History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 202

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 202

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Fifteen years ago, he offered the town a tract of forty acres for a public park. Ten years afterward he procured, in the face of much opposition, what is now conceded to be the handsomest and, in fact, the only pleasure thoroughfare leading out of town, the re-location and strengthening by the County Commis- sioners, of Maple Street. Forty years ago the estate of Caleb Witherbee, south of Main Street, had only a laborer's lodge upon it. To-day, through Mr. Boyd's foresight and energy, it is the fairest and most con- venient residential portion of the city, crowned upon what was then its treeless and wind-swept heights with the stately mansion of the successful manu- facturer.

While eschewing political preferment, Mr. Boyd has of course been compelled to hold office in var- ious institutions and enterprises, which he has either originated or promoted, and which have converted the pastoral quiet of the village of 1836 into the manufacturing stir of the Highland City of 1890. Ile was director in the Marlborough Branch Rail- road, now part of the Fitchburg Railroad System ; Director in the Agricultural Branch Railroad : Di- rector and at one time president of the First Nation-

al Bank of Marlborough; Director of the People's National Bank of Marlborough; President of the Marlborough Savings Bank; Director in the Hop- kinton Bank of Hopkinton, Massachusetts; and is now president of the Boyd & Corey Boot and Shoe Manufacturing Company, the Chestnut Hill Real Estate Association and the Marlborough Electric Street Railway Company, of the property of which three last named companies, he is substantially the owner.

Ifis latest gift is that of a sightly lot of land for the French Evangelical Mission in Marlborough, upon which a church is now in progress of erection.

At the time of this sketch, his vigor and enterprise in every direction, which makes for the welfare of his native town of Marlborough is unabated and stimu- lating.

SIMON HERBERT HOWE.

The characters of good men belong to mankind and there is no duty more pleasant or useful than that which seeks the recognition of their virtues and stim- ulates others to follow them. An example of philan- thropic zeal steadily pursuing its benevolent designs amidst the prevailing selfishness of business compe- tition, will ever be of great benefit to the commun- ity, and benedictions follow the steps of him who proves himself to be a lover of his kind. With re- spectable rank among such characters is found the subject of this sketch. The son of Samuel and Char- lotte (llowe) Howe, of Marlborough, he was born December 21, 1835. His father was a cooper and carried on that business in Marlborough until 1842, when he retired. Herbert spent his childhood and youth at his home enjoying the sports and performing the duties usual to boys in manufacturing villages in New England and in due time entered upon school day experiences. Ile first attended the common school and at the proper time entered the High School, from which he graduated, and at the age of twenty, with but little more than his willing hands and active brain as the foundations of a business, he, in connection with his elder brother, Lewis, commenced in a small way the manufacture of shoes in the old cooper shop. During the odd hours of his school days Herbert had learned many of the important parts of shoe manu- facture. He- made shoes for John W. Stevens, and from the proceeds he paid his own board during his school days.

By close attention to their business these young men soon became known as factors of some conse- quence in this industry, which has contributed so much to the wealth and importance of their native town. As their business increased there came the need of more room, which was supplied by the addi- tion of a story to the old cooper shop. Shortly after Herbert bought out the interest of his brother Lewis, thus assuming sole proprietorship of a business which continued to increase in its volume, and for lack of

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MARLBOROUGH.

room Mr. Howe bought a shop on the corner of Pleas- ant and Elm Streets and moved the old cooper's shop up beside it and here went on winning the reputation of an honest manufacturer and doing a fair amount of business.

He remained here until 1861, when he formed a co-partnership with Allen D. Howe, which continued with but indifferent success up to 1865 when they dis- solved partnership, and from this date 1865, practi- cally commenced the business career of Mr. Herbert Howe, which has been decidedly remarkable and re- plete with many interesting incidents. Always

prompt and exact in meeting his financial obligations a single incident will serve to give a cue to his whole life. In 1857, the time of "the great snow-storm," when all public conveyance was blocked for several days, he had a note falling dne in a Boston bank, and two of the three days of grace had passed, when he started to walk through the drifts to Cordaville, a station on the Boston and Worcester Railroad, six miles distant, which feat he accomplished, and found that the road had just been opened through to Boston, where he arrived just a trifle late, but through the courtesy of the cashier, who admired the spirit which could overcome such obstacles, he obtained the paper which for the first and only time in all his financial career came so near to being dishonored.

He soon found need of more room and built on ad- ditions from time to time until the present " Home " shop standing on the spot where he commenced busi- ness, is an ornament to the town, and with his other two shops, the " Diamond F" and the " Diamond O," they form a monument to his successful management, These three shops have been put into a stock com- pany, with Mr. Howe as the principal stockholder and president of the corporation, and his son Louis P. Howe, as vice-president. The style of the corpor- ation is the "S. H. Howe Shoe Co."

In these factories are made annually 2,151,474 pairs of shoes. In the financial affairs of the town Mr. Howe has taken great interest, and has been connec- ted with several moneyed institutions.

In 1875 he was elected a trustee of the Marlborough Savings Bank, and in 1882 its president, which office be now holds. He was one of the original incorpor- ators of the People's National Bank in 1879, and has been on its board of directors uninterruptedly since that date. Mr. Howe has acted with the Republican party ever since its organization, has represented Marlborough in the General Court, and in town affairs has been for many years chairman of the school-committee, a member of the board of scleet- men, and some of the time its chairman.

Mr. Howe has been a constant attendant of the Unitarian Church, also for some time the superinten- dent of its Sunday-school and a liberal contributor to the support of public worship, not only to his own denomination but to every other in the town.

In private life Mr. Howe is known as a benevolent

and kind-hearted man, whose many charities have been bestowed without ostentation or public an- nouncement. Jan. 1, 1857, Mr. Howe married Har- riet A., daughter of William P., and Lavinia (Baker) Brigham, and from this union there have been four children, Lonis Porter, born May 29, 1858; Alice Baker, born Dec. 19, 1859; Charlotte Adelaide born May 9, 1861; Annie Brigham, born June 15, 1871. Of these children Alice B., died Oct. 1860, and Annie B., died Sept. 1887. Louis P. married India Howe Ar- nold, Jan. 1, 1887 ; Charlotte A., was married to Oscar Herbert Stevens, May 6, 1885.

EDWARD F. BARNES, M.D.

Edward Forbes Barnes, M.D., was born in Marl- borough, March 21, 1809, and was the oldest son of Edward and Luey (Brigham) Barnes. Until he was of age he worked on the farm, but after obtaining his majority he commenced his preparation for college and entered Harvard in 1834 and graduated in 1838 in the class with Rufus Ellis, Judge Chas. Devens, James Russell Lowell, and J. F. W. Ware, attaining a high rank as a scholar. After graduation he de- voted some time to teaching school. Having decided "to devote himself to the medical profession he pur- sued his medical studies in the Harvard Medical School and completed them in Paris, receiving his degree of M D. in 1844. In 1846 he commenced prac- tice in Marlborough. During the thirty years that followed he was constantly busy in his profession, secur- ing the confidence of his patients. He was an able and faithful physician, and proved himself a skilful and successful practitioner. For several years he served as a member of the School Committee, preparing some of the annual reports of that body. Dr. Barnes was a lover of good order and of all good institutions. Al- though he nearly reached his three-score and ten years, he retained to the last his faculties in an un- usual degree. Dr. Barnes was an acute observer of passing events, and exercised a conscientious fidelity in the discharge of his duty.

He was connected with the Massachusetts Medical Society all through his professional life and was a contributor to medical journals. Biography and his- tory were favorite studies and his memory concern- ing what he had read was remarkable. In local his- torical matters he was well posted, and it is a source of regret that what he had treasured up from his reading is not more available in printed shape. Ile was by common consent made president of the local Historical and Genealogical Society when it was organized. There was about him a peculiar attrac- tiveness, a subtle fascination. He never obtruded his own opinions upon any one, but was a model of self-forgetfulness, self-depreciation and self-oblivion.

There was about him an air of repose, meekness and charity. Though really a very gifted man, he was content, like his Master, to be of no reputation.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

He was, in the best sense of the phrase, a good man. In his nature righteousness and charity were blended. Dr Barnes was married to Maria E., daughter of Ash- bel and Lydia (Russell) Brigham, August 26, 1821, and by this union they had one child, Lizzie F., who was born October 7, 1848, and died July 12, 1869. Also an adopted daughter, Josephine A., born Jan- uary 18, 1870. Dr. Barnes died November 2, 1878, and his widow is still living at the old home. She is a superior woman, respected and heloved by all with whom she associates.

JOHN ADDISON FRYE.

John A. Frye was born in Marlboro', Mass., Nov. 27, 1839. His father was Lewis T., and his mother was Levina S. Lewis T. was a stove manufacturer, and a man of considerable prominence in the town, hav- ing represented it in the Legislature. The childhood of John A. was passed through without unusual incident, and in due time he commenced his school days in the grammar-school, and finished his educa- tion in due course in the high-school, under the efficient training of Hon. O. W. Albee, who, as prin- cipal of the Marlboro' high-school, gained a very wide and justly enviable notoriety as a competent educator. From his careful and thorough training have gone out many of the boys of Marlboro' and vicinity to careers of influence and business success.

After leaving school he entered the shoe-factory of Messrs. Hapgood & Russell, where he remained about one year, when he made a change to the factory of S. Herbert Howe, spending about one year; he then worked in the factory of S. G. Fay, remaining four years, by which time he was a thorough master of this business in all its departments. He left the Fay shop to form a co-partnership with John W. Stevens, on Pleasant Street, taking the management of the factory, and bringing it up to a high state of pro- duction, while Mr. Stevens managed the financial part of the business.

In 1863 he bought out Mr. Stevens and single- handed carried on the enterprise most successfully. He remained in the old shop about one year when the business had so grown that the young manufacturer found it necessary to procure larger quarters, which he found in a shop situated on Elm Street, Marl- borough, to which he removed and where he remained until 1865, when he again found he had out- grown his accommodations and as the opportunity offered he traded shops with L. A. Howe, at the cor- ner of Pleasant and Chestnut Streets, where Mr. Frye has since remained and where, by a steady growth in the volume and quantity of his manufacture, he has been obliged to make additions at four different times, each addition being made with reference to the gradual improvement in the quality of the work turned out as well as the quantity of it. Io this fac- tory, as it now stands, may be found all the latest and best of the many labor-saving machines which from

time to time the ingenuity of the skilled mechanic has provided. This factory ranks third only in the list of large manufactories in town in the total of annual output. Up to 1883 Mr. Frye had confined himself to the manufacture of shoes of all kinds, but at this date, for the first time, commenced on boots chiefly for children and youth. Like most of the country manufacturers Mr. Frye had disposed of his goods through the medium of a commission house in Boston, but in 1876 he changed this time- honored plan and undertook to market his product himself, placing it directly in the jobber's hands. This plan worked so well and so materially to his benefit that he has continued it to the present time. When by active competition the mannfacturers have been forced into very narrow margins for profits, the saving of commissions to middle men has been a very im- portant item. The goods from the manufactory of Mr. Frye are first-class and are kuown to the trade far and wide. He has managed his business with such sagacity and untiring industry for all these years that a large material return has come to him, and with unquestioned financial resources he is able to gratify a taste for farming in a genteel way for the pleasure there is in it for him, and in doing this he has re- claimed over 100 acres in the vicinity of his native town, making that which was worthless to yield a revenue and changing rocky wastes to green pastures. Mr. Frye has been interested in the breeding of fancy stock and has had a very superior herd of Jerseys, among which were some justly celebrated animals.

In 1886, becoming convinced of the superiority of the Holstein breed, he sold his Jerseys and imported at great expense some of this breed, and now his herd of Holsteins numbers 135 head of high grade cattle. Mr. Frye has with representatives of this herd won several prizes in 1890, having taken the premiums at the New England Fair, at Worcester, the Rhode Island State Fair, at Providence, also at Brattle- borough, Vt., and Danbury, Conn. September 26, 1861, Mr. Frye married Elvira F., daughter of Otis and Levina (Rice) Russell, and they have had five children, two of whom died in infancy. The living are Walter P., Carrie L., and Della M. Mr. Frye is a liberal supporter of the Unitarian Church-while Mr. Frye has avoided political activity, declining town offices, he is a decided Republican, having cast his first vote for the martyred Lincoln. Mr. Frye was the first one in town to introduce electricity into his factory for lighting purposes, owning his own plant lle is now enjoying the fruits of his successful activ- ity in his handsome house, with fine grounds situated on Pleasant Street, and has the respect and esteem of all good citizens.

DAVID WHITE HITCHCOCK.1

New Englanders are justly proud of their ancestry, and while Massachusetts has a long list of honored

1 By John L. Stone.

polit

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MARLBOROUGH.

names, she must not forget her sister States have a first claim upon a large number. If the young men of other States have flocked to Massachusetts, it was be- cause larger opportunities were possible, and especial- ly so to those who were inclined to mercantile pursuits.

So it has been in the town of Marlborough, as many of her most respected and prosperons citizens have come from without her borders.

Among this class none perhaps would claim the at- tention of the historian more quickly than David White Hitchcock, son of Lemnel and Sally White Hitchcock, who was born June 19th, 1831, at Wood- stock, Vt. His father was a merchant, both at Weathersfield, Vt., and Claremont, N. H., noted for his integrity and uprightness in business, and much beloved by all who knew him for his kindly and genial disposition. He died at the house of his eldest son, John, in Newton, Mass., Nov. 9, 1866, aged eighty- seven years. His mother was of the White family, of Watertown, Mass. She died in Woodstock, Vt. in 1835.

David White Hitchcock was the seventh of nine children, and the only living representative of the family at this date, and received his education at the common schools of Claremont, N. H. Owing to a reverse of fortune and the death of the mother, the family was broken up and scattered, the subject of this sketch hginning life on a farm in Claremont, at the age of nine years.

· At the age of fifteen he entered the store of Henry Patten, a Claremont merchant. After spending nearly three years in Claremont, he went to Montpelier, Vermont, as clerk in the employ of Harvey King, then a prominent merchant of that place. At the age of nineteen he went to Boston whither his two elder brothers had preceded him (one being of the firm of M. S. Lincoln & Co., and the other of the firm of Nash, Callender & Co.), and entered the employ of Otis Nor- cross & Co., wholesale dealers in crockery and glass ware. Beginning as the humblest employee of this firm, he soon made it apparent to the head of the firm, a sharp, clear-headed man, that he had in this young man one who would prove a valuable acquisi- tion to his business, and at the end of five years from entering their employ, he was admitted a partner of the firm. Here was given him an opportunity to rise by his unfailing attention to business, his honesty, his energy as a salesman, his shrewdness and prudence as a business man to success and prosperity. He re- mained as a partner of this firm eleven years. At the expiration of this co-partnership in 1866 he withdrew and formed a co-partnership with his brother John under the firm name of John & David W. Hitch- cock, for the purpose of doing a wholesale boot and shoe business at 66 Pearl Street, Boston.

The foundation of his future secure, he rapidly in- creased in wealth and prosperity, carrying always with him his earlier reputation for shrewdness, houesty and ability, commanding the respect of all who knew him

The great fire in Boston in November, 1822, found the firm on the eve of retirement from business alto- gether. After the fire it was dissolved and was succeeded in the business by Leonard, Redpath & Lamb, the two former being salesmen and the latter book-keeper of the old firm, J. and D. W. Hitchcock remaining as special partners. He was instrumental, as was also his brother John, in building up the firm of Wallace, Killiam & Bray, manufacturers of hoots and shoes, at Beverly, Mass., the two brothers being the special partners of the firm for eighteen years.

Mr. Hitchcock has always taken a warm interest in starting other young men whose lives began in assmall a way as his own, and assisting them with advice and money, most of them becoming as successful as he has been. In 1873, after retiring from all active business, although still interested in special co-partnerships, and the care of several large estates, he purchased a farm in the easterly part of the beautiful village of Marlborough, Mass., and settled down with his family to enjoy the balance of his days in abundance of lei- sure, and with a reasonable endowment of this world's wealth, to purchase luxury and comfort, that is, home life without cares ; but even here his sagacity in man- aging business affairs and his reputation for wise counsel, were soon discovered by the people with whom he was daily associated.

He was elected by his town's people to fill the office of Selectman and served five years, three of them being Chairman of the Board. He also was one of the Board of construction of the water works in Marl- borough ; after its completion was for one year Water Commissioner.

It was by his exertions that the People's National Bank was established in Marlborough of which Mr. Elbridge Howe, an old and much esteemed resident, was the first president, Mr. Hitchcock succeeding him at his decease and still continuing in office. Hle is also one of the Trustees of the Marlborough Savings Bank.

He is a Director in the National Tube Works Com- pany (a Massachusetts company having its works in Mckeesport, Pa.), the largest wrought iron pipe, tube and rolling-mill in the world, giving employment to 5,500 men, having its offices in Boston, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh, Pa. He is Secre- tary and Treasurer of the National Transportation Company, and Vice-President of the Monongahela Furnace Company of Mckeesport, Pa., both being offshoots from the National Tube Works Company. He is also President of the National Warehouse Com- pany of Chicago, and Chairman of the American Water Works and Guarantee Company (Limited), of Pittsburgh, l'a., which lays and operates water works in cities and towns in the United States.

Coming to Marlborough for retirement and leisure, these several important offices have been urged upon him until he is again a thoroughly busy man. Lib- eral in all ways, he requires the strictest accounting

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

in all monetary matters, and will not countenance fraud or deception. Decided and tenacious in his ideas, he respects one who freely and honestly speaks his mind, even if it should not coincide with his. Although coming to Marlborough an entire stranger, no one has a livelier or deeper interest in the growth and prosperity of the town.

Mr. Hitchcock married Anna Maria, the eldest danghter of William Hervey and Ann Maria (How- ard) Conant, of Boston, and by her had two children, Lemuel and Alice Howard Hitchcock.

WINSLOW MORSE WARREN.

Winslow M. Warren, son of Samuel and Rebecca (Morse) Warren, was born in Marlborough August 20, 1828. He was born on "the old Warren Place," where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had lived and toiled before him. They were farmers and men of sterling worth in the community, and each in his generation acquitted himself well, passing down to the succeeding generation a good name for honesty and probity of character. His childhood and youth were much after the fashion of the aver- age New England boy,-assisting in the lighter farm duties, attending school and growing to vigorous manhood.

He commenced his education in the Warren Dis- trict School, on leaving which he entered the Acad- emy, and here closed the educational portion of his life. After a short period of business connected with the farm, he, in 1850, formed a partnership in the meat and provision business with George E. Woods, which continued until 1864, when he entered the firm of Dart & Co., in the express business between Boston and Marlborough, in which business he has continued up to the date of this issue, and of which he has become the proprietor. He has also, for the past twenty-five years, done an insurance business, and has settled many estates. He has been a trustee in the Marlborough Savings Bank, and also a mem- ber of the Committee on Investments. He was one of the original subscribers to the stock of the People's National Bank and on the first Board of Direction.

Mr. Warren is a trustee of the Union Society, to which was granted the land now and for many years known as " the Common." Mr. Warren is a Repub- lican, a contributor to the support of the Union Con- gregational Church, a member of the " United Breth- ren Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons," and was for several years treasurer of the town of Marlborough.

July 2, 1879, Mr. Warren married Sarah, daughter of William and Martha (Phelps) Wilson. Mr. War- ren is a well-known citizen of Marlborough, long identified with the business interests of his native town, and is the representative of two well-known families of Marlborough, who were highly esteemed in the early days of the town-the Morses and the Warrens.

The example of Mr. Warren in his daily walk and conversation, is worthy of imitation by those who shall, in succeeding generations, peruse this history of Mid- dlesex County.

WILLIAM GIBBON.

William Gibbon, son of Samuel Gibbon and Abi- gail Cogswell, was born in Marlborough July 25, 1807. His father came to Marlborough from Dedham, Mass., in 1784, and bought the farm where William was born, and which has been in the family since 1784. William had but little opportunity for schooling, attending the school kept by Aaron Brigham twelve weeks a year for several years. IIe worked on the farm, and, by careful management and natural-born economy, made his way up in the world. In 1863 Mr. Gibbon, in connection with Mr. Mark Fay (one of the fore- most men of Marlborough) organized the First Na- tional Bank, and was on its Board of Directors of the bank for twenty years. During this time he was president, and also vice-president of this bank, and vice-president and trustee of the Marlborough Sav- ings Bank.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 202

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