction for the pleasure seeker and. a brief vacation outing for the business man of the east.

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He has kept a journal of his travel that should be of public interest as well as record for his friends and family. He has crossed the continent twelve times, and returned nine times by land and thrice by water. He has made three trips to Alaska. the first in 1885, when the country was isolated from the rest of the world and difficult of access. He crossed the Isthmus of Panama three times while the French companies were trying to dig the canal. Now that the American government is pushing the work in a workmanlike way he is following the progress made with great interest and plans a visit to Panama shortly. Mr. Goddard's interest in this great undertaking is not only that of a business man with a love for the solution of mechanical and engineering problems, but of a very earnest Ameri- can citizen who believes that the completion of this canal will add immensely to the future pros- perity and wealth of the American people. Mr. Goddard is an active man in spite of his years and is fully able to enjoy travel. He loves books and thoroughly enjoys his home life at his beautiful residence at South Worcester.

In his religious views he is liberal. He belongs to no secret societies. He relates that his father was much opposed to all secret orders and when one of the sons became a Mason he was greatly shocked. Somewhat to the surprise of his son, how- ever, the subject was never mentioned between them. Mr. Goddard has been a Republican since the party was organized. He has been a member of the school board, of the board of aldermen for four years and representative to the general court one year.

When the First Co-operative Bank was organ- ized in Worcester Mr. Goddard was a charter mem- ber and its first president and served seven years, when he resigned.

(VII) Dwight Goddard, eldest son of D. S. Goddard (6), was born December 27, 1861. He graduated from the Worcester Polytechnic Insti- tute, class of 1881, as mechanical engineer, and from that year up to 1884 was superintendent of the Massachusetts Screw Company, at Holyoke. From 1884 to 1887 he was assistant mechanic of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company, and from 1888 to 1891 was treasurer of the Goddard Machine Company, at Holyoke. He then entered the Hartford Theological Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1894. For five years, from 1895 to 1900, he served as missionary of the American Board at Foochow, China, and during the years 1900 and 1901 served as minister at Lancaster, Massachusetts, and associate pastor of the Taber- nacle Church, Chicago, Illinois. In the latter named year he returned to his former vocation, mechanical engineer, becoming connected with the firm of Wyman & Gordon, manufacturers of drop forgings. and at the present time (1905) is the manager of their Cleveland office. Mr. Goddard is a member of the Worcester Central Conference of Congrega- tional Ministers, and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is the author of a series of biographies of Engineers and Inventors.

Mr. Goddard married, October 22, 1889, Harriet M. Webber, of Holyoke, Massachusetts, who died May 17, 1890. Mr. Goddard married (second), November 27, 1895, Frances E. Nieberg, M. D., of St. Marys, Ohio. Their children are : Dorrance, born October 4, 1897; Theodore N., May 18, 1902. Mr. Goddard is at present a resident of Cleveland, Ohio.

(VII) Harry Williams Goddard, son of Dor- rance S. Goddard (6), was born September 1.4. 1863, at 'JIolyoke, Massachusetts; where his father

was in business for a few years. His father re- turned to Worcester when he was an infant and both father and son have subsequently lived there or at Spencer. Harry attended the public schools of Worcester and entered the high school. After two years in the high school he left to work in the wire mills of the Washburn & Moen Manufactur- ing Company at Quinsigamond, Worcester. He be- gan as a scale boy, weighing the wire. After two . years in the wire mill, he spent a year at Wil- braham Academy. The wire business had its at- tractions for him, as his father and grandfather were prominent figures in the wire industry and it was natural that he should inherit a liking for the busi- ness and an aptitude for it. At seventeen he left the academy and started in the Spencer Wire Com- pany at Spencer, Massachusetts, literally at the foot of the ladder. He did all kinds of work, and became familiar with each department as a matter of course. Without design or expectation of ad- vancement he gained a thorough insight and under- standing of the business, so that almost as a mat- ter of course he was made superintendent of the mills when he was twenty-one years old. Mr. Sug- den, who was at that time the president of the corporation, had been his own superintendent. The Spencer Wire Company was an old and somewhat conservative concern. It had grown from a small beginning in 1828 to considerable importance. In 1884, when Mr. Goddard was made superintendent, about seventy-five hands were employed and an extensive property at Spencer had been acquired. Mr. Goddard was secretary of the company as well as superintendent of the mills for several years.

When the president of the Spencer Wire Com- pany, Mr. Sugden, died in 1895, Mr. Goddard took his place. At that time he bought of the heirs of Mr. Sugden the latter's interests in the cor- poration which gave him the control of the capital stock. Mr. Goddard has remained the chief owner of the company since then. For many years the business had not been extended much, the proprie- tors being satisfied with quiet progress. Not until 1900 was any great change made. The facilities of the company were, then increased by the addition of a new and model plant in Worcester. Four acres of land at the corner of Webster and Jacques streets were acquired and substantial brick build- ings erected there. The general offices were moved to the new plant and the business has been rap- idly developed in the past five years. The com- pany has now five and a quarter acres of floor space devoted to manufacturing and has over four hun- dred acres of land for yard, storage and other pur- poses of the business. There are forty separate buildings in the plant at Spencer. The company makes all kinds of uncovered steel iron and cop- per wire, besides hundreds of specialties, and em- ploys at present about four hundred hands.

Mr. Goddard has become interested in other corporations to some extent. He is the treasurer of the Hobbs Manufacturing Company, which makes paper box machinery at its factory near Lincoln Square, Worcester. He was for ten years presi- dent of the Springfield Drop Forging Company. He is president of the New England Anchor Fence Company, the Worcester Color Company and the Central Grocery Company, a co-operative .grocery organized in 1905.

The energy and executive ability that have made him so successful in his business brought him into prominence in the board of trade, and in 1903 when President Blodget became mayor of Worces- ter, Mr. Goddard was elected president of the Wor-

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cester Board of Trade. He was re-elected the fol- lowing year. Ilis administration is conceded to be one of the best in the history of the board. The activity of the organization was increased and its usefulness greatly extended. With the co-operation of an exceptionally able secretary Mr. Goddard has maintained the record of the past and maintained gratifying progress in the organization. When Sec- retary of War Taft came to Worcester in 1905 to speak at the annual banquet of the board of trade, Mr. Goddard had the pleasant duty of entertaining Judge Taft at his beautiful home on Salisbury street.

Alr. Goddard is a director of the Mechanics' National Bank of Worcester, and a trustee of the People's Savings Bank. He is a member of the Maine Coast Club, the Quinsigamond Boat Club, the Commonwealth Club and of the Tatnuck Coun- try Club. He is an earnest Republican and has been at 'times active in the party management. He and his family attend Piedmont Church. Mr. God- dard easily ranks among the leading captains of ill- dustry in a city where hundreds of men have achieved success in manufacturing. Hc belongs to a group of young men who are building their fortunes under the new and complicated conditions of modern business, young men who have been fitted by education, inherited gifts and early train- ing to carry their burdens easily and keep the in- dustries of Worcester in the front ranks.

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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 57

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