History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 159

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III > Part 159

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Toys, Pictures, etc. : Geo. E. Watkins & Co.

Newsdealers : Allen Robie, G. W. Cutler, G. J. Masterson, Armstrong's Restaurant.

Restaurants: H. C. Bowers, G. W. Armstrong, S. S. Given.

Florists : W. S. Phelps & Sons, C. J. Power.

Real Estate Agents : B. Judd, W. F. Richardson, A. H.Tucker.

Local Teamsters and Expressmen : Geo. H. Davis, A. J. Sullivan, Edwin Stone, E. E. Ramsdell, Ira L. Dunaven, D. Mclaughlin, John Horr, A. Saucier.

Livery Stable Men and Haekmen : Joshua Smith, D. J. Cooney, A. W. Fay, C. J. Fillmore, Lawrence Flynn, Jr., W. A. Flynn, F. E. Brooks.

Tailors : M. Cotter, K. Ryan, C. D. Bates, J. M. Morrissey.

Carriage Dealers : E. E. Crandall & Co., Thomson Bros., Rock & Young.

Fruit Dealers : S. & G. Garbarrino, E. T. Yon.

Undertakers : W. T. Gove, P. N. Everett, M. Under- wood.

Laundries : L. E. Russell, Sun Kee & Co., The Charlie Company.

Photographers : J. L. Sweet, F. J. Williams.

Billiard Parlor : F. E. Deming.

Insurance Agents : W. E. Clark & Son, J. S. Adams, Burtis Judd, F. M. Esty, A. H. Tucker, S. G. Davenport. Auctioneers : H. W. Cotton, J. H. Eames, Edgar Potter, W. F. Richardson.

Milkmen : A. P. Houghton, L. Gould.

Dog Kennels and Breeders : J. R. Teague, J. A. Morse. Bill Poster : Manager of Elmwood Opera House.

MH. Simpson

675

FRAMINGHAM.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

MICHAEL H. SIMPSON.

Michael H. Simpson was emphatically an Essex County man, although much of his long and active business life was spent in Suffolk and Middlesex Counties, where he brought into a high state of de- velopment the well-known industries connected with the "Roxbury Carpet Company " and "Saxonville Mills." He was the son of Paul Simpson, Esq., a wealthy ship-owner of Newburyport, during the days when a phenomenal success sometimes attended the sending of cargoes of merchandise to foreign ports. Deciding early upon a business career, young Simp- son entered into it with that energy and keen insight which distinguished him in after-life. Before they were of age, he, with Charles H. Coffin, of New- buryport, and George Otis, son of Harrison Gray Otis, of Boston (afterwards partners), made a highly successful venture by sending a ship and cargo to Calcutta, they being sole owners. This may, perhaps, be considered the basis of the fortune which Mr. Simpson afterwards acquired. His business career soon showed that to a fine physical constitution he united a keen sagacity in adapting means to ends, unusual executive ability, and an indomitable will. By the connection of his firm with the wool trade of South America his attention was drawn to the neces- sity of freeing Buenos Ayres wool from burrs to enhance its value. Ilis inventive brain soon grasped the situation, and he produced a machine for this purpose which proved of great value, the modern burring-machine, now in general use, being the out- growth of this invention. In the various industries with which his name was connected, for him to dis- cover a need or necessity for improvement was to give himself no rest until he had devised a way for the accomplishment of the desired end. His exten- sive career as a manufacturer and employer of labor also gave scope for the development of those finer qualities of mind and heart which characterized the man. It was his delight to lay out parks and drives, in connection with his estates, which he always opened to the public. In order to give employment, he would purchase tracts of waste land and convert them into richly productive fields. As a friend and companion he was genial and charming. He possessed a mind well stored with the resources of history and philosophy.

He ever recognized a beneficent, over-ruling Provi- dence in all the ways of life, and sought by precept and example to inculcate the principles of a high morality in all those with whom he was brought in contact. His love for his native town manifested itself in his generous benefactions to the Public Library, towards town improvements, a fund for keeping the streets watered and in various other ways. Mr. Simpson was twice married. His first wife was

Elizabeth Rilham, of Boston, by whom he had several children. His second marriage was to Evangeline E. Thurston Marrs, of Framingham, who survives him. His death occurred at his residence in Boston, De- cember 22, 1884.

HON. PETER PARKER.

Peter Parker, one of the most honored and most successful of the early missionaries who went to China from the United States, was the third son of Nathan and Catherine (Murdock) Parker, and was born June 18, 1804, in Framingham, Massachusetts. When he was four years of age his father had a severe attack of illness, from the effects of which he never fully recovered; and, as his two older brothers had died in infancy, Peter was very early obliged to assist in the support of his parents and of his three sisters. At the age of fifteen he taught the common school in the adjoining town of Holliston, and for some years was employed as a teacher in the differ- ent school districts of the neighborhood. In a short memoir of himself, which he wrote, he says that while thus employed he never failed to put into the hands of his father all the money that he received, " not reserving a single dollar " for his own use. Be- fore leaving home to teach in Holliston, he had made a public profession of his determination to lead a re- ligions life, and it was not long before he informed his friends that he wished to prepare himself to en- ter the Christian ministry. But the ill health of his father, and the dependence of the family on his lab- ors, interposed difficulties, which for some years pre- vented his beginning the necessary studies. At last, when he had attained the age of twenty-one, his fa- ther was able to make arrangments by which he could be assured of a support for himself and family for the rest of his life, and friends having offered to provide Peter with the pecuniary assistance he might need while obtaining a liberal education, after he had exhausted the few hundred dollars that he had of his own, he entered Day's Academy, in Wrentham, and began in March, 1826, in his twenty-second year, to

fit for college. In September, 1827, he entered Am- herst College, as freshman. There he remained three years, till he gained the consent of his friends to go to Yale College, in New Haven, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, graduating with the class of 183I, in which were a large number of men who afterwards became distinguished in the different walks of life. After graduation he began the study of theology in the Yale Divinity School.

About this time the officers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions were consid- ering the possibility of doing something for the evan- gelization of the great Empire of China. The diffi- culties in the way seemed insuperable. The re- strictive policy which characterized the government of that country made anything like full and intimate intercourse with the people well-nigh impossible.

676

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

But it had been found that the Chinese were very ready to avail themselves of the services of the phy- sicians of the East India Company, and that these benevolent men had been very successful in obtaining the confidence of those whose maladies they had healed. It therefore occurred to the friends of missions in the United States, that a missionary who should also have had a thorough medical education might be able to use his ability as a physician to gain access to the people, and thus introduce Christianity among them. With this object in view, it was proposed to Mr. Parker, who was known to be ready to devote his life to missionary work among the heathen, to fit himself to go to China as a medical missionary. Ac- cordingly, while pursning his theological studies in the Yale Divinity School, he at the same time studied medicine in the Yale Medical School, and in March, 1834, received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Having also completed his theological studies, he was ordained as a Christian minister in Philadelphia, the following 16th of May, and sailed from New York for Canton, June 4th, which city he reached October 26th, in the same year.

After spending some time in the acquisition of the language of the people, Dr. Parker opened in Canton, November 4, 1835, a free hospital for persons affected with diseases of the eye, of the treatment of which the native practitioners were particularly ignorant. The success which he at once attained surpassed all that the most sanguine hopes of the friends of missions had anticipated. The first day, though previous notice had been given, no patient ven- tured to come. The second day, a solitary female, afflicted with glaucoma, presented herself. The third day half a dozen persons appeared; and after this those who were suffering began to come in con- stantly increasing numbers. At the end of a year the aggregate of patients who had been relieved amounted to 2152 ; and, according to the Report which was published at the time, "had the object been to swell this catalogue, and were the strength of one in- dividual sufficient for the task, the number might have been increased by thousands." The success which had at once attended the labors of Dr. Parker made it evident that he had proved himself admirably fitted for the work which had been entrusted to him. Perhaps, much of this success was dne to the rare qualities of the man. Possessed of an imposing physique, with a manner which was naturally digni- fied and composed, there was, in addition, something so benevolent, so kindly, and so truthful in the ex- pression of his face, and the tones of his voice that he irresistibly inspired every one with whom he came in contact with confidence in the honesty of his pur- pose and his readiness to extend sympathy and as- sistance. While working for the relief of the suffer- ings of those who came to the hospital, it should also be stated that he sought in every way in his power to commend to all the value of the Christian religion.

The doors of the hospital continued to be open to all comers till June, 1840, when, in consequence of the disgraceful and persistent efforts of the British Gov- ernment to force the Emperor of China to alter the laws of the country, so that Englishmen could sell opium without let or hindrance to the Chinese peo- ple, ensued war. The port of Canton was threat- ened with blockade by the English fleet, and it be- came necessary to close the institution. From the time that it had been opened, in 1835, during a period of a little over four years, upwards of nine thousand persons had received treatment and relief. Dr. Parker said: "Patients from all parts of the Empire had availed themselves of the benefits of the hospital. The applicants during the first years of its establishment had been confined to the lower and middle classes ; now persons of all ranks-military, naval and civil -- were among the number; the Nan- hoe hien, or district magistrate, the custom-house officer, salt inspectors, provincial judges, provincial treasurer, a Tartar general, Governors of Provinces, Commissioner Linn himself, and a number of the imperial family, had sought relief of the foreign phy- sician." The account of what Dr. Parker had done, and his successful and repeated performance of many very difficult surgical operations, had attracted the attention and admiration of medical men in the United States and Great Britain, and a high place had been accorded to him in the profession.

It certainly was a great misfortune that at this time he was obliged to withdraw from Canton. What he had already done was felt by all persons who were interested in the cause of missions in China to have been of inestimable value, by disarming the preju - dices of a great multitude of influential people against the foreigners, whom they had been taught to think of as "outside barbarians."

During the years of his first residence in China, in addition to his work in the hospital, Dr. Parker on several occasions rendered valuable assistance in the general work of missions. The most important, per- haps, of his services of this kind was in connection with the expedition, undertaken in 1837, by several of the missionaries in China, which had for its object the establishment of a mission in Japan. That ex- pedition proved to be a failure as far as the immediate object in view was concerned; but, on his return to Canton, Dr. Parker published an account of the voyage, and of a visit which was made to the Loo Choo Islands.

The closing of the hospital in 1840 gave Dr. Parker an opportunity of returning to the United States for a visit. Having started from China in July, he reached New York in the following December, and spent the.next eighteen months in unwearied efforts to diffuse information through the country respect- ing China, and to interest Christian people every- where in the cause of missions among the Chinese. In addition, he had interviews with Presidents Van

フ

677

FRAMINGHAM.

Buren, Harrison, and Tyler, and with the Secretary of State, Mr. Daniel Webster, before whom he urged the importance of sending a United States minister to China, as soon as the war then waging should come to an end, for the purpose of arranging a commercial treaty with that government, and of giving protec- tion to American citizens resident in the country. It was owing to the representations which he made, that the Hon. Caleb Cushing was sent to China in the following year as American Minister. Dr. Parker also made a hurried visit to England, for the purpose of calling the attention of English Christians to the advantages which might be obtained by sending out medical missionaries to China. He was successful in bringing the subject to the attention of the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, the Duke of Wellington, the Marquis of Lansdown, the Bishops of London and of Durham, and a large number of other distinguished men. He made the acquaintance of Sir Benjamin Brodie, Dr. Holland, Sir Henry Halford, and other prominent English physicians and surgeons. He was presented in Paris to Louis Philippe, the King of the French, and had the opportunity of a long conversation with him on the condition of affairs in China.

Having returned from England to the United States in June, 1842, he sailed a few months later from Boston for Canton, having previously been married in Washington. March 29, 1841, to Miss Harriet C. Webster, daughter of Mr. John O. Webster, of Augusta, Maine. Mrs. Webster accompanied him, and was the first foreign lady to reside in China.

On reaching Canton he re-opened the hospital, and was even more successful than before. But it was not long before Hon. Caleb Cushing arrived, in February, 1844, as Envoy Extraordinary and Minis- ter Plenipotentiary of the United States to China, who at once requested Dr. Parker to become Chinese Secretary and Interpreter of the Legation. After careful consideration, and with the hope that he might have wider opportunities of usefulness, he accepted Mr. Cushing's offer. He gave up his con- nection with the American Board, but with the help of native assistants, whom he had trained, he was able to continue his oversight of the hospital till in 1855, finding his health impaired, he resigned his secretaryship, and returned to America. During these years he repeatedly acted as Chargé d'affaires ad interim.

A few months after reaching home, at the special request of the government, he returned to China as United States Commissioner and Minister plenipo- tentiary, for the purpose of revising the treaty of 1844. On his way to China, passing through Lon- don, he had a consultation with the Earl of Claren- don, in order that the policy of the two governments they represented might be concurrent. In Paris, also, he had an interview for the same purpose, with Count Walewsky, the French Minister for Foreign

Affairs. His duties as Commissioner occupied Dr. Parker for two years, when he felt obliged to resign and to return to America, his health having been somewhat enfeebled owing to the effects of a sunstroke. He fixed his residence in Washington, with his paternal homestead in Framingham as a summer resort. His later years were spent in retirement, the only public office which he held being that of Regent. of the Smithsonian Institution, to which he was elected in 1868. After several years of infirm health he died in Washington, January 10, 1888, in his eighty-fourth year.

ADOLPHUS MERRIAM.

Adolphus Merriam was descended from a pioneer family of the town of Concord, Mass. His ancestor, Joseph Meriam, came from the county of Kent, Eng- land, in 1638 and settled in Concord. From that early date until the death of Joseph Merriam, the father of Adolphus, in 1856, through five generations, the family name was prominent in the history of that town. The Meriam settlement became known as "Meriam's Corner." It was at this spot that the first vigorous attack was made on the retreating British as they left Concord on the memorable 19th of April, 1775. Josiah Meriam, the grandfather of Adolphus, was one of the men at the North Bridge, and used an old flint-lock which his ancestor had brought with him from England. It was his house that the British entered on the retreat, and in it exercised freely their spirit of mischief and plunder. This house, by the way, is not the Meriam house which is now standing, but was an older one, all trace of which is gone, that stood nearer the corner of the Bedford and Lexington roads.

Joseph Merriam, the father of Adolphus, when a young man moved from Meriam's Corner to a farm on the Virginia road, near the Lincoln line. Here Adolphus was born August 23, 1820. He was the youngest of ten children. His early life was that of a farmer's boy, with its usual amount of hard work and limited advantages. In addition to the few years of study in the district school he enjoyed a term in the Framingham Academy.

When he was seventeen years old he went to South- bridge, Massachusetts, and entered the office of the Ilamilton Woolen Company, in which his brother, Charles, was interested. For several years he served what may be called a term of apprenticeship in the business of woolen and cotton manufacture. His master and model was Samuel L. Fiske, whom he faithfully served and ardently admired, and whose influence had a marked effect in strengthening his own natural habits of thrift, of promptness in dis- charging obligations and of honesty and honor in business affairs.

In 1846 he married Caroline Mckinstry, daughter of John Mckinstry, of Southbridge. Mr. Merriam remained in Southbridge twelve years. During this

678

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

time he was steadily promoted until he was entrusted with the superintendency of large interests connected with the Hamilton Woolen Company. In 1850 he purchased a small mill in Springfield, Vermont, which he operated successfully for four years. Ile then returned to Southbridge and entered into a part- nership with Joshua and Gaytou Ballard in the manufacture of woolen goods.

Mr. Merriam was very active in all public matters in Southbridge. He was one of the leaders of the Lyceum. When a young man he identified himself with the temperance movement, to the principles of which he strictly adhered during his life. He corre- sponded with Rev. Adin Ballou and George Draper, with reference to the social community which they founded at Hopedale, and seriously contemplated joining it. He served the town as assessor and select- man, was connected with the National and Savings Banks of the town, and during the war was active as selectman in filling the town quota and in advocating the Federal cause.

In 1864 he moved to South Framingham, where he lived until his death. He became interested in the manufacture of woolen goods in Millbury, where he was associated with Peter Simpson ; and in Corda- ville, in company with IInbbard Willson. He was also a director of the Hamilton Woolen Company, and clerk of the corporation, and a director of the Etna Mills at Watertown. In addition to these in- terests he was for many years a director and president of the American Powder Company, and president of the Gunpowder Trade Association of the United States.

When the Framingham Savings Bank became em- barrassed, it was the demand of the community that Mr. Merriam accept the presidency of the reorganized board of trustees. He was at the time the president of the National Bank, and was very reluctant to add to the business cares which already demanded close attention. The duties involved in the reorgani- zation, and in the restoration of the credit of the Savings Bank, were very exacting and subjected the president to much annoyance and anxiety. He en- deavored to perform them with the same care that he expended in his own affairs. He often expressed his confidence in the final restoration of credit and re- sumption of business by the bank, and his calm con- fidence and patient work did much to assure deposi- tors, and to bring about the successful termination of the bank's misfortune.

In addition to discharging this public trust, Mr. Merriam, in the course of his life, cared for many pri- vate trusts, all of which were serupulously managed and settled.

Mr. Merriam avoided prominence in public affairs in Framingham. Hlis influence, however, was exerted quietly toward the promotion of many worthy politi- cal, social and moral canses. He was the first presi- dent of the South Framingham Literary Society, and

was one of its most constant workers during the ten years of its life. For a short time in his school-days in Concord, Theodore Parker had been his teacher. In later life he was an earnest student of Parker's sermons and writings, which he felt were in accord with his own religious convictions. When the move- ment to establish a society of liberal Christians in South Framingham was initiated he gave it his hearty support. Later he was made the moderator of the First Universalist Society, and worshiped with that society constantly until his death.

Mr. Merriam died November 27, 1888, after an illness which had incapacitated him for active work for several months. The summary of his character which appeared in the Framingham Tribune, at the time of his death, is so just that it may well conclude this sketch : "The death of Adolphus Merriam brings a loss to Framingham that will be keenly felt. In all matters where his interest was enlisted his course was marked by keen insight and sound judgment. Perhaps his distinguishing trait was his plain and simple manner, wholly devoid of the ostentation ať- fected by some men when they achieve a small part of the success that was his. Always genial and ap- proachable, it was his lot and pleasure often to advise other men, and his advice was always worth seeking. His presence will be sadly missed, but his influence will be felt for a long time to come."

JOHN BALL KITTREDGE, M.D.ª

Doctor Kittredge was a descendant of John Kitt- redge, who settled in Billerica as early as 1660, where he died October 18, 1676. He was a considerable land-owner in Billerica, and received a grant of sixty- four acres in the limits of what became Tewksbury, on which some of the later generations of the family have resided.

The eldest son of John, Sr., was named for his father, settled in Billerica, studied medicine, and was the first of a long line of noted physicians. Dr. John (3d), the eldest son of Doctor John (2d), called his eldest son John (4th), whose eldest son was John (5th). The brothers of John (5th) were Simeon and Benjamin. Benjamin was born March 7, 1741. IIe was a well- known physician of Tewksbury and Andover, and was the father of eight sons, all physicians, viz : Ben- jamin, of Exeter ; Henry, of Tewksbury ; John Ball, of Framingham ; Jacob, of Billerica and Ohio ; Rufus, of Portsmonth ; George, of Epping, N. H .; Theodore, of Kittery ; Charles, of Watertown.

John B., the subject of this sketch, was born Octo- ber 8, 1771 ; studied with his father, as was the cus- tom of the time, came to Framingham in his twenty- first year, and probably entered the office of Dr. Dan- iel Perkins, and took his practice when he moved West the next year.

1 By J. H. Temple.

Hollis Hastings

679

FRAMINGHAM.

Framingham was then in a kind of transition state. The Revolutionary War had changed the social order and business conditions, as well as the inhabitants. The older meu were striving to repair the wastes of war; the younger men were planning new enterprises and taking the lead in municipal affairs. The popu- lation of the town was much scattered, and the een- tres of trade and enterprise were at several points near the outskirts. Aside from the meeting-house, there had been little to attract people to the territor- ial centre. The minister, Rev. David Kellogg, was, however, strong in the regards of the people, and, by his talents and high ministerial character, was a power for good in all social and religious and business affairs. And the signs all pointed to the site of the present village as the coming centre of town activity and influence.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 159

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278