Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 66

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 66

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(VI) Daniel Baird Wesson, who made for him- self world-wide fame as an inventor of the revolver which bears his name, was a son of Rufus Wesson (6). He was born at Worcester, Massachusetts. May 18, 1825. At the age of seventeen, while yet at school, he began to devote his evenings to making firearms in Northborough, Massachusetts, under the direction of his brother Edwin, who died in 1850, and whose interests he took in charge, and it was this establishment which turned out the Wesson rifle, the leading favorite with hunters at that time. Subsequently, at Norwich, Connecticut, he formed a partnership with Horace Smith, under the name of Smith & Wesson, and they established a factory and made the "volcanic" rifle, a repeater. Mr. Wesson also invented a metallic cartridge. About 1855 the firm sold their patent rights to the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company, now the Winchester Rifle Company. Mr. Wesson remained for a time as superintendent, but in 1857 joined Horace Smith again, under the firm name of Smith & Wesson, and began to manufacture revolvers in Springfield, Mass- achusetts. They began in a small shop with about seventy-five men, making a few thousand arms a year, but the busineess grew very rapidly, espec- ially after the breaking out of the civil war, and became enormous. The Smith & Wesson works are in some respects the largest and most com- plete of the kind in the world. The build-

ings and equipment are especially substantial and complete, and an average force of five hundred men have been employed for many years. The Smith & Wesson revolvers are famous all over the world, and are the favorite weapon in some of the foreign armies, as they are in that of the United States. They received the highest award, against the competition of the whole world, at the Exposition in Paris, 1867; Moscow, 1872; Vienna, 1873; Philadelphia, 1876; Australia, 1880; and at many of the numerous exhibitions more recently. Mr. Smith retired from the firm in 1874. Mr. Wesson admitted to partnership, January 1, 1882, his son, Walter H., and later his son Joseph, and these two are now the active managers of the business.

Mr. Wesson has also been actively identified with with various other business interests, being a direc- tor in the First National Bank of Springfield, Mass- achusetts, and the Bigelow-Cheney Wire Company, and was an officer in the water companies of Lead- ville., Colorado, and Independence, Iowa. He has borne a prominent part in local affairs, and has gen- erously contributed of his means to various enter- prises of public worth. He is president of the Oak Grove Cemetery Association, and a charter member and vice president of the Hampden County Horti- cultural Society. His broad, public spirit is manifest in various splendid gifts. With James Kirkland and Joshua D. Sackett he purchased the magnificent estate out of which Edgewood Park was made and opened to the public, and he gave to the city of Springfield the beautiful Wesson Fountain, de- signed by Gilbert and Thompson. In politics he is a Republican, and has been an active and influential advocate of its principles and policies. Mr. Wesson married, May 26, 1847, Cynthia M. Hawes, of North- boro. Some years ago he built on the place where his wife was born. within sight of the little shop in which he learned to make arms, a residence costing. it is said, $300,000. The children of Daniel Baird and Cynthia M. (Hawes) Wesson were: I. Sarah Jeanette, married George J. Bull. 2. Walter Her- bert. 3. Frank Luther. 4. Joheph Hawes.

(VII) Rufus Wesson, Jr., son of Rufus Wes- son (6), was born May 17, 1815, at Worcester, Mas-

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sachusetts. He began work with his father on the farm, making plows. In 1844 he engaged in the mail- ufacture of shoes in South Shrewsbury, cutting out the stock and distributing it among farmer-shoe- makers for miles about, as was then the custom. He built up a large demand for his goods, and in 1848 established his factory on Front street, Wor- cester. Prosperity there attended him, but he de- cided to locate in the west, and in 1851 removed to Peoria, Illinois, where he engaged in shoe manufac- turing. Suffering financial reverses, in 1854 he, re- turned to Worcester and made a new beginning as a shoe manufacturer, opening a shop on Waldo street, nearly opposite the police station, where he carried on a successful business until 1870, when lie retired, just before the great change in shoe manu- facture, whereby the shoes were made in large fac- tories by machinery, operated by steam power. He married Miriam Harrington, July 23, 1840, daughter of Colonel Daniel and Zillah Harrington, of Shrews- bury, where they were married. She died in Chi- cago in 1851. There were two children by this mar- riage: I. James Edwin, (see forward). 2. Char- lotte Miriam, born April 18, 1845, at Shrewsbury, Massachusetts; married Charles T. Sherer, the dry goods dealer, and has a son, Joseph F. Sherer, and several daughters. Mr. Wesson married, in 1851, Mrs. Jennie (Burtnett) Kendrick, of Kenosha, Wis- consin, who died in 1856 without issue. He mar- ried (third) in 1858, Sophia Goddard, daughter of Deacon Nathaniel Goddard, of Millbury, who is now (1905) living in Worcester. Their children were: I. Afred, born July 18, 1863, married Ella Daniels, and has two sons; is manager for the Woodbury- Carlton Engraving Company, Walnut street, Wor- cester. 2. Walter Gale, (see forward).

( VIII) James Edwin Wesson, son of Rufus Wesson, Jr., (7), was born in Grafton, Massachu- setts, June 14, 1841. He was educated in the pub- lic schools of Springfield and Worcester, Massa- chusetts, but at the age of fourteen, at the time or his father's financial reverses, left school and went to work with him to build up their fortunes anew, and the two were thus associated until the son attained his majority, and learned the shoe manu- facturing business thoroughly, as it was then con- ducted. The father was conservative and disposed to let well-enough alone, but the son, recognizing the impending revolution in the shoe business, es- tablished in a small way a business on his own ac- count, in a small room in the same building owned by his father on Waldo street. It was his purpose, as soon as possible, to install the most modern ma- chinery and make shoes entirely at the factory. In a few years, however, all manufacturers were driven to choose between the large shop and an elaborate equipment of machinery, or retirement from busi- ness. The senior Wesson retired, and the son, James E. Wesson, fitted up a larger and more com- pletely equipped shop in the C. C. Houghton build- ing, 105 Front street, Worcester. He had made an auspicious beginning on Waldo street, and after five years at the Front street location he moved (in 1874) into a building at 31 Mulberry street, owned by Samuel Winslow, where he remained for six or seven years. Finding these quarters inadequate to the increased demands he leased of Charles Bigelow the building at 10 Mulberry street, where he con- tinued business for five years. Again the business had outgrown his facilities, and he again made a removal (in 1889), this time to the present factory, corner of Asylum strcet, then owned by Samuel Winslow, but which he subsequently purchased from the Winslow Trust. In 1905 Mr. Wesson received into partnership his brother, Walter Gale Wesson,

who had been associated with him in the business and had resided with him for many years. The factory is one of the few shoe factories of Worcester which have been uniformly successful, and has con- stantly extended its business. The building 18 40x166 feet, four stories with basement, and in re- cent years has employed two hundred operatives or more, with a daily capacity of fifteen hundred pairs of shoes. An interesting memento of the earlier days of the industry is to be seen at the factory, a shoe made in 1854 by Rufus Wesson, Jr.

Mr. Wesson married, January 1, 1865, at Clin- ton, Massachusetts, Anna Endora Stoneberger. (See forward.) They reside at 7 Linden street, in a house which was erected by Mr. Wesson's father. One of the pleasant reminiscences of the family life in the old mansion was the entertaining at dinner, on the fortieth wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. James Edwin Wesson, the same company that was enter- tained by his father and mother, on that New Year's eve forty years before, with the exception that, the father having died, his place was occupied by his youngest son, Walter Gale Wesson. Otherwise the personnel of the company was exactly the same. Mr. WVesson is a man of domestic tastes, and has but few interests outside his home, his only society con- nection being with Morning Star Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Worcester Club, and the Tatnuck County Club.

Mrs. James Edwin Wesson, daughter of Adam and Harriet Newell (Mason) Stonebarger, was born in Dayton, Ohio. The early representatives were called Steinberger and are of Austrian origin. The founder of the American branch came to this country in 1767, settling in Frankfort township, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania.

Peter Stonebarger (3), grandfather of Mrs. Wesson, went from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to Dayton, Ohio, and was among the early settlers of that place. He was architect and builder of the first bridge built across the Miami river at Dayton, be- fore the days of railway construction, cutting the timbers for it in the Alleghany mountains and float- ing them down the river to their destination. When the old bridge was torn down in 1904, it was seen that the timbers were all hewn out by hand; he also designed and built the first Roman Catholic Church in Dayton, and Leon Beaver, his grandson, was supervising architect of the present cathedral built on the old site, the original church having been torn down. Adam Stonebarger, son of Peter Stone- barger (3), after being associated with his father for a time, went into business for himself as a dealer in paints and oils in western Pennsylvania. He married Harriet Newell Mason, born in South- bridge, Massachusetts, the daughter of Lemuel and Lydia (Adams) Mason, whose ancestors ( Adams, Harthaway and Mason) came from early Puritan stock.

( VIII) Walter Gale Wesson, son of Rufus Wesson (7), was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, October 14, 1865. He attended the Worcester schools and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, from which he graduated in 1886. Directly after graduating he accepted a position in the school de- partment of Washington, District of Columbia, to organize and take charge of a manual training course in the high schools. The next year he held a posi- tion with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Com- pany at Baltimore, Maryland. After a year at Baltimore, he spent three years in Philadelphia, or- ganizing the manual training department in a pri- vate school for boys. At a later day he was siin- ilarly occupied for three years at Menomonie, Wis- consin, as principal of an industrial school estab-

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lished there by Senator Stout along the lines of a technical institute.

When manual training was introduced into thic public schools of Worcester, Mr. Wesson was chosen to organize the work. He has won high praise from those competent to judge, and from the families of the boys and girls who have taken the manual training courses in the past few years. The manual training idea with its natural develop- ment into the industrial school is by far the most useful and important thing recently adopted in the American system of public education, and the in- herited mechanical skill and fine technical training of Mr. Wesson admirably fitted him for the pio- neer work of organizing such schools. Mr. Wesson left the Worcester schools in 1904, and became as- sociated with his brother, J. Edwin Wesson in the manufacture of shoes, and in 1905 became a mein- ber of the firm.

KINNICUTT FAMILY. Roger Kennicutt (I) (in the first deed, 1680, spelled Kennecut) came from Devonshire, England, about the middle of the seven- teenth century, and settled in Malden, Massachu- setts. He married, 1661, Johanna Shepardson, born March 13, 1642, the third daughter of Daniel and Johanna Shepardson. Daniel Shepardson came to America from England in 1632, and settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts, where he died July 26, 1644. January 30, 1679, Roger Kennicutt sold his es- tate in Malden, consisting of a house, land in the limits of Charlestown, known as Molton Island, south and southwest, to Lieutenant J. Smith. He moved with his family to Swansea, Rhode Island, and bought, May 19, 1680, of John and James Brown, a tract of land bounded on one side by Kikemut Creek. He died about 1696. Roger and Johanna Kennicutt had three children: Johanna, born Jan- uary, 1664; Lydia, born January, 1667; John, born October, 1669.

(11) John Kennicutt, son of Roger and Johanna ( Shepardson) Kennicutt, born in Malden, October, 1669, moved with his father to Swansea, Rhode Island, 1680. He married Elizabeth Luther, daugh- ter of Hezekiah Luther, of Swansea. The exact date is not known. He died August 23, 1722.

(III) John Kennicutt, son of John and Eliza- beth (Luther) Kennicutt, born in Swansea, 1700, married Anna Eddy, 1725, who died December 8, 1735. Two years after her death, May 30, 1737, he married Hannah Gorham, daughter of Jabez Gor- ham, of Bristol, and great-great-granddaughter of John Howland, one of the "Mayflower" passengers. He died in March, 1782. He was town clerk of Warren, Rhode Island, and a noted Tory at the out- break of the revolution. He was a "firm Episco- palian." "His usual practice was to catechise his children every Sunday morning and then prepare for church. They attended St. Michael's, Bristol, dis- tant six miles. His daughters rode on horseback and the sons walked on foot." Records. "Histori- cal Discourse, St. Mark's Church, Warren, Rhode Island, November 10, 1878." Providence Press Company, printers, 1879 .*

(IV) Shubael Kinnicutt, son of John and Han- nah (Gorham) Kennicutt, born Swansea, March 28, 1732, married Elizabeth, daughter of Simon Burr, of Rehoboth, July 3, 1766. He died in Swansea, August 13, 1810.

(V) Thomas Kinnicutt, son of Shubael and Elizabetlı (Burr) Kinnicutt, born Swansea, August 13, 1768, married Amey, daughter of Deacon Samuel Wightman, of Rehoboth, June 14, 1794. He died in Seekonk, August 28, 1820.

(VI) Francis

Harrison

Kinnicutt,

son

Thomas and Amey (Wightman) Kinnicutt, was born in Seekonk, Rhode Island, April 27, 1812. He came to Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1828, and in 1830 became a clerk in the hardware store of George T. Rice, Main and Walnut streets. He was soon ad- mitted as a partner, and after a few years; with his brother, Thomas Kinnicutt, he purchased the inter- est held by Mr. Rice, who, took up cloth manu- facturing. Samuel Woodward took the place of Thomas Kinnicutt, who was a lawyer by profession, and in later years assumed the active management, giving Mr. Kinnicutt time to attend to other im- portant duties. The above named were all honorable members of the Worcester Fire Society. Francis H. Kinnicutt from his coming to Worcester took up and bore well his part in the functions connected with the social life of the then small town, and his name appears in connection with many of the early- day balls and other assemblies held each winter, especially in court time. The man of affairs of to- day is often so absorbed in the details of his busi- ness that he does not show the world the better side of his nature. In the last years of Mr. Kinni- cutt's life, relieved from care, his geniality of dis- position became known to a wider circle. He main- tained his interest in the prosperity of the city to the last. His great sympathy for young men to whom he took a liking was frequently manifested in a practical manner.

He was made director of the Citizens' Bank in 1842, and was its president from 1860 until his death, September 12, 1885. He was also a director of the Worcester & Nashua Railroad from 1855, and its president from 1866 to 1881, when he sur- rendered his trust. For nearly a quarter of a cen- tury he was a member of the board of investment of the Worcester County Institution for Savings, and in each and every position of trust evinced fidelity and good management. He held few if any public offices, but took an interest and supported every means calculated to make better his city, county and commonwealth. He married Elizabeth, the second daughter of Hon. Leonard Moody Parker, of Shir- ley. Mrs. Kinnicutt was the granddaughter of the first Levi Lincoln and great-granddaughter of the first Daniel Waldo.

(VII) Rebecca Newton Kinnicutt, daughter of Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinni- cutt, born September 17, 1838, married Dr. George E. Francis, of Worcester, June 23, 1868. She had two children, Elizabeth and George Kinnicutt.

(VII) Elizabeth Waldo Kinnicutt, daughter of Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinni- cutt, born August 18. 1840, married Dr. William H. Draper, of New York, October 15, 1861; died De- cember 19, 1869. She had three children: William, Martha, and Robert Watts.

(VII) Julia Burling Kinnicutt, daughter of Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo (Parker) Kinni- cut, born July 1, 1843, married John M. Barker, of Worcester, no issue.

(VII) Frank Parker Kinnicutt, son of Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo. (Parker) Kinnicutt, born July 13, 1846, married Eleanor Kissel, of New York, November 19, 1875. He engaged in medical prac- tice. They had two children: Frank Harrison, and Gustave Herman Kissel.

(VII) Lincoln Newton Kinnicutt, son of Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo ( Parker) Kenni- cutt, born March 14, 1849, was educated in the pub- lic schools and completed his education abroad. At the age of seventeen he entered the hardware house of his father, and upon attaining his majority was admitted as a partner. In 1877 he retired from this business and entered the office of George T. Rice. a

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banker, and in 1884 formed a partnership with Alex- ander Dewitt, and the firm of Kennicutt & Dewitt, bankers, was founded which is today the largest private banking house in Worcester. Mr. Kinni- cntt has been actively connected with many of the institutions of Worcester, serving in the capacity of treasurer of the Worcester Art Museum since its organization; trustee and treasurer of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute; trustee of the Worcester County Institution of Savings, and as a director of the Citizens' National Bank, Worcester National Bank, Worcester Consolidated Street Railway, Wor- cester Trust Company, and the Boston Tow Boat Company. He is also an active factor in the follow- ing charitable institutions of Worcester, namely : The Children's Friend Society, the Worcester Employment Society, and the Old Men's Home. He is a Republican in politics, but has never taken any active part in public affairs. He married, October 10, 1878, Edith Perley, daughter of Judge Perley, of Concord, New Hampshire. They have one son, Roger, born at Worcester, February 12, 1880. He is a graduate of Harvard, and is now attending the Harvard Medical School.

(VII) Leonard Parker Kinnicutt, D. Sc., son of Francis H. and Elizabeth Waldo ( Parker) Kinni- cutt, was born in Worcester, May 22, 1854. He mar- ried Louisa Hoar Clarke, daughter of Dr. Henry Clarke, June 4, 1885, who died January 22, 1892. He married (second) Frances Ayres Clarke, daugh- ter of Josiah H. Clarke, July 9, 1898; no issue. He is professor of chemistry in the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

The Parker and Kinnicutt families, together with the families into which they have married and inter- married, have been of much importance and as- sociated with many of the historic events during the period covered by the last two centuries.

(I) James Parker was living in Woburn, Massa- chusetts, in 1640. He married Elizabeth Long, daughter of Robert Long, of Charlestown, May 23, 1643, by whom he had one son. She died, and in his old age he married Mrs. Eunice Carter, widow of Samuel Carter, who was the son of the Rev. Thomas Carter, by whom a daughter was born thirty years after any of her father's other children. There are no records of his children except his son James, to be further written of in this narrative.

He came to Groton about the date of its or- ganization, and was the first and largest proprietor. The town was divided into "acre rights," each one of which entitled its owner to nearly fifty acres. Mr. Parker had fifty of these "rights," and his landed estates were increased until he became the largest land owner, if not the richest man within the terri- tory during its early history. He was an in- fluential man, a deacon in the church; a sergeant, and so on up to captain, in the military service; a selectman at the town organization in 1662, hold- ing the position more than thirty years; and was also town clerk, and usually moderator of the meetings and chairman on all important committees, appointed to locate roads, lay off lands, and es- tablish bounds. In later life he was appointed to represent the town in the general court. His home was far out from the present village, near Martin's Pond, somewhat removed from the highway, in a shaded. secluded spot, with at present no house to mark the spot where dwelt the chief original proprietor. His son,

(11) James Parker, Jr., was born in Woburn, .April 15, 1652. He married Mary Parker, Decem- ber 11, 1678, lived at Groton, and had five children. He was killed by the Indians, July 27, 1694, and his family carried into captivity. His second son was,

(III) Phineas Parker, born 1684, at Groton, where he died August 13, 1744. He was twice mar- ried, first to Abigail , who died February 4.

1721; and second to Elizabeth -. Of the eight children of Phineas Parker, his second son was (IV) Leonard Parker, born at Groton, June 3, 1718; married Abigail -, and had ten chil- dren, the third of whom was

(V) James Parker, born at Groton, November 26, 1744. He came to Shirley soon after he reached his majority, and settled upon the farm for many years in the possession of the Parker family. He married Sarah Dickenson and had ten children. For one year he was a selectman, and later held a justice's commission, but never exercised the function of his office. He lived in the trying days of the revolution, but took no active part except to en- roll with the eighty volunteers called out by the alarm of April 19, 1775. His life was mainly spent in the discharge of his personal business, his lands were kept under good cultivation, and he thus be- came wealthy. In 1802 he resigned his farm to his eldest son, and removed to the centre village, where he died September 29, 1830. His wife Sarah preceded him to the grave, her death occurring November 22, 1829. He had ten children: Sarah, James, Lovey, Henrietta, Rhoda, Abigail, Daniel, David, Lydia and Leonard Moody.

(VI) Leonard Moody Parker, son of James and Sarah (Dickenson) Parker, was born in Shirley, January 9, 1789. At the age of fourteen he was sent to Groton Academy then under the preceptor- ship of Caleb Butler, Esq., and in 1804 entered Dart- mouth College from which he was graduated in 1808 with high honors. He studied law two years in the office of the Hon. Abijah Bigelow, of Leominst: r. and one year in the office of Hon. Levi Lincoln, of Worcester, and in ISII commenced the practice of law in Charlestown, Massachusetts. In 1812, upon the declaration of war against Great Britain, Mr. Parker was appointed army judge advocate attached to military district No. I, and held that office until the reduction of the army, after peace was declared. During his life he was an ardent and consistent politician of the Democratic school, and repeatedly held seats in both branches of the state legislature. He held the office of commissioner, and was a mem- ber of the national convention of 1820. But politics did not absorb the active life of Mr. Parker. He was a life member of the Boston Society of Natural History, an honorary member of the Northern Acad- emy of Arts and Sciences, of Hanover, New Hamp- shire, and a corresponding member of the North Eastern Historical and Genealogical Society. In 1830 he received from President Johnson the appointment of naval officer for the Port of Boston and Charles- town in which he continued for four years, when he retired to his native place, the pleasant and quiet town of Shirley, where he passed the residue of his days. He married, March 22, 1814, Martha, daughter of Governor Levi Lincoln (senior), by whom he had three children: Martha, Elizabeth and Sarah. Mrs. Parker died at Charlestown. April 26, 1822. Mr. Parker died in Shirley, August 25, 1854. In his will he bequeathed the sum of four thou- sand dollars to constitute a fund for the endowment and support of a high school for the benefit of all the youth of the town, and his books were given to the town for the beginning of a library.

(VII) Elizabeth Waldo Parker. daughter of Leonard Moody Parker (6), was born in Charles- town, May 9, 1817, married Francis H. Kinnicutt, of Worcester, October 26, 1837, and is the mother of six children: Rebecca Newton, Elizabeth Waldo, Julia B., Frank Parker, Lincoln N., Leonard Parker.

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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 66

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