History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 206

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 206

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Captain Page was worthy of such ancestry. As a youth he was a favorite with his comrades and his teachers, active on the play-ground and assiduous in his studies. He attended the public schools of Newburyport and the Putnam Free School, and finished his studies at Thetford Academy in Vermont, profiting from his schooling by industry and atten- tion, as was shown in his after-life that he had laid a good foundation in youth by reading and observa- tion, and the power of expressing bimself by fitting words, which appeared in articles contributed by him to the Newburyport Herald, over the signature of " Folium," and in the columns of Harper's Magazine. In the latter was also an indication of his artistic talent, as the illustrations were from his own pencil, and were of a high order of merit.

In 1852, when sixteen years of age, the youth went to sea, as was common with intelligent and enterpris- ing young men in those days of commercial pros- perity, when a seafaring life opened a promising career to enterprise, and energy, and sobriety. A sober, intelligent and active youth was almost cer- tain to achieve the command of a ship in early man- hood, with the prospect of becoming a merchant on his own account before he had arrived at middle-age. Such a career had been common with his relatives on his mother's side, who had first been ship-masters and tben merchants. It was a family instinet which he followed, and in 1857, when he was but twenty-one years old, he obtained the position of captain of a ship trading to the East Indies, and as such he sailed until the breaking out of the Civil War, in 1861.

The war opened a new epoch in the life of Captain Page, as he entered the volunteer naval service as acting-master in command of the gunboat " Wateree," rendering efficient service in protecting the commerce of the United States on the Pacific coast, which was assigned to him as a cruising-ground during the war, and the service was well performed, though it of- fered small occasion for distinction as a naval officer, the scenes of active operations being upon the other side of the continent ; yet it was a no less nseful service in the protection it afforded.

At the close of the war he again took command of a merchant ship, the "Sacramento," owned by Wil- liam F. Weld & Co., of Boston, continuing in this employ successfully for several years. He was a skillful seaman and a good business man, and was highly appreciated by the owners, who were strict in their demands upou the ship-masters in their em- ploy.

On the 5th of December, 1867, Captain Page was married to Miss Emily C. Wills (only daughter of Rufus Wills, Esq.) in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in Newburyport. The family of the bride for several generations had been of the prosperous merchants of what had been one of the most prosperous ccmmer- cial towns of the Commonwealth, and who, by their enterprise and business intelligence, had maintained their standing as merchants whose ships whitened every sea, after commerce in Newburyport had fallen into decay ; their trade being with the East Indies, where one or the other usually resided. Two days after the marriage, on the 7th of December, 1867, the newly-married pair sailed on the steamship " Ontario" on their wedding tour, which embraced several months' travel, during which they saw the principal countries of Europe.

After the wedding journey Captain Page took com- mand of the ship "Josiah L. Hale," owned by his unele, Hon. Micajah Lunt, of Newburyport, and others, bound for Calcutta. On this voyage he was accompanied by his young and charming bride, and on the return voyage, on January 4, 1869, a son was born to them, who lived but a few hours. It was a sad loss, occurring, as it did, far from home and sym- pathizing friends, on the pathless wastes of the deep. They arrived in Boston in the spring of 1869, and this voyage was the last of Captain Page's seafaring life.

Upon his retirement from sea-going, at the early age of thirty-two years, in June, 1869, he commenced the business of ship-brokerage, in company with Mr. Charles H1. Coffin, of Newburyport, in which city Captain Page continued his residence. This partner- ship lasted for three years, when it expired by limit- ation, and he formed a new partnership in the samo business with Mr. E. L. Reed, which continued until the death of Captain Page, which occurred at New- buryport on the 23d of January, 1874, after a painful illness, during which he showed the courage and

Chat itofelan-

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endurance of a hero and the resignation of a Christian. He left two children, named respectively for their paternal and maternal grandfathers,-David Perkins Page, born August 12, 1870, and Rufus Wills Page, born July 13, 1872, who reside with their widowed mother in Newburyport, giving good promise to be worthy of their parentage.

The death of Captain Page was a shock to a large circle of friends, as it was terrible to his family, as he was not thirty-eight years oldl, and so shortly before had seemed to be in the full possession of a vigorous manhood. The death of his father had been a like sudden affliction, as he had died at about the same age, the period of life when the mental and physical powers are strongest, and when death is most terrible. He was a man, too, like his father, who had his fac- ulties at command, and made the most of them, and the death of such men before the life's work is done is a public loss, as well as a private grief to their friends.

Captain Page had a large circle of friends and acquaintances by whom he was beloved for his kindly, genial nature, respected for his integrity of life and character, and admired for his courage, energy and intelligence. He was affable and gentlemanly in his manners and inspired confidence in himself by his countenance, open as the day, and by his easy, self- possessed bearing he made others easy in his presence. He was a favorite with all who knew him, and his death was mourned by many besides the family to whom he was so dear.

His life was one of business or in the service of his country during the war, and he held no public office except that of vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Newburyport, and the esteem in which he was held is expressed in the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted at a meeting of the wardens and vestrymen of the church, January 28, 1874:

" Whereas it has pleased Gon in his wise Providence to remove from our midst by a short and distressing illness our late associate, Captain David P. Page, therefore,

" Resolved, That we place upon our records this testimony of our esti- mation of his character as a member of our board, deeply interested in all that concerned the welfare of this ancient l'arislı.

" Resolved, That while we bow with submission to the Divine Will, we cannot but deeply regret the loss to the Parish and to ourselves of an exemplary Christiau man, and gentleman, who during the short time he was a fellow-worshipper, won our esteem by his modest, unassuming demeanor and earnest desire to promote the spiritual welfare of his fel- low-men.

" Resolved, That while we extend to his bereaved widow and family our sincere sympathy in their great loss, we would respectfully suggest the comforting assurance, drawn from the teachings of Jesus Christ, that a life passed like his, in earnest endeavors to imitate the Divine Master and Saviour, has entitled him to a place among the saints made perfect."

CHARLES TOPPAN.

Among the early settlers of Newbury, Mass., was Abraham Toppan, who sailed from Yarmouth, Eng-

land, in May, 1637, and who, in October of the same year, was admitted to the rights and duties of a free- man of the infant colony, becoming, soon after hisad- mission, one of the selectmen of the town. He seems to have been a man of education, as his signature, still preserved, is written in a scholarly hand, while his enterprise in business carried him to the West India Islands on several voyages which proved suc- cessful financially.

His numerous descendants, some of whom changed the spelling of the name to Tappan, became connected by marriage with many of the old and prominent families of Massachusetts and other States.

Ilow the name was first changed is described by Lewis Tappan in the biography of his brother Arthur, who states that "after the death of Rev. Benjamin Toppan, in 1790, his children at a family meeting agreed to change the spelling to Tappan at the sug- gestion of the eldest son, who had for some time adopted that way of writing it."

One of the sons of Abraham Toppan, named Jacob, married Hannah Sewall, the sister of the able and widely-known Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, and ofthis line was born, in Newburyport, Charles, on February 10, 1796. His father, Edward, after serving in the Revolutionary army with his uncle, Colonel Little, of Newbury, became a partner of the mercantile firm of Hoyt, Coolidge & Toppan, whose losses caused by French spoliation have not yet been paid by the national government. His mother, who is described as a beautiful and amiable woman, was a sister of Captain Michael Smith, of the United States navy.

In early boyhood Mr. Toppan evinced great fond- ness for drawing, his leisure hours being devoted to sketching, and having read an account of the process of etching, he made so successful an attempt at copying an engraving of " Napoleon Crossing the Alps " that he was encouraged to further efforts. He was fur- ther stimulated by the approbation bestowed upon one of his drawings by Monroe, then Secretary of State.

His talent becoming known to Messrs. Draper, Murray & Fairman, the only bank-note engraving firm then existing in the country, which was e-tab- lished in Philadelphia, as the most important city of the Union at that time, he was invited by those gen- tlemen to join their ranks, which he did in 1814.

Applying himself to his profession with great ardor and perseverance, he soon became one of its leaders, being remarkable for the accuracy of his work, and being exceedingly rapid in execution.

In 1819 he went to London, accompanying Mr. Perkins, the inventor, and Mr. Fairman, who crossed the Atlantic with the expectation of being employed by the Bank of England, whose notes had been ex- tensively counterfeited. Mr. Perkins was the inten- tor of a process which rendered counterfeiting very difficult and which had been successfully used in the

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United States. Upon their arrival in England they were cordially received. In a letter to a member of his family, at home, Mr. Toppan writes from London :

" The engravers and amateurs in the arts are, one and all, extrava- gant in their encomiunis upon the beauty of the work and the merits of the plan, and are willing to recommend it for adoption and assist for that purpose in any manner in their power. lleath, Lowry, Warren aod many others who rank the highest in engraving have been to see ns. They mostly called and introduced themselves, which is an evi- dence of their wish to form our acquaintance and a proof of the high estimation Messrs. Perkios and Fairman possess in the opinion of the public. We have found them all men possessing all the requisites of gentlemen in appearance and manners, and mental accomplishments corresponding to their rank as artists. Some of my specimens have been shown, and I was pleased to hear well spoken of. My large plate of Washington's farewell address, the title of which I have just completed, has astonished them. There has never been a plate of anything near the size engraved here, and there are at this time no engravers in the city who will attempt any large piece."

The English engravers claimed, however, that they were without rivals in the field of minute and fine letter engraving, as one of their number had en- graved the Lord's Prayer in a cirele somewhat larger than the space occupied by a ten-cent piece. Mr. Toppan, actuated by a feeling of national emulation, engraved not only the Lord's Prayer, but also the Ten Commandments in a yet smaller space. This is undoubtedly the most minute engraving ever made by hand on steel. By using a strong magnifying glass every letter is seen to be distinctly cut, and with perfect regularity.

In another letter to his family, speaking of the prospects of obtaining the work of the Bank of Eng- land, he writes :

" As yet nothing has been decided upon, but the prospects are so fav- orable as almost to assure us of success. Mr. Perkins dined a few days since with Sir Joseph Banks, who is president of the Bank Committee, and from the opinion he expressed with respect to the beauty, safety and ingenuity of the specimens shown him, there is no doubt of his inffit- encs being exerted in favor of thelr adoption. The specimens that have been presented by the English artists, and on which all their talent has been exerted, fell far short of the American in every respect, in the opinion of ull who have seen both of them ; and I am pleased to say there does not appear to be the least jealonsy or the least hesitation among the artists and citizens in acknowledging the superiority and giving it as their wish that onr plan should be adopted."

They were, however, disappointed in their expec- tations, the Bank Committee deeiding not to use Mr. Perkins' patent at that time on account of the large priee asked. In the mean time other bank work came to them on account of their acknowledged superior- ity, and the firm then established still exists in a flourishing condition in London.

After an absence in Europe of six years, during which he witnessed the funeral services of George Ilt., the coronation of George IV. and the rejoieings in Paris over the birth of the Count de Chambord, the heir of the Bourbon line, Mr. Toppan returned to the United States, and in 1826 married Miss Laura A. Noxon, daughter of Dr. Robert Noxon, of Pougli- keepsie, and granddaughter of Captain Lazarus Rug- gles, who served in the Revolutionary army from Connecticut.

In 1828 he recommenced his career of bank-note engraving in Philadelphia, being joined by Mr. Dra- per,-Mr. Fairman being no longer living. For thirty years the firm, of which he was head, maintained the highest rank for beauty and excellence of work, until 1858, when the various bank-note engraving houses of the country united under the corporate name of the American Bank-Note Company. Mr. Toppan was chosen unanimously the first president, as his qualifications fitted him eminently for the position. After organizing and harmonizing the different parts of this large corporation, whose principal seat was in New York, with branches in Philadelphia, Boston, Cincinnati, New Orleans and Montreal, he resigned the presidency in 1860.

During his term of office Russia was the first for- eign government to give a large order for bank-notes, recognizing the superiority of the American work; although some of the Canadian banks and sonie of the banks of the Swiss cantons had previously em- ployed Toppan, Carpenter & Co., before the consoli- dation was effected, in 1858. Other foreign nations soon followed. Greece and Italy had certain series of their national notes engraved and printed in New York, Spain her revenue stamps. All the States of South America, which formerly sent to England for their bank-notes, now have recourse to the United States, while the distant empires of Japan and _Aus- tralia complete the cirenit of the globe.

Mr. Toppan was a member of various societies, a director of the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, a director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and member of the Century Club, of New York. He was on terms of friendship with Irving, Bryant, Lesfie, Newton, Marsh, Sully and other literati and artists.

In his views he was broad and liberal, conscientious in the discharge of duty, social and cheerful in dis- position and was very generous, especially to young artists, many of whom he befriended. Being an ex- cellent judge of art, he gathered around him a choice collection of paintings. His love for the beautiful in nature and art did not diminish with advancing years, as only a few days before his decease he was busy with his pencil sketehing the picturesque scenes in the neighborhood of Florence, Italy, where he died in October, 1874.

SAMUEL JONES SPALDING.1

Samuel Jones Spalding was born in Lyndeborough, N. H., December 11, 1820, and was the son of Abi- jah and Hannah (Eastman) Spalding, of a family of Puritan descent, the first of the direct line being Ed- mund Spalden, who, for a time, lived in Braintree, Mass., and was made a freeman May 13, 1645, and was one of the original proprietors and one of the officers of the town of Chelmsford, in the same State,

1 By Nathan N. Withington.

Pulling

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which was incorporated May 29, 1655. The family is one which has given leading and educated men to many parts of the Union in every generation.

The early life of the subject of this sketch was like that of many New England boys of that period. In April, 1824, his family removed to Dunstable (now Nashua), where the Nashua Manufacturing Company had begun the excavation of their canal, and were laying the foundation of their factories, and it was the prospect of more remunerative em- ployment which had tempted the father to leave his farm among the hills. The schools which the boy attended were the old district schools, and he has no remembrance of the earlier teachers, as there were new ones each term, and there was only one short term in winter and one in summer.

At the early age of ten he was put into the ma- chine-shop of the cotton-mill, and worked there. more or less, each year, until he began to fit for col lege. He united with the Olive Street Congrega- tional Church February 1, 1835, and the same spring began to fit for college in a select school, taught by George Cook, afterward president of the University of Tennessee ; and he studied under sev- eral masters until he entered Dartmouth College, in 1838, where his room-mate during the entire course was Milton Mason, now of California, and where he maintained a good standing for scholarship, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which was the only relic of college rank.

During his college term Mr. Spalding taught school during the vacations, and on his graduation, in 1842, he taught a select school at Medway, Mass., and he intended to devote two or three years to teaching, but the opportunity offering, he entered the Theo- logical Seminary at Andover in November, 1842, and teaching during the leisure time of the course, gradu- ated from the seminary September 4, 1845, having been approbated to preach April 8th preceding, by the Andover Association.

On the afternoon of the day of his graduation he was urged by Dr. Toppan. of Augusta. Me., to go into the service of the Maine Home Missionary So- ciety, which invitation he accepted, and engaged in the work for some time. In March, 1846, he was in- vited to preach by a new congregation, in Salmon Falls, N. H., and he was ordained as pastor of the : er, was so pleased with his reception that in speak- church October 28, 1346, and under his pastorate a new church edifice was begun in 1849, and was dedi- cated May 1, 1850.

Mr. Spalding was married at Medway, Mass., June 27, 1848, to Sarah Lydia Metcalf, daughter of Hon. Luther and Sarah (Phipps) Metcalf; but in little more than a year she died, and was buried in Med- way with the son she had borne.

Early in the spring of 1851 Mr. Spalding received a call from the Whitefield Church in Newburyport to become its pastor, and two councils were called be- fore he was dismissed from the pastorate of the Sal-

mon Falls Church, and was installed over the Whitefield Church June 30th of the same year, the installation ceremonies being held in the North Church, of which Rev. Luther F. Dimmick was then pastor, the Whitefield Society worshipping in Market Hall. The work of building the Whitefield Church on State Street was begun soon after, and the edifice was dedicated March 2, 1852, when the ser- mon was by Rev. Lyman Beecher, D.D.

Mr. Spalding had married, for his second wife, Sarah Jane Parker Toppan, daughter of Hon. Ed- mund and Mary (Chase) Toppan, at Hampton, the residence of the widowed mother of the bride, on September 16, 1851, the marriage ceremony having been performed by Rev. R. D. Hitchcock, D.D .; and after boarding for a while they went to house-keep- ing, at 28 Green Street, on the 24th of August, 1852, where they have since resided, dispensing a generous hospitality in a home made attractive by a lady of brilliant conversational powers and extensive knowl- edge of books and men and women worth knowing. In this house Dr. and Mrs. Spakling have enter- tained many of the notable people of the time, and no hosts in Newburyport could entertain more de- lightfully than they. It was in the days of lyceums that they began their house-keeping in the fine, old- fashioned house on Green Street, and many of the noted lecturers were invited to partake of their hos- pitality.

Here came Horace Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune and leader of the generous and hope- ful youth of America, simple, benevolent and brave. Professor and Mrs. IHarriet Beecher Stowe were sev- eral times entertained hy them, and on one occasion Mr. Stowe was met there by Miss Hannah F. Gould, just after " Uncle Tom's Cabin " had roused the read- ing world by its dramatic power. Miss Catharine Beecher, Mrs. Stowe's sister, was another guest. Charles Sumner passed a night in their house, and sat up till past midnight, looking over autographs, of which he had one of four of the best collections in the United States. John P. Hale, who went out of the Democratic party on the admission of Texas, and revolutionized the politics of his State, so that he was elected as a Free-Soil Senator, was another guest. Bayard Taylor, the poet, traveler and lyceum lectur-

ing of travel, he said : " New England against all the world for solid comfort! It has all the best of Old England, with the freedom and accommodation that make it set as easy as an old coat." Dr. I. I. Hayes, the Arctic explorer, was here hospitably received. Theologians of all shades and degrees have said grace at their table. Professors Phelps, Shedd, Park, Smyth, Tucker, Gulliver, Churchill, of Andover, and Professor Burrows, formerly of Andover and later of Oberlin, were here hospitably received. Rev. Drs. A. I'. Peabody and James Freeman Clarke, Rev. Starr King and Bishop Clarke, of Rhode Island, were

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

among the guests. On one evening there were as- sembled at the tea table Rev. Dr. Withington, Presi- dent White, of Cornell, Professor Vermilye, of , November 2, 1883, to take effect on the first Sunday Hartford, and Rev. Dr. Seth Sweetser, of Worcester, and there was a delightfully brilliant discussion. The kindly and considerate poet, John G. Whittier,

in January, 1884, unanimously passing resolutions of regret at parting with him as their pastor, of acknowl- edgment that the success of their church and its and his sister Elizabeth, whom he describes so beau- , power for good in the community had been in a great tifully in "Snow Bound," with her large, sweet, asking eyes, liked to visit this home. Lucy Larcom, the friend of Whittier and his sister, and the poet of kindred muse, is a frequent guest. Miss Mary Ab- by Dodge (Gail Hamilton) has here had many a merry encounter with other visitors. Miss Harriet W. Preston, author of " Aspendale," Mrs. Adelaide Budd, a poet, and widow of the editor of one of the agricultural papers in California, George William Curtis, the accomplished orator, essayist, critie and editor, and other notabilities have found in Dr. Spald- measure due to the earnest labors and Christian ex- ample of their pastor, giving assurances of their con- fidence in his ability, integrity and piety, and earnestly hoping for his complete restoration to health, and many years of usefulness in the profes- sion to which his life had been devoted. The parish also passed resolutions strongly regretting the separa- tion of pastor and people, and of hopes that Dr. Spalding would retain his connection as a member of the church and society; and the council, also, which dismissed him, January 3, 1884, passed resolu- ing and his accomplished wife the most agreeable tions regretting the retirement of Dr. Spalding, and and entertaining hosts, liberal and sympathetic, with all that was profound in thought, brilliant in wit and generous in humanity. Such a home could not but become noted for its hospitality and attractive- ness among a wide circle of people worth knowing.

Mr. Spalding was appointed December 29, 1862, chaplain of the Forty-eighth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers by Colonel E. F. Stone, its commander, and sailed from New York for New Orleans on January 17, 1863. This regiment was in active service at the siege of Port Hudson, and at Donald- sonville, and returned to Boston, arriving Sunday morning, August 30, 1863. During his service as chaplain of this regiment Mr. Spalding was given a vacation by the Whitefield Church and Society, by whom the pulpit was filled during his absence.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 206

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1672

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1672