History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 11

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 11

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Few men have engaged in so great a variety of enterprises and employments. In 1847 he, with others, took a large contract in the construction of

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the Ogdensburg Railroad, which occupied him for about two years. While engaged upon this contract and absent from the city, he was, upon a citizens' ticket, elected mayor of Lowell. In the office of mayor le distinguished himself as a financier. In the next year he was re-elected, holding the office in the years 1849 and 1850. In 1851 he was chosen president of the Northern Railroad of New Hamp- shirc. This position, however, he soon resigned in order to engage with his brother Walter in a large contract involving three million dollars, in the con- strnction of a railroad in Ohio. His brother having been killed in the railroad drawbridge disaster at Norwalk, Conn., in 1853, the completion of this im- portant contract fell upon Mr. French. For abont fonrteen of the later years of his life 'he served as agent of the Winnipiseogee Lake Cotton & Woolen Company at Lake Village, N. H.

For a period of several months before his death, in 1876, his declining health forbade his active pursuit of the dnties of his busy life.

Mr. French, though not an active politician, was ranked as a member of the Democratic party. In re- ligions sentiment he was a Unitarian.

He will long be remembered as among the most sagacions and enterprising business men of the early days of the city of Lowell.

1877. Mayor, Charles A. Stott.

Jnly 29th. The First Universalist Church celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.

CAPTAIN JONATHAN TYLER was born in East Chelmsford (now Lowell) January 17, 1790. He was one of the seven sons of Nathan Tyler, who resided near the foot of Pawtucket Falls. His father, who was for the times a man of large estate, was employed upon the river in boating and rafting, and the son, in his earlier years, followed his father's occupation.

In those early days, before railroads existed, a vast amount of lumber was brought in rafts down the Merrimack. At Pawtucket Falls the rafts were broken up, and the Inınber, having been drawn by teams to the foot of the falls, was there formed again into rafts. These operations employed many men and many teams, and made the vicinity of the Falls a scene of bnsy life.

In 1816 Captain Tyler married Civil S., daughter of Captain Benjamin Butterfield, a wealthy farmer and a prominent man in East Chelmsford. Mrs. Tyler became widely known in Lowell, having lived to the great age of ninety-four years.

Upon his marriage Captain Tyler began business for himself, as landlord of the American House, on Central Street, a house which he owned through life. After nine years in this position he, for a few years, was landlord of the Mansion House, which then stood near the corner of Merrimack and Bridge Streets.

Public-honses in Lowell's early days were places of great importance, being frequented by men of every class, who, from curiosity, or for trade, or for finding

a lione, resorted to the new and thriving town. To tliese the hotel was their first home. Here, too, the wealthy mill-owners from Boston took many a good meal. Having by his shrewdness and enterprise ac- quired wealth in his early days, he spent the last half of his long life in dealing in real estate, in erecting buildings, many of which are ornaments to the city, and in wise and profitable speculation. His residence during these years was upon Park Street.

Captain Tyler was an upright, industrious, enter- prising man, who thought much and said little. Thongh he never songht public honors, yet such were his ability and worth that his fellow-citizens often placed him in positions of responsibility and trust. At different times he was one of the selectmen of the town, a member of the Common Conncil and of the Board of Aldermen, and a representative in the State Legislature. In his wili he left $10,000 for the poor of Lowell.

Captain and Mrs. Tyler, both having been born on the soil of Lowell, and both having spent there the whole of their long lives, became to a very remark- able degree identified with the city itself. Both be- ing most intimately conversant with the history of the city, their death robs us of a historic treasure which can never be replaced.

Captain Tyler died October 14, 1877, at the age of eighty-eight years. Mrs. Tyler died May 11, 1886, at the age of ninety-four years.

1878. Mayor, John A. G. Richardson.

April 24th. The Lowell District Telephone Com- pany began operations.

July 3d. James C. Ayer ' died at the age of sixty years.

September 26th. First annual regatta of the Ves- per Boat Club.

July 3d. Artemas L. Brooks died at the age of sev- enty-fonr years. He was born 'in Groton, N. H., 1803, and came to Lowell in 1832. For forty-seven years he was well known as a house-bnilder and man- ufacturer of lumber. He was a conspicnous advocate of the moral reforms of his day, and stood at the front in every good cause.

December 30th. Electric lights tried in Merrimack Mills.

May 13th. The Lowell Art Association was formed, with Thomas B. Lawson as president.

1879. Mayor, John A. G. Richardson.

February 5th. Samnel Batchelder died at the age of nearly ninety-five years, an age greater than that of any other of the founders of Lowell. He was born in Jaffrey, N. H., in 1784. When a young man he engaged in trade in Peterboro' and Exeter, N. H. In 1808 lie began the manufacture of cotton in New Ipswich, N. H. Snch were his ability and success in this enterprise that he was invited to participate in establishing thie great mannfactories of Lowell. He was a man of

1 See biography in chapter on Manufactures.

Jonathan Tylu

LOWELL.

seience and invention. The machines he invented and the offices he held are too numerous to be men- tioned. He was the most active agent in starting the Hamilton Mills. He took a very lively interest in the affairs of the town of Lowell. Even at the age of eighty-six years he was president of the Hamil- ton, the Appleton, the Essex, the Everett, the York and the Exeter Mills. There are few examples on record of men of such intense mental activity and of such a vast variety of responsibilities who have at- tained so great an age. His last years were spent on his estate in Cambridge, Mass.

July 1st. Morning Mail first issued.

September 26th. The Unitarian Church celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its organization.

1880. Mayor, Frederic T. Greenhalge. Popula- tion, 59,485.

January 14th. Charles Stewart Parnell visited Lowell.

September 6th. First Catholic Parochial School opened.

October 5th. Seventy first meeting of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions held in Lowell.

October 6th. Chase & Faulkner's mills destroyed by fire.

1881. Mayor, Frederie T. Greenhalge.

January 31st. The School Committee voted to supply all the children of the publie schools with free text books at the expense of the eity. This deci- sion is now almost universally acquiesced in.

January. Electric Light Company organized.

February 22d. City Council voted to introduce the high service water system.

April 5th. Hoeum Hosford, mayor of the city in 1862-3-4, died at the age of fifty-five years.

May 6th. Associated Charities organized.

September 6th. " Yellow Tuesday." The darkness of this day did not probably equal that of the " dark day " in May, 1780. It was characterized by a gloom which feil on the earth like a yellow pall.

October 13th. Citizens voted to build Aiken Street Bridge.

October 31st. John Amory Lowell died at the age of eighty-three years. He built the Boott and Mas- sachusetts Mills.

1882. Mayor, George Runels.

Josiah Gates died May 4, 1882.

Theodore H. Sweetser1 died May 8, 1882.

Apri! 11, 1882. Rev. Dr. Eden B. Foster died at the age of sixty-eight years.

August 5th. Central Bridge burned. The structure was of wood and was entirely consumed.

1883. Mayor, John J. Donovan.

February 23d. Fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Edson Grammar School celebrated.

May 7th. Vote of City Council to establish a free

reading-room and to make the City Library a free li- brary. The great number of men and boys who daily frequent the free reading room attest the wisdom of this vote.

June 25th. Rev. Dr. Edson died at the age of ninety years. He was rector of St. Anne's Church for nearly sixty years.

In 1883 the Erie Telephone Company was organ- ized with a capital of $5,000,000; Wm. A. Ingham was the first president. The business of this eom- pany is limited to Cleveland, Ohio, and the States of Arkansas, Texas, Minnesota and South Dakota. The company pays four per cent. annual dividends. Levi Sprague, president for 1890; C. J. Glidden, scc- retary and treasurer.

Daniel Ayer, from whom the part of Lowell called " Ayer's City " derives its name, died at Bath-on-the- Hudson, December 30, 1883. Mr. Ayer was born in Canada. He came to Lowell in his youth. After several failures in Lowell and elsewhere to acquire wealth by purchasing land and selling it in house- lots, at length fortune smiled upon him, whereupon he made a feast for his former ereditors in Lowell, at which each guest found under his plate the full amount that was due him. Mr. Ayer was a peculiar man, and had other eccentricities besides that of pay- ing his honest debts. He once had the honor of rep- resenting Lowell in the State Legislature.

September 18th. New Central Bridge opened to travel.

October 10th. The Paige Street Free Baptist Church celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.

November 18tl. New standard of time went into effeet.

The iron Central Bridge was finished in 1883; cost, $118,000.

The iron Aiken Street Bridge was finished in 1883; cost, $190,000. The Aiken Street Bridge is much longer than the Central Bridge.

October, 1883. The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company was organized under the laws of the State of New York. It was formed by consolidat- ing several companies which had formerly operated in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and most of Mas- sachusetts. The wonderful invention of the telephone, and the prospect of its early introduction into all the channels of business, produced a profound impression and gave rise to a vast amount of honest and dishon- est speculation. Enterprising men and unscrupulous men alike saw in the invention the promise of untold wealth suddenly aequired. There was a general eraze. The ignorant and inexperienced, with a wild rush, followed the acute financiers and the unserupulous speculators into the telephone business. New com- panies sprang up on every side, the stock in which was eagerly sought. Credulous men and confiding women freely invested their money and never exactly knew wlicre it went to.

These numerous companies soon learned that to

1 Yor biography see chapter on Bench and Bar.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

operate a telephone was something very different from simply forming a company and taking in the money of credulous men. It was found that the com- panies must combine in order to successful operation. In this combination the original Bell Company, hav- ing the power, took the lion's share of the vast capi- tal of $12,000,000. This capital almost equals the combined capital of all the great manufacturing cor- porations of Lowell. These corporations can show vast and splendid possessions,-lands, buildings, ma- chincry, canals, which challenge the wonder and ad- iniration of the beholder, but where are the colossal possessions of the New England Telephone Com- pany ?

This company, under its present; officers, is, doubtless, well and honestly managed, and it has the confidence of the community. It deserves high praise for saving from the wreck so much as it has succeeded in saving. The wrong lies further back than the for- mation of this company. The stock of the company, if sold to-day, would restore to those who purchased it seven years ago, a little more than half of the money invested.

In the earlier days of the telephone Lowell seemed to be the central city of telephone speculation and inanagement, and probably the people of no other eity have lost so heavily in purchasing telephone stock. It is this that warrants the mention of this subject in a history of this city.

The headquarters of the New England Company are now in Boston. The company pays annually a stock dividend of three and one-half per cent. In 1888 the company paid in dividends, $284,651. The gross earnings were $1,127,307 ; expenses, $856,580; net earnings, $270,726; number of local exchange con- nections, 26,520,535 ; number of regular employees of all ciasses, 518.

1884. Mayor, John J. Donovan.

Charles Morrill, superintendent of the schools of Lowell for seventeen years, died April 2, 1884. Mr. Morrill was born in Waltliam and was the son of Rev. Jonathan C. Morrill, first postmaster of Lowell. He was educated at Waterville College, Maine, was chosen principal of the Green School in Lowell in 1845, and became superintendent of Lowell public schools in 1867. He died in office at the age of sixty-five years. Charles P. Talbot died July 6th.

August 30, 1884. Colonel Joseph S. Pollard died at the age of seventy-two years. Colonel Pollard was born in Plaistow, New Hampshire. Before coming to Lowell in 1854 he had been elected Representative and Senator to the Legislature of New Hampshire. He was also a Representative from Lowell in the Massachusetts Legislaturc and for two ycars alder- man of the city. For fourteen years he was an in- spector in the Boston Custom-House.

October 30th. Horace J. Adams dicd at the age of sixty-six years. He was born in Haverhill, New Hampshire, and came to Lowell in 1833. As senior

partner in the firm of Adams & North, dealers in furniture for many years, he became one of the best known of the citizens of Lowell. He was a very prominent member of St. Paul's Methodist Church.

John A. Knowles1 died July 24, 1884.

THE COLWELL MOTOR .- The American Triple Thermic Motor Union, a company formed for the in - troduction, as a motive-power, of the Triple Thermic Motor, familiarly known as the " Colwell Motor," had, in its earlier years, its headquarters in this city, and for its president and principal manager, the Rev. T. M. Colwell, a citizen of Lowell. The laws of Massa- chusetts do not grant charters to companies whose capital, like that of this company, is as large as $25,- 000,000. Accordingly a charter was secured from the State of New York, and the city of New York is now the headquarters of the company. But Lowell was the field of its early operations, and the citizens of Lowell have been most deeply affected by the success, or failure of the enterprise.

So much heat is required in the production of steam, and there is so great a waste of power in ap- plying it in the propulsion of machinery, that it has long been the dream of men of inventive talent to find a vapor which can be produced with far less heat, and applied with far less waste. Experiments, with more or less success, have been made for this purpose with ether, chloroform and bisulphide of carbon, all of which can be evaporated at a far lower temperature than water, and all of which are very volatile liquids and under certain circumstances dan- gerously explosive.

In the year 1859 the attention of engineers was at- tracted to . an engine invented by Vincent du Trem- bley, known as the Binary Vapor Engine, in which steam produced in one boiler was made, by means of tubes, to evaporate the ether in a second boiler, the latter vapor being applied to the propulsion of ma- chinery. Du Trembley's binary vapor engines proved to be more economical in the consumption of coal than the common steam engine, and at one time they were employed in seven ocean steamers, which plied from France to Brazil, or from France to Africa. Though every caution was employed in these engines to prevent the contact of the ether with the fire, it was found impossible to prevent occasional accidents. At the very time when preparations were being made to introduce these engines into five other vessels, by one of these unfortunate accidents one of the first seven vessels, the ship " France," was set on fire and burned. This disaster was a sad disappointment, and its result was a return to steam.

Afterwards the Ellis engine presented its claims. This, too, was a binary vapor engine employing, in- stead of ether, the bisulphide of carbon. This vola- tile but inexpensive liquid presents to the engineer very serious obstacles to its use, among which are its

1 For biography soe chapter on Bench and Bar.

LOWELL.

liability to explosions, its offensive odor, and the diffi- culty of finding a proper lubricant for the engines in which it is used. The Ellis engine was also employed to propel vessels and was used in the Atlantic Works in East Boston. The Heyer Brothers of Boston in- vested heavily in this enterprise. But the engine proved a failure, and the invested money was lost. Steam again asserted its dominion.

About the year 1879 Mr. William S. Colwell, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an engine-maker by trade, after long study, believed he had found the means of obviating the objections to the use of the bisulphide of carbon, and constructed an engine which he is said to have run in a quiet way for about one year. An application for a patent was filed July 26, 1879. At length, in August, 1883, an engine was set up and put to actual service in West Forty-sixth Street, New York, parties having been indnced to invest in the enterprise in the preceding year.

Not having the means of starting the enterprise of introducing the new engine without aid, Mr. Colwell associated with him Mr. J. H. Campbell, an attorney, and Mr. James McLain, a chemist, both of New York City. His brother, Rev. Dr. T. M. Col- weil, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Lowell, became his principal manager and representative be- fore the public. Dr. Colwell is a man of ability, having great power over the minds of those who are associated with him, and he entered upon the new enterprise with an ardent zeal and untiring energy which commanded success. He was president of the company, formed in 1884, for the development and in- troduction of the patent, with its office in Shedd's Block, in Lowell. The friends of the enterprise were buoyant and ardent. It was claimed that the self- same heat which in steam gave a 14 horse power, would give a 63-horse power after passing from the steam into the bisulphide vapor, and that of the 60,000,000 tons of coal annually nsed in the United States for creating steam, 45,000,000 would be saved. Many clergymen, especially of the Baptist persuasion, became officers in the company or shareholders. Widows and men of small means were approached and urged to purchase stock. They were told if the rich had heretofore had all the favors of fortune, now there was a chance for men of humbler means also to become suddenly wealthy. The excitement grew apace. The story is told of a woman who had $4000 well invested in a bank. She was sorely tempted to withdraw it and invest it in the stock of the new motor. The cashier of the bank dissuaded her from withdrawing it. But after hearing the president preach on Sunday she sent into the bank her check for withdrawing the full amount, declaring that she could no longer doubt after listening to the preaching of so good a man. There was in the persuasive lan- guage of the president an ardor and positiveness which begat conviction in the excited minds of those who already wished to believe, and had begun to in-

dulge in the fond dream of wealth. To confirm this statement it is enough to quote from a speech of Dr. Colwell delivered before the shareholders in May, 1884, the following sentences: " I believe the har- vest is now ready for the sickle." "Over 300 engines have been applied for." "If any of you feel, for any reason, that you would rather have your money back, and ten per cent. additional, you may have it." "The largest amount of leakage in 6 months would not be greater in bulk than a grain of wheat." "I will pay any man $500 if he will show me how to explode bisnlphide of carbon." The report that Jay Gould had invested $1,000,000 in the enterprise added to the excitement. In the minds of the faithful the most extravagant expecta- tions were indulged. Stock which was valued at $600,000 jumped to $5,000,000, and then to $25,000,- 000. It was claimed that the engine saved seventy-five per cent. of coal, and therefore would and must be intro- dnced into all the places where steamn is now employed.

How much the people of Lowell have invested in Colwell motor stock it is impossible to tell, but the amount is very large. It is believed that very many persons of humble means and credulous nature have risked their all. After the engine in New York was abandoned an engine was set np on Jackson Street, Lowell, in May, 1885. This engine, for a while, was used to generate a current of electricity for the elec- tric lights of the city. Ere long it gave place to a steam-engine, and the Colwell motor slept for many months. But, in the summer of 1889, Mr. Warren Aldrich, the owner of the building and part owner of the engine itself, set it to running to carry certain machinery. On the afternoon of July 16th a start- ling explosion was heard in the building, and the alarm of fire was rung. The flames, however, were soon subdued, and it proved that a quantity of bisul- phide had escaped into a drain and there exploded. The explosion, without doing much real damage to any- thing of value, fully proved that this volatile liqnid, when mixed with a certain amount of air, is a dan- gerous explosive. The engine was not disabled, but it has quietly ceased to work.

To a heartless looker-on, when he considers that five years ago this great enterprise with its capital of $25,000,000, with its shares at $5000 each, with its president, a doctor of divinity, announcing that over 300 engines had been applied for, is now nnable to show a single engine in action, and has not actually sold one of those 300 engines applied for, the prospect of success seems truly forlorn and dim. Not so with those whose fortunes are at stake. They are easily satisfied, and their hopes arc easily kept alive. It is said that a citizen in passing by the quiet Colwell motor works on Jackson Street, saw a lone Irishman digging in the dirt. "Patrick," said he, " what are you digging that hole in the ground for ?" "To kape the stockholders azy," was the prompt reply of the son of Erin.

IHISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

It is asserted, in explaining the explosion, that Mr. Aldrich did not have the sanction of the company in starting up the engine, and that he did not know how to manage it. The hopeful friends of the enterprise are fully persuaded that their favorite invention, as all things great and good have done before, is now only passing through the Red Sea of public distrust and scorn, and that by and by they will sing a song of triumph like that of Miriam of old.

1885. Mayor, Edward J. Noyes. Population, 64,051.

The Taylor Street stone bridge was finished in 1885. Cost, $100,000, including expense for approaches and land damages.

Feb. 10th. Judge Nathan Crosby died at the age of eighty-seven years. He was born in Sandwich, N. H. He came to Lowell, Nov., 1843, was commissioned judge of the Police Court May 19, 1846, and held the office thirty-nine years, until his death. He was a man of high character and pure life. He was a gentleman of the old school, and few men have equaled him in natural dignity and self-control.

Nov. 14, 1885. Edward Tuck died at the age of seventy-nine years.

December 22d. Dr. John O. Green died at the age of nearly eighty-seven years. He was a native of Malden, and he came to East Chelmsford (now Low- ell) in 1822. He was a worthy compeer of Dr. Edson in establishing and sustaining our public-school sys- tem. The lives of very few of the citizens of Lowell are so fully identified with the life of the city itself. See medical chapter.

1886. Mayor, James C. Abbott.

Wm. C. Gray died April 3, 1886, at the age of seventy-seven years. He was born in Tiverton, R. I., came to Lowell in 1829, established the Boston & Lowell Express, employing teams for five years, until the Boston & Lowell Railroad was opened to business. As an expressman for many years, he was most famil- iarly known in our streets. He acquired property and once owned the Washington House. His prop- crty was mainly lost by speculation. He held the offices of alderman and deputy sheriff.

Mrs. Civil S. Tyler, widow of Capt. Jonathan Tyler, died May 11th, at the advanced age of ninety- four years. She was the daughter of Capt. Benj. Butterfield, of Chelmsford. She was landlady of the Mansion House in the early days of the city, and from her birth she was on the ground and was familiar with all the history of Lowell from its origin. Prob- ably no other Lowell lady has been so long and so widely known. She was a lady of great moral and intellectual worth.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 11

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1226

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226