Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. II, Part 2

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 732

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. II > Part 2

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).

The children of Jonathan and Elizabeth Phillips were: John, born May 5, 1781, married Roxa Ban- croft, and settled at Gardner; Betsey, born October 5. 1785, died November 15. 1810; Ezra, born July 14. 1788: Rezina, born April 10, 1791, died unmar- ried July 31, 1842; Sophia, born September 9, 1795; Jonathan S., Jr., born July 16, 1798, see forward.

(]]) Jonathan S. Phillips, Jr., son of Jonathan S. Phillips, was born in Westminster, Massachu- setts, July 16, 1798, and died at Leominster, Massachu- setts, April, 1848. He lived at Templeton and West- minster. His farm at Templeton was at the corner of the road from Winchendon to Templeton and the county road from Royalston. He was married twice and had one son by his first wife, whose name was Sherwin and lived in North Leominster. He mar- ried (second) Catherine Baldwin and they had eight children. Milton S., born May 3, 1822, at Templeton, see forward; Catherine E., married James W. Willard, of Leavenworth, Kansas: Jane G., born November 16, 1834. married Fraser Legate and had one child, Nellie; Elmira, married Charles Harris: William S., George, Charles, James.

(III) Milton S. Phillips, son of Jonathan S., Jr. and Catherine ( Baldwin) Phillips, was born at Templeton, May 3. 1822, died at Leominster. Massachusetts, December 24. 1893. He married ( first). March 15, 1849, Catherine Rebecca Holt, born in West Boylston, April 12, 1829, died August 29. 1854. daughter of Jonathan Holt. Their chil- dren were: Elizabeth D., born December 20, 1849, died January 26, 1871: George M., March 6. 1851, died December 4, 1853: William Clarence, June I, 1853. sce forward. Milton S. Phillips married ( sec- ond) Mary A. Rugg, of Leominster, born September 11, 1837, married, September 7, 1856, and died April 20. 1905: of this marriage there were ten children : Alice D., horn October 18, 1857: George Elmer, March 27. 1859: Ilorace MI., July 8. 1860, died June 2, 1864: Carrie A., August 6, 1862, married John

" In a green old age He seemed like an oak, worn but steady. Amidst the elements. whilst the younger trees Fell fast around him."

TUN

· TC

Harace It. Phillips.

WORCESTER COUNTY

F. White, September 27, 1898, and resides on Blos- som street, Leominster, Massachusetts; Katie M., March 16, 1864. died November 9, 1865; Katie L., June 25, 1866; Nellie A., November 18, 1869, mar- ried Herbert E. Baldwin, of Leominster, Massa- chusetts, August 20, 1891; Lizzie MI., April 24, 1872, married Chipman O. Leadbetter, of Leominster, Massachuestts, September 3. 1896; Alfred L., Feb- ruary 8, 1878, died June 15, 1879.

{ IV ) William Clarence Phillips, son of Milton S. Phillips, was born June 1, 1853, at Leominster, Massachusetts. He was educated there in the public schools, and then learned the business of comb making. He was a manufacturer on his own ac- count for a time. He has worked in a carriage shop, conducted a milk route and held various other positions. He has lived in Webster, Gardner and Worcester. At present he is the proprietor of the old Williams' Book Store on Park street, Worce- ster. Massachusetts. the original second-hand book store of the city. Mr. Phillips is a very active and prominent member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and he has been through the various chairs of the Leominster Lodge. He married. No- vember 26, 1873. at Leominster, Ella Frances Roper, born May 28, 1854, died July 19, 1903. She was the daughter of Percis (Stanley) and Martin Roper of Sterling. (See Sketch of Marcellus Roper for her ancestry). The children were: I. Horace W., see forward. 2. Warren Milton, born April 1, 1878, married, October 1, 1902, Flora Walcott, born Jan- tiary 29, 1882, daughter of Lillis B. (Paine) and William Bradford Wolcott, and have two children : L. Beatrice Yvonne, born July 7, 1903 : Ella Frances, born June 13. 1905. He is employed by the New England Telephone Company, of Clinton, Massa- chusetts. Clifton Albert, born February 21, 18So, married. October 31, 1902, Martha Isabell, born in Townsend, Massachusetts, January 16, 1873, daugh- ter of Serena (Adams) and Alexander Franklin Gilchrest. He resided at Clinton, but removed to Grand Forks, North Dakota, where he owns a grocery store. 4. Bertha Eliza, born April 18. 1884, unmarried, and resides at home with her father. 5. Adell Minetta, born March 2, 1888, graduate of class 1905 from Leominster high school, and is now a student in the Wheaton Seminary. Norton, Massa- chusetts. 6. Ernest Roland, born August 19, 1891, died October 15. 1892. 7. Manola Rebecca, born February 17, 1895. student in the public schools.

(5) Horace Wendell Phillips, son of William Clarence and Ella Frances (Roper) Phillips, was born at Leominster, Massachusetts. November 4. 1874. He attended the public schools at Leominster and went for two years and a half to the Leomin- ster high school. While in school he assisted his father with his milk business. He worked for a year and a half in the Reed Toy Factory, and used his savings in a course of study in Bryant & Strat- ton's Business College of Boston. His first posi- tion was with the North Packing & Provision Con- pany as bookkeeper. After three years he became cashier of the concern, which 'position he held for nearly seven years, making about ten years in their employ. He came to Worcester in December, 1902, to take the position of bookkeeper for Marcellus Roper, piano dealer. After a time he became a salesman. When Mr. Roper moved from 148 Main street, where he had been located since starting in business, Mr. Phillips took a lease of the old loca- tion and started in business for himself, represent- ing a number of the standard makes of pianos. He opened his. store March 15, 1906, and has developed a promising business already. He is an active, earnest and upright business man, and is the young-

est piano dealer in the city. Mr. Phillips is a mem- ber of Wilder Lodge of Free Masons of Leominster, of Eureka Royal Arch Chapter of Worcester and of the Worcester County Commandery, Knights Teniplar. He also belongs to the Allston Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen, No. 151. He is a Republican in politics.

He married, July 7, 1897, Elizabeth Rachel Cameron, daughter of Samuel and Jane ( Pushee) Cameron. His wife was born February 7, 1873, in Nova Scotia.

WILLIAM ARTHUR LYTLE. Andrew Lytle, the first progenitor of this surname in this country of the Hon. William Arthur Lytle, of Worcester, was a Scotch-Irish settler in Salem, Washington county. New York. He came from Ballybay, county Monaghan, Ireland.

Salem, New York, consists largely of the tract of 25,000 acres granted August 7, 1764, to James Turner and others. One half of the land covered by the grant, however, became the property of Oliver De Lancey and Peter Du Bois, two govern- ment officials, whose services presumably aided in getting the grant. De Lancey and Du Bois sold their share of the town in 1765 to Rev. Thomas Clark and his Scotch-Irish congregation who had emigrated the year before. Mr. Clark, a native of Scotland, was a follower of Ebenezer Erskine, and in 1748 had been called to be their minister by a portion of Mr. Jackson's congregation in Ire- land, and had seceded from the main body. They were called "New Lights" on account of their dif- ferences with the Presbyterian body. At Ballybay Mr. Clark is said to have labored with great suc- cess, but amid many trials and persecutions. He refused to take an oath by kissing the Bible, be- lieving it to be unscriptural; and although he entered the army while a student and fought against the Pretender, yet he would not take the oath of abjuration, because it recognized the King as the head of the church. Taking advantage of these things his enemies had him arrested in 1754. From the jail at Monaghan, where he was confined, he preached to as many people as could convene. When lie was tried he was acquitted. In 1763 Mr. Clark received two invitations to come to America as pastor. He got leave of absence for a year, but when he was ready to sail from Newry the greater part of his congregation, some three hundred per- sons, were ready to accompany him. They settled temporarily in Stillwater. Thence a portion of his flock went to Abbeville district in South Carolina, but a majority of them, including Andrew Lytle and his family, settled with Mr. Clark at Salem. His pastoral relation had never been disturbed; his church had simply been transplanted ; and he con- tinued at Salem as the pastor of eight ruling elders and one hundred and fifty communicants and their children who had come with them from Ballybay.

Although Andrew Lytle was among the Scotch- Irish his name probably came to him through an English ancestor. Little is an English name, and Lytal and Lytle were originally of the same stock probably. Edward Little was in the Scotch parlia- ment in 1526 and William Little in 1593, both of Edinburgh. The name is more common in Eng- land and in Ireland, where it was transplanted a generation or two probably before Andrew Lytle came to America. In 1890 there were fifty- nine babies born in Ireland named Little, of of whom forty-two were in the Northern counties. The descendants of Lytle seem to be from Andrew Lytle chiefly and they scattered through Ohio and the west. General W. H. Lytle, who was promi-

WORCESTER COUNTY

nent in the civil war, was of Scotch-Irish origin. Andrew Lytle died and is buried at Salem. A stone marks his grave there. The children of An- drew Lytle were: James, Andrew, William, Han- nah, Margaret, Mary. All of the foregoing children married and had children. From the three sons most of the family of this name are descended.

(11) William Lytle, son of Andrew Lytle (1). was born probably in Ireland, about 1760. He mar- ried Mary Hanna, whose sister Jane Hanna, mar- ried Rev. Dr. Proudfoot, of Argyle. They settled in Hebron, a town adjoining Salem, near the creek, and William Lytle built the saw mill and later a house. Salem and Hebron were both a wilderness when the Lytles first settled there. William Lytle died in 1808. He was a soldier in the revolution. Isaac and Robert Lytle were also soldiers in the same regiment, Colonel John Williams. Children of William and Mary (or Margaret ) ( Hanna) Lytle were: David Hanna, born 1785, died March 20, 1864; Nancy, Martha. Mary, Hannah, Jane, Margaret (twin), Elizabeth ( twin). William James. born 1793. lived on the homestead in Hebron, New York, with two sisters: sold the homestead and removed to Saratoga, where he and one sister died ; he was unmarried and aged forty-five years when he died. (III) David Hanna Lytle, son of William Lytle (2), was born in Hebron. New York. 1785. He married, November 17, 1814, Hannah Taylor, daugh- ter of Major Joseph Taylor. She was born in Hebron, New York, August 13, 1796, died May, 1826, aged thirty years. At the time of their mar- riage she was living in Hartford, New York, and they were married at her father's house there. They lived in Hebron. New York. Later in life he re- moved to Illinois, where he died about 1855. Chil- dren of David Hanna and Hannah ( Taylor) Lytle were: Emily, married Miles, removed to Peoria, Illinois, about 1850, and died about 1880; had children who settled in Nebraska; David T., married Mary Smith, of Hartford, New York, set- tled at Port Washington, Wisconsin, has a daughter living there, Mrs. R. C. Kann; Hannah Amanda, married George H. Wheedon, resided at South Hart- ford, New York, had two sons and a daughter. two of whom settled in Glen Falls, New York ; William Joseph, born January 16, 1826.

(IV) William Joseph Lytle, son of David Hanna Lytle (3), was born in Hebron, New York, January 16, 1826. His mother died when he was four months old and he was taken to live with his Taylor grand- parents when eight months old. After a time he returned to live with his father. At the age of fifteen he went to live with his aunt, Mrs. L. T. Olmstead, of Binghamton. New York, whose hus- band took him as apprentice He married Julia M. Jackson, daughter of Abel Woods and Dorinda A. ( Angell ) Jackson. She was born January 5, 1833. He died July. 1853, at Binghamton, New York. Their only child was William Arthur, born June 21, 1853.

(V) William Arthur Lytle, president and treas- urer of the W. A. Lytle Co., president of the Worces- ter Board of Trade, and member of the Governor's Council "representing the 7th Councillor district" 1005 and 1900, serving as councillor with Gover- nor William L. Douglas and Governor Curtis Guild, Jr. respectively. He is oneof Worcester's best known and most progressive business men. Ile was born in Binghamton, New York. June 21. 1853, son of William Joseph (4) and Julia M. (Jackson) Lytle. Ilis father died when Mr. Lytle was only four weeks old, and his mother four years later married again, this time. Mr. Levi Edward Brigham, of Worcester, Massachusetts, and removed to Wor-

cester. Mr. Lytle attended the Worcester public schools until 1864. when, with his parents, he re- moved to New Jersey. where he continued his edu- cation at the South Jersey Academy at Vineland. He returned in 1870 to Worcester, where he has since resided, and where, at the age of seventeen he began his mercantile life in a shoe store located at 14 Front street.

The following year Mr. Lytle secured employ- ment as a salesman in the clothing and custom tailoring establishment of Davis & Co., at that time one of the oldest and most reputable clothing houses in Worcester county. Mr. Lytle rapidly became a master of the business, and six years later was ad- mitted to a partnership in the firm under the name of Davis, Lytle & Co. His partners were J. Edgar Davis and Frederick Goulding, and their place of business was in the Flagg block, 286 Main street, opposite the Bay State House. Nine years later this firm was dissolved, Mr. Lytle retiring from the business. Mr. Lytle later became the senior partner and sole manager of a new firm. W. A. Lytle & Co., which established itself August 1. 1886, in the Walker building at 409 Main street. The new ven- ture was a success from the start, Mr. Lytle con- ducting it on sound business principles and with progressive methods. He believed in making his place of business attractive, and in 1895, and again in 1900. he made extensive additions and alterations with this end in view, adding men's furnishing goods, hats and shoes to his clothing and tailoring business.

While all this was going on in Worcester, Mr. Lytle received a flattering offer in June, 1897. to assume the position of manager of the great cloth- ing house of Jerome Kennedy & Co., corner West- minster and Dorrance streets, Providence, Rhode Island. For two years Mr. Lytle, besides keep- ing an eye on his own business in Worcester, made the round trip from Worcester to Provi- dence almost daily. He held the position until the lease expired and the property changed owners, the business being sold to the J. B. Barnaby Co. One of the most pleasing incidents in Mr. Lytle's business career in Providence was a recep- tion tendered him by his Worcester friends at the formal opening of the business, which followed his complete reorganization of the same. The recep- tion was given in the evening, and in a special train provided for the occasion, nearly a hundred of Worcester's most prominent citizens, headed by the mayor, members of the board of aldermen, members of the common council, city officials, and including many representative business and professional men of Worcester, went to Providence to pay their re- spects to Mr. Lytle and wish him success in his new field. They were met by the mayor of Provi- dence, and other citizens, and spent a most enjoy- able evening, being royally entertained by their host.

In 1900 with a view to expanding his business, he had it incorporated 'under the style of the W. A. Lytle Company, continuing in full control of the same as president and treasurer. In 1905, in order to meet the demands of continued growth, the W. A. Lytle Company leased the large store in the Walker building at the corner of Main and Mechanic strects. This store is one of the largest and best of its kind in the state. It is very tastefully and expensively fitted un, and carries one of the largest stocks of clothing. furnishings, hats, boots and shoes and cloths for men's custom garments in central Massachusetts.

The demands of Mr. Lytle's private business have by no means absorbed all of his abounding energy and rare administrative ability. As a public spirited citizen he has found time and inclination to take

WORCESTER COUNTY

an active part in the political and social life of the city. Always a Republican, his political career has followed the fortunes of that party. He was for three years, 1891-92-97 a member of the board of aldermen, where he served as chairman of the finance committee and of the important committees on fire department and water. He was also a mem- ber of the committees on sewers, street lighting, and claims. Ile made his influence felt in all these com- mittees, and the reorganization of the fire depart- ment effected in 1892 while he was chairman of the fire department committee, and the establishment of a new public lighting department are largely the result of his ability for organization. The ordinances which were drafted and adopted at that time are regarded as models of their kind.

In 1900 Mr. Lytle was the Republican candidate for mayor. The nomination coming to him by the indorsements of every ward caucas in the city with one exception. In the campaign which followed, in some respects the most remarkable ever known, he was less successful : It came directly after a bitterly contested congressional campaign in which the Re- publican candidate was defeated by a narrow margin, and the local Republican party was full of warring factions, and badly disorganized. On the first count Mr. Lytle was apparently elected by a plurality of forty-one votes in a total of over 16,000. Then an error in the tabulation was discovered in one of the wards, which apparently gave the election to Phillip J. O'Connell, his Democratic opponent. Finally a recount, followed by an appcal by the Democratic candidate to the supreme court, decided that the vote was a tie between the two candidates, each being credited with 8,061 vites. A sound election followed, February 22, 1901, in which, although Mr. Lytle vote increased nearly 1000, he was defeated. The Socialists did not nominate a candidate at the special election, and their votes went to the Demo- cratic candidate for mayor.

Mr. Lytle's most important public office is that which he now holds. as member of the executive council from the seventh district, which comprises the whole of Worcester county. The nomination was tendered to him unanimously by acclamation in the Republican councillor convention. both in 1904 and 1905, and at the polls the opposition to him was merely nominal. . Mr. Lytle's taste and capacity for public affairs find opportunity for exercise in the work of the executive council, which decides many important matters of state expenditures, ad- vises with the governor upon all applications for pardon, and passes upon all appointments to office made by the Governor. The good opinion which his associates in the council entertain for Mr. Lytle was illustrated in the summer of 1905 when, in his first year, they selected him as their representative to go to Portland, Oregon, with the state delegation, made up chiefly of members of the two branches of the legislature. to assist at the dedication of the Massachusetts building at the Lewis and Clark Cen- tennial Exposition. The party was provided with a special car, and made brief stops at Denver, Colo- rado Springs, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco, on the way out, and visiting Yellowstone Park, Seattle and St. Paul, where stops were made on the return. They were received with special honors by the fair management and the citizens of Portland, and were recipients of courtesies at the hands of the officials of several states through which they passed. Mr. Lytle's active participation in politics has been by no means confined to campaigns in which he was a candidate. For fifteen years he has been a mem- ber of the Worcester County Republican committee, and he has served on many other committees or-

ganized to advance the interests of Republican an- didates.

Mr. Lytle is at the present time president of the Worcester board of trade, and has done much to advance the business interests of the city. An illus- tration of his public spirit is afforded in the active part he took in 1904, as a member of the Worcester Merchants' . Association, to abolish the use of trading stamps. He never used stamps in his own bust- ness, and believing that their use was prejudicial to the interests of merchant and customer alike, he led the crusade against them. His address before the Merchants' Association had much to do with abolishing the use of trading stamps in this city. He spoke soon after, by invitation, on the same subject before the New Hampshire State Board of Trade at a banquet which was attended by the governor and many other distinguished guests. And still later he repeated his address before the Mer- chants' Association of Bridgeport. Connecticut, the headquarters of the trading stamp business. Mr. Lytle is a logical and forceful speaker, and in both places his address was received with much favor. Mr. Lytle has for five years been president of the Worcester Merchant Tailors' Association, and had the honor to represent the association at the National Convention held at Atlantic City in February. 1904. He is also vice-president of the National Merchant Tailors' Association.

Mr. Lytle is well known in Masonic circles. He is a life member of Athelston Lodge, of Eureka Chapter, Iliram Council, and Worcester County Commandery of Knight Templars, and a member of Worcester Lodge of Perfection, Goddard Coun- cil and Lawrence Chapter of Rose Croix. He took great interest in the movement for

the erection of Masonic Temple in Wor- cester, and was for three years president of the Worcester Masonic Charity and Educational Association which had the matter in charge. He is also a member of Worcester Lodge, No. 56, 1. O. O. F., and of Quinsigamond Tribe, No. 7. I. O. R. M. He has been for years a member of Worces- ter Agricultural Society, and with full knowledge of his capacity and enthusiasm for work, his as- sociates made him a member of the committee that had charge of laying out and building the trotting track at the Greendale Fair Grounds. Mr. Lytle for nine years served as a trustee of the First Uni- versalist parish.

Mr. Lytle has little time for recreation, but such as he has he spends in a light wagon or sleigh be- hind a good horse. He is a great lover of horses and has always kept good ones in his stables. In the winter he delights in the excitement to be found with a good stepper on the snow path. He has been a familiar figure on the Boulevard for twenty-five years. He is also an ardent automobilist. Mr. Lytle has been a member of the Commonwealth Club for twenty-five years, a member of the Eco- nomic Club, and of the Worcester Automobile Club since their organization. He is also a member of the Republican Club, and of the Lakeside Boat Club.

Mr. Lytle married August 10. 1876, Alice Eva Jackson, daughter of Dwight Stacy and Mahali ( Kimball ) Jackson. They have had five children, all of whom are living. The eldest. Alice May, born January 31. 1878. graduated from the Worcester high school in 1806. and married, June 9. 1003. George Emery Williamson, a graduate of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, class of 1900, who is now mechanical engineer for the United Metallic Cartridge Company of Bridgeport. Connecticut. Lora

WORCESTER COUNTY

Marion, born March 24. 1884. was graduated from the South high school in 1903. Harriett Jackson, born July 8. 1886, was graduated from the South high school in 1905. and is now a member of the class of 1908 at Smith College. Frederick Myron, born September 9, 1888, is a member of the class of 1907 at the Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massachusetts. William Arthur, Jr., born July 20, 1893, is attending the public schools.

TAYLOR FAMILY. William Taylor (1), of Concord, Massachusetts, who came to America from England before 1649, was a progenitor of William A. Lytle, of Worcester, through his grandmother, Hannah, wife of David H. Lytle (III), as stated above. He married Mary Merriam, daughter of Joseph Merriam, another pioneer of Concord. Massa- chusetts. William Taylor died May 8, 1662. Chil- dren of William and Mary ( Merriam) Taylor were : John. born October 19, 1653: Samuel, July 3, 1055, died young; Abraham. November 14. 1056; Isaac, 1659: Jacob. May 8, 1662; Joseph. 1665; Mary.

(II) Jacob Taylor, son of William Taylor (I). was born in Concord, Massachusetts, May 8, 1662. He married, at Concord. November 29, 1687, D'e- borah Nutting and all their children were born at Concord, viz: Deborah, August 14, 1690; Jacob, June 9. 1695. died October 17. 1697; Hannah, July 7. 1608, died August 3, 1698; Joseph, August 10, 1600: Mary, July 25, 1702; Isaac, September 4, 1705.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. II, Part 2

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 732

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 732