History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 97

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 97

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DANFORTH HORTON.

Danforth Horton, son of Aaron and Bethaney (Baker) Horton and grandson of Solomon Horton, was born in the town of Dighton, Mass., Nov. 19, 1812. His grandfather, Solomon Horton, married Hannah Talbot, a native of Dighton, and had ten children, seven sons and three daughters,-Aaron Horton, son of Solomon and Hannah (Talbot) Horton, was born in Dighton, Mass., in 1779 or 1780, and died Dec. 3, 1854, aged seventy-four years. He married Bethaney, daugh- ter of Samuel Baker, of Rehoboth, and had five sons and two daughters, viz., Mason, deceased ; Danforth ; Hiram; Nancy B., wife of Jarvis W. Eddy ; Na- thaniel B. ; Angelina, wife of Levi Baker ; and Alvah, deceased.

Mr. Horton married for his second wife Sally, daughter of Cromwell and Sarah (Mason) Burr, of Rehoboth. Danforth Horton spent his youth on his

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

father's farm, and attended the common schools until about the age of nineteen, when he began to learn the trade of a mason with James Horton, of Reho- botlı. He subsequently worked at his trade in Provi- dence, Taunton, and New Bedford, and in 1833 set- tled in Fall River, where he has ever since resided.

About one year after his arrival in Fall River he formed a copartnership with Lloyd S. Earle, which continued till 1860. As contractors and builders during that period they did a large amount of bnsi- ness, erecting in whole or in part some of the most substantial buildings in the city, including many of the business blocks and dwellings. They carried on every kind of masonry, and as builders sustained a high reputation for the substantial and solid charac- ter of their work.

In 1858, Mr. Horton was elected surveyor of high- ways, and two years afterwards superintendent of streets, which latter position he held till 1878, and for a considerable period of the time held the office of surveyor of highways.

Mr. Horton was superintendent of lights for many years, and for some time had charge of the teams of the fire department. As superintendent of sewers he had charge of all those constructed prior to 1878.

He is a director in the Robeson Mills, and presi- dent of the company since February, 1882. He has also been a director of the Bourne & Stafford Mills since the organization of the companies, and was a director for some time of the Merino and Tecumseh Mills, and of the Fall River Granite Company. He is at the present time a director of the Pocasset National Bank, and a trustee and vice-president of the Citizens' Savings-Bank, of Fall River.

In his political principles he was in early life a Democrat, affiliating with the Free-Soil branch of the party in 1836 and subsequently, so that in 1856 it was easy for him to join the Republican movement, of which he has since been a stanch advocate, although never aspiring to political honors.

He and Mrs. Horton have been members of the Baptist Church since 1840, nearly half a century.

He married Sarah B., daughter of Carlton and Sarah (Brayton) Sherman, of Fall River, Jan. 29, 1835. She was born in Fall River Feb. 18, 1810. Her father, Carlton Sherman, was a native of Free-

Mr. and Mrs. Horton's two children, Sarah and Charles, both died young.

Danforth Horton is one of the self-made men of his time. Starting out a farmer's boy, with limited education, and with no capital save his own indomi- table energy and perseverance, he has made his way to a high standing among the men of character and business integrity of Fall River.

LLOYD SLADE EARLE.

Lloyd Slade Earle, son of Slade and Hannah (Gibbs) Earle, was born in Somerset, Mass., Dec. 11, 1812, and soon after settled in the town of Swansea. Slade Earle, his father, was a farmer in that town, where he was born in 1791. He married, in 1812, Hannah Gibbs, daughter of Robert Gibbs, and had six chil- dren, viz. : Lloyd S., Gibbs, George W., Slade W., Hannah J. (Mrs. William Maxam, of Swansea), and John M. Slade Earle and his wife were members of the Baptist Church in Rehoboth.

Lloyd S. spent his youthful days in Swansea. His advantages for an education were such as the common schools of his day afforded to farmers' boys who had to work during the summer, as our subject generally did, either on his father's farm or hired out to some neighboring farmer, till the age of seventeen.

It was at this age, in 1829, that he went to New Bedford to learn the mason's trade. After serving an apprenticeship of four years with Pierce & Wheaton, contractors and builders, he went to Fall River in the summer of 1834, and found employment with Ephraim G. Woodman, and the fall of the same year entered into copartnership with his brother-in-law, Danforth Horton, for the purpose of carrying on the contract- ing and building business. Mr. Earle did not, how- ever, at once embark in business, but returned to Swansea, and taught school during the winter of 1834-35 in his own district. The two following win- ters he taught in Dighton. The partnership with Mr. Horton continued till 1860, during which time they did a large business. After it was dissolved Mr. Earle continued to carry on a heavy business of his own, erecting some of the finest mills and houses in Fall River. He built sixteen mills, among which we may mention the Granite Mills, American Print-Works (twice, on account of fire), Flint Mills, American Linen Mill, Shove Mills, Union Mills (first), Bourne Mill, and Wampanoag Mill No. 2. He has been a very successful contractor for brick and stone work, and also for finishing, plastering, etc., the interiors of houses.

In politics, Mr. Earle was first a Democrat, acting with the Free-Soil branch of the party, and has been a Republican since that organization was formed, in 1856. He has taken some interest in local affairs. town, a son of Silas Sherman, and had four children, -- He served one year as a member of the Common Benjamin B., Zerniah A., Persis P., and Sarah B. He was a farmer and cabinet-maker, and died, in his seventy-fourth year, July 10, 1849. His wife died Jan. 15, 1845, aged seventy years.

Council of Fall River, and in 1860-61 he was a member of the General Court. He has always been a strong temperance man, having never used tobacco or liquors of any kind.

He married Persis P., daughter of Carlton Sher- man and Sarah Brayton, in 1836. She was a daugh- ter of Carlton and Sarah (Brayton) Sherman, and was born in Fall River, Jan. 23, 1808. She had one brother and two sisters, viz., Benjamin B., Zeruiah A., and Sarah B.

Mr. and Mrs. Earle had one son, Andrew B., born March 27, 1837. He married Hannah E. Borden,

Lloyd f. Earle

2.11 Marcel.

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FALL RIVER.

daughter of Durfee Borden, of Fall River, and had three children,-Lloyd B., died in infancy ; Emma P. and Mary A., with their mother, survive. Andrew B. Earle was a grocer. He died Jan. 12, 1867, aged twenty-nine years.

Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd S. Earle are members of the First Baptist Church in Fall River. He has taken a deep interest in Sunday-school work, and has been a teacher, more or less, for nearly forty years.

He is a director in the Shove, Wampanoag, Robe- son, and Bourne Mills, a trustee of the Citizens' Savings-Bank, and member of its board of invest- ment.

Mr. Earle is actively connected with some of the leading enterprises of Fall River, and has taken a deep interest in all public improvements, as well as in all measures and institutions calculated to conserve the moral and intellectual welfare of the community.

He is a self-made man, and the architect of his own fortune, having started in life a poor boy, and by his own unaided exertions made his way to the honorable standing which he holds among the substantial men of the city. In all his business and social relations he has sustained a high reputation for honor and in- tegrity.1

WILLIAM MARVEL.

William Marvel was born in Swansea, Mass., on the 21st day of March, in the year 1800. His father, William Marvel, was a mason by trade, and the Mar- vels, Marbles, or Marbels, for these are different spell- ings of one family name, had been generally mechanics since they came to this country from Wales, about the year 1650. Charles and Joseph, brothers, and the first of the name in this part of the State, were ship-builders, and many of their descendants followed the same profession, building vessels for Newport, New Bedford, Warren, and neighboring ports. Pru- dence Mason, his mother, was descended from a family of Baptist Puritans, who fled to this country at the time of the Restoration. Many of the Masons were well-to-do farmers, but several are recorded as tanners and shoemakers. Is it to be wondered at that coming from such a stock, the child should have developed a remarkable love and aptitude for the mechanical arts ?

About the year 1805 or 1806 a small cotton-mill was started in what was then known as the " Mason neigh- berhood," now Swansea Factory, by those pioneers of manufacturing in this county, the Wheelers-Na- thaniel and Dexter-and Oliver Chace. When the mill was put in operation, William Marvel, then hardly six years old, was hired to tend the " breaker" or carding-machine. He remained here, employed in different parts of the mill, most of the time until 1812 or 1813. His work was occasionally interrupted by

attendance at school during the summer term, and for a month or six weeks in winter, and by two longer intervals, when he was engaged in farming. In 1813 he was hired to clean and repair the machinery of a small mill, situated in what was then a part of Ti- verton, now Globe village. At that time there were no spindles running in Fall River, but in the next year the Troy Mill was built. His services seem to have been demanded in all the earlier manufacturing enterprises in this city, for in 1814 he was employed in the Troy Mill, the next year as overseer in a small mill owned by Dexter Wheeler, and later hired by Benjamin E. Bennett, carding rolls for hand-spin- ning. He was constantly occupied in the mills either in Fall River or Swansea until 1819, when a long, severe illness prostrated him. Before he regained sufficient strength to endure the confinement and hard work of a factory, he learned the shoemakers' trade, and was occupied one season seining herring and shad at Dighton.

In 1821 he returned to Fall River, and was overseer in the old Troy Mill until it was destroyed by fire in October of that year, and afterwards found work in the machine-shops of Oliver Chace, and Harris, Hawes & Co.

Mr. Marvel was married on the 4th of March, 1827, to Lydia Gifford, daughter of Daniel Gifford, of this city. They had three children,-one son, died in infancy, and a daughter, died at the age of eighteen or nineteen, and a daughter, Ann E., married, May 14, 1855, William W. Stewart, son of Anthony Stew- art, of Newport, R. I. In 1824 the firm of Harris, Hawes & Co. was dissolved, but Oliver Hawes con- tinned the business, hiring William Marvel to build spinning-frames, and in 1825 the two formed a co- partnership. They not only built machines, but owned and ran a small mill, making satinet wraps for J. & J. Eddy. Finding their business increased beyond their facilities, in 1841 they hired a new shop of the Iron-Works Company, and at the same time took William C. Davol into partnership. Mr. Davol about this time obtained a patent on a speeder, and soon after introduced the "Sharp & Roberts' Self- Acting Mule," the first in this country. The posses- sion of these two patents brought a great amount of business to the firm, and for nearly forty years Marvel & Davol (Mr. Hawes withdrew in 1857) were em- ployed in building machinery for every department of cotton-manufactory, besides looms for weaving linen-damask. Their machines were in demand through the whole country from Biddeford and the many factory-towns of Maine through all the New England States, New York, New Jersey, and as far southi as Baltimore. They supplied all the spinning- machinery for the great Pacific Mills at Lawrence, and until within a few years no mill has been built in Fall River without their help in some of its equip- ments. Mr. Marvel withdrew from active participa- i tion in the business about 1865, but it was not until

1 For a more complete history of his ancestors, see biography of Weston Earle, Dighton.

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the works were destroyed by fire, April 14, 1876, that he finally severed his connection with the firm, which three years later sold out to the Iron-Works Company.

Many positions of trust, requiring business ability and sound judgment, have been offered to Mr. Marvel at various times, but, naturally retiring and reluctant to accept responsibility, they were generally refused. He was for a short time director in the Metacomet Bank. In his earlier days he held numerous public offices, was chairman of the school committee, and sev- eral times elected fireward, holding a position similar to that of our chief engineers. In connection with Thomas Durfee, he made the first hook-and-ladder apparatus used in this city. He was for many years inspector of steamboats for Fall River, New Bedford, and Newport. In politics he has always voted the old Whig or Republican ticket, and in the war of 1812 joined a volunteer company, but was never called into active service.

Such is a brief outline of the busy life of an ener- getic, persevering man. Fall River is justly proud of her rapid growth and supremacy in manufactures, and that supremacy is due to the labors of just such earnest, skillful, keen-sighted, hard-working men. It is the opinion of one of our oldest and most success- ful business men, whose portrait also appears in this book, that the name of William Marvel is more closely identified with the progress of manufactures in this city than that of any other man.

The story of his life is a history of every advance and improvement in cotton manufacturing for more than fifty years, during which he was employed in building machinery. Eminently practical, he knew the whole business, from the earliest and simplest processes to the action of every steel nerve and iron muscle in the elaborate and complicated machines of the present day. His success in his chosen profession was due not only to his industry, ambition, and care- ful attention to the details of business, but to an un- usual talent for mathematics. Taught by himself, he mastered the deep principles of that science, and spent many hours solving the knotty problems in- volved in calculating the intricate movements of dif- ferent machines. As far as can be ascertained, he is the oldest cotton-spinner now living in Bristol County. Mr. Marvel is what is called a " self-made man." With far less than the advantages that every child now enjoys, and obliged to assist in the sup- port of his father's family at an age when many are scarcely out of the nursery, he has by his own un- aided efforts acquired an enviable position in the community, and now at eighty-three, still hale and vigorous, is enjoying his richly-deserved rest, re- spected by all for his clear judgment, unbending in- tegrity, and upright, useful life.

SAMUEL MARTIN LUTHER.

Samuel Martin Luther, son of Samuel and Abigail Luther, was born in the town of Swansea, Mass., Nov. 15, 1806. His grandfather, Frederick Luther, was a native of Warren, R. I., where he lived and died at a ripe old age. He was a farmer by occupation and had children, one of whom was Samuel, who was born in Warren and settled in Swansea, where he followed the occupations of farmer and carpenter. He died in Fall River in the fall of 1843, and his wife Abigail died in 1858 or 1859. Their children were : (1) Rebecca, married James Bowen ; (2) Polly, married Willard Barney; (3) Abby, married James Richards ; (4) Daniel B., followed the seas ; (5) Pris- cilla, married John Bnshee; (6) Samuel M .; and (7) Nancy, married John Baker.

Samuel M. Luther had very limited advantages for an education. He attended the district school some three months every winter (when not otherwise en- gaged) until he was about seventeen years of age. He remained at home, working on the farm, till the spring of 1826, when he came to Fall River and com- . menced as an apprentice at the mason's trade with John Phinney, one of the early contractors and build- ers of Fall River. After serving his apprenticeship of three years, he continued to work for Mr. Phinney as a journeyman till 1831, when he began business for himself as a contractor and builder. The first work he did after starting for himself worthy of men- tion was the building of the stone church (Congrega- tional) situated on North Main Street, Fall River. Since that time he has had a hand, in whole or in part, in the construction of many of the most sub- stantial dwelling-houses and mills in this city.

As a contractor and builder, Mr. Luther has been one of the most successful in Fall River. Being a practical workman himself, he has given his personal attention to all his more important jobs, and was ever careful to see that those whom he employed did their work well. He required no more of others than he was willing to do himself. He has been a director in various corporations in Fall River, and is at the present writing director in Robeson Mill.

Politically, he is a Republican. He has been twice married, first to Abby M. Bosworth, of Warren, R. I. Of this union three children were born, all of whom died young. Mrs. Abby M. (Bosworth) Luther was born Feb. 21, 1809, and died July 11, 1854. Mr. Luther married for his second wife Harriet, daughter of William and Susanna (Spencer) Bateman, Nov. 18, 1857. She was born July 8, 1817, in Newport, R. I. They have one son, Charles B., born Nov. 15, 1860, in Fall River. He prepared for college at the High School in this city, and graduated from Brown University in the class of 1883.

Mr. Luther commenced life a poor boy, but by his indomitable energy, keen perceptions, good sense, sound judgment, coupled with honesty and economy, he has accumulated a competency for old age.

John Allade

Benjamin Corel

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FALL RIVER.

He detests anything that savors of shams, but honors all well-directed efforts which have for their object the good of society and the elevation of man- kind.

JOHN PALMER SLADE. .

John Palmer Slade, son of John and Mary Slade, was born in Somerset, Bristol Co., Mass., Nov. 13, 1824. He is of Welsh descent, and traces his lineage back to Edward Slade, who was born in Wales and came to Newport, R. I., among the early settlers of that colony. William, the son of Edward, was the founder of the family at Slade's Ferry, in Somerset, and settled there in 1680. The line of descent is as follows : On the paternal side, Edward1, William2, Ed- ward3, Edward+, Baker5, John6, John7, and John P.8; on the maternal side, Edward1, William2, Edward3, Edwards, Baker5, Edward6, Mary Slade7, John P.8

His grandfather, John Slade, on his father's side, and Edward, on his mother's side, who were brothers, lived in Swansea and Somerset, and were respectable farmers. John Slade married Phobe Pierce, of Som- erset, and had sons, Pierce, John, and Edmund. Dying at the age of twenty-seven, his widow married Wing Eddy, by whom she had several children, and died at an advanced age.

John Slade, son of John, was born in Swansea, and married Mary, daughter of Edward Slade, of Somer- set. They had children,-Winslow (lost at sea), John P., Edward and Mary (twins, died in infancy). The father died at the age of twenty- seven, and the mother at thirty-nine.

John P. Slade, the subject of our sketch, was de- prived of his father at the early age of four years, and of his mother at fourteen. Being without a home, he went to live with Capt. Robert Gibbs, a farmer of Som- erset, Mass. He continued there until about the age of eighteen, when a desire for higher knowledge than he had been able to obtain in early boyhood at the common schools induced him to spend some six months at Myers Academy, in Warren, R. I.

In the fall of 1841 he came to Fall River, Mass., as a clerk for Hale Remington, who was. then engaged in the grocery and drug business. He remained in this capacity about eight months, when he accepted a clerkship with his cousin, F. P. Cummings, a cotton dealer and general merchant, located at Georgetown, S. C. At the end of the following eight months he entered into copartnership with Mr. Cummings, under the name and style of Cummings & Slade, and after some two years he purchased his part- ner's interest, settled up the business, and came to Fall River in the spring of 1848. For the next seven years he served as clerk and conductor for the Fall River Railroad Company, which was after- wards changed into the Old Colony.

In 1855 he entered the office of Hale Remington, a general commission merchant, as clerk and salesman, and continued in his employ three years.

In January, 1858, he formed a copartnership with A. B. Macy (firm of Slade, Macy & Co.) in wholesale commission and insurance business at Fall River. At the close of the first year the partnership was dis- solved, and Mr. Slade continued the business alone until January, 1879, when he associated with himself his eldest son, Leonard N. Slade (firm of John P. Slade & Son, engaged in the general commission and insurance business).

Mr. Slade began life as a poor boy, dependent upon his own unaided exertions for success in whatever branch of industry he might choose to pursue. He is in 'every respect a self-made man, and the architect of his own fortune.

At the formation of the Granite Mills corporation in 1863 he was one of the original subscribers,,and that corporation was organized in his office, and he was elected a director in 1873. At the organization of the Davol Mills in 1867 he was made a director. In 1872, at organization of Shove Mills, was made treasurer and director, and at the death of its presi- dent, Charles O. Shove, in 1875, was elected president, and served until 1880. He is also a director of the Weetamoe Mills, and president of Laurel Lake Mills.

Oct. 25, 1856, soon after the organization of the Fall River Five Cents Savings-Bank, was elected its secretary, and still remains in that position. Has been a director of the Fall River National Bank since January, 1865.

Mr. Slade has been married three times,-first to Sarah L. Lewin, daughter of Martin and Mary Lewin, of Somerset, Mass. She died of typhoid fever soon after marriage. Second, to Ruth Ann Gardner, daugh- ter of Preserved S. and Ann Maria Gardner, of Swan- sea, Mass., by whom he had two sons, Leonard N. and Abbott E. Slade, both living; the latter is now treasurer of Laurel Lake Mills. Third, to Lois A. Buffinton, daughter of Moses and Ruth B. Buffinton, of Swansea, Mass. They have had four children, viz., Mary E., Benjamin (deceased), John Milton (de- ceased), and Louis Palmer.

Mr. Slade is a Republican in politics, and has been a member of the Roard of Aldermen and of the City Council of Fall River.

BENJAMIN COVEL.

Benjamin Covel, son of Benjamin and Polly (Newell) Covel, was born in the town of Berkley, Mass., March 2, 1818. His father was a native of Killingley, Conn., and was a farmer and ship-car- penter by occupation. He was twice married,-first to Polly Newell, and had children, Samuel and Ben- jamin; second, to Susan Tinkhiam. He settled in Berkley previous to his first marriage, and continued to reside there until his death, March 15, 1848, aged sixty-four years.

Benjamin Covel, the immediate subject of our sketch, received a common-school education. He

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

remained at home, working upon his father's farm, until he was eighteen years of age, when he went to Fall River, and commenced as an apprentice at the carpenter and joiner trade with Melvill Borden, a contractor and builder in wood. He remained with him about a year and a half, when he went and fin- ished his apprenticeship with the firm of Pierce, Mason & Co., and continued in their employ till the summer of 1842. In September of that year he went to Boston as a boss-carpenter to work for Samuel Sanford. Mr. Covel had the general oversight of all the repairing and erection of new tenement-houses put up by Mr. Sanford. In November of the same year he returned to his native town (Berkley), and remained there the winter following, and in the spring of 1843 went to Fall River, and in company with James Smith built the Pearl Street Church, Richardson House, Wilbur House, and many more. Mr. Covel has been constantly employed for the past forty years as a contractor and builder in wood, not alone in Fall River, but in Boston, Newport, R. I., and elsewhere. Among the finest buildings erected by him in Fall River we may mention the Troy Buildings, the Durfee Block, the residence of William C. Davol, Jr., A. S. Covel, and many others. At the time of the extension of the Old Colony Railroad from Fall River to Newport, he built all the bridges and depots on the line. At the present writing (1883) he is putting up a large freight-house in Boston for the Old Colony Company, which is sixty by three hundred and eighty feet. He has been president and director of the Crescent Mills since its organization, and vice-president and trustee of the Union Savings- Bank.

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History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 97

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