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. III > Part 101
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On April 15, 1841. Mr. Duncan married Hannah Augusta Newton, who was born in Rutland, Massa- chusetts. 'April 27, 1819. daughter of William H. and Isabelle (Davis) Newton. She survived her husband fifteen years and followed him hence on the 29th of April, 1905.
James and Hannah Augusta Duncan were the parents of four children, namely : Charles William, born January 28, 1843: Wendell Phillips, born Oc- tober 29, 1851 ; Vianna Isabelle, born April 8. 1856; and Frank Newton, born December 5, 1859. Charles William Duncan married, October 19, 1878, Emma Clara Perkins, daughter of William and. Clara (Mc- Intyre) Perkins. of Manchester, New Hampshire. Wendell Phillips Duncan, who never married, died August 6, 1903. Frank Newton Duncan married Sarah Maud Smith, of Nova Scotia, and his chil- dren are: Beatrice, born October 6, 1894; and James, born June 19, 1899, died December 12, 1900. Vianna Isabelle Duncan, who resides upon her father's estate, is the widow of Daniel Mathewson, a native of Gloucester, Rhode Island, who died November 1. 1903.
The following extract from a letter received by Mr. Duncan's family after his death from the Rev. George Dodge. of Rutland, throws a pleasant light upon one of the various commendable phases in his character. "I shall hever forgett his kind, thoughtful interest. in the young men of North Brookfield, myself among the number. He always had a cordial word, a warm hand-grasp, a kindly, helpful face to greet us with. I used to wonder what there was in me that led him to always be' so glad to see me. for in those days I supposed it must be something in us that made our friends glad to see us, but now I know that while that is in part true, yet the greater truth is they are glad because of what they are. Your father loved young men ; he had a character strong to help the young and weak; he was ready to stand alone, if need be, to help the oppressed; he was therefore always glad to see young men pressing upward, and his words were never against us. but ever with us: he saw by love and faith what was in youth and so was always greeting us with the sunshine of hope. He thought it was because of what he saw in us; we know it was because of what was in him."
EBEN S. FULLER, of Clinton, a potent and influential factor in various leading enterprises of that town, also in the growth and improvement there- of, was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, March 31, 1833. son of John and Sophronia (Adams) Fuller, and grandson of Ebenezer and Lydia (God- dard) Fuller, of Roxbury, Massachusetts. Both Ebenezer Fuller and his father took an active part in the revolutionary war, the former entering the army at the age of sixteen and serving during the entire period of the conflict, seven years.
John Fuller ( father) born in Roxbury. Massachusetts, December 28. 1806. He served an apprenticeship with Ephraim Fuller, in Lancaster, at the trade of clothier, which occupation he fol- lowed for a number of years. Later he engaged in the finishing of combs, and the latter years of his life were devoted to the quiet but useful calling of agriculture. He was a prominent Unitarian, and was a deacon of that church in Lancaster. In 1828, in Lancaster, Mr. Fuller was united in mar-
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riage to Sophironia Orange Wadsworth Adams by the Rev. Dr. Thayer. Ten children were the issue of this union, and the surviving members of the family are as follows: Sophronia, wife of Horatio Bailey, of Lancaster ; Eben S., of whom later; Sid- ney T., a prominent engineer, who has held im- portant positions on a number of railroads in this section, as well as serving as superintendent of an important line in Mexico; and Edwin M., who served as major in the Federal army through the civil war, and is now a physician in Chicago. Mrs. Fuller, mother of these children, was born March 31. 1806, and died in 1890, aged eighty-four years. She was the only child of Samuel and Mercy (Sher- win) Adams, of Ashburnham, Massachusetts. Sam- uel Adams settled in Grafton, Vermont, as a pio- neer, but removed to Lancaster in 1816, and died there at an advanced age.
Eben S. Fuller attended the common and high schools of Lancaster, thereby acquiring a thorough and practical education. He gained his first ex- perience in business life at a comb manufactory, and afterward for one year was engaged in the pianoforte business. In 1859 he purchased of C. C. Stone the door, sash, and blind business in Clin- ton, and as his trade increased in volume and import- ance he added a saw-mill and other wood-working machinery, and successfully conducted the same 1111- til 1890, a period of thirty-one years, when he dis- posed of it to his son. Mr. Fuller had previously interested himself in real estate, to which he has since devoted a considerable portion of his time and attention. He has been one of the largest land-holders in this locality, and has erected more than seventy houses, which he disposed of at ad- vantageous prices. In addition to this he owns and cultivates farms in Lancaster and Sterling, which greatly increases his income. He is a direc- tor of the Clinton First National Bank, and of the New Boston Aqueduct Company, and a trustee and member of investigating committee of the Clinton Savings Bank. He has served as selectman and overseer of the poor in Clinton, having been elected to those offices on the Republican ticket. He is a deacon of the Unitarian parish, and a member of the Worcester East Agricultural Society.
On November 7, 1861, Mr. Fuller married Nancy Goss Fuller, who was born in Lancaster. Massa- chusetts, March 22, 1840, a daughter of Ephraim Fuller, a successful cloth manufacturer, who passed away at the age of eighty-three years. Their chil- dren are as follows: Jessie Genevra, born October 15. 1862, is the wife of the Rev. James C. Duncan, a Unitarian minister of Clinton. Massachusetts, and mother of two children: Robert F. and James Dun- can. John Ephraim, born November 12, 1864, be- came a real estate dealer, and died in Duluth, Minnesota, June 28. 1892. William Andrew, born September 24. 1866, succeeded his father in the lumber business. married Bessie E. Farwell, of Clinton, Massachusetts, and their children are: John F. and Beatrice Louisa Fuller. Susie Ger- trude. born October 8, 1868, is the wife of Joseph J. Albright, a broker of Buffalo, New York. and they have four children : John, Elizabeth, Fuller and Nancy. Mr. Fuller married for his second wife Cora Adelaide Chilson Butterfield, the cere- mony being performed on March 4. 1891.
WILLIAM ANDREW FULLER, second son of Eben S. and Nancy Goss ( Fuller) Fuller, was born on the old homestead in Lancaster. Worcester coun- ty. Massachusetts, September 24, 1866.
After his graduation from the public schools of
Clinton he entered the door, sash and blind mill of his father located in the town of Clinton, remained an employe of the same up to 1900, when he became the owner, thereof, and has since assumed the man- agement of the entire plant, realizing a goodly profit therefrom. In addition to this he is the president of an extensive lumber establishment in Leominster, styled the William A. Fuller Lumber Company. He is honest and straightforward in all his dealings, and therefore is well thought of by his business associates, and also by a wide circle of acquaint- ances whom he meets in a social way. He is staunch in his advocacy of Republican principles, but has never aspired to political preferment. He atterids the Unitarian Church, and is a member of the executive committee of that body. He is a member of the Order of Free and Accepted Masons, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Fuller married, April 9, 1890, Miss Bessie E. Far- well, daughter ot Levi D. Farwell, of Clinton, Massachusetts, and their children are: John F., born January 29, 1891; Beatrice L., born February 2, 1893.
LYMAN LEIGHTON, a veteran of the civil war, who is now leading a retired life at his home in Clinton, surrounded with peace and plenty, and realizing to the full that there is no reward so satisfactory as the consciousness of a life well spent. is a native of Upton, Massachusetts, born November 28, 1843. His parents were Hazen and Lydia (Aldrich) Leighton, and their family consisted of six children. The father, who was born in Maine in 1796, passed the greater part of his life in Up- ton, where he died in May, 1869, aged seventy-three years. The mother, who was born in Massachusetts in 1810, died March 15, 1896, aged eighty-six years. Hazen Leighton was married three times; by the first union there were six children, and by the sec- ond union there was one son, Asa. These children are all now deceased.
Lyman Leighton received his education in the common schools of Upton, and then served an ap- prenticeship at the trade of carpenter. In 1861, at the outbreak of the civil war, he enlisted as a private in Company B, Twenty-fifth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. which was raised in Worcester county. Although physically unable to stand the long marches and constant exposure, he persisted in accompanying the regiment to North Carolina, where he took part in three battles, re- ceiving a slight wound at Roanoke Island, but later the doctors recommended his discharge on account of his impaired health. In March, 1863, feeling fully recovered, he re-enlisted in Company D, Third Heavy Massachusetts Artillery, with which he served until September, 1865. participating in con- siderable active service, and being promoted to the rank of sergeant.
L'pon his return to civil life he resumed his trade in Upton, but later conducted business in Milford, Massachusetts, and Danielson, Connecticut. In 1871 he located in Clinton, and during his active career in that town acquired a wide reputation as a reliable and skillful builder. He erected the Wire Goods Company's mills, Daggett's block, and the Young Men's Christian Association building and Congre- gational church in Clinton: the Congregational church and town hall in Boylston: the Greendale church; a hotel at Narragansett Pier ; high school in Upton and high school in East Douglass, Massa- chusetts ; one hundred and eighteen dwelling-houses, including the Craft residence in Ridgefield, Con- necticut, and many fine residences in Waltham,
BUSTUN PUBLIC 1
WILLIAM HASWELL MONTAGUE
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Somerville and Boston. In 1892 he became associ- ated with others in purchasing the patents of the Clinton Wall Trunk Company and forming the Clinton Wall Trunk Manufacturing Company, which plant is not now in operation, of which he was the president for a number of years. He is now retired from business pursuits. Mr. Leighton is a Repub- lican in politics. He is a member of Clinton Lodge, F. and A. M., Hudson Commandery, R. A. M. He is also connected with Clinton Lodge, I. O. O. F., the encampment, and the canton, has occupied the im- portant chairs in the Order of the Golden Cross, and is a member of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and the Knights of Pythias, and a comrade of E. D. Baker Post, No. 64, Grand Army of the Republic.
On November 14, 1866, Mr. Leighton married Caroline S. Clark, a native of Bradford, Vermont, and a daughter of Orlin and Orill Clark. Their children are: Caroline A., born 1868. unmarried ; Clarence H., born 1870, died 1877; Albert E., born 1872, married Caroline Mack, and their children are : Eugene, Dorothy C., and Elizabeth; Mary J., born 1877, became the wife of Lyman Ayres, and they are the parents of two children, Millie and Helen; Charles Y., born 1878, married Mae O. Fuller. Mrs. Leighton is a member of the Baptist Church. The other members of the family attend the Congrega- tional Church.
WILLIAM HASWELL MONTAGUE. The late William Haswell Montague, of North Brook- field. for a number of years superintendent of the Batcheller Shoe Company's factory, a veteran of the civil war and an ex-member of the Massachusetts legislature, was a native of Vermont, son of Joseph and Betsey ( Sears) Montague. His father was born in Bennington, Vermont, July 6, 1781, and his mother was born in Lenox, Massachusetts, Febru- ary 18, 1782. Joseph Montague died April 22, 1859, surviving his wife, whose death occurred July 6, 1843. at the age of sixty-one years.
William Haswell Montague was born in Fletcher, Vermont, August 24, 1824. He was educated in the public schools, and when a young man served an apprenticeship at the carpenter's trade, which he followed as a journeyman for some years. He finally entered with his brother, James S. Montague, into the boot and shoe making business established by the latter at South Brookfield, which was suc- cessfully conducted for a period of five years. He then relinquished that calling and entered the em- ploy of the Batchieller Company (boot and shoe man- ufacturers) at North Brookfield, and was subse- quently advanced from one responsible position to another until reaching that of superintendent of the entire plant. In that capacity he displayed unusual ability, and directed the industrial affairs of the Batcheller Company for a period of fifteen years, at the expiration of which time he was compelled to resign on account of ill health. Realizing the neces- sity of a less confining and more active employment he entered a grist mill, and for the succeeding ten years transacted a profitable business in grinding grain. During the civil war he served in Company F, Forty-second Regiment. Massachusetts Volun- teers, for one year, and was appointed sergeant. The hardships and exposure of army life so weaken- ed his constitution as to prevent him from perform- ing active service in the field, and he was placed in charge of railway trains running between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. From physical disability contracted in the army he never fully recovered. He died January 1, 1898. He was quite active in civic affairs, and in 1877 represented his district in the
lower branch of the state legislature. In politics he was a Republican. His religious affiliations were with the Congregationalists, and he was an active member of that church.
On February 2, 1854, Mr. Montague married Laura Howe Potter, born in North Brookfield, Octo- ber 1, 1826, daughter of Dr. Cheney and Lucy (Hun- ter) Potter. Mrs. Montague's parents were married May 4, 1806. Her paternal grandfather, John Pot- ter, whose birth took place September 12, 1746, served as a captain in the Patriot army during the revolutionary war. The maiden name of his wife was Rhoda Burnett. Dr. Cheney Potter, who was born April 5, 1783, died October 14, 1835. Of his children, Rhoda married James S. Montague, a brother of the late William H. Montague, the prin- cipal subject of this sketch. Mrs. Montague has no children.
OSCAR SHUMWAY, a retired merchant of Webster, Worcester county, Massachusetts, was born at Sturbridge, Massachusetts, October 3, 1836, son of Stephen and Martha (Holmes) Shumway. Peter Shumway, his grandfather, whose father was also named Peter, lived in Oxford and followed the quiet but useful occupation of a farmer. He mar- ried Sarah Spaulding, who bore him children : Stephen, Nelson, Elial, Benjamin, Franklin P., Mary, Nancy and Zephiah. Nelson was twice married. Elial married Eliza Ball and upon her decease Emma Perry; Benjamin married Carrie Bacon; Franklin P. married Lucy - : Mary became the wife of William Hard; Nancy married twice (first) Walker Rockwood, and (second) Ephraim Sawtell; Zephiah married a missionary, William Walker. She died in Africa, where she was assisting her husband in his mission work. Peter Shumway died at Groton at the advanced age of ninety-six years.
Stephen Shumway, father of Oscar Shumway, was born at Townsend, Vermont, 1805. He was a merchant and a successful business man. His wife was Martha Holmes, daughter of Stephen Holmes, of Thompson, Connecticut, who participated in the war of 1812, and they were the parents of the follow- ing named children: Sarah, born 1834. died 1878; Martha, born 1844, died 1883; Elizabeth, born 1846, deceased ; Emily, born 1848, deceased; and Oscar, see forward. Stephen Shumway died in Thompson, Connecticut, 1849.
Oscar Shumway, the only son of Stephen and Martha (Holmes) Shumway, removed with his par- ents to Thompson, Connecticut, when but a small boy. There he attended the common schools and later Groton Academy, from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1853. For two years he was employed as clerk in the store of Upham & Bruce in Webster, Massachusetts. In 1860 Mr. Shumway went into business on his own account, opening a feed store in Webster, in the conduct of which he continued, achieving the greatest success, until 1904, when he sold out the business to William WV. Holmes and retired from active working life. Politically Mr. Shumway strongly defends the prin- ciples of the Republican party, in the affairs of which he is actively. interested. The high regard in which he is held by his fellow townsmen is demon- strated by the fact that in 1867 he was elected to the office of town treasurer, and has been re-elected each succeeding year. Since 1893 he has been treasurer of the board of water commissioners. He was one of the founders and original directors of the First National Bank of Webster and one of the first stock- holders and directors of the Webster & Dudley Street Railroad Company. Fraternally he is a mem-
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ber of the Webster Lodge, Free and Accepted Ma- sons. In church relations Mr. Shumway affiliates with the Baptist faith, and has been treasurer of his church for many years.
Oscar Shumway married, May 24, 1876, Emma Kelsey, daughter of Alvah and Martha ( Wellington) Kelsey, of Newport, New Hampshire, who was born in 1854. No children have been born of this union.
ALMON ADAMS, a prosperous farmer of Ox- ford, is a son of the late Jennison and Lucy ( Chap- man) Adams, of that town. His grandfather, Clark Adams, who was born in Northbridge, this county, about the year 1775, spent the declining years of his life in Oxford, where his death occurred May 6, 1850. On March 15, 1798, he was married in North- bridge to Silence Benson, his first wife, and he was again married in Oxford to Sally , who died February 15, 1851. Of his first union there was a large family of children and those who came to Ox- ford were: Waldo, born March 18, 1800, died Jan- uary 19, 1868; Jennison, who will receive further mention presently ; and Henry, born March 7, 1816, died July 16, 1869. Waldo married Mehitable Dana, who was born about the year 1802, and she died August 12, 1856, leaving no children. Henry settled in Woodstock, Connecticut, about the year 1853, and in 1869 removed to Putnam, same state, where he died July 16 of that year. He married for his first wife Mary Howe, of Millbury, who died in Woodstock, May 6, 1858, and he married for his second wife Emeline Johnson, of the last named place. Of his first union there were five children and those of his second marriage are: Mary E. and Hannah J.
Jennison Adams was born in Northbridge, No- vember 18, 1803. He learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed for a number of years, but relin- quished that occupation for agriculture. He settled in Oxford about 1840, and resided there for the re- mainder of his life, which terminated March 29, 1869. He was a member of the Congregational Church. He married Lucy Chapman, who was a na- tive of either Woodstock or Thompson, Connecticut. daughter of , who served as a soldier in the war of 1812-15. She died in 1900, Jennison and Lucy ( Chapman) Adams reared but one son, Al- mon, see forward.
Almon Adams was born in Oxford, July 29, 1848 or 1849. He attended the Oxford public schools, in- cluding the high school, and completed his studies with a commercial course at a business college in Worcester. He was for about two years employed at the glazier's trade in Worcester. The greater part of his active life, however, has been devoted to general farming in Oxford. Mr. Adams married, August 25, 1881, Afiss Isabella Wheeler, born in Plymouth, Vermont, daughter of - and Mary Wheeler. Their children are: Nellie, Carrie, Earn- est, and Fronie.
R.ACICOT BROTHERS. Arthur and Alexan- der Racicot, the enterprising Webster merchants, are of French-Canadian parentage, sons of Nelson and Philomene ( Dufresne) Racicot. Nelson Racicot was born in St. Pie, Province of Quebec, in 1833. He began the activities of life as a shoemaker, but later relinquished that trade for agricultural pur- suits, and his death occurred in Milton, Canada, in 1879, at the age of forty-six years. His wife, Philo- mene, who was born in St. Pie in 1839, daughter of Edward Dufresne, became the mother of eight children, namely: Hector, married Virginia Girard and has six children : Rosanna, Eli, Anna, Amede,
Denise, Alexander, and Arthur. Of these Rosanna and Anna are no longer living.
Alexander Racicot was born in Milton, March 6, 1874. He was graduated from St. Cesaire College in 1893, and shortly afterward went to Norwich, Con- necticut, where he engaged in the dry goods business as a clerk. From Norwich he went to Webster, Massachusetts, where he accepted a clerkship in the tea and coffee store of E. J. Benoit, with whom he remained some eighteen months, at the expiration of which time he and his brother Arthur purchased the business. Selling his interest to his brother two years later, Alexander purchased the interest of Mr. Breen in the firm of Breen & Brassard, and the lat- ter subsequently disposed of his share in the busi- ness to Arthur Racicot, who once more became as- sociated with Alexander, who later purchased Mr. Breen's interest and the firm became that of Racicot Brothers.
Arthur Raciect was born in Milton, Canada, August 15, 1875. His early education was ac- quired in Central Falls, Rhode Island, and in Taft- ville, Connecticut, from which latter place he went to St. Cesaire College, Canada, graduating in 1894. His early business training was for the most part acquired in the employ of a leading tea company in Norwich, and he later became associated in business with his brother at Webster as previously stated. Since establishing themselves in Webster the Racicot Brothers have been very successful. Their busi- ness, which is devoted to tea, coffee, household goods, etc., has from a modest beginning expanded into large proportions, and at the present time they occupy a structure erected in 1905, which accom- modates their large and constantly increasing trade, and is now ( 1906) the best constructed business block in Webster.
The Racicot Brothers are actively identified with various fraternal and religious bodies, including the Order of Foresters of America, the Knights of Co- Iumbus and the Eagles, of which last named both gentlemen have been president. They are also mem- bers of the Artisans, the St. John's Society and the Church of the Sacred Heart. Alexander is quite active in local civic affairs, being at the present time town auditor, to which office he was elected in 1904, and now (1906) serving his second term in that capacity.
On May 8, 1900, Alexander Racicot married Anna Lamotlie, born January 30, 1876, daughter of Amedee and Delia Lamothe, of Webster. Of this union there are three children, namely: Napoleon, born March 20, 1901; Alice, June 26, 1902; and Irene, January 30, 1904.
Arthur Racicot married Mary Brothers, daughter of Paul Brothers, an account of whom appears else- where in this work; they have one daughter, Flora- dora, born August 14, 1902.
GEORGE CYRUS PROUTY, a retired wire manufacturer of Charlton City, is a son of the late Cyrus Prouty, of this county, and a lineal descendant in the sixth generation of Richard Prouty, who was residing at Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1667. From Richard the line of descent is through Isaac (2), Isaac (3), Joseph (4), and Cyrus (5). Isaac Prouty (2) married, in 1710, Elizabeth Merritt. Isaac Prouty (3), born in 1732, died May 5, 1805 ; married Priscilla Ramsdell and her death occurred July 13, 1814. at the age of eighty years. Joseph Prouty (4), George C. Prouty's grandfather, was born March 26, 1767. On May 19, 1791, he married Betsey Draper, daughter of James Draper. Joseph Prouty died June 19, 1829, and his wife, who lived to be seventy-
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four years old, died December 29, 1846. Cyrus Prouty (5), George C. Prouty's father, was born September 14, 1802. He was a shoemaker by trade and resided tor a number of years in Spencer, this county, from whence he removed to Worcester. His deathi occurred in Spencer, May II, 1851. He mar- ried Sarah Bride, a native of Canada.
George Cyrus Prouty was born in Spencer, May 17, 1835. He attended the Spencer public schools until ten years old, when his parents moved to Worcester, and at that early age he began the ac- tivities of life as a shoemaker, working at home on old fashioned high top boots. He subsequently ob- tained employment in a wire factory, acquiring the elementary principles of the business which he after- ward followed with gratifying success, and from Worcester he went to Paxton, Massachusetts, where he resided for a short time and had the benefit of a winter's term at the public school kept by Alonzo Hill. He then ( 1855) returned to Spencer and re- mained until he was eighteen years old, and during that time had three terms schooling at Wilbraham. He entered the employ of J. R. and J. E. Prouty, Wire Village, where he supplemented his initial training in the manufacture of wire. He was subse- quently similarly employed at Holyoke. After work- ing as a journeyman some nine years he, in 1864, es- tablished a factory of his own at North Hadley, Massachusetts, and began his business career under exceedingly auspicious circumstances. About the years 1868 he removed from North Hadley to Charl- ton City, and in 1871 erected the Charlton City Wire Mills, which he operated successfully up to February, 1904. In 1888 Nelson Hindley Prouty, son of Mr .. George C. Prouty, was taken into the business, which was then incorporated as the Prouty Wire Company, with George C. Prouty, president, and Nelson H. secretary and treasurer. The son retired from the company in 1894, and the father continued the oper- ation of the plant until February, 1904, when it was sold to the Charlton Wire Company and Mr. Prouty withdrew permanently from active business pursuits. Mr. Prouty was one of the progressive citizens who took the initiative in the proceedings which resulted in the securing of the franchise to operate what sub- sequently became the Worcester and South Bridge trolley line.
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