Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 63

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 63


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).


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In 1901 he was elected attorney general for the state of Massachusetts and re-elected until 1905, when he declined a renomination for the pur- pose of conducting his private practice. During his term as attorney general it devolved upon him to try many important cases, in all of which he dis- played remarkable foresight, care and wisdom, and especially was he congratulated for the manner in which he conducted the trial of the murderer of Mable Page and its successful issue, in obtaining the conviction of the guilty party. In 1905 Tufts Col- lege conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. Mr. Parker is a gentleman of many gifts, learned, thoughtful, witty, has a good command of language and knows how to use it effectively. He is a member of the Union Club, the St. Botolph, and the Tatcum Club of Boston, also of the Boston Press Club and of the Worcester Club of Worcester. He resides in Lancaster, Massachusetts.


He married in 1886, Mary C. Vose, a daughter of Josialı H. and Caroline C. (Forbes) Vose, of Clinton, Massachusetts. Their children are: George A., born in 1887; Katherine Vose, 1888; Edith, September. 1894: Haven, April, 1899; Mary C., June. 1903; Harriet Felton. April. 1905.


Chester Parker, son of George Alanson Parker, born in Chester, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1862, was educated in the schools in Lancaster, Massachusetts, a private school in Worcester and at Exeter Acad- emy, New Hampshire, remaining two years at the latter place. He then entered into the real estate business in Boston, and has continued in that with great success as a real estate broker with offices in Devonshire Building and 15 Exchange street, Boston. He resides at Lancaster, Massachusetts. upon the old Parker homestead. He is a member of


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the board of real estate arbitration in Boston, also a member of the Real Estate Exchange in that city. He is a Republican in politics but, like his brothers, not a seeker for public office. He is a gentleman whose opinions are greatly respected, and whose judgment on values of real estate are in frequent demand.


He married, October, 1899, Ethel Whitney Law- ton, daughter of Robert G. Lawton, of Havana, Cuba. Their children are: Chester, born Septem- ber, 1900; Felton, 1902, died the same year; Lydia B. F., November, 1904.


In tracing out the emigrant ancestor of this fam- ily we have not been confined to the narrow limits of the "three brothers," but found on investigation that choice must be made from at least three dozen Parkers, who were launched upon our New Eng- land shores prior to the year 1630. To the uniniti- attd it might appear that where there are so many to select from, the choice might be the more easily made, but experience teaches otherwise. We have after careful research taken as the progenitor of this New England family :


(1) Joseph Parker, who located in the town of Newbury, Massachusetts, as early as 1642, when in May of that year his son Joseph was born. Three years later he was of Andover, where he helped to form the first church there. His children were: Joseph, Stephen, John and Samuel. Joseph, the father, died 1678.


(11) Joseph Parker, born at Newbury, May 15, 1642, resided in Andover subsequently to 1645, and had a son Joseph.


(III) Joseph Parker, born about 1660, married Elizabeth Bridges, lived in Andover, Massachusetts, and had sons Joseph and Peter.


(IV) Joseph Parker, born February 27, 1682, married, February 6, 1712, Abigail Mitchell, and made their home in Andover, Massachusetts. Had son Joseph and perhaps others.


(V) Joseph Parker, born November 12, 1712, in Andover, married Elizabeth Martin, April 26. 1757. He was one of the very early settlers of Pem- broke, New Hampshire. As early as 1737 a vote was passed that the ferryboat at Suncook be kept against Joseph Parker's house lot, which was No. 14. He also bought lot No. 20 of Eleazer Allen about 1760, which he sold to James Knox, May 8, 1776. He signed the "Association Test" in summer of 1776. "We the subscribers do hereby sol- emnly engage and promise that we will to the ut- most of our power at the risk of our lives and for- tunes with arms oppose the hostile proceedings of the British fleets and armies against the United American Colonies." Their children. were: John, born August 15, 1760; Molly, born September 7, 1766; Dorcas, born February 12, 1769; and perhaps others.


(V1) John Parker, born August 15, 1760, mar- ' ried Martha Lovejoy, May 21, 1781. He purchased a tract of wild land in North Pembroke and there built a log house and lived with his father until he could build a better one. He was a member of the first militia company of the town, and with others signed a petition December 30, 1777, to have this company annexed to Colonel Stickney's regiment. July 1, 1780, he enlisted to serve for three months. He died May 27, 1825, having merited the military title of colonel. Children were: Joseph, born No- vember 3, 1781; Caleb, February 28, 1784; Abigail, June 29, 1787; John Ladd, 1789; Ezra, September 12, 1791; Obidiah, 1793; James, 1794; Mehitable Love- joy, April 17, 1800 ; Charlotte, April 30, 1803 ; Martha, 1805.


(VII) Joseph Parker, born November 3, 1781,


married Esther Chapman. He went to Concord, New Hampshire, about the year 1821, and for sev- eral years was employed on the Granite Ledge, and later was the first overseer of the alms house and town farm. He was a much respected and useful citizen. He left Concord in 1834. Children were : Lucretia, born May 4, 1807; Martha, November 30, 1808; Caleb, September 8, 1810; Lyman, January 2. 1812: Horace, April 5, 1814; Joseph, April 30, 1817; Horace. August 15, 1819; George Alanson, May 8, 1821 : Mary Esther, July 10, 1823; Lucy Ann, March 0, 1826: Lucretia, August 19. 1829.


(VIII) George Alanson Parker, born in Con- cord, New Hampshire, May 8, 1821.


HENRY WILLIAM EDDY. Rev. William Eddy (1), of Crainbrook, Kent county, England, was the father of the two emigrants of the name who settled in New England in 1630. He was the pro- genitor of Henry William Eddy. of Worcester. The sons were: John, born about 1595; Samuel, was in Plymouth in 1632, and probably came with his brother in 1630: he was admitted a freeman at Plymouth in 1633; reported able. to bear arms 1643; his wife was Elizabeth, and they had a large family and resided in the Plymouth colony.


(II) John Eddy, son of Rev. William Eddy (1), was born in Crainbrook, Kent county, England, in 1595, according to his oath made December 15, 1673, when at the age of seventy-seven he asked to be excused from training ! John Eddy came to Plym- outh in New England in the ship "Handmaid," arriving October 29. 1630. He removed to Water- town. Governor Bradford wrote of him: "A Godly man, now and then a little distempered." He was admitted a freeman in Watertown, Septem- ber 3, 1634. He served the town in various town offices. He married (first) Amy . -, and (sec- ond) Joanna - -, who died August 25, 1683, at the age of eighty years. The children of John and Amy Eddy were: Pilgrim, born August 25, 1634; John, born February 16, 1636-7; Benjamin, buried in 1639; Samuel, born September 30, 1640; Abigail, born October II, 1643.


John Eddy died October 12, 1684, at the age of ninety years. His will dated January II, 1677, and probated December 16, 1684, hequeathed to sons Samuel and John: sons-in-law John Miriam ( Mer- riam) and Thomas Orton: and daughters Mary Or- ton, Sarah Miriam, Pilgrim Steadman and Ruth Gardner; wife to have according to their marriage contract.


(III) Samuel Eddy, son of John Eddy (2), was born in Watertown. Massachusetts, September 30, 1640. He was a farmer, settled at Watertown. He married Sarah Mead, November 31 (sic 31:9:), 1664. She was the daughter of Gabriel Mead, of Dor- chester, Massachusetts. He was admitted a free- man there May 2, 1638. Her mother, Joanna, was admitted to the church there about 1638. Gabriel Mead died May 12, 1666, aged about seventy-seven and his will was proved July 17, 1667. His four daughters, Lydia, Experience, Sarah and Patience, were all minors at the time. The children of Samuel and Sarah (Mead) Eddy were all born in Water- town, viz .: Samuel, born June 4, 1668: Benjamin, born September 16, 1673.


(IV) Samuel Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (3), was born in Watertown. Massachusetts, June 4, 1668. He married, December 13. 1693, Elizabeth Woodward, of an old Watertown family. He died August 6. 1746. She died August 7. 1753. The children of Samuel and Elizabeth ( Woodward) Eddy were: John, born at Watertown, May 6, 1696, settled in Oxford, Massachusetts; Elizabeth, born in


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Watertown, May 28, 1697, died young; Sarah, born in Watertown, May 9, 1700, settled in Oxford, mar- ried. June 1, 1730, Peter Hurd; Samuel, born in Watertown, August IS, 1701; Elizabeth, born in Watertown, July 29, 1703 ; Ebenezer, born in Water- town, January 9, 1705, settled in Oxford ; Benjamin, born in Watertown, November 30, 1707, married, 1733, Elizabeth Truesdell; he was a tailor : settled in Winchendon or Royalston where he died aged ninety years.


(V) Samuel Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (4). was born in Watertown, Massachusetts, August 18, 1701. He settled in Oxford, Massachusetts. He married, January 30, 1727, Elizabeth Bellows, of Marlboro, Massachusetts. His farm was in that part of Oxford later set off as Ward, now Auburn. He died there August 4, 1762. The inventory of bis estate was five hundred and seventy-eight pounds. The deed of his farm was dated May 20, 1724, when Abraham Skinner of Colchester, Connecticut, sold him sixty acres on Prospect Hill. He was select- man and held other offices. The children of Samuel and Elizabeth ( Bellows) Eddy were : Elizabetlı, born November 24, 1728, at Oxford; Samuel, born 1731, died 1736; Ruth, born in Oxford, October 23, 1733, married (intentions dated July 10), 1762, Jobn Hart, of Leicester : Jonathan, born in Oxford, De- cember 23. 1735, soldier in the French war: died at Fort Edward unmarried ; Samuel, born July 31, 1738; Abigail, born in Oxford, December 5. 1740, married, January 2, 1759, Joshua Merriam, of Ox- ford North Gore; Levi, born in Oxford, April 27, 1745, married (intentions dated June 28) 1766, Sarah Stone ( Smith?) of Charlton. The Eddy genealogy gives also John, died in French and Indian war.


(VI) Samuel Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (5). was born in Oxford, July 31. 1738. He married, March 13, 1760, Susannah Merriam, of Oxford North Gore, and settled on the Eddy homestead. He was a man of prominence. He served in the French war, 1757. At the close of the war in 1763 be was lieutenant of the second company, Joseph Phillips, captain. In 1776 with William Campbell and Amos Shumway he was on the Oxford com- mittee of safety and correspondence. He was cap- tain of the militia and served in the revolution. He was selectman in 1771 and 1773. He served the town as constable and in other capacities. He died July 4. 1798. His wife died January 17, 1803, aged sixty-six years. The children of Samuel and Susanna ( Merriam) Eddy were: Isabella, born March 27. 1761: Samuel, born July 11. 1764; John, born May 31, 1768; Rufus, born April 6, 1772; Susanna : Ruth. All of the foregoing are mentioned in their father's will, dated June 5, 1793, excepting Isabella.


(V11) Samuel Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (6), was born in Oxford, Massachusetts. July 11, 1764. He married Sarah Hart and settled in Oxford. 11c died May 11, 1813; she died October 17. 1838, aged seventy years. He was deputy sheriff for many years and well known all over the county. The children of Samuel and Sarah ( Hart) Eddy were : James ; Samuel, born July 19, 1796, settled on the homestead; Lewis, born February 16, 1801 ; Leonard : Lydia, married Daniel P., son of Reuben Eddy ; Sarah, married (first) Thomas Baird; married ( sec- ond) Swan Knowlton; Susan: Mary, married W. T. Warren, resided at Holden, Massachusetts.


(V111) Lewis Eddy, son of Samuel Eddy (7), was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, February 16, 1801. Hle married, May 14, 1823, Almira Smith, daughter of Samuel Smith, of Oxford, Massachusetts. Ile settled on a farm in Auburn and also owned a farm in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Ile was a carpenter


and builder, also a leading citizen of Oxford. Hc and his brother Samuel were both captains of the militia company and both represented the town in the general court, Samuel of Oxford, Lewis of Auburn. Lewis Eddy was assessor and selectman in Auburn, and a prominent member of the Con- gregational church. He sold both farms some years before his death and moved to Worcester, where he died June 14, 1875. His wife died June 5, 1867, also in Worcester. The children of Lewis and Al- mira (Smith) Eddy were: I. Eliza N., born April 16, 1824, married, December 22, 1847, Levi Eddy. settled in Worcester; he died December 5, 1870; she died 1888. 2. Henry William, born October 17, 1826, married January 3, 1850, Julia Foster, of Fitchburg; married (second) Nancy M. Merrill. 3. Amelia L., born April 1, 1829, married, April 10, 1849, William H. Richards; married (second ), June 2.4, 1869, David B. Galloupe, of Salem ; no children. 4. Emily S., born November 2.4, 1831, married, De- cember II, 1856, Charles A. Bowker; she died Janu- ary 15, 1852. 5. Lewis M., born June 9, 1834, mar- ried, April, 1871, V. Adelaide Libby, of Rockland, Maine; resided in Boston. 6. Mary F., born Feb- ruary 10, 1836, married, December 29, 1859, John N. Peters, of Westboro; resided in Worcester. 7. Sam- uel S., born April 27, 1838, married, January 1, 1857, Susan W. Carry; married. (second), October 1.4, ISSO, Franc O. Webster, of Rochester, New York ; second lieutenant Fifty-first Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia in the civil war and very efficient ; raised in Worcester, Company F. Forty-second Reg- iment. of which he was made captain; removed in 1867 to Rochester, New York, where he became colonel of the Fifty-fourth Regiment, New York National Guard ; manufacturer and trader. 8. Lucian A., born March 5, 1842, married, June, 1863, Caro- line A. Haskell, of North Brookfield, Massachusetts ; resides in Syracuse, New York. 9. Albert M., born March 22, 1843, married, December, 1869, Caro- line MI. Hervey, resides in St. Louis, Missouri. 10. Alfred Theodore, born February 28, 18.45, married. July 12, 1864, Elizabeth S. Cummings, of Nashua, New Hampshire; she died April 1, 1878; he was in the civil war, the Forty-second and Fifty-first Massachusetts Regiments. II. Herbert, born 1849, died 1850.


(IX) Henry William Eddy, son of Lewis Eddy (8), was born in Auburn, Massachusetts, October 17, 1826. He attended the district schools of his native town and Leicester Academy. After leaving school he learned the trade of carpenter of his father, who was a contractor in Auburn. When he was twenty-one years old he came to Worcester and worked at his trade for Captain Lamb. After a year he went into business for himself in Worcester, and his first shop was on Southbridge street. He began in a small way, but in 1849, when he started as a builder, Worcester was growing into cityhood and he soon became one of the leading builders of the place. When be started Worcester had a population of only 8,500. It has now 130,000. He was in business until he was seventy years old, a period of ncarly fifty years, while his active life was much longer. But in those fifty years Mr. Eddy took a large share in the development of Worcester, in building the shops, business blocks, homes and public buildings that comprise the tangi- ble city of today, that will comprise a substantial part of Worcester for hundreds of years in part, for the monument of a builder's work lasts longer than the work of most craftsmen.


Among the buildings that Mr. Eddy constructed in the course of his business career are the follow- ing : The People's Savings Bank building on Main


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street, a fine type of modern office building; the Fawcett building adjoining the People's Bank build- ing ; the Five Cents Savings Bank building, another fine office building ; the Dean and Salisbury build- ings at Lincoln square; the Vaill building; Loring & Blake's building, the National Wire Goods build- ing and other shops on Union street. He built the Whitcomb Envelope factory on Salisbury street; the Logan, Swift & Brigham Envelope factory and the Ames Plow Company works on Prescott; the Chase building and others for Ransom C. Taylor on Front street, the Foster building on Foster street; the stone freight house of the Boston & Maine Railroad, formerly the Worcester & Nashua Railroad, near Lincoln square; the Grout building, Main street; Dr. Henry Clarke's building, Waldo street ; the Sargent building; the Sumner Paratt building, Front street. He re-built the Central Ex- change building, now next to the best and largest office building in the city. He has constructed more than two hundred dwelling houses in Worcester, some of them among the finest in this section. He built the home of Charles F. Washburn on Elm street ; Mrs. William Dickinson on Cedar street ; Major L. J. White on Harvard street; the Bowker house on Cedar place; the residence of the late Lucius J. Knowles and that of William 11. Burns.


His place of business was first on Southbridge street. Then he removed to the Paine-Aldrich shop on High street, and later to 6 Norwich street, where he was located for some forty years. In 1865 he be- gan the manufacture of small parts of boot and shoe machinery in Lynn. The name of the firm was Tripp, Eddy & Co. Later the firm removed to Boston and bought the business of A. L. Perkins & Co., a firm in the same line, and continued in busi- ness until 1900, when the firm sold to the trust, the United Shoe Manufacturing Company. Since re- tiring from business Mr. Eddy has lived at his handsome home, 7 Ashland street, Worcester.


He married, 1848, Julia Ann Foster, of Fitch- burg. He married (second), 1884, Mrs. Nancy M. Merrill, a widow, daughter of Lord. The children of Henry WV. and Julia Ann (Foster ) Eddy were: I. Frank Foster, born in Worcester; he is a manufacturing dentist with places of business at 172 Tremont street, Boston, and at the Franklin building, New York city; married and has one daughter. 2. Charles H., born in Worcester, gen- eral manager and treasurer of the Chickering Piano Company of Boston.


FRANK AUGUSTUS ATHERTON has been identified with the business life of Worcester since the close of the civil war. His boyhood was spent in his native town of Harvard, in Worcester county. In 1864, when he was only fifteen years of age, he enlisted in Company E, of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, one of the famous Worcester county regi- ments, and served for three months. At the close of his term of service the war was approaching an end, and he returned to his home in Harvard, where for a year and a half he worked in a sawmill, and acquired a knowledge of wood manufacturing that was essential to his success in his subsequent busi- ness. In 1865 he purchased his father's business, which he still conducts. He has a large mill, one hundred and sixty-three feet in length, at 183-5-7 Park avenue, in Worcester, equipped with modern machinery for the manufacture of refrigerators, store fixtures and other cabinet making. For forty years he has taken an active interest in city affairs. He is a Republican, and in 1889, 1890-91-92 repre- sented his ward in the common council. He was a member of the committees on sewers and high-


ways. He is and has been for twelve years ( 1905) an overseer of the poor of the city. He is a mem- ber of the Masonic order in Massachusetts, having taken all the degrees, including the thirty-second ; is also a member of Morning Star Lodge. His home is at 5 Hall street, Worcester, Massachusetts.


Mr. Atherton's ancestry is extremely interesting. It runs back in the Atherton line to James Atherton, probably a brother of Governor and Major General Humphrey Atherton. The Athertons came to Lan- caster, Massachusetts, in 1653, and some of the Atherton family still reside ou the original farm. Harvard, Massachusetts, where Frank A. Atherton and several generations before him were born, was part of the same settlement.


(I) James Atherton was born in England, probably in Lancaster, where for a thousand years the Athertons have been an important family, hav- ing a manor and of course bearing arms. He was born in 1626; he died in Sherborn, Massachusetts, at the home of his daughter, Deborah, wife of Captain Samuel Bullard, August 6, 1710. His wife died also at Sherborn, December 29, 1713. Children were : I. Hannah and 2. James, (twins), born March 13, 1654. 3. Joshua, born March, 1656. 4. Hannah, born November 10, 1657. 5. Mary, born November 17, 1660. 6. Elizabeth, born June 10, 1665; died September 6, 1666. 7. Deborah, born June I, 1669. 8. Joseph, (see forward).


(II) Joseph Atherton, son of James (I) and Hannah Atherton, born May 28, 1672, at Lancaster, Massachusetts; married Hannah Rogers, at Lan- caster, January 9, 1720. Children, born at Harvard, Massachusetts, were: I. Oliver, born August 1, 1721. 2. Mary, born May 8, 1722-3. 3. Joseph, (see forward). 4. Elizabeth, born May 5, 1727. 5. Elizabeth, born September 7, 1729. 6. Hannalı, born May 16, 1731. 7. Patience, born August 15, I735.


(III) Joseph Atherton, son of Joseph (2) and Hannah ( Rogers) Atherton, his wife, was baptised October 26, 1729; born about 1725; married Sarah Hutchins in 1752. Children, born at Harvard, were: I. David, born July 31, 1753, died young. 2. Saralı, born May 25, 1755. 3. David, born September 17, 1757. 4. Jonathan, born November II, 1759. 5. Abigail, born November 2, 1762. 6. Joseph, born May 12, 1768.


(IV) David Atherton, son of Joseph (3) and Saralı Atherton, born September 17, 1757, married Esther Atherton. He lived in the house built by Joshua (2) Atherton. It stood under a great elm and was one of the familiar land marks for nearly two hundred years. It was destroyed in 1852. It had a great central chimney, part of stone, part of brick, laid in clay mortar. Joshua Atherton died there. His son, Peter, who was a prominent man in the town of Harvard, representing the town in the general court and serving as its first town clerk, occupied the house. David Atherton was its fourth owner. In 1805, while gathering nuts, he fell from a tree, and as a result of his injuries his legs and the lower part of his body were paralyzed. He lived for twenty-five years, working at the shoemaker's trade which he learned after his misfortune. His children were: 1. Silence, born May 29, 1785. 2. Louisa, born May II, 1787. 3. Ebon, born March I, 1789. 4. Charles, born February 22, 1792. 5. Martin, born July 2, 1793. 6. Emily, born July 31, 1795. 7. George, born January 21, 1798. 8. Mary, born March 2, 180I.


(V) Ebon Atherton, son of David (4) and Esther Atherton, born March I, 1789, at Harvard and lived there. He had a son Alfred, born at Harvard.


(VI) Alfred Atherton, son of Ebon Atherton


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(5), was born at Harvard and learned the carpen- ter's trade. He established the business in Wor- cester now carried on by his son, Frank A. Ather- ton. He married Abbie M. ( Adams) Stacy, born in Harvard about 1822. She was a daughter of Jona- than and Alice ( Whitney) Adams, a descendant of Henry Adams, of Braintree, Massachusetts, who was the progenitor of John Adams, John Quincy Adams and many other famous men. Her father died at the age of forty-seven. She is the youngest and only survivor of a family of ten children and was obliged, at the age of thirteen, to earn. her own living. She went to work in a cotton mill at Lowell, where she was employed till her marriage, in her twentieth year, to George W. Stacy, who died before the birth of her first child. This daughter, Georgianna, is now the wife of Francis Merrifield, of Worcester. The children of Alfred Atherton and his wife, Abbie, were: I. Frank Augustus (see forward). 2. Edward Herbert, born at Harvard, February II, 1856; grad- uated at Harvard College 1879; teacher of foreign languages in Boston Latin School. 3. Walter E. Atherton, born May 16, 1860; a resident of Worces- ter; married Ethel Muzzy and had: Leroy, born August, 1880; Dora, born September 27, 1885; Carl, born June, 1886. The widow of Alfred Atherton is still living (1905) in Worcester. He died there in 1892.


(VII) Frank Augustus, son of Afred Ather- ton (6), born February 15, 1849; married November 5, 1873, Inez L. Adams, daughter of John Quincy and Harriet L. (Bottom) Adams, born at Wood- stock, Connecticut, a descendant of President Adams. Their children are: I. Ralph, (see forward). 2. Bessie F., (see forward). 3. Philip Hyde, born May 27, 1888. 4. Ruth Eveline, born March 5, 1890. 5. Laura Inez, born June 11, 1892.


(VIII) Ralph Edward Atherton, son of Frank A. Atherton (7), born August 18, 1878, was edu- cated in the Worcester schools. He graduated from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and is now a district inspector for the American Bell Telephone Company, at Chicago, Illinois.




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