History of Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1656-1894, Part 78

Author: Kingman, Bradford, 1831-1903. 4n
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1170

USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Brockton > History of Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1656-1894 > Part 78

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

WARREN GODDARD.

WARREN GODDARD, EsQ., was a son of Rev. Warren and Sarah (Eldridge) Goddard, born in North Bridgewater (Brockton), October 10, 1849. After instruction in some of the private schools of the town, among which was S. D. Hunt's Academy, he en- tered the North Bridgewater High School in the first class ever entering that institu- tion, and after completing its full course was graduated with the first honors of his class, receiving the valedictory. He entered Dartmouth College in the class of 1871, and remained one year and a half, when he was obliged on account of ill health to with- draw from that institution. So persistent was he, however, that he continued his studies at home, and afrerwards received therefor the title of A. M. from that institution.

Mr. Goddard was soon after appointed principal of the East Abington (Rockland), High School, which position he held most successfully for about a year and a half. Soon after, he entered the New Church Theological School, now of Cambridge, and after finishing its three years course was at once made pastor of the Brookline Church of the New Jerusalem, which society extended to him a cordial and unanimous call. After eight years' faithful work here, he received another unanimous call from the Provi- dence Society of the same faith, which call he thought best to accept, though it was with great reluctance that the Brookline people could accept his resignation. After eight years' service in this his new field of labor, and much to the regret of his parish- ioners, he saw fit to study law, and for this purpose entered the office of Van Slyck & Van Slyck, city solicitors of Providence, R. I., where he studied for two years when he took a rigid examination in writing for two days and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar, it being said that he answered every question correctly. Upon the death of his father in 1890 he removed to Brockton, having been appointed one of the executors of the estate. Here he associated himself with the Hon. Jonathan White, under the firm name of White & Goddard, where he has since remained, enjoying a constantly increas- ing practice and having among his clients several towns and large corporations. In 1890 he accepted the clerkship of the police court, and by hard and earnest work

BIOGRAPHICAL.

brought it up out of its disreputable position, on account of the defalcation of a former clerk, till now it has been pronounced by the State controller of accounts one of the best managed offices in the State. On January 1, 1894, Mr. Goddard resigned the clerk- ship of the court to give his full attention to the business of his profession.

Mr. Goddard was a member for eight years of the Brookline school committee, acting as its secretary and chairman of the conimitte on teachers and other sub-committees. He is also a member of the Brockton school committee as well as a member of the Common Council of Brockton.

Mr. Goddard's first love was for the law, and as a boy he read with great interest the lives of such men as Webster, Choate, Jeremiah Mason, Pinckney and Wirt, but was temporarily diverted from his first choice by outside misrepresentations of what a law- yer's use and calling were. While a minister he regularly spent his "Mondays," the clergyman's weekly holiday, in the courts of Boston and Providence, where he heard with great pleasure the arguments of the most renowned advocates at the bar in those localities. Mr. Goddard has been but four years at the bar, but is fast becoming used to the requirements of his new profession and has the confidence as well as the respect of all his town's people.

Mr. Goddard married Alice C., daughter of Avery and Martha (Kidder) Wellington, of Brookline, Mass., October 8, 1874.

CHILDREN :

I-Langdon, born in Brookline November 19, 1875, died in Providence, R. I., De- cember 21, 1888.

II-Margaret, born in Brookline October 7, 1887.

III-Edith, born in Brookline April 28, 1879.

IV-Warren, born in Brookline November 5, 1880.

V-Arthur Eldridve, born in Providence, R. I. October 30, 1881.

VI-Alice Wellington, born in Providence, R. I. December 22, 1884.

VII-Mary Elizabeth, born in Providence, R. I. September 28, 1886.

VIII-Miriam Leslie, born in Brockton October 31, 1892.

BAALIS SANFORD

Was born in East Bridgewater, Plymouth county, October 4, 1833, his parents being Rev. Baalis and Abby (Burt) Sanford.

The common schools of his native town furnished his early educational training, this being supplemented by an attendance at the Bridgewater and East Bridgewater Academies.

In April, 1851, he began work as a bookkeeper and cashier in the dry goods house of Robinson & Barry, in what was then known as North Bridgewater. On February 1, 1858, he was admitted as a member of the firm of H. W. Robinson & Co., of Brockton,

HISTORY OF BROCKTON.

(successors of the above named firm) of which house he has ever since been a member, and is now the senior partner of the firm.

He was married in North Bridgewater, (now Brockton), August 19, 1856, to Lucy Cotton, daughter of Capt. Benjamin and Anne (Whitman) Hapgood. From this union there were three children : Irene Gertrude, Anne Cora (who died in 1860), and Mabel Louise (who died in 1869). His paternal grandfather, Capt. Joseph Sanford, was an officer in the war of the Revolution, being for a time stationed at Fort Warren, in Bos- ton harbor. He was a mason by trade, and a well now within the precincts of the fort and a chimney still in existence, show the quality of the work he was accustomed to perform.

He was a member of the lower branch of the Legislature in 1879, and served on the committee on mercantile affairs. A member of the School Board of Brockton for ten years, from 1875 to *85 inclusive, serving as secretary during the entire period.

He was elected city auditor January, 1882, being the first auditor under the city charter, which position he now holds. Has been justice of the peace since 1881. Was elected the first president of the Security Co-Operative Bank in 1878, serving two years in that office. Treasurer of the Brockton Gas Light Company, 1886-87-88. Elected president of the Brockton Savings Bank April, 1892. He is treasurer of the Lugonia Fruit Growing and Packing Co., of Redlands, California, and a director of the Brock- ton Agricultural Society. He has been the secretary of the Commercial Club since its organization in 1883.

He has been identified with the Masonic fraternity since 1864. Was W. Master of Paul Revere Lodge in 1867 to 1869, H. Priest of Satucket R. A. Chapter in 1869 to 1872, and Eminent Commander of Bay State Commandery K. T. in 1876 to 1878, and has been Recorder of Bay State Commandery for fifteen years. He is a permanent member of the Grand Lodge, Grand Chapter, and Grand Commandery of Massachusetts, and also of the Grand Council American Legion of Honor ; and a life member of Massa- chusetts Consistory (32d degree). In politics, Mr. Sanford is an ardent supporter of the Republican party. In religious matters his affiliations are with the Congregationalists. For seven years he was treasurer of the Porter Evangelical Church.

MARCUS LEACH.

MARCUS LEACH is the son of Oliver and Mercy (Stetson) Leach, the ancestral line from Giles Leach from Weymouth, Mass., being as follows, viz :- Giles, John, Timothy, Nathan, Oliver, Marcus.

He was born December 7, 1818, in the east part of the town, on the old homestead of his father, on the road leading from Brockton to Whitman, now Crescent, near Quincy street. The farm on which his new residence is situated was included in the farm that was his grandfather's, Nathan Leach, and whose possessions extended from the Curtis farm on the west several miles into what is now Whitman and East Bridgewater on the east. His grandfather was said to have been one of the largest landholders in the east part of the old North Parish of Bridgewater, now Brockton, which contained several

Marcus Leuch

BIOGRAPHICAL ..

hundred acres. He was a remarkably industrious man, and did much in clearing the original land for settlement and for agricultural purposes, which all the first settlers in the town had to do. He was the first of the name to settle in the North Parish and came from Scotland, Bridgewater, and located on what is now the Peleg S. Harding farm, near the corner of Quincy and Crescent streets. He was also extensively engaged in purchasing large tracts of woodland and converting the wood into charcoal, with which he supplied the neighboring forges, even as far as Boston.

In addition to the regular duties pertaining to a farm he resorted to the usual custom of hammering wrought nails, which was in his day as common a trade as shoemaking is to-day.

Oliver Leach, the father of the subject of our sketch, located a short distance to the west of the above farm, erected a house and became the father of eighteen children, and the old house, after coming into the possession of Marcus Leach, was occupied by him nearly forty years, when he razed it and erected his present fine residence on an elevated spot -- a short distance northwest of the old house. His father, Oliver, belonged to that class of farmers which at that time comprised more than one-half of the population of old North Bridgewater. He was an industrious man, and was a prosperous farmer, living comfortably. In addition to farming he furnished quantities of timber to the ship builders of North River at Hanover, Mass.

MARCUS LEACH, the son, was always ambitious to have an education, and his oppor- tunities at home were somewhat limited by the industrious habits with which the family was brought up on the farm. But the young man seemed to make most of his time. After the usual short attendance in the district school he completed his education in that excellent and well known private school of Marshall S. Rice of Newton Centre, Mass., and at the academy at Holliston, Mass. In 1841 he went to Missouri, where he taught school for three years, returning to Massachusetts. He commenced to manufacture boots and shoes in 1846, and may well be called a pioneer in that line of industry in Brockton. In 1857 Mr. Leach's brother, Lucius, became a partner with him, under the name of M. & L. Leach.

In politics Mr. Leach was a Whig, and cast his first vote for Gen. William Henry Harrison, and when the Free Soil party came into existence he was among them and became a firm believer in its measures, and later joined the Republican party, of which he is a firm supporter. He is one who does his own thinking, and is fearless in the ex - pression of his opinions. Has been frugal and industrious, lived comfortably, and brought up his family in respectability, believes in honesty and morality and the golden rule. In his early youth Mr. Leach and family were regular attendants on the ministry of the First Congregational Church, then the only church in the North Parish. He well remembers the aged deacons, Sylvanus French and Jacob Fuller, the latter of whom was his teacher in the Sunday school. He remembers the time when in April, 1827, the second meeting house of the Parish was pulled down to make room for another. At that time " they called it an old fashioned thing, and said it must be sold."

Although Mr. Leach has now passed his three score and ten years, yet he still lives in a lively recollection of what took place over a half century since. The chief qualities,

HISTORY OF BROCKTON.

which had led him to success, has been his activity, integrity and good judgment, and still believes in the motto: "Omnia vincit labor," and we think the words of the poet are very applicable to his case :

"Be active-Be active Find something to do. In plowing a prairie, Or making a shoe. Dont stop at the corners To drag out the day ; Be active-Be acti e- And work while you may "

The result in his case is obvious and is easily stated. He has mnuch wealth and many friends, and an excellent reputation. Being a man of much modesty he has never sought public office of any kind, preferring the great satisfaction of managing his own business well to that of serving the public, believing in the character of the man described by Dr. Franklin, who made a thousand dollars a year by attending to his own business, and a thousand dollars more by letting other peoples' business alone. About 1870 Mr. Leach purchased the mill property known as the "Howard Mill " on Beimont street, used as a box and grist mill, and still owns the same. He has never found it necessary to com- pound with his creditors, or take a discharge from his honest debts in an Insolvent Court, but firmly believes in one hundred cents to a dollar, although he does not think the chief end of man is to gather up riches.

GILES LEACH came from Weymouth, Mass., and settled in West Bridgewater, Mass., near Scotland, Bridgewater, previous to 1665. He married Anne Nokes, 1656. She lived in the family of Deacon Samuel Bass in Braintree, Mass.

CHILDREN :

1 .- Sarah, born in Weymouth, married John Aldrich.

II .- Elizabeth, born -, married John Emerson, 1693.

III .- Samuel, born in Weymouth, 1662, married Mary Byram.

IV .- David, born -, married Hannah

V .- John, born -, married Alice -, 1695.

VI .- Ebenezer, born -- , married Prudence Stetson of Scituate, December 17, 1707. VII .- Benjamin, born -- , married Hepzibah Washburn, 1702.

JOHN LEACH, son of Giles and Anne (Nokes) Leach, - 1656, married Alice, daughter of --

CHILDREN :

I .- John, born November 10, 1695, married Susanna White, February 20, 1719.

II .- Giles, born March 28, 1697, removed to Halifax, N. S.

III .- Stephen, born January 28, 1699, married Sarah Hooper, 1725.

IV .- Abiel, born December 18, 1700.

V .- Ebenezer, born December 3, 1702, married Joanna Washburn, December 26, 1734, and Deborah Sampson, 1751.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

VI .- Mehetable, born November 14, 1704.

VII .- Timothy, born October 15, 1707, married Sarah Leach, December 5, 1732.

VIII .- Nehemiah, born December 18, 1709, married 1st, Mercy Staples, 2d, Jerusha Bryant of Plympton.

IX .- Solomon, born February 19, 1712, married Tabitha Washburn, April 14, 1736. X .- Jesse, born October 16, 1714, married Alice -.

TIMOTHY LEACH, son of John and Alice ( - ) Leach, born -- , married Sarah, danghter of Benjamin and Hepzibah (Washburn) Leach of -, December 5, 1732.

CHILDREN :

I .- Rebecca, born 1733, married Joshua Warren, jr., July 8, 1760.

1I .- Ichabod, born 1735, married Penelope Cobb, October 11, 1770.

III .- Sarah, born February 18, 1739, married Jonathan Hayward of Easton, 1762.

IV .- Jonathan, born November 20, 1741, married Experience Hartwell, February 28, 1768.

V .- Levi, born April 7, 1744, married Hannah Fobes, November 18, 1771. VI .- Nathan, born December 22, 1746, married Deborah Leach, November 14, 1771. VII .- Anne, born November 21, 1749, married James Sturtevant, 1769.

VIII. Timothy, born October 23, 1751.

NATHAN LEACH, son of Timothy and Sarah (Leach) Leach, born December 22, 1746, married Deborah, daughter of William Leach, -- widow of Ebenezer, November 14, 1771.

CHILDREN.

I .- Reliance, born May 29, 1772, married Noah Tirrell, 1794.

II .- Thaddeus, born March 13, 1785, died a soldier at the South.

III .- Oliver, born May 1, 1782, died August 28, 1848 ; married Sally Brown, 1803, who died in 1816.

1V .- Sarah, born ----- , married Allen Smith, 1815.

V .- Libbeus, born -- , died single.

VI .- Eliphalet, born -- , married; Hannah Shaw, December 11, 1806.

VI1 .- Nathan, born -- , married Mehetable Gloyd, 1805.

The father died February 1, 1826, aged seventy-nine. The mother died January 14, 1834, aged eighty-three.

OLIVER LEACHI, son of Nathan and Deborah (Leach) Leach, married Sally, daughter of Knight and -- ( -- ) Brown, of Abington, Mass., 1803.

CHILDREN :

I. - Elbridge, born -- , married Deborah H. Joslyn of Hanson, Mass.

II .-- Oliver, born December 15, 1805, died November 6, 1885; married Susanna Howland of Pembroke, Mass., October 27, 1828.

HISTORY OF BROCKTON.

III .- Aaron, born in 1807, died May 31, 1821.

IV .- John, born in 1810, married Lydia French of Sidney, Me.

V .- Allen, born December 9, 1813, died November 27, 1893; married 1st, Lydia Jenkins Howland, 2d, Mary Jane Morey, of Orford, N. H .; 3d, Huldah Morey.

VI .- Sarah, born May 12, 1816.

The mother died May 15, 1816, aged thirty-four. He then married Mercy, daughter of Peleg and -- (Gurney) Stetson of East Bridgewater, Mass., 1817.

VII .- Marcus, born December 7, 1818, married Eliza P. Bourne, daughter of Abel Bourne of Hanson, Mass., October 24, 1847.

VIII .-- Clarissa Stetson, born April 1, 1820, died January 18, 1842, aged twenty-two years.

IX .- Aaron Davis, born January 18, 1823, married Sophia Worth of Cape Breton. X .-- Emily Jane, born March 8, 1825, married Josiah Gurney of Whitman.

XI .- Ruth Gurney, born January 24, 1827, died March 20, 1827.

XII .-- Lucius Leach, born February 21, 1828, married Celia Statira, daughter of Robert Howland of Pembroke, Mass., March 7, 1855, and had these

CHILDREN :

1 .-- Lucius Melvin, born November 25, 1855, married -- Hayward of Bridge- water.

2 .-- Celia Ellen, born June 27, 1862, married Abraham L., son Leopold and Joanna Strauss of New Haven, Conn.

3 .- Robert Howland.

XIII .- Peleg Stetson, born April 1, 1830, married Angeline, daughter of Elijah Damon of Hanson, Mass., February 9, 1854.

CHILDREN :

1 .- Peleg Stetson, born December 9, 1855.

The father married 2d, Eliza Augusta, daughter of Israel and Mary Jane (Morton) Packard of Brockton, Mass., December 31, 1863. He was an extensive shoe manu- facturer on West Elm street.

XIV .- Levi, born January 2, 1832.

XV .- Charlotte Eveline, born February 17, 1834, married Daniel Hall of Marshfield.

XVI .- Maria Augusta, born October 10, 1838, married George Henry Kingman.

The mother died February 3, 1846. The father died August 28, 1848, aged sixty- nine years.

MARCUS LEACH, son of Oliver and Mercy Stetson, of Brockton, Mass., married Eliza Paris, daughter of Abel Bourne of Hanson, Mass.,¿October 24, 1847. The mother died April 3, 1887.

CHILDREN :

1 .- Wendell, born October 1, 1848, married Bertha Frances Smith, of Waltham, Mass., October 27, 1880.

(a) .- Marion Dana, born October 13, 1881.

Chandler G. Byly

BIOGRAPHICAL.

2 .- Anna, born June 11, 1853. Lady principal of Elinira College, Elinira, N. Y.

3 .- Abby, born May 28, 1855. Professor of Greek at Vassar College, Pough- kcepsie, N. Y.

4 .- Edith, born October 28, 1861.

5 .- Merton, born November 15, 1866. Died February 9, 1870.

CHARLES CHANCY BIXBY,

SON of Jacob and Sophia (Cooley) Bixby, was born in Bridport, Vt., January 28, 1822. He was an only son of his father, and being a farmer his son helped him on the farmn, where he spent most of his earlier years, attending school during the winter months only. He had early acquired a strong inclination towards the practice of medicine as a profession. With this end in view he fitted for college at Poultney Seminary, Vt., and graduated at Middlebury College in the class of 1847. He at once entered upon a course of medical studies which he pursued interruptedly for three years, and removed to the then town of North Bridgewater, now the city of Brockton, in November, 1847. His trip from Middlebury, Vt., to Fitchburg, Mass., would at this time be considered an eventful one. He left the paternal home of his nativity with a capital of twenty dollars, borrowed from a friend-which on his arrival at North Bridgewater was reduced to about one dollar and ffty cents. During the following winter he taught school in the south part of the adjoining town, Easton. In the spring of 1848 he was called to take charge of the school in the building which until recently occupied the locality, where now stands the "New City Hall" in Brockton. After occupying this position two years he reluctantly relinquished his cherished idea of the practice of medicine and decided to follow a business course, which he commenced by entering the employ of Messrs. Brett & Kingman, then the leading mercantile house in the town, doing an extensive business. After a connection of three years in their service in 1852 he en- gaged in business for himself in a building at the corner of Main and School streets, having a sign "Drugs and Medicines, Books and Stationery." In that business and on that spot he conducted a successful trade for about thirty years. In the meantime he had become owner of the property to which he made large additions and many im- provements until in 1883, when he removed the old building and erected in its place the present new elegant five-story brick block, well known as " Bixby's Block." From the time of his adoption of North Bridgewater, now Brockton, as his place of residence, Mr. Bixby has ever taken an active interest in its municipal affairs and been more or less identified with all the public and private enterprises tending to promote its health- ful growth and prosperity. Mr. Bixby was one of the earnest advocates for a change of name of the town of North Bridgewater, and is the first signer on a petition to the Legislature with 802 other citizens. He was secretary and treasurer of the first Co- operative Bank Association in the town, and during a period of seven or eight years that he occupied that position the bank paid out over one hundred thousand dollars, most of which was spent in the erection of comfortable homes for the laboring classes of

HISTORY OF BROCKTON.

the town. He also took an active interest in the schools of the town and was chairman of the School Committee in 1855.

He was one of the organizers of the "First Gas Light Company," and for about thirty years was one of its directors, when the plant was sold to another party. He was one of a company to secure a charter for the first horse railway company, which did not immediately materialize, as public opinion was not then quite ripe for such an enter- prise. They, however, later sold their charter to a company oaganized under a new charter, which constructed and successfully conducted the system known as the " Broekton Street Railway Company," afterwards merged into the present Electric System of Street Railways.

He was one of the first to initiate the first public water works, which were operated several years and until the town had outgrown the capacity of the works. They finally purchased the property, paying the cost of the same preparatory to entering upon the construction of the present extensive works. He was a charter member of the First National Bank established in the town, the " Home National Bank," and still re- tains the position of one of its directors. He was also a representative to the General Court of Massachusetts from the town of North Bridgewater in 1868, and from the city of Brockton in 1888 and 1889. Was a delegate to the National convention in 1872 which renominated General Grant for the presidency. A Mason of forty years stand- ing-a member of all the Masonic organizations in the city. Past Master of Paul Re- vere Lodge, Past High Priest of. Satucket R. A. Chapter, and Past E. C. of Bay State Commandery. Has been District Deputy G. H. Priest of the Grand Chapter of Massa- chnsetts, and Grand Lecturer of the Grand Commandery of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He is also a member of Massachusetts Consistory.

Mr. Bixby married Alice, daughter of Daniel and Susanna (Cole) Crocker, of Brockton, August 10, 1852, and had these

CHILDREN :

I .- Nellie Crocker Bixby, born 1857, married Herman A. Dunbar.

II .- Charlie Webster Bixby, born 1861, married Anna Clark.

III .- Fred Morton Bixby, born December 1, 1863, married Lilly Hallett, November, 1887.

FRANCIS BAKER WASHBURN

Was born in the town of Troy, Orleans county, Vt., the year 1820, and was the oldest son of Reuben Washburn, a farmer and mason. There he was brought up and received what education the county schools of the time afforded, and got an idea of his father's trade. When he was seventeen years of age he left home and went to Middleboro, where he learned the mason's trade of his uncle, Harrison Washburn.

- During the period of his apprenticeship occurred the disastrous conflagration which swept away a large section of Charleston, South Carolina. With many other artisans, his uncle hastened to that city, taking him with him. There his uncle secured several

BIOGRAPHICAL.

contracts, so that the larger part of his apprenticeship was served in Charleston. Soon after returning from the South his uncle died and the subject of this sketch returned to his native town and assisted his father for a year or two in running the farm. Then he went to Cambridge and opened an eating house which he conducted for two years. During that time he married Nancy P. Abbott of Maine, and after the eating house had been closed they went to Troy for a short time, then they removed to Fairhaven in this State, and Mr. Washburn resumed his trade, did a successful business until 1848, when he came to North Bridgewater, now Brockton, and started in business in Campello.

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History of Brockton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1656-1894, Part 78

Author: Kingman, Bradford, 1831-1903. 4n Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 1170

Author: Kingman, Bradford, 1831-1903. 4n
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 1170