History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 208

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 208

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We may not stop for all the details. What we have said of William, the root of the prolific tree that has extended its branches to all sections of the country, from Maine to the Pacific, and from the Lakes to the

Gulf of Mexico, is true of them all. They are a race sturdy and strong, excelling in mental culture, fur- nishing teachers, preachers and business men of high character. They have been eminent in the churches, inclined to godly works and conversation, thrifty and wealthy above the average of families, and as brave and fearless defenders of liberty and right as the country has ever had.

From the portrait of him, as we have seen it, he was a very handsome man, large, stately, with broad shoulders, abundant dark hair, full black eyes and a lovely mouth ; he did credit to the pretty Anne Cottle, his mother, and was one of the most popular men and military leaders that Essex County ever produced. He was the best type of those whom na- ture designs for noblemen. With every muscle devel- oped in the active labors of his business, he stood, towering above the average man like a Greek or Ro- man athlete of ancient days. When in his military career, his soldiers needed amusement, as they tired in the delays in the siege of Louisbourg, he could beat any man in the regiment in pitching heavy quoits, throw any one in wrestling, excel any in lifting, and was as fearless as he was strong. In that war, under Gen. Pepperell, holding commission as major, from his own means, he furnished a battery of five forty-two pounders, called Titcomh's battery. Hutchinson says: " It did as great execution as any

1841

NEWBURYPORT.

battery in the reduction of the city ; " and his readi- ness to engage in the most hazardons part of the service "was acknowledged and applauded." lle returned from the victorious contest with high hon- ors, bringing as a memorial trophy the bomb-shell that now decorates the stone post at the corner of Middle and Independent Streets. Later, in 1755, he was colonel of a regiment, on the extreme right of Gen. Johnson's line, in the battle of Lake George. As he approached the enemy's breast-works, and was near thereto, for the preservation of his men he or- dered them to lie down, where they were covered from view by the bushes, while, the better to di- rect them, he stood behind a pine tree, an Indian, creeping across a swamp to the rear, fired upon and killed him. As his men retreated, his body was never recovered.

Col. Titcomb was a member of the First Church (now Unitarian), and a close friend of his pastor, Rev. John Lowell, who preached a farewell sermon when the regiment left and a funeral sermon on the return. IIis language could only be justified by Col. Titcomb's fame as a man and a soldier, for he spoke of his loss as a national calamity which would be mourned by the whole country.

Among other military men of the family we may not forget General Jonathan Titcomb, who was also a Christian soldier-an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He was born in 1727, and greatly distin- guished himself in the battle of Rhode Island, under General Sullivan. Lafayette declared it the best- fought battle during the Revolutionary War, and said that the conduct of Generals Lovell and Titcomb, commanding the Massachusetts troops, was deserving of "high praise ;" in fact, it was a victory wrong from the very jaws of defeat. General Titcomb was a member of the convention that framed the Constitu- tion ; was Representative of the first Legislature after the evacuation of Boston ; was first naval officer of this port ; and was chief of the committee of recep- tion when Washington was here, in 1790. His death occurred in 1817.

Under General Titcomb in the battle of Rhode Island was Major Enoch, born in 1752, who died in 1814, full of honors, for few men were ever held in higher esteem by the town. He was an exemplary Christian-deacon of the First Presbyterian Church, and afterwards of the Second Presbyterian, of which he was one of the founders, almost its father; at least he was its most liberal friend ; he gave a thousand dollars towards building the "meeting-house," and ceased his contributions for its support only at his deatlı. It was through him that Timothy Dexter gave the bell that now calls the people to their weekly worship. As a magistrate, which he was for many years, it became his duty to sentence Timothy to the house of correction for "imbibing" too freely ; Dexter rode to the prison in his own coach, as Jonathan Plummer, his poet, wrote, his horses "champing their

silver bits." His sentence was soon remitted by the kindly intervention of Esquire Enoch, whom he would gladly have remunerated. When the money was de- clined, he gave it for the belt, which was cast in Eng- land, with Timothy's name on the rim of it as donor. Hon. Enoch held many positions of honor and trust. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention ; a Representative and a Senator in the Legislature for a long time ; and for twenty-eight successive years town treasurer. He declined further elections only when failing health warned him of approaching dissolution. The profound respect of the people for this man, who had served " his day and generation" in peace and war, in church and state, was indicated at his funeral, when the head of the funeral procession was at the grave on Burying Hill, before the last of the mourners had left the house on Market Street. Ile died in 1814, aged sixty-two.

Hon. Enoch was the father of Francis, who married Miss Sallie D. Dodd, of Salem. He was a silver- smith, learned his trade of William Moulton, and was a long time in his employ. Francis was the father of seven children-five sons and two daughters-all of whom have passed through " the gates ajar" and gone to their final rest, except Albert C. Titeomb, born in 1831, whom we have chosen as the living representa- tive of this family, and herewith present his portrait.

Albert C. obtained the rudiments of a common- school education in his native town, and was left to finish it by intercourse with the people and by travels and observations in this " wide, wide world." He was one of the pupils of Masters Coolidge, Caldwell and Read, who managed the "monitorial" school on the west end of the Mall, from which he graduated .to begin life for himself at fourteen, in the dry-goods store of Joseph F. Toppan on State Street. After that he was elerking in Boston, two years, when, in 1849, the California gold fever, which carried off so many of our young men, struck him. He sailed for San Francisco, from this port, in the brig "Charlotte," Captain William Bartlett, paying fifty dollars passage money and working out the remaining fifty dollars before the mast ; the voyage was around Cape Ilorn, and required just six months. He was an argo- naut seeking the golden fleece. On the 23d day of July, 1849, he landed in a strange city without money and without friends to help him. lle remained in California two years, mining and clerking ; then he sailed for Relejo, Central America. Here he invested his funds in the hotel business, and in purchasing coffee and shipping the same to San Francisco. The prospect of success was good, as the expectation was that Relejo would become an important place ; but suddenly it was left off' "the main road of travel" by the opening of the Port of Virgin Bay, which shortened the distance, ria Lake Nicaragua, by over one hun- dred miles. The stampede that followed left Relejo desolate, and the investments Mr. Titeomb had there made worthless. The spring of 1852 found him

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

twenty years old, at home, somewhat broken in health, but not subdued in spirit.

West Indies; re-establishing financial credit in New York; and trusting to his own hands, head and heart

His next venture was in the machine-shop of the in making the road to success before he traveled over it. All along he cherished his first love for Califor-

Bartlett Mills, under Herbert A. Ingraham, master mechanic, agreeing to work for six months without i nia, and as soon as circumstances would permit he compensation, to learn a trade. At the end of two was away to the State where his hopes and affections centered. For seven years, from 1868, he was of the firm of Titcomb & Williams, wholesale dealers in watches, diamonds and jewelry in San Francisco; and after that for twelve years he was the sole proprietor of the house, the business increasing till his sales reached $250,000 per annum. He became a leader in his trade, and was president of the Wholesale Jewelry Association of San Francisco. Chiefly his business was along the Pacific Coast, from the Mexican ports on the south to Washington Territory on the north. Over the waters it reached the Sandwich Islands, and in the interior it was known as far as Utah, which he visited himself, making the acquaintance of John W. Young, son of Brigham Young, the late president of the Mormons, and also of H. B. Clawson, the man- ager of the great central house, " Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution." months Mr. John Balch, agent of the corporation, pleased with his industry and skill, put his name on the pay-roll at forty-two cents a day ; and when his six months had expired, he was in a machine- shop in Roxbury for one year; and thence went into the shop of the Old Colony and Fall River Rail- road till 1855. That ended his career as a machin- ist. Next he was engaged for a traveling salesman with Robinson, Potter & Co., manufacturing jewelers, at Providence, R. I., for two years. After that he was in the same line of business for himself in the South and West, with a wholesale and retail store, for jewelry and fancy goods, at Mobile, which he regarded as his permanent residence. He did a pros- perous business, and made many friends in Alabama and was a member of the Mobile Cadets, which was composed of the elite of the city-the flower of Southern chivalry, ready for the fight when the boon- He employed commercial travelers and personally visited the large cities. Since 1849, Mr. Titcomb has traveled forty times to California. Once he went around the Horn, six times through Central America and via Panama, and the remaining trips across the continent overland by rail. ing shells on Sumter's walls announced the opening of the Rebellion. He had but little time to decide which side he would take; nor did he hesitate. " I am Northern born and Northern bred," he said. " My ancestors were among the first settlers of New Eng- land, and every war for American liberty has found In his business he has visited nearly all the States of the Union. them in the field; I go to my kindred." Ile ex- perienced some difficulty in getting himself and wife Twice has he married,-first to Miss Ellen Graves in 1860, a lovely woman who bore him two sons, one of whom died early and the other, William Graves Titcomb, is now employed in the office of the Waltham Watch Company, Boston. She died in 1882. out of the country, and a property of more than twenty thousand dollars was abandoned to confisca- tion. Again he was to begin the world anew ; and this time with a debt of many thousands owed in New York. But he was not appalled. An hou- Two years later he married Hitta Louise, the accomplished daughter of Mr. Amos C. Clement, of Plaistow, New Hampshire, by whom he has one son, Albert Clement, and an infant daughter. est purpose and a brave heart remained, and they carried him through. He met his creditors, who knew him, believed and trusted him ; and in 1863 he was re-established in the same business in the West He is now retired from active business, enjoying his vacation in one of the most pleasant homes on High Street, formerly occupied by the late Rev. Dr. Morss, the well-known rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Indies-at the Islands of St. Thomas and C'uraçoa, the latter a free port, so near the coast as to have a large trade with South America, which was then opened to him. His receipts were in gold, which was at a high premium at home, and he was soon He is himself, as were his parents, of the same religious faith, and given to Christian benevolence and the propagation of the truth as he has received it. While in San Francisco he was one of the rein- corporators of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion and one of the foremost of its friends in aiding Evangelist Moody to raise eighty-three thousand dollars to free it from debt. able to redeem his outstanding notes. All the de- mands of his creditors were paid in gold. "I took your gold from you," he said, "and I return your gold to you with the premium that goes with it." They receipted his bills and sent him complimentary letters, of which he is justly proud, as will be his children after him.

It is with a degree of admiration that we follow him thus far in life; see him a poor boy, steady, industri- ons, honest; watch him working his passage around Cape Horn; seeking wealth in the golden sands ; overcoming difficulties in Central America; resisting Rebellion at the South ; retrieving his fortunes in the

The activity of his past has unfitted him for a life of indolence, and as heretofore he makes himself of value to the community in which he resides.

Hle was largely instrumental in the reorganization of the Newburyport Veteran Association.

At the recent municipal election he was elected by

, Pro Blumfiy

1843

NEWBURYPORT.

the largest majority as alderman from Ward Four on the Independent Citizens' ticket.

Mr. Titcomb is a thorough sportsman, passionately fond of his dog and gun and the pleasures and excitement of the chase.

In his travels through the length and breadth of this vast continent he has had many and varied opportunities to gratify this taste and has killed nearly every species of game to be found in America.

To the devotees of the gun, whose opportunities for bird-shooting have been limited to the waters of this and surrounding parts, an abstract from an article which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle of January, 1883, will seem remarkable. We quote :- "On Thursday last Mr. A. C. Titcomb bagged one hun- dred and forty-two ducks in one day that were re- trieved, not including a large number that fell in tules and were lost. This bag included seventy-two canvas-backs, fifty-two sprigs, four mallards and fourteen teal. It is doubtful if Mr. Titcomb's record has ever been beaten on this coast."

We know of no man better calculated to enjoy social and domestic life. In the prime of his days, possessed of large means, active, public-spirited, actuated by Christian charity, with an open hand and an open heart, alive to the misfortunes of others and the sufferings of friends, he attaches to himself all within the sphere of his usefulness.

A cleaner, gentler or more kindly nature never man possessed. It is surprising that one could have been so much about the world, seeing the rough and dark as well as the light and sunny sides, and kept his mind so clean and his heart so pure and childlike. Still, there is nothing weak or effeminate about him, for in the defense of an opinion or the honor of a friend he is as bold as a lion. It is true of him that " his flag is white because 'tis pure, but not because his soul is weak."

With an open countenance and a pleasant smile, he wears a modest and unruffled demeanor and is always the same, whatever events befall, ready for every good word and work.

With feminine delicacy and tenderness, he is still the most manly of men. Large and liberal in his views, he exhibits no envy or jealousy ; rejoicing with the glad, sympathizing with the sorrowing, he is a man to be loved, one who will sacrifice for a friend or forgive an enemy. He reminds us of the words of Whittier on Joseph Sturge :

" The very gentlest of all human natures, lle joined to courage strong, And love, outstretching unto all God's creatures With sturdy hate of wrong.

" Tender as woman ; manliness and meekness In him were 80 allied That those who judged him by his strength or weakness, Saw but a single side.

" Men failed, betrayed him ; but his zeal seemed nourished By failure and by fall ;

So large the faith in human kind he cherished, And in God's love for all."

PHILIP HENRY BLUMPEY.

Philip Henry Blumpey is a merchant, and was ap- parently born at the place he has filled and does now occupy, than which there is none more honorable or more useful. There is always a ruling class in so- ciety-in the world, differing according to the grade of civilization reached. In a barbarous age it is the aristocracy of the soldiers ; and the point of the sword writes the law and determines the sovereignty. Next after comes the aristocracy of birth, and men claim to rule simply because they were born ; above that is the aristocracy of gold, and money governs. To-day the merchants-the men who buy and sell. collect and distribute-are the most prominent, re- spectable and powerful class. They include not alone the man of the shop, but the banker, the money- changers, the loaners, the manufacturers, the owners of ships, the builders of cities and the dealers in all sorts of goods and values. The occupation of the mer- chant is a continued school, and hence in the large cities they are the most distinguished and influential men of the land. Congress may make laws, but they make Congress-which is obedient to this will; and so in the end are the people, the foundation of all. When, therefore, we say a man is a merchant, we say what is most honorable to him ; and so we mean to place it in the case of Philip H. Blumpey, who is of French origin, his father coming from those boll and sturdy religionists, the Huguenots, driven out of France by persecutions, who have in themselves aud their descendants added materially to the best popu- lation in America. They are in all parts of the United States, their names otten indicating their origin.

The father of Mr. Blumpey, in the island of Guernsey, in the English Channel, was known as Philip Blanc, the surname being the same as the lof- tiest peak of the Alps. When eleven years old he left his native island for the life of a seaman on the bounding billows. Shortly he is seen on board of an English ship, where the sailors corrupted the name in its use, and ever since it has been called Blumpey. The father came to Newburyport some eighty years ago, a very handsome young man, with black hair and bright, penetrating black eyes. He stood little less than six feet in height, was strong and wiry. He married Ruth Rowe, of Hampton, N. H., but continued a seaman till well along in life, when he was in the employ of the Pipers, riggers, on Brown's Wharf, and frequently with Moses Brown, in the care and repair of his shipping. He died at eighty-four years.

The family lived at different times on Pond Street, near the hay-scales, then standing to the cast of the present railroad station, on the corner of Birch and Summer Streets, and in Temple Street. Here they were when, in 1819, a fire broke out in the stable standing where the present one is, that swept away several buildings including the house where the

1 By George J. L. Colby.

1844

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Blumpeys lived, from which the parents escaped, sav- attention to navigation, taking an interest in the ship ing the life of their child, Philip H., then an in- fant. Their little savings were lapped up by the fames, and penniless in the world, it was too late for them to recover their situation in a day when the ac- cumulations of money by hard work were slow.

Philip Il. Blumpey, therefore, started life as the child " of poor but respectable parents," but destined to overcome his accidents by persevering industry and faithfulness to duty. He had the benefit of our com- mon schools, of the teachings of Master Jonathan Cooledge, in the West Male Grammar School, and of Master George Titcomb in the South Grammar School, on School Street. He left these institutions, educa- tional and correctional, as most boys found them, at the age of thirteen years, to learn the art of making sails with Thomas II. Boardman. The learning of a trade was deemed a good start in life. We have noticed this in the records of old wills, where more was given to one and less of property to another, as they were without a trade or had learned one. They believed with the Arabs that " he who brings up a son without a trade, brings him up to be a thief." So when Mr. Boardman died, at the end of two years, it was deemed so great a misfortune to Philip H. Blum- pey, that an old merchant sympathetically asked him : " What will you do now ?" The lad had lost a friend, but not his courage, and replied : "There yet remains some place for me in the world." His proper place he soon reached. For two years, or to 1836, he was a clerk in the grocery store of Isaac H. Boardman, in Market Square, at the head of Green- leaf's wharf; and after that, for eight years, he was in the grocery store of John Osgood, on the corner of Liberty street. With the experience of ten years, in 1844, he commenced business for himself on the corner of State and Temple Streets, and there he has remained for forty-four years, quietly earning annu- ally more than he spent, which is the real seeret to wealth. Some people predicted evil to him, because the location was away from the centre of trade. They mistook the fact that the man makes the place, not the place the man. The first year his gross sales were $10,000, third year $25,000, and later, when prices advanced during the Rebellion, they reached $60,000, and the average of the whole forty-four years has been $40,000, which is a very good retail business out of the large cities. His suc- ress has been in this : that he was an expert in the qual- ity of his goods, and would sell only the best; then he so established his integrity that his customers be- tieved they were buying what he said he was selling ; and their confidence he has never lost. He pros- pered, therefore, because industry and fair dealing deserves to prosper.

But this has not been his only business, or the most profitable. Twenty-five years ago there was scarcely a rich man in the town who had not become so by investments in shipping ; and in 1855 he turned his

" George West," Robert Couch, master and part owner. She sought a cotton freight in New Orleans. Captain Couch fixed his terms and laid up the ship in the Mississippi till his figures were reached. At Liverpool she was taken for China on French account, and made a very handsome voyage, return- ing to England, where she sold at a high price, when gold was at from seventy to eighty per cent. premium. It was one of those rare chances where the value of the ship is buried beneath her income. His second venture was with the ship "Josiah L. ITale," sailing first under command of Edward L. Graves, and later un- der Capt. David P. Page, in cotton carrying. His third was in the ship "Tennyson," which, returning from India, loaded with jute, went down in a storm in the Indian Ocean, and Capt, Graves and his crew, except four or five men, were swallowed in the sea. The saved floated on the cabin-house several days without food or water before they were rescued by a passing ship. His next ship was named " Whittier," for our New England poet, Capt. William Swap in charge. She was lost on a coral reef on the coast of China, in going from one port to another. llis last was the ship "Nearchus," Capt. Pierce, named for the famous Greek admiral, who lived in the time of Alexander the Great. She was soon sold, during the Rebellion, to a prominent house in New York. Since that, shipping, before profitable, has been ruinous to those engaged in it.

Mr. Blumpey has never sought office. He has declined flattering political offers, and confined himself entirely to business or what was allied to it. Ile was some years a director of the Merchants' Bank, and is now its president ; and for thirty years he has been a trustee of the Five Cent Savings Bank , and a director of the city railroad ever since it was built. In his own business he has acquired an estate that satisfies an honorable ambition.

His domestic lite has been happy, for home has been his heaven. Ile is a husband devoted to his wife, Anna Maria, daughter of the late Capt. Enoch fierrish ; and no father could be kinder or more affectionate than he to his daughter Anna, who passed away just as she came to mature life, or to his only son, Philip Henry, Jr., now a partner with him in business.

REV. ARTHUR J. TEELING,1

Pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Newburyport.

The history of the church committed to his care gives necessarily the best biography of a true priest. His best energies are devoted to her. Her success is but the fulfillment of his duty. The most important events then in the life of Rev. Arthur J. Teeling, the pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception,

1 By Mus K. A. O'Keeffe.

Arthur & Tuning

18.45

NEWBURYPORT.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 208

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