History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1890, Part 48

Author: Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York : Blake
Number of Pages: 1292

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CAPTAIN ALBERT CHASE .- This much esteemed citizen of Hyannis is a descendant of William Chase, one of the original settlers of the plantation of Mattacheese in 1639, who came to the colony of New Plymouth in 1630 and resided at Roxbury and Scituate before his re- moval to the Cape. In the division of the plantation he was a resi- dent of Yarmouth, where he was appointed constable and collector in 1640. This ancestor, succeeded by a line of male representatives prominent in church and state, was worthily represented by Dea. Anthony Chase, of the Hyannis Baptist church, who was born in 1757

Albert these

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and died at the age of eighty-three, after a life of marked usefulness. His son, Anthony, was a resident of Yarmouth, where, in 1808, Albert Chase, the subject of this sketch, and the only survivor of this branch of the family, was born.

At the age of sixteen he shipped before the mast in the coasting and foreign merchant service, and by his diligent application, was advanced along the line of promotion until he was master, which re- sponsible position he filled in the packet service between New York and Boston for nearly a score of years before his retirement.

He married, September 7, 1830, Elizabeth P., daughter of Abner Taylor of Yarmouth, and only sister of Elisha Taylor of South Yar- mouth. Their only child, Amanda E. Chase, was born in 1833; she married Stephen Henton of Pennsylvania, and died a few months after. Mr. Chase resided at Hyannis Port prior to 1857, when he erected and removed to his present beautiful residence in Hyannis.

In 1860 he engaged with Joshua Baker in mercantile pursuits, of which an account has been given in the history of Hyannis village. Like his ancestors, lie is a supporter of the Baptist church, and in pol- itics is a type of the Jeffersonian school of democrats. He prefers the congenial home to any honors that can be conferred by office, and has persistently declined all proffers. He was once elected as one of the directors of the Hyannis Bank, in which he is interested, but even this encroachment upon his domestic habits was distasteful, and he soon resigned, although possessed of mature financial ability so valu- able to the board. In all business relations his conservative methods have produced eminent success and a competency for the decline of life. For more than half a century his public spirit, his enterprise, his ready counsel and material aid have advanced the worthy and philanthropic objects of his town.

Although he has recently passed the eightieth mile-stone of an ac tive life, he still bids fair for the enjoyment of a score of useful years in the practice of those virtues which have marked his life and made it a forcible illustration of how temperate living and regular employ- ment of mind and body may give length of days and bring those who practice them to the quiet harbor of a serene and hale old age.

Edward W. Childs, born in 1842, is a son of Captain Simeon C. Childs, whose father, David, was a son of Job Childs. Mr. Childs fol- lowed the sea in coasting about seventeen years, and was for nine months a soldier in the civil war. After the war he was for fifteen years variously engaged as foreman and inspector on contract con- struction of reservoirs and water works at New Bedford, Pawtucket, Lowell and Manchester. His present business is farming and cran- berry culture and poultry raising. His wife, F. Albertine, is a daugh- ter of Franklin and granddaughter of Nathaniel Freeman of Orleans.

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HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

William Childs, born 1819, is a son of Thomas and grandson of Job Childs, who was formerly a farmer at Centreville. His mother, Susanna, was a sister of Joseph Cammett. He followed the sea from the age of fourteen until about 1857, being master the last three or four years. He markets three hundred to four hundred barrels an- nually of Little River oysters from beds which he owns. His wife, Sophia, is a daughter of Daniel H. Sturges. They have had eleven children, six of whom reside here.

John F. Cornish was born in Plymouth in 1821. When thirteen years of age he came to Centreville, where he still lives. He is a car -- penter by trade. For ten years prior to 1854 he ran the stage from Sandwich to Hyannis, via South Sandwich, Cotuit, Osterville and Cen- treville. He was at sea, coasting, from 1854 to 1872. His wife is Eliza- beth B., born in Cotuit, daughter of Captain Asa and granddaughter of William Stevens of Plymouth. Their children are: John B. of Boston; Lizzie (Mrs. General Ayling of New Hampshire); and Sarah (Mrs. Dr. John E. Pratt of Sandwich). Mr. Cornish's father, Freeman, was born in South Plymouth about 1783, and his father, John Cornish,. is believed to have been born in Plymouth.

Alfred Crocker, born November 3, 1844, is a son of Loring, grand- son of Loring and great-grandson of William Crocker. He was en- gaged in the manufacture of salt with his father until twenty-nine years of age, after which he was for eight years railway postal clerk .. He was five years postmaster at Barnstable, and for the past nine years has been a member of the school cammittee, and is at present a. deputy sheriff. He was married November 19, 1872, to Mary A., daughter of George C. Davis. They have two children: Alfred, jr., and Hattie.

Benjamin F. Crocker, born 1822, is a son of Enoch, grandson of Joseph and great-grandson of Moses Crocker. Enoch was manufac- turing shoes at Yarmouth Port several years with Charles Sears and Thomas Thacher. They ran a stage line from Yarmouth to Sand- wich. Joseph was a deacon in the West Parish church. Benjamin F. has resided at Hyannis since his return from California in 1852. His wife, Caroline, is a daughter of Dr. Moses R. Percival, the homœo- pathic pioneer of Maine. Their oldest son is Dr. Willard C. Crocker of Foxboro, Mass., and another son is studying medicine.

Charles C. Crocker, born 1831, is a son of Enoch and grandson of Samuel Crocker. In 1849 he began his present business, as noted in the Hyannis village history, and has continuously occupied his pres- ent shop since 1851. His wife is a daughter of Laban Hallett, de- ceased. He has two children: Welles H. and George F. Mr. Crocker was elected first selectman in March, 1884, and annually since.

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TOWN OF BARNSTABLE.

Eben B. Crocker', born 1854. is descended from Frederick W.6, David', Daniel', Job3, John2. William1. Eben B.' was deputy sheriff here from 1880 to March, 1887. when he began his first term as select- man. He has done the only ice business here for a period of eight or ten years. His wife, Ella D., is a daughter of Daniel Scudder of this town. The ancestor, William', was one of the First Comers of 1639.

Henry P. Crocker, merchant at Osterville, is a son of Brigham and grandson of Moody Crocker. His mother, Sophia, was a direct de- scendant from Governor Hinckley. Mr. Crocker was at sea twelve years prior to 1874, and then until 1884 was captain in coastwise mer- chant service.

Isaiah Crocker, son of Benjamin F. and grandson of Isaac Crocker, who once lived in West Barnstable, was born in Osterville in 1813. He married Eliza, daughter of William Holway of West Barnstable, and had six children: Edmund A., now of Boston; Mary E. (Mrs. Bar- ker, deceased), Martha W. (Mrs. Israel Crocker), Wallace F. (deceased),. William H., a teacher in the Osterville Grammar School, and Ellen (Mrs. Edward Spooner of Campello). The celebrated Crocker eel and fish spears are made by Mr. Crocker, who for nearly half a century has furnished those and other devices for capturing eels and fish. Israel Crocker, mentioned above, is a well-known merchant at Oster- ville. He was born near Scorton hill, where his father, John, and his grandfather, C. R. Crocker, who came from Wareham about 1800, lived.

Oliver Crocker, born 1822. is a son of Ezekiel and grandson of Joseph Crocker. He went to sea at seventeen years of age and fol- lowed whaling twenty-five years, making four voyages in the Arctic ocean and others in the Pacific and Indian oceans. His wife, Nancy, is a daughter of Benjamin Jones. Their children are: Oliver A., Fos- ter, Nannie E. (Mrs. George L. Hamblin) and Florence (Mrs. Rev. Frank W. Hamblin).

Oliver H. Crocker, born 1820, is a son of Benjamin F. and grand- son of Isaac Crocker. He was formerly a ship carpenter, but is now engaged in farming. His wife, Lurana, is a sister of Alvin Crosby, of Centreville. They have one son, William Oliver Crocker.

Zenas Crocker, born 1831. is a son of Zenas Crocker, whose father- was also named Zenas. He was at sea in early life, and in 1852 he- went to California, where he stayed seven years. He subsequently spent two years there. His present business is cranberry culture. He was married in Sandwich, Mass., to Susan A. Jones, a native of Vermont. Their children are: Hattie E., Zenas (who has four chil- dren, including a son Zenas), Ellen M. and Francis H. Crocker. Ellen. M. married Captain Daniel H. Handy, of Cotuit, January 8, 1890.

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HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

The Crosby family is largely represented at Centreville and Oster- ville by the descendants of Jesse Crosby (1732-1804). His father, Eb- enezer, was born in Brewster in 1706, where his father, Ebenezer, was born in 1675, he being the son of Rev. Thomas Crosby, an early preacher in Eastham, who came to New England with his father, Simon, in the ship Susan & Ellen, April 18, 1635. This Jesse Crosby had eleven children, the sons being Nathan, James, Allen, Jesse. Daniel, Andrew, Samuel and Lewis, the latter name alluding to the Mr. Lewis in whose family, at Centreville, Jesse was raised. Alvin Crosby, a retired merchant of Centreville, born in 1803, is a son of this Lewis Crosby. His wife. deceased. was Ploomy Kelley. Their only surviving child is Nancy G. (Mrs. Owen Crosby), whose two daughters are Emily F. and Minnie E.

Horace S. Crosby, born 1826, is a son of Andrew. third son of Dan- iel Crosby above named. He began business as boat builder in Os- terville in 1835, and during that year built the first sail boat ever used here, as at that time there was no other business of the kind within fifty miles of there. This boat building business is still carried on by his sons and nephews. He married Lucy A. Backus, of Marston's Mills, and has four sons. His son, Herbert F., the boat builder, was born in 1853, married Sarah Helen, daughter of Nathan West, and has five children: Eliott, Wilbur, Ethel, Herbert B., and Andrew W.

Charles H. Crosby, son of C. Worthington Crosby, was born in 1854. His wife, Edith M., is a daughter of Joseph and Persis H. Rob- bins. They have one daughter. Edna Browning, born August 19, 1878.

Allen Crowell, born in 1820, is a son of Abner and grandson of Abner Crowell, once a farmer at South Yarmouth. He went to sea when eleven years of age, and before he retired in 1887 had been forty-six years in command of schooners and ships in the merchant service. In 1843 he married Phoebe C. Miner, of Mystic, Conn. Their only son is Winthrop M. Crowell, of Cleveland, Ohio, and their only daughter, Phobe C., is the wife of Judge William P. Reynolds.

David Davis (Benjamin'. David3, James2, James1,) was born in 1845 in Barnstable. He was with the Walworth Manufacturing Company in Boston for thirteen years prior to 1877, when he opened the store near his residence, which he carried on until 1883, then removed to the store which he now occupies. His wife, Anna A. Peabody, is a remote descendant from George Peabody. They have four children: Henry C., James, Herbert N., and Edith A. It was Mr. Davis who discovered, on the farm which he now owns, the skeleton of Iyanough, which is now in Pilgrim Hall at Plymouth. The bones were identi- fied by the kettle in which the skull was found, and which was thought to be the one mentioned as part of the purchase price in a deed which the old chief gave.

Nathan Edson

RESIDENCE OF NATHAN EDSON,

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TOWN OF BARNSTABLE.

The Dimmock name here comes from Thomas Dimock of 1639, who was ordained as elder of the Barnstable church August 7. 1650, and died in 1658. Colonel Joseph Dimock (1734-1822) was a nephew of Thomas. He married Thankful Dimmock, and their only child, Hannah, married Ansel Bassett, a son of Nathaniel Bassett.

NATHAN EDSON .-- The progenitor of the Edson family in New Eng- land was Dea. Samuel Edson, who was born in England in 1612, and whose son Samuel was born in Salem, Mass., in 1645. In the third generation was Samuel, born 1690; his son Samuel was born in 1714. Dea. Noah Edson, born 1756. was the next in direct line. His son Eliphalet, born in Bridgewater, Mass., in 1788, married Polly Johnson, of Bridgewater, and removed, about 1809, to Yarmouth, where he died in 1858. They reared ten children, of whom four sons and two daugh- ters survive.

The fourth of the ten, and one of the survivors, is Nathan Edson, a worthy citizen of Barnstable. He was born in Yarmouth, September 16, 1817. His opportunity for an education was limited to the com- mon school, and when nineteen years of age he had also acquired a knowledge of his father's trade-cabinet-making. At the age of twenty, after a year's service in Boston, he went to Attleborough, Mass., where he engaged in clock-making one year, and then went to Philadelphia. In that city, with a partner, he carried on for three years the business of clock-making, until 1841, when he again engaged in cabinet-making, which business he continued fifteen years, employ- ing steam power and building up a large and important business, which in 1856 he sold to his brother. During this period he was sev- eral years a member of the council of the borough of West Philadel- phia, before its incorporation with the city, and for five years he was the librarian and managing officer of the Mechanics' Institute there.

In 1861 he removed to Barnstable and purchased the large farm which he has since occupied and managed. His success in agricul- tural pursuits is as marked as in mechanical, and has given him a prominent position among those most interested in its advancement. For the past twenty years he has been one of the directors of the Barnstable County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and also of the County Agricultural Society, being now a trustee of its Percival and Eldridge funds, and for nine years past he has been a member of the state board of agriculture.

Notwithstanding his agricultural duties, which, by his supervision and labor, have brought his farin to excel in broad meadows, corn fields and cranberry bogs, he has found time to satisfactorily serve the town many years as a selectman, overseer of the poor, assessor and in other important offices. His executive ability has been duly acknowledged for years by positions on the board of directors of agri-

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HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

cultural societies and the local banks, and the appreciation of his val- table services in school affairs has been shown by a re-election to the school board for nearly a quarter of a century. He is also now a trustee of the Hersey fund and an officer in the East parish, where he worships.

In private life he is as unostentatious and genial as in public. He was married May 31, 1838, to Miss Jane E. Messenger, of Attle- borough, Mass. They adopted an infant daughter, whom they named Clara A .; she is now the wife of Albert F. Edson, one of the princi- pal merchants of Barnstable. Their children are: Albert L., aged thirteen years, and Lottie H., aged twelve, who, with their parents, live in their grandfather's beautiful home.

Mr. Edson's name conpled with an enterprise is generally accepted as an earnest of its success and merit. Having passed the seventy- second mile-stone of life, he is still blessed with that vigor of mind and body which remain with the few, as nature's especial approval of those who keep her laws. Plain in his tastes and domestic in his habits, he has never sought public office, but in the autumn of 1889, as the candidate of the republican party, with which he has always been identified, he was chosen, after half a century's service in minor offices, to his present seat in the state legislature.

Eliphalet Edson' was born in the year 1815. He was in bus- iness in Brewster three years, and for eight years prior to 1856 he was a merchant in Orleans. From that time until 1886 he was in the West, representing a New York mercantile firm. He was married, January 1, 1840, to Ruth A., daughter of Simeon Higgins, of Orleans. She died June 26. 1856, leaving two sons: Edwin W. and Albert F. The present Mrs. Edson is Eliza L., daughter of Nathan Hallett, of Yarmouth. She has one son, Nelson Hallett Edson, born in 1867.

Elisha B. Fish, born 1852, is a son of Elisha H. Fish and Mary A., a daughter of Reuben Fish (1769-1852), and granddaughter of Reu- ben Fish, who was born in 1738 and died in 1809, in an old house built here about 1717. In this house " Father Taylor."-the sailors' mission- ary-often held meetings. On the site of this old house Elisha B. Fish built his present residence in 1887. He followed the sea from 1867 to 1871. He then turned his attention to music, and is now engaged in teaching music and dancing. His wife, Florence S., is a daughter of Heman C. Crocker. They have one son, Carl F. Fish.

Heman Fish was born in West Barnstable in 1807 and died in Barnstable in 1887. He did a business as baker here in an early day, his partner in the business being David Snow, who was afterward a merchant and banker in Boston. Mr. Fish subsequently engaged in farming. His wife, who survives, is Ann, a daughter of Nathaniel, granddaughter of George, and great-granddaughter of Nathaniel

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713. Glass

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TOWN OF BARNSTABLE.

Gorham. Mrs. Fish, now seventy-four years old, is the oldest living representative of the Gorham family in this line. She has one sister, Cordelia-Mrs. George Phinney, of Waltham, Mass. Their father, Nathaniel Gorham, was a shoemaker by trade, but carried on a suc- cessful business in salt-making and farming.

Henry W. Fish, born 1820, is a son of Isaac, whose father, Josiah, was a son of Reuben Fish, who was born in 1738 and died August 25, 1809. Henry went to sea, coasting and mackerel fishing, from 1850 to 1862, and since then has been engaged in farming. His wife was Lydia F. Holway, of Sandwich. She died in 1884, leaving one son, -Charles H .- and two daughters- Almira F. (Mrs. Edgar Jones) and Hattie E.

Joseph Folger, born on one of the Azore islands in 1822, went to Cape Horn as a sailor when he was sixteen years of age. In 1843 he went to Stonington, R. I. He was in school in Harwich in 1844. He is now a farmer in Cotuit, doing a thrifty business, with his son, in milk farming and cranberry culture. He was married in 1847 to Cyn- thia, a daughter of Abijah Baker, of Harwich. Their children are : Joseph B .. married November 13, 1887, to Mary E. Miller; Lorenzo B., born March 16, 1850, died December 18. 1877; Dora A., married to Frederick Pinkham; Cynthia A., born July 16, 1856, married to John Knox, December 13, 1874, died June 26, 1SS1; and Sarah J., married to Frank F. Perry.

Herschel Fuller was born in Osterville in 1839. His father, David, was born at Marston's Mills in 1795, and was a son of Zacheus Fuller. The family came originally from Nantucket. Captain Fuller has al- ways followed the sea in coasting and foreign trade-since 1859 as master. He was ten years in the cotton business between Galveston and Liverpool, and married in 1871, in Connecticut, to Emily, daughter of Henry Gildersleeve. a ship builder. She was born in Portland, Conn. They have had three children: Annie G., born 1872, died 1875; Henry G., born 1874; and Jennie S., born 1876.

Rev. James R. Goodspeed, born in 1832, is a son of Seth, whose father, Allen, was a son of Seth Goodspeed. Rev. Mr. Goodspeed fol- lowed the sea for twenty-six years, beginning in 1847. In 1873 he received a license to preach in the Methodist Episcopal church, and did pastoral work until 1879, then joined the Methodist Protestant church, and has since been engaged in pastoral labors in that church. He was for five years pastor of the Methodist Protestant church in Rochester, Mass.

FRANKLIN B. Goss .- The reader of the preceding pages may have noticed how largely the ranks of the public and professional men have been filled by those who first came to the Cape as teachers of the com- mon schools; but when William Whittemore Goss, of Weston, Vt.,

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HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

came to Brewster and married Hannah Foster, a family was estab- lished with such hopes as Shakspeare's witch gave to Banquo. Mr. Goss became well known in the central towns of the county as a teacher for more than thirty years, and his sons are prominent to-day in journalism and in public and business affairs. He died in 1884, at the age of eighty-two, and his wife-seven years his junior -- still sur- vives. The fourth of their fifteen children-Franklin B .- was born in Brewster, Mass., July 17, 1831. At the early age of nine he was put to work on a farm in Dennis, thus beginning a life of labor and self- reliance at a time when most boys are receiving careful training. Five years later, becoming dissatisfied with this work and aiming to enter a more congenial kind of business, he secured a position as apprentice in the printing office of the Barnstable Patriot. For the next seven- teen years he was employed in various capacities connected with the publication of newspapers, during which time he developed a marked . talent for editorial work, which served as the foundation for the suc- cess which has characterized his subsequent labors. In 1851, when twenty years of age, he was foreman in the office of the Yarmouth Register.

Subsequently, in connection with Benjamin C. Bowman, of Fal- mouth, he established a newspaper called the Cape Cod Advocate, which was printed in Barnstable during six months and then removed to Sandwich. In 1853 he left the Advocate and removed to Middleboro, where he engaged in the publication of the Nemasket Gasette, now the Middleboro Gasette. Leaving the Gasette and returning to Barnstable he held the responsible position of foreman in the Patriot printing office till 1868, when he took charge of the advertising business of Richards' Dock Square clothing house in Boston. In 1869 he, with George H. Richards, purchased the establishment which he entered as an apprentice twenty-four years previous, and began his editorial career upon The Barnstable Patriot, which has attained a solid and hon- orable success. The Patriot, at this time, was democratic; but, under Mr. Goss' management, it was emancipated from the domination of that party and placed in the ranks of republicanism, where his sym- pathies were already enlisted. From this time the influence of the Patriot increased, and under his judicious management it speedily mounted to a high place as one of the principal exponents in the county of every just, liberal and righteous cause. Such was its repu- tation that it received the cognomen, " The Cape Cod Bible."

This position, as editor of a leading republican paper, brought him into active political life, and the popularity and influence he had won upon the Cape led to his appointment as Special Inspector of the Cus- toms for the District of Barnstable, which position he held until De- cember, 1875. He was appointed, July S, 1876, collector of the district

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TOWN OF BARNSTABLE.

by President Grant, and continued in this position till removed by President Cleveland, August 8, 1887. His administration of the affairs of the custom house was marked by conspicuous ability as an execu- tive officer. He won as friends many who at first doubted his fitness, and among these he subsequently found his inost staunch supporters. His official carcer was so honorable and efficient that President Harri- son reappointed him July 20, 1889.

Mr. Goss is a tireless worker. In addition to his official duties and his work upon the Patriot, he finds time to superintend the publication of the Chatham Monitor, the Cape Cod Bec and the Sandwich Observer, which, together with the Provincetown Advocate and the Harwich Inde- pendent, are flourishing local papers owing their existence and perma- nency to him. Always prominent as an advocate of the cause of tem- perance, he is a prohibitionist. but has ever looked to the republican party as the proper organization through which to further temperan legislation. He was a member of Hyannis Lodge, Sons of Temper- ance, and Dawn of Truth Lodge of Good Templars during their exist- ence. He was Chief Templar and District Deputy of the latter lodge for several years. In 1854 he was admitted a member of Cape Cod Lodge of Odd Fellows and filled the N. G. chair for several terms. He was also initiated as a Mason in James Otis Lodge soon after it was instituted in 1866.

He was married in Barnstable, January 20, 1852, to Mary Gorham, daughter of Captain Joseph and Lucy (Childs) Parker of Barnstable. Of this union there were five children: F. Percy, Alton Parker, Wil- liam F. M., Lillie Stanley and George Richards Goss-the latter de- ceased. His son, F. Percy Goss, is associated with him in the printing business; Alton Parker Goss is editor and proprietor of the Harwich Independent; William F. M. Goss is Professor of Experimental Engi- neering in Purdue University at Lafayette, Indiana; his daughter, Lillie Stanley Goss, has pursued an extended course in music and ranks among the best of local pianists and teachers.

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History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1890, Part 48

Author: Deyo, Simeon L., ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: New York : Blake Number of Pages: 1292

Author: Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York : Blake
Number of Pages: 1292