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 17
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CHARLES BENJAMIN POST. Benjamin Post (I), father of Charles B. Post, of Worcester, Mass- achusetts, was the son of Benjamin Post. one of the pioneers in Fayette, Seneca county, New York. This is a farming town some three miles from the city of Geneva. Beniamin Post. Sr. was a farmer. His children were: John; Daniel; Anthony; James; Ja- cob; Benjamin; Mary Jane; Elizabeth. All the
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children settled in the vicinity of Fayette and have many descendants.
(II) Benjamin Post, Jr., was also a farmer in Fayette. He married Lavinia E. Kipp. Their chil- dren were: Alice, died at the age of thirty-five; William ; Charles Benjamin, Harry, Walter, Newton, died young ; Irving, died young.
(III) Charles Benjamin Post, son of Benjamin Post (2), was born at West Fayette. He attended the common schools at Fayette and the high school or, as it was then called, the Classical and Training school, at Geneva, New York. For some time he was a teacher in the public schools. He decided to secure a business education and entered the Roches- ter, New York Business Institute, and also took a teacher's training course at the same institute, from which he graduated in 1891. Since his graduation he has been engaged as teacher and principal of business colleges, having shown a special aptitude for this kind of teaching. He held positions in the Rochester Business Institute, Rochester, New York; in Elliott's Business College, Burlington, Iowa; in Jersey City Business College, Jersey City, New Jer- sey ; and for five years in Becker's Business College, Worcester. At Becker's he was the head teacher and introduced the actual business practice used in that institution. Mr. Post has also been president and director of the course of study in the Water- bury Business University. He camne to Worcester in 1894, and in 1899 established the Worcester Busi- ness Institute, which has proved very successful and grown rapidly. The institute has spacious and well furnished quarters in the Taylor block on Main street opposite the city hall. The business depart- ment is fitted with roll top desks and all the equip- ment of a thoroughly modern business college. The institute aims to educate bookkeepers and stenog- raphers for practical and immediated usefulness in the offices of manufacturers, mercantile estab- lishments, and all the other offices where modern business methods are in vogue. Many of the grad- uates are already filling positions of trust and re- sponsibility. The education of the business insti- tute is exceedingly practical. Many men who are
fitting themselves for a business career or to take charge of important interests through inheritance or otherwise, find that a thorough training in a good business college, like that of Mr. Post's is one of the best kind of safeguards against loss and trouble. He is a member of Old South Church. He is a Free Mason, belonging to Montacute Lodge and Worcester Royal Arch Chapter. In politics he is a Republican. He married December 30, 1892, at Fayette, New York, Ella Kuney. She was born at Fayette, New York, August 20, 1870. She is the daughter of William H. Kuney and Lucinda ( Beary) Kuney. She is descended from an old Pennsyl- vania family.
EAMES FAMILY. Thomas Eames (1), the immigrant ancestor of Henry C. Eames and Edward E. Eames, of Paxton, Massachusetts, of the Eames family of Sherborn, Framingham and Boylston, was a native of England. He deposed in court in 1651 that he was about thirty-four years old, hence his year of birth was 1617. He was a brickmaker by trade and also a mason. He came to this country in 1634 and immediately afterward was a soldier in the Pequot war. He was in Medford, Massa- chusetts, from 1652 to 1659, occupying a water privilege on the banks of the Mystic. He owned a house and eight acres of land in Cambridge in 1664-65. Subsequently he settled in Sherborn on land now within the town of Framingham. In 1669 he built a house and barn on the southern
slope of Mount Wayte. At one time during King Philip's war, February 1, 1676-77, when he was absent from home, in Boston, the Indians fell upon. his defenseless family and set fire to his buildings. His household then consisted of his wife, eight or nine children, besides one or two children of his wife by her former marriage. His wife and five of the children were butchered after a desperate re- sistance, in which the woman used hot soap as a means of defence. The remainder of the children were carried into captivity, whence three of them, Margart, Samuel and Nathaniel, managed to escape. Thomas lost all his movahle property as well as his buildings with the exception of the two horses and what he had with him in Boston. He estimated the value of his buildings and other property lost at three hundred and thirty pounds. As indemnifica- tion for this loss he received a grant of land from the general court, two hundred acres. He was formally received as an inhabitant of Sherborn, Jan- uary 4. 1674-75, and was a selectman of the town, after the tragedy, in 1678, and was one of the com- mittee to build the first meeting house in Sherborn, for which land was granted him. The first planters appeared to be very anxious to retain him in the community. He dropped dead on January 25, 1680.
He married Margaret -, who was admitted to the church January 28, 1641-42. The children : I. John, horn at Dedham, October 6, 1642, married Mary -, who died April 3, 1681 ; (second) Eliza- beth Eames and he had ten children. 2. Samuel, born January 15, 1664-65, had by wife, Patience. Twitchell, at Sherborn, Gershom, and by second wife, Mary (Hunt) Leland, widow of Isaac Leland, Susanna, Patience, Gershom, who settled in Boyls- ton, Massachusetts, with his cousin William; Mar- tha, Lois, Lydia, Mary, Reuben, Ezra, and Mary, born 1747-48. 3. Nathaniel, born December 30, 1668, see forward. 4. Margaret. The names of the chil- dren who were killed are not given. After Samuel was captured he spent from February to May in captivity, then managed to escape by looking for plaintains, which grew only near English habitations. Samuel was the ancestor of the Upton family in Worcester county.
(II) Nathaniel Eames, son of Thomas Eames (I), was born December 30, 1668, at Sherborn, Mas- sachusetts. He was captured by the Indians when about ten years old, during the King Philip war, and was in captivity from February until May, when he and his older brother and sister managed to. escape and finally return home. He settled in Sher- born. He married Anna -. Their children were: I. Lydia, born December 10, 1694, married Benja- inin Muzzy, of Lexington. 2. Rebecca, born July 25, 1697, married Daniel Bigelow. 3. William, mar- ried, 1733. Sarah Perry, of Holliston, and had- Sarah, born 1734; Hannah, born 1737, died young. 4. Daniel, see forward.
(III) Daniel Eames, son of Nathaniel Eames (2). was born in Sherborn, Massachusetts, March 20, 1711-12. He settled in that part of Sherborn set off as Holliston. where his father and grand- father also lived. He married, September 21, 1738, Silence Leland and their children were: I. Daniel, born March 28, 1740, married, 1761, Mary Cutler. 2. Hopestill, died young. 3. Hopestill, born June 28, 1742, died April 5. 1821 ; married Mary Leland, daughter of David Leland, of Holliston, 1768, and had a large family. 4. Lydia, born 1746, died June 5, 1814: married Joshua Underwood, of Holliston. 5, Anna, married Colonel John Gleason, of Fram- ingham. 6. William, see forward.
(IV) William Eames, son of Daniel Eames (3), was born in Holliston, Massachusetts, formerly
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Sherborn, in 1749. About the time of his marriage lie settled in Boylston, Massachusetts. He married (first) Lois Fisk and ( second) Martha Jennings, of Natick, Massachusetts. It is told of him that having chosen a spot in the woods on which to build his house he left his jacket to mark the spot while he went to dinner at the house of a neighboring settler. He cleared his farm in the wilderness. His cousin. Gershom Eames, also settled in Boyls- ton. His original farm is owned now in part by his descendants, having been handed down in the family. The farm is in that part of Boylston set off as West Boylston. He was a soldier in the revolution in 1777 on the Bennington alarm in the company of Captain John Maynard, regiment of Colonel Job Cushing. He died in West Boylston, 1814, aged sixty-five years. He and his wife were both buried in Boylston. Children of William and Martha Eames, all born in Boylston, were: 1. Lydia, born October 10, 1773. 2. Polly, born March 18, 1776. 3. Jonathan, born March I, 1778. 4. Levi, born January 12. 1783, see forward. 5. Lucy, born November 25. 1786. 6. William, born November 22, 1788, resided at West Boylston and Worcester, where he died 1835: married Persis Rice, at Wor- cester, January 25, 1809, and had children : William, Persis. Jabez. Betsey Beaman, Mary Reed, and Ann Eliza, born between 1809 and 1831, in Worcester. (V) Levi Eames, son of William Eames (4). was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, January 12, 1783. He was a prosperous farmer in West Boyls- ton. He married (first) Hepzibah Winter, by whom he had no children. He married (second), April 9, 1819, in Worcester, Betsey Rice, daughter of Luther Rice, whose farm is still owned by his de- scendants in Worcester. The children of Levi and Betsey (Rice) Eames, all born in West Boylston, were: Child, died young : John B., born 1825. see forward: Luther R., see forward; Levi Lincoln, died in the trenches in front of Petersburg during the civil war. Levi Eames died at West Boylston, 1872. His wife died in 1862, aged nearly seventy years. She was the sister of the wife of William Eames, Jr., mentioned above. It is related of her that before her marriage she mnade the trip to Mon- treal on horseback through the wilderness.
(VI) Luther Rice Eames, son of Levi Eames (5), was born in West Boylston, Massachusetts, March 14. 1826. He worked on the farm from the time he was able to be of service and became a proficient gardener. He was employed upon a large estate in North Dorchester, owned by a retired Boston merchant, and during the six years he worked there he took some pride in the fact that his home was the birthplace of Edward Everett. He returned to Worcester and resided there to the time of his death. He was not a church member nor did he ever join a fraternal or secret society. He was a member of the Worcester Horticultural Society and the Worcester Agricultural Society. He mar- ried, June 3, 1856, Mary A. Wadel, a native of Ger- many. She died from influenza in 1895. Two of their children died of scarlet fever, one at the age of fifteen and the other at the age of eight years. The other children are: I. Canly, for ten years hridge builder on the Northern Pacific Railroad ; has son, Kenneth Reid. 2. Valdo, bridge builder, engaged in railroad work. 3. Ilia, married James Murphy, of Greendale, and has three children. 4. Estus, an engineer on the Boston & Albany Rail- road. residing in Northampton, Massachusetts.
(VI) John B. Eames, son of Levi Eames (5), was born in West Boylston, 1825. died March 24. 1896. He lived on the homestead at West Boyls- ton and was a farmer. He married Sarah S. Gar-
field, who died May 9, 1906. Their children were: Ellen M., born July 3, 1851, resides in New York city : Henry C., see forward: Edward E., born No- vember 9, 1856, see forward; George W., born March 31, 1855, resides in Worcester ; William, born April 17, 1858, resides in Colorado City, Colo- rado; Cora L. Howe, born September 29, 1859, re- sides at Niagara Falls, New York.
(VII) Henry C. Eames, son of John B. Eames (6), was born at West Boylston, Massachusetts, May 7. 1853. He worked on his father's farm and attended the district schools during his youth. He settled in Paxton, Massachusetts, where he has car- ried on farmning and a trucking business. He has been road commissioner of the town of Paxton for ten years and is active in town affairs. He is a Republican in politics. He and his family attend the Congregational Church. He married Mary F. Sanborn, daughter of Levi E. Sanborn, who was a farmer and grocer. The children of Henry C. and Mary F. Sanborn are: Carrie L., born December IO, 1877 : Charles W., July 27, 1880, married in Pax- ton, October 31, 1905. Dora B. Bishop, a native of Connecticut ; Hattie E., July 23, 1882; Arthur L., September 30, 1884, married, September 12, 1906, Florence Prentice, a native of Worcester; Hiram L. August 19, 1886; Frank S., August 15. 1888; Etta A., July 3, 1894: Ernest E., September 26, 1898: Luther E., February 15, 1902.
(VII) Edward Everett Eames, son of John B. Eames (6), born in West Boylston, November 9, 1856, attended school in Worcester. At the age of five years he went to live with his uncle, Hiram Garfield, of Worcester, where he worked until the age of nineteen years, when he went into the woods cutting off wood and lumber, which business he is engaged in at the present time in Paxton. He married Ida Graton, of Paxton, November 9, 1882. They had seven children: Grace. born in Paxton, January 3. 1887, died January 9, 1887; Ethel Rosina, born in Paxton, March 18, 1888; Ruth Isabelle, born in Paxton, September 12, 1890: Sylvester Luther, born in Paxton, August 9, 1892; Luke W., born in Paxton, June 2, 1895, died July 4, 1895: Louisa Bea- trice, born in Paxton, May 8, 1896; Flora Cornelia, born in Paxton, July 2, 1898.
CHRISTOPHER WHITNEY. Henry Whitney (1), the immigrant ancestor of the late Christopher Whitney, of Westboro, Massachusetts, was born in England about 1620. His English pedigree given in the family genealogy is acknowledged incorrect, but he doubtless belonged to the same family as John Whitney, who settled in Watertown, Massa- chusetts, and whose English ancestors are known. Henry Whitney was first in this country at South- old, Long Island, and he bought land there at Has- hamommock, October 8, 1649, with Edward Tred- well and Thomas Benedict, from William Salmon. He lived later at Huntington, Long Island, where he built a grist mill for Rev. William Leverick. He was later at Jamaica, Long Island. and was townsman there 1664. He settled next at Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1665, and agreed with the town to build a corn mill on the north side of Norwalk river, on the first lot west of Mill brook. He was one of a list of thirty-three freeman, October II, 1669. His name appears last on the town records, February 20, 1672. He probably died in 1673. His will was dated June 5. 1672. He described his condition as "being weake and crazy in body, but throwe mercy perfect in memory and understand- ing." He married Widow Ketchum. His only child mentioned in his will was John, see forward. (II) John Whitney, son of Henry Whitney (I),
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was born about 1640, and died at Norwalk, Con- necticut, 1720. He settled in Norwalk with his father, and was also a miller and wheelwright, suc- ceeding to his father's house and mill. He built a fulling mill, which he gave to his son John, April 14, 1707, and he sold him the grist mill, July 8, 1712. . It was re-conveyed to the father, who deeded it then to his son Joseph. He married, March 17, 1674-75, Elizabethi Smith, daughter of Richard Smith. Their children: John, born March 12, 1676-77, married Elizabeth Finch; Joseph, born March 1, 1678-79, millwright, married Hannah Hoyt; Henry, born February 21, 1680-81, weaver, married Elizabeth Olmstead; Elizabeth, married Jo- seph Keeler; Richard, born April 18, 1687, mar- ried Hannah Darling; Samuel, born 1688, married Ann Laboree; Anne, born 1691, married, October 13, 1709, Matthew St. John; Eleanor, born January 27, 1693, married Jonathan Fairchild; Nathan; Sarah, married, June 13, 1717, Samuel Smith; Jo- siah, married, October 3, 1729, Eunice Hanford.
(III) Josiah Whitney, son of John Whitney (2), was born about 1700, at Norwalk, Connecticut. He married, October 30, 1729, Eunice Hanford. He died in Norwalk about 1750. Their children, born at Norwalk, were: Josiah, born February 10, 1730- 31, died young; Stephen, born February 10, 1732- .33, settled in Derby; married Sarah Wheeler; (sec- ond) Eunice Keeney ; (third) Hannah Hull; Henry, born February 19, 1735-36, married Eunice Clark; Eliezer, born March 7, 1737-38, see forward; Isaac, born March 27, 1741, living June 20, 1762.
(IV) Eliezer Whitney, son of Josiah Whitney (3), was born at Norwalk, Connecticut, March 7, 1737-38. He chose Phineas Hanford, his uncle, as guardian, August 3, 1756. Soon afterward he appears to have removed to Vermont, where a num- ber of his relatives also settled. Either he or his son Eliezer was in Captain Benjamin Whitney's company at Guilford, and parts of Windham in the revolution, and was discharged finally May 1, 1784. Samuel Bartlett was on the committee to audit the accounts of this company, and Nathaniel Bartlett belonged to the company.
(V) Eleazer Whitney, believed to be the son of Eliezer Whitney (4), was born 1756-1760. He served seven years in the revolutionary war, prob- ably in a Massachusetts regiment. He died 1840, about eighty-five years of age. His children : Molly, Asa, Sally, Alpheus, see forward; Thankful, Philip, Peggy, Eleazer, Jr., Abigail, Bartlett, born June 13, 1814, probably named for his mother; Jonathan, Betsey, Pattie, Jotham.
(VI) Alpheus Whitney, son of Eleazer Whit- ney (5), was born in Halifax, Vermont, 1800-1810. He married Sarah Stow, of Halifax, and spent his life in that town, following the vocation of a farmer. Their children: Philip, Caroline, Chris- topher, see forward; Maria, Amos, George, William, Sarah, Olive, Hannah, also two children who died young.
(VII) Christopher Whitney, son of Alpheus Whitney (6), was born in Halifax, Vermont, June 16, 1827. He was reared and educated in the dis- trict schools of the Green Mountain State, and at an early age took his share in the labor on his father's farm. As a young man in Vermont he Iearned the virtues of thrift and industry. In the full flush of a vigorous manhood he came to the town of Westboro, Massachusetts, more than fifty years ago, poor in purse but rich in energy and am- bition. His first employment there was in a bake- shop, where he worked from three o'clock in the morning to a late hour at night. He learned the trade thoroughly and followed it in the business of
baker and flour and grain dealer for seventeen years. Embarking then in the business of manu- facturing lumber, he started in Natick, Massachu- setts, but after a year transferred his place of busi- ness to Westboro, where he spent the remainder of his days. He built up a large and lucrative trade, being successful in this line as in his other undertakings. As a result of honest, intelligent and energetic management, he acquired a competence. Ever mindful of the hardship of his own boyhood, he gave generously of his wealth to the poor and afflicted and in a quiet, modest way was a practical philanthropist. A filial and loving son, he assisted in caring for the parental household from his earli- est manhood, and tenderly watched over his parents in their declining years.
In 1882 he built the Whitney House at Westboro which is a standing monument to his enterprise and public spirit. He took a lively interest in every- thing pertaining to the welfare of his adopted town. In partnership with the late Henry K. Taft (see sketch), he was instrumental in establishing the present electric light system. He was a director of the Westboro National Bank and a leader of the financial interests of the town. He was a Republi- can in politics, but declined public honors and of- fices of all kinds. He was a member of the Free Masons, of Westborough. He died at his home in Westboro, March 4, 1889.
He married, May II, 1851, Abbie Morse Thomp- son, daughter of Dexter Thompson, of Bellingham, Massachusetts. She survived her husband several years, dying in 1901. Their children: Frank C., born 1852, died May 4, 1886; Abbie M., born 1857, married, 1884, Frank V. Bartlett (see sketch) ; Nellie E.
CHARLES BUCK. The name of Buck, in con- nection with the manufacture of high grade edge- tools, is favorably known throughout the United States. The Buck family has through several gen- erations been famed for its skillful steel workers, and Charles Buck has inherited in superlative de- gree the talents of liis forbears.
His paternal grandfather, Joseph Buck, born 1746, died 1824, at the age of seventy-eight years, was for thirty years manager of the famous New- bold edge-tool factory in Sheffield, England, then the world's most famous workshop in that line. Joseph Buck (2) was brought up in the calling of his father, the Joseph Buck first named, and passed his life in the shops in Sheffield, where he died at the age of sixty-four years. His wife, Elizabeth Tay- lor, whom he married April 5, 1825, was born in Doncaster, England. They were the parents of three sons, all of whom served an apprenticeship under their father and became skillful in the art of finishing edge-tools. John (now deceased), the eldest, born February 20, 1826, the first of the fam- ily to emigrate to the United States, came in 1849. He worked in Williamsburg, New York, for a wage less than a dollar a day, until his skill brought him to the attention of D. R. Barton, a leading manu- facturer of Rochester, for whom he worked for three years. He then engaged in business on his own account in Newark, New Jersey, subsequently returning to Rochester. Charles, the second son, is to be further referred to. Richard T., the third son, born October 1, 1831, came to America in 1853, being the last of the brothers to emigrate.
Charles Buck, the second son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Taylor) Buck, was born in Sheffield, England, March 22, 1829. After receiving an ordi- nary education he entered the Sheffield edge-tool works, where under the masterly direction of his
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accomplished father he became a master workman in the highest processes of edge-tool manufacture -the grinding and polishing. In 1850 he attained his majority, and that year, with his brother John, he came to America, locating in Rochester, New York, where they found employment in a machine shop. In 1853, the two brothers established the Buck Brothers Edge Tool Works, for the manu- facture of high-grade cutlery, and their goods were at once recognized as unsurpassable in quality. They had been joined by their brother Richard, who came from England that year. Shortly their business expanded to such a degree that they found it neces- sary to add largely to their facilities, and in 1857 they removed to Worcester, Massachusetts. The business was conducted with constantly increasing success until 1864, when another removal was made, to Millbury, where the works are now conducted by Edwin Wood and W. L. Proctor, sons-in-law of Richard Buck.
In 1872 Charles Buck disposed of his interest in the above named works, and in the following year built a shop in Millbury on a site which he had pur- chased in 1865, and established the edge-tool works known by his name, and in this enterprise he has achieved a large degree of success. His first con- sideration was and is to produce an article of the very best possible quality, and he has conducted his business after such methods that he is personally cognizant of every process of manufacture, at times performing some of the work of forging and tempering with his own hands. The extent of his trade is a secondary consideration, coming after that of the mechanical work, his conservative dis- position inclining him to preference for a compara- tively small market and an appreciative class of customers, before the unfinished work and pecuniary uncertainty which so frequently attend the mam- moth undertakings of great corporations of the present day. Until very recent years and until he was nearly seventy years of age he made fre- quent business trips, going as far west as Chicago and St. Louis to place his goods. Much of his product is marketed through commission houses in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and other cities. He has acquired a comfortable fortune, and in its acquisition has never committed an act not justified by honor.
Mr. Buck is a fine example of the really self- made man. His only capital at the beginning of his career was his mechanical skill, his industry, and his ambition. The latter trait was his first in- centive not only to the effort which led to his success in material concerns, but to his excellent development of character. Going to his trade in early youth, his education was necessarily imperfect, but he found compensation for this advantage through close and intelligent reading, dating from the time when he came to Millbury. He took up the works of standard authors, and acquired an am- ple fund of general information which enable him to converse eloquently upon any subject which could engage the attention of the practical and self re- specting citizen. For nearly fifty years he has been an exemplary member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, in whose service he has been most earnest and useful. He has served as class leader, and for fifteen years as superintendent of its Sun- day school. In politics he is a Republican, and he has ever been an earnest exponent of its principles, yet has never sought official preferment, performing his political duties out of a conscientious apprecia- tion of the privileges and responsibilities of citizen- . ship. He is held in sincere regard in the community, and his lovable character was well epitomized by
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