USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 71
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(VII) Russell L. Snow, son of Russell Snow (6), was born at Orleans, October 16, 1834. He received a common school educa- tion in his native town. When he was sixteen years old he went to sea with his father. When he was twenty years old he decided to take up a trade other than the sea, and learned carpen- tering in East Boston. He worked until 1858 when, having saved a hundred dollars, he went home and attended a private school kept by Jonathan Higgins, of Orleans, afterwards a lawyer. In April, 1858, Mr. Snow came to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to work on houses then building on Magazine street, and entered the employ of his cousin, James Sparrow, a builder, who worked on the old Harding place on Cambridge street. He then went to Savan- nah, where he worked five months, returning to Cambridge and building there a house for himself during the fall and winter. This house is at 190 Hamilton street. He enlisted Sep- tember 3, 1862, for nine months, in Company I, Forty-third Massachusetts Volunteer Regi- ment, under Captain Tyler, and having served his term of enlistment in the army was must- ered out at Readville, Massachusetts, July 30, 1863.
Returning to his home in Cambridge he worked a year for the firm of Blodgett & Rhodes, helping build, among other structures, the high school building. In 1865 Mr. Snow began in the building and contracting business on his own account, his firm being Rhodes & Snow. In 1871 this partnership was dissolved, and since then he has been in business alone. He built the residence of J. G. Thorp, Sr., now occupied by his daughter. Mrs. Ole Bull, widow of the celebrated violinist. The music room of the house is beautifully finished in teakwood, carved in India by native artists, and put into place by Mr. Snow himself. He built the Avon Home for Children in Cam- bridge, the Gilman School building; the Browne & Nichols private school building ; the
residence of Colonel Thomas Wentworth Hig- ginson ; the residence of Professor Laughlin ; the Radcliffe College buildings the first being a house on Appian Way, for Professor Whit- ney, altered into a chemical laboratory; the residence of Professor Whitney; three large double houses near the corner of Harvard and Trowbridge streets, for Professor Horsford; the Nurses' Home at the City Hospital; the Ward for Contagious Diseases at the City Hospital ; the residence for Woodward Emery, of Cambridge; the residence for J. G. Thorp, Jr., and many other residences and other build- ings in Cambridge and vicinity. Mr. Snow is a charter member of John A. Logan Grand Army Post. He has been a member of Pros- pect Street church since 1861, and has been deacon for thirty years. He is a Republican in politics, casting his first vote for John C. Fremont. He married Phebe Snow, at Or- leans, Massachusetts. She was born October 9, 1833, and died September 21, 1899, the daughter of Captain Azariah Snow, a sea cap- tain. They had no children. He married, sec- ond, March 12, 1901, Cordelia H. Snow, sister of his first wife. She died at Cambridge, May 24, 1906.
KITSON The English surname Kitson is of ancient origin, belonging to the same class as Dickson, Jackson, Billson, and others, derived from nicknames of Richard, John, William, etc. "Kit" is the nickname for Christopher. In this same class of names we find all the sur- names composed of a proper name with "son" added, and these names are older even than the use of surnames in England and in the Scandinavian countries whence they came.
The seat of the most prominent branch of the Kitson family in ancient days was Hen- grave, county Suffolk, England. The follow- ing coat-of-arms had been used by this family probably many years before the date of con- firmation, February 13, 1568: Sable three trouts (or lucies) hauriant argent a chief ar- gent. Crest: A unicorn's head argent attired and mailed or environed with palisades of the last. Another crest in use by the same fam- ily: On a mount or in flames proper a uni- corn's head sable. Only one other Kitson coat- of-arms is given by Burke: Paly of six argent and azure on a chief gules three bezants.
(I) John Kitson was a prominent manufac- turer of card clothing in Cleckheaton, York- shire, England, descendant of an ancient and honorable family of that county.
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(II) Richard Kitson, son of John Kitson (I), was born in 1814, in Cleckheaton, York- shire, England, and received his early educa- tion in the schools of his native place. He learned the card clothing business in which his father was engaged, and with whom he became associated in business. He was nat- urally a good mechanic and of an inventive turn of mind, and he found a profitable field for his genius in devising machinery used in the manufacture of cloth. When a young man he invented and patented a very import- ant machine for manufacturing needle-pointed card teeth for card clothing used in the tex- tile mills. This machine produced a revolu- tion in the card clothing business, becoming a necessity to every manufacturer of card clothing in the world, and the principle is still in general use. He succeeded to his father's business, but was unfortunate in losing heav- ily through the dishonesty of business asso- ciates. In 1849 his patent was about to ex- pire in England, so he decided to seek new and larger opportunities in America, and at the urgent request of Francis A. Calvert, then an active member of the firm of Aldrich, Tyng & Company, of Lowell, he located in that city. Mr. Calvert was a personal friend, and his firm used large quantities of needle- pointed card clothing and had reasons. for wanting it manufactured in this country. Moreover, Lowell was the center of the cot- ton manufacturing district through which the Merrimac river flows and for which it furn- ishes power. Mr. Kitson had his card cloth- ing made in Lowell for Mr. Calvert's firm and other mills, and the demand for his machine and this kind of card clothing grew very rap- idly. Mr. Kitson's first factory in Lowell was removed when Broadway was laid out. He had at first had his machines made by other manufacturers. In 1860 he purchased land in the rear of the present Kitson machine shop, on which stood an old school house. A por- tion of this land was taken by the city in the extension of Worthen street, and he pur- chased the land on which the present works are located and began the erection of the Kit- son machine shop, which has since its com- pletion been enlarged from time to time as business increased. In 1874 a corporation was formed to take over the business under the name of the Kitson Machine Company, with Mr. Kitson president, and he remained at the head of affairs until his death, July 14, 1885. From the outset he was successful, not only with his original invention but with many oth- ers of importance. He succeeded in remodel-
ing and improving the picker, and in 1852 he invented a single cotton opening machine which became very popular and was used ex- tensively in the textile world. He was the first to introduce the needle-pointed cylinder to take the place of a beater in the Whitin lapper and other makes, and built many thou- sand of them. This device enabled manufac- turers to use Surat India cotton, which they could not use otherwise to advantage. He afterwards turned his attention to the manu- facture of machinery for opening and clean- ing cotton, developing the "trunk" system for opening and cleaning cotton fibre from the crude condition in which he found it-a con- dition dangerous for operatives and costly to the mills, and through his inventive skill and thorough knowledge of the needs and possi- bilities of cotton manufacture he brought the machinery to its present perfected state. He patented a "preparer" to attach to the ordi- nary lapper as an opener, effecting a large saving in manufacturing, and achieving great popularity. Other patents of international importance were secured by Mr. Kitson on his devices both in the United States and for- eign countries. He will be long remembered as one of the great inventors in the period of development of cotton machinery, and Amer- ica and his native land divide the honors of his citizenship. In 1902 a building containing two hundred and forty thousand square feet was added to the Lowell Textile School, bear- ing the name of Kitson Hall, in his honor. At the entrance was placed a bronze tablet bearing the following inscription:
1902
Kitson Hall Erected in Honor of Richard Kitson Inventor of Cotton Machinery and founder of The Kitson Machine Shop. Born in England July 3, 1814 Died in Lowell July 13, 1885
A resident of Lowell for nearly forty years. Charlotte Parker Kitson Emma Kitson Stott Kitson Machine Co.
For many years Mr. Kitson was a devoted member and constant attendant of the Kirk Street Congregational Church. He had, how- ever, but few interests outside his family and
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business. He owed his success in life entirely to his own mechanical and inventive skill, his energy and foresight. He had the rare com- bination of inventive genius and business ability, and developed one of the important industries of the city of Lowell. In making his own fortune he was of material aid in the development of the city itself. Withal, pru- dent, temperate and economical; universally respected for his nobility of character and sol- id, sterling worth. At the time of his death the Lowell Daily Courier said of him: "Rich- ard Kitson, the well known patentee and manufacturer of cotton machinery, died at his home, 413 Merrimack street, near Pawtucket street, a few minutes before two o'clock this afternoon. He had been in failing health for the past two or three months, having caught cold in April, from which he never fully re- covered." Rev. Mr. Dickinson, who officiated at the funeral, paid a feeling tribute to his no- bility of manhood. He spoke of him as "pre- senting a clear-cut, full-rounded, Christian manhood, a character that outvies alabaster and outlives marble. His death was an irre- parable loss to the community, which has lost a part of its strength and integrity; the church which has lost a faithful supporter; and to his home; and yet there was much about him that death could not take. He who is most a man on earth leaves most to comfort those who mourn him in death. Richard Kitson belonged to that few who have been di- rectly instrumental in promoting the world's material progress. Out of his brain grew some of the most important inventions which have helped to decrease and simplify labor. He took out over one hundred patents, all relating to the initiatory stages of textile man- ufacture. His mind dwelt constantly on me- chanical devices. His brain was full of con- trivances for saving trouble and facilitating labor. As a man he was characterized by a modesty that was almost self-distrust. Gen- tle, delicately solicitous of the welfare of oth- ers; never overbearing nor dictatorial; free from suspicion and jealousy; his kindness of heart was the glory of his character." His principal delight was to aid all deserving and ,well-meaning young men to succeed in life, because he himself knew the difficulties and hardships.
Mr. Kitson married, in 1837, Sarah Rey- nolds, of Leeds, England Not a little of his success in life was due to her cheerful com- panionship, wise counsel and helping hand. In the most trying hours he found strength and
comfort in her sympathy and devotion. They were together as man and wife forty-eight years. She survived him until 1897. Togeth- er they shared the pleasure of helping others, giving to the needy at every opportunity, un- ostentatiously, kindly and sympathetically. The Lowell Times said: "The mention of Mr. Kitson's labors would be incomplete without allusion to the assistance and co-op- eration of his faithful and gifted wife, and it is but just to refer to the peculiar and happy manner in which Mrs. Kitson supplemented the talents of her husband with rare business sagacity and aided very materially to round out to perfection a business career of unusual success and usefulness to the manufacturing world in which he strove."
Children of Richard and Sarah (Reynolds) Kitson: I. Child died in infancy. 2. Char- lotte Parker. 3. James Parker. 4. Elizabeth Ann. 5. William. 6. Lucy, married S. E. Stott. 7. Emma, married Thomas Stott. (See sketch of Stott family).
John Keene, the immigrant an-
KEENE cestor, was born in England in 1678. His name is spelled in the early records Keen, Kean, Kein, and all other ways that suggest themselves. He came in the ship "Confidence" from Southampton, Eng- land, sailing April II, 1638, with his wife Martha and children, John, Eliza, Martha, Jo- siah and Sarah. He settled at Hingham, Mas- sachusetts, and was an inn-holder. He died at Hingham. Children of John and Martha Keene: I. John, married in Boston, 1662. 2. Eliza. 3. Martha. 4. Josiah, mentioned be- low. 5. Sarah.
(II) Josiah Keene, son of John Keene (I), was born in London, England, about 1620, and came with his parents on the ship "Con- fidence" in 1638. He removed from Boston , to Hingham and thence to Marshfield, Massa- chusetts, near Duxbury. He married (first) at Marshfield, Abigail Little or Littell ; married (second), in 1665, Hannah Dingley, daughter of John Dingley. He was on the grand jury from Duxbury in 1689. The town confirmed to him a tract of thirty acres February 24, 1696-97, land that his son Josiah, Jr., had bought of Francis West on Pudding brook ad- joining land of Josiah Keene, Sr. He died probably soon after this date. Children of Josiah and Abigail Keene: I. Josiah, Jr., men- tioned below. 2. Daughter, died young. Chil- dren of Josiah and Hannah Keene: 3. John,
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born 1667, ancestor of the shipbuilders of this name. 4. Mathew. 5. Ephraim. 6. Hannah, married, 1696, Isaac Oldham. 7. Elizabeth. 8. Abigail. 9. Sarah.
(III) Josiah Keene, son of Josiah Keene (2), was born in Marshfield, Massachusetts, about 1660. He had land laid out to him Feb- ruary 21, 1690, in Duxbury, and was doubt- less then of age. Soon afterward he bought nine acres of land on Pudding brook, Dux- bury. He had a tract of thirty acres laid out to him by the town of Duxbury, February 24, 1696-97, mentioned above, as confirmed to his father. He was a grand juror in 1703, and was then called "Jr." He married, about 1681, Lydia Baker. Children, born at Dux- bury : I. Benjamin, born July 26, 1682. 2. Josiah, Jr., born September 27, 1683, died young. 3. Abigail, born April 7, 1686. 4. Eleanor. 5. Lydia. 6. Josiah, soldier in the campaign against the Spanish in West Indies. 7. Nathaniel, born November 1I, 1692. 8. Bethia. 9. Samuel, married, April 18, 1719, Ruth Sprague. 10. Isaac. II. Hezekiah, born August 8, 1702, mentioned below.
(IV) Hezekiah Keene, son of Josiah Keene (3), was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts, August 8, 1702, and died December 27, 1770. He married Alice Howland, born October 30, 1709, died October 13, 1785. Children, born at Duxbury : 1. Prince. 2. Charles. 3. Mark. Robert. 5. Alice. 6. Diana. 7. Bethia, 4. died May 19, 1781. 8. Hezekiah, Jr., died December, 1809. 9. Daniel, born December 30, 1748, mentioned below. 10. Mary. II. William.
(V) Daniel Keene, son of Hezekiah Keene (4), was born in Duxbury, December 30, 1748, and died July 23, 1827. He settled at Bristol, Maine, where he was a prominent farmer. He married, July 2, 1784, Lucy Free- man. Children: I. Abdon, born June 15, 1785, lost at sea November 16, 1831. 2. Mark, born February 2, 1787, died September 28, 1845. 3. Catherine T., born January 6, 1789, died April 28, 1877. 4. Howland, born May 3, 1792, mentioned below.
(VI) Howland Keene, son of Daniel Keene (5), was born in Bristol, Maine, May 3, 1792, and died July 14, 1876. (The family records from which most of the dates in this sketch are taken is in the possession of Abdon W. Keene, of Winthrop, Massachusetts. He resided at Appleton, Maine. He married Fannie Soule. Children : I. Reuben. 2. Asa Howland. 3. Galen, mentioned below. 4. Mary. 5. Eliza.
(VII) Galen Keene, son of Howland Keene
(6), was born in Maine. He removed from Bremen to Appleton, Maine, and married Statira Sprague. Children: I. Abdon W., born April 14, 1845. 2. Annie L. 3. Noah A. 4. Mary A. 5. Ansel. 6. Lillie U. 7. Sidney B., born January 10, 1861, mentioned be- low.
(VIII) Sidney B. Keene, son of Galen Keene (7), was born in Appleton, Maine, January 10, 1861. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, working with his father at home on the farm until twenty years of age. He started in his busi- ness career in Boston. He became a salesman for the firm of Foster, Weeks & Company, wholesale dealers in hay. In 1891 he was ap- pointed weigher and inspector of hay in the city of Boston, a position he held for seven years. He is at present a salesman connected with the firm of Gilmore, Smith & Company, 604 Chamber of Commerce Building, Boston, dealers in hay, and he is well known to the trade throughout New England. Since Sep- tember 1, 1887, Mr. Keene has made his home in Somerville. His residence is at 56 Fells- way West, Somerville. He has been active in political life. For seven years he was a member of the Republican city committee and treasurer for four years. He served in the Somerville board of aldermen in 1904-05-06, and during his last year was president of the board and ex-officio member of the school board. In 1907 he was representative from the twenty-fifth Middlesex district in the general court, an active and efficient member of the committees on water supply and library, and clerk of both these committees. In religion he is a Universalist. He is a director of the Winter Hill Co-operative Bank, vice-president of the Board of Trade, vice-president of the Sons of Maine in Somerville.
He married, at Waltham, Massachusetts, December 25, 1883, Helen A. Wilson, daugh- ter of Otis D. and Grace (Pendleton) Wilson, whose other children were: Manly O., Lester A., Everard A. and Edmund Wilson. Edmund Wilson, father of Otis D., and grandfather of Helen A. (Wilson) Keene, married thrice. Children of Edmund and Susan Wilson: Ira, Parker, Martha Wilson and four who died in infancy ; child of Edmund and second wife : Horace; children of Edmund and third wife, Betsey (Young) Wilson : Joseph, Helen, Otis D., mentioned above, Alonzo and Maria Wilson. Thomas Pendleton was the father of Grace Drinkwater, her mother. Mr. and Mrs. Keene had one son, who died in infancy.
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Henry McGill, born in Scot- McGILL land, about 1790. The name of his wife is not known. His son (II) John McGill, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, August 1, 1829. He died February, 1885. He came to Boston when a young man and settled in Charlestown, now a part of Boston. He was a painter and grainer, mak- ing a specialty of the latter business. The last years of his life his residence was in Charlestown. He married Emily Catherine Williams, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, July 4, 1829. She was the daughter of an English army officer who was stationed there at that time. Children of John and Emily Catherine (Williams) McGill, born in Bos- ton: I. John H., born December 25, 1854. 2. Edwin, born February 17, 1859, married Jen- nie B. Dowst, of Salem. 3. Mary, born March 9, 1865, married George Frank Perry. 4. Francis, born January 17, 1868, married Eunice Perry. 5. George William, born May, 1872, married Eva Colton.
(III) John Henry McGill, son of John and Emily Catherine (Williams) McGill, was born in Boston, December 25, 1854. He has had quite a remarkable career. At the age of six- teen, when through the grammar school, while he was thinking of trying for a place in some counting room, or store, an opportunity came to him unexpectedly to go to New Brunswick for Lombard & Company. They had important interests in some quarries in the provinces, and Mr. McGill, who was rather delicate in health, and did not weigh one hundred pounds, was invited to go down there and make himself generally use- ful, to be paid one hundred dollars and his board for the open season when the quarries could be worked. The opportunity to work sixteen hours a day and rough it seems to have agreed with him. He returned in No- vember with improved health, and with a reputation of doing successfully whatever he undertook to do. With him it was not a question of eight hours a day, but of sixteen hours, if there was work that needed to be done. The result was that his services were in demand, and he soon had an interest in the business, and became the manager of the New Brunswick quarries. Gradually the old pro- prietors retired, and he came into possession of the entire business and has enlarged it in many ways, though still under the old firm name of Lombard & Company, a name that has been known and honored in business circles for nearly one hundred years. He now operates stone quarries in England, as well
as in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. He is largely engaged in the preparation of stone for use in pulp mills, for the manufacture of paper, especially for newspapers. He also imports Mediterranean products, principally emery ore and figs. These products are brought by steamer and sailing vessels, chart- ered by him, to his wharves in Boston. He lived for some years in Chelsea, but later re- moved to West Medford, and built a fine resi- dence on Vernon street, corner of Mystic street. The mantel-pieces and hearth-stones in the fireplaces of his house are from his own quarries in England and the provinces. He belongs to the Charlestown Lodge of Odd Fellows, West Medford Neighborhood Club, and Medford Historical Society
Mr. McGill married Fannie Washburn Taylor, daughter of Thomas and Harriet (Washburn) Taylor, January 12, 1881. Chil- dren of John Henry and Fannie Washburn (Taylor) McGill: I. Harriet Emily, born November 9, 1881, at Ashland, Massachu- setts. 2. William Harland, born November 8, 1884, at Ashland, Massachusetts. 3. Wal- ter Lombard, born January 13, 1890, at Chel- sea, Massachusetts.
(I) James Taylor was born in Halifax, England, in 1795. When a young man he came to America and settled in Wiscasset, Maine. He married Harriet Allen, who was born in 1797. Children of James and Harriet (Allen) Taylor : William, James, Edmund, John, Sarah, Harriet, Thomas, born January 6, 1830; Joseph, Mary Ann, Emily, Charlotte, Martha, Richard.
(II) Thomas Taylor, son of James and Harriet (Allen) Taylor, born January 6, 1830, in Wiscasset, Maine. He came to Boston when a young man, and for many years has held an important position with R. H. White Company. He lives on Mystic street, West Medford, Massachusetts. He married Har- riet Washburn, October 3, 1853. Children of Thomas and Harriet (Washburn) Taylor: 1. Henry Washburn, born September 1, 1854, in Gardner, Maine. He married Cora Side- linger, December 24, 1881. They live in Al- ston, Massachusetts. 2. Fannie Washburn, born January 24, 1858, in Providence, Rhode Island; married John H. McGill. 3. Louise Marston, born May 31, 1866, at Chelsea. 4. Florence May, born September 24, 1867, at Chelsea.
(III) Fannie Washburn (Taylor) McGill was born January 24, 1858, married John Henry McGill, January 12, 1881. (See Mc- Gill genealogy for children). Mrs. Fannie
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Washburn (Taylor) McGill on her maternal line of ancestors is descended from Robert Paddock, who came from England to Plym- outh in 1634, through his son Zachariah, who settled in Yarmouth, Cape Cod. His son Zachariah was her great-great-grandfather. His grandson, Benjamin Paddock, married Phebe Leonard, of Middleboro. Their daugh- ter, Fannie Paddock, born in Taunton, in 1786, saw all the presidents of the United States up to the time of General Grant. Her uncle, Adino Paddock, set out the "Paddock elms," on Tremont street, Boston, adjoining the Granary burying-ground, and watered them. He kept a shop on Tremont street, Boston, was captain of a military company when Massachusetts was a province, but was a loyalist at the time of the Revolution. Ben- jamin Henry Paddock, bishop of the Protest- ant Episcopal church of Massachusetts, was of this family, also Bishop John Adams Paddock, of the state of Washington, and the Rev. Robert L. Paddock, of New York City, who has just been elected missionary bishop of eastern Oregon. Fannie Paddock, born 1786, married Henry Washburn, of Taunton. Their son, Bradford Washburn, of Taunton, married Harriet Lydia Burt, of Taunton. Harriet Washburn, their daughter, born Au- gust 17, 1837, married Thomas Taylor. Their daughter, Fannie Washburn Taylor, married John Henry McGill.
Thomas B. Fitzpatrick, FITZPATRICK concerned in large busi- ness interests in the city of Boston, is also widely known for his in- telligent effort and personal liberality in be- half of prominent educational institutions, and is known as one of the foremost Irish-Ameri- cans in Massachusetts. He was born in Graf- ton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, De- cember 17, 1844, son of Patrick and Mary (Gannivan) Fitzpatrick, who were the par- ents of other children, as follows : Maria Catherine, married Patrick Gilmartin. Annie, married John F. Eaton. Elizabeth, married John Fitzgibbon. James, married Josephine Williams. Margaret, married William J. O'Reilly. Patrick and Mary (Gannivan) Fitz- patrick were of Irish birth; they came to the United States, settling first in Grafton, Mas- sachusetts, and thence removing to Hopkin- ton, where they spent the greater part of their active years of life, becoming well known for their thrift and probity of character, and where their deaths occurred. Patrick Fitzpat-
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