Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. III, Part 90

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 772

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 90

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JOSIAH PROCTOR, deceased, was a grandson of Josiah Proctor, born November 17, 1777, died August 16, 1842. Ile married Sally Stearns, of War- wick, Massachusetts, who died in 1823. Among their children was Harwood Proctor, father of Josiah Proctor, born in Warwick, April 14, 1813. He attended school at his native place and com- pleted his education at Royalston, Massachusetts. He began school teaching at Royalston, but finally went to Franklin, Michigan, where he followed teaching for some time. He returned from the west and settled at Northbridge, Massachusetts, working for his brother Edward. Subsequently he went to Northboro, where he purchased a farm in the east- ern part of the town and lived there a number of years. In 1870 he took up his residence with his son Josiah, and there died April 24, 1884. Polit- ically, he was Republican. He served as one of the selectmen for a number of years. Ile was a mem- ber of the Congregational Church. He married Mary Rice Patterson, born July 15, 1810, died 1884. They had two children: Josiah and Joseph. The last named was born August 19, 1843, and killed at the battle of Fredericksburg, in time of the civil war, when but nineteen years of age.

Josiah Proctor was born in Franklin, Michigan, March 4, 1840. He was educated at the high schools of Northboro, Massachusetts. Up to 1861 he worked on the farm, but that eventful year, he enlisted in the Union cause as a sergeant of Company D, Twentieth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers. He was at the battle of Harper's Ferry, Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg, Antietam, Gettysburg, and battles on peninsula and at Richmond. He was seriously wounded at Balls Bluff, being shot in the side. He was sent to the hospital at Poolville, Maryland, re- inained there for two months, and was then sent to Bedloe's Island, New York harbor, where he re- covered partially. At Gettysburg he was shot in the arm and was sent to Portsmouth Grove, Rhode Island, to the government hospital, where he re- mained about nine months and was discharged in August, having served three years. He returned to Northboro, Massachusetts, and was engaged in the shop of Milo Hildreth on shell goods. He re- mained there ten years and then engaged in busi- ness for himself. He first manufactured shell jew- elry and then horn goods. Later he sold the shell department out and continued in the horn button business until his death, January 24, 1892. His death was caused from the wounds received in time of the war, when he was wounded in the side and arm. Mr. Proctor was a stanch defender of Repub- lican principles and held local office, including select- man, auditor, etc. He attended the Congregational Church, and had taken the chapter degrees in Ma- sonry. He was also a member of the Good Temp- lars order, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.

In 1864 he married Lizzie S. W. Burdett, born December 6, 1842, daughter of Thomas and Sarah

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E. ( Woodbury) Burdett, of Clinton, Massachusetts. The following children were born to them: Jo- seph F., August 1. 1805, died October 2, 1867: Emma L., August 30. 1868, now lives in Oxford; Fannie E., August 29, 1870, now in Northboro, Massachu- setts; Charles Burgett. November 12, 1873, lives in Boston, Massachusetts; Fred. Josiah, November 1, 1875; Harriet Davis, March 16, 1870: George Ellis, March 26, 1883; Evelyn Mary, July 18, 1885; Edwin Woodbury, October 5. 1887.

CYRUS HARTWELL MENTZER. of North- boro, Massachusetts, was born at Sterling, Massa- chusetts, January 23, 1844, son of Cyrus and Mary Salome (Fay) Mentzer. The paternal grandfather was Phillip Andrew Mentzer, of Germany. Cyrus Mentzer ( father ) was born at Westford, Massachını- setts, 1818, died 1892. He was educated at Stow, Massachusetts, and engaged in farming, which he car- ried on all of his life, beginning on the farm of Colonel Joseph Davis, but later (about 1843) bought a place of his own. In political views he was a Re- publican and in church connection a Unitarian. He married Mary Salome Fay, of Northboro, Massachu- setts, born 1812, died 1892. She was the daughter of William Fay, of Northboro, and wife Lydia Bab- cock. Their children were as follows: Cyrus Hart- well, see forward; Lydia Augusta, born March 29, 1846, married Walter Valentine, of Northboro, Mas- sachusetts, and they have had nine children, eight of whom are living; Mary Ellen, born May 29, 1851, married Elliot Sawyer, and they have one child, Florence; Thornton E., born June 12, 1854, married Mary E. Mack, of Northboro, Massachusetts, the daughter of C. J. and Rosa N. (Crawford) Mack, of Maine ; their children are: Everit Cornelius, Albert William, Leila, Eleanor and Clara; Emma Pende- grass, married (first) Lyman Morse, of Berlin, Massachusetts, (second) Dr. Joseph L. Harriman, of Hudson.

Cyrus Hartwell Mentzer moved with the family, when quite young, to Northboro, where he was ·educated. In 1862, at the age of eighteen, he enlisted in Company A, Fifty-first Massachusetts Regiment, from Northboro, Massachusetts, remaining in the Union army, serving in defense of his country, until July 27, 1863. He was in the battles of Whitehall, Kingston and Goldsboro. Upon his return from the army he settled at Northboro, working with his father. Since 1803, he has been engaged in the undertaking business. For two years he lived at Woburn and the same length of time at Reading, Massachusetts. In politics he is a Republican and in church matters is of the Unitarian faith. He has been one of the selectmen for seven years, super- intendenc of streets, and is at present superintendent of the cemetery. Mr. Mentzer is connected with the Masonic fraternity, and is a public spirited citizen.

He married (first), in 1872, to Abbie Maria Nelson, of Reading, born February 4. 1875. daugh- ter of Hiel J. Nelson. He married ( second), June 24, 1885, Irene Harris, daughter of William B. and Eliza M. (Murray ) Harris, born at Woburn, Mas- sachusetts, June 3. 1854. Her parents were from Hill, New Hampshire.

THOMAS FRANCIS MURPHY. Commercial travelers-than whom there are no better judges of hotel accommodations-are accustomed to estimate the business possibilities of a community by the char- acter of its leading hostelry. Given a centre of popu- lation, great or small, where the visitor is ill-fed and uncomfortably housed, and there will be found a lack

of enterprise generally and that traveling salesman is usually the most fortunate whose sales are small- est. On the other hand where good and abundant fare, well furnished rooms and up-to-date accommo- dations generally can be obtained, prosperous busi- ness conditions will prevail. The one cannot exist without the other. From this point of view South- bridge, Massachusetts, will commend itself instantly to every guest of the Hotel Columbia, and its pro- prietor thereof may be justly numbered among the public benefactors of that locality.

Thomas Francis Murphy is a native of Worces- ter, county, born in Brookfield, February 22, 1858, eldest of the children of Patriek and Ellen (Hasie) Murphy. He completed his education at Brookfield high school and thereafter learned various branches of shoe-making in Brookfield factories, being sub- sequently employed in the same lines of work in East Pepperell and Ashland, an aggregate period of fifteen years. Industry, thrift and economy char- acterized this period of employment and put him in possession of sufficient means to establish a hotel in his native place. In 1894 he built the Hotel Metropole at Brookfield and continued its successful conduet for ten years. As a citizen of Brookfield Mr. Murphy was a prominent factor in advancing ; the interests of that town wherever opportunity was afforded. He took an active part in securing the location there of the C. H. Moulton and Burt shoe factories, and is now one of the three owners of the latter property. In 1905 he removed to Southbridge, where he had purchased the property now known as Hotel Columbia, which he furnished and equipped generally for first-class hotel purposes, and has since conducted the establishment in such a way as to win the favor of the traveling public and the ap- preciation of his fellow townsmen. Politically Mr. Murphy affiliates with the Democratic party, and his fraternal connection is with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Knights of Columbus, In- dependent Order of Red Men, Order of Hibernians and Royal Areanum.

He married, January 23, 1888, Margaretta, dauglı- ter of Richard and Margaretta (Dorlan) Blake. Mr. and Mrs. Murphy have had three children, two of whom survive: William, born July 16, 1893, and Helen Marguerite, born February 7, 1895. A son Jolin, born in January, 1897, died in 1899. The family are members of St. Mary's parish.

PROFESSOR SAMUEL TAYLOR MAY- NARD, of Northboro, Massachusetts, was born at Hardwick, Massachusetts, December 6, 1845. He is the son of William and Sarah (Nourse) Maynard. The paternal grandfather was Taylor Maynard, who married Betsy Babcock.

William Maynard ( father) was born on the old Coolidge place at Northboro, Massachusetts, De- cember 26, 1812, died October 7. 1889. He was educated at the Northboro schools, and during his earlier life worked at the shoemaking trade; also farmed and run a market wagon to Boston for six years. Ile followed his calling as a farmer at vari- ous places, including Hardwick, and shoe making at Harvard, South Berlin and Northboro. He was a stanch Republican and held the offices of school committeeman, overseer of the poor and was always

public-spirited. He was connected with the Uni- tarian Church. He married Sarah Nourse, of Bol- ton, born September 29, 1815, died April 12, 1890. She was the daughter of Samuel and Betsy ( Moore) Nourse, of Bolton, Massachusetts. The children born to them were: Waldo B., born March 16, 1838, died in the army, September 24, 1862, from

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a wound received at the battle of Antietam: Char- lotte, born July 6, 1842, married Levi W. Whitcomb, of Northboro, Massachusetts, and had children -- Sarah .A., born March, 1869, became the wife of William Finan; Ralph M., and Herbert A., born July 26, 1873; Samuel T., see forward: Caleb, born January 15, 1847, died March 22, 1869; William Austin, born February 15, 1849, married Emma Brown, of Keene, New Hampshire, and they have two children; Charles, born October 14, 1851, mar- ried Mrs. Josie Wilson; Ella, born August 9, 1854. married Levi Taft, of Mendon, and now resides at Lansing, Michigan; they have four children-two sons and two daughters.

Professor Samuel Taylor Maynard accompanied his parents from Hardwick, his native town, when six months of age, to Harvard, where the family lived about three years and moved to Northboro, Berlin and again to Northboro, respectively. He was schooled in the various common schools of the towns where his parents lived, and then entered the Massachusetts College of Agriculture, from which institution he graduated in 1872. For three months after his graduation he went as foreman for the Nonantum Hill Nursery at Brighton. From that position he went to the College of Agriculture again as its assistant professor of horticulture, and then became professor of botany and horticulture. Hc was connected with this institution for thirty-four years, as student and teacher, as well as a director of horticultural experiments, Since severing his connection with that college, which was in 1904. Mr. Maynard has been conducting a fruit farm and doing landscape gardening. His time is occupied at small fruit growing, some nursery work, and writing, more or less, for horticultural papers. Hc is the assistant editor of Suburban Life. Politically he is a supporter of the Republican party, and is a member of the Unitarian Church.

Professor Maynard married (first), in 1873, Mary Eddy, born 1851, died in 1882. She was the daughter of Elisha and Lucy Baldwin, of Westboro. They had the following children: Howard Eddy, born 1878, married Bertha Newhall, of Lynn, Mas- sachusetts; he is a graduate of Worcester Poly- technic School and a Massachusetts Agricultural College, and resides at Boonton, New Jersey. Alice Elizabeth, born May 22, 1876, a graduate of Smith College and is now a music teacher in the public schools of Wilton, New Hampshire. Professor Maynard married (second) Amy Barnes, of North- boro, daughter of George and Mary Lincoln, of Northboro. By this union there are two children : Edna Barnes, born August 2, 1896; Edward Barnes, born at Amherst, May 29, 1898.

SPARROW FAMILY. Phillip S. Sparrow, born at Plainfield, Vermont, July 19, 18II, was the son of Phillip Sparrow, of Middleboro, Massachu- setts, whose wife was Deborah Doty, of Rochester, Massachusetts. Phillip S. Sparrow accompanied his parents to Lisbon, Ohio, where he remained for ten ycars. All the school advantages he received was in that place. From Ohio he moved to Montpeiler, Vermont, when fifteen years old, where he resided several years, going from that place to Boston, Massachusetts. He remained in Boston two or three years, then went to Milford and finally settled in Medway and became a shoemaker. The last years of his life he farmed. The date of his death was September 1, 1897. He married Laura Emily Shep- ard, of Wrentham, Massachusetts, daughter of Chickery and Relief (Gilmore) Shepard, who was born in Raynham, Massachusetts. Mr. Sparrow was

an Odd Fellow and Mason and had been connected with these orders fifty years at the time of his death. Politically he voted the Republican ticket, and the latter part of his life attended the Congregational Church. His children were: Laura Frances, horn at Medway, Massachusetts, July 22, 1838, now of Northboro. Hermon Solon, born February 14, 1841, was killed at the battle of Cedar Mountain, in 1862; he was a member of Company E, Second Massachu- setts Volunteers. Lewis Addison, born at Med- way, Massachusetts, May 2, 1847, receiving his edu- cation in his native town, lle was a chemist for the Bowker Fertilizer Company, and was the super- intendent of the works for twenty-five years. He attended Amherst Agricultural College at Amherst and was a graduate of the class of 1871. He was the first man to from Norfolk county to this insti- tution. He taught school in Plainfield, Berkshire county, for six months, after which he went to Boston and engaged with the fertilizer company. August 13, 1900, he moved to Northboro from Bos- ton. Politically he is identified with the Republi- can party. He married in South Deer Isle, Maine, December 1, 1878, Carrie Emma Webb, of Deer Isle, Maine; she was born March 11, 1851, at Springfield, Massachusetts, the daughter of Jason and Caroline S. (Raines) Webb. By this marriage one child was born: Hermon Lewis, January 20, 1880; he married Ida May Martin, of Northboro, Massachusetts, and they have two children: Laura Elizabeth, born at Northboro, December 27, 1903 ; and Esther, born at the same place August 4, 1905.

RICHARD GEORGE GASKILL, an expert spin- dle maker residing in Hopedale, belongs to the well- known Gaskill family of that locality and is a de- scendant in the ninth generation of Edward Gas- kill, the founder of the family in America, who settled in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1637. The fam- ily has been a prominent one in Mendon and vi- cinity for considerably more than one hundred and fifty years. Samuel Gaskill, a great-grandson of Edward, settled in the south parish of Mendon (now Blackstone) in 1736. and from him the line of descent is through Ebenezer, son of Samuel, and Samuel, son of Ebenezer to Nahum Gaskill, who was of the seventh generation in direct line of de- scent from the original Edward, and the grand- father of Richard G. Gaskill.

Nahum Gaskill was a prominent farmer and busi- ness man of Mendon, and his death occurred in 1863 at the age of seventy-two years. He married Sarah Southwick and reared a family of twelve children, namely : John S., Samuel, Hannah, Olive, Micajah C., Mary T., Almira E., Gilbert, Nahum, Richard G., Lewis B. and Albert W., all of whom became heads of families, and the most of them attained a good old age. The family is one of the oldest as well as one of the most prominent in this section of the county, and a more detailed account of its early history will be found in a sketch of Lewis B. Gaskill, which appears elsewhere in this work.

Richard George Gaskill, Sr., the father of Rich- ard G. Gaskill, Jr., was born in Mendon, March 16, 1827. He turned his attention to farming at an early age and followed it successfully during the active period of his life. He married (first) Caroline Briggs, who bore him a son, Richard George; he married (second) Serinda Brooks.

Richard George Gaskill, Jr., was born in that part of Milford which is now Hopedale, March 15, 1857. After the conclusion of his attendance at the pub- lic schools he adopted mechanical pursuits, entering

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as an apprentice the spindle works at Hopedale owned and operated by the Westcott family. He not only took kindly to this occupation but became an exceedingly skillful artisan, so much so in fact that in time he was looked upon as a permanent fixture in that establishment. He remained there until 1906 when he entered Drapers at Hopedale as an expert spindle maker, this being the sanie fac- tory wherein he learned his trade. In politics he is a Democrat with independent proclivities, and for some years has served as fire warden.

In 1883 Mr. Gaskill married Mary Peckham, daughter of John A. Peckham, of Rhode Island. Mr. and Mrs. Gaskill have two daughters-Mary E., born 1887, single; and Maria L., born 1889, single.

HERMAN STANLEY CHENEY, of South- bridge, a prominent figure among the people in this community, was born in that city, August 13, 1870, a son of Alpha Morse and Sarah (Cunningham) Cheney, of Southbridge, a manufacturer, whose family consisted of four children : Hannah Beecher, wife of Reuben F. Harrow; Ada Mabel, wife of F. A. Welbin: Carrie Naomi, wife of Herbert D. Wells; and Herman Stanley, and grandson of Mar- vin Cheney, of Southbridge, whose occupation was that of farming.

Herman S. Cheney obtained an excellent prepar- atory education in the common and high schools of Southbridge, and the knowledge thus acquired was supplemented by attendance at Phillips' Academy, Andover. and Amherst College, graduating from the latter institution in the class of 1894. He gained his first practical experience in business life by entering the employ of the American Optical Company, with which he was associated as employe and stock- holder for nine years, and since then he has de- voted his attenion to fancy farming, conducting the same in a practical and scientific manner. He is a director of the National Bank of Southbridge, and is one of the board of investment of Southbridge Savings Bank. The esteem in which he is held by his fellow-citizens is evidenced by the fact that he was chosen to fill the office of selectman, serving three consecutive years, 1891-2-3, and also elected a member of the school committee, being in his second term of service. He is an active and zealous worker in the ranks of the Republican party. He is a member of the Baptist Church. He has at- tained the thirty-second degree in Masonry, is a Knight Templar, a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Southbridge Club. the Pomham Club of Providence, Rhode Island, and the Psi Upsilon. Mr. Cheney married, June 22, 1897, Mabel Eleanor Chapin, daughter of Francis L. Chapin, and their children are: Stanley Morse, born November 17, 1898; Marvin Chapin, born June 25, 1900; Lawrence Bradford, born September 5, 1902; and Gilbert Cunningham, born May 19, 1904.

BALDWIN FAMILY. The Baldwins were among the earliest settlers in the town of Putney, Vermont. James Baldwin was born there, on the old home farm of his parents, for all the family were farmers in early days, although several of them engaged in other pursuits in connection with farm- ing. When quite young James Baldwin was bound out to a farmer, and attended school a part of the time while serving his apprenticeship. When nine- teen years old he himself became owner of a farm, and from that time until his death was an inde- pendent, thrifty farmer. He married Mary Hud- dleson. of Putney, and raised a family of children. Judithan Baldwin was a son of James Baldwin

and Mary Huddleson. He was born on his father's. farm, attended school in the town and afterward became a thrifty farmer; and more than that, he was a man of influence in town affairs; in politics a Republican. He married Annie Leslie, by whom he had one son, Franklin Baldwin, see forward. Franklin Baldwin was born on his father's farm in Westmoreland, Vermont, and moved to Putney, in 1816, and died at his own home in Grafton, Massachusetts, in 1896. His young life was spent 011 the farm, and he was educated in the Putney district schools. At the age of twenty-one he be- gan teaching in the vicinity of his home, but on account of poor healthi was compelled to seek some other employment. He then came to the neighbor- hood of Grafton, where he had relatives living, one of whom was engaged on the work of con- struction of the railroad from Boston to Worces- ter, and perhaps partially through his influence young Baldwin was induced to remain in that lo- cality and engage in business there. He liad a little money and plenty of independent spirit, and with these as capital he started a store and also became owner of a good farm. From that time until his death he was a merchant farmer, one of the leading men of the town. a strong Republican and an earnest attendant of the Baptist Church. At one time he was school director and chairman of the school board.

In 1846 Mr. Baldwin married Catherine Turner, a daughter of Duncan Turner, of Glasgow, Scot- land. She was born in Glasgow and came to Amer- ica when only six years old. Now aged eighty- five, she still lives in her comfortable home in Grafton. respected by all who know her and loved especially on account of her splendid christian spirit of humility and charity. She has been a widow ten years. and all her children are now dead. They were Catherine E., Charles and Henry Baldwin.

EZRA WOOD CHAPIN. of Northboro, Worcester county. Massachusetts, is of the old Chapin family of New England. whose history is treated at length in this work. His father, Caleb Taft Chapin, was a native of Uxbridge. Massachu- setts, and was educated in that town. Early in life he worked upon his father's farm, and at twenty years of age entered the employ of Luke Taft, the pioneer woolen manufacturer of the Blackstone Val- ley, where he remained several years, and later re- moved to Northboro, where he conducted a cassi- mere mill for several years with much success. He subsequently married Clarissa Wood Taft, eldest daughter of Luke Taft. They had three children, Eunice M., wife of Samuel M. Capron, of Hart- ford, Connecticut ; and twin boys, Edwin Fisk, who died in infancy, and Ezra Wood, see forward.

Ezra Wood Chapin was born in Uxbridge, June 7, 1836. He attended the schools of his native place, and when but a youthi removed with the family to Whitinsville and took private instructions in Ver- mont. At nineteen years of age he went to Cali- fornia, where he was eight years in the employ of the Wells Fargo Express Co. After his return, in 1863, he and his father purchased a woolen mill in Northboro, in which business he is now engaged. He employs about two hundred hands. Politically Mr. Chapin is a Republican, and has held local office, serving as one of the selectmen for several years. He is a member of the California Forty- niners Club. of Boston, and attends the Congrega- tional Church.

He married. in June. 1864, Ellen F. Cooper, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert D. Cooper, of

FRANKLIN BALDWIN

NO.IS

PUBLIC

Herman & Cheneys

PUBLIC

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Charlestown. Their daughter, Janet, born in 1870, became the wife of George B. Cutting, of Worces- ter. and their son, Ezra Chapin Cutting, is now (1906) nine years of age.

BALL FAMILY. Colonel Jonas Ball, Jr., was born in Southboro, Worcester county, Massachu- setts, May 4, 1768, and his wife, Dofly Taylor, was born December 6, 1762.

Nixon Ball, son of Jonas and Dofly (Taylor) Ball, was born in Southboro, January 24, 1789, and during the years of his active life was a man of prominence in the town. He was sent to the com- mon schools of his town and there gained a good elementary education. His occupation in fife was farming, and he always lived on the old home farm and carried it on successfully, for he was a prac- tical farmer as he was a practical, common-sense man in all his business transactions. In politics he was a firm Republican, but never sought political honors; at one time he held the town office of road commissioner. He was a communicating mem- ber of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Mr. Bait's wife was Betsey Brigham, of Templeton, by whom he had six children : Marshall Spur, born June 13, 1814, died in Savannah, Georgia; Jonas Martin, born January 21, 1816, deceased; Lewis Franklin. born June 2, 1819, married Martha Morse, of Southboro, and had two children-Nixon and Betsey Baff; died June 10, 1872: Elizabeth Ann, born October 28, 1820, died September 1, 1821; Sullivan Taifor, born September 15, 1822, a business man and farmer of Southboro for many years and now retired from active pursuits; Mary Elizabeth, born October 16, 1825. deceased.

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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. III, Part 90

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 772

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 772