USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 93
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Although Mr. Davol has practically retired from active business life, still his experience and judgment in the cotton business are yet called into requisition, as indicated by his remaining on the board of direc- tors of not less than seven or eight corporations. He is president of the Mechanics' Mills, and a director in this and the Pocasset, Troy, Wampanoag, and Barnard Manufacturing Companies, and in the Spool and Bobbin Company. He is also president of the Fall River Manufacturers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and a director in the Blackstone and Mer- chants' Fire Insurance Companies of Providence, R. I., and in the Metacomet Bank of this city, and Wau- tuppa Reservoir Company. In this latter corpora- tion he has been a director over thirty years.
May 18, 1840, Mr. Davol was united in marriage with Sarah F. Chase, and their children were as fol- lows: Bradford Durfee, married Cornelia Wheeden Lincoln, Dec. 1, 1875 ; Sarah Louisa, married Joseph L. Buffington, Sept. 21, 1864; Mary Anna, married Alexander Dorrance Easton, Sept. 27, 1865; James Clark Chase, married Mary Ellen Brownell ; George Stephen, married Mary Louisa Dean, Sept. 3, 1873; Harriette Remington, married Stephen Barnaby Ash- ley, Feb. 18, 1874; Abner Pardon, married Harriet J. Marvell ; Charles M. R. and Clara Freeborn. All living except Clara, who died in 1881. Mr. Davol is a public-spirited citizen, and all measures tending to the advancement of his native town find in him an earnest advocate.
R. T. DAVIS, M.D.
Robert Thompson Davis, M.D., M.C., is a native of County Down, in the north of Ireland, and was born Aug. 28, 1823. His father was of Presbyterian edu- cation and ancestry, while his mother belonged to the Friends' Society. Coming to America when three years old, he passed his early life at Amesbury, Mass., where his father resided for half a century. He was educated at the Friends' school at Providence, R. I., and Amesbury Academy. Choosing the medical pro- fession for his life-work, he became a student of Dr. Thomas Wilbur, of Fall River, passed two years at Tremont Medical School, Boston, and was graduated from Harvard Medical Department in 1847. After a short experience as dispensary physician in Boston, he went to Waterville, Maine, and after three years came to Fall River in 1850, and permanently established
.
ORT Davis
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FALL RIVER.
himself here in his profession. Excepting four years of New York City life, Fall River has since been his home. He at once became actively interested in the Bristol County South Medical Society, was again and again elected its president, the youngest man at that time on whom the honor had been bestowed. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and has been frequently elected councilor of that honor- able body. He is also a member of both the Ameri- can Medical Association and National Public Health Association. He has been much in public affairs, and from early life was strongly anti-slavery in sentiment, and was bold and earnest in advocacy of its cause, beginning his public career in 1851, by a spirited and eloquent speech in favor of instructing the represen- tatives of Fall River in the State Legislature to cast their votes for Charles Sumner for United States sen- ator. The vote was taken in harmony with the forci- ble presentation of Dr. Davis and the representative voted for Sumner, who was elected. Dr. Davis was a member of the Constitutional Convention of the State in 1853. In 1858 and 1860 he was elected to repre- sent his district in the State Senate. No public mat- ter came up during these troublous times on which Dr. Davis did not eloquently express his views, either by speeches or written articles, and show a keen power of forecasting the future. He was instrumental in securing the line adopted and ratified by the Legis- latures of Rhode Island and Massachusetts as the boundary between those States, and clearly foresaw the value of such action to the prosperity of Fall River.
He was a delegate to the National Republican Con- vention in 1860 which nominated Abraham Lincoln, and also a delegate to the one in 1876 that nominated Rutherford B. Hayes. Governor Andrews appointed him, in 1863, a member of the State Board of Chari- ties. In 1869, on the organization of the State Board of Health, he was appointed one of its members by Governor Claflin, and by repeated appointments con- tinued on the board during its existence. It was su- perseded by the State Board of Health, Lunacy, and Charity, and of this new body he was immediately made a member by Governor Talbot, and was reap- pointed by Governor Long. In 1873 he was elected mayor of Fall River, there being no opposing candi- date. His administration was in a great transition period of the city, many large and expensive improve- ments were under way, and his inaugural was full of important recommendations that were, with few ex- ceptions, adopted and carried out by the city. Among the improvements thus recommended and made was the erection of three large public school-buildings (one of which was named " Davis School"), three. engine-houses and police-stations, the widening of Pleasant Street for a distance of two miles, laying out and finishing many other streets. A plan of sewer- age was adopted in accordance with his recommenda- tion ; also the City Hall was completed and dedicated
under his administration, and Dr. Davis was the one who delivered the address. The mains, machinery, and buildings of the water-works were brought to completion sufficiently for use during the same period, and in the same year the city government adopted the State law, furnishing the pupils of the public schools text-books free of cost to them. Fall River was the first city in the State to do this, and the re- sult amply proves the wisdom of this action. Dr. Davis was mayor one year only, lie declining a re- election. The salary of the office he donated to the " Children's Home."
Always a friend and earnest worker in the cause of education, he has aided everything proposed for the good of the scholars and increasing their proficiency.
He has been prominently and actively interested for years with the business prosperity of Fall River. He purchased real estate in the eastern portion of Fall River in 1869-70, and made investments in the various corporations having mills in that locality, and its rapid increase of business and population is much of . it due to his enterprise and business sagacity. He is president of the Wampanoag Mills, a director in various other corporations, and was one of three to purchase the Globe Print-Works property, where two mills have since been put up.
He is often called on to address public assemblies. He delivered in 1868 the first address made in the city on Decoration Day. At a publie meeting, held in the fall of 1871, to relieve the sufferers by the Chicago fire, Dr. Davis, in a forcible speech, proposed and sustained resolutions pledging Fall River to give twenty-five thousand dollars for this purpose. They were adopted by the meeting, approved by the city authorities, and the amount sent to Chicago. He de- livered a centennial address Oct. 25, 1880, before the assembled scholars of the higher grades of the public schools on the one hundredth anniversary of the adoption of the constitution of Massachusetts. He closed with this practical and patriotic advice: "Now, my young friends, in closing, let me simply say that you are on the threshold of the duties and responsi- bilities of American citizens. The generation of which you form a part will see your own country the dominant power of the civilized world. It is of vast importance that that power shall be wielded in favor of free and good government. I have no fears that educated as you are in Massachusetts, inheriting the traditions of your forefathers, and imbued with their spirit, you will not perform all your duties in this great regard. The present generation must transmit to its successors that which it has accomplished or inherited from the past. It must hold firmly aloft that glorious standard of free principles which your predecessors maintained so firmly and so long ; that standard which waved before the armies of the Revo- lution and of the Union, and which led them on to conflict and to victory, giving us in the one case a country, and in the other preserving its liberties and 1
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
its life. It is a standard consecrated by the efforts, sac- rifices, and memories of the noblest, best, and bravest names in our history. May it float forever, the un- questioned symbol not of national power and progress only, but of the eternal principles of freedom and justice."
He was unanimously nominated in 1882 by the Republican Congressional Convention of the First District as its candidate, and was elected member of Congress by eleven thousand four hundred and seventy-five votes in his favor to five thousand five hundred and eighty-one cast for his opponent on the Democratic ticket.
He married Oct. 1, 1848, Sarah, daughter of Dr. Thomas Wilbur, his instructor in medicine. She died in 1856, having survived their only child. He married, in June, 1862, Susan Ann Haight, of New Castle, N. Y. They have one son.
As an evidence of the pleasant social qualities of Dr. Davis we will mention that on the organization ยท of the Commercial Club of Fall River, an institution formed for sociality, Dr. Davis was elected president, and still holds that office.
EDMUND CHASE.
Edmund Chase, the subject of this sketch, was born in Fall River, June 14, 1818, and is the son of Edmund and Phebe Chase, who were prominent members of the Society of Friends.
Edmund Chase, Sr., was the son of Obadiah and Eunice Chase, and was born in Somerset, Mass., April 11, 1787. He learned the trade of a tanner, and com- menced business in Somerset, doing his first tanning in a half-hogshead. He married, Sept. 30, 1813, Phebe, daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth Slade, of Swan- sea, Mass.
Removing to Fall River in 1810, he purchased the place adjoining the present post-office building, where his son now carries on business, and where he for nearly fifty years conducted the business of a tanner and currier.
His son, Edmund, was reared to the occupation of his father, and received his education at the common schools and the Friends' Boarding-School, Provi- dence, R. I.
July 2, 1843, came the " Big Fire," entirely destroy- ing his father's business, involving a loss of ten thou- sand dollars. He immediately rebuilt, taking his son as partner, so that by the end of the year the business was again in successful operation, the firm being Edmund Chase & Son, and so remained until the death of his father, which occurred July 4, 1859.
From obituary notices, which were published at the time, we take the following :
" For nearly half a century he has been the steady, industrious, and upright man of business, maintaining under all circumstances a character for strict integrity and probity, leaving behind him a reputation for the
faithful performance of the varied duties of life rarely equaled, and very seldom surpassed.
"He was one of our oldest and most respected citi- zens, a man of uprightness and integrity in all his business and social relations, and most careful and conscientious in his daily walk and conversation. Through a long life he maintained a character above reproach, and has left behind him what is more to be coveted than riches and honors, the record of a good example, not soon to be forgotten by those who en- joyed his friendship and confidence."
After the death of his father, Mr. Chase began the manufacture of belts, and this has since been his principal business. He has been a director in the Granite and Stafford Mills from their organization, also director and president of the Bourne Mills, and director in the Massasoit National Bank since 1857. Besides these Mr. Chase holds offices of responsibility and trust in various other important relations.
He has been twice married. His first wife was Amy C. Douglass, daughter of Daniel and Patience Doug- lass, whom he married Nov. 12, 1841. She died Oct. 5, 1863. He married for his second wife Sarah B. Vickery, daughter of Caleb B. and Almira W. Vickery, May 30, 1865.
He is a Republican in politics, and a Unitarian in his religious belief and associations.
JOB B. FRENCH.
Job B. French, son of Enoch and Sarah French, was born in Troy (now Fall River), March 6, 1806. He is a descendant of Ephraim French, who came from England about 1680 and settled in Raynham, Mass. One of the descendants of the latter, Ephraim, of Raynham (probably his grandson), married Eliza- beth Presbrey in 1775, and had two sons, Ephraim, born in 1777, and Enoch, born in 1779. Enoch was taken to Fall River by his mother at the time of her second marriage, the father having died a young man. He was soon after apprenticed to a tanner named James Read, whose youngest sister Sarah he married in 1799. The children of Enoch and Sarah were Asa P., George R., Stephen L., Richard C., Job B., Nancy, Abram, William, James, and Eliza,-eight sons and two daughters. Soon after his marriage, Enoch, although not quite of age, bought the tan- nery and subsequently added a shoe manufactory. He also engaged quite extensively in farming. The sons worked on the farm and learned the trades of tanning and shoemaking.
Read's tannery, where Enoch French served his ap- prenticeship, was on what is now known as French's Hill, the name of the latter owner having entirely superseded that of the former. In 1820 he opened the first boot- and shoe-store in Fall River, on the corner of North Main and Central Streets, where the Durfee block now stands, Asa, Stephen, and Job act- ing as clerks. In 1822 he moved a few doors west on
Job B. Jonench
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FALL RIVER.
Central Street, and in 1824 again moved to Main Street, a few doors south of the present location of the store of J. B. French & Son. In 1822, Asa be- came a partner, the name of the firm being changed to Enoch French & Son. Stephen was admitted in 1824 and Job in 1826. In 1832 the firm was dis- solved, Asa taking the tannery, Stephen the shoe- manufactory, and Job remaining in the store with his father, the firm-name being Enoch French & Co. Their store was destroyed by the fire of 1843, but they at once erected the brick block (Merchant's block), where they continued business until the senior partner died, in 1847, aged sixty-seven years.
Mr. Enoch French was an influential and highly respected eitizen. He was a selectman in the town of Fall River eight years, 1821-22, 1824-29, and was representative to the General Court, 1828-29 and 1840. He was one of the committee of ten appointed to dis- tribute funds sent to Fall River after the great fire of 1843. He was a corporator of the Fall River Savings- Bank, and April 15, 1828, he was elected chairman of its first board of investment, a position which he held until his death, a period of nineteen years.
The following will illustrate his high sense of busi- ness honor. His son Richard, when but fourteen years old, was engaged for a year to work for a man near Newport, R. I., but getting homesick he returned before the expiration of his time of service, and plead so hard to be relieved that Job was sent to take his place, the father contending that the contract must be fulfilled by one of the boys.
But it was not in the business or political aspects of his life that his character was most illustrious, although he discharged most honorably the duties of the various offices assigned him, and in a spirit so uni- formly kind to all with whom he associated as to se- cure universal esteem and respect.
In early youth he became a member of the First Baptist Church of Fall River, which was then small and feeble, and from that time until his death the enlargement and prosperity with which that church was blessed were inseparably connected with his his- tory. For more than forty years he served the church in the offices of deacon and treasurer. During the early part of this period he was accustomed to assist in conducting the public services, the pastor, the late Rev. Job Borden, being blind. At some seasons, when the church was dependent upon occasional supplies for the pulpit, he was called to discharge the duties belonging to the pastoral office. In many instances funeral services were conducted by him alone, or in connection with an associate deacon.
Job B. French, the immediate subject of this notice, has been so intimately associated with his father and his brothers that it is impossible to con- sider his life as separate from theirs. Nor would it be desirable on his part could such a thing be doue, for he modestly asks that to his father especially should be given the more prominent place in this record.
After his father's death, Job B. continued the busi- ness alone until Jan. 1, 1864, when he admitted his son, Edward A. French, into partnership. The firm since then has been J. B. French & Son. We have thus traced the business back to the beginning of the century, a little more than eighty years.
Mr. French was a representative to the General Court in 1835 and 1841, and a member of the Com- mon Council of Fall River for several years, and he has also been an assessor. He has served as presi- dent of the Fall River Savings-Bank for sixteen years, and as trustee nearly forty years, a position which he still holds. He has been director of the Mechanics' Mills, and president of the Weetamoe Mills since its organization. He has been since 1830 a member of the First Baptist Church of Fall River. He married for his first wife Abby, daughter of William S. N. Allan, of Newport, R. I., April 17, 1831. She was born June 20, 1807, and died March 17, 1870, in the sixty-third year of her age. She too joined the Baptist Church in 1830. Of this union there were born six children, whose names are as follows : (1) Mary E., wife of D. H. Dyer, of Fall River ; (2) James R., deceased ; (3) Sarah J., wife of William Lindsey ; (4) Edward A., business partner with his father, and who married Eliza A. Ricketson ; (5) Abby M. ; and (6) Julia W .; the latter two resid- ing at home.
Mr. French married for his second wife, Aug. 19, 1873, Mary B., daughter of Robert Cook, of Fall River. She was born in Wrentham, Mass., Sept. 15, 1816, and died April 26, 1882. She was a member of the First Congregational Church of Fall River for many years.
Although past seventy-seven years of age, Mr. French is a remarkably active man of unusually good judgment, and his advice is very frequently sought. He is a person of sterling integrity, and enjoys the respect and esteem of the community in which he lives.
GEORGE READ FRENCH.
George Read French, second son of Enoch and Sarah (Read) French, was born in Troy (now Fall River), Mass., on the 24th day of January, 1802. He is a descendant of Ephraim French, who came from England about the year 1680, and settled in Rayn- ham, Mass. One of the descendants of Ephraim French married Elizabeth Presbry in 1775, and had two sons, whose names were Ephraim (born in 1777) and Enoch (born in 1779). Enoch French located in Troy (now Fall River), and married Sarah Read in 1799. To them were born ten children,-Asa P., George R., Stephen L., Richard C., Job B., Nancy, Abram, William, James, and Eliza.
At the age of seventeen years George R. French became the manager of a leather- and shoe-factory at Oneysville (now a part of the city of Providence, R. I.), where he remained some six months, when, in
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
consequence of failing health, he embarked in a sloop ("Rosetta") for Darien, in the State of Georgia, where he engaged as clerk with Perry Davis, late of Providence, R. I., who at that time was conducting a mercantile business in said place under the firm- name of Davis & Kelly, and who was subsequently and more popularly known as proprietor of "Perry Davis' Pain-Killer."
After residing in Georgia about ten months, Mr. French returned to his home, and in the autumn of 1822 made another trip South, and located in the town of Wilmington, N. C., where, under the firm of Hathaway & French, he entered into business with the late John Hathaway (father of his lifelong friend Mr. James L. Hathaway, of New York City), dealing in lumber shipments and general merchandise, laying the foundation of his long and successful business career in the city of Wilmington. In the year 1828 he opened a shoe-store in his own name, the firm of Hathaway & French being dissolved.
On the 5th day of April, 1827, he was married to Sarah C. Weeks, of Wilmington, with whom he lived till her death on the 19th day of May, 1867. They had twelve children,-Sarah A., Susan M., George H., Georgianna C., William A., Margaret G., Caroline, George R., James McD., Charles E., Eliza D., and Josephine H. George H., Georgianna C., and Caro- line died in infancy and youth. All the others are still living, situated as follows :
Sarah A. is wife of Col. E. J. Lutterloh, of Fayette- ville, N. C., now residing at Cedar Keys, Fla.
Susan M. is wife of E. D. Nixon, of Edenton, N. C., now residing at Baltimore, Md.
William A. married Harriet P. Timmons, of Tim- monsville, S. C., now resident of Wilmington, N. C.
Margaret G. is wife of Rev. G. S. Jones, of Pasquo- tank County, N. C., now residing in Hendersonville, N. C.
George R. married Cornelia M. Worth, of Wil- mington, N. C., now resident of the same city.
James McD. married Mattie Boykin, of Southamp- ton County, Va., who died leaving no children. His second marriage was with Edna Godwin, of Lumber- ton, N. C.
Charles E. (still unmarried) is one of the proprie- tors of the Crown Rolling-Mills, in Minneapolis, Minn., where he resides.
Eliza D. is the wife of Llewellyn Christian, of Ala- bama, now resident of Minneapolis, Minn.
Josephine H. is the wife of M. C. Toms, of Bun- combe County, N. C., now residing in Hendersonville, N. C. From the date of his engagement in the shoe trade (1828) up to the beginning of the late civil war (1861) Mr. French was the sole manager of his business, which he successfully prosecuted with char- acteristic energy through the financial changes of that period, maintaining his mercantile credit and high standing, and so protecting his commercial honor that at no time was his paper dishonored or protested.
Taught in his early youth to honor the flag of his country and cherish a patriotic adherence to the Union, he took a decided stand against the doctrines of secession, and during that entire struggle (although surrounded by friends and his family, who entertained opposite views politically) he adhered to his convic- tions as to the folly of appealing to arms for the set- tlement of the then existing differences, remaining true in his allegiance to his country.
In the year 1865, by admitting his son William A. into copartnership, the firm of George R. French & Son was formed, and in 1866, admitting George R., Jr., and James McD., the firm now known as George R. French & Sons was established. In 1879, James McD. retired from the firm and removed to Lumber- ton, N. C.
In the year 1827, Mr. French became a member of the First Baptist Church in Wilmington. From that date to the present, through all the changes wrought in the history of this church, down through the past fifty-six eventful years to its present prosperous con- dition, the position occupied by Mr. French has been deservedly prominent, as evidenced by his early ordi- nation as deacon, his services as superintendent of the Sabbath-school, as chairman of committees in- trusted with the most important enterprises of the church under its eight successive pastorates. To his personal efforts and contributions, in a large measure, are the Baptists in Wilmington indebted for their present handsome church edifice standing on the corner of Fifth and Market Streets.
During his commercial career Mr. French has held positions of trust and honor in local corporations,- director in the bank of Cape Fear, director and also president of the Bank of Wilmington, director in the Wilmington Savings-Bank and the Bank of New Hanover, director in the Wilmington Gas-Light Company, director and president of Oakdale Ceme- tery, president of the Seamen's Friend Society of the port of Wilmington.
A warm friend and supporter of educational and religious institutions, he has served as trustee of Wake Forest College, as vice-president of the Board of Missions in the Southern Baptist Convention, and as vice-president of the American Sunday-School Union, of which he is a life member.
Aug. 27, 1872, he married Mrs. Sophia M. Sawyer, of Fall River, Mass.
Mr. French is now in his eighty-second year, re- markably vigorous and well-preserved in body and mind, and although having retired from active busi- ness, he still maintains his interest in the firm con- ducted by his sons. It is his custom now in his ripe old age to pass his time quietly enjoying the comforts of his Southern home in the winter season, and in summer he visits his three beloved brothers, residing in Fall River and vicinity, or shares the warm- hearted welcome awaiting him in the widely-sepa- rated homes of his devoted children.
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