History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 32

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818

USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 32

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From the pen of another we quote the following, with a few changes : Mr. Parker accumulated a large fortune, which was variously invested, as there was hardly any branch of commerce or of manufacture in which he was not interested. As a shrewd and ener- getic business man, Mr. Parker had few equals, and was among the first merchants in New Bedford to set the wise example of engaging in other enterprises than the principal one of this city at that time. The large operations in which he engaged required excel- lent judgment and foresight, and that he possessed those qualities in no slight degree is proved by the almost uniform success which attended his transac- tions.

At the time of his death he was president of the Merchants' Bank in this city, having served gratui- tously from the commencement of the corporation, a period of twenty-eight years.

Possessed of such ample means, it was in the power of Mr. Parker very often to assist those who were just starting in business, or who had met with disap- pointment in their affairs. We believe it is within the personal knowledge of many that this assistance was often and cheerfully rendered, and that too, some- times, when the relief thus extended was not, per- haps, strictly within the limits of an over-cautious prudence.

Mr. Parker was one of the earliest supporters of common schools, and, though under the district sys- tem he was heavily taxed for their support, he always met the obligation thus imposed upon him with cheerfulness. Mr. Parker was one of the most prominent representatives of our wealth, and most intimately connected with the prosperity of the city.

Samuel Rodman, Isaac and Gideon Howland, Wil- liam Rotch, Jr., George Howland, and John Avery ; Parker will long be remembered as men whose energy, enterprise, and success rendered them conspicuous in the commercial affairs of New Bedford, and whose industry and skill accumulated fortunes of no ordi- nary magnitude.

John Avery Parker married Averick, daughter of Shadrach and Mary Standish, of Plympton, Feb. 28, 1788. She was born May 2, 1772, and died May 11,

1847. Their children were (1) Ruth, who married William H. Allen, of New Bedford. She died Feb- ruary, 1837, and left children. (2) Avery, lost at sea January, 1815, left no children. (3) Mary, who mar- ried Francis Howland, of New Bedford. She died Ang. 18, 1856, and left children. (4) Sarah, who married Capt. Joseph Dunbar. She died Jan. 12, 1847, and left children. (5) Jonathan, died July 18, 1806, in his fourth year. (G) Betsey, married Timothy G. Coffin, died Nov. 24, 1858, and left children. (7) Frederick, married Abbie Coggeshall. He was accidentally poisoned, and died from its effects Oct. 21, 1861, aged fifty-five years. (8) Averick Standish, married Christian A. Heineken, and now resides in Bremen, Germany, and has children. (9) Jane Stan- dish, married, first, Harrison G. O. Colby (deceased), by whom she had children. She married, second, Rev. Thomas R. Lambert, and had one son. (10) Ann Avery, married, first, Thomas C. Lothrop (deceased), by whom she had three children, two of whom are living. She married, second, William F. Dow, by whom she had one daughter (deceased). (11) John, who died Jan. 18, 1836. There were two other chil- dren who died young.

Mrs. John Avery Parker was a direct descendant from the historic and ever to be remembered Miles Standish, who was born in Lancashire, England, in 1584. He was of a family of note, among which were a number of knights and bishops, and, it is said, was an heir to a large estate, which he himself says "was surreptitiously detained from him." He served in the Low Countries as an officer in the armies of Queen Elizabeth when commanded by her favorite, the Earl of Leicester. What induced him to connect himself with the Pilgrims does not appear. He took up his residence among them at Leyden, but never joined their church.

He arrived in the "Mayflower," and lost his wife soon after ; he, however, married again in 1621. He was elected the first military commander of the colony. He went out as agent of the colony (1625) to England, and resided in London at the very period when the pride of the Queen of Cities was laid in the dust and naught was heard in the streets but wailing and lamentation,-it was at the time of the last and most deadly plague. Being an accurate surveyor, he was generally on the committees for laying out new towns. He was always the military commander, and always of the council of war, generally an assistant, sometimes first assistant or Deputy Governor and treasurer.

Standish was a man of small stature, of a fiery and quick temper, and never did a human form inclose a more intrepid spirit. Dangers from which all other men would have shrunk were with him only an in- centive to enterprise. He asked only eight men to subdue all the Indians of Massachusetts. Alone he took from the trembling hand of the profligate and turbulent Morton his loaded musket, and compelled

Henry H. Grafo,

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NEW BEDFORD.

him to yield when he was surrounded by his whole , called upon, but had no compass and no money to company, and had boasted that he never would be taken alive. He did not stand aside to command others to do the work of death, but engaged in deadly conflicts, the fate of which rested upon the powers of the contending individuals.

Standish was the father and founder of Duxbury, which he named from the seat of his family in Lan- cashire, which, as late as 1707, was the residence of Sir Thomas Standish.

HON. HENRY HOWLAND CRAPO.

Prominent among the sons of this old common- wealth who without inherited aid have risen from the humble ranks of life to distinguished positions stands Henry Howland Crapo, Governor of Michigan from 1865 to 1869. He was born in Dartmouth, Mass., May 24, 1804, and was the eldest son of Jesse and Phœbe (Howland) Crapo. His father was of French descent, and was very poor, sustaining his family by the cultivation of a farm which yielded nothing beyond a mere livelihood. His early life was consequently one of toil, and devoid of advan- tages for intellectual culture, but his desire for an education seemed to know no bounds. The incessant toil for a mere subsistence upon a comparatively sterile farm had no charms for him, and longing for greater usefulness and better things, he looked for them in an education. His struggles to secure this end necessitated sacrifices and hardships that would have discouraged any but the most courageous and persevering. He became an ardent student and worker from boyhood, though the means of carrying on his studies was exceedingly limited.

He sorely felt the need of a dictionary, and neither having money wherewith to purchase it nor being able to procure one in his neighborhood, he set to work to compile one for himself. In order to acquire a knowledge of the English language he copied into a book every word whose meaning he did not com- prehend, and upon meeting the same word again in the newspapers and books which came into his hands would study out its meaning from the context, and then record the definition. When unable otherwise to obtain the signification for a word in which he had become interested, he would walk from Dartmouth to New Bedford for that purpose alone, and after referring to the books at the library and satisfying thoroughly as to its definition, would walk back, a distance of about seven miles, the same night. This was no unusual occurrence.

Under such difficulties, and in this manner, he com- piled quite an extensive dietionary in manuscript. Ever in the pursuit of knowledge, he obtained a book upon surveying, and applying himself diligently to its study, became familiar with the theory of this art, which he soon had an opportunity to practice. The services of a land surveyor were wanted, and he was

purchase one. A compass, however, he must and would have, and going to a blacksmith's shop near at hand, upon the forge, with such tools as he could find there, while the smith was at dinner, he con- structed the compass and commenced as a surveyor. Still continuing his studies, he fitted himself for teach- ing, and took charge of the village school at Dart- mouth. When, in the course of time, and under the pressure of law, a High School was to be opened, he passed a successful examination for its principalship and received the appointment. To do this was no small task; the law required a rigid examination in various subjects, which necessitated days and nights of study.

One evening, after concluding his day's labor of teaching, he traveled on foot to New Bedford, some seven or eight miles, called upon the preceptor of the Friends' Academy, and passed a severe examination. Receiving a certificate that he was well qualified, he walked back to his home the same night, highly elated at being possessed of the acquirements and require- ments of a master of the High School. In 1832, at the age of twenty-eight, he left his native town to reside in New Bedford, where he was a land surveyor, and sometimes acted as an auctioneer. Soon after his removal he was elected town elerk, treasurer, and collector of taxes of New Bedford, which positions he held about fifteen years, and until the form of the municipal government was changed, when under the new form he was elected treasurer and collector of taxes, which he held for two years. He was also police justice many years. He was elected alderman, was chairman of the Council Committee on Education, and as such prepared the report on which was based the order for the establishment of the Free Public Library of New Bedford. On its organization he was chosen a member of its first board of trustees. This was the first free public library in Massachusetts, if not in the world; the Boston Public Library being, however, soon after established. While a resident of this city he was much interested in horticulture, and to obtain the land necessary for carrying out his ideas he drained and reclaimed several acres of rocky and swampy land adjoining his garden. Having properly prepared the soil, he started a nursery, which he filled with almost every description of fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs, flowers, etc. He was very successful in their propagation and growth, and took much pride in the result of his experiment. At horticultural fairs in Boston and elsewhere he exhibited from his grounds one hundred and fifty varieties of pears of his own propagation, and one hundred and twenty varie- ties of roses.

In this, as in everything he undertook, he always worked intelligently and for the best results, seeking the best methods and looking for information to the highest authorities. The interest he took in the sub- I ject brought him into communication with the most

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eminent horticulturists in the country, and the desire to impart as well as to acquire knowledge soon led him to become a regular contributor to the New Eng- land Horticultural Journal, a position he filled as long as he lived in Massachusetts. After his removal to Michigan his love for horticulture and agriculture was still further stimulated. He had an especial fondness for landscape and ornamental gardening, and possessed a farm of eleven hundred acres, most of which he redeemed from swamps by a system of drainage which he planned, and which developed into one of the finest farms in the State. He became here a breeder and importer of fine breeds of cattle and sheep, and was elected in 1863 president of the Gen- esee County Agricultural Society. During his last years he was a regular contributor on agricultural topics to the Country Gentleman. As an indication of the wide reputation he enjoyed in horticulture, it may be said that after his death an affecting eulogy of him was pronounced by the president of the Na- tional Horticultural Society at its meeting in Phila- delphia in 1869.

During his residence in New Bedford, Mr. Crapo was also engaged in the whaling business, then the great specialty of local enterprise. A fine bark, built at Dartmouth, of which he was part owner, was named the "H. H. Crapo," in compliment to him. He also took an active interest in the State militia, and for several years held a commission as colonel of one of the regiments. In speaking of the intimate relations of Mr. Crapo with the interests of New Bed- ford, the Standard says,-

"No man connected with our municipal concerns ever had to a greater extent than Mr. Crapo the con- fidence of the people. He was exact and methodical in all matters of record; conscientious and labori- ously persistent in the discharge of every duty ; clear in his methods and statements in all that appertained to his official transactions. He left, at the end of his long period of service, all that belonged to his depart- ment as a financial or recording officer so lucid and complete that no error has ever been detected or any improvement made upon his plans."

He was president of the Bristol County Mutual In- surance and secretary of the Bedford Commercial In- surance Companies of New Bedford, and while an officer of the municipal government he compiled and published, between the years of 1836 and 1845, five numbers of the New Bedford Directory, the first work of the kind ever issued there. Mr. Crapo removed to Michigan in 1856, having been induced to do so by in- vestments, made principally in pine lands, and took up liis residence in the city of Flint. He engaged largely in the manufacture of lumber, and became one of the largest and most successful business men of the State. He was mainly instrumental in constructing the Flint and Holly Railroad, and was president of its corpora- tion until its consolidation with the Flint and Père Marquette Railroad Company. He showed a lively

interest in the municipal affairs of Flint, gave his hearty support to the cause of popular education, and was elected mayor after residing in Flint only five or six years.

In the early part of his life Mr. Crapo affiliated with the Whig party in politics, but became an active member of the Republican party on its organization.

In 1862 he was elected State senator to represent Genesee County, and took rank with the leading men of the Michigan Senate. He was chairman of the Committee on Banks and Incorporations, and a mem- ber of the Committee on Bounties to Soldiers. He at once became conspicuous as a legislator, his pre- viously acquired experience and knowledge of State and municipal affairs admirably fitting him for legis- lative duties. In 1864 he received the Republican nomination for Governor of the State, and was elected by a large majority. He was re-elected in 1866, holding the office two terms, retiring in Jannary, 1869. During the four years of this office he served the State with unflagging zeal, energy, and industry. The features which especially characterized his administration were his vetoing of railway aid legislation and his firm refusal to pardon convicts imprisoned in the penitentiary unless given the clearest proof of their innocence or of extreme sentence. Subsequent events and experience have proven conclusively that his action in vetoing railway aid bills was of great ben- efit to the State financially, and his judgment in the matter has been generally approved. While serving his last term as Governor he was attacked by the dis- ease which terminated his life within one year. During much of this time he was an intense sufferer, yet often while in great pain gave his attention to public matters. He died July 23, 1869. The Detroit Tribune closes an obituary notice with this tribute to his worth,-

"In all the public positions he held Governor Crapo showed himself a capable, discreet, vigilant, and in- dustrious officer. He evinced wonderful vigor in mastering details, and always wrote and spoke intel- ligently on any subject to which he gave his atten- tion. Michigan never before had a Governor who devoted so much personal attention and painstaking labor to her public duties as he did. His industry was literally amazing. He was not a man of brilliant or showy qualities, but he possessed sharp and re- markably well developed business talents, a clear and practical understanding, sound judgment, and unfail- ing integrity. In all the walks of life there was not a purer man in the State. So faithful, so laborious, so unselfish, so conscientious a man in official life is a blessing beyond computation in the healthful influ- ence which he exerts in the midst of the too preva- lent corruptions that so lamentably abound in the public service. We have often thought that, in his plainness, his honesty, his fidelity to duty, and in his broad and sterling good sense, Governor Crapo closely resembled the lamented Lincoln. He was a man of

Charles L. Wood -

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the people, and most worthily represented them. His decease is an occasion for public mourning. The State has very few men like him, and can ill afford to spare such an eminently useful citizen. His death will be profoundly deplored throughout our common- wealth, and a general sympathy will be sincerely ex- tended to the bereaved family."

Mr. Crapo was a member of the Christian (some- times called the Disciples') Church, and took great interest in its welfare and prosperity. He married June 9, 1825, Mary Ann Slocum, of Dartmouth. This was soon after he had attained his majority, and before his struggles for fortune had been rewarded by any great measure of success. His wife was a woman of great strength of character, and possessed courage, hopefulness, and devotion, qualities which sustained and encouraged her husband in the various pursuits of his early manhood. For several years after his marriage he was engaged in teaching, his wife living with her parents at the time, at whose house their two older children were born. While thus situated he was accustomed to walk home on Saturdays to see his family, returning on Sunday in order to be ready for school Monday morning. As the walk for a great part of the time was twenty miles each way, it is evi- dent that at this period of his life no common obsta- cles deterred him from the performance of what he regarded as a duty. His wife was none the less con- scientious in her sphere, and with added responsibili- ties and increasing requirements, she labored faith- fully in the performance of all her duties. They had ten children, one son and nine daughters.

CAPT. CHARLES L. WOOD.

Capt. Charles L. Wood, of New Bedford, was born in Dartmouth, March 17, 1813. He was educated in the public schools of that town and at the academy in Sandwich. At an early age he went to sea, making his first voyage to New Orleans in a merchant-ship commanded by Capt. James Ryder. He then went as boat-steerer in the whale-ship " Braganza," of which his father, Capt. Daniel Wood, was master. His next voyage he took as mate with his brother, Capt. James B. Wood, master, in a whale-ship sailing from St. John, New Brunswick. At the age of twenty-four he took command of ship "Elizabeth," of Dartmouth, a whaler, the youngest member of the crew, and upon his return in 1842 abandoned the sea, formed a part- nership with his brother, under the style of J. B. Wood & Co., and became largely interested as an owner and ! agent of whale-ships. For more than thirty years they continued in active business, and no firm ever stood higher in the confidence of the business com- munity, or gave more unvarying and entire satisfac- tion to their co-owners, and few were more uniformly successful. He died in New Bedford, July 13, 1881.

For many years Capt. Wood was a director in the insurance offices of the city, in the Bank of Com-

merce, and in the Wamsutta Mills, one of the Board of Investment of the New Bedford Institution for Sav- ings, and for three terms was a director on the part of the State of the Boston and Albany Railroad. In all these positions he rendered efficient and valuable service.

He was possessed of practical good sense, of cool, deliberate, and rarely erring judgment, and while cantious and prudent, was tenacious of a purpose thoughtfully formed. He was a wise and safe coun- selor, and many men greatly his seniors were glad to avail themselves of his judicious advice. That he filled no political positions was not due to any lack of the public's appreciation of his worth or of desire to honor him, but to his own modest estimate of his abilities and his utter aversion to anything like dis- play. No man was more respected- and beloved, for he was one of nature's noblemen,-a man of large and tender heart, quick to sympathize, and as quick to aid. Frank, sincere, and true, he had troops of attached friends, and not a single enemy.

THOMAS MANDELL.1

Mr. Thomas Mandell died at his residence in this city, at three o'clock yesterday morning, after a com- paratively brief illness. He was born in Fairhaven, then a part of the town of New Bedford, Aug. 9, 1792; was for a time a clerk in a store at the Head of the River, and before reaching his majority com- menced business here as partner with the late Caleb Congdon. Soon after he took the entire management of a mechanics' store, developing there the business traits which attracted the notice of the firm of Isaac Howland, Jr., & Co., and induced them to offer him an interest in their house. He became a member of that firm in 1819, and it is exact justice to say that to him more than to any other partner is due the high credit which the house for half a century maintained, and the colossal fortunes it built up. The late Edward Mott Robinson entered the firm about 1833, which soon after consisted of that gentleman, Mr. Mandell, and the late Sylvia Ann Howland. The new partner brought to the firm an eagerness and boldness in en- terprise which greatly extended its operations, but which never disregarded the sound judgment of Mr. Mandell; and the two, although widely differing in almost everything else, perfectly agreed in their no- tions of mercantile integrity, and each entertained the highest regard for the honor of the other. Besides his responsibility as a partner, Mr. Mandell, for more than a quarter of a century, had the entire care and management of the estate of the late Sylvia Ann Howland, and her appointment of him as sole exec- utor of her will was a just recognition of his integrity, while her bequest to him of two hundred thousand

1 From the New Bedford Daily Mercury of Monday, Feb. 14, 1870.

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

dollars was nothing more than a fair remuneration for the valuable service he had rendered.

Mr. Mandell was many years ago one of the select- men of New Bedford, and was the first to com- mence the keeping of the records by the board, but with this exception he held no public office.1 He sought no such honors; but he was never without proofs of the confidence reposed in his probity and discretion, as the responsible positions he held in various corporations showed. He was not a great man ; but he was better than that,-a good man. A merchant of the old school, he knew no road to success but that of upright and honorable dealing. Modest and unobtrusive, no man was ever more tenacious of an opinion when satisfied of its correctness. His name here was the synonym of rectitude.

He was a benevolent man. He was the almoner of his own bounty, a bounty which did not break out at long intervals in noisy and startling displays of be- neficence, but flowed quietly, steadily, refreshingly. We need not speak of the objects of his charity, or the extent of his benefactions. He never spoke of them, and shrunk from any mention of them by others. He may be forgotten as the honorable and successful merchant, but his memory will live in the hearts of those who have been sustained and cheered by his unostentatious and gentle charities.

SONNET.1

THOMAS MANDELI. Feb. 14, 1870.

" Few are the words which in the morn's gazette Tell us of thee, thon noble-hearted man,- The birth, the death, of life the general plan, Allegiance lifelong to the right ; and yet There is close mingled with the deep regret That from our darkened, erring world has fled The light that never dazzled or misled, In which with winning potency there met A sonl's stern feality to truth and God And manners gentle as the evening's close, Another phase of feeling,-death's repose Has hushed to them who nearest thee have trod Life's pathway many a gentle utterance sweet, Fresh from the fount where song and music meet."

At a meeting of the trustees of New Bedford Insti- tution for Savings, April 8, 1870, William H. Taylor, on behalf of a committee appointed at our last meet- ing to present resolutions expressive of the sense of the loss sustained by this institution in the removal of its late president, Thomas Mandell, now presented the following, which were read, and, on motion of Charles R. Tucker, were adopted, and the secretary was directed to place the same on our records and also to present a copy thereof to the family of the de- ceased :

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History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 32

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1818

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818